The billion-dollar romance publishing industry hasn’t always been inclined to feature main characters who use wheelchairs or are autistic reveling in the pleasure of a lover’s touch.
Writers, however, have always been telling those stories. A few years ago, big publishers seemed to be catching up.
The COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed a shift in romance publishing, with more books making store shelves that featured protagonists with disabilities (including physical disabilities, mental illness and chronic illness) and those who identify as LGBTQ+ and BIPOC.
The rising tide of diversity was welcome for twin sisters Hannah and Lily Barrett, of Malden, who both are hard of hearing and have used cochlear implants since childhood. The majority of their lives had been devoid of books that served as mirrors — characters that reflected their experiences, particularly when it came to romantic relationships.
Lily emphasized the meaning behind “seeing yourself in a story, especially a story with a happy ending.”
In that vein, the Barrett sisters decided to launch their own side business called Read My Lips Boston. It’s a “pop-up inclusive romance bookshop” that highlights historically underrepresented voices, holding events at breweries, distilleries and cafes around the Boston area.
They feel readers of all identities and experiences deserve to feel worthy of love and “spice,” an publishing industry term for intimacy and sex that’s exploded in popularity in recent years.
Read My Lips also hosts book clubs, writing workshops and comedy nights, often partnering with other local businesses and donating a portion of their earnings each month to a different nonprofit.
Hannah and Lily — who live just 15 minutes apart — work full-time jobs in tech, and Hannah was previously a Fulbright scholar who traveled to Australia after college to study the impacts of societal stigma related to hearing loss.
Read My Lips emerged from pandemic-era virtual community, when so many people turned to the comfort, escape and joy of books in increasingly uncertain times. Between 2020 and 2023, print sales of romance books more than doubled, increasing from approximately 17-18 million copies to nearly 40 million copies, according to the New York Times.
The twins started by making connections on “Bookstagram” — the book world corner of Instagram — and going to events at All She Wrote Books and Side Quest Books & Games, both in Somerville. They felt inspired to further combine their love of reading with the social justice elements of representation in literature.
“I’ve had a lot of conversations with people like, ‘I’m alone in my struggles with dating and I haven’t read books about people like me finding love and happily ever after,’” Hannah said.
When they held their first pop-up in February 2024, she added, “we knew that we weren’t the only ones kind of experiencing what it was like to not feel seen in the books that we read.”
And they were right.
The line was out the door. Hannah and Lily watched as attendees contagiously made friends with one another; sharing book titles, experiences and laughs.
“I think the romance reading community in particular is just really supportive of each other and really invested in community and experiencing that joy together,” Lily said.
There’s certainly been an influx of diverse authors and storylines in recent years, but Hannah and Lily see their pop-up as more important than ever with progress under threat: book banning conversations are increasingly taking place across the country.
Since 2021, PEN America has tracked 22,810 cases of book bans across 45 states and 451 school districts, for example. Particularly targeted are books reflecting LGBTQ+ stories.
And diverse representation in romance publishing overall still remains extremely low — an annual report by The Ripped Bodice put the percentage of BIPOC authors industry-wide at 11% in 2024.
Romance novels: ‘Trojan horse’ for important topics
Traditional romance publishing typically spotlights characters who are ”white, heterosexual, cis and able-bodied” as deserving of love stories, Hannah said.
But the books sold and featured by Read My Lips highlight intersectional characters who capture the nuances of identity. And sometimes written in fantastical settings — dubbed as the “romantasy” genre.
In “I’m in Love with Mothman” by Paige Lavoie, the main female character has Hashimoto’s, an autoimmune disorder affecting the thyroid gland. She moves to a remote cabin in the woods and finds love with a cryptid, a winged man resembling a moth.
“The Whispering Dark” by Kelly Andrew follows a deaf college student in a dark academia fantasy setting as she investigates a series of student deaths at her magical university.
Contemporary romance novels are tackling paramount topics, as well.
In “The Luis Ortega Survival Club,” a young adult novel by Sonora Reyes, the main character is a non-speaking autistic Latina who fights back after a sexual assault.
And in “Full Disclosure” by Camryn Garrett, the main character navigates a blossoming romantic relationship while living with HIV.
Lily called romance novels “a Trojan horse for really, really important topics and important experiences and voices.”
Both Hannah and Lily emphasized that one character with a particular disability is not universally representative — everyone’s experiences are different, and that comes up often in their book club discussions.
They say, “If you’ve met one person with (that disability), you’ve met that one person.”
Once the holiday shopping season concludes, the Barrett sisters will start gearing up for February — the most romantic month of the year. Already on the docket for the month is a spicy writing workshop at Short Path Distillery in Everett on Feb. 8, and a bookshop pop-up and comedy show featuring New Normal Boston at Idle Hands Craft Ales in Malden on Valentine’s Day.
You can stay up-to-date on their events here.
Their favorite books published in 2025
We asked Hannah and Lily for their favorite books published in 2025.
Hannah’s recs:
- My Best Friend’s Honeymoon by Meryl Wilsner
- Single Player by Tara Tai
- Behooved by M. Stevenson
- A Gentleman’s Gentleman by TJ Alexander
- Faebound by Saara El-Arifi
Lily’s recs:
- Flirting Lessons by Jasmine Guillory
- Love is a War Song by Danica Nava
- Get Real, Chloe Torres by Crystal Maldonado
- Kiss Me, Maybe by Gabriella Gamez
- A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna
