#RomBkLove: Geek Romances

This post is part of #RomBkLove, a month-long Twitter event where folks share their recs for romances that fit particular themes.

For the purposes of this post, geek romance is a romance that centers characters who are enthusiasts of something, be it a special interest, a hobby, a subject, a fandom.

“geeks are fans of their subjects, and nerds are practitioners of them.” –Slackpropogation

What I love about geek romances is the ways that geekery can create setting, symbols, shared experiences and language, and conflicts in the story. I get especially into the books that infuse geekery into stories in multiple ways, where the geek characters get squeeful and joyous about their special interests, where characters do romantic gestures that are deeply geeky, where an MC gets all swoony watching their love interest enjoy something so much. As an autistic reader, the idea that special interests can be a source of joy, connection, and love feels wonderful, even if I don’t share the particular interest with the characters. I still enjoy getting immersed into all the details and enthusiasm about it.

For this post, I organized recs by both special interest (like comics, knitting, SFF fiction, or theater) and by geeky experience/setting (like fic, cons and cosplay). The recs lean heavily on contemporary romance but include some romantic suspense, historical romance, YA romance, and paranormal romance as well, and I tried to only list authors twice at the most. It includes a range of pairings/groupings and goes from no heat to scorching.  For folks looking for romances without sex, those are indicated by three asterisks (***).

I list marginalized representation at the end of each recommendation, and link to reviews and/or content warnings where possible. Where I cannot, I am using affiliate links to Amazon. If you buy through those links, I will make a small amount of money on that sale (which I plan to use to buy more books to review), but it will not add any to the cost of your product. It comes out of the company’s profits.

Geeky Romance Recommendations

Comics/Graphic Novels

• One Con Glory by Sarah Kuhn (contemporary m/f romance novella) I adored the prickly guarded heroine who is obsessed with an obscure superhero comic and has very definitive geeky theories about many aspects of fandom including the actor she ends up falling for over the course of the con, despite her certainty he is a terrible cast choice for a tv adaptation of her fave comic. (Rep: Hapa woman author.)
• A Girl Like Her by Talia Hibbert, read by Rupert Channing (contemporary m/f romance novel) I really enjoyed rereading this on audio. The performance was great and it was lovely to move through this book at a slower pace, with the banter in my ears. This is a gorgeous, complex, tightly plotted, deeply characterized, super swoony, neighbors-to-lovers romance. It has a tremendous heart, and is both full of angst and full of humor in a way that feels very balanced. The autism rep resonated so deep for me. And the depiction of trauma (the heroine is a survivor of intimate partner violence and stalking) felt spot-on accurate. (Rep: Black autistic heroine with PTSD. Black, Anglo-Romani, disabled autistic queer woman author.)
• Ghost by Robin Covington (contemporary m/m romance novella) is a tropetastic whirlwind that is tightly plotted. I cared about the MCs, and wanted them to figure out how to be together. It was deliciously geeky (centering a comic artist and a comics publisher), and the characterization was fairly complex. I liked the one night stand in the past, now you have blown your shot trope, it worked well, as did the workaholic daddy issues angst. (Rep:  Native American disabled (has essential tremor) gay man trauma survivor MC. Biracial Korean American-Irish American bisexual man MC. Native American woman author.)
• More Than Comics by Elizabeth Briggs (contemporary m/f romance novel) This is a friends to lovers, online to in person romance between MCs who have been collaborating to create a comic and now are meeting for the first time at a comic convention. He’s been in love with her for years, she just broke up with her boyfriend, and they have a con fling. This is full of my catnip and was an enjoyable cute ride, despite the hero doing the kind of self sacrificing thing that usually irritates me. His band almost won a reality show and there is a lovely found family feel to the band and their friend group who are all at the con, that culminates in group cosplay. (Rep: Mexican American man MC.)

Cons!

• Sated by Rebekah Weatherspoon (contemporary m/f kink romance novella) This is one of my faves by Weatherspoon, has this lovely humor to it, a heroine who I adore, and I love how its both geeky and kinky. (The MCs meet up to go to a con together; the heroine is a huge fan of a scifi TV show.) The two MCs are switches, and I really appreciate that kind of representation in BDSM romance. I especially like watching Keira try out her dominance for the first time. (Rep:  Korean American amputee bisexual man MC. Black woman MC. Black queer woman author.)
• Defying Convention by Cecil Wilde (contemporary m/enby romance novelette with a trans man hero) Longtime online friends meet up at scifi convention & fall for each other. I have a soft spot for this book.  (Rep: Sri Lankan-American bisexual non-binary MC. Bisexual trans man MC with anxiety. Non-binary trans author.)
• Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde (contemporary YA romance with an f/f and an m/f arc) I really enjoyed this YA; one of the two POV characters is an autistic girl with anxiety who is about to graduate high school and is anxious about change, attending her first con, falling in love, and meeting the author of the books that are her special interest. The autism representation really resonated for me and I fell hard for Taylor, and felt for her as she grapples with all this, with the help of her blog and her friends. (Rep: Autistic teen girl MC with anxiety. Chinese-Australian bisexual teen girl MC. Black queer teen girl love interest. Latinx teen boy love interest. Autistic bisexual enby author.)
• That Kind of Guy by Talia Hibbert (contemporary m/f romance) I loved how angry this demisexual hero was in this friends to lovers romance, how much rage he had about not knowing about demisexuality and all the ways he’d tried to pass as allo and pushed himself to have sex he didn’t want. I ache to see more angry, confused and frustrated a-spec characters, especially when those feelings are depicted with complexity, and where anger is distinguished from abusiveness (esp in men), and this book really delivers on that front. I fell hard for both MCs, enjoyed watching them go through a complicated dance of guardedness and trying to figure out what they meant to each other and how to know what was real and what was fake while navigating a fake relationship.  (Rep: Demisexual man MC. Black woman MC. Black, Anglo-Romani, disabled autistic queer woman author.)

Cosplay!

• Game of Hearts by Cathy Yardley (contemporary m/f romance) I adored this romance between a cosplaying mechanic and the man she’s had a crush on forever who is in a motorcycle club. Loved the fat rep in this, and how gloriously geeky it was. (Rep: Fat heroine. Native American hero. Biracial Asian American woman author.)
• Dirty Sexy Scot by Melissa Blue (contemporary m/f romance novel) This is part of a series centering Scottish heroes in the same family and Black American heroines that I devoured in big gulps, one right after the other. They are well plotted, deeply compelling, smoking hot romances with complex characters that I fell hard for, and romance arcs that were intensely satisfying. This was my fave; it has all these elements plus a geeky guarded cosplaying heroine (Sherlock of course), a fabulous meet-cute, and this lovely complex romance arc that I found completely gripping. (Rep: Black heroine. Black woman author.)
• Stone-Cold Fox by Hailey Edwards (paranormal m/f romance novella)*** This compelling shifter novella is a spin off from a series but can stand alone. I could not put it down. It has deep Labyrinth fandom elements, including cosplay, an awesome friendship between the heroine and her BFF, and a tightly plotted engaging story about power. (Rep: Japanese American MCs. Queer man secondary character.)

Fan Art/Fan Music (Filk)

 

• Strictly Business by Sheryl Nantus (contemporary m/f kink romance novel) The pro domme heroine in this sex worker/client romance does character art for games. The hero is a tech freelancer/game designer who runs a company that helps gaming companies. He wants to figure out if he is in fact submissive, as he suspects, so he hires a private pro-domme service. I liked the way they ended up connecting via gaming, and how respectful he was of her boundaries while still attempting to show how he has fallen for her and wants to be with her. I really liked the way that this story wasn’t sex work negative or critical of other kinds of sex workers. and the way it acknowledged the place that pro dommes have in kink communities. The D/s was also quite lovely, and I appreciated the dominant’s vulnerability.
• Perfect Game by Casey Cameron (contemporary m/m romance novella) Cute, fluffy, geeky, fun. The MCs meet through their shared obsession with a competitive collectible card game, a go on a road trip to a competition together. One of them writes filk music and ends up connecting with the filk scene; there’s even a romantic filk song about the card game! (Rep: Bisexual man MC. Queer man MC. Enby author.)
• Knit One, Girl Two by Shira Glassman (contemporary f/f romance novella)*** I adore this fun fluffy f/f contemporary romance between two Jewish queer girl artists, one of whom draws fan art for the other, of their shared fave superhero TV show. Wonderful fat rep, rugelach, shared geeky squee, and a mischievous kitty. (Rep: Lesbian Jewish MC. Bisexual Jewish MC. Bisexual Jewish woman author.)

Game Design

• Hot Coded Christmas by Nana Malone (contemporary m/m romance novella): Second chance geeky snowed in m/f romance centering a heroine who is trying to save her gaming company and a hero who wants to buy it. Wonderful chemistry, so much heat and so much rivalry, and this lovely flashback to play 7 minutes in heaven in high school. (Rep: Black heroine. Black hero. Black author.)
• Level Up by Cathy Yardley (contemporary m/f romance novella) This sweet geeky romance has a geeky introverted heroine aching to get recognized for her high quality work at a gaming company. I fell so damn hard for her. (Rep: Latinx woman MC. Biracial Asian American woman author.)
• Connection Error by Annabeth Albert. (contemporary m/m romance novel) MC with ADHD. Amputee MC with mobility disability. This geeky romance is so compelling to me, particularly because of the moments of access intimacy between the disabled chars and the way they navigate the changing nature of their disabilities with regard to their sex lives. Naked twister for the win! The other books in the #gaymers series are also wonderful, and the audio for them is great. (Rep: Gay man MC with ADHD. Gay man amputee MC with a mobility disability.)

Online Games (Not RPGs)

• Play It Again by Aidan Wayne (contemporary m/m romance novel)*** This hit the mark for me with the online relationship and online content creator aspect, and was pretty satisfying on the long distance relationship piece as well. It’s not a completely light story, I wouldn’t exactly call it fluff, as Sam’s arc has trauma elements woven into it pretty strongly, but it’s got a fairly light adorableness to the romantic relationship aspect that was exactly what I needed on a rough day. I especially appreciated the way Dovid and Sam negotiated around sex. Sam is not sex repulsed; he’s also not really interested in sex, and Dovid carefully draws him out when he gets a soft yes for sex, in a way that I really liked. (Bisexual Jewish blind man MC. Homoromantic ace man trauma survivor MC with social anxiety. Aroace Jewish woman secondary character. Non-binary author.)***
• The Real Life Build by Kris Ripper (contemporary m/m kink romance novel) The geek MC has a job doing builds in Minecraft, and it’s got some really lovely geeky details about that. This hit my kink sweet spot with its mix of D/s and SM and swooniness. (Rep: Gay men MCs. Queer genderqueer author.)
• Smoke Signals by Meredith Katz (fantasy m/m romance novella) I really enjoyed this geeky romance, centering a knitter gay MC who works the helpdesk  at a gaming company and a grumpy awkward dragon love interest whose hoard is all games. It was cute, sweet, and fluffy, had a lovely satisfying romance arc. Plus there was a kitty I adored! (Rep: Gay MC. Bisexual MC. Lesbian author.)

Role-Playing Games (Online & Tabletop)

• Looking for Group by Alexis Hall (contemporary m/m romance novella)*** This adorable geeky romance by one of my favorite queer romance authors is one of my most treasured comfort reads. (Rep: Questioning man MC. Queer man MC. Pansexual secondary character. Queer man author.)
• Hearts Alight by Elliott Cooper (contemporary fantasy m/m romance novella)*** Sweet geeky romance between a gay man and his long time crush, who turns out to be a golem. Loved the scene where they play D&D, and the Chanukah family gathering. (Rep: Jewish bi hero. Older queer love interest. Jewish trans man secondary character. Bi trans man author)
• The Better to Kiss You With by Michelle Osgood: I really enjoyed this  fun, funny, geeky, hot, butch/femme romance, told from the POV of the femme character. I love that basically everyone we meet in the book is queer. Oh, and the butch love interest is a werewolf. (Chubby femme queer woman MC. Butch queer woman MC. Queer woman author.)
• Team Phison by Chace Verity: I loved this fluffy age gap m/m romance so much. Grumpy meets sweet via online MMORPG, both of them super geeky and awkward and adorable and I was rooting for them so hard. The sequel came out recently and it’s got a very different tone, but I loved it just as much. (Rep: Fat bisexual man MC. Older gay man MC. Non-binary pansexual author.)

Science

• The Duke I Tempted by Scarlett Peckham (historical m/f kink romance novel) The heroine is a mostly self taught brilliant botanist (I loved all the bits about plants) and the hero is full of so much angst and privilege and cannot deal with or face his feelings for her. This is angst-filled kink, and while there are references to potentially iffy kink practices in the past (of the emotionally self-destructive sort), I really appreciated the kink in the book itself, and the complex plot woven around the stigma of it, and the desire for it. It felt like a kinky book written for experienced kinky folks who are interested in unpacking some of the the emotional complexities of D/s, real world social power, punishment, and pain play. (Rep: MCs with trauma.)
• A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole (contemporary m/f romance novel I love Cole’s writing style, and this modern royalty romance was beautifully done. I fell for both the MCs so hard, and was rooting for them even as I couldn’t see how they could possibly figure things out til the very end. The heroine is an epidemiologist and she is completely wonderful, and the hero keeps messing up and struggling to learn and she does not let him off the hook, which I enjoyed tremendously. (African diaspora heroine. African hero. Black woman author.)
• The Countess Conspiracy by Courtney Milan (historical m/f romance novel) This historical romance is one of my most favorites ever, with a lovely friends to lovers arc. The heroine is a botanist whose best friend has been publishing her work under his own name and taking the brunt of the social scandal that comes with it, because she cannot, and he is secretly in love with her. Oh the pining, and the angst and the glorious dialogue and wonderful writing. (Rep: Trauma survivor heroine. Bisexual hapa woman author.)
• Beginner’s Luck by Kate Clayborn (contemporary m/f romance novel) This has so much in it that I enjoyed! I liked all the disabled characters in it, really resonated with the neurodivergent hero, loved all the stuff about fixing up the house, and felt the representation of ACOA issues was just spot-on. The heroine is delightfully geeky about her job in the lab. I really enjoyed rereading this on audiobook; it was just as lovely the second time around and the performances were great. (Rep: Trauma survivor heroine. Hero with ADHD. Secondary disabled characters.)

Sex toys/Erotic Materials

• The Queen of Dauphine Street by Thea de Salle (contemporary m/f kink romance novel) Pansexual billionaire heroine I fell hard for; stalking storyline. Balances humor, heat & hard stuff very well. I especially love the scene where the heroine supports the hero through a panic attack. The heroine has curated a sex toy museum on her yacht! (Rep: Hero with PTSD. Pansexual heroine with PTSD and anxiety. Hispanic and Romani biracial bisexual fat autistic author with PTSD and anxiety.)
• The Dom Project by Solace Ames and Heloise Belleau (contemporary m/f kink romance novel) The MCs collaborate on trying to help a library acquire a kinky photography archive, as they explore kink together (the heroine is an archivist and a kink blogger). One of my favorite moments is when they re-enact one of the more famous bondage photos. (Rep: Bisexual Asian American man MC. Asian American woman author.)
• Soloplay by Miranda Baker (contemporary m/f erotic romance novel) A librarian who’s never had an orgasm goes to a sex shop and meets a sexual psychic who helps her explore her own desires. When that f/f relationship ends amicably, she agrees to take on a job testing sex toys. That’s when the geekery really begins. The bulk of the rest of the story is about sex toy testing and the building flirtation with the sex toy inventor and then the decision to test a line of couple-oriented toys with him. There are a couple instances of iffy consent early in the story, that are clearly set up to move the plot along, so this may not be for everyone (check the link for more detailed CWs). That said, this is definitely the geekiest romance I’ve read that’s focused on sex toys, so I wanted to include it. (Rep: Bisexual heroine. Bisexual woman secondary character.)
• My Lord, Lady and Gentleman by Nicola Davidson (historical m/m/f polyamorous erotic romance) The driver of this story is that the MC is an erotic portrait artist who is part of a sexual exploration society, and who falls for the woman he is painting, right along with her husband. They are all rather enthusiastic about erotic art and learning new things about sex in a way that felt geeky to me. I enjoyed this; the best thing about it were the sex scenes and moments of heat between the MCs. There was a lovely chemistry between the characters, and I enjoyed spending time with them. (Rep: Bisexual men MCs.)

SF/F Fiction

• Grumpy Fake Boyfriend by Jackie Lau (contemporary m/f romance novel) I loved this fake relationship brother’s best friend romance a lot. I esp fell for the grumpy introvert hero who writes science fiction novels and how much he was gone over the heroine. (Rep: Chinese-Canadian heroine. Chinese-Canadian woman author.)
• Friends That Have Sex series by GL Thomas. (contemporary m/f romance novels) Both leads are bi. The heroine in these books has cancer. The first book ends on a cliffhanger, the second brings the characters back together, the third books is about later challenges in their relationship. I fell so hard for the heroine in these books, and especially appreciated her geekiness; she’s into SFF fiction and introduces the hero to it. (Rep: Afro-Cuban bisexual woman MC with cancer. Bisexual man MC. Genderfluid minor character. Queer Afro-Cubanx authors.)
• Wrapped Together by Annabeth Albert (contemporary m/m kink romance novella): Friends to lovers kinky m/m romance between an introvert grump geeky experienced submissive into LOTR, and a novice dominant extrovert who bets that he can help him find the Christmas spirit again. Long term crush, intertwined families, grief arc. (Rep: Gay MCs.)
• Now a Major Motion Picture by Cori McCarthy (contemporary m/f YA romance novel) I enjoyed this rather angsty YA centering a teen girl with deeply neglectful parents that push her to take over parenting her younger brother, who gets stuck traveling with him to visit the fan-filled set of a movie based on her grandmother’s fantasy series. She’s an anti-fan, who falls for a fan playing one of the main characters, and their romance arc is lovely. (Rep: Demisexual MC with trauma. Queer woman secondary character. Irish-Lebanese American queer non-binary author.)

Solving for Love

• The Geek Job by Eve Langlais (paranormal m/f romantic suspense novel) This is a tropetastic romp of a bodyguard/protectee romance complete with a werewolf bodyguard who pretends to fall for a scientist to guard him, a vampire wanting to walk in sunlight, instalust, and a fascinating scientific solution to a seemingly insurmountable problem in the MCs being together. It leans heavily erotic, with a lot of playfulness in it.
• Finding X by Miles Tan (contemporary m/f romance novella)*** This is a cute meet cute romance novella with a geologist hero who keeps a scientific journal documenting his attempts to win the heart of the heroine. The heroine works for a tech company and is very guarded after being burned by her last relationship. I liked how geeky they both were and the way he kept fumbling with her and trying to figure it out. This is a #romanceclass book, set in The Phillipines, and it has a lovely spare prose style that I enjoyed. (Rep: Filipinx MCs. Filipinx author.)
• Izzy and the Right Answer by R Cooper (contemporary m/m/m polyamorous romance novel) I was really moved by the slow evolution of this polyamorous relationship, particularly as it’s from the POV of a demisexual autistic MC. It resonated so much with my own experience of trying to sort through relationships and cues and being lost and making errors as I tried, and I fell really hard for Izzy as he attempts to sort all this out. I struggled a bit with how much he discounted his own needs and feelings and assumed that he wasn’t a partner folks would want because of his aceness and neuroatypicality, but this didn’t feel like self loathing to me, even as it felt like internalized ace antagonism and ableism. I really liked the way he kept working the problems he was grappling with at his own pace and the folks around him didn’t rush him, even as he kept getting stuck. His stuckness felt very real and resonant, a lot like my own experiences of stuckness when trying to sort things through. (Autistic demigray ace femme queer man MC. Queer men LIs.)

Tattoos

• Small Change by Roan Parrish. (contemporary m/f romance novel) Prickly queer heroine who I read as neuroatypical, and who I fell for really hard as a character, right alongside the hero. She owns a tattoo shop that feels like a lovely queer space, and I love the way she geeks out about tattoos. (Rep: Queer heroine that I read as neuroatypical. Trans and genderqueer secondary characters. Secondary character with depression.)
• Hate to Want You by Alisha Rai (contemporary m/f erotic romance novel) This angsty family drama-filled m/f romance is my favorite romance I read in 2017, and my new favorite by this author, who is one of my most favorite romance authors ever. It wins all the faves, basically. So much heat, so much angst, so much heart. Gave me so so many feels. This is the kind of mental illness representation I yearn for in romance, and so rarely find. The heroine is a tattoo artist, and so much of how she thinks about the world, how she copes with her depression, how she rebuilds relationship with the hero, is through the lens of tattoos. (Rep: Japanese American & Native Hawaiian biracial heroine with depression. Hero with PTSD. Desi woman author.)
• New Ink On Life by Jennie Davids (contemporary f/f romance novel) This romance between a tattoo show owner and her new apprentice (who she inherited from her own mentor) was really compelling; I could not put it down. The MCs communicate so much through tattoos, build their relationship and trust that way; it’s lovely to witness. I enjoyed Cassie’s personal arc around being less focused on pleasing people. (Rep: Queer femme woman MC cancer survivor. Queer butch woman MC.)

Technology

• Love on My Mind by Tracey Livesay (contemporary m/f romance novel) This is a very well paced, deeply characterized compelling romance. It has a rained in trope, and it manages the idea of preparing an autistic character to do a public presentation in a way that I found pretty respectful; I’ve read versions of that kind of plot that are intensely ableist and this doesn’t read that way. The autistic MC faces ableism, but is mostly moving from a place of self acceptance, and I like the depiction of his friendships. (Rep: Autistic hero. Black woman heroine. Black woman author.)
• A Boy Called Cin by Cecil Wilde (contemporary m/non-binary romance with a trans man MC) I adore this age gap romance between a younger trans man and an older genderqueer for so many reasons, but especially for the way consent and sexual negotiation happen in this story, and how trans and enby centered it is. The genderqueer MC runs a tech company. (Rep: Bisexual genderqueer MC. Queer trans man MC. Non-binary trans author.)
• Ascension by Jacqueline Koyanagi (science fiction f/f/f polyamorous romance) MC has fictional chronic pain condition that resembles fibro (ownvoices). So much about the rep of chronic pain felt so real here, & resonated so deeply. & this MC is highly cure-seeking. It drives the story.  Lovely polyamorous romance storyline complete with happy ending in a polyamorous f/f/f V, and also a really sweet romance between the MC and the ship, which for me completes the wonderful techy geekiness of the story, as the MC is a sky surgeon (she repairs space ships!). (Rep: Black queer woman MC with a chronic pain condition. Queer woman love interest. Japanese American autistic polyamorous ace-spec bi queer woman author with fibromyalgia and PTSD.)
• The Witness by Nora Roberts (contemporary m/f romantic suspense novel) This is one of my go to longish comfort rereads, but I fell in love with the audiobook, read by Julia Whelan. For me the heart of this is a strong, complex, flawed autistic heroine cybersecurity geek/hacker that I adore, and her amazing relationship with her dog. It’s never named on the page, but the heroine resonates so deeply for me as an autistic reader, and I love that she is unabashedly herself and doesn’t even try to pass as NT. (Rep: Heroine with PTSD who I read as autistic.)

Theater

• In the Spotlight by Ally Decker (contemporary m/f romance novella) This is a light meet-cute fake relationship romance, between a movie star taking his first turn on Broadway and a theater blogger/musical theater fan. It was a fun read, with a fixer component that I enjoyed. (It’s first in a fixer series.)
• See The Light by Kate McMurray (contemporary m/m romance novel) I enjoyed this friends to temporary roommates to lovers romance quite a lot! There is so much theater geekery, mostly in the realms of stage makeup and musical theater, as one MC is an actor and the other runs a company that does stage makeup. So much pining, and communication difficulties and assumptions, and it just worked, for me. Exactly what I needed on a hard day. (Rep: Queer men MCs.)
• The Spinner, the Shepherd, and the Leading Man by Kris Ripper (contemporary m/m/m polyamorous romance novella) Summer stock provides the setting for this friends to lovers triangular thing that easily shifts to a triad, and the theater geekdom is really fun. So many shows in such a short period of time. This book is free on the author’s website. (Rep: Queer men MCs. Queer genderqueer author.)

TV/Movie Fandom

• Long Macchiatos and Monsters by Alison Evans (contemporary m/non-binary romance with a trans man MC) I love so much about this moody contemporary meet-cute romance, including the fact that they bond over watching bad monster movies. It’s one of my favorite trans romances ever, and I really enjoyed rereading it this year. (Rep: Disabled POC MCs, one is a trans man, one is non-binary. Genderqueer author.)
• Eight Naughty Nights by Eliza Madison (contemporary m/f erotic romance novel) Heroine comes home after her mothers death and proposes a Chanukah no-strings-attached affair to a longtime friend as a way to manage her grief. (She has no idea that he’s been in love with her for years.) Deliciously geeky m/f romance; includes Star Wars marathon. (Rep: Jewish heroine, Jewish hero.)
• Bluest of Blue by Melissa Blue (contemporary m/f romance novel) I really enjoyed this enemies to lovers workplace erotic romance. I adored the geekiness; there are several pivotal Dr. Who moments and I loved hearing the hero wax poetic about astronomy. I love prickly guarded heroes and heroines, and this was like two porcupines getting together in the best way, until he strips off his armor and goes all in, vulnerable and waiting for her to catch up. Such a compelling story. While the bipolar MC does have quite a bit of internalized ableism, the way this approached that rep worked better for me than stories like this often do; I loved how much support he had, and his close relationships with his friends that were basically chosen family. (Rep: Black woman MC with trauma. Bipolar man MC. Black woman author.)
• Can’t Escape Love by Alyssa Cole (contemporary m/f romance novella) This story has wonderful disability representation, is delightfully geeky, and I fell really hard for both of the MCs. They first connect via the hero’s math and logic puzzle livestream, which sounds awesome. The core plot bringing them together in the story is that heroine helps the hero design an escape room for an anime she’s a superfan of. The cover is wonderful, the book was funny and heartwarming and deeply engaging. There is a moment when Gus concludes that he misread social cues that particularly resonated for me as an autistic reader. (Rep: Black disabled woman MC. Vietnamese American autistic man MC. Black woman author.)

I’d Love to Hear Your Thoughts…

What are your favorite geeky romances?

What kinds of geekdom do you enjoy reading romances about?

What makes a geeky romance especially satisfying to read?

 

Other Geeky Romance Rec Lists:

• Planet Jinxatron: Geeky Romance Novels
• Twin Cities Geek: 24 Romance Novels For Geeks of All Kinds
• Twin Cities Geek: 24 More Romance Novels for Geeks of All Kinds
• B&N Teen: 7 Geeky Love Stories That Prove That Nerd Love is the Best Love
• Women.com: Geek Romance Novels
• Frolic: Romance Novels for Nerds
• RomBkLove 2018: Geek/STEM recs
• Lacy Literary: 100 STEM Heroines in Romance

How to participate in #RomBkLove

Readers: Respond to the prompts! Share your favorite books, characters, scenes, or thoughts on tropes.  Make sure to include the #RomBkLove hashtag with your tweet! If you have read and loved a book by LGBTQIA+, Disabled, and/or  Authors of Color that fits the prompt please, please mention it.  You might think everyone has heard of the book but I can guarantee you there are lots of people who still need to hear about it.

Authors: You are welcome to participate too, as fellow readers. The tag is not meant for self-promotion. Boost fellow authors, celebrate the community but do so in a way that respect reader spaces. Respect the conversation.   Join in to rec the books you love that fit the theme/trope/prompt. Yes, you can say “I wrote a book with this trope” but please don’t spam the hashtag with generic promo.

Go here for a list of all of these month’s prompts and archives.