Pride Month: Achillean
Jen’s 2024 Diversify Your Romance Challenge
LGBTQ+ Pride Month
June is LGBTQ+ Pride Month.
Each week this month, I’ll focus on a letter of the alphabet soup.
Lesbian romance novels
Gay romance novels
Bi romance novels
Trans romance novels
This week, Achillean romance novels.
While I’m sorely tempted to just list every TJ Klune novel I’ve ever read, I’ll try to diversify my recommendations for you this week. Please start with TJ Klune—he’ll make you laugh and swoon.
Of course, I could say the same about Alexis Hall.
(Jay Northcote is new to me, but I wanted to find you men writing men. Let me know what you think!)
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune, narrated by Daniel Henning
Linus Baker is a by-the-book case worker in the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. He's tasked with determining whether six dangerous magical children are likely to bring about the end of the world.
Arthur Parnassus is the master of the orphanage. He would do anything to keep the children safe, even if it means the world will burn. And his secrets will come to light.
The House in the Cerulean Sea is an enchanting love story, masterfully told, about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place―and realizing that family is yours.
Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall, narrated by Joe Jameson
Luc O'Donnell is tangentially - and reluctantly - famous. His rock-star parents split when he was young, and the father he's never met spent the next 20 years cruising in and out of rehab. Now that his dad's making a comeback, Luc's back in the public eye, and one compromising photo is enough to ruin everything.
To clean up his image, Luc has to find a nice normal relationship...and Oliver Blackwood is as nice and normal as they come. He's a barrister, an ethical vegetarian, and someone who has never inspired a moment of scandal in his life. In other words, he’s perfect boyfriend material. Unfortunately, apart from being gay, single, and really really in need of a date for a big event, Luc and Oliver have nothing in common. So they strike a deal to be publicity-friendly (fake) boyfriends until the dust settles. Then they can go their separate ways and pretend it never happened.
But the thing about fake-dating is that it can feel a lot like real-dating. And that's when you get used to someone...start falling for them...don't ever want to let them go.
Operation Fake Relationship by Jay Northcote, narrated by Hamish Long
After years of estrangement from his parents, Nick is finally going home for Christmas, but not without backup. He wants moral support, so his best friend and flatmate, Jackson, agrees to pretend to be his partner, so he can go with him. It’s easy for Jackson to be convincing when his feelings for Nick are as genuine as ever. He put his crush on the back burner long ago, but acting out a role he’d love to play for real is harder than he imagined. Holding hands, kissing under the mistletoe, even sharing a bed for the sake of the charade...he can’t help wondering what he’s let himself in for and whether his heart can take it.
Emotions run high as Nick grapples with family issues, and the sexual tension between him and his best friend becomes difficult to ignore. But if he and Jackson give into the temptation to be fake boyfriends with benefits over the holiday, what will it mean for their future as friends once Christmas is over?
This audiobook contains best friends to lovers, pretend boyfriends, daddy issues, mistletoe, and a happy ending - of course.
