I dunno about romance novels (nobody reads 'em?), but in the movies they tried to make men look taller (alan ladd, bogie, mel gibson, claude rains) because as actors they felt inadequate - their audience was crude and made jokes about shorties.  nowadays it's different, of course.  the audiences are much more refined, sophisticated, and they're too busy texting and throwing popcorn to even notice how short these guys are.