I’ve read countless books. What I’ve noticed recently is the lack of interracial romance in books.
The first time I stumbled onto a mixed couple in a novel was back in high school. Then I stumbled onto a few more throughout the years. But if I could give you a number of books I’ve ever read that had a mixed couple, I would say less than 15-20 books. Seems like a lot, but if you’re a lover of books you know as well as I do that 15-20 isn’t much.
As an avid reader of romance for some reason, I didn’t realize there were books with mixed couples until I quite literally stumbled upon them. I knew they existed but the majority of romance novels were filled with white couples. Sure, there were books that I read that had African American couples, Asian couples all types of couples. But none of them were mixed couples. I knew they were out there, I just needed to find them.
So, I began a search for these novels. To be honest, it was very hard to find. What I did find was something called Indigo Love Spectrum. Which was a collection of romance novels that focused on adult fiction interracial romance. Also, the website described the lack of interracial relationship on their website. As “an area long neglected by the mainstream literary scene.” (GenisPress) Even they knew of the lack of mixed couples in America’s literature. These collections of books ranged from early 90’s to mid 2000’s.
But I still wasn’t satisfied so I Googled! Surely there were more! I then found that Goodreads and Amazon had a list of interracial romance novels (I know what you’re saying! Why didn’t she just look on Goodreads and Amazon in the first place?). I did numerous of times. I just didn’t find much of a selection. See the thing is these books were out there I just didn’t know where to look.
What I noticed throughout my search, was that adult fiction was what lacked interracial romances and that YA books excelled at them. Young Adult Books have incorporated all races, gender, sexuality and all types of romances. There are numerous of YA books one can choose from when it comes to interracial romance.
Although I’ve found a good amount of books on interracial relationships. I still don’t think there’s enough, I want more! I think interracial romance literature still has a long way to go in the literature world. But as of now they are doing very well. If you guys know of any good books with interracial romances in them. Let me know!
