I feel like you’re really gonna like Sara Raasch’s Royals and Romance series, starting with The Nightmare Before Kissmas… You might also try Ben Alderson’s Dragori series, for elves and druids.

Try The Midnight Man by Kevin Klehr, The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune, Team Phison by Chace Verity, I’m trying to think of a historical and I’m not sure about The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian but maaaybe they’re in their 30s? I’m really not basing that on anything other than that the characters are old enough to have backstory. Anyone else know some good historical recs?

I’m assuming you’ve already read I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver, but if not, do grab it! And in Fantasy, I love The Witch King by H.E. Edgmon. (Also, not a Romance, but if you haven’t read Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White, I’m guessing you’ll like it.) In New Adult, I read it a lonnnng time ago but I’m reasonably sure it’s present if not in the MC’s story then significantly in the LI’s - Long Macchiatos and Monsters by Alison Evans, which is New Adult (complete with sexual content).

I think the strongest argument I’m gonna be able to make is gonna be either for Bellies by Nicola Dinan or The In-Between Bookstore by Edward Underhill. Both have trans writers and protagonists (though in Bellies, there’s also a gay cis male protag), and whether they’re depressing kind of depends on your viewpoint, like neither one is fluff, but I think they’re both ultimately affirming and hopeful. Both have romance, but neither one stays a romance, and they’re definitely about other things and how that love shifts and changes. The In-Between Bookstore is also lightly speculative, so if that’s your comfort spot, I think that’s probably where I would go! (I do think it’s also lighter than Bellies.)

I will say, A/S/L by Jeanne Thornton absolutely may be a better fit for your requirements, I just haven’t read it yet, but do check it out!

Hmm, the closest thing I can think of is Late Bloomer by Mazey Eddings, where the character embellishes shoes. (ETA: I know knitting is not the same but I definitely should mention the very adorable Knit One, Girl Two by Shira Glassman!)

You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian stars a sports journalist, and Last Chance by Lily Seabrooke stars a food journalist. Thrill of the Chase by Kathryn Nolan is another one, coming up in July, and if a former journalist counts, Settle the Score by Kris Ripper. The Butcher’s Daughter by David Demchuk and Corinne Leigh Clark is a literary thriller with a journalist, though I don’t know that she’d be called the main character, though she’s vital to the epistolary element. I don’t know if you’re open to student journalists, but if so, check out We Got the Beat by Jenna Miller and, out in May, The Closest Thing to a Normal Life by Michael Mendez Guevara.

Always! My huuuge fave is the Evander Mills historical mystery series by Lev Rosen. I Think They Love You by Julian Winters came out in January and was great. Timothy Janovsky has two this year - Once Upon You & Me out later this month and A Mannequin for Christmas in September. MA Wardell has a whole bunch going on - his Teachers in Love series is being rereleased by Forever and the fourth book is now coming out in… I think November? He and AJ Truman (also a queer man) are also releasing the second book in their Big Boys Small Spaces series - Cut to the Feeling, out in September. There’s also the Rainbow Ranch series coming in July, which has books by both MA Wardell and Max Walker.

Back to AJ Truman, he’s launching a new hockey series this month called the comebacks - Gross Misconduct is out on the 28th. Chip Pons has a new rom com coming in June called Winging it With You. Adib Khorram’s newest, It Had to Be Him, releases in September (and definitely read last year’s I’ll Have What He’s Having if you haven’t yet!), and Ben Alderson has a whole bunch of Fantasy releases and rereleases - honestly, it’s faster to just look him up on Amazon and sort by Publication Date.

If you’re into Romantasy, Ben Chalfin just released The Prince’s Heart in February, and whew sorry my brain immediately went to Romance, but definitely check out The Guncle by Steven Rowley (oldie but goodie contemp fiction), The In-Between Bookstore by Edward Underhill (new trans spec fic), Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (last year), anything by Nicolas DiDomizio, In Tongues by Thomas Grattan, Yes, Daddy by Jonathan Parks-Ramage (personal fave but biiig cws for abuse/assault/religious trauma - he also has a new one coming in I think June called It’s Not the End of the World that I haven’t read yet), Just By Looking at Him by Ryan O’Connell (also personal fave that is not new), Providence by Craig Willse, Small Joys by Elvin James Mensah, I Might Be in Trouble by Daniel Aleman and anything by Brandon Taylor, Bryan Washington, Andrew Sean Greer, and Garth Greenwell. Paul Rudnick has a new one this year called What is Wrong with You? and Adam Haslett released Mothers and Sons in January.

If you’re interested in Crime Fiction, check out Joshua Moehling, Michael Nava, Joseph Hansen, Christopher Bollen, Rob Osler, and P.J. Vernon. For Fantasy, I admittedly rarely read Adult fantasy but I have read the MOST gushing about The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez, and obviously there’s TJ Klune and Ben Alderson, but also try A Market of Dreams and Destiny by Trip Galey and (again, mannnny cws) Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James. If Sci-Fi’s more your jam, definitely get to know Nathan Tavares! Okay that was a lot so I will shut up now, but if I missed any genres you’re particularly interested in, hit me up again!