January 2025 Queer Romances

If the first month of the new year is a harbinger of things to come for the remainder of 2025, we are in very good shape, at least as far as queer romance is concerned. If you’ve got holiday gift cards burning a hole in your pocket, here are five can’t-miss ways to use them.

• Single Player

  

  Two video game creators go head-to-head in this delightful, queer enemies-to-lovers workplace romance debut.

  Cat Li cares about two things: video games and swoony romances. The former means there hasn’t been much of the latter in her (real) life, but when she lands her dream job writing the love storylines for Compass Hollow—the next big thing in games—she knows it’s all been worth it. Then she meets her boss: the infamous Andi Zhang, who’s not only an arrogant hater of happily-ever-afters determined to keep Cat from doing her job but also impossibly, annoyingly hot.

  As Compass Hollow’s narrative director, Andi couldn’t care less about love—in-game or out. After getting doxxed by internet trolls three years ago, Andi’s been trying to prove to the gaming world that they’re a serious gamedev. Their plan includes writing the best game possible, with zero lovey-dovey stuff. That is, until the man funding the game’s development insists Andi add romance in order to make the story “more appealing to female gamers.”

  Forced to give Cat a chance, Andi begrudgingly realizes there’s more to Cat than romantic idealism and, okay, a cute smile. But admitting that would mean giving up the single-player life that has kept their heart safe for years. And when Cat uncovers a behind-the-scenes plan to destroy Andi’s career, the two will have to put their differences aside and find a way to work together before it’s game over.

  Okay, I’m a little biased, being that I work in the same industry as this clashing pair and have yet to read a book set in it since I started, but I am kind of obsessed with this premise, am always down for enemies-to-lovers, and am the most interested in gaming from the perspective of queer women and nonbinary people of color, so this one sounds like a win all around.

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• The Relationship Mechanic

  

  There’s more than one way to love and more than one place to call home in this rousing small-town romantic comedy that’s sure to charm fans of Hannah Bonam-Young’s Next to You and Ashley Herring Blake’s Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date

  There’s no fix for a lonely heart like a little TLC…

  Jessica Jae-un Miller came to Peach Blossom, Georgia, for a visit, not a breakdown. But when her rental car dies on the outskirts of town, mechanic Lavenia “Vini” Williams provides a tow—and a very welcome jump start to Jessica’s heart. It’s been a minute since Jessica’s last fling—her relationship specialty—and Vini checks all the right boxes. If only the sexy car whisperer seemed interested…

  Vini knows herself and what she wants. She loves her job, her family, her hometown—but she’d love to fall in love. Jessica stirs up all the right feelings, but the city girl has no intention of staying in Peach Blossom. Why sign up for a broken heart?

  But the temptation is real as Vini goes out of her way to drive a carless Jessica around town. The pair can’t seem to keep their distance—or their hands to themselves. With only six weeks to figure out where their red-hot chemistry might lead, Vini and Jessica will have to decide if home can be where the heart is when the heart only knows how to run.

  From showing up to glowing up, the characters in Afterglow Books are on the path to leading their best lives and finding sizzling romance along the way. Don’t miss any of these other fun titles…

  Look, there are just not enough books about hot lady mechanics — I don’t think I’ve seen one since Meka James’s Mechanics of Love — and I applaud Karmen Lee for picking up the slack in the second book of the Peach Blossom series, especially since this one sounds extremely sexy. Is Just One Car a trope yet? If not, maybe it needs to be.

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• The Broposal

  

  In this Latinx adult romance debut from National Book Award Finalist Sonora Reyes, two friends enter into a marriage of convenience to save one from deportation—but everything changes when they unexpectedly fall in love.

  Alejandro (Han for short) has never been in love. He purposefully keeps his heart at arm’s length from anyone who might want it, which he lets his family and friends think is due to commitment-phobia paired with a heavy dose of emotional constipation. Now, though, he’s coming to learn that it might have more to do with his fear of looking too deeply inward, whether that be his sexuality (he’s straight, right?), or the looming anxiety about being undocumented in an increasingly hostile environment.

  On the other hand, Han’s roommate and best friend, Kenny, is stuck in a soul-sucking relationship with a woman who wants nothing more than for Kenny to ditch Han and marry her. Kenny can’t stand being alone, and has always been afraid of being punished for making the wrong choice, so his girlfriend happily makes most of his decisions for him. But when she forces his hand and makes him choose between their relationship and his best friend, he finally knows without a doubt who the correct choice is.

  But things aren’t as easy as they should be with Kenny’s ex out of the picture. When Han loses the job that had promised to sponsor his work visa, it leaves the two of them anxious as ever. In order to give his best friend a chance at security (and ok, maybe to make his ex a little jealous), Kenny asks Han to marry him. But neither of them are prepared for the very real feelings pretending to be madly in love stirs up.

  Sonora Reyes is already a very well-known name in YA, thanks to their multiply award-winning debut The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School, and they maintain the youthful vibes in this deeply charming, very sweet, very New Adult debut that’s a must for those seeking more Autism rep in Romance. It also marries (pun partially intended) a bunch of great tropes, including friends-to-lovers, fake dating, and late bloomer, and seeing both MCs with queer-supportive families is quite the balm to the heart.

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• Zoe Brennan, First Crush

  

  Zoe Brennan may be the loneliest lesbian in Blue Ridge, but at least she has her family vineyard, a deep, abiding vendetta against her ex-best-friend-now-enemy, and the occasional meaningless hook-up to keep her busy.

  When a prestigious wine festival announces it’s coming to Blue Ridge, it kicks off a battle royale among local vineyards vying for the opportunity to host it. Zoe’s in it to win it—getting chosen would put Brennan Vineyards on the map while also sticking it to the rival vineyard next door. But disaster strikes when Zoe’s father is called home to Italy to care for his sick mother, leaving Brennan Vineyards without a vintner.

  Dejected, Zoe impulsively agrees to a blindfolded threesome with a friend and, excitingly, a stranger. After having the best sex of her life, Zoe’s horrified to discover the butch beneath the blindfold is none other than Laine Woods, Napa-trained vintner, Zoe’s first crush, and her enemy’s big sister. The Napa-trained vintner, Zoe discovers, her father’s just hired as his replacement.

  Laine assures Zoe they can put their sizzling one-night stand behind them, but Laine’s snobbery and Zoe’s pride collide at every step, creating a potent pour of sexual and professional tension. Zoe and Laine must learn to work together to win the wine festival, but when working together means late nights under the stars, letting go of the past, and learning each other all over again, Zoe has to be careful or Laine Woods might crush her heart for good.

  Lee has a way with delightfully quirky characters and setting, and that’s no exception in this book that kicks off with a hot lesbian threesome before giving way to a laugh-out-loud twist on enemies-to-lovers slash best-friend’s-sibling. Plus, if you, like me, adored Hannah Tate, Beyond Repair, you’ll be delighted to see those characters make many an appearance.

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• I Think They Love You

  

  Sometimes fake dating your ex can turn into a second chance.

  When Denzel “Denz” Carter’s workaholic father and CEO of 24 Carter Gold unexpectedly announces his retirement, the competition is on for who will become his successor. To convince his judgmental family members that Denz is capable of commitment he impulsively lies about being in a serious relationship. Problem is the last serious relationship he was in hung him high and dry after leaving the continent.

  Now Denz needs to find a fake boyfriend to bring to family functions and seal the deal on the CEO position. To do so he enlists the help of his best friend and roommate, Jamie. Someone his family already accepts in their inner circle. But when his BFF is a no-show, Denz is forced to turn to the last person he wants to be in a pretend (or any) relationship Braylon, the man who broke his heart.

  Braylon’s sudden reappearance in Denz’s life turns everything upside down. But apparently, he needs Denz’s connections to the mayor to win his own promotion and Denz is currently up a creek without a paddle. So, they strike a deal. It’s all business, but between the funny texts and the confusing kisses soon enough Denz is struggling to separate business from the affairs of his heart.

  In Julian Winters’s I think They Love You, sometimes fake dating your way to success can mean finding the second chance at love you’ve needed all along.

  It’s pretty impossible not to already be enamored with Julian Winters if you’re a queer YA Romance fan, but his adult debut takes it to another level in this perfect mashup of fake-dating and second-chance romance in a Succession storyline. Charm and chemistry absolutely abound, and there’s nothing I love like seeing a tightly wound character get undone.

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