This Rec League comes from Bel. Thanks, Bel!
I’ve recently read and loved Drawn That Way and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay–extremely different books in terms of tone and setting, I know , but something I really enjoyed about both books was the detail about the characters’ crafts (animation and comics, respectively) and all the character design and storytelling that came with it. This might be a weirdly specific ask/reading mood to be in at the moment, but are there any other novels featuring, for lack of a better term, narrative artists? Cartoonists, graphic novelists, animators, maybe video game designers? And hopefully featuring romance and HEAs? Thank you so much!
Amanda: Level Up by Cathy Yardley ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) and Even Odds by Elia Winters ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) have video game designers and developers.
Sarah: There’s a historical mystery series with a heroine who draws satirical cartoons under a pen name – the Wrexford and Sloane series by Andrea Penrose, starting with Murder on Black Swan Lane. And the titular Anatomist’s Wife by Anna Lee Huber ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) is an illustrator and artist. But it sounds like this reader is thinking more in terms of contemporary.
Claudia: Would Love Lettering qualify? She’s not a narrative artist per se but i remember the heroine is really into getting to know her customers before she works on their calligraphy projects.
Sneezy: Loathe at First Sight ( A | BN | K | AB ) has a video game developer protagonist, but the misogyny in the video game industry does take up a chunk of the story.
The webtoon The Lady with a Mask def works. The protagonist is a children’s book author and illustrator and secretary to her boss.
Trigger warning for death, grief, and shitty toxic family, though the last takes up very little of the story
What romances would you recommend? Tell us below!
Suzanne Brockmann’s Unsung Hero has an aspiring comic book creator as one of the secondary romance heroes. That part doesn’t get as much focus as it might – it’s romantic suspense and not the main pairing – but it’s used really well.
Nora Roberts has at least one book with a graphic novelist hero – Tribute. I don’t recall his job mattering terribly to the plot but Roberts is typically generous with the competency porn.
The heroine of M. O’Keefe’s Bad Neighbour is an illustrator – if I remember it right, she’s working on a ‘Where’s Wally?’ style book but where you have to hunt for Jane Austen in various Regency scenes and I wanted that book to be real so much.
And what struck me (as an illustrator myself) is that she actually uses a computer! Mini-rant ahead, sorry. I’ve come across a few books where the h is an illustrator (usually for children’s books, and I’m sure there’s some unpacking of unconscious sexism to be done there) and every one apart from this has a set up with an easel and watercolours (which, by the way, were traditionally valued less than paintings done in oil). While plenty of illustrators do use paper & pencil & paint, computers are so widely used now in creative work, that for me it’s like reading a contemporary office romance where everyone’s still using typewriters. O’Keefe’s h felt… within the bounds of possibility.
Anyway, it’s a good book, I enjoyed it and you might too.
Oh and SEP’s This Heart of Mine (I think) has the heroine who writes and illustrates a children’s book series with Daphne the Bunny. I don’t remember if this was a hit or a miss for me, and I’ve gone off SEP since, so idk if this is a recommendation exactly. But I remember the fake book series if not the actual book, so that’s something.
Speaking of, there’s an m/m by Eli Easton called Superhero that I didn’t especially like, but I forget why. It might be YA? One of the characters is supposedly straight and that is not my jam, but I only know that from the blurb, I remember nothing about the book except it exists.
Rosalind James’s Stone Cold Kiwi has a heroine who writes and illustrates a children’s book series, which is a major part of her character. She’s very successful at it, too. The heroine also begins developing a YA graphic novel, which I would have loved to have seen, if it existed.
In Legacy, by Nora Roberts, which came out just last year, the hero is a comic artist. He has a bestselling graphic novel series. He bases one hero on the wife he loses in a school shooting and another on the heroine as he starts falling for her. And in When A Scot Ties the Knot, the heroine is a naturalist that is studying and drawing the mating habits of lobsters. During her unwitting penpal-ship with the hero, she decorates her letters with drawings of shellfish that amuse him quite a bit. And not a romance, but the novel Slay by Brittney Morris features a teenage video game designer that has designed an open-world RPG card game geared toward Black gamers and the controversy that ensues when a player is murdered over an in-game issue. It is very definitely not a romance, as the character has a boyfriend, and he’s an awful human being. Those are the ones that I could think of with a quick trawl through my Goodreads history.
Okay, this is a bit outside the request but “craft” type narrators seem to be fairly few and far between. I’m throwing Kate Carlisle’s Bibliophile Mysteries series into the mix. The MC, Brooklyn, restores old books and the descriptions are quite detailed and fascinating. There’s a lot of humor, a very sexy British agent love interest, and murders to be solved. Here’s a link for the books, though you have to scroll down https://katecarlisle.com/books.php and if you’d like background info on Brooklyn and her work and environs there’s this link. It’s pretty extensive and interesting: https://katecarlisle.com/brooklyn.php
The heroine in Talia Hibbert’s A Girl Like Her (Ravenswood series, #1) draws her own web comic.
Annabeth Albert’s mm series Gaymers works for this. All the protags work for a start-up that’s creating a new, hot video game.
I also thought of This Heart of Mine by SEP but it comes with a major warning (the heroine has sex with the hero while he’s asleep, early in the book, when they aren’t in any kind of romantic relationship). I actually really loved the 2nd half of the book but you have to wade through a lot of outdated crap to get to the good stuff.
I’ll add in The Craft of Love by E.E. Ottoman – historical queer romance novella set in early 19th C NY city.
It’s a lovely, low conflict romance between a quilter / needlewoman and a silversmith. It starts when the silversmith commissions the quilter to make a quilt for him and agrees to make her a tea or coffee set (I don’t remember which) in return. Neither the quilt nor the silver pieces are exactly narrative arts but the quilt does tell a story of sorts, and there are just lovely descriptions about all of the thought and care both of them put into the designs.
And in that vein, I’ll also recommend The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite, another queer historical, this one set in Regency or Georgian England. One of the MCs is a gifted embroiderer and again, her work isn’t figurative and there aren’t any characters, but everything she makes does tell a story and the thought she puts into what she makes is really interesting to read about (imo).
Aster Glenn Gray’s THE THREE-FOLD TIE, an MMF-ménage historical, features one hero who is an illustrator. His drawings play a key role in the story. Gray has a way with quietly highlighting forgotten corners of history: in THE THREE-FOLD TIE, it’s the Utopian communities, like Oenida in New York State, and the idea of “complex” (i.e., more than two people involved) marriages.
Cathy Yardley’s Level Up has a couple of video game developers that have to put together a game in 3 weeks. It’s the first book in her Fandom Hearts series.
In Elia Winters series Slices of Pi series the characters all work at a gaming company. I can’t remember how much the books focus on their work though.
I only just saw that Amanda mentioned these in the original post!! sorry!
Ooh! Dark Wild Night, by Christina Lauren. It’s part of the Wild Seasons series, but can be read alone…I remember reading it before any of the others, even though I think it’s #3. The heroine is a graphic novelist or a comic book artist, I can’t remember which. What I remember really loving about it was the way her art impacted her narrative–she would see things in an artistic way, as splashes of color in a panel, etc. It was so cool to read.
I can think of two. Juliette Cross’s Wolf Gone Wild is a paranormal shifter romance where the heroine is a creator of graphic novels. It’s light and funny, and I really enjoyed it.
Emma Scott’s The Butterfly Project is a contemporary romance where the heroine again is a creator of graphic novels. This novel is fairly dark and the graphic novel that the heroine creates is pretty violent, but I thought the book as a whole was excellent.
Joanna Shuppe’s The Harlot Countess. Heroine is a caricaturist, working under a pseudonym. Hero, an aspiring politician, is the target of several of her caricatures.
Roan Parrish’s The Remaking of Corbin Wale fits this I think. Corbin is an artist and his drawings are relevant to the story, and I was mesmerized by the almost magical way that his talent is woven into the romance. His art is how he tells stories and seeks to understand his life. Bonus, there’s also lots of baking in this book.
Similarly Roan Parrish’s Better Than People also includes a main character, Jack, who is an artist focused on illustrating stories. His relationship with his drawing as both a vocation and an emotional outlet are part of the story, with some relevance to the romance but also kind of a parallel plot line on Jack’s own personal growth arc.
Highly recommend both books (both are m/m).
Alex Segura’s Secret Identity is about a lady comics writer in the 1970s, and contains multiple pages of the comic in question, the Legendary/Lethal Lynx. It’s not a romance, much more mystery/noir, but I was 100% into the work she was doing and her struggles with her male colleagues and developing a female superhero.
Better Than People by Roan Parrish: Jack is a children’s book illustrator. Related, in The Remaking of Corbin Wale, Corbin is an artist and illustrator who draws stories for himself. If I’m remembering correctly, Jack had one of Corbin’s graphic novels or prints in Better Than People. The books aren’t in the same series so I extra enjoyed that detail.
Completely Yours by Erin Nicholas: Kiera is a video game designer. She’s at Comic-Con when the convention center roof caves in and EMT Zach comes to the scene. (I think she only had minor injuries.)
For the sake of thoroughness, I’ll mention this duology. Alpha in the Sheets by Tamsen Parker has a political cartoonist. I really enjoyed book 1 for the most part but I DNFed book 2 so your mileage may vary. CW for past image-based sexual abuse.
Someone to Hold – Mary Balogh. Kindle Daily Deal today at $1.99 as mentioned on the other post! The hero, Joel, is a painter.
The Arrangement – again, Mary Balogh. The heroine draws – first for herself, making humourous drawings of the things she deals with daily with her horrible family, but in the end she illustrates the children’s stories she and the hero think up when they get published as books.
Any Old Diamonds – KJ Charles. One of the MCs is an illustrator.
Midge already mentioned two Mary Baloghs but I can think of a couple more – Morgan Bedwyn in Slightly Tempted, for one. It’s not central to the actual plot of her book, but it is discussed a good bit there and in her other appearances in the Bedwyn/Simply series.
And also Sydnam Butler in Simply Love (who also appears various other Bedwyn/Simply series books) – he’s a gifted artist who was disabled by a serious war injury and is having to come to terms with that and if/how he can continue to paint.
Nora Roberts – The Perfect Neighbor (1999) and One Man’s Art (1985) – heroine of the first and hero of the second are both cartoonists. Both books are part of the McGregors series and the heroine in the more recent book is the daughter of the couple from the older book.
There’s also “Every Boy’s Got One” by Meg Cabot. The main character is the author/illustrator of Wonder Cat cartoons which is a big part of the enemies-to-lovers story. Plus there are cute cat cartoons throughout the book (since it’s supposed to be her trip diary).
Cat Sebastian’s historical romance, A Duke in Disguise – the hero is an engraver and illustrator. Lauren Blakely’s contemporary, Mister O, the hero, is a cartoonist who has created a hit adult animated series.
My first thought was Annabeth Albert’s Gaymers ( already mentioned). The second was the Gamer Girls series by Auryn Hadley and Kitty Cox. The first book, Flawed, deals with producing a game and the rest of the series is set in the gamer culture. CW for lots of triggers, but great reads.
Since you mention Cavalier and Clay, maybe you’re good with something that’s not straight-up romance. I highly recommend Eliza and Her Monsters, a YA novel by Francesca Zappia. It has a romance plot, but it’s mostly about a high school girl who is very awkward in real life, but online writes and draws an incredibly popular webcomic. She has an enormous and rich online life, but no one IRL really gets her (including her loving but outdoorsy family who just see her spending all her time online). It’s incredibly sweet and the pages and storylines and backstory for the webcomic make me infuriated that it doesn’t exist!
Draw the Line By Laurent Linn is a young adult novel that includes illustrations! It’s been a couple of years since I’ve read it, but I’m pretty sure it includes a romance with happy ending. Here’s from the publishers page:
After a hate crime occurs in his small Texas town, Adrian Piper must discover his own power, decide how to use it, and know where to draw the line in this “powerful debut” novel (Publishers Weekly, starred review) exquisitely illustrated by the author.
Adrian Piper is used to blending into the background. He may be a talented artist, a sci-fi geek, and gay, but at his Texas high school those traits would only bring him the worst kind of attention. In fact, the only place he feels free to express himself is at his drawing table, crafting a secret world through his own Renaissance-art-inspired superhero, Graphite. But in real life, when a shocking hate crime flips his world upside down, Adrian must decide what kind of person he wants to be. Maybe it’s time to not be so invisible after all—no matter how dangerous the risk.