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| Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff Rachel Kanter stands in her shop, Lovestruck Books, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Jan. 21. She opened the store two years ago to specialize in romance novels – the most popular book genre. Loading…

Feb. 09, 2026, 5:00 a.m. ET

When Rachel Kanter first contemplated opening an all-romance bookstore two years ago, there were just a few dozen such shops across the country. Now, there are about 150. Ms. Kanter’s Lovestruck Books in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is riding the wave of the most popular category in publishing. In the United States last year, 44 million romance books were sold, a 3.9% increase from 2024, according to Publishers Weekly.

“There are some elements in romance that are really comforting and reassuring to people,” says Ms. Kanter.

Readers – predominantly women – are no longer embarrassed to admit to reading love stories. Yet some are abashed at the steamy scenes that have become commonplace in bestselling titles.

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, we look at the phenomenon of “no-spice” romance novels, for readers who want the swoon without the steam. It’s a subset of the ever-growing romance book genre.

“This is a conversation we have daily with customers,” says the store owner. “People come in and say, ‘I’m looking for something for my 13-year-old daughter. What is appropriate?’”

Lovestruck Books’ 12,000 wide-ranging titles include tales of chaste courtships. A number of contemporary authors are setting themselves apart from the racy mainstream. They’ve created fresh labels to inform readers that their books don’t include spicy scenes. It’s become a new marketing category: “no-spice” romances.

BookTokers, Instagram influencers, and Goodreads community members have sprung up to curate and recommend such romance novels. They’re an algorithmically connected community. Preeminent authors of the genre – including Katherine Center (“The Bodyguard”), Annabel Monaghan (“Nora Goes Off Script”), and Sarah Adams (“The Cheat Sheet”) – boast robust fan bases. PG-level fare doesn’t, of course, appeal to every adult reader. Yet, authors and reviewers say that what ultimately resonates in romance stories is what they reveal about great relationships – and ourselves.

“You don’t need to have sex on the page to have a great romance, and you can have a lot of sex on the page and a mediocre romance,” says Jen Prokop, co-host of Fated Mates, a podcast about romance novels. “Sex is not the X factor. Feelings are.”

It is common for many of the authors to come from a background of faith. Many of their readers do, too. The stories, however, are often secular and aimed at broad appeal.

Courtney Walsh, for example, compares her popular books with romantic comedy movies from the 1990s and early 2000s, such as “You’ve Got Mail” and “While You Were Sleeping.” In Ms. Walsh’s novel “My Phony Valentine,” for instance, the protagonist tries to save her bakery by embarking on a high-profile fake relationship with a hockey player. There’s no tonsil hockey, though.

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff Ms. Kanter's bookshop specializes in romance novels. In the United States last year, 44 million romance books were sold, a 3.9% increase from 2024, according to Publishers Weekly. “I love the falling in love part of a romance novel more so than, like, the physical side of it,” says Ms. Walsh, whose target audience is adult women, though she has teenage readers, too. She is conscious of modeling how women should have high standards and be treated well in relationships. Her stories are about valuing oneself and knowing one’s worth. “I don’t have word count going toward, you know, steamy scenes,” says Ms. Walsh. “So, all of my work has to go to building the relationship.”

Young adult romance author Eva Austin says that leaving out sex scenes doesn’t affect the pacing of her stories. She self-publishes books such as “My Favorite Color Is the Golden Hour” – a finalist in the 2026 Teen Readers’ Choice Awards – so that she has complete authorial control. Her self-described “sweet and swoony” stories are the kinds of books she’d like her own kids to read. “It was difficult for me to find books for them, especially when my girls became interested in romance novels more recently,” says Ms. Austin via email. “I discovered I wasn’t the only parent frustrated by this.”

Many no-spice novels, including those by Ms. Walsh and Ms. Austin, feature the sort of illustrated covers that have become trendy. Gone are the days of “clinch covers” featuring women embracing shirtless men. They now tend to depict cartoon-y couples doing activities such as sitting at a restaurant table, walking near a lighthouse, or reading books in a library. But once you flip past the bright, primary- or pastel-colored covers, some of those stories are closer to “Fifty Shades of Grey,” the erotic trilogy. That’s made it more difficult for no-spice authors to differentiate their books from, say, steamier rom-coms by Emily Henry or Ali Hazelwood.

“Books don’t have ratings like movies or TV shows,” says Caroline Williams, a school teacher in Indiana. The Motion Picture Association not only offers age guidelines but also lists whether movies include profanity, violence, and sex. That’s why Ms. Williams launched her website, NoSpiceBooks.com, and a related YouTube channel. She’s one of dozens of curators who review romance novels and detail exactly what’s in them. Ms. Williams, who has a faith-based perspective, says the no-spice romance community has forged connections among those who want to push back against a “sex-obsessed culture.”

“Other people see, ‘Oh, there’s other people who think the same thing as me, who don’t want to be reading this,’” she says. “We want more privacy, we want more simplicity, we want to just read a good story and not have to skip over or skim or whatever to get through the spice. We just want a good story.”

Anne Bogel, co-host of the literary matchmaking podcast “What Should I Read Next?” often receives requests for recommendations for low-steam romance. “Is it ‘open door,’ or ‘closed door,’ or is it ‘fade to black’? That’s more often mentioned in the reviews in a way that it wasn’t 15 years ago,” says Ms. Bogel, who also writes the blog Modern Mrs Darcy. Consequently, readers have become much more confident about picking up unfamiliar books.

There’s another common label beloved by the no-spice community: “Jane Austen-esque.” Becky Dean, author of books such as “Love Unmasked” and “Picture Perfect Boyfriend,” says Austen understood that what sustains a relationship in the long term is who the people are inside. In Ms. Dean’s “kisses only” stories, one-half of the eventual couple comes to appreciate the other person by observing them doing something that they’re good at. By understanding each other in ways that no one else ever has, they’re unafraid to reveal their vulnerabilities to the other person.

“In the classic ‘Pride and Prejudice,’ Mr. Darcy [thinks] Elizabeth is barely tolerable. … But once he sees her intelligence and her wit, and the way she loves her family, and that she truly does have good character, then he starts to think she’s beautiful,” says Ms. Dean.

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Today’s no-spice authors aspire to emulate Austen’s appeal.

“What stands out to me is the number of people that want to read something with their teen or tween daughter or niece,” says Ms. Kanter, the bookstore owner. Many of these books “deal with an experience of coming-of-age, of those first relationships. It’s really special and meaningful, I think, for people to read those with their family members who are going through that.”

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