Romance novels-with their fast-moving plots, vibrant characters, and sex scenes that leap off of the page-can transport you into a world that’s a bit more exciting and pleasant than our own. Some are hilarious others are a little darker.Even if your summer doesn’t include sandcastles or waves, you should still pick up a beach read to keep you company. They’re sweet, and often sexy, and feel a lot like you’re hanging out with family. Sure, thanks to the socially conservative bent many Black people have experienced with family, friends, and neighbors, sometimes there is conflict in which their queerness has a role, but it’s usually a problem for other people, not the protagonists.Īll this to say: there are some really great queer Black romances out there, y’all. But it’s only been in the past five years or so that we’ve seen an upswing in the number of romances in which Black folk have been casually queer and falling in love in regular ways. As the decades passed, and romance became a bigger machine under both the traditional and independent umbrellas, we got tiny hints of romance here and there featuring queer Black characters, especially when it comes to actual BLACK Black romance - romance in which everyone involved is Black, instead of interracial romance. Sometimes, that last bit didn’t happen, other times it did - at least until the sequel.
Lynn Harris offered insightful looks into the Black queer experience of their day, sometimes letting their characters fall in love, always making them fight for their right to express that love and keep it.
Once upon a time, authors like Ann Allen Shockley and E. (Okay, when I say “wealth” I am heavily exaggerating because there could be more - so much more - but comparatively speaking, you could sit down and read nothing but queer Black romance for a few months, at least.) (Okay, this “you” I speak of is me, because I like love stories that have happy endings it’s why I have to work to spend time outside of romance.) But the past few years have offered us a wealth of choices in Black romance featuring queer couples, and it’s been a joy to see. When you’re Black and queer, you’ve spent a long time avoiding literature about people with those identities, because they haven’t always ended happily.
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