Before you post your droll take about how #Bridgerton is boring, perhaps first consider: Maybe this show isn’t for you!

#Bridgerton isn’t flawless, and we should talk about it’s botched handling of race and consent. But it’s also the first mainstream adaptation of a wildly popular romance series in ages. You cannot divorce the show from its roots in the romance novel genre.

By comparing #Bridgerton to Jane Austen or Gossip Girl, you’re ignoring the fact that genre romance is a separate entity with its own tropes and conventions of plot, pacing & character development.

#Bridgerton nails that lush, sensory & tense vibe of romance novels.

Romance novels are the gradual build of tension, anticipation and desire between two characters. They feel anything but slow to readers who regularly devour a 400 page paperback in a matter of hours.

The mocking of #Bridgerton from cultural critics is frustrating and predictable considering the shit that romance gets as a genre. It’s elitist and ignorant, and lazy on the part of editors who chose writers who have never read a romance to review a big budget romance adaptation.

Romance readers are hungry for informed criticism of genre. INFORMED criticism. We want to read reviews and analysis from people who understand and respect the source material, and who challenge it to be better.

We don’t want snark bemoaning that #Bridgerton isn’t Jane Austen.