Love Is Love: Three Queer Rom-Coms Everyone Should Read

Great reads from Alexis Hall, Cat Sebastian, and Casey McQuiston

Jun 29, 2025

Happy Pride! When you come down off the high of the parades and the parties, I hope you’ll pick up one of these fabulous rom-coms and support queer writers.

And if you’re not into Pride, I get it, but you should still check out these books. Romance has a broad spectrum of subgenres that allow readers to specialize. If you like werewolf love stories or shifter bonding, there are books for you. But I urge you not to reject books based on the genders of the main characters because love is love, and these love stories will move you, no matter where you fall on the spectrum.

Red, White, & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

I’m going to be predictable and say that, while the movie of Casey McQuiston’s Red, White, & Royal Blue was luscious, the book is better. If you loved the movie and haven’t read the book, just imagine Taylor Zakhar Perez and Nicholas Galitzine as Alex and Prince Henry.

Alex Claremont-Diaz is the irreverent and opinionated son of a female U.S. president. One of Alex’s opinions: that Prince Henry, younger son of the British monarch, is a stuck-up twat. But when an unfortunate incident with a giant cake at a royal wedding forces Alex and Henry to spend time making nice for PR purposes, a deeper connection blooms.

Don’t get me wrong—I loved the movie adaptation and you should totally see it if you haven’t. But the joy of the novel is the complex and fascinating web of politics and intrigue that Alex and Henry swim in. I love books that take me behind the scenes into settings I’m not familiar with, and this was a funny and fascinating look at life in the swirl of politics.

Tropes: enemies to lovers, politics, royalty, coming out
Spice level: 2
Humor level: Consistently witty with lots of sharp dialogue.
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The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian

In The Queer Principles of Kit Webb, the titular Webb, mostly retired highwayman and current coffeehouse proprietor, isn’t looking for a relationship when Edward Percy Talbot, the very gay son of a very evil duke, comes looking for a criminal. Cat Sebastian manages to wrap a sweet romance inside a hilarious adventure as the story unfolds.

Bonus: Book two in Sebastian’s London Highwayman series, The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes, is also delightful and opens with an exchange of snidely polite letters between the two main characters that had me in stitches.

Tropes: historical romance, reformed criminals, royalty, murder, escaping a bad marriage
Spice level: 3
Humor level: So, so very funny

Husband Material by Alexis Hall

Boyfriend Material is one of my all-time favorite books. Luc O’Donnell, son of rock star parents, has a history of bad press. When a compromising photo threatens his job at a charity focused on saving dung beetles, Luc needs a fake boyfriend to make him look respectable. Enter Oliver Blackwood, uptight barrister with a strict code of ethics. Hilarity and romance ensue.

The romance is lovely, and I adore Luc and Oliver, but what makes this book is the secondary characters. Luc’s friends are an artistic and idiosyncratic bunch, and his bumbling coworkers make for irresistibly hysterical scenes.

Honestly, I don’t think I’m doing this book justice. Just read it. It’s sweet and funny and well written.

Tropes: fake dating, famous parent, opposites attract
Spice level: 1
Humor level: I laughed so loud I kept waking my wife up. Made her super mad, but I couldn’t help it. ROTFL.

Bonus: I loved Boyfriend Material so much I gobbled up everything else Alexis Hall has written, and it’s all great (but Boyfriend Material is the top of the list if you love romantic comedy). Hall’s A Lady for a Duke is another great Pride read. It’s a historical romance with a transwoman as the heroine and the exploration of what it could mean to be trans at that time is beautiful and hopeful.

A note about F/F romances

I am aware that this list includes only M/M books (with the exception of The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes, which is M/F). I have read lots of lesbian romances, and there are some good ones out there, but none that set me on fire like the books listed here.

I certainly haven’t read everything on the market, and I hope I’ve missed the good ones. Please recommend your F/F favorites in the comments—as a queer woman, I want to find these books. I do think we need more lesbian romances that knock the socks off readers of all persuasions, and I plan to write them. Stay tuned.