Philadelphia Phillies’ designated hitter Bryce Harper is among the growing number of men who are picking up the traditionally female-targeted romance novels, writes Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg for The Wall Street Journal.

In his recent interview with GQ, the seven-time All-Star said he enjoys reading novels by Elle Kennedy, a prolific romance novel author,  to wind down in the evening.

“How cool!” said Kennedy. “It’s not every day that a professional athlete talks about his joy of reading romance.”

When he was first asked by GQ what he was reading, Harper was not that eager to share his new enjoyment.

“I don’t really want to tell anybody what I read,” he said.

But once had he dropped his guard, he mentioned Kennedy’s books.

One of the books he finished is The Deal, the author’s best-seller set at a fictional Briar University. The book depicts a steamy romance between a college hockey star who is having trouble keeping his grades up and his fellow student who decides to tutor him to make another guy jealous.

Harper said he finished the book recently, as he was doing the second installment in the series, The Mistake.

Read more about Bryce Harper and romance novels in The Wall Street Journal.

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Author Aaf Tienkamp makes the case for romance novels which are generally seen as fluff and inconsequential or as “women’s porn”. However, romance novels aren’t about oppressing women, they are about empowering people.