Stepbrother Romance fills Amazon’s best-selling lists, leaving many to wonder why and others to binge their guilty pleasures. Today, I’m going to break it down for you.

We sometimes see Stepbrother Romances as taboo and borderline incestuous. But the characters have no blood relation. An adopted sibling romance would be more taboo because the love interests grow up together from a young age and develop the same bond biological siblings do. With Stepbrother Romances, their respective parents get married when they are teens or adults. This means they do not form the sibling bond that makes a sibling unattractive as a partner.

The proximity of the legally related lovebirds would cause tension for the families if their parents discovered their feelings. Most married couples wouldn’t want their kids hooking up. This makes stepbrother romances full of internal and external conflict. Neither person wants to complicate their relationship with their parents, nor do they want society to judge their relationship. Because of this, they often resist one another. Sexual tension builds, keeping the reader in a constant state of suspension. Will they or won’t they fight for love?

Because they live together, they spend ample time together. They see each other in a relaxed setting. They have more opportunities to show their vulnerability, and they can’t stop thinking about the person because they are always present. Their need for reciprocation grows. Confessions of feelings make it impossible for them to resist acting upon their desires. They cave and kiss, sometimes do more, convincing themselves that one night of uninhibited passion will be enough for them to move on. But their interaction proves they are a perfect match, and they must now choose between family and love.

Romance readers want to believe that someone will love them enough to sacrifice everything to be with them. Stepbrother Romances deliver that feeling, which makes me and others return to them time and time again.