Romance novels are booming — and diversifying — and this Nashville book club is loving it

On a dark and stormy night, about 30 women brave the pouring rain to gather at Parnassus Books in Green Hills. They’re here for the store’s romance book club: Between the Covers.

The group meets to discuss “An Island Princess Starts a Scandal,” by Adriana Herrera, a historical female-female romance set in Paris during the 1889 World’s Fair.

Romance is the largest and fastest growing literary genre. The stories often center on one of the genre’s handful of popular tropes, such as: friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, forced proximity, fake dating, marriage of convenience, one bed, grumpy-sunshine, found family, or hurt-comfort.

And they also include a degree of “spice.” As one Between the Covers member shares, “Oh yeah, you need the spice. That’s true romance. I don’t think it would be real love if you didn’t have the spice in it.”

Katie Garaby and Hannah Kerbs, two booksellers at Parnassus, are responsible for the club. As Garaby recalls, she and Kerbs had their own ‘Meet-Cute.’

“I special ordered a couple of books. They were this great hockey romance series,” Garaby says, “and Hannah left a note on the books when they came in and she said, ‘I haven’t met you yet but I know we’re going to be friends.’ And so when we finally worked together, we both started scheming and were like, ‘I think we could get a great turn out for a romance book club.’ ”

And they have. The group has been meeting monthly since October 2022.

Kerbs moved out of Nashville recently, but Garaby currently carries the torch as the sole moderator.

She makes an effort to select a wide variety of love stories.

“I want everyone to be able to see themselves in the stories that we read. And I want to lift up queer and BIPOC authors. We are going to read very diversely,” says Garaby. “Folks have responded. They keep showing up and they are reading maybe authors they’ve never heard of and trying new things, and that’s great.”

Romance is a varied genre. Some of the most popular sub-genres outside of contemporary romance include romantic comedies, romanticy (which is romance in a fantasy setting), historically romance, LGBTQ+ romance, sci-fi romance, suspense romance, and religious romance.

Garaby believes there is a flavor of romance out there for everyone. As she puts it, “There are some closed-door or there are some kissing-only [romance stories] that still are so ripe with tension. The windows are still are fogged up, right? Even if we’re not seeing anything on the page. And then you swing in the other direction and there are some things that are just so absolutely scandalous. And I love it all.”

Romance novels used to be mixed in with general fiction at Parnassus. Three years ago, the store debuted a dedicated romance section. It now has one free standing case, called a gondola, packed with colorful covers, including many in pastels, blues — and lots of pink.

The selections for Between The Covers also have their own shelf.

Lindsay Lynch is the primary book buyer for Parnassus. She is an author herself. Her debut novel, “Do Tell,” is out now — and she has a handle on new trends in the genre.

“It’s definitely been a lot of changes in cover design, especially in the last couple of years, with romance. Moving away from those ‘bodice rippers.’ … You had those really dramatic covers with the Fabio-esq men on the cover,” says Lynch. “There’s a lot more kind of cartoon-y figures on covers of romance now. But also a lot more heavy things and then kind of flowery imagery.”

Lynch keeps track of all sales with a master spreadsheet. She checks it first thing every morning to know what to order.

Her largest orders are for titles tied to in-store author events. In June, the store hosted Christina Lauren, a best-selling romance author duo. The Between the Covers club and their selections have an impact on sales — and on Lynch — as well.

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In the past, romance was mixed in with fiction at Parnassus Books, but it has since graduated to its own section — and selections for Between The Covers are also highlighted.

“A lot of my work is in the backroom and I’m just kind of looking at those numbers — which, the numbers look great. But it’s also great to see pictures from our romance book club and know there are faces behind those numbers and there are people who are excited for these books,” says Lynch.

One of the books ordered lately is “Lunar Love,” the debut novel by Nashville-based rom-com author Lauren Kung Jessen.

Kung Jessen loves the romance genre. As she puts it, “I grew up on romantic comedies. And so I love rom-coms so much. They are so informative for me as a person and kind of how I viewed love. I did my thesis in college on the grand gesture.”

Kung Jessen, who is half-Chinese, half-white, grew up in Seattle and says she experienced some of her Chinese heritage through holidays and celebrations.

“We would have the typical traditions: celebrate the Lunar New Year, get red envelopes from aunties, go celebrate with a lot of food at friends’ homes,” she says. “But writing about it has given me a chance to dive a lot deeper into the history of it and more of the formal traditions.”

Her protagonists face many of the same challenges she does feeling caught between two cultures.

“Especially being mixed race, I feel like growing up I never had representation in movies or in books. And so being able to show that is … it’s why I started writing … I just really wanted to see people like myself,” says Kung Jessen.

Her readers have connected to the themes. “Getting feedback about that has been really special,” she says.

Romance publishers are seeking authors with different backgrounds and points of view, like Kung Jessen. Her second book, “Red String Theory,” comes out next January and centers on a Chinese myth that two fated souls at birth are tied together with an invisible red string.

“I had learned along the way about this myth and I thought it was so beautiful. Because I love that soulmate, fate topic in rom-coms,” says Kung Jessen.

While readers will have to wait to find out more about “Red String Theory,” there is one thing they can count on: like most romances, the book will almost certainly have what’s referred to as a “happily for now,” or a classic “happily ever after” ending.

That kind of predictability is far from a problem for romance readers.

As one Between The Covers member explains: “After a long tiring day, like, I want joy. And I know that this person is going to meet this person, they’re going to have a weird kooky story and they’re just going to be in love, and that’s just what I want.”