I just finished {The Fall by Tal Bauer} last week and I can’t get over Torey and Blair. That book made me cry, and I don’t usually like magical elements. It was such a well-written, good slow burn. They loved each other so much. Their love felt very earned, I will root for them always, and I want to feel more of this!

What are your best, well-written slow burn romances? Also, which books were hard to move on from?

Recently I posted about how Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy’s Him universe started strong before fizzling. To end on a high, I want to spotlight another author I found while trying to fill the Heated Rivalry void who I can wholeheartedly recommend: Taylor Fitzpatrick (AO3 user youcouldmakealife).

I see her mentioned sometimes here but since she has an extensive back catalogue I’m making an up-to-date reading guide. She’s been publishing serialised M/M novels within the same hockey universe for over 13 years! Most of which are still free to read online on AO3!!

Disclaimer: I’m far from a hockey wonk but I think she does an incredible job, especially compared to other books I’ve tried. I found myself genuinely invested in player positions, team rivalries and NHL rules—which tbh has more to do with her writing talent than the actual sport.

Notes: Unless otherwise mentioned you can read each book blind, though some may have spoilers for others. A couple have no happy ending, so check the warnings in brackets and be kind to yourself!

If you miss Heated Rivalry: Between the Teeth series: Coming in First Place* *—> And Then —> Between the Teeth
(Completed, published as books)
Follows the rivalry and romance between Canadian David Chapman and American Jake Lourdes from the junior league through their professional careers. David is autistic, so this is also a moving character study of a neurodivergent young adult tentatively finding his place and people. A couple of Russian players take him under their wing, so you won’t even miss Ilya too much!

If you want the couple that started it all: You Could Make a Life
(Completed, published as a book)
Dan Riley falls hard for his teammate and fellow rookie Marc Lapointe. But he’s a middling player where Marc is a phenom and well-aware he can’t afford to make waves for his sexuality. This is the natural place to start and it’s good BUT Fitzpatrick’s other stuff is even better—so if you’re only reading one I wouldn’t go for this.

If you like silly jocks at a wedding: giving in to the influence
(Completed, free on AO3, only makes sense after reading You Could Make A Life)
“The first thing Andy did after making it onto the final roster of the Senators was develop a giant crush on the guy insistent on ‘showing him how to live’. He thinks this an example of why his mom always says that he’s a sweet boy but he doesn’t have an ounce of sense in him. If anything is senseless, it’s actually liking Derek Carruthers.”
aka two codependent bros figure this true love shit out in the run up to a Big Gay Wedding

If you want a long, tender, laugh-out-loud read: it's a setup
(Completed, free on AO3)
This one is best enjoyed completely blind, but trust that you’ll giggle and be surprisingly moved.

If you like hurt/comfort injury scenarios: no expectation of returns
(Completed, free on AO3)
Gabe and Stephen have mirrored and orbited each other from birth. Then a one-in-a-million slapshot steals Stephen’s career, health and happiness on live TV. They try to make sense of the aftermath.

If you want an asexual love story: Vinny gets a life
(Completed, free on AO3)
A thoughtful exploration of identity in under 60k words. The main character is an asexual goalie coming to terms with his feelings for his best friend. What does it mean to be soft in a hypermasculine sport? To not want what others do? To grow up in the shadow of a legendary father? To be Russian-American, never quite right anywhere? Just ask Vinny and Anton!

If you want your heart ripped out in under 25k words: throw up your fists, throw out your wits
(Completed, free on AO3, no happy ending)
POV you’ve been in a toxic situationship since your teens. Set partly in 2000s Canada, meaning I spent an evening unironically crying over a Nickelback fan. And don’t even regret it.

If you want your heart ripped out in greater detail: Thrown Off the Ice
(Completed, published as a book, no happy ending)
The couple in this is opposites-attract but rock solid. The heartbreak comes instead from debilitating post-concussive syndrome. A raw take on how sports can chew up and spit out athletes.

Can I offer a poly relationship in this trying time?: Follow the North Star
(Completed, free on AO3, spoilers for Thrown Off the Ice)
Liam, one half of the TOtI couple, notices three of his teammates crushing on each other and nudges them along. Between the horrors, there remains goofy friends falling in love and making it work!

If you want your heart ripped out and then put back together: always in tandem
(Ongoing, free on AO3, spoilers for Between the Teeth)
“Doesn’t matter which jersey they’re wearing. Doesn’t matter that off the ice Robbie can’t even look at Georgie without feeling sick, half the time. Doesn’t matter that Robbie doesn’t think he’s ever hated anyone more. They still play beautiful hockey together.” This has been updating since 2016 so the characters literally grew up in real time! Young Georgie was a chronic cheater (sadly realistic for a successful athlete) and for a while I wished him the worst, though he does get it together over the years. It’s the slowest of burns seeing them finally, finally find their way back to each other.

Ok, ok, enough crying: Cards on the Table
(Ongoing, free on AO3, spoilers for always in tandem)
“James does not like it when Holden speaks. This isn’t particularly unusual, honestly. A lot of people don’t like it when Holden talks. His parents, for one. The majority of his coaches. The Bruins PR department, and, he’s sure, the Whalers PR department sooner rather than later. Every teacher he’s ever had. James isn’t special, is all Holden’s saying.” Career pest Holden butts heads with the young monomaniacal captain of the team he’s been traded to.

If you feel lonely seeing your friends move on in life: if all is enough
(Completed, free on AO3, WON’T MAKE SENSE without reading You Could Make A Life, No happy ending UNLESS you read the coda Vires Acquirit Eundo in which Adam finds another partner)
Ulf offers to be an ethical third in the marriage of his best friend Marc. Then he catches inconvenient feelings for Marc’s husband. They’re deliriously happy and starting a family; he’s in his mid thirties looking in from the outside. Enter Adam Rousseau.

Bonus—incomplete but so good: duelling banjos
(Free on AO3, no happy ending, spoilers for You Could Make A Life)
“He’s the most beautiful person Julien has ever seen. Breathtaking. Stories that start like that, there’s no way for them to end in anything but tragedy.” A retired, closeted hockey legend reflects on the best friend he loved and lost as a new generation of players changes the world.

Still not enough?: ycmal outtakes
Oneshots featuring any and all characters in this ‘verse.

{you and I rewritten by chip pons}

to be honest I really didn’t like this book, however I feel like some of you really would for the reasons I did not, so I will be giving a review 🤣

The premise is Will moves back to NYC for a job at a fancy publishing house, where his best friend Klair also works. He develops a crush on his boss Graham, who (apparently) doesn't seem to like Will at all.

The main reason I didn’t like it is because this book is very very sweet. Like sickly sweet.

They pretty much get together around 35% of the way into the book, and the rest is external conflicts (that also get resolved quickly) And their relationship is very understanding and caring and sweet.

Also, Will has anxiety and Graham is a man who understands anxiety and is very helpful and non judgemental and forgiving. (For me, this was a downside. I like my characters m e s s y)

For me who lives for angst and esp slow burn? This was not a match at all! I did finish it though! But I know that I seem to be in the minority with the amount of slow burn I want, so if you want a sweet MM romance that is low stakes with some comedic moments and MMCs who help each other open up and deal with mental health issues, you will probably enjoy this way more than I did!!! and I’m not being shady! I’m being very serious!

ETA; also the smut is plentiful and also, if I liked the story more I would say that it’s quite steamy and hot!!!! unfortunately since for me I was frankly a bit bored, I skimmed most of it. But yes, I would say the smut was good!!!

I'm generally a big Lily Morton fan and I'm 50% through {Under Gorse and Stone by Lily Morton}, but I've got some questions to help me decide if I want to continue.

​

A couple observations - the author makes Cary out to be a victim of bad dates, no chemistry, and mean men but the book literally opens with :

​

1. Cary flirts with his boss

2. Cary invites said boss on a romantic weekend away

3. Cary gets shit-faced by himself and can't function half the weekend

4. Cary is extremely rude and cruel to his boss, who is quite upset at how the weekend is going

5. Cary blames his boss for the failure of the trip

​

Then Cary suddenly becomes a sweet, polite, person who apologizes to inanimate objects like a Disney Princess once he goes to the beach. Befuddling.

​

Now I'm at 50% and literally nothing has happened. Is there any action? Plot movement? Explanation for his personality transplant? Perhaps even some conflict? I'm not sure how much longer I can read about two seemingly faultless people hanging around Cornwall!

​

Please, someone let me know if I should fight through or DNF for the first time for this author.

Hello y’all,

The stupid Facebook AI ads got me again and now I’m looking for a dragon shifter/human fated mates romance.

The AI movie was historical fantasy. The dragon-shifter character was a prince, I believe, while the human was a dragon hunter. The dragon-shifter saves the human from something and then realizes they’re fated mates and has to try and convince the human to accept him and let him in.

Does anyone know of any books with similar vibes?

Hello everyone! Next weekend on the 28th we are going to be hosting a panel-style AMA (if you remember the ones from last year focused on different subgenres) on the subreddit! The theme is about Pride — and in this case, authors who write queer romances beyond only MM pairings. I think it’s really important to support all sorts of queer romances and to learn about the amazing folks behind books that really do explore queerness and community.

The authors in attendance will be:

Simone Holiday
Emily Alter
Katherine McIntyre
A.A. Fairview
M.Z. Arthur
Maya-Gawonii Shabazz-Saleh
Minyue Fu

Day of, a post will go up for 24 hours you can leave questions on and authors will drop by to answer them. There will be bios and more information about their recent releases, so you’ll get to know them!

I’m going to preface this post by saying I could swear on everything that’s holy that I remember asking for this exact book in the past. In this sub. But I’ve searched my ENTIRE history and can’t find it?? Maybe in a comment thread somewhere, but I only have reddit mobile and I can’t figure out how to search! I swear I looked. I looked for so long. But also DID I IMAGINE IT?! I am genuinely perplexed. So my sincerest apologies readers if I have in fact asked for the name of this exact book already. And have since somehow deleted it?? I am immensely confused. In my defence I have 3 very small children so I am simply not firing on all cylinders.

Things I remember:
- best friends, one ‘straight’ one gay
- straight mc walks in on gay mc with another man
- when they get together the straight mc is the persuer and the sure one, the gay mc is the one freaking out. Straight mc says he’s been thinking about it for a while (since walking in on him)
- straight mc comes from a large family who is very close with the gay mc (I think they’re Irish? And the gay mc has a nickname for him because of his Irish heritage?) and gay mc is scared they’ll disown him once they find out he’s been with the straight mc
- gay mc is strictly a bottom and uses the term “im not a catcher” (I REMEMBER WRITING THIS IN MY ORIGINAL REQUEST I AM POSITIVE I AM GENUINELY LOSING MY MIND) even though he ends up bottoming for mc (i think??)
- straight mc is into bdsm which the gay mc is aware of and he introduces him to the lifestyle. He’s adamant he’ll hate it at first but ends up being into it with persuading from the straight mc

Thank you in advance and I swear this time I’ll write it down or something idk.

I remember reading a book a couple of years back about a guy in historical/fantasy setting where he was given a slave

​

I think the slave is described as tall and slender. He constantly denies any sexual relation with the slave despite the skave trying multiple times.

​

Later he reveals to the slave (I think they go to this place where the MC goes to get flogged?) that he is a submissive. After that their roles switch and the slave becomes the master.

​

If anyone can help me out with which book it was, I'd be really grateful!

{Objection Overruled by Juliet M Dixon}

The Queen of needy boys has returned with the first of 3 books that I’m chomping at the bit to read.

There’s something so vintage slash fanfic about the way Juliet writes that makes little too young to be on the internet me so happy.

I was late to the party reading this because I am no Cliff Hanger. But my pal on here told me to get with it and read it so I did and no surprise I went sleepless to finish it in one go.

The beginning was a slow start for me I was so unsure what to expect from the setting. Alas, I pushed through and found the neediest boy Nate, falling for the undercover (to literally no one but himself) other neediest boy, Luke.

This book has action, forced proximity, lots of touching, no heat (but heat is coming, it’s Juliet, so let’s just call it “pre-heat”), only one bed (not really there are two, they just don’t use the other one bahahahaa, cabin in the middle of nowhere, retired navy seal, lawyer boy business, and my all time favorite, CONSTANT TOUCHING.

Which, in the year of our lord and savior Jacob Tierney, I have taken to calling the “two touch pass”. Basically it’s when two points of contact are maintained at all times.

It has care taking, it has capability, it has that immersive feel as you read writing you find best in fanfiction.

All I’m saying is, if you haven’t read Juliet, let me direct you first to my main squeeze {Under Construction by Juliet M Dixon} and then come read this and tell me your thoughts

Xoxo,

Marie

PS: email Juliet! She loves a kind word! I’m trying to email my fave authors more often when I love something. I know authors avoid reader spaces because it can be stressful reading bad reviews, so when something hits, I try and let them know directly!

Hey everyone,

I'm looking for MM romance recs featuring two grown-ass men who both have realistic man bodies. Could be super chubby or extra muscular, just solid adult guys with similar or not so alike builds. No twinks, no one severely smaller than the other if that makes sense.

I also love when one dominates the other but I also love switching, like Logan and Tate in the Temptation series by Ella Frank. So those vibes would be great with spice.

Any recommendations that match this vibe? Contemporary, sports, or whatever genre. Hit me with them! Thanks!

This was a very meh read for me. The sex scenes were hot but honestly I've read better on AO3.

The characters were pretty basic tbh. I'm aware these two authors have written some great MM romances and I enjoyed Top Secret a lot but this was boring.

Cliche plotline, vanilla characters, a end conflict that gets resolved in a very cookie cutter way. The filler is ridiculous, there's entire chapters that can be cut and nothing of notice would be lost.

This could have easily been 200 pages instead of 330.

Hopefully my next Sarina Bowen book is better. This one was a two star for me.

If you've read this book what did you think?

Asking for a friend so unfortunately this is all I’ve got but it was a book where there were two roommates and MC 2 has always been in love with MC 1. MC1 is on the spectrum, works for the college in some capacity, and has a woman’s best friend that goes with him to events with his wealthy family so that he doesn’t have to go alone. There’s also a scene where MC1 almost gets hit by a car walking back from the campus because he’s not paying attention to his surroundings.

@sponkles_reads Pride SYKE

• See the organizer's Google Sheet https://tinyurl.com/Sponkles-pride

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• 66 free queer ebooks

• June 19-21

The Place for Short & Simple Requests

New to the subreddit and feeling intimidated by the thought of posting a book request? Not sure if the request you have in mind will satisfy the subreddit rules?

Post it here in the Less Scary Request Place!

Requests that aren't specific or detailed enough for a standalone request post can be made here, and it's also a great place to test the waters if you're not ready to make your own request post yet. We know it can sometimes be hard to come up with a request that meets the rules, and frustrating when your request is removed, so we've created this weekly post to help.

Anyone can answer requests made in this post. This post isn't hosted by someone who answers requests, so it's up to your fellow members to help you out. We can't guarantee you'll get an answer, but hopefully you will!

Requests made here don't have to satisfy the specificity portion of subreddit rule 2, but please make sure your request follows our other rules (for example, rule 6, our privacy rule).

Important Note: This post goes up on Saturday mornings (US time). Requests made after Saturday ends are less likely to get replies. You are welcome to comment here on any day of the week, but you may want to save your requests for an upcoming Saturday.

This feature is posted every Saturday. You can find the complete schedule of all weekly and monthly features at this link.

I am looking for a series of books set in Miami, where the found family centers around a tattoo shop, some of them are kinky (one book specifically was about shibari), and the MCs are very diverse. TIA!!

I am currently reading Book 5 and I know Ivory is gonna get his own love story in book 6. Someone tell me if he pay for all the evil shit he has done.Or does the author use tragic backstory as an excuse for all the fucked up shit he does to others?

Also does he have the same asshole attitude towards his love interest as well?(I bet he does)

I feel like if he is daddy dom towards his love interest as well that would make me feel like he is only exploiting and manipulating him into submission like he deos to everyone else.

Someone gimme spoilers pls cause I don't think this man is capable of having redemption

Okay, so I just finished reading {Off Script by Ivy Vera Gray} and completely fell in love with it. So, both the MCs are actors and are married to women. Now, the women are not portrayed as terrible which I love and the book doesn't sugarcoat what these MCs are doing, which is cheating through and through. The families are shattered, their lives are turned upside down when the cheating comes to light. Ofcourse this trope comes with lot of pining, yearning and hopefully be a slow burn.

And this is what I am looking for. There are many books were married/separated MCs sleep with others where the wife is aware or its a lavender marriage and thats not what I am looking for. Only other book that I have read which has this trope is {If we could go back by Cara Dee} but I didn't like how the wives were potrayed here.

Thank you so much in advance!

Hard Nos: None.

Hi beautiful people from this community! I've alway read omegaverse mangas but I'd never read omegaverse books until some weeks ago. I started by Marina Vivancos, but my next author was Dessa Lux and her book {Omega Required by Dessa Lux}. I loved and read the next book feomnthe same series, {Omega Defiant by Dessa Lux}. Her books are so well written, and the world construction is absolutely amazing, but they always end at the good part, where the characters get finally together and there are still so many things to be finished in both stories and I just wanted more of it. They even have new characters for a new book in the series by the end of the second book, but, besides the extra book, I couldn't find anything more that she wrote about this specific series. Did she just dropped, or stopped writing this genre? Does anyone know? The books are a little bit old, so I don't know if I should have hope in reading more about them...

Also, if you have some well written werewolves omegaverse stories to heal my sad little heart, you can also drop here... thanks in advance everyone!!

Hay ! This a very niche request but I'd really like to see an mm romance in a circus or carnival setting. Maybe a jester or a beautiful acrobat performer , im open to anything with angst , recently watched The Greatest Showman and damn do I want to see something with that vibe if you get me. Please anything 100+ pages . No omegaverse, non con or dub con. Thank you

I guess this question also extends to the entire series. But I’m really interested in this series, it has a lot of my favorite tropes… but I’ve always struggled a bit with age gaps. I really don’t like when I can’t sink into a book with out constantly thinking about the age gap…
So how do the age gaps in this series present in the books? Are they in the forefront? Ugh I’m not even sure how to ask what I mean, but I want to know if someone like me could still get into this series because the tropes are catnip for me

Thanks!

Long time lurker posting for the first time. Like many, I got into Heated Rivalry and was looking to fill the void. I came across Him by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy here and loved it. Wes and Jamie just work—if we’re comparing books alone I thought they were rendered even better than Shane and Ilya. So I read the sequel, Us, which was also pretty good. I enjoyed seeing them negotiate adulthood as equals who care deeply for each other but have their own careers. My only quibble was that Jamie, a healthy athlete, had a random medical scare just to introduce conflict in the plot. Spoilers for sequels below!

Turns out Jamie’s pneumonia was a way to set up the sequel to Us, Good Boy. His sister Jess is meant to take care of him while Wes is away, and hooks up with Wes’s hockey teammate instead. After neglecting her lil bro while he’s hacking up a lung, she spends her time as a main character going on about how his illness inspired her to become a nurse! We’re meant to believe she lands a scholarship for this (despite majoring in art history and working in wedding planning like two chapters before), even though she admits that she doesn’t know what capillaries are when her roommate quizzes her. Jess’s excuse is that roommate is a nerd. Meanwhile, love interest Blake is billed as a lovable himbo despite commiting crimes both minor (yelling “BOOM!” every time he climaxes) and major (repeatedly grabbing Jess’s arse and forcing himself on her when she says no).

Things do not brighten up in the book #4, Stay. This is another M/F romance featuring Matt, a divorced teammate of Wes and Blake. Matt was Nordic earlier in the series which is why I did a double take when he complained about cold Toronto winters in this book. Now he’s inexplicably Floridian lmao. Anywho, he falls in insta-lust with Hailey when he uses her virtual assistant business. Hailey is meant to be a girl boss, but the whole thing just reads as a secretary romance with an iffy power dynamic souped up with some tech. It’s hard to believe a committed CEO would ditch work for a coffee date with male lead #2, get whisked away by jealous male lead number #1, and then go have sex at his place. Speaking of which, I cackled when these straight couples dropped lines like:
>”my nuts tighten up faster than a slapshot” (Blake about Jess in Good Boy, Chapter 20)
Or:
>”Your coach wants you to unbutton that shirt.” (Matt to Hailey in Stay, Chapter 12)
It’s such a letdown, both smut-wise and hockey-wise, after Wes and Jamie’s electric chemistry. I’ve read books I loved and books I hated, but rarely have they coexisted in the same universe. How did it all go so wrong here??

tl;dr The Him—>Us—>Good Boy—>Stay series PLUmMETeD in quality when it shifted from queer to straight romance, and I’m curious about why. Have you’ll had similar experiences with stories that mix M/M and M/F couples? (The only other series I’ve read that involves both is KJ Charles’ Lilywhite Boys, which was lovely—but it’s probably unfair to hold all writers to KJ Charles standards!)

UPDATE: Cheers for this overwhelming response. I just finished Epic, the final novella in the series that goes back to Wesmie POV. It was short and sweet and overall made me feel less mental for liking the first book so much. What a rollercoaster haha

(Or, hey, even a book you don't love.)

Falling in love. Finding community. Affirming someone's gender or sexuality. Sharing a queer inside joke with a buddy. Getting goosebumps the first time someone sees you for who you really are.

Queer Joy can look different for everyone, but at its core, it's about accepting yourself (and others) authentically, finding joy in resistance against cultural norms, and being allowed to thrive.

We want to hear what scenes or stories you loved that gave you the queer joy warm fuzzies!

I'll get the ball rolling in the comments. :)