I agree with you so much. I'm looking for compelling stuff. I never read many romance novels - a few of the classics at the time when I hit high school, but then I lost interest. But recently I leafed through a book on how to write a romance novel, and it seemed so restrictive. It didn't offer much room for innovation. Everyone was stuffed into a role, and the reader's expectations of what was permitted seemed to be overemphasized. In other words, no squidfic allowed.