So, you want to become a romance listener? Or maybe you want to impress the romance fan in your life. First of all: welcome!! Second, we residents of Romancelandia take love very seriously (and also not seriously at all). Whether you’re here for the slow burns, the spicy fake-dating disasters, or the happily ever after—which every romance has—this guide is your crash course. I’ve decoded the lingo, broken down the classic tropes, and paired each one with recs that totally deliver a perfect start to your romance journey. Cheers to loving love—and happy listening!
Love talk, a glossary of romantic terms:
BDSM: Bondage & Discipline, Dominance & Submission, Sadism & Masochism. Often used as an umbrella term for various activities and role-playing scenarios that explore kink and power dynamics.
BIPOC: Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. Used to highlight and center the experiences, voices, and representation of nonwhite communities.
Book boyfriend/girlfriend: A fictional, crush-worthy character who readers adore—or audiobook boyfriend, in our world.
Book hangover: The feeling of being unable to stop thinking about a story after finishing it.
Cinnamon roll: An excessively kind, sweet, and cute character.
Closed door: Sex is implied but not shown; the door “closes” before the scene.
DNF: “Did Not Finish”
Fade to black: The story cuts away just as things get steamy.
FMC: Female main character
FWB: “Friends With Benefits“
Grumpy/sunshine: One love interest is broody; the other is cheerful. Also called black cat/golden retriever.
HEA: “Happily ever after.” A must for traditional romance.
HFN: “Happy for now.” A more realistic or tentative ending.
Instalove: Characters fall in love very quickly.
May-December romance: A relationship between two people with a significant age gap.
Meet cute: Two people meet for the first time, typically under unusual, humorous, or cute circumstances.
Meet ugly: When the leads meet for the first time in some awful/dangerous situation.
MM: Male/Male romance involving two male-identifying characters.
MFM: Male/Female/Male romance involving two men, and one woman, where the men are only romantically involved with the woman, not with each other.
MMF: Male/Male/Female romance involving two men, and one woman, where all characters romantically involved with each other.
MC: Main character
MMC: Male main character
NSFW: Not Safe for Work
One bed: A classic trope in which two characters are forced to share a bed, leading to tension or intimacy.
Open door: Steamy scenes happen on the page with explicit detail.
Slow burn: The romantic payoff builds gradually; tension simmers for a long time.
Spicy: The book has explicit scenes (a.k.a. steam or heat).
Sweet: The romance is clean or low-steam, focused more on emotion.
Tension: Emotional or physical buildup between characters, which is often drawn out.
TBLT: “To Be Listened To.” A collection of audiobooks that a person intends on listening to at some point in the future.
TBR: “To be read.” A collection of books that a person intends on reading at some point in the future.
Common romance tropes, and sub-genres fans can’t get enough of:
Enemies-to-lovers
Combustible tension that turns into desire.
Friends-to-lovers
Sweet, slow transitions built on trust.
Fake-dating
Pretending for convenience, but feelings get real.
Marriage of convenience
Commitment without love, until love complicates everything.
Forced proximity
Snowed in, stuck together, only one bed!
Second-chance
Rekindling the spark after heartbreak.
Grumpy/sunshine
Opposites attract and balance each other out.
Billionaire
Finding something real in a world where everything can be bought...except love.
Forbidden love
Social, familial, or professional boundaries create risk.
Found family
Romance with strong themes of community and healing.
Dark romance
Love that lives in the shadows, with high emotional stakes, and morally gray dynamics.
Paranormal
Supernatural worlds, powerful beings, and love that defies the ordinary.
Romantic suspense
The threats are real, and so are the feelings that are brewing.
Regency
Set during the British Regency era, where propriety meets passion—often with a gloved hand.
Romantasy
A romance/fantasy blend, where romance and fantasy elements need to have an equal presence.
Common tropes in romantasy
Fated mates
A bond beyond choice. Two souls destined to find each other, whether they want to or not.
Magical trials/Deadly competitions
High-stakes competitions test power, loyalty, and love in equal measure.
Hidden kingdom/Secret lineage
Secret realms and royal intrigue where magic, danger, and slow-burn tension collide.
Popular romance formats in audio
You’ve learned the lingo. You know the tropes. Now, let’s talk about how these stories come to life in your ears. Audio adds a new layer to romance, letting you feel every heartbeat, every whisper, and every pause in a way that pulls you deeper into the story. It is the difference between reading about a kiss and feeling it, between seeing tension on the page and hearing it in a voice. For romance fans, listening is the most immersive way to experience the love story.
From solo reads to full casts, narration style can completely change the experience of a love story. While solo narration remains the standard, dual and duet performances have been turning up the emotion, making it way harder to stop listening.
Single narrator: One voice performs all characters and points of view.
Dual narration: Two narrators alternate by chapter or POV (female narrator for her chapters, male for his).
Duet narration:Two narrators read their characters’ dialogue in real time, like a play: her voice for her lines, his for his, even in the same chapter.
Full cast: A full ensemble performs the book with individual actors for each character.
Sound designed/Scripted immersive audio: Features background ambiance, enhanced breathing or movement sounds, and cinematic transitions—especially in full-cast or duet formats.
