“The trick is to find that one person who can give it back as good as they can take it.”
Ever heard of the term ‘closed-door romance’ and wondered what it means? Join us at What We Reading as we explain what a close-door romance book is, the benefits and examples of them and how they differ from their open-door counterparts!
What Is A Closed Door Romance Book?
Closed-door romance books are romance stories that do not feature any intimate or explicit scenes. As the name would suggest, all of the steam is kept ‘behind closed doors’ i.e. out of sight. A book can either be closed-door through these types of scenes not featuring in the plot, or because the author has decided to keep things more family-friendly. Generally, if an intimate scene between two characters does occur in the book, the author may ‘fade to black’ or leave things implied.
The label ‘closed door romance’ is a helpful way of identifying how much spice there is in a book, and helps readers better prepare themselves for what sort of age rating they should expect from a story.
Romance books that feature steamy intimate scenes between characters are labelled open-door romances. These books can vary in how much detail they go into but, if readers are given access, it’s typically classed as an open-door romance as opposed to a closed-door romance.
Check Out Our Full Guide To Open-Door vs Closed-Door Romances
The Problems With Closed Door Romances
Whilst the idea of a closed-door romance may seem straightforward (‘open and shut’, some might say), the term can land differently for different readers. Purity culture is still a thing for lots of societies around the world, with some readers preferring to keep the closed-door tag strictly for books where there is no sex whatsoever, be it implied or described.
The closed-door tag has since come to also encompass the idea of ‘clean’ or ‘sweet’ stories, whereas open-door books have come to be seen as more ‘dirty’. This is somewhat problematic when it comes to those with more progressive ideals who don’t want to attract a bad look or comment for reading a story with some spice to it.
No book genre is better than any other, and judging anyone for enjoying what they enjoy is always the wrong play.
The Benefits Of Closed Door Romances
Ultimately, the term ‘closed-door romance’ lets readers know what they should expect before they read a book. With a relatively straightforward term such as ‘closed door’, readers can instantly know what is and, more crucially, what isn’t in a story and make a more informed decision on whether it is something they want to read or not.
Most readers are more likely to enjoy a book if they go into it with the correct information.
Other commentators have also expressed how the growth of closed-door romance books has been beneficial in authors’ ability to outline what they are comfortable writing about, how far they’re willing to go and establishing where their boundaries are. Talented romance writers mustn’t be put off or locked out of the genre just because they don’t want to write a certain way.
Authors can have control over what and what doesn’t go into their books and what their romantic plot lines consist of.
From readers to writers, everyone has their preferences when it comes to the love stories they consume. As the genre continues to grow, these preferences are becoming more and more specific, which is why a tag like ‘closed-door’ is so beneficial for establishing a niche in the market. From locked-in, friends-to-loves, fake relationships to grumpy/sunshine tropes, closed-door books can feature the same sorts of formulas and be just as cutesy and believable as their open-door counterparts.
Examples Of Closed-Door Romance Books
Looking to find your next great closed-door love story? Here are some examples of closed-door romance books and what gives them that tag:
- The Rosie Project – Graeme Simsion
- Why it’s closed-door: this quirky romance read on an awkward professor’s quest to find love downplays the intimate scenes, focusing more on the characters’ growth and development.
- The Hating Game – Sally Thorne
- Why it’s closed-door: this is an enemies-to-lovers book that is driven by the flirty tension and banter between its two protagonists rather than any intimate moments.
- Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine – Gail Honeyman
- Why it’s closed-door: while not a typical romance story, Honeyman’s book does feature a slow-burning love story. However, any romantic interactions are kept subtle and implied rather than being overtly described.
- The Wedding Date – Jasmine Guillory
- Why it’s closed-door: this romance novel revolves around two romantic characters, but their intimate scenes are implied rather than described. Instead, the focus is on the emotional connection they share, rather than their physical.
- The Kiss Quotient – Helen Hoang
- Why it’s closed-door: despite revolving around the romantic relationship between a woman with Aspergers and an escort, the intimate scenes between the pair are handled delicately. The bulk of the book’s focus is on understanding and their emotional connection.
The Chat Around What Is Closed-Door Romance
Most of the time, romance is a genre that consists of hilariously hapless characters navigating the world of love in a cutesy and relatable way. It is one of the most relatable genres in the world of books and attracts legions of fans as a result of this. Love stories can be different things to different people, tapping into any experience.
Closed-door romance books tend to offer different avenues for exploring intimacy. It’s not a flawless term for categorising every romance story in the world, potentially evoking the wrong sort of vibe for some readers or promoting unhelpful, outdated ideals for others, but discussing the closed-door subgenre is a great starting point for refining how we class the whole romance world. Ultimately, no type of genre is better than any other, and there are plenty of great closed-door romances out there that have served as the ideal gateways to the reading world for thousands of readers, which is always something to be celebrated.
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
