#genre ask

[gimmeromance]

Ask from @sexylibrarian93:

Hi there, I was wondering if I could get some recommendations. I work at a public library in rural Canada and my boss just asked for recommendations for queer romances to create a new collection at our library. I’ve already recommended your books, GL Carriger and the weird and wonderful anthology as a jumping off point but I was wondering if you or your followers had any other suggestions for paperback/physical books/authors to look for?

@thebibliosphere​ sent this to us since we’ve got a ton of ideas. LOL

Without knowing your library’s budget for this or policy on stocking indie authors vs. trad pub, it’s a little tricky to know what exactly to suggest... but here’s a few you might want to take a look at, and definitely check out other works by these authors too - several of these books are first-in-series and the entire series will fall into the Queer Romance category.

As a note there are a few authors who pretty much exclusively write queer romance: KJ Charles, Olivia Waite, Annabeth Albert, Cat Sebastian, Casey McQuiston, Alexis Hall, Keira Andrews, TJ Klune, Adrianna Herrera (a lot of it), Niamh Murphy, and Claire Lydon.

We also want to make it clear that bisexual, pansexual, demisexual, and asexual people can be in relationships with people of the opposite gender and it is still a queer romance. One partner does not stop being queer just because they are in a het relationship.

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The Love Study - Kris Ripper - M/Non-binary, Closed-Door, Contemporary, Romantic Comedy

Her Lady’s Honor - Renée Dahlia - F/F, Open-Door, 20th Century Historical (post WWI)

The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics - Olivia Waite - F/F, Regency, Unknown Heat Level

Once Ghosted, Twice Shy - Alyssa Cole - F/F, Contemporary, Black Romance, Unknown Heat Level

A Fashionable Indulgence - KJ Charles - M/M, Regency, Open-Door

Hither, Page - Cat Sebastian - M/M, 20th Century Historical (Post WWII), Open-Door

Their Troublesome Crush by Xan West - M/F Trans Romance, Open Door (Contemporary)

The Charm of Magpies Series, Book One: The Magpie Lord  KJ Charles M/M Open Door (Historical)

Edge of the Woods by Jules Robin Kelley M/F Bisexual, lots of queer side characters, queer romance, Open Door (Contemporary, Paranormal.)

Red White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston M/M Romance Open Door (Contemporary)

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall - M/M Romance Closed Door (Contemporary)

All or Nothing by Rose Lerner - M/F Bisexual Romance (Historical)

Mrs. Martin's Incomparable Adventure by Courtney Milan F/F Romance Unknown. (Historical)

Knit One, Girl Two by Shira Glassman - F/F Romance, Unknown. (Contemporary)

My Heart is in the Highlands by Amy Hoff - F/F Romance Open Door (Historical) 

The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz - F/F Asexual Romance, Closed Door. (Sci-Fi)

Lord of the Last Heartbeat: A Fantasy Romance (The Sacred Dark Book 1) by May Peterson - Trans Romance Unknown (Fantasy)

Place to Belong by Claire Boston - M/M Romance, Unknown (Contemporary)

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee - M/M Bisexual Romance, Unknown (YA Romance)

Take A Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert - M/F Bisexual Romance, Open Door (Contemporary, Interracial)

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender - Trans FtM/M, Unknown, (Contemporary, YA, Interracial)

Heart & Seoul by Erin Kinsella - M/F Demisexual, Open Door, (Contemporary, Interracial)

The Baroness Affair by Jean Wilde - M/M/F Polyamorous Equal Triad, Open Door (Regency, Historical)

Hunger Pangs: True Love Bites - M/M with hints of eventual M/M/F Polyamorous Equal Triad, Open Door (Victorian, Paranormal)

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Honestly we could go on forever about this ask. There are so many good authors out there now. If we missed your favorite it’s not a meant as a slight at all.

*These suggestions are not endorsements. Please read the description and the reviews to decide whether you want to read the books!

[gimmeromance]

Is there a book out there that's slowburn m/m friends to lovers in a typical high fantasy setting?

*These suggestions are not endorsements. Please read the description and the reviews to decide whether you want to read the books!

It feels like you're looking for something very specific here, and there's one thing that's a little hard for us to define if we haven't actually read the book, and that's 'slow burn'.

However, your chosen genre makes this a little easier; you don't get a lot of standalones in high fantasy. Is a romance that doesn't get an HEA until the end of a trilogy or a quartet or quintet a slow burn? By our definition, it pretty much has to be. Friends to lovers tend to be somewhat inevitable in a series like this too; the protagonists start out having to work together and eventually fall in love.

Therefore, what you'll find below is mostly recommendations to first-in-series (sometimes to series bundles, if available). We leave it up to you to take a look and see if you'd like to commit yourself to reading a full series to get to the HEA.

The Last Herald-Mage Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey - M/M, Closed Door, TW: Major Character Death. Possibly the 'foundational text' for the M/M High Fantasy subgenre, certainly the first one that came to mind when we saw this ask!

Scorpion by Aleksandr Voinov - M/M, Open Door, Military Romance, BIPOC Protagonists. Memory of Scorpions Trilogy.

Luck In The Shadows by Lynn Flewelling - M/M, No Sex (first book - subsequent books are closed door). Nightrunner series (7 books). First book is friendship only, romance develops in later books.

Lord of the White Hell by Ginn Hale - M/M, YA Fantasy Romance, BIPOC Protagonists, Unknown Heat Level. Book 1 of a duology; there are 5 books in the series so far but they are split into duologies.

Counterpoint by Rachel Haimowitz - M/M, Prisoner/Captor Romance, Elf/Human Romance, Open Door. Book 1 of a duology; Book 1 has a cliffhanger ending.

Note: Sorry for the delay. This ask was harder than it looked. There’s a lot of Gaslamp Fantasy that has M/M slow burn romance but not a lot of High Fantasy.

[gimmeromance]

Hi! I’m interested in sci-fi romances with either (or both!) lgbt or disability representation!

This is a tough one and it’s exactly what we’re here for. For disabled romance, we will be including mental and physical disabilities on this list. They will be stated.

LBGTQIA+ Sci-Fi Romance

The Shifting Ice by Alyce Caswell - M/M - Open Door - Interracial Romance

The Whispering Grass by Alyce Caswell - M/F - No Sex - Asexual Romance, Black Romance

The Creeping Moss by Alyce Caswell - FtM/F - Open Door - Transgender Romance

Evolved by N.R. Walker - M/M - Open Door - Android

The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz - F/F - Closed Door - Robot, Asexual Romance

That Alien Feeling by Alessandra Hazard - M/M - Open Door - Alien Romance

Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell - M/M - Unknown - Alien Romance

In the Wreckage by Hailey Turner - M/M - Open Door - Metahuman Romance, Military Romance.

Omega Revealed by Alexis B. Osbourne - M/M/F - Open Door - Omegaverse

Ecstasy from the Deep by Octavia Kore - M/M/F - Open Door - Alien Romance

Paid to Kneel by Romilly King - M/F - Open Door - Futuristic - BDSM, series It has come to our attention that Romilly King has been credibly accused of plagiarism and therefore we are immediately removing this book from our list.

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Disabled Sci-Fi Romance

The Hunger Games - M/F - Closed Door - Interracial Romance, Dystopia, YA Romance, Series - Peeta is an Amputee, Katniss has hearing loss, EVERYONE has PTSD.

The Grandfather Paradox by J.T. Bock - M/F - Unknown - Time Travel Romance (Sci-Fi based) - Hero is Hard of Hearing and uses a hearing aid - Series

Psy-Changeling Series by Nalini Singh - M/F - Open Door - Urban Fantasy - Shifter Romance. (Note: This series features heroes and heroines with Mental Illnesses and Physical Disabilities. I will try to list which books have the rep in it - As a note, after book 5 the books stop standing on their own... and the Psy-Changeling Trinity series is a pure continuation and cannot stand on its own.)

Visions of Heat (Book 2) - Mental Break, PTSD

Caressed by Ice (Book 3) - PTSD

Hostage to Pleasure (Book 5) - Claustrophobia

Blaze of Memory (Book 7) - PTSD

Heart of Obsidian (Book 12) - Mental Break/PTSD like OMG

Shield of Winter (Book 13) - Malfunctioning Tech on Arm

Ocean Light (PST Book 2) - Implant Malfunction, Mechanical Heart, PTSD

Wolf Rain (PST Book 3) - PSTD (TW: Pet Death)

Alpha Night (PST Book 4) - PSTD

Last Guard (PST Book 5) - Spinal Injury (In Pre-release)

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Both!

The Flickering Flame by Alyce Caswell - F/F - Open Door -  Interracial Romance, Amputee Heroine (who stays disabled)

Surrender Love by Kayelle Allen - M/M - Open Door - Alien Romance, Musician Romance, Nearly Blind Hero (This has the Magical Healing Cock Trope FYI)

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So you might have noticed 4 books by Alyce Caswell on this... Well, you can get all four in one compilation. And there are 3 other books in the Galactic Pantheon Series.

*These suggestions are not endorsements. Please read the description and the reviews to decide whether you want to read the books!

[gimmeromance]

Ask from a user who wants to remain private:

(Can this be anonymous please?) Hello lovely people! I was wondering if you had romace recs that veer on being YA? Like no explicit sex scenes in them but can still have some mature themes? Especially if it's fantasy, Sci-Fi, dystopian, or paranormal?

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So what it sounds like you’re looking for is romance with strong speculative fiction elements or vice versa but without explicit sex on the page, we’re assuming that you’re going to be okay with fade-to-black/closed-door sex.

Because of your interest, we’re limiting this just to speculative fiction (Fantasy, sci-fi, dystopian, paranormal, urban fantasy, gaslamp)

Hunger Pangs: True Love Bites (Fluff and Fangs Version) by Joy Demorra - M/M with hints of eventual M/M/F Polyamorous Equal Triad, Closed Door (Victorian, Paranormal, Vampire, Shifter)

Hunted by the Sky by Tanez Bhathena - M/F Romance, No Sex (YA, Paranormal - While this is YA it really leans hard toward not YA, Magic Users)

Trail of Lightning - Rebecca Roanhorse  - M/F,  Closed Door, Dystopian, Magic Users & Gods (Series ends happily)

Anita Blake Series - Laurel K Hamilton - Reverse Harem (ultimately), Paranormal, Urban Fantasy No Sex to Open-Door (eventually) Vampires, Shifters, and Magic Users - First sex scene is in Book Three. The Reverse Harem stuff starts in Book Ten - Book One

Children of the Night - Mercedes Lackey - M/F - Closed Door, Urban Fantasy, Magic Users, Vampires, Things that go Bump in the night, Historical, 1970s NYC. (BTW the order on amazon is on crack Trust me on this)

Legend of the Bloodstone - E.B. Brown - M/F - Closed Door - Time Travel Romance - Historical - Colonial Period - Interracial Romance.

Daughter of Time - Sarah Woodbury - M/F - Closed Door - Time Travel Romance/Fantasy - Historical - Medieval (At a certain point the series veers away from romance entirely and leans hard on the alternate history. But it’s still fun and it still has strong romantic elements).

The Vampire's Mail Order Bride - Kristen Painter -  M/F - Closed Door - Paranormal, Vampire

Once Upon a Time Travel - Sariah Wilson - M/F - Closed Door - Time Travel, Magic Users (as a note this author seems to only write closed door)

The Iron King - Julie Kagawa - M/F - Closed Door - YA Fantasy

Graceling - Kristin Cashore - M/F - Closed Door - YA Fantasy

Fledgling - Natasha Brown - M/F - No Sex - YA Paranormal, Disabled MC

A Civil Campaign - Lois McMaster Bujold - M/F, Closed Door, Sci-Fi Romance, Disabled MC (this is 12 books deep in a series but as a sci-fi romance it’s spectacular, and if you like SF the whole series is amazing)

The Fire Rose - Mercedes Lackey - M/F, Fairy Tale Retelling, No Sex

The Ship Who Sang - Anne McCaffrey - M/F - No Sex (Closed Door in the sequels) - Sci-Fi Romance (Trigger Warning: Ableism)

Restoree - Anne McCaffrey - M/F - Closed Door - Sci-Fi Romance (Trigger Warning: Body Trauma)

Freedom’s Landing - Anne McCaffrey - M/F - Closed Door - Sci-Fi Romance

The Rowan - Anne McCaffrey - M/F - Closed Door - Sci-Fi Romance (not available in e-book, we suggest taking it out from your local library)

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These suggestions are not endorsements. Please read the description and the reviews to decide whether you want to read the books!

[gimmeromance]

Ask from a user who wants to remain anonymous:

Can you please keep me anonymous? 

I watch a lot of True Crime and like to listen to True Crime podcasts. Would you be able to recommend any romance that is also true crime? Like a romance that also has an intense investigation going on as part of the plot?

We’re interpreting this as Romantic Suspense which has the FEEL of True Crime. Because generally, actual true crime rarely goes into details about the side romances of people involved, even though we’re sure they actually happen.

*These suggestions are not endorsements. Please read the description and the reviews to decide whether you want to read the books!

An Unwilling Earl by Sharon Cullen - M/F, Victorian, Open Door. A serial killer is killing servant girls in Victorian London.

In Her Sights by Katie Ruggle - M/F, Contemporary, Open Door. First in a series about five bounty hunter sisters. 

The Scent of Murder by Kylie Logan - M/F, Contemporary, Closed Door. Heroine trains cadaver dogs.

The Last Sister by Kendra Elliot - M/F, Contemporary, Closed Door. Hero is FBI, heroine’s sister was murdered.

Proving Ground by Stanalei Fletcher - M/F Contemporary, Unknown Heat Level. MCs are trying to stop a bioterrorism attack.

After the Dark by Cynthia Eden - M/F - Contemporary, Open Door, MCs are hunting a serial Killer (Note: the series is about a team of people hunting serial killers. And the Author writes a lot of this kind of thing)

Driven by Rebecca Zanetti - M/F - Contemporary, Unknown, MCs are hunting a serial killer.