April showers bring May just end up reading in bed all day, because why not? Especially when the fare is as fantastic as these romances are!
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Here We Go Again
Author: Alison Cochrun
Released: April 2, 2024 by Atria Books
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, RomanceA long time ago, Logan Maletis and Rosemary Hale used to be friends. They spent their childhood summers running through the woods, rebelling against their conservative small town, and dreaming of escaping. But then an incident the summer before high school turned them into bitter rivals. After graduation, they went ten years without speaking.
Now in their thirties, Logan and Rosemary find they aren’t quite living the lives of adventure they imagined for themselves. Still in their small town and working as teachers at their alma mater, they’re both stuck in old patterns. Uptight Rosemary chooses security and stability over all else, working constantly, and her most stable relationship is with her label maker. Chaotic and impulsive Logan has a long list of misguided ex-lovers and an apathetic shrug she uses to protect herself from anything real. And as hard as they try to avoid each other—and their complicated past—they keep crashing into each other. Including with their cars.
But when their beloved former English teacher and lifelong mentor tells them he has only a few months to live, they’re forced together once and for all to fulfill his last wish: a cross-country road trip. Stuffed into the gayest van west of the Mississippi, the three embark on a life-changing summer trip—from Washington state to the Grand Canyon, from the Gulf Coast to coastal Maine—that will chart a new future and perhaps lead them back to one another.
Cochrun’s debut, The Charm Offensive, was so good, it’s put her on my autobuy list, and I’m so glad it did, because this book is a delight. It’s deeply heartfelt and sharply witty and will absolutely make you shed a few tears. You really just can’t go wrong with a good road trip; this made me want to pack my bags for the Grand Canyon immediately. Add some resonant ADHD rep and Cochrun has another winner.
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The Prospects
Author: KT Hoffman
Released: April 9, 2024 by The Dial Press
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, RomanceThe pressure cooker of minor league baseball leads to major chemistry in this exhilarating, sexy, and triumphant rivals to lovers debut romance.
Hope is familiar territory for Gene Ionescu. He has always loved baseball, a sport made for underdogs and optimists like him. He also loves his team, the minor league Beaverton Beavers, and, for the most part, he loves the career he’s built. As the first openly trans player in professional baseball, Gene has nearly everything he’s ever let himself dream of—that is, until Luis Estrada, Gene’s former teammate and current rival, gets traded to the Beavers, destroying the careful equilibrium of Gene’s life.
Gene and Luis can’t manage a civil conversation off the field or a competent play on it, but in the close confines of dugout benches and roadie buses, they begrudgingly rediscover a comfortable rhythm. As the two grow closer, the tension between them turns electric, and their chemistry spills past the confines of the stadium. For every tight double play they execute, there’s also a glance at summer-tan shoulders or a secret shared, each one a breathless moment of possibility that ignites in Gene the visceral, terrifying kind of desire he’s never allowed himself. Soon, Gene has to reconcile the quiet, minor-league-sized life he used to find fulfilling with the major-league dreams Luis makes feel possible.
A joyful, heartfelt debut rom-com revealing what’s possible when we allow ourselves to want something enough to swing for the fences.
This book is simply joy. Trans joy, baseball joy, romantic joy…I dare you not to hug this one. There’s just so much to cheer for (pun only partially intended), it’s definitely gonna be a comfort read people go to again and again. It made me want to hug every player on my closest minor league team, and that’s about the highest praise I can give anything.
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Late Bloomer
Author: Mazey Eddings
Released: April 16, 2024 by St. Martin's Griffin
Genre: LGBTQIAWinning the lottery has ruined Opal Devlin’s life. After quitting her dead-end job where she’d earned minimum wage and even less respect, she’s bombarded by people knocking at her door for a handout the second they found out her bank account was overflowing with cash. And Opal can’t seem to stop saying yes.
With her tender heart thoroughly abused, Opal decides to protect herself by any means necessary, which to her translates to putting almost all her new money to buying a failing flower farm in Asheville, North Carolina to let the flowers live out their plant destiny while she uses the cabin on the property to start her painting business.
But her plans for isolation and self-preservation go hopelessly awry when an angry (albeit gorgeous) Pepper Boden is waiting for her at her new farm. Pepper states she’s the rightful owner of Thistle and Bloom Farms, and isn’t moving out. The unlikely pair strike up an agreement of co-habitation, and butt heads at every turn. Can these opposites both live out their dreams and plant roots? Or will their combustible arguing (and growing attraction) burn the whole place down?
I was sold the minute Mazey Eddings jumped into Sapphic lit, before I even saw this stunning Jenifer Prince cover, but then I cracked it open and was hit with one of my favorite voices I’ve read in a long while. Opal’s kind heart, impulse control, and self-awareness regarding her desperation to please people made me want to squeeze her for hours, and watching her thaw Pepper over the course of their forced proximity partnership made me smile nonstop. There’s also a solid setup for companions featuring Opal’s sisters, who are also bi, and I would just like to go on the record to say “Yes, please!” if that’s potentially in the works.
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Playing for Keeps
Author: Jennifer Dugan
Released: April 30, 2024 by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, Romance, Young AdultFrom the author of Some Girls Do comes another heartfelt YA sapphic romance—starring a baseball pitcher and a student umpire who are definitely not supposed to fall for one another.
“Sapphic sports romance perfection. Swoony and romantic, but unafraid to tackle grief, family expectations, and fighting for your dreams, this is a home run of a book.” —Rachael Lippincott, coauthor of the #1 New York Times Bestsellers Five Feet Apart and She Gets the Girl
June is the star pitcher of her elite club baseball team—with an ego to match—and she’s a shoo-in to be recruited at the college level, like her parents have always envisioned. That is, if she can play through an overuse injury that has recently gone from bad to worse.
Ivy isn’t just reffing to pay off her athletic fees or make some extra cash on the side. She wants to someday officiate at the professional level, even if her parents would rather she go to college instead.
The first time they cross paths, Ivy throws June out of a game for grandstanding. Still, they quickly grow from enemies to begrudging friends . . . and then something more. But the rules state that players and umpires are prohibited from dating.
As June’s shoulder worsens, and a rival discovers the girls’ secret and threatens to expose them, everything the two have worked so hard for is at risk. Now both must choose: follow their dreams . . . or follow their hearts?
I’ve been a huge Jennifer Dugan since Hot Dog Girl (which is actually being rereleased this month in a new cheaper paperback format, now that Some Girls Do has blown up so hugely), so whether her new releases are YA (as this one is) or Adult (see: next month’s The Ride of Her Life), I am absolutely on board. But what’s uniquely cool about this newest is that one of the protagonists aspires to be a professional ref, something I’ve never seen in a romance protagonist of any age or gender.
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Truly, Madly, Deeply
Author: Alexandria Bellefleur
Released: April 30, 2024 by Avon
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, RomanceSparks fly when a lovelorn romance novelist and a divorce lawyer who has sworn off relationships agree to cohost a podcast series offering dating advice to viewers, in Truly, Madly, Deeply, the next steamy queer rom-com from Lambda Literary Award winner and national bestselling author Alexandria Bellefleur.
As a bestselling romance novelist, everyone thinks Truly Livingston is an expert on happily-ever-afters. She’s even signed on to record a podcast sharing relationship advice. Little do they know she feels like an imposter—her parents just announced they’re separating, she caught her fiancé cheating, and her entire view on love has been shaken to the core. Truly hopes the podcast will distract her… until she meets her cohost.
Her first impression of Colin McCory is…hot. But then he opens his extremely kissable mouth. Colin’s view on love just pisses Truly off, even if he does have an annoyingly attractive face. Bickering with a cynical divorce lawyer is the last thing she needs—so she walks out, with no plans to return.
A few days later, Truly is surprised when Colin tracks her down, asking for a fresh start. Truly can’t deny the little thrill she gets from Colin begging, so she reluctantly agrees. As they go from enemies to friends to something else entirely, Truly discovers they have more in common than she ever imagined, including their shared queerness. He’s a genuinely good guy—charming, sweet, and equally as unlucky in love as herself—and there’s something about Colin that drives Truly a little wild. When their attraction reaches a fever pitch, Truly is happy for the first time in years. Yet she can’t help but wonder… is Colin truly, madly, deeply in love with her? Or is it all too good to be true?
Is this book heavier on sex and chemistry than plot? Yes. Did I mind for a minute? You better believe I did not. These two bi disasters are so horny for each other, and Bellefleur puts it allll on the page, making for an absolutely electric and banterrific pairing. I could definitely see picking this one up again and again whenever you need a pick me up.
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I just went through my April TBR and was surprised to see I did not have a single queer romance on it. I quickly rectified that error by adding THE PROSPECTS which looks so, so good, but I’d never heard about until reading this post. Thank you!
Okay so I whined on another post recently about how there’s such a range of illustration styles and yet 90% of illustrated romance covers have the flat, oversaturated, cartoon style, but the books on THIS post actually give us a whole range of styles. This is more like it!
Some of these work better for me than others (and on the whole, I think I do prefer either the photographic covers or those more abstract covers with feathers and whatnot that were a thing years ago), but the greater diversity is welcome regardless. I particularly really like the retro vibe on the Eddings cover, even though I don’t generally care for pink. (Although I see poor Bellefleur has been saddled with the uncanny valley AGAIN.)
Please, publishing gods, let this be a sign of a shift rather than statistical noise!
All on my TBR!
Also yes, enough with illustrated covers!
I see so many more sapphic, bi & trans romances these days, it’s great. 🙂
Gentle note from an indie / small press author: it’s extremely difficult, nay, near-impossible, to find inexpensive stock photos (the type used for creating cover art by a majority of DIY as well as professional cover designers) of: people of color; female couples; male couples; people with specific physical descriptions. Illustrated covers can be found, even as stock or pre-made, with an infinite variety of characters. Also, a pre-made illustrated cover with F/M couple can fairly easily be altered to feature F/F or M/M. Not so with a photographic cover.
Finally, I have a new release M/M novella: THIRD TIME LUCKY by Alexandra Caluen, if anyone is looking for such a thing. Contemporary, alt-1st-person POV, past tense, low-conflict. 🙂
Late Bloomer sounds a little bonkers and extremely delightful!
Playing For Keeps! I was trying to find sapphic YA baseball/softball romances for my daughter last year and didn’t really succeed, so that’s an instabuy.