It's cuffing season. Why readers are hitched to romance novels
Here & Now Anytime
NPR
4.1 • 953 Ratings
🗓️ 10 October 2025
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
And, Quraishi attended the Romantically Yours Book Convention in Orlando, Florida, to talk with attendees and featured authors about how the genre is growing and what draws readers to it.
Then, as “Grey’s Anatomy” turns 20, Deadline’s Lynette Rice and Here & Now’s Micaela Rodríguez unpack how the longest-running primetime medical drama still captivates audiences.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Support for here and now anytime comes from MathWorks, creator of MATLAB and Simulink software for technical computing and model-based design. |
| 0:09.2 | MathWorks, accelerating the pace of discovery in engineering and science. Learn more at Mathworks.com. |
| 0:17.0 | WBUR Podcasts, Boston. |
| 0:44.3 | Dragon Rider for Shadow Daddy. As romance novels enjoy mainstream success, readers are taking their excitement to bookstores and conventions. It's October 10th, and this is here and now anytime from NPR and WBUR Boston. |
| 0:50.5 | I'm Kalyani Saxana. |
| 0:54.4 | Today on the show, we're taking a much-needed breather from the headlines and basking in the glory of pop culture, including a deep dive into the long-running TV drama that just won't quit breaking our hearts. |
| 1:09.3 | I'm talking, of course, about Gray's Anatomy. |
| 1:12.4 | Derek, I love you. |
| 1:15.8 | In a really, really big, pretend to like your taste in music. |
| 1:22.2 | Let you eat the last piece of cheesecake. |
| 1:24.9 | Hold a radio over my head outside your window. |
| 1:29.1 | Unfortunate way that makes me hate you, love you. |
| 1:32.0 | So pick me, choose me, love me. |
| 1:37.5 | But first, we get to spend some time talking about my favorite thing in the whole world, |
| 1:43.0 | romance novels. Romance as a genre is having its |
| 1:46.7 | moment in the sun, much to the glee of those of us who actually spent years reading love |
| 1:52.1 | stories in the shadows. A pretty clear sign that the genre is flourishing is actually the boom |
| 1:57.2 | of romance bookstores and conventions across the country. Our very own producer, |
| 2:02.3 | Hafsa Kureshi, spent some time this fall reporting from a romance convention and a romance |
| 2:07.3 | bookstore in Orlando. And she joins us now to tell us more about her reporting. Hey, Hufsa, welcome. |
| 2:14.0 | Hey, Kalyan, you nice to be here. So, you know that I'm a lifelong romance reader. |
| 2:19.3 | And I was so excited when I saw that you were doing this reporting because I've covered romance for a while, but I've never gotten a chance to go to a romance convention. |
... |
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