This Rec League came from Kirsty. Thanks, Kirsty!
Ace-spectrum and or aro-spectrum fiction (both romance and non-romance) is fine. Bonus points for characters exploring/still trying understand their a-romanticism/sexuality.
Shana: One of my favorite authors for ace romance is Claire Kann. I’m reading The Romantic Agenda ( A | BN | K | AB ) right now, and I love it! Most of her asexual characters start the book with an understanding of their sexuality though, and the plot is more about them finding a good partner and learning how to navigate differences in sexual orientation in a relationship.
Sarah: Amanda, what was the one with the gamer? I can NEVER remember the title.
Amanda: Play It Again by Aidan Wayne
What books would you recommend? Load up those comments!
I don’t know a ton of these. KJ Charles has an ace novella, The Rat Catchers Daughter, which is adorable and also extremely violent. Ada Maria Soto has a couple of books, His Quiet Agent is just lovely. I managed to wait maybe 5 seconds before reading the follow up.
One of the books in TJ Klune’s Green Creek series (I think the 3rd or 4th?) is Ace. The whole series is fabulous.
Also TJ Klune’s How to Be a Normal Person, which is a comfort read for me. The POV MMC has to figure out a lot of things, including his relationship with the second MMC (who is ace).
Heartstopper author Alice Oseman has a YA book, LOVELESS, about a first-year university student who doesn’t understand why she’s never had a crush on anyone. Painful but hopeful story. UPSIDE DOWN by N.R. Walker is a cutesy (maybe too much) M/M romance between two aces who meet at a support group.
“Syncopation”, the first book in Anna Zabo’s Twisted Wishes trilogy (m/m): Zavier is aro and there are some lovely scenes where he and Ray discuss what this means and develop a relationship that works for them. There is some light bdsm in the book.
“Upside Down”, N.R. Walker (m/m): both are ace and meet each other in an ace support group.
I hesitate to recommend it because I read it a long time ago and I am not sure how it has held up. But Blank Spaces by Cass Lennox features a relationship between an asexual main character and a main character who has *a lot* of random hookups. The HEA is a little unconventional, so you might want to look at some reviews before reading.
Every Heart a Doorway, by Seanan McGuire, has an ace main character. So does The Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia. Both of those are fantasy novelas that focus more on plot than on romance, and both main characters know they are ace already, but sometimes need to explain it to others.
I’ll always always recommend The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher, which is a really cute fantasy adventure novel with an ace secondary character who is excellent.
I have heard good things about Alechia Dow’s books, although they haven’t made it to the top of my TBR.
And of course of course Loveless by Alice Oseman is a new adult novel about a college student learning about and coming to terms with her aro/ace identity and it’s great!
I really like The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzie Lee (historical fiction (ya), not a romance, the main character is definitely ace and I believe aro as well but it’s been a while since I read it).
In romance I have two recs:
The Heartbreak Handshake by J.R. Hart, novella, contemporary ace romance, m/m
Role Playing by Cathy Yardley (m/f contemporary romance) includes a demisexual character as one of the mains. FYI the “role playing” of the title refers to online gaming, not sex stuff which was a big relief to me personally. The demixsexual character is unaware of the ace spectrum at the beginning of the book and when the character learns about the ace spectrum has an identifying moment of “oh”, but also goes through a small journey of feeling comfortable identifying that way.
You may already know about Claudie Arsenault, who besides being a writer of aroace fiction (I haven’t read her work yet but I have Baker Thief on my TBR) also runs the aroacedatabase, where you can find lots of books that have some type or aro, ace or both representation.
–Caleb Roehrig’s Teach the Torches to Burn is a queer YA retelling of Romeo and Juliet, and both Juliet and Friar Lawrence are on the ace spectrum.
–Alechia Dow’s YA SF (The Sound of Stars, The Kindred, and A Song of Salvation) all have demi/ace protagonists.
–Camryn Garrett’s comtemporary YA Full Disclosure has an ace secondary character who is in a relationship, tries sex, and talks frankly about what she likes, doesn’t like, and is willing to do for her partner.
–Mackenzi Lee’s The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy is YA adventure with heroine Felicity, who is aro-ace and is actively frustrated by everyone around her’s interest in romance.
–First Comes Like, by Alisha Rai, has a heroine who reads (to me) as demi-ace, she’s a virgin who states she has never been really interested in sex until she gets to know and starts building a relationship with the hero.
–Something Spectacular by Alexis Hall has the secondary character of Belle, who is aromantic–she enjoys sex, but can’t seem to “fall in love”.
–Seanan McGuire has Nancy in Every Heart a Doorway, who is explicitly ace, and Dodger in Middlegame, who reads as aro-ace to me, but her orientation isn’t part of the plot and so doesn’t really come up.
–Kaikeyi, in Vaishnavi Patel’s novel of the same name, is a princess from Indian mythology/history who marries and has a child, but states more than once that she has never felt romantic or sexual love towards anyone.
–Caleb Roehrig’s Teach the Torches to Burn is a queer YA retelling of Romeo and Juliet, and both Juliet and Friar Lawrence are on the ace spectrum.
–Alechia Dow’s YA SF (The Sound of Stars, The Kindred, and A Song of Salvation) all have demi/ace protagonists.
–Camryn Garrett’s comtemporary YA Full Disclosure has an ace secondary character who is in a relationship, tries sex, and talks frankly about what she likes, doesn’t like, and is willing to do for her partner.
–Mackenzi Lee’s The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy is YA adventure with heroine Felicity, who is aro-ace and is actively frustrated by everyone around her’s interest in romance.
–First Comes Like, by Alisha Rai, has a heroine who reads (to me) as demi-ace, she’s a virgin who states she has never been really interested in sex until she gets to know and starts building a relationship with the hero.
–Something Spectacular by Alexis Hall has the secondary character of Belle, who is aromantic–she enjoys sex, but can’t seem to “fall in love
Talia Hibbert’s That Kind of Guy has a demisexual MMC. There is a content warning at the beginning of the book so check that out before reading.
Romance:
Horribly Harry by Lisa Henry and Sarah Honey – “he might be ace or demi or something” as one character puts it. I enjoyed their adorable bumbling slow burn romance, also the Bad boyfriend hijinks are good fun.
Talia Hibbert has a demi hero in That Kind of Guy but I didn’t finish this one.
Non-romance:
Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard is a doorstopper fantasy novel with an ace main character whose identity gets discussed in the equally long sequel At the Feet of the Sun. They are very good books but be warned if you’re not into fantasy and elaborate world building.
Sci-fi with aro/ace characters (identity is not discussed):
Mindtouch by M.C. Hogarth – Content warning for hospitals and illness including children
Monk and Robot books by Becky Chambers might fit here
NR Walker’s Upside Down features two male MCs who meet at an Ace support group. One is the group leader and the other is exploring whether the Ace label fits him.
Three Stupid Weddings by Ann Gallagher is a friends to lovers with two male MCs who also met at a support group.
There’s a new anthology called Love, Ace & Monsters by Azalea Crowley. I haven’t read it yet but I love anthologies so it went straight on my TBR
Both of these have been mentioned but I wanted to second them: (1) Upside Down by N.R. Walker, in which the content of the support group meetings also functions as a bit of education (if needed) for the reader, and one character is definitely still trying to understand himself. I also appreciated how this book hooked me without anything too dramatic or upsetting happening. (2) Blank Spaces by Cass Lennox, which I appreciated because of how thoughtfully it examined the differences between sex and love, and different types of attraction.
There’s a list of fictional media with a-spec representation in the resources section of Ace Voices by Eris Young.
Looking forward to reading more of the recommendations here!
That Kind of Guy by Talia Hibbert has a demisexual hero who slowly comes out to the people in his life. He has a great arc where he used to be known for bed hopping and understanding his sexuality helps him get over his people pleasing tendencies. It’s one of my faves in that series.
Avi Silver’s YA SF novels Two Dark Moons and Three Seeking Stars have an aromantic lead (and also a very cool and interesting gender system!). They’re the first two books in a trilogy and the third has yet to release. The protagonist does end up in a relationship with someone, but her aromanticism is never invalidated. Another POV character, introduced in book two, is asexual.
Claudie Arsenault’s Baker Thief (mentioned by another commenter) has an aromantic lead and an acespec lead (I can’t remember where she falls exactly!). I found the story itself a bit off – the tone it was going for didn’t match the stakes, and I didn’t find the culmination of the two leads’ relationship satisfying – but I could see it working for someone else. I would check content warnings for the central conflict, though.
Finn Longman’s The Butterfly Assassin and its sequel have an aroace lead, though her sexuality never comes up (in the first book, anyway, I have yet to read the second; the author discusses the protagonist’s sexuality in their note at the end of book one). This is a very intense YA thriller about a former child assassin that deals with the severe trauma, PTSD, and other illnesses that come from her having been an assassin, so definitely check the content warnings for this one.
Rien Gray’s Seure the Tempered is a fantasy erotic romance with an ace lead. It’s a novella that involves exploration of how Seure navigates sex as a stone top. Seure is also agender and autistic. I think this is only available through the author’s itch.io.
Darcie Little Badger’s Elatsoe is a YA urban fantasy mystery; the eponymous protagonist is explicitly asexual. There are vampires; there are fairies; there are ghosts of ancient creatures the protagonist summons via her connection to her six-times-great-grandmother, and a very good dog.
Finally, I recently read a poetry collection called Goddess of the Hunt, by Shelby Eileen, which imagines Artemis as an aroace woman navigating how to live as her authentic self despite others wishing to change her. Poetry isn’t really my thing, but it was an interesting read.
How about Victoria Goddard’s Lays of the Hearthfire books (2 so far, a third coming in the future)? Much of the second book turns on the notion of the relationship that can exist between two people and whether or not it needs to be sexual in nature to count as romantic love. The entire world in which the stories turn seems very open to spectrums of gender and different kinds of relationships, and I became very attached to most of the main characters and the deep affection in which they hold each other, romantically or not. It’s become quite a comfort read in stressful times.
I have a few in my library.
Ada Maria Soto’s agents series that starts with HIS QUIET AGENT. Must be read in order. I love these, they are so good. M/M, both MCs are asexual.
Alex Beecroft – BLUE STEEL CHAIN. Check the CW/TW or read some of the reviews. I still have mixed feeling about all the stuff that happens in this one. M/M, one MC is asexual is in an abusive relationship for a large part of the book.
EM Lindsey – LESS THAN THREE. M/M, one of the MCs is asexual. This is a slow burn and the story skips over weeks and months. Lots of feels, but for me there was a little too much skipping over time. Part of a series, works as a standalone. Though you might get curious about the other stories because their characters turn up constantly.
Lisa Henry & Sarah Honey – HORRIBLY HARRY. M/M. This is a lot of fluffy, cute fun, book 2 in the Bad Boyfriends Inc. series. Can be read on it’s own but really the whole series is a hoot to read. The titular Harry is demi.
NR Walker – UPSIDE DOWN. More M/M cute fluff, though also with a lot of heart. Both MCs are asexual. One of them has it already figured out and the other one is just starting to do so.
R. Cooper – FOR BETTER OR WORSE. M/M with a demi firefighter who has given up on romance mostly he thinks. Except he and his neighbour and best friend have been dating for a while without realising it… This was sweet and full of pining and feels.
There’s also the Aces in Love series by Elin Annalise. They’re romcoms I think; the first one is In My Dreams.
Nicole Kornher-Stace’s Firebreak has an ace protagonist. It’s definitely not romance (it’s a near-future pre-apocalypse society with lots of corporate control) but I couldn’t put it down. The two far-future sequels (Archivist Wasp and Latchkey) also feature an ace protagonist.
Here’s a different database of aro & ace books: https://tinyurl.com/aspecbooks
Thank you for doing this Rec League topic, it’s really difficult to find good ace/aro representation in books, especially romance. While it’s not the main characters, the parents of the heroine in Courtney Milan’s The Marquis Who Mustn’t read as very clearly ace, but not aro to me. The book is great.
According to Helena Greer, the hero of her upcoming For Never and Always is demi- and pansexual.
Ada Maria Soto has two books and a short story about a couple, one ace and another Demi-sexual. His Quiet Agent, Merlin at the Library, and Agents in Winter. I really enjoyed them. They’re all told from the point of view of the demisexual character. And their sexuality is probably the smallest part of their difficulties in getting together. They are both secret agents, but the kind that set an office and work behind the scenes.
I really appreciate all these recommendations as I’ve been looking for similar books.
The Diviners Quartet by Libba Bray has an ace/demisexual character who is homoromantic. She’s introduced in book two and she discusses her asexuality in book three (her romantic attraction to woman is highly implied in book two and also confirmed in book three). I didn’t finish the series so I don’t know if she lived because Libba loves bittersweet endings and isn’t afraid to kill characters. The diviners is also fantasy horror
It is not explicitly stated but I have always read Murderbot in the Murderbot series by Martha Wells as ace and possibly aro ace.
Thank you all so much for this thread and all your suggestions. I’ve added so many things to my TBR!
Two Rogues Make a Right by Cat Sebastian. One of the protagonist’s has the thought that he could probably be attracted to anybody, “as long as they were [the other protagonist]” in a way that this demisexual reader definitely recognized as a kindred spirit.
I love the Ada Marie Soto books that others have mentioned, as well as the Cathy Yardley one.
An option that I haven’t seen mentioned in this conversation is Claire Kann’s THE ROMANTIC AGENDA. I very much enjoyed that book, which features some fake dating and friends to lovers themes.
Rachel Reid’s latest, Time to Shine (m/m), features a hero who wonders if he’s ace, there’s great communication between the leads.
In Roan Parrish’s Best Laid Plans (m/m) features an ace hero. I thought it handled it quite well.
I second the recommendation for Anna Zabo’s Syncopation, and I think it features in their books more often, although I’m not 100% sure on titles.
Thank you for this rec league. Many of my favorite Ace/Aro are already mentioned above. I wish there were more M/F ones! Some books to add to the list:
Clyde & Hays by CW Gray (Science Fiction M/M) – Novella, latest in a very long series.
Close Enough to Touch by Megan Derr (Superhero Fantasy M/M)
Uniquely Awkward (Contemporary M/M) – Short story.
How Not to Summon Your True Love (Contemporary Magic M/M) – Road Trip story
The Alpha and His Ace by Ana Phoenix (Werewolf M/M) – Fluffy fated mates story
Socially Orcward by Lisa Henry (Fantasy M/M)
And two non-romance books with Ace main characters:
Eye Spy by Mercedes Lackey (Fantasy YA)
Twisted Luck series by Mel Todd (Urban Fantasy) – Seriously good series
City of Strife (City of Spires #1) by Claudie Arseneault is a high fantasy with no romance but lots of ace and aro protagonists, as well as other queer characters. It’s very much in the style of a D&D adventure- very plot driven with not much character development. It ends on a cliff hanger.
Claire Kann has been mentioned – I read and enjoyed Let’s Talk about Love (NA, m/f) and The Romance Agenda (m/f contemp) – Reimagining of My Best Friend’s Wedding).
Bewitched (Sea Goblins #2) by Juniper Butterworth. (F/F fantasy). A deeply weird but charming cozy fantasy / goblin-core sapphic romance between two ace goblins.
I don’t actually remember if I’ve read this one, but it’s on my GR list. All the Wrong Places by Ann Gallagher (m/m contemp) has an ace protagonist who’s figuring out his identity.
Just finished Saxon James’ Friendly Fire, which features a sex-positive ace MMC. It’s a small-town, former-BFFs, ace-discovery M/M romance, and #4 in a series focused on a friend group (previous MCs make appearances in this book). (3 out of the 4 books are high-school friends turned lovers, which gets a bit old, but the characters are sweet. YMMV)
One more to add:
UNCOMMONLY TIDY POLTERGEISTS by Angel Martinez. A sweet contemporary M/M, with an ace main character, lots of travel, and strange cleaning ghosts.