Romance and the NYT 100 Notable Books List

A brief investigation

This week, the New York Times published their 100 Notable Books of 2024 list and, as a consummate analyzer of lists on the internet, I clicked on it immediately. And as a semi-longtime scholar of how romance has slipped in and out of the mainstream, I also found myself anticipating what handful of romance novels would make it onto the list. (To my disappointment, they were on the safe side. But more on that later!) So I decided to take a look back through the years since the NYT began including romance novels on their 100 Notable Books of the Year list and see what trends I could spot.

Something to note is that they call this list 100 Notable Books and not 100 Best Books. When the NYT includes a romance on this list, they’re not necessarily calling it the best romance of the year but rather a title that they want their audience to take note of. However, I think a large chunk of the readership essentially views the list as a best books of the year list. In addition, for an audience that might not necessarily read a lot of romance, the stamp of NYT approval can be the push that leads someone to pick up one of these novels. That’s why I find it so interesting to see what they select, both for what it says about the Book Review’s taste and what it says about what they think their audience might be looking for in genre fiction.

We begin in 2020, when the pandemic sent everyone sprinting towards novels with a guaranteed happy ending. One lone romance novel appears on the 2020 list: The Duke Who Didn’t by Courtney Milan, a delightful historical romance about list-making, eminently practical Chinese-British Chloe Fong and Jeremy Yu, the half-Chinese duke who’s been pining for her for years. In my opinion, this is a surprising (and welcome!) choice. Although Milan is a well-known author within the romance community, I think she’s a bit less well known to readers just starting to dip their toe into the genre. Plus, this was self-published and not put out by one of the big 5 publishers. It’s also less conventional in that it eschews a dark moment/third-act break up, something which actually anticipates a number of romances today. 2020 was the first year that the NYT Book Review started publishing a romance column, written by Olivia Waite, and this feels very much like a pick directly from Waite, who’s also positively reviewed Milan’s subsequent novels. If you haven’t picked this up, I would highly, highly recommend it.

In 2021, we got two romance novels on the list: One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston, who had already become a romance sensation with Red, White, and Royal Blue, and The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton, a truly bonkers historical romance. I find the inclusion of the gloriously whimsical Wisteria Society interesting, especially because this was the year after Bridgerton catapulted historical romance back into the spotlight, but ultimately One Last Stop feels like more of where the NYT list was heading. The brief blurb describes the novel as a romance but also as “loneliness, and being unmoored from normal time, and missing people you’ve lost, and dealing with generational trauma and fearing an unknowable future”. To be fair, One Last Stop is about all those things! It does those things wonderfully! But it also feels like an attempt to position the novel as more than a love story. Notably, the blurb for Wisteria Society claims that “amid the often wacky melodrama, there are moments of emotion that cut to the quick”. I really enjoyed Holton’s novel but I don’t know if it ever cut me to the quick. For me, this was a fizzy, over-the-top romp and it’s great at being a fizzy, over-the-top romp. Different as these two books are, they feel tied together by the project of emphasizing that romance is emotionally resonant and rich. (Something which romance readers already knew but I digress…) Am I overanalyzing these short blurbs? Perhaps. But it feels significant that both romance novel blurbs seem to be trying to emphasize the titles’ emotional weight while thrillers like The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz get to simply be praised as literary thrillers.

In 2022, we once again have two romance novels: The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston, a paranormal romance about a ghostwriter mourning her father and haunted by the ghost of her editor, and You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi, about a widow who unexpectedly falls for her boyfriend’s father. I have to admit that this is probably my least favorite of the NYT selections. I liked The Dead Romantics as a family story and reflection about grief much more than as a romance and I tried to pick up You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty but couldn’t get past the whole boyfriend’s dad thing in spite of the lush line-level writing. (We all have our nopes! I know many readers who enjoyed it.) Interestingly, both are their authors’ first adult romances. Poston previously wrote YA romance and fantasy/sci-fi while Emezi has written everything from literary fiction to YA to thriller. Both of these titles feel like they’re hovering on the edges of the genre, especially with how much The Dead Romantics is focused on Florence’s personal journey rather than her relationship with Benji. To me, this suggests that the 2022 NYT list might be more comfortable with romance-ish novels than full-on romances.

Onwards to 2023 and my personal favorite year of these lists, although I do have a semi-significant quibble. The 2023 list features Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett, about a prickly scholar conducting research and contending with her infuriatingly dashing academic rival Wendell Bambleby, and We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian, a queer friends-to-lovers midcentury romance that’s one of my all-time favorites. I think Emily Wilde is a delight but I don’t think it’s really a romance? I would call it a fantasy with a strong romantic subplot and argue that the central focus of the story is Emily’s investigations of the fae. It also was a finalist for the Locus Award, a fantasy award, and put out by Del Rey, which is a sci-fi and fantasy imprint. We could have slotted Emily Wilde under fantasy and slipped another romance pick in there! (My vote goes to Georgie, All Along by Kate Clayborn.) Again, the list seems more comfortable with romance-adjacent. We Could Be So Good, however, is to my mind a perfect pick. It’s wonderfully written, brims over with emotion, and is doing something unusual in the genre with its 1950’s New York setting. If my newsletter enthusiasm hasn’t sold you on it yet, now is the time…

Finally, in 2024, we get three titles: Funny Story by Emily Henry, The Pairing by Casey McQuiston, and You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian. I’ve read and loved both the Henry and the Sebastian and I was pleased that all three of these are undeniably romances but these three picks all feel very safe to me. Readers who only read one or two romances a year usually pick up the new Emily Henry. McQuiston is a repeat presence on the list and is wildly popular, especially with the Red, White, and Royal Blue movie that came out last year. Sebastian is also a repeat author and I do think it’s noteworthy that her two most recent releases are much less steamy than her previous novels. To be clear, I think the steam level perfectly matches the tone of the novels but it still feels noteworthy. In a time when mainstream romance is getting weirder, couldn’t the list get a little bit weirder too? In my mind, a good end-of-year list should have both popular, significant titles and lesser known gems whose praises the list-maker wants to sing. Get weird in 2025, New York Times. I dare you.

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Reminder to submit a hyper-specific book rec if you’re so inclined! I’m planning to round them up in December.

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Currently reading: Slouching Towards Bethlelem by Joan Didion, my nonfiction pick for the month. I have Lili Anolik’s Didion and Babitz lined up for next month and wanted to refresh my Didion knowledge a bit first.

Recommendations, miscellany, and little bits of joy:

• Wicked! I was a huge theater kid and Wicked was one of my formative middle school obsessions so I was predisposed to enjoy the movie…but it’s so good! Cynthia Erivo sounds amazing, Ariana Grande is (much to my surprise and delight) excellent as Galinda, and Jonathan Bailey should be cast in 50 more movies where he gets to flirt with everyone in sight.

• I have a soft spot for female country singers, so I’ve been listening to Kelsea Ballerini’s new album Patterns for the last few weeks and really liking its mix of spirited and reflective.

• Transitioning to pine-scented candles as we inch towards winter. This Brooklyn Candle Studio one is one of my favorites.