Nicole Costello wasn’t always an avid reader. Growing up and into her teenage years, she said, trying to get her to read was “like pulling teeth.”

“I did it for school, and that was it,” Costello explained. “Never for enjoyment.”

When Costello was 23, she was going through a very dark period in her life — she struggled with depression, anxiety and at one point, she even considered taking her own life. It was during those days where she couldn’t get out of bed that Costello discovered The Hunger Games books written by Suzanne Collins after her mother bought her the first book.

“I stayed in bed and I read everything I could get my hands on every day, all day, for around three straight months,” Costello recalled. “I feel like reading pulled me out of that hole, and I just never stopped after that.”

Costello has graduated from the young adult dystopian series and is now an avid romance fan. When she found out the Winters Public Library had an adults-only romance book club, Costello figured it was a great opportunity to meet other people in her community who have a shared interest in the swoon-worthy stories she consumes.

The All You Need Is Love Book Club meets every second Saturday at Hooby’s Brewing in downtown Winters — a unique location for a nontraditional sisterhood of readers who all crave stories to sweep them off their feet.

The books the club chooses to read come from all different subgenres within the romance umbrella. From enemies to lovers fantasy-inspired stories riddled with dragons and rom-coms with character, to tropes of “fated mates” involving seven-foot-tall blue aliens — there is something for everyone at All You Need is Love.

The club is offered through the Winters Public Library, with each session being led by Winters Librarian Ashleigh Torres, a self-described romance aficionado.

“Growing up, I would read all kinds of different books, and I was always like, ‘Okay, get to the point where they’re declaring their undying love for each other,’” Torres said. “It encompasses that hope and that love of love, but then also touches on a variety of topics, more so than any other genre, I think.”

Romance is the most read genre in the United States, according to Google Trends data, and is the top genre in 22 states. General fiction and poetry tied for second place, dominating in nine states each. Fantasy was strongest in six states, and family-themed literature in three.

The Winters book club was started in January 2022 to bring fellow romance lovers together, regardless of whether they’re romance enthusiasts or beginners. One of the original members of the book club was Carla Tibble, who, prior to the first meeting, had never read a romance book.

However, after reading The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang, Tibble said she was hooked.

“It is an escape, but it’s an escape that I think imbues you with all kinds of hopefulness, and if we have nothing else, we need that,” she said. “You’re in this space, and it’s just like you forget about all the other things.”

Tibble said the club itself is filled with fellow women who made her feel comfortable to explore a new-to-her genre, and Torres always makes sure new and old members alike feel welcome.

“Ashleigh always reminds us that you don’t have to finish your book if you don’t like it,” Tibble said. “Some people are really busy, and they come just for a few meetings, but then we’re always happy to see them. I think that’s another really good thing about this book club. It’s very accepting.”

Carolyn DeBuse is a fellow reader and member of the All You Need Is Love Book Club. She said for her, joining a book club is similar to how others join a recreation sports league.

“Reading is a personal sport,” she explained. “To speak to other people who are sharing the same experience, it’s like you’re on a team. We’re on the reading team.”

Maya Wildgoose is an original member of the All You Need Is Love Book Club, and she said something she has enjoyed about the book club is the diversity of its members.

“We have young people, people retired, we have this huge gamut that’s people with different experiences and reading, including some people who have never really read that much,” Wildgoose explained. “There’s just such a discourse about the reading world in general here which you just don’t necessarily find in.”

Stephanie Elliott lives in Winters and is also a member of the book club. She said she grew up reading different books than her peers — from autobiographies to tales of vampires and werewolves. She said part of the appeal of romance is there’s always tension leaving you at the edge of your seat, but you know the issues will resolve by the book’s end.

“You know they’re gonna end up okay, together, but you’re wanting to know how,” Elliott explained. “You know how it’s probably gonna end, but what’s happened in the middle? There’s something comforting about knowing everything is going to be okay.”

The club is open to any adult romance aficionados, but all of the club’s recurring members have been women, minus Torres’ husband, who came for the Fourth Wing meeting.

According to a study done by Romance Writers of America, women make up 82% of the romance book market. The average age of a romance reader is estimated to be between 35 and 39; however, there has been a rise in the genre’s popularity among Gen Z readers, thanks to the “BookTok” community and the romanticization of reading on platforms like TikTok.

Wildgoose said one of the main appeals of reading romance is how it depicts the male love interests, and she thinks some men could benefit from exploring the predominantly female genre.

“If men read more romance, maybe they could potentially learn a lot from romance,” she said. “For the most part, the men in these books are very feminist and very empathetic. Some men don’t think they can be feminists, but most of these men are and model it in a way that maybe feels more approachable.”

For DeBuse, romance is more than just a light-hearted genre or an escape from the curveballs life can throw. For her, it’s about reliving and feeling the emotions of the most magical thing that can happen to a person: falling in love.

“Falling in love happens to a person, if they are lucky, once in their life, and it is magical,” DeBuse said. “The feeling, the magic spark, to see it in on a page between two characters is often reliving some of the magic spark we had once or twice in our life that we got lucky enough to fall in love.”