Romantic fiction is one of the big publishing success stories of the last five years. Passionate and vocal readers are driving conversations and massive sales. Trope bingo, charming banter and five-chilli-rated smut have all gone mainstream. Inevitably, this explosion of visible popularity has led to hot takes about the state of literature. If women - and particularly young women - like a thing then it must be ripe for ridicule. Romantic fiction is silly, poorly written and inherently retrograde! It is frivolous and it is rotting our brains! But romantic fiction is also a broad genre with a rich history that deserves to be taken seriously. These novels can be smart and spiky and funny and beautiful (and even those that aren't are answering a demand). So often they are written by women for women and they wholly inhabit the female gaze like few other pieces of pop culture. They reflect the concerns of their age - financial, sexual, political, professional - and they continue to change and flex with the times. And, besides, what is wrong with pleasure? In Love with Love will be a tour and a celebration of romantic fiction. A loving but sharp assessment of these books and our reading habits. 200 years of longing glances and many more to come...