Romance books with origins in fanfiction are increasingly common on bookstore shelves. They come in different flavors, each with its own set of issues to dig into. The most common types are books derived from an established fanfiction ship within a copyrighted IP. These are, for example, the Reylo (Rey/Kylo Ren from Star Wars) and Dramione (Draco/Hermione from Harry Potter) fics with the “serial numbers filed off,” as people say. In 2025, at least three different Dramione fics were published traditionally. Some of the marketing for these books was bold enough to proclaim the book’s fanfic roots rather than obfuscating them. This blurring of the lines between the not-for-profit ethos of the fanfiction world and the turbo-capitalism of the publishing industry was honestly quite shocking to behold.
Another variety of fanfic that has been edging its way into the mainstream is real-person fiction. These are stories about fictionalized versions of real people. Famously, the After series by Anna Todd is one such work, as it pairs a character based on Harry Styles with an original character. I could find no definitive confirmation that If Not For My Baby by Kate Golden began its life as Hozier fanfic. However, the book is about a tall, long-haired, mononymic Irish music star whose name starts with an H. He sings about worshiping women and pining for them. It’s certainly getting into “walks like a duck” territory.
When Life Inspires Art
Third, we have stories inspired by real-life relationships. When a relationship blows up in the zeitgeist, whether it’s a fleeting viral meet-cute captured on a bystander’s social media or celebrities falling in love publicly, some authors get to typing. The tricky part is we can’t know the authors’ hearts. Whether an author was deeply inspired by a love story or they saw an opportunity to make a quick buck is not going to be an easy distinction to draw. What I think we can do is take a look at these books on their own merits. Does the story rise above the inspiration? Does it go to an imaginative place, or examine a relationship in a thought-provoking way?
This phenomenon raises so many questions beyond these. Do these books take the parasocial nature of celebrity culture to a toxic extreme? Are celebrity personas so divorced from the people behind them that these books are not so different from the Reylo and Dramione books? Are these books truly doing harm? Or can we trust writers and readers to explore potentially problematic topics in books without harmful consequences? I can think myself in circles about these questions and frequently do. Each of the following romances based on real-life relationships has interesting wrinkles that will give you much to think about.
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Heavy Hitter by Katie Cotugno
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce started dating in 2023. By August 2024, this book, about the romance between a pop star and a professional baseball player, hit shelves. The marketing material called this a “ripped-from-the-headlines romance” and name-dropped the pairings of “Taylor and Travis. Jennifer and A-Rod. Marilyn and Joe.” Maybe you’re inclined to think this project was lazy. I’ll encourage you to read Rena Rani of Smart Romance’s Substack post about the book and reconsider. She argues that the book paints a compelling portrait of how a celebrity might show up in a relationship when broader society has reduced them to a content factory. Reducing this book to a quick cash grab kind of rhymes with that theme, doesn’t it?
American Royalty by Tracey Livesay
Tracey Livesay is one of my favorite contemporary romance authors, so I was happy to give her romance inspired by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle a chance. This book’s marketing materials also make plain the connection between the book and the real-life couple. Frankly, however, there aren’t many similarities between the characters in the book and the real people. Yes, there’s a white English royal and a Black American woman. But Prince Jameson has a day job as a professor and leads a somewhat reclusive life. Danielle “Duchess” Nelson is a bold and sexy rapper who needs some good press. She’s more Megan Thee Stallion than Meghan Markle. The two end up in a forced proximity bubble that allows their relationship to unfold. Ultimately, I think this book is about how people respond to extraordinary pressure, an experience that can translate well beyond the inspiration.
Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman
This is a book that was not inspired by a real-life romance per se, but the romantic energy oozing from the 2011 GQ profile of Chris Evans written by Edith Zimmerman. Anyone familiar with that viral article knew what the book was referencing right off the bat. Still, the author did cop to her inspiration in a Shondaland interview with Zan Romanoff. Zimmerman was not mentioned in the book’s acknowledgments, though. Given that the article describes a very short period in the writer’s and the subject’s life, the book has to imagine a much larger world for the characters to inhabit. At the same time, one can argue that writing a romance between a female journalist and a male subject is perpetuating a harmful stereotype with real-life ramifications, regardless of the story’s inspiration.
That Could Be Enough by Alyssa Cole
This novella is from the trio of linked stories collected in Hamilton’s Battalion. It’s also an example of why I think it’s impossible to draw any bright line about whether romances based on true stories are exploitative or unethical. This story is a sapphic romance between two free Black women in the orbit of Eliza Hamilton. In the author’s historical note, she mentions the book Charity and Sylvia as a helpful resource. That book details a real-life same-sex marriage between the titular women in early 1800s America. Any inspiration Cole took from this real couple’s story could hardly be called exploitative. If anything, citing solidly researched history published by an august academic press is a good defence against the homophobes who claim queer historical romances are ahistorical! This novella is an affirming and heartfelt story about opening one’s heart to the possibility of love.
Ultimately, I am always curious about the zeitgeist. As I write this, I’m seeing jokes online about the Omegaverse energy between World Cup stars Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham. Omegaverse is yet another romance subgenre that has broken fanfic containment for traditional publishing deals. So if in a year or two, we are seeing celebrity sports Omegaverse romances hit shelves, please remember that I saw it coming.
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