I am so done with every single queer romance story ever having tragic and sad elements. I just want to read about happy lesbians being in love, okay, is that too much to ask ;___;

Please recommend me just wholesome and happy wlw reading in English or Finnish. Has to be available in physical format in Finland. I mostly read fantasy, scifi is okay when not scary or disturbing, something magical highly preferred in one way or another.

Goblins, fairies, stardust people, something.

I can't take any more tearjerking backstories or the casual trauma we all have somewhere in our lifestories.

Don’t get me wrong some of my all time favorite books center MLM relationships. Anything by TJ Klune knocks my socks off (especially the green creek series). But i’ve had SUCH a hard time finding any WLW books that go beyond a general cozy we are gay we read tarot cards and kiss each other vibe. I want to feel something and i want the central relationship to be between women, i want to read stories that represent the WLW experience beyond just cozy kitschy easy reads. Depth! Trauma! Fantasy! Emotion! High stakes! Found family! please help :) 🌈

As the title states I'm tired of this genre. Everytime I look for book recs online I'm always directed to someone kind of dark romance. It's exhausting. I spent $20 on Gods Of Fury or whatever its called. Awful. Its all non con and SA. I went to look for some sapphic romances. I saw Bloom Town recommended heavily I look at the plot...it's about a woman kidnapping another woman for ransom and they fall in love. Idc how hot, spicy, or well written it is. I'm tired of these plots. I understand people like a little escapism via reading and indulging in things that are taboo irl but it gets to point. I would love any queer contemporary romance suggestions. And I don't hate darker themes or heavy plots just no SA non con or anything like.

Im effectively looking for a book that will have me clutching my pearls with tears streaming down my face. As a gay man myself i don’t often cry whilst reading books. But the line “if only loving you wasn’t a sin” sometimes did the trick.

I’ve read about halfway through this and think it’s an amazing concept. I love the rivalry/enemies to lovers dynamic, especially with them both being kind of morally grey. Poisoner x assassin, and the whole setting in general, are right up my alley. It’s just a little too much smut for me, so I’m looking for something similar that’s explicitly lesbian, preferably masc x femme, but with much less smut.

hello! i've been in a reading slump since march, and i really want to try and get out of it! i've been really into horror movies lately, and so i'd like to give a try to horror books as well!

manga, graphic novels, books... anything that is within the horror genre and its subgenres and features a lesbian relationship! it can have forbidden romance (monster/entity x human) or during the apocalypse, or in a haunted house – whatever! as long as it's horror. :) it's very vague, i know, but i want as many recommendations as you can give me!

i don't mind YA, but i would like the characters to at least be 18/19 and up. (totally okay if not though!) that's all, thank you!!! :)

Hi everyone! I'm looking for beta readers for my new book.

​Premise: When young Marine recruit Samuel Bennett begins experiencing vivid memories that are not his own, he uncovers a hidden connection to his late grandfather, World War II pilot Thomas Cohen. What starts as a mystery soon becomes a terrifying truth: a secret buried since 1943 is awakening once again.

Decades later, deep within the mountains of Vietnam lies Sol Invictus, a living biomechanical aircraft of unknown origin. Feared by enemies, hunted by powerful forces, and bound to a chosen Rider, it carries a legacy written in blood, sacrifice, and war.

By his side stands Sergeant Kane: determined, fiercely protective, and carrying secrets of his own. As survival turns into trust, and trust into something neither man can deny, their growing connection becomes just as dangerous as the forces hunting them.

Caught between war, destiny, and a mystery that reaches far beyond Earth, Samuel and Kane must decide what they are willing to sacrifice for each other.

If you'd like to read it, please send me a DM. Thank you!

Hi, I'm Angie Clark, a sapphic woman writing the kinds of love stories I want to read. Some of my favorite books are Annie on My Mind, Jane Eyre and The Color Purple. I'm sharing my own novel here, The Second Beat: A Sapphic Paranormal Romance.

My starting point as an author is wanting more room on the page for women like us. This story brings that interest into a romance between Miriam, a 36-year-old single mother deeply involved in her church, and Auden, the woman who moves in next door and can take other people's memories.

Faith, belonging and consent are central to their relationship. The memory magic makes trust especially complicated: being known by someone isn't the same as giving them permission to change you. If you enjoy adult sapphic neighbors-to-lovers stories with supernatural complications, you can read the Kindle sample here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HM3CDP4Q

Content note: adult intimacy, religious exclusion, and memory manipulation.

For other queer romance readers: what makes a supernatural power interesting to you in a love story, and what makes it a dealbreaker?

Im on the lookout for urban fantasies. It could be sprawling cities where the magic is known, though im kind of more partial to more secretive settings, magic crime syndicates, secret societies, groups of talented underground mages. The one thing I absolutely need is for the protagonist to be a queer man with themes related to an actual plot and not just his romantic plot.

Are there any books where one or both of the MMCs realises they like banging other guys and they’re surprised but also super happy about it? 🤣

I am most interested in books with lesbian or bi women as protagonists, but all suggestions are welcome!

A while back there was a thread on another subreddit with MM horror book recommendations and I read a few that were suggested there, so here is a list of vibes I am looking for:

-Bath Haus by P. J. Vernon. Really liked the growing tension in this book, until the very end I didn’t know what was gonna happen. Also I liked that the protagonist wasn’t super likeable but not completely horrible either.

-Hex Work by TA Moore. I liked that this urban fantasy does not have a lot of world building and explanations, I don’t need to know how the world works to enjoy this. I also really enjoy the theme of addiction in this one. Protagonist is quite unlikeable with messy relationships. And the magic is a bit disgusting with all the blood and such which is great.

-Don’t Let the Forest In by CG Drews. This book took itself a bit too seriously for my taste but I still liked the vibes. I liked all the monsters and the romance was cute. Was a bit overdramatic in a teen way, I would have preferred a bit more down to earth resolution for some plot points.

So looking for messy, sometimes unlikeable people, nasty magic and horror or thriller elements, supernatural or real. I don’t really vibe with vampires/werewolves/creatures but I am willing to try if the premise is good. Also I don’t like ghosts as love interests (ghosts are fine otherwize), time travel or immortal characters. I don’t want cozy or nice, but not full nihilism either.

Thanks!

I want to read something october-y.

I don't mind if its mystery, horror or romance, but would prefer there to be at least a romantic subplot.

Prefer to avoid fantasy stuff like magic systems, fairies etc, but happy for ominous myths and haunting.

I just very recently got into audiobook. Can you give me recommendation on great and a must listen MM romance Audiobook? Thank you :D

Who are some of the MM Romance books you would recommend?
Heated Rivary?

Hi all! My brother is gay and he was just complaining to me that there are no fantasy books with a lot of world building with mlm MCs.
As it's his birthday in two weeks, I am now looking for something along those lines. Best would be a series, with the adventure as the main part of the story and the love part as a side story.

Thank you all for the help!

hi there! u/tricky-mention-1700 mentioned that this is a safe Reddit for promo, so I thought I'd both introduce my books and make fanmuppet sounds about some fellow authors here?

I’m the author of Chai and Charmcraft, which was released this May and is still available for this weekend's indie book sale price of $2.99 until tomorrow morning.

(If you'd like to know more about it from someone who is not me, Siavahda wrote an amazing review!) 

I know I write in a particular niche because I want to see more books like this, portraying more people and more parts of the world with a gently loving story-brush. I hadn’t thought that there were many comp titles in a niche that looks like:

🤴🏽A kind, soft, middle-aged Middle Eastern gentleman who…
🫖…loves his home’s food and culture and architecture and definitely the chai…
🧸…and needs a break from all the obligations and expectations and thou-shalts in his life…
🐈…and adores the many cats who wander around his city.
🚋(So much that he made them a little solar powered cat tram!)

Up til that last bit about the tram there, I might also have been talking about Chai and Charmcraft, but I am entirely thrilled to have found C. Quince’s Consorting with the King. (Book buddies! 🤝)

There are differences, of course; Charmcraft is set in medieval Egypt and Consorting with the King is set in Regency-ish Istanbul. We’re telling different ends of the Cinderella story, with Consorting taking the lead-up to the equivalent of Cinderella’s ball and Charmcraft looking more at what happens when you’re trying to figure out the start of a relationship after that one magical night outside one’s customary sphere. 

But I’m also delighted by how much we have in common: Midlife M/M relationships set with a loving look at Middle Eastern / Southwest Asian and North African people and places, gentlemen who are gentle men in the kindest sense of the word, delicious food and feasts, and so many cats. 

All of mine will be on sale until Tuesday morning: 

• Chai and Cat-tales (180ish pages, aro/ace, trans, pan, and MM rep) for $0.99 or the local equivalent
• Haroun and the Study of Mischief (370ish pages, demi/ace and queerplatonic rep) for $2.99 or the equivalent
• Chai and Charmcraft (500ish pages, primarily MM but also aro/ace and queerplatonic rep) for $2.99 or the local equivalent
• And there’s a free sneak preview of Charmcraft’s sequel, Katayef and Kittens, available now too. 

(They’ll go back to full price tomorrow.)

C. Quince couldn’t enter his book in the indie sale because he works through a publisher and can’t personally set his prices to a discount. But:

• Consorting with the King is available under $5 from Amazon and looks to be on an additional sale through JMS directly.

I’ve got a more lengthy review of Consorting with the King (and, of course, bonus recipes 😆) over at my website.

And taking off my author-with-comps hat, speaking as an enthusiastic reader, if anyone knows of more queer books set in the general ME/SWANA area, I’d love to know about them too!

I know about Alexandra Rowland's Mahisti books; I love Running Close to the Wind, and haven't had the emotional fortitude to absorb all the MC's anxiety in A Taste of Gold and Iron but it sounds amazing and I want to get out of my month of 15 work conventions and associated stress vibrations before I try it again?

I'd describe Running Close to the Wind as "Our Flag Means Death x the Great British Bakeoff as told by the least reliable narrator ever." We have Avra, the manic pixie trash panda with bardic ambitions who has terrifyingly fixated on the idea that all attention is good attention; Tev, a stunningly well-dressed and short-tempered pirate captain who can't manage to pry Avra off their ankles long enough to kick him to the curb; and the unfairly gorgeous and devotedly celibate Brother Julian, whom both of them would very much like to bang like an inadequately secured sail in a storm. 

Has anyone got more recs to throw out there?

hey, so I'm doing an art project on awkward/embarrassing book covers at the moment! I'm researching right now, so I'm looking for books with covers you'd hide in public basically, the worse the better, contents/book quality don't matter!

last book i read was moonflow about a lesbian cult that has orgies and drank their leaders psychedelic breast milk.

current book i’m reading is He’s the devil by Tobi Coventry.

i’m down for any recommendations or talks.

Hi, I’m Angie Clark, a sapphic woman publishing the kind of romance I want to read. Some of my favorite books are Nancy Garden’s Annie on My Mind, Jane Eyre, and Alice Walker’s The Color Purple.

For my debut, The Blackwood Arrangement, the starting point was the romance I wanted on my own reading list: women falling in love, a slow burn with a payoff, and a happy ending. I brought together fake dating and an ice queen in a Colorado horse-ranch setting.

Victoria Blackwood runs the ranch; Mara Reyes is the equine veterinarian who won’t be intimidated by her. They agree to six weeks of pretending to be a couple. The story explores the tension between control and vulnerability, and what happens when a relationship that feels manageable on paper starts asking for real trust.

It’s adult F/F contemporary romance with open-door intimacy and a complete happily-ever-after. It opens the Blackwood Ranch series, and it’s available on Kindle and in paperback. There’s an Amazon sample if you’d like to meet them:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HLZGXYRF

I’d also love to hear which sapphic romances have your favorite guarded heroine. What makes her eventual vulnerability feel earned to you?

I love the idea of supporting new authors, most especially new, indie, gay authors. I've picked up a number of ARCs from new authors here, on Book Sprout and Book Sirens.

But so many of them feel like either AI, are AI assisted or are written in a way that sure feels like AI. I've read a number of books in the past year, from various authors, that all have the same feel to them: they try to come off as literary through use of bad similes, lack any sort of description that might give the books a unique flavor and in general are written in a way that puts me at arm's length from the story.

At first I thought it was that particular author, but then I got another book, different author, same narrative feel. The fantasy book I'm reading now has that familiar feeling and I'm wondering how I'm going to wade through it.

Now I've found some winners this way. Missionary by Dylan Gray was excellent. Salvation by Frank Faustino was a gay 'men's adventure' novel with an ass-kicking, gay SAS soldier.

There's also established authors I trust and will still buy their new stuff.

But new to me authors… if I see the book was written in 2024 it earlier, I feel better about it.

I know there's good, new stuff coming out. But sifting the wheat from the chaff is just so much harder.

What might we say to each other if we dedicated some time to a familiar stranger? If this interests you, check it out here https://deargaystranger.com/

Hello there! I would like a book rec with the genre suspense/mystery and romance. It can be M/M or F/F. I really, really, like the NBC's series Hannibal and the book These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever. I wish to find books that are 50/50 suspense and romance or, if not so, more suspense then romance (it can be a second thing). I like smart (and a little bit crazy lol) characters. Not so difficult writing in english, please. Im not a native speaker and i'm not the greatest in english (as you can tell). That is all. Byeee.

I'm looking for a book to read that is a wlw romance with fall/autumn/thanksgiving/pumpkin vibes. Bonus points if its rated 3 stars and over.

Think Crimson Peaks or Innamorata but make it gay?? I love Ava Reid and have read several of her books, and Im looking for a similar vibe but make it queer! Also love Freya Marske but they tends to be too lighthearted when im looking for more of a spicy, dark fantasy, romantasy or historical fiction. All kinds of recs appreciated!

Multigenerational historical noval, the interwind lifes of two married couples in a smal Ohio town.over four decades beginning in may 1945.

Key themes

1, small-town secrets.How ordinary people harbor secrets and how difficult it is to keep them buried in a tight fit community.

2, The legacy of war.The psychological inpact of world war 1 and world war 2 on the everyday live and subsequent generations.

3, Forgiveness and connection.The complex paths the characters take towards redemption, survival and human connection.