be gay, do sports: queer sports romance novels
A League of Their Own *and* Taylor Swift references? I'm sold.
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Queer sports and books are two of my favorite things so what better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day than by highlighting an assortment of queer sports romance novels? Be gay, do sports etc etc. These books are a mix between adult romance and YA because there are so few options in this niche that I had to combine the genres. I’ve also made a Bookshop.org list of these books for easy sharing!
Cleat Cute, Meryl Wilsner
This book is described as “a sapphic rivals to lovers rom com for fans of Ted Lasso and A League of Their Own, where two soccer teammates are at odds before falling in love as their team gears up for the World Cup.” I’m sold because you know that’s happened at least 256 times on the U.S. Women’s National Team.
How You Get the Girl, Anita Kelly (pre-order)
A queer romance about a woman who ends up falling for her former-college-basketball-idol-turned-reluctant-assistant-coach when they work together to coach a girls' high school basketball team together. There's lots about exploring queer identities later in life, women's basketball, and of course the title is a Taylor Swift reference. I received an ARC of this book and loved it.
The Prospects, KT Hoffman (pre-order)
A queer romance about a trans minor league baseball player who falls for his teammate, someone he has history with and thinks of as a rival but of course realizes that there's a lot more pulling them together than keeping them apart. I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of this book; it is a love letter to baseball and has an incredible amount of heart. To quote Moneyball, “how can you not be romantic about baseball?”
Unwritten Rules, KD Casey
KD Casey is a friend of mine who I met through baseball Twitter a million-and-a-half years ago. I was an early reader of Unwritten Rules and absolutely loved the banter and the sharp, funny writing. Casey makes it easy to root for the two men at the heart of this story, while managing to highlight some of the very real fears and concerns that gay professional baseball players still face—which is why no active Major League Baseball player has ever come out (we are seeing a few exceptions to that at the minor league level).
She Drives Me Crazy, Kelly Quindlen
This YA romance about a basketball player and a cheerleader (as a former cheerleader, I love queer cheerleader rep!) got a shoutout from Reese’s Book Club! In her recommendation, author (and owner of the new banned bookstore, Loudmouth Books, in Indianapolis) Leah Johnson says, “Not sure I'll ever stop raving about this book. Funny characters, spot-on dialogue, and all of the enemies-to-lovers rom-com goodness you could ask for.”
She Gets the Girl, Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick
Another YA offering, She Gets The Girl is a stretch to add to this list but they go roller skating together and those skates appear on the cover and so I’ve decided the two girls end up playing roller derby when they graduate college, okay? This rom-com is described as “She’s All That meets What If It’s Us” (which, yes), and Kirkus says that “queerness itself is never the motivator of the drama” (which, yes, we love to see it).
Like Other Girls, Britta Lundin
I may be biased because Britta Lundin and I did a virtual event together for the release of Hail Mary1, or because Lundin said that she was inspired to create the main character of her YA book based on this dope photo of Joyce Johnson of the NWFL’s Los Angeles Dandelions2 after seeing me post it on social media (also, this photo of Dandelions players). Or you could just take Autostraddle’s word for it: they called it “the best book [they’d] read in years.” It’s the story of a closeted butch lesbian in Oregon struggling to overcome her own internalized misogyny. There’s romance in it but it’s so much more than that, too. It’s pretty great.
The Passing Playbook, Isaac Fitzsimons
I have so many feelings about this book! It’s so, so timely for the moment we are in and is written with so much depth and care and humanity and tenderness and joy and determination. The Passing Playbook is “Love, Simon meets Bend It Like Beckham,” a “contemporary romance about a trans athlete who must decide between fighting for his right to play and staying stealth.”
Home Field Advantage, Dahlia Adler
The YA book version of the real-life story I posted about in a previous newsletter, where the (girl) quarterback of the football team (appears to be) dating a cheerleader (IRL the two weren’t dating but the photo made it look like they might be, and Adler was inspired by the photo to write this book). To be honest, that’s all you really need to know to be sold on this book imo but if you must know more there’s also a lavender couple in the book (a bearding relationship) that I adore. It’s also set in Florida, and we know what that state is like for LGBTQ+ youth right now, so it’s timely too.
Have you bought my book yet? If no, why not??
I love the photo so much that my Hail Mary co-author, Lyndsey D’Arcangelo, had a shirt made for me.
Have you read any of Rachel Spangler's books? Their book Fire & Ice is responsible for getting me hooked on the romance genre early in the pandemic. A sapphic curling romance sounded novel and potentially amusing, but I wasn't expecting to become as invested as I did. The basic premise is a disgraced sports journalist gets assigned to cover curling(you have to suspend your disbelief and accept major sports network would embed a reporter with a curling team, but I promise it's worth it) and doesn't try to hide her derision of the sport from the team. While she initially clashes with the good-natured team skip (captain), they realize working together is beneficial for their careers. Impressively, not only did I learn the rules of curling, but 3 years later, I still remember the physics behind the "curl."
Spangler has also written romances in more traditional sports worlds, like tennis and baseball, but I think they do unusual ones particularly well. My other all time favorite sports romance is their fencing novel Thrust. I haven't read their newest book yet—it just came out this week—but Quiver features mounted archery.
Another good one is Prove It by stephanie Hoyt! I read the ARC and can’t wait for everyone to be able to read it 💜