May the Best Man Win
We started the season off with a classic lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers-again story set against the timeless backdrop of a preppy high school. May the Best Man Win followed Jeremy, a Trans boy trying to prove his masculinity to the world, and Lukas, the ex he left behind in the dust. As their senior year begins, the boys find themselves in a heated battle for homecoming king.

Author Z.R. Ellor wrote this hilarious romance novel to bring some lighthearted joy to the Queer literary community. "We are still very much in a period where Queer teenagers do not have access to that kind of representation in their reading life," Ellor said. "When I was a teen, the few pieces of Queer media I had weren't written for me. They were specific, sensationalized, and tragic, written in a way that didn't make me understand I could be Queer and that label could be accessible to me. I think it is important to have Queer rep in media, for Queer teens who are looking to find a sense of themselves and the world they live in."

The Queer Principles of Kitt Webb
For our next romantic read, we took a trip back in time with author Cat Sebastian to a steamy 18th-century coffee shop for an even steamier romance. The Queer Principles of Kitt Webb tells the story of the titular retired burglar and an aristocrat, Percy, who hires him to right a wrong.

Sebastian is best known for her historical fiction, which often features Queer leads. She says she prefers to read historical fiction because it functions as great literary escapism but has found that most people are unaware that Queer characters can, and did, exist in historical contexts.

"When it comes to Queer historical fiction, we have this tendency in culture to be like, 'Queer people must not have existed, because we don't see them in the historical record,'" she said. "We do see them in historical records, and when we don't, there are many good reasons for this. Queer people have been systemically erased from so many narratives that putting them back in, especially putting us back into settings where we have been deliberately kept absent, is satisfying to me as a writer."

Mangos and Mistletoe
As Christmastime rolled around, we found the best Hallmark-esque Queer holiday romances! We read Adriana Herrara's hot WLW Mangos and Mistletoe. The story follows two Dominican cooks, Kiskeya and Sully, who compete in Scotland's biggest holiday bake-off. The tasty rivals-to-lovers romance is unique in that it is one of the only LGBTQ+ romances that features two women of color in the lead.

"You don't often see sapphic books where both leads are women of color," said Herrara. "With Mangos and Mistletoe, they're both Dominican, but they have very different stories: one is born in the US, the other... in the Dominican Republic, so their approach to their culture, how they see themselves, is very different. I love exploring [that]."

The Lights on Knockbridge Lane
As the holiday season ramped up, we took a stroll down Knockbridge Lane with author Roan Parrish. The Lights on Knockbridge Lane is the jolly story of single dad Adam, his rambunctious daughter Gus, and their mysterious and sexy new neighbor Wes, as the three of them try to create the best Christmas light show ever.

"I love holiday stories, and this is a Christmas book," gushed Parrish. "I'm Jewish, and people were like, 'Why are you writing a Christmas book?' Growing up not celebrating Christmas, I have no negative association with it. It's just magical and snowy and cheerful. I wanted to write a Hallmark Christmas movie in book form, but Gay, very Gay," they laughed.

Written in the Stars
The holiday season wrapped up with a sapphic love letter to Seattle. Written in the Stars is author Alexandria Bellefleur's first novel in the her rom-com series of the same name. Branded as a WLW Pride and Prejudice, Bellefleur's story follows optimistic Elle and cynical Darcy as they fake a romance at Christmastime.

"My original inspiration was to give nods to Pride and Prejudice and Bridget Jones' Diary, but not have a direct retelling beat for beat. I wanted to explore the archetypes and capture that same feeling, but I wanted to make it Queer. From the very beginning, I wanted to make it Queer," said Bellefleur.

Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun
The SGN's book club entered 2022 with a romantic bang! We started the year off with a fresh new romance from debut author Jonny Garza Villa. Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun spotlights a year in the life of a closeted teen, Julian Luna, as he comes out, falls in love, and looks forward to his next steps in life.

Garza Villa says the book was inspired by the film Love, Simon. But they also had a desire to see more BIPOC representation in Queer media. With the help of their friends, they were able to create a happy, romantic, and hopeful masterpiece.

"I hope that just anyone who knows what it is to be in Jules' shoes and is still existing in a place that is similar to Jules' own experience of having to hide for his safety knows that anywhere you are within your coming out, you are enough," said Garza Villa. "You are enough for this world, there's no rush. You are loved, you are supported. And I hope [that] just reading it, even if you're reading it behind closed doors in your bedroom at night, you feel not so alone, you feel that you have Jules and Mat and all Jules' friends and his sister there to support you."

I Wish You All the Best
Following the theme of coming-of-age and coming-out stories, we next read Mason Deaver's I Wish You All the Best, the touching story of Ben, a Nonbinary teen struggling to show the world their identity and cope with anxiety. The book gave all the feels as well as a touching and authentic friends-to-lovers slow-burn romance.

Deaver says a big reason they wanted to write the book was to give accurate Nonbinary representation to a genre that has simply not seen any yet. "There were no Nonbinary characters in YA at the time. Trans representation as a whole left a lot to be desired," they said. "Lots of cis writers creating harmful — or downright offensive — ways. Some intricacies go into writing a Nonbinary character, things that cis characters won't experience or can't understand."

Girl Haven
As the gloomy winter weather dragged on, our book club took a field trip to the delightful fantasy land of Koretris. Inside the pages of Lilah Sturges' middle-grade graphic novel, Girl Haven, we met Ash, who travels to the mystical world where only girls are allowed. The only catch: Ash was born a boy. The whimsical adventure follows Ash's journey to gender identity and self-discovery along with her new, delightfully Queer friends.

Not only is Girl Haven a special book for many QT teens and young adults, but it was also a special journey for Sturges. "Girl Haven is a very special book to me, because it's one of the first things I've ever written that came from a place of total honesty and vulnerability," Sturges said. "I started working on it right after I transitioned in 2016, so a lot of feelings in there are very raw for me."

Of Ice and Shadows
The book club continued to journey to distant and fantastical lands. The next week, we read Of Ice and Shadows, Audrey Coulthurst's highly anticipated sequel to the fall book club read Of Fire and Stars. The novel picked up where readers had last left off, with star-crossed lovers Mare and Denna fleeing their kingdom and hoping to avoid a war.

For Coulthurst, part of the fun of writing a sequel was being able to put the characters readers have come to know and love through tests and difficulties. "It was fun to put Denna and Mare through new challenges and to explore how getting together in the first place is hardly the main obstacle in a relationship," said Coulthurst. "Time will always bring new trials to a partnership and give people the choice to confront them together or be driven apart."

Hot Dog Girl
As the winter dragged on, readers began longing for the days of summertime warmth. While we didn't feel much heat from the Seattle sun, Jennifer Dugan's Hot Dog Girl brought readers right back to the warm summer vibes. This story followed Bi teen Eloise as she schemed and pined over the boy of her dreams, only to realize that she might just be in love with the best friend she spent the summer pushing away.

Dugan's depiction of Eloise the "disaster Bisexual" was heavily influenced by her teenage misadventures. "I was, myself, kind of a disaster teen growing up, and I still definitely have many elements of disaster in my life as an adult," laughed Dugan. "Even though Lou's heart is in the right place, she makes some bad decisions, and she's trying to figure it out, but she's not figuring it out in an elegant way. She's just running headfirst into walls.

"I wanted the takeaway to be that even if you are struggling to figure out who you are, [or] there's a gap between who you are right now and who you want to be, you still are deserving of love and family and joy. You don't have to be perfect to have a love story and have good things."

Meet Cute Diary
Following the theme of "disaster-teen summer," the next book on our list was Meet Cute Diary. This story centered on Noah, a Transgender, triracial boy just trying to find his perfect summer romance while visiting his older brother in Colorado. Readers cringed along with author Emery Lee's delightful debut novel as they watched Noah make mistake after mistake.

Lee admits not having written Meet Cute Diary to teach any kind of lesson about Trans identity and struggle. "Ultimately, I don't want [readers] to feel like this has to be the book that changes their life, that it means something super special to them, because it's just one book... All I want readers to take away is a good time."

Satisfaction Guaranteed
In a bit of a mature turn, the next book we featured was Satisfaction Guaranteed, a WLW romance set in quirky Portland. The hit novel, which put author Karelia Stetz-Waters on the map, focused on the topic of female sexual pleasure and sexual liberation. The opposites-attract romance introduced us to Cade, a tightly wound accountant, and Selena, a free-spirited artist, as the two worked together to bring a beloved sex shop back from the brink of bankruptcy.

Stetz-Waters put a lot of time into researching female sexuality, which ultimately turned the novel's sex shop backdrop from an afterthought into a revolution. "As I started doing some research into sex toy stores, pleasure education, and sex positivity, I learned a lot that I didn't know about the pleasure gap, about the anatomy of the clitoris, sexuality for women, for vulva owners, other gender perspectives, gender identities. So it went from just a really fun set to kind of a calling," she said.

Perfect on Paper
Australian author Sophie Gonzales took our readers back to high school yet again, for a fun and flirty Bi romance. Perfect on Paper focused on secret high school romance advice specialist Darcy and charming senior Brougham, who discovers Darcy's secret and blackmails her into helping him win his ex back.

While a romance ultimately develops between Darcy and Brougham, Gonzales said it is important for readers to accept Bisexual romances as inherently Queer, even when they happen to be between a cis-hetero-presenting couple.

"The main reason I wanted to focus on a male/female relationship in this book was that I had received a biphobic comment about another book that I had written," Gonzales said. "There was this biphobic opinion that the character is somehow less Queer if it's a Bisexual character that ends up in a different-gender relationship. I have had people quarrel publicly about why the book is considered LGBT when there's not a same-sex relationship at the front and center...

"You know, LGBT is not only the L and the G, and it's not only Bi people, either. You can be a Trans person or a Nonbinary person or an Ace person who's still in a male/female-[presenting] relationship. That doesn't impact whether it's an LGBT story, so that's another misconception that I've seen come up quite a bit."

In at the Deep End
The next book we read was In at the Deep End, a novel by author Kate Davies originally written for the screen. Davies spent years writing and rewriting her sultry romance, spinning it from overtly comedic to much darker, until she found the perfect balance of reality and humor. In at the Deep End follows a late-in-life-Lesbian, Julia, as she struggles to make a place for herself in London's Lesbian scene. Poignant and hilarious, the book was definitely worth the rewrites.

"I wrote it as a kind of Bridget Jones' Diary—style novel, and it was okay, but it felt a bit too light, and I decided that I wanted to write something that was much more truthful," said Davies about her multiple attempts to craft the perfect Queer novel. "I decided to make it about a much more controlling relationship, and I rewrote the whole thing. At that point, I made it much more serious, and I had to sort of find the balance between the comedy and the seriousness as I went along."

Cool for the Summer
We ended the winter book club with a nod of hope for warmer days with Dhalia Adler's Cool for the Summer. This modern, Queer Grease follows teenager Laura, as she returns from a summer spent away — and in the arms of another girl — to her life as a popular high school queen. When her summer fling, Jasmine, moves to town, Laura now must decide whether or not she wants the boy of her dreams or the girl of her summer.

Inspired by Demi Lovato's smash hit, Adler wanted to make sure fans knew the book would be just as Queer as the song. "'Cool for the Summer' is in a relevant scene in the book, which is funny, because I've seen people comment when they've first seen news of the book, and they were like, 'If this book isn't Queer, I'm going to be so mad!'" said Adler. "And I'm like, 'It's going to be. I promise it will do justice to your love of the song, and the exploration and the Queerness, so don't be preemptively mad. I'm not messing with you.' And then people get excited that it does come through on what 'Cool for the Summer' is obviously about."

The variety of Queer romances we read this winter gave hope in a dark time. The stories reinforced the idea that LGBTQ+ people, regardless of age, gender, or whether or not they are out, deserve love. We are all capable of happily-ever-after, and once we can see stories that reflect our identities and experiences, we can start to believe them.