AO3 IS DOWN: the rec list
Jul. 10th, 2023 09:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
penwallaMostly romances, mostly queer. I could have just listed all my favorite Alexis Hall books and called it a day, but I did not.
Berries and Greed by Lily Mayne (Deep Earth Dating, #1)
A contemporary romcom with a sci-fi twist, featuring an introverted demiurge and a recent escapee from a demiurge-worshiping cult. The series is set in a world where human coexist with demiurges, monsters who originally dwelt deep within the earth but now live on the surface amongst humans.
I have already recced this ad nauseaum but I will do it again and you can't stop me. This is post-apocalyptic m/m romance in a world where monsters from another dimension have destroyed much of the world, ft. a different monster/human pairing in every book. There is an overarching plot that each book progresses as well.
A series of historical queer historical romances with a good balance of comedy and pathos. I like these because they're just anachronistic enough and they do a great job of balancing social commentary with actual queer joy.
(Side note: Alexis Hall is one of my favorite romance writers with a wide variety of queer things both contemporary and historical. This includes a Great British Bake Off romcom series, three different sets of historical romances, what is essentially a better 50sog but gay, etc.)
The Fiancee Farce by Alexandra Bellefleur
A single bookseller pretends to be dating the cover model of her favorite romance novels in order to put off her nosy family. Said cover model turns out to be the hot heir to a publishing company, who can only inherit if she gets married...fast.
A woman who has lived disguised as a man and a soldier for years returns home from the war, and ends up staying with her commanding officer. She and his sister fall in love.
Set in the same universe as Winter's Orbit (which I also love but put on a previous rec list), in a world where the military binds readers, who have the power to read minds, to architects, who have the power to control others. This is m/m sci-fi romance.
I don't think anything I could say about this would do it justice, except that I inhaled it in a day and love it dearly, so here's the synopsis:
Rich socialite, inveterate flirt, and walking disaster Tennalhin Halkana can read minds. Tennal, like all neuromodified “readers,” is a security threat on his own. But when controlled, readers are a rare asset. Not only can they read minds, but they can navigate chaotic space, the maelstroms surrounding the gateway to the wider universe.
Conscripted into the military under dubious circumstances, Tennal is placed into the care of Lieutenant Surit Yeni, a duty-bound soldier, principled leader, and the son of a notorious traitor general. Whereas Tennal can read minds, Surit can influence them. Like all other neuromodified “architects,” he can impose his will onto others, and he’s under orders to control Tennal by merging their minds.
Surit accepted a suspicious promotion-track request out of desperation, but he refuses to go through with his illegal orders to sync and control an unconsenting Tennal. So they They fake a sync bond and plan Tennal's escape.
Their best chance arrives with a salvage-retrieval mission into chaotic space―to the very neuromodifcation lab that Surit's traitor mother destroyed twenty years ago. And among the rubble is a treasure both terrible and unimaginably powerful, one that upends a decades-old power struggle, and begins a war.
Tennal and Surit can no longer abandon their unit or their world. The only way to avoid life under full military control is to complete the very sync they've been faking.
Can two unwilling weapons of war bring about peace?
A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland
Fantasy m/m romance. An anxious prince must unravel a conspiracy in order to prove his loyalty to his sister, the sultan. In the process he falls in love with his new bodyguard.
Berries and Greed by Lily Mayne (Deep Earth Dating, #1)
A contemporary romcom with a sci-fi twist, featuring an introverted demiurge and a recent escapee from a demiurge-worshiping cult. The series is set in a world where human coexist with demiurges, monsters who originally dwelt deep within the earth but now live on the surface amongst humans.
- light and fluffy low-conflict romance
- no third act conflict
- fem domme x male sub
- monsterfucking
- heroine has vaginismus
- fun, cool worldbuilding
I have already recced this ad nauseaum but I will do it again and you can't stop me. This is post-apocalyptic m/m romance in a world where monsters from another dimension have destroyed much of the world, ft. a different monster/human pairing in every book. There is an overarching plot that each book progresses as well.
- monsterfucking
- the couples all have different dynamics, etc so you're bound to like a few of them
- the plot and worldbuilding are genuinely engaging, to the point I read three installments with pairings I didn't like because I wanted to know what was going on
A series of historical queer historical romances with a good balance of comedy and pathos. I like these because they're just anachronistic enough and they do a great job of balancing social commentary with actual queer joy.
- book 1 is an m/m romance ft. an asexual duke falling in love with the twin brother of the girl he's engaged to as they engage in a cross- country chase, because the girl is Not Willing to marry him
- book 2 is nb/nb, ft. a castrato and the best friend of the aforementioned unwilling girl from the previous book. I love that this book features two people who approach being nonbinary in different ways find kinship and love with each other, and that neither of their approaches is invalidated
(Side note: Alexis Hall is one of my favorite romance writers with a wide variety of queer things both contemporary and historical. This includes a Great British Bake Off romcom series, three different sets of historical romances, what is essentially a better 50sog but gay, etc.)
The Fiancee Farce by Alexandra Bellefleur
A single bookseller pretends to be dating the cover model of her favorite romance novels in order to put off her nosy family. Said cover model turns out to be the hot heir to a publishing company, who can only inherit if she gets married...fast.
- fake dating/engagement!
- slow burn more like no burn
- hot wlw sex
A woman who has lived disguised as a man and a soldier for years returns home from the war, and ends up staying with her commanding officer. She and his sister fall in love.
- this is a more realistic historical romance, with both misogyny and homophobia present
- still has a HEA
- it's a tight, intimate novel that really sells the romance
Set in the same universe as Winter's Orbit (which I also love but put on a previous rec list), in a world where the military binds readers, who have the power to read minds, to architects, who have the power to control others. This is m/m sci-fi romance.
I don't think anything I could say about this would do it justice, except that I inhaled it in a day and love it dearly, so here's the synopsis:
Rich socialite, inveterate flirt, and walking disaster Tennalhin Halkana can read minds. Tennal, like all neuromodified “readers,” is a security threat on his own. But when controlled, readers are a rare asset. Not only can they read minds, but they can navigate chaotic space, the maelstroms surrounding the gateway to the wider universe.
Conscripted into the military under dubious circumstances, Tennal is placed into the care of Lieutenant Surit Yeni, a duty-bound soldier, principled leader, and the son of a notorious traitor general. Whereas Tennal can read minds, Surit can influence them. Like all other neuromodified “architects,” he can impose his will onto others, and he’s under orders to control Tennal by merging their minds.
Surit accepted a suspicious promotion-track request out of desperation, but he refuses to go through with his illegal orders to sync and control an unconsenting Tennal. So they They fake a sync bond and plan Tennal's escape.
Their best chance arrives with a salvage-retrieval mission into chaotic space―to the very neuromodifcation lab that Surit's traitor mother destroyed twenty years ago. And among the rubble is a treasure both terrible and unimaginably powerful, one that upends a decades-old power struggle, and begins a war.
Tennal and Surit can no longer abandon their unit or their world. The only way to avoid life under full military control is to complete the very sync they've been faking.
Can two unwilling weapons of war bring about peace?
A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland
Fantasy m/m romance. An anxious prince must unravel a conspiracy in order to prove his loyalty to his sister, the sultan. In the process he falls in love with his new bodyguard.
- the chemistry between the leads in this one is absurd. never has hairwashing been so sexually charged
- makes very good use of the power dynamic
- Rowland understands that point of the plot in a fantasy romance is to create Romantic Situations
