20-22 June 2025
Perth Convention & Exhibition Centre

Romance Books and Wellbeing

Did you know reading romance books are beneficial to your health and well being?

 

Reading has been found to reduce stress by lowering your blood pressure and reading romance can help to release the feel-good hormone, serotonin. We all want to feel good and reading an engaging romance book can help you achieve that. Who doesn’t want to read about people overcoming obstacles to fall in love and find their happily ever after? Reading great books also helps to enhance our imagination and takes us to places we would never be able to visit.

 

Romance books help us to make sense of ourselves, our relationships, the people around us and what we want in life. They help us to figure out what we most desire in a partner, in our relationships and within ourselves. Romance books can help us to identify our own self-worth and value as well as increase our empathy toward others. They fill us with hope that we can all fulfil our dreams and desires.

 

Romance is the number one selling genre in fiction. That’s right. People regularly want to escape the real world and fall in love with compelling characters and storylines. Romance books are written primarily for women by women, which means they are geared to give women what they really want. What other genre allows you to fall in love with billionaires, mafia bosses, sports or rock stars, your sexy next door neighbour or your older brother’s best friend?

 

A common misconception about the romance genre is that it’s predictable. To a certain degree it is; there will always be a happily ever after. One could argue that all fiction books follow a predictable path; crime novels always solve the case. However, it must be pointed out that each author brings their own imagination, experiences and voice to the table, meaning no two romance books are ever the same. Within the romance genre, there is a broad scope of sub-genres which are bound to appeal to everyone. Whether you want fluff or horror; humour or angst; suspense or crime; contemporary or historical; fantasy or paranormal; erotic, spicy or clean; new or young adult; love at first sight or a slow burn; or LGBTQ+ you can find them all.

 

Gone are the days where reading romance books was considered something to be ashamed of or even hidden. No. Today, you can stand proud and shout it from the rooftops that you read romance books. Join the strong movement of empowered women who are actively and vigorously sharing their love for the genre.

Jules Allen

Jules Allen

Jules Allen, an award-winning Australian advocate and dynamic speaker, believes adversity is life's greatest gift. Overcoming childhood sexual abuse, addiction, and domestic violence, she now empowers others, caring for 32 foster children and advocating for adoption reform.

Her impactful journey, featured on Australian Story, includes rebuilding a refuge in the Solomon Islands and appearing on MasterChef. A leading expert on youth and women's issues, she was awarded the 2017 Alumni of the Year by Southern Cross University. Recently, she became an award-winning playwright, shedding light on foster care challenges, while her therapy work during COVID focuses on anxiety relief.