Queerplatonic book recs, that actually have QPRs, inspired by me seeing someone listing qpr books that were literally just queer people being friends 🤦♀️
These all have the main characters in queerplatonic relationships, explicitly/unambiguously in a lot of cases - though actually I have added a few more that are more vague/word of god. but still more qpr-ish than anything else
The Thread That Binds
solarpunk-fantasy about queer bookbinding witches, 2/3 MCs are an aroace & an ace in a QPR
Baker Thief
superhero fantasy with a bigender aromantic superhero / demisexual woman QPR
Not Even Bones
YA supernatural trilogy where the main characters initially seem to be developing a romantic relationship, but eventually realise in the final book neither actually feel that way, and settle into more or less a QPR (without labels, but it’s pretty clear). There’s a webtoon adaptation of this, and while it still doesn’t label them in the dialogue it does in the author’s note of the relevant episodes
Two Dark Moons
YA fantasy where an arospec girl & ace lizard kid accidentally get fantasy-married & develop a friendship/qpr
The Wolf Among The Wild Hunt
dark fantasy novella with an aroace wolfman & nonbinary knight qpr
Our Bloody Pearl
NA fantasy with a siren & ace pirate, originally marketed as a romance, but it is pretty much a qpr and that’s what the author intended!
The Reckless Kind
historical YA with an aspec girl becoming a family with her best friend and his boyfriend
Fire Becomes Her
YA, 1920s inspired fantasy world, demiro girl breaks free of her relationship and instead ends up in a QPR with a nonbinary transmasc ace.
If It Makes You Happy
YA contemporary about a girl navigating her queerplatonic relationship with her best friend, and a possible new romantic relationship.
Royal Rescue
high fantasy with an amatonormative royal marriage system, where the aroace MC has had enough, rescues himself, and starts to dismantle the system, finding a QPR on the way
The Heretic’s Guide To Homecoming (duology)
slow introspective high fantasy following two characters on a journey, doesn’t explicitly have them define their relationship in a QPR-like way, but undeniably focuses on complex platonic relationships and narratives & I think it’s satisfying if you’re looking for that
Natural Outlaws and Fractured Sovereignty
NA dark fantasy/heist-ish story, Aro bi & allo MCs who become a QPR
Until The Last Petal Falls
fantasy novella, Nigerian beauty & the beast retelling with two aroace MCs who form a QPR
Lays of the Hearth-Fire (Hands of the Emperor, At The Feet of the Sun)
slow character-focused high fantasy duology (so far) about a . in book two their relationship develops into something akin to a QPR - there’s an in-universe name for it. it’s discussed and defined a lot.
Lord of the Empty Isles
scifi/fantasy adventure centering platonic relationships with no romance - the central relationship is marketed as a QPR though to me personally it reads as a platonic relationship with nothing specifically or explicitly QPR about it. but maybe others feel differently
Compound Fracture
YA thriller/horror, the MC has a light subplot of figuring out he’s aromanticism, and in the epilogue it’s mentioned that he might potentially be interested in a QPR with another character he became closer to in the book (so, adjacent)
The Spider and her Demons
YA paranormal. another one that’s not explicit, but the MC is pretty heavily aroacespec coded, and the main relationship develops in a very is-this-platonic-is-it-romantic-sapphic-aspec way. the author is aroace and says they consider it a QPR
D.I.Y
short story, the author labels them as a QPR though it’s not explicitly discussed
By Your Side
short story about a bi girl discussing and entering a QPR with her aromantic friend.
In The Jaws of an Oak
horror/erotica novella - I haven’t seen this called a QPR but I kinda interpret it as such? it’s romantic on one side, but one MC is aromantic and it’s made clear she doesn’t feel romantic feelings, just sex+companionship.
Archivist Wasp / Firebreak
honorable mention because i love them - all of the nicole kornher-stace’s works focus on platonic m/f relationships in a very aspec way, and have absolutely no romance anywhere. one of the central relationships is very much platonic soulmates/ qpr vibes (postapoc ghosty sci-fi/fantasy YA & dystopian anticapitalism)
