Here are 100 books that The Less Than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal fans have personally recommended if you like
The Less Than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal.
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Two people (or more!) who find a home in each other when they don't have a home in the world make my heart leap. I love romance, and I've been writing and drawing them professionally for over 20 years. I got my start writing and drawing sexy comics when I was out of college, my work has been featured in the Museum of Sex in NYC and various anthologies focused on queer and intersectional feminist stories about love and sex. I love stories about queer people, or outcasts, or people who don't quite understand themselves yet.
I love stories about outcasts, persistent f*ck-ups, people who’ve been told a story about themselves their whole lives that somewhere along the line they started to believe. I love when they find someone who’s been told a similar story, and they help each other to not believe in those stories anymore.
Lawrence Browne, the Earl of Radnor, is mad. At least, that’s what he and most of the village believes. A brilliant scientist, he hides himself away in his family’s crumbling estate, unwilling to venture into the outside world. When an annoyingly handsome man arrives at Penkellis, claiming to be Lawrence’s new secretary, his carefully planned world is turned upside down.
A swindler haunted by his past . . .
Georgie Turner has made his life pretending to be anyone but himself. A swindler and con man, he can slip into an…
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…
Two people (or more!) who find a home in each other when they don't have a home in the world make my heart leap. I love romance, and I've been writing and drawing them professionally for over 20 years. I got my start writing and drawing sexy comics when I was out of college, my work has been featured in the Museum of Sex in NYC and various anthologies focused on queer and intersectional feminist stories about love and sex. I love stories about queer people, or outcasts, or people who don't quite understand themselves yet.
This is a book I press to my heart. The art style, the sense of humor, and the facial expressions leave me kicking my feet every time I read it, and I’ve read it quite a few times.
There is poetry in the way the world slowly unfolds. There is mystery and darkness in the vampires and the world they’ve built, there is the pressure of the Night Court and the terrifying will of the god they worship. The softness between Lucardo and Ed feels so easy and true.
Ed Fiedler is an aging scribe in a royal palace. Lucardo von Gishaupt is a forever-young aristocrat, and member of the mysterious and powerful Night Court. When the two develop feelings for one another, both are forced to contend with the culture shock of a mortal man's presence among the deathless.
Two people (or more!) who find a home in each other when they don't have a home in the world make my heart leap. I love romance, and I've been writing and drawing them professionally for over 20 years. I got my start writing and drawing sexy comics when I was out of college, my work has been featured in the Museum of Sex in NYC and various anthologies focused on queer and intersectional feminist stories about love and sex. I love stories about queer people, or outcasts, or people who don't quite understand themselves yet.
The colors and compositions sweep me off my feet, make me feel drunk. There is so much fluidity of line I can almost see the characters moving across the page.
This book is so charming, so inventive, such a lightning bolt to my heart and brain.
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…
Two people (or more!) who find a home in each other when they don't have a home in the world make my heart leap. I love romance, and I've been writing and drawing them professionally for over 20 years. I got my start writing and drawing sexy comics when I was out of college, my work has been featured in the Museum of Sex in NYC and various anthologies focused on queer and intersectional feminist stories about love and sex. I love stories about queer people, or outcasts, or people who don't quite understand themselves yet.
There are so many lovely, soft moments in this book that I adore. Catherine blushed on the other side of a closed door, unable to make a decision. Best friends sitting so close, knowing each other’s secrets.
I love the subtle humor, the incredible warmth, and the depth of each character’s angst and heartache.
The whole town is whispering about how Catherine Benson lost her virtue, though they can never agree on the details. Was it in the public garden? Or a moving carriage?
Only a truly desperate man would want her now - and that's exactly what Andrew Davener is. His family's estate is in disrepair, but Catherine's sizeable dowry could set it to rights.
After the two wed, Catherine finds herself inexplicably drawn to Andrew. But could falling in love with her husband tear her marriage apart? In this richly detailed Regency romance, duty and passion collide in a slow-burn tale of…
If society considered your desires illegal, would you save records of it? As a historian of sexuality in the US and as a queer person, I’m drawn to stories about convention-defying love. We know much more about straight people’s passions because these were the socially approved ones. Learning about queer people’s desires is more challenging—and the result feels even more precious.
Katz’s book highlights the queer relationships enjoyed by some of the most famous men of the nineteenth-century United States, from Abraham Lincoln to Walt Whitman, as well as many lesser-known figures.
The book changed the way I thought about men’s friendships as part of their private lives. Katz wants to show that these relationships forged a new understanding of gay men’s sexuality as more than physical. The result is a loving portrait of men’s affections and passions.
In "Love Stories" Jonathan Ned Katz presents stories of men's intimacies with men during the 19th century - including those of Abraham Lincoln - drawing flesh-and-blood portraits of intimate friendships and the ways in which men struggled to name, define and defend their sexual feelings for one another. In a world before "gay" and "straight" referred to sexuality, men like Walt Whitman and John Addlington Symonds created new ways to name and conceive of their erotic relationships with other men. Katz, diving into history through diaries, letters, newspapers and poems, offers us a clearer picture than ever before of how…
I’ve always loved cartoons and anime. I’m also bisexual and non-binary. Growing up, gay representation was hard to come by, so when we did get it, we were always super excited, whether it was good or not so good. Luckily, I’ve gotten to watch the world change and grow more accepting, but sometimes it’s still difficult to find good rep when you don’t know where to look. I try to fill my books with good representation so that my readers can feel seen in a way I didn’t, and I want to spread the word about some great LGBT manga that I love and made an impact on me.
I’m always a sucker for something sweet, wholesome, and low-to-no stakes when it comes to my gay manga.
It’s a sweet and wholesome story about a mom who realizes her eldest son is gay, but gives him the space, respect, and privacy to come out in his own time. She also makes a point to defend her son’s sexuality without outing him to others. It made me crack up because I remember being that eldest son - thinking I was slick at hiding my sexuality, when I really wasn’t.
I also love how the mom gives her son the space he needs and respects his privacy. A super mom, for sure!
A doting mother and her two beloved sons, one of whom she thinks is probably gay, go about their daily lives in this hilarious and heartwarming LGBTQIA+-friendly family comedy!
Despite belonging to a family of four, the Aoyama residence is typically home to three, with Dad away for work. Mom Tomoko and her two darling sons, Hiroki and Yuri, go about their everyday lives with little to disturb their gentle routines.
But as Hiroki begins his first year of high school, Tomoko can’t help but wonder if her eldest has fallen for another boy. Though Tomoko is content to cheer…
The Duke's Christmas Redemption
by
Arietta Richmond,
A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.
Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man she…
I grew up in a time when it was nearly unheard of to be out in high school. This led to a very lonely and isolating childhood, with few role models and almost no queer fiction. I'm dedicated to making it easier for the next generation by providing joyful stories about queer people living their best lives. My stories feature proud queer people, where being queer is simply an aspect of their personalities and doesn't dominate the plot. People imitate art, and by providing positive examples of happy queer people, I hope to make the world a more accepting place, one story at a time.
This book was a fascinating, humorous, and emotional look inside the reality TV industry while also being a wonderful queer romance and serious look at mental health and overworking.
I particularly liked that the main characters were flawed and fallible but also loveable, a hard mix to achieve. The story features a bisexual awakening, which is often tricky to pull off well in queer fiction but was handled in an excellent and believable way. While queerness does come up as an issue, since the Bachelor-like contestant is supposedly straight, the topic is handled with grace and rarely dominates the story.
A MOST ANTICIPATED ROM-COM SELECTED BY * BUZZFEED * LGBTQ READS * BUSTLE * THE NERD DAILY * ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT * FROLIC MEDIA * AND MORE!
A BEST BOOK PICK BY * HARPER' S BAZAAR * ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
"The Charm Offensive will sweep you off your feet." -PopSugar
In this witty and heartwarming romantic comedy-reminiscent of Red, White & Royal Blue and One to Watch-an awkward tech wunderkind on a reality dating show goes off-script when sparks fly with his producer.
Dev Deshpande has always believed in fairy tales. So it's no wonder then that he's spent his career crafting…
I love puzzles. I’ve made a career of tackling hard puzzles—from aerospace engineering to climate change policy (and now novel writing). A good mystery that keeps me turning pages is a joy, but a good mystery with an unusual investigator is awesome. I think seeing through the eyes of someone unexpected can let us appreciate new perspectives and see the world afresh. I wrote a climate fiction mystery with an amnesiac main character investigating because, in the context of adapting to climate change, perhaps it’s helpful to be less attached to the way things used to be; perhaps an investigator with no memory is just what we need.
As an aerospace engineer, I have a soft spot for aviation-related tales. The idea of a pilot crashing a commercial flight (with some cryptic final words caught on the flight recorder) terrified and intrigued me. The investigator for this one is the heartbroken fiance of the pilot who has to navigate the mystery while processing his own grief.
This intriguing queer story is the type I love where one mystery solved begets a bunch more, and the author expertly unfolds answers when the time is right. This isn’t an action-packed thriller; it’s a quiet, perfectly paced story about guilt, grief, and finding the courage to seek the truth.
2021 Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction - Finalist
A modern queer tragedy about a pilot's last words, an interrupted celebration, and the fear of losing everything.
"Utterly engrossing. Coen is a hero for our era, darkly struggling amid the aftershocks of loss, but doing so with dignity, humanity, and passion." - Timothy Taylor, author of The Rule of Stephens
When the airplane piloted by Elias Santos crashes one week before their wedding day, Coen Caraway loses the man he loves and the illusion of happiness he has worked so hard to create. The only thing Elias leaves behind is…
I have a passion for the themes and moods of this list because they explore so many parts of my emotions. They rile me, they work me up into a hot frenzy, they turn me on, they fascinate me, they bruise me, they heal me. I see myself in these books, and I feel that I understand other people. I’ve enjoyed (and still enjoy) reading these books published for free on blogs online, but now I want to write more and read more than I’ve done before. This list is a starting point, and I hope you enjoy them!
“Someone has to ask you a question before you can answer it. But it’s so seldom you find anyone who’ll ask the right questions. Most people aren’t that much interested.…”
I love this book because it shines a spotlight on loneliness and isolation in a way that most books really struggle to do. It provides you with a sense of what it is to be an outsider. I love this because it balances the melancholy with warmth and hope so so well.
Isherwood's short, poignant novel is a tender and wistful love story
Celebrated as a masterpiece from its first publication, A Single Man is the story of George, an English professor in suburban California left heartbroken after the death of his lover, Jim. With devastating clarity and humour, Isherwood shows George's determination to carry on, evoking the unexpected pleasures of life as well as the soul's ability to triumph over loneliness and alienation.
'A virtuoso piece of work...courageous...powerful' Sunday Times
'This mix of humour and stoicism in the face of pent-up grief is essential Isherwood' Guardian
This book follows the journey of a writer in search of wisdom as he narrates encounters with 12 distinguished American men over 80, including Paul Volcker, the former head of the Federal Reserve, and Denton Cooley, the world’s most famous heart surgeon.
In these and other intimate conversations, the book…
Growing up, I never saw myself fully represented in fiction. I only glimpsed pieces of my younger self reflected in novels about queer or queer-coded characters, and so I made it my life’s mission to give teenage me exactly what he wanted. As a YA author whose queer male readers are not always young adults, the message I get the most is, “I wish I had this as a teen.” While I often feel this way as well, I still know that reading the five books I recommended (as well as my own) at any age is life-affirming for queer men like myself.
Sass’s first novel, Surrender Your Sons, is a
favorite of mine, so it’s no surprise that this book,
a queer horror novel reminiscent of Scream, is a riot and an absolute page-turner.
It contains all the best elements of slasher movies and
teen comedies alike, and unabashedly gay characters with wit and sharp edges kept
me invested all the way until the story’s climactic ending.
Scream meets Clueless in this YA horror from Adam Sass in which two gay teen BFFs find their friendship tested when a serial killer starts targeting their school’s Queer Club.
Dearie and Cole are inseparable, unlikeable, and (in bad luck for them) totally unbelievable.
From the day they met, Dearie and Cole have been two against the world. But whenever something bad happens at Stone Grove High School, they get blamed. Why? They’re beautiful, flirtatious, dangerously clever queen bees, and they’re always ready to call out their fellow students. But they’ve never faced a bigger threat than surviving senior year,…
