Amy Jo Cousins Archives : All About Romance

Santa Baby, Bring Me a Love Story

I have always been a sucker for a holiday romance. There’s something about the holidays that allow me to access the over-the-top, gushily sentimental core of my heart that is normally hidden under a layer of “loves complicated realism in romance.” At the holidays, I let myself get overwhelmed with love for and joy in my family and friends, and in my romance novels, I go for the holiday gusto every November and December.

I read a wide range of m/f and LGBTQ romance, and my holiday books are the same. In LGBTQ romance in particular, holiday stories are often focused on queer characters finding and making their own families after being rejected by their birth families. It’s heartbreaking and hopeful and embodies everything I love about holiday romance. Here are some of my favorite holiday books of all kinds:

A Queer Romance Month Post: Looking at Queer New Adult

Every Friday in October, AAR will run a guest post as part of our participation in Queer Romance Month. Today’s is hosted by queer romance author Santino Hassell.

New Adult is one of my favorite romance subgenres because of all the ground that’s covered in these novels. There’s college life, newfound independence, economic struggles, interpersonal issues that pop up as characters broaden their horizons, and of course sexual exploration and those first serious relationships. When queer characters are involved, that landscape of “first” themes can become even richer.

In celebration of Queer Romance Month, I’m sitting down to discuss queer NA with Megan Erickson and Amy Jo Cousins.

SH: Hey guys! Thank you for joining me.

AJC: Hi! Delighted to be here, typing over your every word.

ME: Thanks for having us! Excited to chat.

SH: When I first stumbled upon NA, I expected the books to be very Felicity-esque (is this a dated reference? […]