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Hilariously I've read eleven books, the last few in quick succession, so it was a little hard to remember how far back to go.
The Bride Test by Helen Hoang
I got a little frustrated at points that the brother character seemed to know absolutely everything, especially what people were thinking, in order to explain to the main dude what was going on. I liked the previous book by this author, but was a little offput by the "sex worker wants to quit sex work" narrative that seems to be the only narrative. This book seemed a lot more personal, which the author's note confirmed: she talked to her mom a lot about her immigrant experience. Esme, the main female character, was very strongly written and grounded within the story. I enjoyed it!
Camgirl by Isa Mazzei
I feel like I ran across this rec an age ago by someone in the gender studies discipline or similar, but the hold took so long to come in that I've forgotten. I was expecting it to be a lot more theory heavy and more widely drawn, but this was basically a memoir. For a memoir, which is something I never read, it was mostly interesting.
Beautiful Wreck by Larissa Brown
A comfort reread. I usually hate time travel romances because their romanticization of the past is utterly foreign to me as a disabled queer person, but this one isn't really like that. Or at least, ~the past~ isn't what's romanticized here — this author just is infatuated with farm life in tenth century Norway. This whole book is just these sweeping, adoring descriptions of how fucking sick it is to be spinning wool on a farm in tenth century Norway. The romance plot upon the reread was even funnier, because there was straight up like three or four times where they kissed or became close and then something terrible happened to her and he went "no we cannot bang, it is my curse, you will be hurt". But in a non angsty way, mostly? Just an infinitely yearning way, with an edge of comedy because it was a reread. If you're the kind of person who thinks it would be sick as hell to spin wool on a farm in tenth century Norway, you'll enjoy this book. (Also, it has some very cool worldbuilding re: a future, and I love that the main woman is a linguist and that's why she can understand the past).
Action by Quinn Anderson
I think this is the first romance novel I've read with a sex worker as the main or love interest that isn't angsty about it. I've been looking for one for a while, and this one was basically a rom com that involved boning on camera. I did get it for free from a Covid-based "everyone's depressed here's a book" thing but I would have been happy paying for it too.
Docile by K.M. Sparza
This is definitely literary fiction, in the way that it sidles up to you and goes "haha wouldn't it be fucked up if-". It had a lot of interesting things to say (or suggest that you should Think™ about) re: consent, capitalism, debt, how much we can fuck each other up. It also had two unreliable narrators and deals heavily with sexual assault, so this is definitely not a book for everyone. This is a book you read to discuss, not a book you read with hot chocolate in bed.
Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire
I enjoyed the book, as I enjoy about everything that Seanan McGuire writes. I think the thing about these books / this series is that they're paced oddly to me. Scenes and plot stuff tend to whip by unendingly, and I tend to want to sit a little deeper in each scene. Mental illness (OCD) used as a sensitive plot point in fantasy? Incredible.
The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells
Technically, this is four novellas. I accidentally read 1, 3, 2, 4. I liked the first one the best because the concept was so new, but they were all really standout novellas. Murderbot is very, very good. Spoilers but here's some paraphrased things that happen:
( Spoilers )
The whole thing is just this murderous robot going UGHHHHH HUMANS ARE LOOKING AT ME and then being very good at murdering things and hacking things and then having a crisis because it doesn't want to interact with People. Also, I love how gender is handled in these books. Murderbot doesn't ever use a gender for itself, seems to be perfectly good with being referred to as "it", and when pretending to be human puts a gender down on it's ID as "indeterminate". Which is accepted without thought. There's a few alien genders and genders, and they aren't important to the story but they are respected. I can't wait until the fifth in the series which is apparently a full novel is at my library. Or I may just buy it, I've enjoyed Murderbot that much. Of everything on this list, Murderbot is the thing I can unequivocally recommend.
The Bride Test by Helen Hoang
I got a little frustrated at points that the brother character seemed to know absolutely everything, especially what people were thinking, in order to explain to the main dude what was going on. I liked the previous book by this author, but was a little offput by the "sex worker wants to quit sex work" narrative that seems to be the only narrative. This book seemed a lot more personal, which the author's note confirmed: she talked to her mom a lot about her immigrant experience. Esme, the main female character, was very strongly written and grounded within the story. I enjoyed it!
Camgirl by Isa Mazzei
I feel like I ran across this rec an age ago by someone in the gender studies discipline or similar, but the hold took so long to come in that I've forgotten. I was expecting it to be a lot more theory heavy and more widely drawn, but this was basically a memoir. For a memoir, which is something I never read, it was mostly interesting.
Beautiful Wreck by Larissa Brown
A comfort reread. I usually hate time travel romances because their romanticization of the past is utterly foreign to me as a disabled queer person, but this one isn't really like that. Or at least, ~the past~ isn't what's romanticized here — this author just is infatuated with farm life in tenth century Norway. This whole book is just these sweeping, adoring descriptions of how fucking sick it is to be spinning wool on a farm in tenth century Norway. The romance plot upon the reread was even funnier, because there was straight up like three or four times where they kissed or became close and then something terrible happened to her and he went "no we cannot bang, it is my curse, you will be hurt". But in a non angsty way, mostly? Just an infinitely yearning way, with an edge of comedy because it was a reread. If you're the kind of person who thinks it would be sick as hell to spin wool on a farm in tenth century Norway, you'll enjoy this book. (Also, it has some very cool worldbuilding re: a future, and I love that the main woman is a linguist and that's why she can understand the past).
Action by Quinn Anderson
I think this is the first romance novel I've read with a sex worker as the main or love interest that isn't angsty about it. I've been looking for one for a while, and this one was basically a rom com that involved boning on camera. I did get it for free from a Covid-based "everyone's depressed here's a book" thing but I would have been happy paying for it too.
Docile by K.M. Sparza
This is definitely literary fiction, in the way that it sidles up to you and goes "haha wouldn't it be fucked up if-". It had a lot of interesting things to say (or suggest that you should Think™ about) re: consent, capitalism, debt, how much we can fuck each other up. It also had two unreliable narrators and deals heavily with sexual assault, so this is definitely not a book for everyone. This is a book you read to discuss, not a book you read with hot chocolate in bed.
Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire
I enjoyed the book, as I enjoy about everything that Seanan McGuire writes. I think the thing about these books / this series is that they're paced oddly to me. Scenes and plot stuff tend to whip by unendingly, and I tend to want to sit a little deeper in each scene. Mental illness (OCD) used as a sensitive plot point in fantasy? Incredible.
The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells
Technically, this is four novellas. I accidentally read 1, 3, 2, 4. I liked the first one the best because the concept was so new, but they were all really standout novellas. Murderbot is very, very good. Spoilers but here's some paraphrased things that happen:
( Spoilers )
The whole thing is just this murderous robot going UGHHHHH HUMANS ARE LOOKING AT ME and then being very good at murdering things and hacking things and then having a crisis because it doesn't want to interact with People. Also, I love how gender is handled in these books. Murderbot doesn't ever use a gender for itself, seems to be perfectly good with being referred to as "it", and when pretending to be human puts a gender down on it's ID as "indeterminate". Which is accepted without thought. There's a few alien genders and genders, and they aren't important to the story but they are respected. I can't wait until the fifth in the series which is apparently a full novel is at my library. Or I may just buy it, I've enjoyed Murderbot that much. Of everything on this list, Murderbot is the thing I can unequivocally recommend.
