Here are 100 books that All the Feels fans have personally recommended if you like
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I’ve always been a big fan of sci-fi and fantasy, especially anything involving superheroes or D&D-style adventure. For the longest time, I had to find queer representation through subtle glances and creative readings of characters. I loved these stories for the sci-fi and fantasy elements, but it was frustrating that every love story that came up was straight. It didn’t feel possible for queer love to be a part of a plot, and even when there was a queer character it had a “very special episode” vibe to it. Finally, queer characters are becoming part of the story, and it doesn’t have to be a “big deal.”
It took me months to pick up Carry On after it initially caught my eye on the bookshelf. It was everything I could have wanted.
It is a less problematic Harry Potter, if Harry and Draco ended up getting together. It shows a really authentic representation of unrequited queer love and recognizing one’s own queer identity. It is character-driven, but also full of fun magic adventure. I love a book that knows how to give you exactly what you want.
#1 New York Times best seller! Booklist Editors’ Choice 2015 - Youth! Named a "Best Book of 2015" by Time Magazine, School Library Journal, Barnes & Noble, NPR, PopSugar, The Millions, and The News & Observer!
Simon Snow is the worst Chosen One who's ever been chosen.
That's what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he's probably right.
Half the time, Simon can't even make his wand work, and the other half, he starts something on fire. His mentor's avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there's…
The Victorian mansion, Evenmere, is the mechanism that runs the universe.
The lamps must be lit, or the stars die. The clocks must be wound, or Time ceases. The Balance between Order and Chaos must be preserved, or Existence crumbles.
Appointed the Steward of Evenmere, Carter Anderson must learn the…
I am a plus-sized woman of color, and I feel women like me are woefully underrepresented in romance books. Too many times, I read a book claiming to feature a “curvy heroine”, only to find she’s a size 6, or just wears baggy clothes. Even worse, some novels make plus-sized female leads lose weight before they get their happily ever after! There are great books out there that show love comes at any size and they deserve to be showcased.
Talia Hibbert’s characters have so much depth; this book is no exception. I saw myself in the curvy lead, Dani Brown, as she’s always looking for signs to lead her in the right direction.
It was great to see her warm relationship with her sisters, even though they are all so different. But I absolutely loved seeing her flirtatious friendship turned fake relationship with former rugby player Zafir Ansari grow into true love. Plus, the spice was top-notch!
'Talia Hibbert is a rockstar! Her writing is smart, funny, and sexy' Meg Cabot
'The author's charm and wit sings off the page in this delightful fake-romance fare' Bolu Babalola, bestselling author of Love in Colour
USA Today bestselling author Talia Hibbert returns with another charming romantic comedy about a young woman who agrees to fake date her friend after a video of him 'rescuing' her from their office building goes viral - perfect for fans of Sally Thorne, Jasmine Guillory and Helen Hoang!
Danika Brown knows what she wants: professional success, academic renown and an occasional roll in the…
Growing up, I commonly read a sci-fi or fantasy novel a day. I craved freshly innovative stories, not megastar copycats. Innovation lacking, I stopped reading. I loved Salvatore’s invention of the Drow and favored groundbreaking stories where authors build on a predecessor’s shoulders rather than writing formulaic remakes for easy sales. Devastatingly, when I began writing, publishers, agents, and literary voices unitedly screamed at authors to “stay in their genre.” Write sci-fi or fantasy, never both. That wasn’t me, so I wrote about what happens when technology clashes with magic. The result? Mosaic Digest recently dubbed me “one of speculative fiction’s most inventive voices.”
Although heists and team-driven stories are difficult to mess up, I rarely find a gem with fun, snarky, and interesting characters like those delivered by Bardugo.
Clever banter effortlessly drives the storyline from beginning to end. When you start to feel the characters are proving to be one-dimensional and predictable, they begin to change and evolve (albeit a bit slowly for my tastes), which made for a surprisingly satisfying read (I’m including book two in this observation).
Worldbuilding is intelligent enough to keep you trusting the author when you grow concerned that the ending will be unrealistically implausible. Okay, maybe that last observation is my personal pet peeve with modern authors, but Six of Crows pulled off the credibility factor reasonably well.
*See the Grishaverse come to life on screen with Shadow and Bone, now a Netflix original series.*
Nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2017, this fantasy epic from the No. 1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of the Grisha trilogy is gripping, sweeping and memorable - perfect for fans of George R. R. Martin, Laini Taylor and Kristin Cashore.
Criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams - but he can't pull it off alone.
A convict with a thirst for revenge. A sharpshooter who can't walk…
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
My writing motto is life & love in between the margins of a page. I believe that every character has a story that matters, so I write fully realized protagonists with real-life issues and life-defining relationships. I want my readers to see parts of themselves in my stories, and while I can’t write everybody, I can recommend the following character-driven books. Subversive means ‘seeking to undermine the power and authority of an established system.’ All these titles have characters that break the mold. They are unapologetically fat or queer. They are criminals and lore. They are trope-twisters and game-changers and everything you want in a well-written and satisfying tale.
This is my first ever Quozy, a sub-genre Rob Osler defines as a queer cozy mystery. For decades, cozy mysteries have brought to mind curious little old ladies or deeply thoughtful straight men with droopy mustaches. Devil’s Chew Toy spins that trope, giving us Hayden McCall, a guy who isn’t as interested in solving a mystery as he is in finding the dude he almost had a perfect date with. As for the strait-laced assistant…that person doesn’t exist here. Hayden teams up with the missing man’s dog plus his larger-larger-than-life lesbian BFFs, making the book hilarious, heart-warming, and profoundly satisfying. This is one of the finest-written books I’ve ever read, and it provides a bonus tour of Seattle’s greatest neighborhoods. I can’t wait for more Hayden and company.
A POPSUGAR BEST MYSTERY OF 2022 A BOOKRIOT BEST MYSTERY OF 2022
Perfect for fans of T.J. Klune, Becky Abertalli, and David Levithan, this hilarious, big-hearted LGBTQ+ mystery follows an unlucky in love—and life—gay relationship blogger who teams up with a take-charge lesbian and a fiesty bull terrier to find a missing go-go boy and bring down an international crime ring.
Seattle teacher and part-time blogger Hayden McCall wakes sporting one hell of a shiner, with the police knocking at his door. It seems that his new crush, dancer Camilo Rodriguez, has gone missing and they suspect foul play. What…
My writing motto is life & love in between the margins of a page. I believe that every character has a story that matters, so I write fully realized protagonists with real-life issues and life-defining relationships. I want my readers to see parts of themselves in my stories, and while I can’t write everybody, I can recommend the following character-driven books. Subversive means ‘seeking to undermine the power and authority of an established system.’ All these titles have characters that break the mold. They are unapologetically fat or queer. They are criminals and lore. They are trope-twisters and game-changers and everything you want in a well-written and satisfying tale.
I picked this book because what can be more subversive than a main character who wants to send a child to hell for Christmas? In Krampus and the Kolaches, JD Douwes sets Krampus in the middle of Seattle for a holiday singing contest that goes off the rails when he sets his sights on a rotten little boy and accidentally meets a far-from-typical love interest. Khalie is a snarky young woman who is somewhere short of bright and kind, but you find yourself rooting for her anyway. This book is just fun. I’ve rarely read two less likely main characters/love interests, yet I found it all worked so delightfully. I am a sucker for holiday romance, and this once checked all the boxes for me but did it in a way that was fresh and far different from the norm.
Khalie, an avid Krampus-ofile, finally has her chance to sing at a Christmas Caroling Competition. With her loser boyfriend dressed as Krampus and her ghost-hunting friends at her side, what could go wrong? Except, her friend's juvenile delinquent kid keeps running away and messing everything up for Khalie, and it looks like a forecast of snow might put a damper on things. It's going to take a little bit of magic and a strong belief in fairytales for Khalie to find her Happily Ever After.
I’ve been making up characters and telling myself stories for as long as I can remember. I’m also a mood reader. I’ll read just about anything, but the stories I always yearn for are the ones that take me far away from this world, make me swoon, and devastate my soul. As a mood reader, I also have phases, and I’m in a fantasy phase right now. Magic, romance, adventure. These are just a few of my favorite things to read and write. As I read, I am inspired by the emotions that flood my senses when I read a good book.
I loved how different this fantasy rom-com was from anything I had read before picking it up. From the meet-cute to the epilogue, I adored all of it. I was shocked at first by the contemporary language and the modern world-building within a traditional fantasy setting.
The MFC was relatable, reacting to the crazy world around her as I’d imagine I would if I were taken on a wild adventure with a dragon shape-shifter. Funny, witty, steamy, and exciting. This book had it all.
A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.
Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother had…
I am a plus-sized woman of color, and I feel women like me are woefully underrepresented in romance books. Too many times, I read a book claiming to feature a “curvy heroine”, only to find she’s a size 6, or just wears baggy clothes. Even worse, some novels make plus-sized female leads lose weight before they get their happily ever after! There are great books out there that show love comes at any size and they deserve to be showcased.
This book is one of the few slow burns I enjoyed, and the spice was worth waiting! Each scene between Noah, the grumpy single dad, and Shay, the plus-sized heroine, was laced with tension and attraction.
The characters were three-dimensional rather than merely archetypes, though I wasn’t too overwhelmed with backstory. This small-town romance was the epitome of sweetness.
When Shay Zucconi's step-grandmother died, she left Shay a tulip farm-under two conditions.
First, Shay has to move home to the small town of Friendship, Rhode Island. Second-and most problematic since her fiancé just called off the wedding-Shay must be married within one year.
Marriage is the last thing in the world Shay wants but she'll do anything to save the only real home she's ever known.
Noah Barden loved Shay Zucconi back in high school. Not that he ever told her. He was too shy, too awkward, too painfully uncool to ask out the beautiful, popular girl.
I am a plus-sized woman of color, and I feel women like me are woefully underrepresented in romance books. Too many times, I read a book claiming to feature a “curvy heroine”, only to find she’s a size 6, or just wears baggy clothes. Even worse, some novels make plus-sized female leads lose weight before they get their happily ever after! There are great books out there that show love comes at any size and they deserve to be showcased.
I loved the Egyptian mythology featured in this book, and you could tell the author did her research. Detailed descriptions created a vibrant fantasy world where monsters are real and walk among us, sometimes as accountants.
This book was instalove at its finest with a swoonworthy, overprotective male lead. Even so, I loved that the plus-sized heroine was independent and capable throughout.
I wholeheartedly believe that embracing your geeky side is an important part of life and self-discovery. When romance novels incorporate nerdiness, it gives characters (and therefore readers) the ability to understand themselves and what they want on another level, and to gain the courage to pursue what they want. I know that my own forays into TTRPGs, LARPing, Ren Faires, and other such interests have helped shape me as a person. I’m more confident and embodied because I embrace my inner geek, and I want that for my characters and my readers, too. That’s why I want to read and write as many of these stories as possible!
Olivia Dade is the queen of romcoms with twists, and this may be her best work, IMO! Marcus is so sexy and such a golden retriever MMC, and I loved April just as much. This is a perfect example of two main characters who are both great but somehow even better together.
And Olivia Dade is truly hilarious–I especially loved the interlude chapters with the awful scripts Marcus had encountered over the years. This is one of the easiest romances for me to recommend to people because there’s something for everybody!
Olivia Dade bursts onto the scene in this delightfully fun romantic comedy set in the world of fanfiction, in which a devoted fan goes on an unexpected date with her celebrity crush, who's secretly posting fanfiction of his own.
Marcus Caster-Rupp has a secret. While the world knows him as Aeneas, the star of the biggest show on TV, Gods of the Gates, he's known to fanfiction readers as Book!AeneasWouldNever, an anonymous and popular poster. Marcus is able to get out his own frustrations with his character through his stories, especially the ones that feature the internet's favorite couple to…
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
I was an adult before I realized I had ADHD. Getting a diagnosis was like getting glasses; so many things in my life immediately became clear to me, including that I wasn’t simply a sloppy, lazy, scattered person. And I also learned, like many others, that ADHD can be a challenge and a strength.
Have you seen Nanette? If not, go watch it right now. I’ll wait.
Okay. Now that you’ve seen Gadsby’s Netflix special, you either get it or you don’t (and you either love Gadsby or you don’t). Gadsby, who grew up queer in a small, intolerant community, and who was later diagnosed with ADHD and ASD, recounts some of her formative experiences in order to construct a portrait of an artist in the 21st century.
Ten Steps to Nanette is at turns painful, hilarious, depressing, and inspiring. And: there are footnotes! (I used footnotes too in one of my novels and I do believe the footnote is a good and loyal friend to the writer with ADHD).
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Multi-award-winning Hannah Gadsby broke comedy with their show Nanette. Now they take us through the defining moments in their life and their powerful decision to tell the truth—no matter the cost.
Don’t miss Hannah Gadsby’s Something Special, coming to Netflix on May 9!
“Hannah is a Promethean force, a revolutionary talent. This hilarious, touching, and sometimes tragic book is all about where their fires were lit.”—Emma Thompson
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: PopSugar, Vulture
“There is nothing stronger than a broken woman who has rebuilt herself,” Hannah Gadsby declared in their show…
