The exterior of Grand Gesture Books on Oct. 26, 2024, in Portland, Ore. Grand Gesture is Oregon's first romance-only bookstore.
Sukhjot Sal / OPB
It’s the summer. The perfect time to talk about romance, specifically romance novels.
They’ve become so popular in recent years, with over 39 million copies sold in 2023, according to The New York Times.
That doesn’t exclude the Pacific Northwest. Here, we’ve also seen a rise in romance books being checked out of libraries. In the Portland metro area alone, we have two bookstores dedicated to romance books.
On today’s episode, OPB’s Crystal Ligori and Sukhjot Sal warm our hearts by telling us how the genre got so popular and why they love it. Also, we get book recommendations!
Listen to all episodes of The Evergreen podcast here.
