I promise I'll actually read a book at some point, but how about we play a game?
1 like= 1 romance novel I love, you know the drill
(also can give specific recs if you want :D)

Whyborne and Griffin by Jordan L. Hawk
* starting with the obvious
* m/m series with magic, found family and apocalypse
* shy linguist sorcerer teams up with a dashing detective and an archeologist (who is the best female character ever) to save the world
* has sexy shark women

House of Fate by Barbara Ann Wright
* f/f space opera featuring political marriage, prophecies and childhood friends to lovers
* also surprise assassins! Kidnapping! Space battles! Like star wars, if star wars had queer people
* so much space politics
* YEARNING

Agnes Moor's Wild Knight
* m/f set it medieval Scotland, about a genius diplomat black lady and a scottish laird fighting a tournament to win her favor
* genuinely made me swoon. Like guys, I swooned so hard
* THE CHEMISTRY
* short but so effective

The Pursuit of... by Courtney Milan
* m/m romance set after the revolutionary war between an injured black soldier and the white british officer whose life he spared
* my favorite novella of all time
* straight up the funniest story that also made me cry
* STINKY CHEESE OF DEATH

An Unnatural Vice by KJ Charles
* m/m histrom where a fake medium and crusading journalist team up against their better judgment to take down a murderer
* justin lazarus is a morally gray weasel and i could literally not love him any more
* deals with grief and makes me cry a LOT

A Lady's Desire by Lily Maxton
* regency f/f novella set in Scotland
* childhood best friends must find their way back towards each other after being separated for years
* science??? Moving in a cottage together??? BEAUTIFUL AND HEARTFELT????????

Tyack and Frayne series by Harper Fox
* m/m paranormal contemporary set in welsh countryside
* local cop and medium fall in love, investigate paranormal spookenings, adopt some children, rip your heart out and stomp on it repeatedly, yknow the drill

A Gentleman Never Keeps Score by Cat Sebastian
* m/m regency between a gentle bar owner and a snarky gentleman trying to figure out what to do with his life
* so much healing from trauma. So much respect for trauma!!!!
* its funny and heartbreaking and HAS A CUTE DOG

Team Phison by Chace Verity
* contemporary m/m about online gamers who meet in-game and fall in love
* best most realistic portrayal of what online gaming is like
* really goofy and cute!!!!!
* Phill is a snobby older restaurant owner, Tyson is a goofy younger barman
* so. CUTE.

Evergreen by Geneva Vand
* fantasy m/m
* young man goes to the local dragon to ask for healing for his sick sister, the dragon shifter is a kind and gentle healer
* the siblings move in so the sister can get help, the brother falls in love with the dragon
* just so sweet

Once Ghosted, Twice Shy by Alyssa Cole
* contemporary f/f seco d chance romance
* Fab ghosted Likotsi the last time Kotsi was in the US, now that she's back, they can try again and find their connection
* I swooned so!!!!!!!! Hard!!!!!!!!!!!
* Im still in love with the cover

Peter Darling by Austin Chant
* what if I told you that what you need in life is a queer trans retelling of Peter Pan, tackling toxic masculinity, queerness and escapism, all while making you root for Peter and Hook to fall in love?
* well guess what, thats exactly what this is!

Abroad by Liz Jacobs
* m/m (with extra queer m/f in book two) contemporary
* russian jewish immigrant Nick moves to London to study, finds love, acceptance and found family
* portrays so well what's it like living with intra-generational genicide trauma, made me sob a lot

True Pretenses by Rose Lerner
* regency m/f marriage of convenience between a jewish conman and gentile heiress
* he allows her be ruthless, she allows him to be kind, they balance each other so well
* they decide they don't want kids AND DONT HAVE THEM BY THE END

Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh
* m/m fantasy full of folklore
* a gentle rugged woodsman living alone in the woods, a curious young man, an ancient evil, a really cute cat and a snarky great mother
* such a wonderful atmosphere
* I LOVE WOOD FOLKLORE

Okay, pausing this to go to sleep. Will continue tomorrow!

Im on lunch break so let's get back to this!

Proper English by KJ Charles
*edwardian f/f house murder mystery
*protag is an englands lady shooting champion
*shes also thr champion of my heart
*she sees her gfs boobs and her brain short-curcuits
*honestly an icon
*the victim is so heinous youll actually cheer when they die

Prince on Paper by Alyssa Cole
*contemporary queer m/f
*she wants to get out of her shell and piss off her abusive dad, so she asks the biggest playboy to be her fake boyfriend
*but its fine. The fact theyre quoting their loved fairytales at each other is just a game
*A GAME

Spellbound by Allie Therin
*m/m paranormal histrom
*smol angry falls for a tol overprotective is my favorite trope
*Magic! History!! Lunch dates on cranes in the sky!!! Apocalypse is coming!!!!
*BIG biracial feels
*such interesting magic system

Midd Dominguez's Christmas Kiss and other stories by Lydia San Andres
*three stories centered around spanish winter holidays at the turn of the last century
*one f/f, two m/f (one of them queer)
*so soft and charming
*i hate holiday stories and these made me feel all warm inside

The God Eaterns by Jesse Hajicek
*fantasy western m/m
*old gods reincarnated into humans, some of them want to battle it out
*dark and gritty, but the romance is slowburn and so lovely
*legends and folklore and big trains and prisons and shootouts and wooo

The Lawrence Browne Affair by Cat Sebastian
*regency m/m
*con artist poses as the secretary of a recluse science earl, shenanigans ensue
*including caring for his son, helping him construct a telegraph and falling in love
*Im a big tough criminal i dont have feelings, no, really

The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz
*sci-ish f/f romance about an android trying to save her tea shop and the mechanic she falls in love with
*ace romance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*really nicely deals with grief
*such a gentle melancholic atmosphere

Claiming the Highlander's Heart by Lily Maxton
*scottish m/f regency
*she infiltrates his band highwaymen to retrieve a family heirloom they stole, gets close to them
*a lot of grief
*shes not great at singing, but she sings him folk songs and he falls in love with her

At His Lady's Command by Nicola Davidson
*regency m/f with older protagonists
*hes her bodyguard whos been pining for years
*shes been giving him increasingly obvious hints she wants him
*her family threatens to close down her orphanage is she doesnt marry
*me @ them: get fucked

Eleventh Hour by Elin Gregory
*late 1920s m/nb spy shenanigans
*a secret agent and linguist must pose as a married couple to sus out a plot to upend the government
*love how Miles' gender expression is portrayed
*big tough must protect the smol, but smol is tough too

A Match Made in Heaven by Ellen Jane
*contemporary magical realism f/f
*made me understand the 'best friend's hot older sibling' trope
*deals nicely with the disconnect between the dreamy person we build up in our minds versus the real person
*and yet, the big sister Hot

Rebel by Beverly Jenkins
*post civil war m/f ser in New Orleans
*a northern teacher movee to new orleans to help with education, his family takes her under their wing and protection
*HE BUILDS HER CLASSROOMS TO TEACH IN
*he cherishes her so hard

In The Vanishers' Palace by Aliette de Bodard
*f/f Vietnam inspired fantasy
*beauty and the beast retelling with a dragon shifter healer and a scholar
*dragon takes in the scholar as a teacher for her children
*a lot of nonbinary characters

A Seditious Affair by Kj Charles
*political regency m/m
*literally the best enemies to lovers ever written
*seditionist pamphleteer and a home office gentleman has been meeting for liason for a year without knowing who the other is
*now they find out
*such good bdsm relationship

Fight Fire with Fire by Sionna Fox
*contemporary f/f
*museum curator and a famous singer team up for an exhibition of the singer's late best friend, who was a non binary photographer
*extremely political
*deals with grief, healthcare, body image, queerness and bigotry

Seven Summer Nights by Harper Fox
*post WW2 m/m
*war vet archeologist with ptsd moves to english countryside to help the local vicar with his church
*beautiful, lyrical, heartbreaking and so, so tender
*the prose will transport you to summer fields and you will cry a lot

Play it Again by Aidan Wayne
*contemporary m/m about youtubers
*a blind vlogger falls in love with a let's player's voice, they become friends and fall in love
*gentle and sweet story about self discovery, realizing your aceness and also self-worth, and cutting out toxic people

Undertow by Jordan L. Hawk
*Whyborne and Griffin spinoff f/f novella, can work standalone
*shy human oblivious secretary falls in love with a sexy shark woman, misses all the obvious signs the shark wants her too
*really really cute
*until enemies show up
*but then its cute again

Caroline's Heart by Austin Chant
*trans queer m/f fantasy
*she's a witch trying to rebuild her lost lover, he's a gentle farmhand pining after her
*he becomes her assistant
*such a sweet slowburn
*really interesting world building
*written like a fairy tale

Lord of the White Hell by Ginn Hale
*fantasy m/m set at boarding school
*genius engineer shares a room with a hoity toity cursed aristocrat
*(oh my god they were roommates)
*they need to defeat an ancient curse and save their friend AND the school
*start of the Cadeleonian series

Champion of the Scarlet Wolf by Ginn Hale
*second in the Cadeleonian series
*fantasy m/m
*disgraced aristocrat duelist exiles himself to a different country where he gets embroiled in a magical war
*he teams up with a dog shifter street witch
*god they are so GOOD

Master of Restless Shdows by Ginn Hale
*third in the Cadeleonian series
*two different m/m couples
*Politics! Spy shenanigans! Magical wars! Horrible aristocrats! Ancient curses!
*one character goes 'I'm so tired...' on an edge of a breakdown and I LOST IT
*IM SO SAD

Unsung Heroine by Sarah Kuhn
*contemporary f/f with magic and superheroes
*combat karaoke!!
*karaoke tournament gone wrong, and by that I mean monsters were summoned
*heroine keeps pushing people away because of past trauma, has to learn to open up

Coming back to this thread and continuing!!!

Briarley by Aster Glenn Gray
-ww2 m/m retelling of Beauty and the Beast, except the beast is a dragon and hes romancing Beauty's dad
-who is a pastor, and has no time for Beasts grumpy nonsense
-helping someone into bettering themselves via roasting
-its so GOOD THO

The Magpie Lord by KJ Charles
-victorian paranormal m/m between a magical policeman(ish) with shorter temper and sardonic aristocrat who hires him
-theres some bad shit between their families and they have to work through that
-so much gruesome murderous magic, gotta love it

The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite
-regency f/f about astronomy and embroidery and healing from abuse
-such beautiful prose
-characters embroidering clothes for their loved ones is their kryptonite
-so are queer histrom characters doing astronomy

A Scot's Surrender by Lily Maxton
-speaking of astronomy
-scottish regency m/m
-charming gentleman is trying to charm the estate steward and losing
-gruff steward is trying his best not be charmed, also losing
-they must team up to uncover a THIEF!
-books and astronomy, my heart