Gen Alpha teens read the swoon without the spice

Generation Alpha teenagers are falling in love with romance novels, but not necessarily the sex that has come to dominate many of the books filling social media feeds.

It comes social media turned books into shareable cultural currency and made romance one of the most visible genres online, but also blurred the line between books written for teenagers and adult romance packaged and promoted alongside them.

Enter the growing appetite for swoon without the spice. Age-appropriate romance is putting everything from first love and fake dating to mysterious strangers and handsome princes back on teenage reading lists, without wandering into adult sexual content.

Chanté du Plessis, Children’s Marketing and Publicity Coordinator at Jonathan Ball Publishers, said romance was enjoying a huge moment and social media had made it far easier for young readers to discover books.

The challenge is that what teenagers see online is not necessarily written for them.

Books Gen Alpha sees online is not necessarily written for them

Du Plessis said young readers were searching for books featuring the tropes dominating their feeds, including academic rivals, fake dating, and friends-to-lovers, but could easily find themselves picking up something considerably more adult.

“Many of the newly released romance books containing these themes are filled with spice. It’s very difficult to differentiate between a teen romance book and an adult romance book,” she said.

Teenage romance books still delivered all the butterflies and ‘giggling and kicking my feet’ moments while remaining closed-door or fading to black when relationships become more intimate.

BookTok has played a substantial role in romance’s popularity and, according to Du Plessis, helped make reading cool again.

“In a world where the youth are mostly communicating and interacting online, a place like BookTok had an immense positive impact on young readers and shaped the way publishing houses decided on what to publish more of,” she said.

Online platforms like this have also helped propel romantasy, where romance rather than fantasy becomes the main event, and the relationship plays out against a world of fairies, immortals, princes and knights.

Du Plessis said the category had grown from a subgenre into a literary force of its own.

Romance is also being wrapped around themes like Formula 1, tennis, horses, mysteries, and survival stories, giving teenagers a way into books through interests that they already have.

All the nice but without the spice

Du Plessis said romance novels allow Gen Alpha readers to encounter grief, anxiety, identity, rejection, and heartbreak through characters who experience many of the same uncertainties.

“Your teenage years are such a battle for identity already, and it’s nice to curl up with a book and realise that many people your age are also struggling with the same things.”

Rinse-and-repeat themes like well-worn enemies-to-lovers, love triangle, and soulmate formulas have a place on the bookshelf, she said.

“Teen readers still have a lot of life to live and books with popular tropes are an exciting way to experience what true love should look like, even if it is a little unrealistic,” Du Plessis said.

“Reading about soulmates and a green flag relationship can teach young readers what an un-toxic relationship should look like,” she said.

“At the end of the day, it’s better for your child to read romance than read nothing,” she said. “The right novel will hook a child to be a reader for life.”