Books from the romance genre have always been my go to books when I’m feeling down, kind of like comfort reads. In fact, they are the ones who actually got me into reading. I started with Romance and when the small romance section of my library was almost over, I shifted to the other books my library had. Over the years I have discovered so many other genre’s that I love- memoirs, YA, fantasy and so many more. But romance was still my go-to genre.
Until recently. I have tried reading 4 romance books that I have on my bookshelf and none caught my attention enough to actually finish them. I thought maybe it’s the books or just that the authors writing is not to my liking. But then I borrowed Stranger in my arms by Lisa Kleypas from the library. I can always rely on Lisa Kleypas. But although I finished the book, I didn’t really enjoy it and the worst part is that I couldn’t really find anything wrong with the book where as entertaining factor is considered.
And that scares me. I wonder whether my love for this genre will return. It has helped me through the bad times, during my reading block and when I was too busy or stressed to concentrate on anything else. I used to stay up late to read even a mediocre book if it was a romance.
Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever grown out of or tired out of favorite genre?
Book-Shelved 
I used to read only mystery and romance in the past, but after blogging I realise there’re so many genres out there waiting for my exploration. I notice I read lesser romance books now as compared to the past, but it’s not that I don’t enjoy the genre anymore (I still do and still think they are my comfort reads) but I suppose with so many books surrounding us, we are just spoiled with so much choices. 🙂 That said, I think our reading mood also plays a part in deciding the choice of books we read.
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You’re right, we are definitely spoilt by the choices we have. But no matter how many books i was surrounded with, romance was always something I enjoyed. Reading mood plays a big part in my choice of books too, but I don’t think this time it has anything to do with mood 😦
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I used to read a lot of mysteries in high school, and now they tire me. I used to read a lot of chick lit in college, and now that tires me, too. There are exceptions here and there, but I think I don’t read too many of these books these days because they seem all the same to me. There’s nothing new, and while sometimes that can be a comfort, it just made me disappointed.
I hope you find a good romance soon to get you back in the mood to read them!
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I used to read a lot of mysteries in College too but then I don’t really miss reading them.
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I realised just a few days ago that I haven’t read a chick-lit (not counting David Nicholl’s One Day) since spring last year. I didn’t absolutely love the genre, but I liked to go back to it after a heavy read. Now my go-to books for that are YA, it happened accidentally through having started blogging and learned about books I wouldn’t have otherwise. I think I’d like to read chick-lit again but I don’t find myself compelled to read it as I once did.
It’s a natural progression but often after a while you’ll feel you want to reverse it, which is what happened with me and fantasy series. I’m reading them again where for a while they bored me.
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My go-to books lately seem to be YA too. I hope I can go back to romance too.
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I think the genres I love will continue to evolve and change as I grow older. I used to read a lot of romance – then I got married and moved onto books about relationships and children. I’m also growing less fond of lighter, entertaining reads and now prefer more complex, darker stuff. Change is good – don’t worry!
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I prefer reading more memoirs lately too but I still need light books as fill in’s. I’ll hold on to ‘Change is Good’ for the moment 🙂
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I used to read a lot of Christian romance when I was in high school and after college, and at some point along the way I realized that (at least for about 90% of the books) the writing was terrible. It turn me off from all romances for years. Now I don’t mind a good romance book, but it has to be well-written, like something along the lines of Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, in order to hold my attention.
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Outlander has been on my wishlist for some time now. I’m assuming I’ll like it (fingers crossed)
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Maybe you’re burned out on them for right now. If so, they’ll spark your interest again one day.
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I hope so too.
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Yes, actually this has happened to me with romances several times (that’s my go-to genre, too). I think I just get burned out on the tropes and they start getting way too predictable for me to enjoy them. You have two choices: keep burning through a bunch of romance novels until you find one that can capture your attention again, or read something else for a while. There are lots of good sci-fi novels with romantic subplots you could try.
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I notice that I still love other genre novels with romance subplots, so may be I should stick to those for the time being.
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I am always worried I’m going to get sick of YA books. I keep thinking, as I get older… these are going to be less and less interesting to me. It hasn’t happened yet, but I hope it never does. I used to read romance books as well – those light and easy chick lit books. I was a huge fan.
Then I became a teen librarian. From then on, all I’ve read is YA. I haven’t read anything outside of YA in … three years? Four? Something like that. crazy, huh? I’m sure one day my reading taste will grow up. But it’s not on the horizon yet. 🙂
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I hope you don’t get bored of YA when as you grow up. I am 29 and I still love YA 🙂
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I guess it’s quite possible..I find myself in a similar situation when it comes to chick-lits these days.I am just hoping that it’s just a phase and that I’ll get over it. I remember how a long time ago ,i used to read only romance (read Mills and boons)..Ya is still one genre i havent read enough of.
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This actually happened to me with romance books as well awhile ago. Eventually I just found the situations unrealistic. Oddly, chick lit still really fits that niche for me!
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This topic is quite interesting. When I got into book blogging, I rediscovered my love for children’s and YA fiction and devoured lots of those books. I realized it had become my sole focus, and I re-introduced variety and my first love: adult literary fiction. Now I like to read mysteries and literary fiction, but I think it may change a few more times in life:-)
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Hi Violet,
I can’t remember the last time I read any ‘Chic-Lit’. I have shelves full of the genre, but every time I think I might give one a try, I always seem to end up putting it to the back of the shelf in favour of something else.
I can still read a good ‘Romantic Saga’, but ‘Historical Romance’ has become more hit and miss just lately, and is generally only on my bedside table as a ‘fill-in’ between more serious reads.
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I do think they all start to blend together at a certain point when you have a favorite genre. It’s really hard for something to written that’s strikingly original.
I’d take a break from romance for a bit, and then come back if you run across a review or blog posting on a romance that sounds particularly interesting to you.
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I used to read a lot of mysteries when I was in college. Now the only series I stay with is the one by Sue Grafton (mainly because my parents have the tradition of sending me her latest as a gift). I don’t think I’d have been able to read a lot of other genres during that time — my reading needed to be relatively simple because classes and studying required a lot of brain work. So, I do think it’s natural for reading tastes to change and evolve.
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I really do understand what you mean, too! My comfort reading has changed many times over the years.
I used to read a lot of predictable thrillers as a teen – an interest inherited from my mom’s favorite genre of reading. But these have taken less and less space on my shelves. Then, my go-to books for those stressful or uninspired times became those of the “chick-lit” category, but lately those have been less and less satisfactory.
Since I went back to university a couple years ago, my reading has been almost only comfort reading, since I already have so much serious reading for school! Now it’s mostly YA (though it’s more of a category than a genre). It does change over time, but I don’t mind it too much (except for the fact that I end up with many books of a genre on my shelves, that I might not read in a close future!)
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i have yet to fall out of a genre, but i’ve recently suffered from author malaise–and wrote a post about it. i have read everything by one of my fav nonfiction writers–bill bryson–but cannot for the life of me finish his most recent book. it’s tragic, really and i hope i haven’t outgrown him. as for genres, i think that romance could get a bit tired but you could always branch out to a subgenre, like historical romance to reawaken your love. 🙂
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This has happened to me a little bit–I’m much pickier about what I read than I used to be. Not sure if this is because I’ve grown out of the genre or my tastes have changed? Mostly I don’t regret the change, though–as long as I have something to read! But I can understand your sadness at the loss of your favorite comfort. Can’t imagine if all of a sudden I stopped liking chocolate! 😉
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This has happened to me too. I used to absolutely adore vampire books. Really, truly did. But ever since the recent vampire craze since Twilight, The Vampire Diaries, etc., I can’t enjoy them anymore. :S
It’s a shame your comfort genre is getting difficult to read through. I’m sure it’s just a faze, hun. We all have reading blocks (whether with genres or all books). I think you just need to find that one romantic book that’ll get you back into the swing of things. 🙂
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This has happened to me a few times. I had an obsession with paranormal books a few years ago, and then I got ‘over’ that and moved onto being a dystopia junkie. After a while, I found I was picked up more paranormal books again, although I don’t think I’ll have that total obsession with them again. I think sometimes as a reader you have your fill of something and just need a temporary breather from it.
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Romance is how I started reading too and has always been a favorite genre. But since I started my blog I read alot less of them and that’s why joined a romance challenge this year. Maybe your romance mojo will come back someday. It only takes one book to hook you again 🙂
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I’m forever distracted by various genres out there and have no loyalty to a particular genre. Enid Blyton fired my reading passion so I must say mystery did it for me. 🙂
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