As the title says, why are so many novels about being the: 'wife/mistress/concubine' of some succesful dude. And more importantly, why are so many people reading them, what is it that makes them interesting? I'm genuinely baffled.
If women want to read about a female being a badass, why can't she be single, why does she always need to be attached to some male figure?
And are males actually reading these novels or is the readership primarily female?
Discuss!
Dessem Mostly because they are emulating stories from China that they've read on this site. It's easier to come up with a story that piggybacks on ones you've read, starting with thoughts like "they should have done___". A big problem with Hidden Marriage was that it took forever for the romance to go anywhere so people might have them married already because they hated the wait.
There's a mixture of reasons, from sexism, audience advertisement, to piggybacking off an already popular series.
Having initially started off liking these, I can say that many of these don't actually start off as married. Some are right before the marriage, or some take a while to get married. However, the tropes remain the same. I suppose, that's why it's popular. Once you read one, you're still craving another of the same type. It's an almost guaranteed success.
Personally, I really intensely dislike the naming scheme. It pretty much points out that the female protagonist is someone else's, specifically a man's (property/wife/girlfriend/consort). The male protagonist is also generally (if not always) stronger and more OP than the female protagonist. Their word is also more reliable, just their presence is a shield for the FL. It's really sexist, but that's typical of Chinese culture.
shrugs
