Happy Pride Month, friends!

We have now entered June, a month in which the queer community defiantly celebrates our joy and diversity while corporations that ignore us the rest of the year (or actively legislate against us) try to throw a bunch of tasteless tone-deaf pride merch at us in an effort to grab that sweet, sweet queer cash. Yay!  (For the record, I am bisexual – disaster bi for life, fam!).

It is strangely fitting that last week I wrote a post about my current obsession with (mostly queer) romance novels, so I thought in honor of Pride Month I would share a few of my favorite queer romances. Every single one of these romances features queer MCs, but I cannot promise that every single author is themselves queer.

I do look for and read novels from out-queer authors, but it is a recorded fact that an outsized percentage of queer romances are written by straight cis woman. Or at least women who by all accounts seem to be straight and cis. Part of the confusion is that some of these romance writers maybe bi or nonbinary, but most do not divulge their orientations or identities at all. (There are a couple authors I am specifically thinking of that I pretty much assume are bi/pan but have not explicitly said so in their bios or social media, so… who knows?) Partly this is because it is safer marketing-wise not to divulge, but mostly this is because authors have every right to keep that information private if they so desire. So, to be clear, I am not out here demanding to know the sexual orientation of every romance novelist I read. Authors do not automatically owe us that (this is part of a larger issue with the Own Voices movement, which was well-intentioned when started but became weaponized very quickly and is now losing favor).

I admit that I do wish the publishing community in general would prioritize more genuinely queer authors writing these kinds of stories. However, that is NOT to say that I believe straight women (or straight men for that matter) are not allowed to write these, nor that a straight person is incapable of writing a very good, very well-researched, sensitive, and absolutely enjoyable queer romance. Some of my faves have come from KJ Charles, for instance, who is a straight woman and acknowledges the amount of research and sensitivity that is required when she writes queer characters.

In any case, let’s talk books!

For queer romance novels by queer writers, my brain does (of course) immediately jump to T.J. Klune, who I’ve mentioned before, as I wrote a review of his novel House in the Cerulean Sea last year. Klune has, in fact, written quite a large number of absolutely excellent fantasy romances. Two of his standalone novels, House in the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door are my personal favorites. But he has also written two YA novels about teenage superheroes in which much hilarity ensues amidst the romance called The Extraordinaries and Flash Fire (the third book, Heat Wave, is coming soon). And he’s written many many others, including his Green Creek series (Werewolf romance) and his immensely popular Verania series (high fantasy with all the gayness and drama). I haven’t read these yet, though they are definitely on my list of books to get to. But his beautiful, gentle, hopeful novel House in the Cerulean Sea will almost certainly remain my eternal favorite. I could rhapsodize about that book for ages, but it would probably be easier to just link to my original review here.

Cat Sebastian, author of many many queer (mostly m/m) romances is an out bi woman. She has a new release, The Perfect Crime of Marion Hayes, featuring an f/m pairing in which both characters are bi. I love that because bi men and women are so often accused of not being queer enough, and of no longer “counting” if they end up a relationship with a person of the opposite (or seemingly-opposite) gender. So I really appreciate that both characters are portrayed as still retaining their identities, as still bi, no matter who they end up with. 

As I said, Cat Sebastian has a very long (frankly intimidating) bibliography, and I have only just started to tackle her backlist, but I absolutely adored a pair of novels about a doctor and a spy in post-WW2 England: Hither, Page and The Missing Page. Hither, Page opens with a doctor, James Sommers who has moved back to his small English village following WW2. He was a promising surgeon, but the war left him scarred and suffering from PTSD he can no longer handle the sight of blood and death. When a house-cleaner, known for snooping on people, dies under suspicious circumstances, spy Leo Page is sent in to find out what really happened. James and Leo end up working together to solve the murder, as they grow increasingly attracted to each. But as Leo starts to put all the pieces together, he fears that solving the murder will destroy any chance of he has of being with James.

This book was both a great murder mystery and an absolutely charming romance, with two main characters with complicated pasts and motivations, a whole cast of fascinating eccentric villagers, and loads of sexual tension. The conclusion is earned and satisfying. And the sequel, The Missing Page adds so much to the characters and their relationship (and another fantastic murder mystery). I’m really hoping Cat Sebastian writes another one, but I’m not holding my breath. It looks like she’s moved on to other projects now. Alas.

A few other queer authors of queer romance include (but is certainly not limited to):

Casey McQuiston: the non-binary writer of the extremely popular Red, White, and Royal Blue (m/m) and One Last Stop (f/f)

E.E. Ottoman: transmasc author of several romances including The Doctor’s Discretion (m/m, also featuring trans characters), The Companion (f/f/m poly romance), and A Matter of Disagreement (m/m)

Alexis Hall: queer (unspecified but definitely queer) male author of quite a few great queer books including Boyfriend Material (m/m), Something Fabulous (m/m), and most recently A Lady for a Duke (transfemme/cis-man) which I haven’t read yet but I’m really hyped for!

One of my current faves is Jordan L. Hawk, author of the Whyborne & Griffin series (and others), but he gets his own post later so I can rant and rave properly!