@ChrisJagged I noticed the lack of an option for "fine and I mildly prefer not having a romantic subplot"

Though, I don't even think that would be my real answer since my favorite books are technically romance novels (even though I would consider them more fantasy with a romance subplot). I think what matters most for me is whether the romance subplot seems like a natural consequence of other events in the story, in which case I'll probably enjoy it, or if it seems forced, in which case I won't.

@diazona

Yeah, I continue to curse the "4 answers only" for mastodon.social users

Six would cover the nuance for most situations.

@ChrisJagged yeah but why 2 options for preferring romance? One of them could have been "no preference". Or instead of "it depends", a more generic "other".
I'd have voted for either one of those because it doesn't depend, it's all the same to me

A story (be it fiction or non-fiction) can be good, or bad, with or without romance involved. I haven't noticed any strong pattern there