A Seditious Affair by KJ Charles - Technically I read it n the end of last year but I posted my review on the blog in January and thus it didn't make it on my best books of 2015 list. And this book is so special, my most favourite historical of all times

Walk the Edge by Katie McGarry - an engaging YA/NA romance with realistic and relatable characters put in rather extreme situations by a favourite author.
Review/buy on Amazon

Recommendation removed
First and First by Santino Hassell - I really love the whole Five Boroughs series but this story stands out the most for me. Because the author managed to redeem a character I thought was nonredeemable. Furthermore, he made me fall in love with Caleb! And Ollie, well Ollie is like a dream come through,just the perfect partner anyone could ask for. 

Ellie has kindly asked me to write about my favourite books this year, so I had a think and this is what I came up with: a top 10, and some honourable mentions in no particular order. Obviously this is only what I read: there's some well-reviewed stuff I didn't get around to reading this year. I've also limited myself to one entry per author. Finally, it is a list of books I *read* this year. Some of these (notably my favourite book of the year!) came out earlier but I did not read them until now.

With that said, here are my favourite novels of 2016!

Top 10:

1) Ariah - B R Sanders

One of the first books I read this year and, at the end of it, still the best thing I've read. At one level, this is a bildungsroman set in a fantasy world - watching a talented young man - Ariah - grow into his magical powers. So far, so standard fantasy. But that's not really what's special about this book. At heart, the novel invites us to empathise with people who are different from us, think differently from us, and love differently from us. Nearly a year later, this book still affects me.

Goodreads / Amazon 

2) Where We Left Off - Roan Parrish

A perfectly written book that made me buy something I never buy: a one-sided crush turning into a relationship. The book gets me to accept than a wide-eyed romantic and a cynical hedonist can be each other's soul mates. It never insists on a traditional romantic arc and tries something very brave: a legit Happy For Now. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the main characters broke up 6 months after the end of the book, and I still think it's romantic as hell.

Goodreads / Amazon 

3) Seven Summer Nights - Harper Fox

This is Fox's (excellent) Tyack & Frayne series on steroids. A big, twisty book that takes on big, twisty ideas, braiding together seemingly disparate strands of pagan anti-authoritarianism, a historical mystery, dreamlike magic realism, post-war PTSD and a reciprocal hurt/comfort romance into a single narrative that, miraculously, entirely holds together. It's as if Pat Barker and Angela Carter wrote a queer romance together (which, if you had any doubts, is a glorious thing).

Goodreads / Amazon 

4) A Gentleman's Position - KJ Charles

This is not, I think, the best book in Charles' Society of Gentlemen series (that would be the second book, A Seditious Affair), but it is still one of the best books to come out this year. Making a stuck up prig like Richard Vane an (eventually) appealing romantic hero is some achievement. A reflection on class, love, wealth, and responsibility, with the fantastic David Cyprian as the other romantic lead, it's a book (along with the rest of the series) I'll happily re-read for years to come.

Goodreads / Amazon 

5) Fast Connection - Megan Erickson & Santino Hassell

This is basically a cheat. I'd limited myself to one book per author, and this allows me to fit two writers who both deserve individual entries (for Out of Frame and Interborough) in one spot! Simultaneously light and fun and a realistic portrayal of two bisexual men who are unsure about the whole relationship thing, it's one of the most effortless-seeming books I've read this year which, I'm sure, means that it was anything but to write.

Goodreads / Amazon 

6) Triad Blood - 'Nathan Burgoine

Excellent queer urban fantasy with a unique setup. In this world, magic works in threes, and magical beings need to be in groups of 3 to have power. It's always 3 demons, 3 wizards, or 3 vampires, but here we see a vampire, a demon, and a wizard form a triad with each other. The story is essentially about them trying to keep themselves safe from the rest of Ottawa's (!?) paranormal crowd. Bonus for the understated, and interestingly asymetric, not-quite-romance we get between the members of the Triad.

Goodreads / Amazon 

7) Gays of Our Lives - Kris Ripper

The whole series is excellent but this is my favourite. Grumpy ass grump falls in love with ridiculous hipster mostly against his will. Obie is just such an appealing love interest, and the risk Ripper takes at having a main character as misanthropic as Emerson really pays off. Well observed and takes seriously the idea that romance is for everybody (something that much LGBT romance only pays lip service to).

Goodreads / Amazon 

8) Jamie Brodie Mysteries - Meg Perry

My love for this series is a little odd. It's competently written but no better than that, and the mysteries that provide the plot drive for each book are workmanlike but not amazing, once you get past the cute premise of an academic librarian as a detective. But what makes this almost unique in the m/m world is we see a couple go from first hookup then follow them through 13 books (and counting!) of negotiating a relationship and a life together. And it's hard. Jamie and Pete deal with sexual incompatiblity, secret keeping, financial insecurity, jealousy, health scares, family trouble, work stress, frequent silly bickering and overcome it all. Some might not be interested in seeing a relationship with so many negatives depicted, but to me seeing them go through all that and choose to stay together makes this the most satisfying relationship I've read this year.

Goodreads / Amazon

9) Looking for Group - Alexis Hall

As niche a book as you're likely to find - a contemporary new adult romance set at least half the time in an MMO, and told to a significant extent through chat logs. It can be (and by all account was) offputting to a lot of people, but as a queer MMO nerd I really appreciated it for what it was: a sweet, low-key romance about the value and validity of online relationships. Really well written, too.

Goodreads / Amazon 

10) Shadow Valley series - Devin Harnois

Paranormal YA done right. Teenage boy finds out he's a fae changeling, moves to magic town to be instructed in how to hide his powers from the outside world. He quickly makes friends with a half-dragon bad boy, and their bi guy/straight guy friendship is the core of the series. They both date other people, but this deep connection between Aiden and Dylan is really the most important relationship, and that's great to see. Cool world, well drawn characters, and teenages who act like teenagers. A five book series and the final book just came out. What's not to like? 

Goodreads / Amazon 

Honourable mentions:

Here's to You, Zeb Pike / Thanks a Lot, John LeClair - Johanna Parkhurst

A well-written YA m/m romance duology that does a really good job of showing the real difficulties of being a queer teenage boy but also puts it in perspective - these boys have a heap of other problems, and being gay is only one of them.

Goodreads and Goodreads / Amazon and Amazon 

Unravelling Josh - Edie Danford

College romance (loosely linked to Danford's other Ellery College books) that's smoking hot but also deeply reflective, warm hearted, and non-judgmental. I enjoyed this a lot.

Goodreads / Amazon 

Must Like Spinach - Con Riley

Just such a nice, warm book to read. Very slow burn romance between two leads you grow to love by the end of the book, with a great supporting cast.

Goodreads / Amazon 

Save of the Game - Avon Gale

I like all of Gale's hockey books; this is my favourite. Two men figuring out they're bi, figuring out they like each other, pretty much zero freaking out ensues. Great stuff, enormous fun, and grew on me upon rereading: I like it more now than I did when I first read it.

Goodreads / Amazon 

Between a Rock and a Hard Place - Amy Jo Cousins

A two novella collection in Cousins' Bend or Break series. Both continue the trend of enormously likeable leads and believable, respectful young queer men. Cousins remains the best writer of college m/m going.

Goodreads / Amazon 

Hold Me - Courtney Milan

Outrageously enjoyable enemies to lovers/friends to lovers double bill, with both descriptions applying to the same couple. Not a lot of books I had more fun with this year.

Goodreads / Amazon  

As a bonus, how about some genuinely excellent free stuff?!

Here are some pieces of fiction I enjoyed a lot this year that you can find for free online.

A SF short story, and word for word the most emotionally affecting thing I read this year.

Hotblood! - Toril Orlesky http://hotbloodcomic.com/page/276

A webcomic about gay centaurs in the old west. Enough said.

This week my guest in the New and Debut feature is the wonderful Austin Chant, author of Coffee Boy (trans mm romance) and the upcoming queer/trans retelling of Peter Pan (I can't tell how much I'm looking forward to this one). Read on to check his awesome interview and a short excerpt from Coffee Boy.

Meet Austin

1. Tell us about yourself and why did you decide to become a romance writer?

I've wanted to be a writer since I was about six years old, but I didn't get into romance for a long time because I had a lot of misconceptions about the genre (as we often do). One of my biggest misconceptions was that there was no such thing as queer romance, or trans romance, so I didn't think I'd ever see myself represented. Then, in 2013, a regional conference called Gay Romance Northwest blew my mind open, introducing me to a ton of amazing queer books and even more queer amazing authors. I immediately decided I needed to throw myself into romance, and I've been at it ever since!

I was born and raised in Washington in a small town that tends to wind up on lists of "cool places for hipsters to visit". I'm now at university near Seattle, writing as much as possible after work and school and slowly getting used to telling people I'm a romance novelist.  I'm a bisexual trans man, a gamer, a tea drinker, and a passionate cook. 

2. Can you share some of your favourite books and authors?

I'm a huge fan of KJ Charles, particularly her Society of Gentlemen series and The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal. They both have a perfect blend of lovable, compelling, funny characters and terrifyingly high stakes which, combined, makes me cry a lot. I also love Heidi Belleau and C.S. Pacat for the Rear Entrance Video series and Captive Prince, respectively. I'll read pretty much anything — characters and style matter more to me than genre.

3. Who/what do you consider your writing influence/inspiration?

My biggest single influence is Diana Wynne Jones, who was a wonderful British author of children's fiction. She wrote a lot of very genre-bending fantasy and sci-fi, including Howl's Moving Castle, which my parents read to me when I was a little kid. Fantasy is my favorite genre, but aside from that, my influences are all over the place — I love Jurassic Park, Jeeves & Wooster, Hemingway, Bradbury, fanfiction, etc. And I collect copies of The Picture of Dorian Gray because they all inspire me.

4. What kind of stories can the readers expect from you (contemporary/historical/sci-fi, adult/NA/YA, etc)?

I want to write a little bit of everything, but I have a special place in my heart for fantasy, so you'll definitely see more of that. I love contemporary queer romance that captures stories from my community, and I make occasional forays into historical fiction because I also love writing about queer folks throughout history. Honestly, the only common thread between everything I write is that it's all very queer and character-focused. The next couple books I expect to release are a) a queer/trans retelling of Peter Pan that probably counts as historical fantasy, b) fairly classic sword-and-sorcery M/M about dragonslayers who fall in love, and c) some snarky contemporary F/F about singers and figure skaters. All three have trans protagonists.

5. Please, introduce your latest release.

My latest book is Coffee Boy, which is a contemporary trans m/m novella about a gay trans man named Kieran who's starting a political campaign internship after graduating college. It's a snarky book about navigating the workplace as a trans person, and about struggling with the apathy and inertia that tends to hit when you can't imagine things getting better (for you or for the world). And, of course, it's a romance! Kieran's supervisor Seth is an older bi man who, despite having a stick up his ass, is unequivocally supportive of Kieran's right to be safe and respected at work. Over time, as Kieran learns more about Seth, their relationship deepens from uneasy allyship to friendship and, you know. You'll have to read the book.

Austin Chant is a bitter millennial, passable chef, and a queer, trans writer of romance, erotica, and fantasy. His fiction centers on trans characters who always, always get the love they deserve. Austin cohosts the Hopeless Romantic, a podcast dedicated to exploring LGBTQIA+ love stories and the art of writing romance. He currently lives in Seattle, in a household of wildly creative freelancers who all spend too much time playing video games.

Excerpt

ER: Hi, KJ and welcome! I want to start this interview with some questions on your writing process and then dive in more detail about your upcoming books (and I know you have a few of those up your sleeve) 

So, let’s kick this off with the question how you became a romance writer. Was this your childhood dream?

KJ: I always told stories in my head but it never occurred to me that I’d be a writer; I never really wrote them down at all. And when I did start writing I didn’t actually intend to write romance--I was supposed to be doing fantasy. None of this was planned, basically. I’m just making it up as I go along. 

ER: What is the best and the worst thing about being a writer?

KJ: Best is the reader response. When people say that a book meant something to them, or are inspired to create art or Tumblr jokes or reference your work or just talk about it. Writing is very solitary and then the book comes out and strangers are suddenly talking to you about the people in your head, and sharing in your mental creations. It’s really astonishing. 

Worst is how easy it is to screw up. Especially writing romance, which is a genre people come to in search of something that is in the end going to make them feel better. I don’t ever want to think that someone read a stupid throwaway remark of mine that made them feel attacked or belittled; I don’t want to expose my blind spots and unconscious bigotries, both for my own shame and for the sake of readers who might read something hurtful. Unfortunately, writing is a great way to give people a CAT scan of your psyche, for good or ill. If I’ve learned anything it’s that we all have a lot more blind spots—at best—than we’d like to think.

ER: Which part of the writing process is the easiest and the most difficult for you?

KJ: I love the self edit. When you have the first draft down, you’ve found out what the book is actually about, and you’re just tweaking and refining and oiling the bits to work together. That’s pure fun.

Most difficult: Copy edits. As an editor and an opinionated person who dislikes being wrong, I have difficulty taking them with grace.

ER: Are you a plotter or a pantser?

KJ: I’m now a plotter. It’s been a hard learning curve, though. I had to dump 30K on a book where I’d been winging it and it hadn’t worked; I vowed to plot thoroughly in the future; I then plotted out an entire book in detail, the first of a trilogy, and had to dump 30K of that because I’d forgotten to make the characters interesting or likeable. /side eyes everything/

ER: You write mostly queer historical romance. Is this your favourite subgenre to write? Do you want to try other subgenres?

KJ: I vastly prefer historical. If I do contemporary it would be urban fantasy probably, maybe horror. To be honest I don’t think I have anything to say in realistic queer contemporary that wouldn’t be better said by #ownvoices writers. Which is not to dictate what anyone else should write, but it’s how I feel about me.

ER: You have written only m/m couples so far, if I’m not mistaken. Are you interested in writing other types of relationships - m/f or f/f or poly relationships?

KJ: My December novella features a f/f central relationship and I’m aiming to write more of that. I have a forthcoming nonbinary main character also (Sins of the Cities book 3), and I’d love to write more nonbinary leads. I’ve never had an idea for a poly romance, but if I do I will!

ER: Speaking of writing dreams and future plans - what is the most outrageous/crazy story you want to write (Please, ignore the practical aspects of who would publish and who would want to read it)?

KJ: I don’t really see anything I want to write as outrageous, in that if it makes a coherent story, why not just do it? There is an amazing world of readers out there. (Except for my Twitter-running-joke contemporary Brexit romance, Hard Brexit, which involves a constitutional lawyer and a hot Brexiteer, with wigs-and-robes kink. That’s probably a step too far for anyone, ever.)

ER: Same question but about what kind of story you want to read and haven’t found it yet?

KJ: It’s not remotely outrageous, I just want more diverse historicals--diverse in terms of class and race and gender and sexuality and setting and period. Also I really want queer Restoration romance please. Someone do that or I may have to.

ER: Now, it’s time to focus more on your upcoming books. I believe Wanted, a Gentleman is your next release, right? Can you tell us more about it?

KJ: In fact I have two! Bear with me...

‘The Price of Meat’ is a short story (15K) in the queer horror anthology All in Fear, out now. It’s set in a Victorian AU, inspired by one of my favourite Victorian pulp stories (I won’t spoil it by saying which but Sondheim fans will probably work it out from the title!) and based on a real historical curiosity: the liberty of Alsatia, which was an area of London where laws officially didn’t apply. It’s penny dreadful rather than romance, with a f/f relationship at the centre. 

Wanted, a Gentleman, publishing January, is a shortish novel/long novella set in 1805, a road trip story in which our heroes are on a chase to Gretna Green in pursuit of a runaway heiress. Theo is a Lonely Hearts magazine publisher and jobbing weasel; Martin is a merchant who’s a sort-of friend of the heiress’s family, and the story is about them solving their immediate problem of catching the heiress, tackling the larger problems they both have, and coping with the utter ghastliness of a 14-mile-an-hour high speed chase on miserable roads through nowhere...all the while falling in love. :)

Review