The Gay Book Club Certified Reviews

Some weekends call for one beautiful literary novel. Others call for a 9-book romance series and a cleared calendar. Here are 7 of the best M/M romance series to binge—Lucy Lennox's Forever Wilde, Gregory Ashe's Hazard and Somerset, Sarina Bowen's Vino and Veritas, and more. Bring snacks.

Small town M/M is one of the coziest corners of the genre—and one of the most beloved. From Lucy Lennox's sprawling Forever Wilde universe to May Archer's chaotic Vermont towns to Riley Hart's emotionally weighty Fever Falls, here are 10 of the best to disappear into. Pour something hot, find a soft chair, and settle in.

Garth Greenwell's debut follows an American expat in Sofia who pays a young Bulgarian hustler for sex—and gets drawn into something more corrosive than either of them planned. The prose is extraordinary, the trauma rings true, and the characters feel real in the uncomfortable way real people are real. A book I respect more than I enjoyed, and one I haven't been able to stop thinking about.

P.J. Vernon's Bath Haus is a relentless gay thriller about a recovering addict whose anonymous bathhouse hookup turns into attempted strangulation—and the lies he tells his wealthy older partner to cover it up. Pacing is relentless, the final twist actually lands, and the book takes gay-specific power dynamics seriously. Major content warnings—go in with your eyes open—but if you can handle the darkness, it absolutely earns its A rating

Joe Westmoreland's autofictional road novel follows a young gay man hitchhiking from Kansas City to New Orleans to San Francisco across the 70s and 80s—and walks straight into the AIDS crisis. The characters feel like actual people, not types, and the ending earns every tear it gets. An essential book about a generation we owe more attention than we give.

Edward Cahill's Disorderly Men follows three gay men in early-1960s New York whose lives are upended the night a vice cop walks into a Greenwich Village bar. Smart, propulsive, beautifully researched—and anchored by Danny, a working-class character whose slowly rising rage is one of the rarest, most satisfying things in gay fiction.

Cat Sebastian's first contemporary romance is exactly what longtime fans want—two flawed adults with mental health stuff, ego stuff, and seven years of workplace beef finally seeing each other. The dialogue is exquisite, the character work is patient, and Sebastian treats queerness as read instead of as plot. Slow burn done right. B+.

A raw, atmospheric YA novel about two boys folding into each other so completely there's no oxygen left. K. Ancrum nails the codependency descent—two queer kids drowning together while nobody notices—but the ending lands a little too tidy for what the book has been doing. Read it in print; the audiobook misses the format. B.

A tender, lyrical YA queer romance about a touch-starved art thief and the boy he can't stay away from. The prose is beautiful, but the Greek myth never quite catches fire. One note: skip the audiobook—the very short chapters don't translate well to listening. B+.

L.A. Witt's Leave takes a stack of well-worn M/M tropes—fake dating, friends with benefits, stoic military man with a past—and does them with real care. What elevates it is one of the most honest portrayals of male sexual assault survivorship I've read in the genre. Heavy, well-researched, and earned. A solid B+.

Bryan Washington's Family Meal is a stark, devastating novel about a gay man falling apart after the death of his boyfriend—and the childhood best friend who keeps showing up with food. Fragmented, queer, alive, and full of kitchens that hum with love when no one can find the right words. Washington at full power. A solid A.

A queer reimagining of Great Expectations that earns every tear it pulls out of you. Scarlett Drake's Oleander is gorgeous, devastating, and yes, occasionally predictable—but the prose is good enough and the emotional architecture true enough that none of that matters. A love story for anyone who ever lost years to a beautiful, impossible boy.

Charlie Winshaw is anxious, awkward, and genuinely likeable. Too bad he fell for Dev. Booker reviews The Charm Offensive — a bloated but occasionally charming M/M romcom that needed a better editor and a better hero.

The fake boyfriend trope is Article One of the M/M romance constitution — and for good reason. We ranked and reviewed eleven of the best (and a few with small asterisks), from cozy small-town grumps to blue-collar pressure cookers to one very confused straight man who keeps kissing his fake boyfriend like he means it.

Owen Bosley is the guy you call in a crisis — steady, warm, and completely unprepared for who just moved into his cottage. One Last Try is a slow burn MM rugby romance done exactly right: charming, funny, and set in a British village so cozy you'll want to move in yourself. Jemma Croft delivers.

Falling for Raine by Lane Hayes is comfort food M/M romance — predictable, a little indulgent, and exactly what you need sometimes. Grumpy British billionaire meets chaotic sunshine American in London, and yes, you already know how it ends. But Raine is so irresistible he makes every familiar beat worth it. Our full review is up.

Jackson Harper is adorable, Head Rock Harbor is delightfully sleepy, and the murder is almost beside the point — which is either a feature or a bug depending on what you're looking for. Head for Murder is the coziest of cozy mysteries: low stakes, low drama, and genuinely charming. If that's what you need right now, you've found your book.

Two broken men, a lighthouse, and the slow, aching work of learning to trust again. Galaxies and Oceans is a tender, beautifully written romance about grief, survival, and finding home in another person. Nearly perfect.

Big, burly, and terrified of being left—Patrick runs a Greenwich Village bookstore and keeps his heart carefully guarded. Then a mysterious drifter and a grieving friend show up, and everything changes. After Hours at Dooryard Books is a tender, beautifully observed story about finding people whose baggage fits with yours. Highly recommended.

Toby robs the wrong man and ends up working for him—what could go wrong? A Thief in the Night is a charming, tightly written novella that nails the romance but leaves the heist wanting more.