...yes, I know it's Sunday, not Friday. No, I don't care. Just this once.
I'm starting this series, hopefully to be posted roughly every Friday, in which I rec five favourites of a particular genre. I say five but, knowing me, at some point I'll end up recommending more than that because I just won't be able to choose. This is mostly an attempt to get more things going on this blog and I have some rec lists stored up, but if there's any recs you want to see in particular, let me know!
Anyway. We're kicking things off with five f/f romances (or rather 10, because I'm splitting it into 5 YA recs and 5 NA recs). Five of each, mostly because I can, but also because it's the first one in this series and I'm excited.
YOUNG ADULT
Dating Sarah Cooper by Siera Maley
Content Warnings: homophobia, biphobia
Synopsis: Katie Hammontree and Sarah Cooper have been best friends since the 2nd grade. Katie's welcoming, tight-knit family is a convenient substitute for Sarah when her distant parents aren't around, and Sarah's abrasive, goal-oriented personality gels well with Katie's more laid-back approach to life.
But when a misunderstanding leads to the two of them being mistaken for a couple and Sarah uses the situation to her advantage, Katie finds herself on a roller coaster ride of ambiguous sexuality and confusing feelings. How far will Sarah go to keep up the charade, and why does kissing her make Katie feel more alive than kissing her ex-boyfriend Austin ever did? And how will their new circle of gay friends react when the truth comes out?
Comments: Oh MAN, fake dating is an amazing trope, and this book does that combination of faking dating and friends to lovers just right. If you ever saw the TV show Faking It, this is very similar to that, but does everything about it better.
Prom and Other Hazards by Jamie Sullivan
Synopsis: Frankly, prom is a ridiculous concept. People at school treat it like its a test run for a wedding, complete with ‘promposals’. That’s not even mentioning the dresses, which look like Disney vomited tulle and sparkles onto the nearest mannequin. Sam wants nothing to do with it.
Except for the tiny fact that she’s been in love with her best friend Tash since they were ten years old, and Tash dreams of a perfect, romantic prom. Sam had given up hope, until she spotted The Suit in a shop window. Sleek, androgynous, and flat out cool—but also way out of Sam's price range.
But if she can earn the money for the suit, then surely the suit is all she needs to finally admit how she feels and see they both enjoy the perfect prom.
Comments: All good friends to lovers needs plenty of pining, and believing the feelings are unrequited, and this book, for only being 40 pages, manages to get the perfect amount in. It also has pretty much the cutest confession scene ever.
Dirty London by Kelley York
Content Warnings: homophobia
Synopsis: All London Noble wanted out of her senior year of high school was anonymity. The complete opposite of Jasmine, her emotionally unstable baby sister, London has worked hard to stay out of the spotlight.
Then she discovers that Wade, one of the most popular guys in school, is gay like her and their new-found closeness based around their shared secret has half the student body convinced they're hooking up...and a lot of girls aren't happy about it. Now she's been dubbed "Dirty London." Rumors are flying about her inability to keep her clothes on, and London is pretty sure she's developing a crush on the one girl who sees through it all.
If she could admit why stealing boyfriends is the last thing on her mind—not to mention find out what's going on with Jasmine and her rapidly disappearing psych medications—her life would be a much brighter place. But if her and Wade's truth gets out, and if she doesn't find a way to help her sister, London faces losing a lot more than her obscurity.
Comments: Another fake dating one, but with a twist. Wade and London's friendship just killed me, and this one also has a side friends to lovers plot going on.
Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour
Synopsis: A wunderkind young set designer, Emi has already started to find her way in the competitive Hollywood film world.
Emi is a film buff and a true romantic, but her real-life relationships are a mess. She has desperately gone back to the same girl too many times to mention. But then a mysterious letter from a silver screen legend leads Emi to Ava. Ava is unlike anyone Emi has ever met. She has a tumultuous, not-so-glamorous past, and lives an unconventional life. She’s enigmatic…. She’s beautiful. And she is about to expand Emi’s understanding of family, acceptance, and true romance.
Comments: I'm fairly sure this was one of the first f/f books I read, and it's probably one of the cutest too. I just love the romance in this as well as Nina LaCour's writing.
How to Make a Wish by Ashley Herring Blake
Content Warnings: child emotional abuse
Synopsis: All seventeen year-old Grace Glasser wants is her own life. A normal life in which she sleeps in the same bed for longer than three months and doesn't have to scrounge for spare change to make sure the electric bill is paid. Emotionally trapped by her unreliable mother, Maggie, and the tiny cape on which she lives, she focuses on her best friend, her upcoming audition for a top music school in New York, and surviving Maggie’s latest boyfriend—who happens to be Grace’s own ex-boyfriend’s father.
Her attempts to lay low until she graduates are disrupted when she meets Eva, a girl with her own share of ghosts she’s trying to outrun. Grief-stricken and lonely, Eva pulls Grace into midnight adventures and feelings Grace never planned on. When Eva tells Grace she likes girls, both of their worlds open up. But, united by loss, Eva also shares a connection with Maggie. As Grace's mother spirals downward, both girls must figure out how to love and how to move on.
Comments: This one will make you cry, and I don't say that lightly. Just make sure you have tissues with you because it's a hard hitter. But it also has the softest relationship so...
NEW ADULT
Far From Home by Lorelie Brown
Content Warnings: eating disorder
Synopsis: My name is Rachel. I’m straight . . . I think. I also have a mountain of student loans and a smart mouth. I wasn’t serious when I told Pari Sadashiv I’d marry her. It was only party banter! Except Pari needs a green card, and she’s willing to give me a breather from drowning in debt.
My off-the-cuff idea might not be so terrible. We get along as friends. She’s really romantically cautious, which I find heartbreaking. She deserves someone to laugh with. She’s kind. And calm. And gorgeous. A couple of years with her actually sounds pretty good. If some of Pari’s kindness and calmness rubs off on me, that’d be a bonus, because I’m a mess -- anorexia is not a pretty word -- and my little ways of keeping control of myself, of the world, aren’t working anymore.
And, if I slip up, Pari will see my cracks. Then I’ll crack. Which means I gotta get out, quick, before I fall in love with my wife.
Comments: Oh god, the slowburn in this is good. And Pari and Rachel have the cutest relationship. Plus, the angst in this isn't relationship angst, which is a bonus.
Storm Season by Pene Henson
Synopsis: The great outdoors isn’t so great for Sydney It-Girl Lien Hong. It’s too dark, too quiet, and there are spiders in the toilet of the cabin she is sharing with friends on the way to a New South Wales music festival. To make matters worse, she’s been separated from her companions and taken a bad fall. With a storm approaching, her rescue comes in the form of a striking wilderness ranger named Claudia Sokolov, whose isolated cabin, soulful voice and collection of guitars bely a complicated history. While they wait out the weather, the women find an undeniable connection—one that puts them both on new trajectories that last long after the storm has cleared.
Comments: Really, Pene Henson is one of my favourite NA authors, and this book is so good. It's perhaps a little instalove-y, but I can forgive that given how much I enjoyed it otherwise.
That Could Be Enough by Alyssa Cole
Content Warnings: mentions of period typical racism, homophobia
Synopsis: Mercy Alston knows the best thing to do with pesky feelings like "love" and "hope": avoid them at all cost. Serving as a maid to Eliza Hamilton, and an assistant in the woman's stubborn desire to preserve her late husband's legacy, has driven that point home for Mercy—as have her own previous heartbreaks.
When Andromeda Stiel shows up at Hamilton Grange for an interview in her grandfather's stead, Mercy's resolution to live a quiet, pain-free life is tested by the beautiful, flirtatious, and entirely overwhelming dressmaker.
Andromeda has staid Mercy reconsidering her worldview, but neither is prepared for love—or for what happens when it's not enough.
Comments: When authors of m/f romances you really liked make that cross into writing LGBT romances. Alyssa Cole writes really well, and does the buildup to a relationship to perfection.
The Love Song of Sawyer Bell by Avon Gale
Synopsis: Victoria “Vix” Vincent has only two weeks to find a replacement fiddle player for her band’s summer tour. When classically trained violinist Sawyer Bell shows up for an audition, Vix is thrilled. Sawyer is talented, gorgeous, funny, and excited about playing indie rock instead of Beethoven. Their friendship soon blossoms into romance, even though Vix tries to remember that Sawyer’s presence is only temporary.
Sawyer’s parents think she’s spending the summer months touring Europe with a chamber ensemble. But Sawyer is in dire need of a break from the competitiveness of Juilliard, and desperately wants to rediscover her love of music. Going on tour with her secret high school crush is just an added bonus. Especially when Vix kisses her one night after a show, and they discover that the stage isn’t the only place they have chemistry.
But the tour won’t last forever, and as the summer winds down, Sawyer has to make a tough decision about her future—and what it means to follow her heart.
Comments: Friends with benefits to lovers isn't my favourite trope, I'll not lie, mostly because authors tend to throw away the pining and relationship development in favour of more sex scenes, but Avon Gale does it really well in this.
Lies and Reverie by Camilla Quinn
Content Warnings: mentions of period typical homophobia
Synopsis: Liddy spends the majority of her life minding her father's shop and trying to keep her sister, Caroline, out of trouble. What little time she has to herself is spent largely in daydreams about kissing beautiful princesses.
Then her sister catches the eye of a nobleman, and the sisters are thrust directly into the tangled world of upper class society. Liddy crosses paths with the beautiful, compelling Lady Sophia Sinclair, the most powerful woman in Dunnshire.
But what chance would a poor shop girl ever have with a real life princess?
Comments: Period romances with LGBT characters? That's my shit. I only wish this one had been longer, but for a short story, the romance is fairly well developed.
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