Lonesome.

Make art with all the flaws, all the weirdness, all the eclectic and unexpected things that come from the human mind

It's not important to be good at it

so here are a few quick recs for books I've loved starring trans + nb leads! not as many as I'd like, but I figured I'd offer

to be clear, I am a cis woman, and I apologize if any of these miss the marks in terms of representation; several of these authors are openly trans or otherwise nonbinbary, but I don't want to imply there is a monolith at work here

A Gentleman's Gentleman by TJ Alexander, trans hero, m/m. Historical Romance. An eccentric nobleman finds out he has to marry (a woman) by his birthday or lose his estate; he hires a proper, starchy valet, only to find that he is very, very into said proper, starchy valet.

Chef's Choice by TJ Alexander. Contemporary romance, t4t m/f. A trans woman loses her job, then gets offered an opportunity by the heir to a megarich French family of culinary legends: He'll pay her a looot of money if she pretends to be his girlfriend as he accomplishes his family's esoteric generational cooking challenge. Much food, much FRAAANCH, much snarking until they fall in loooove.

Triple Sec by TJ Alexander. Contemporary romance, poly triad nb/f/f. A recently heartbroken bartender gets asked out by a hot lawyer lady, only to find out that hot lawyer lady is poly and has an open marriage with her aloof, artistic (hot) spouse. What begins as a hinge situation gets more complicated when our bartender realizes she... may also.... be into her new girlfriend's wife.

For the Love of April French by Penny Aimes. Contemporary romance, trans heroine, m/f. An experienced kinkster hooks up with a man she meets at the local club, only to find out the next day that he's the new higher up at her company...

Something Spectacular by Alexis Hall. Historical romance, nb4nb. A genderfluid bon vivant get roped into helping her ex capture the attention of the hot new castrato soprano in town... only for said soprano to be much more into our lead than her ex.

A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall. Historical romance, trans heroine, m/f. Years after faking her death at the Battle of Waterloo to live as her true self, a woman ends up coming back into contact with her old best friend, now a traumatized shadow of himself, and he doesn't recognize her... at first.

Rules for Ghosting by Shelly Jay Shore. Light paranormal romance, trans hero, m/m. A doula who can see ghosts gets summoned to work at his family's funeral home again after his mom leaves his dad for a friend. His flirtationship with a hot funeral home volunteer/neighbor is complicated by the fact that one of the ghosts he sees happens to be his new crush's dead husband.

Unmasked by the Marquess by Cat Sebastian. Historical romance, nb/m. A marquess finds out that his new friend—who he's incredibly attracted to—is not the man he thinks he is... or a man at all. Not exactly, at least. And that's just the beginning.

The Prospects by KT Hoffman. Contemporary romance, trans hero, m/m. The first openly trans player in the Minor Leagues gets thrown off his game when he has to play against a former friend who fell off the face of the earth when he blew up. But you know what happens when rivals are cute...

The Pairing by Casey McQuiston. Contemporary romance, nb/m. A sommelier ends up on the same European food and wine tour as their ex, which leads to a "haha it's fine we're so over it now" bet in which they compete to see who can hook up with the most people over the course of the tour.

Most Ardently by Gabe Cole Novoa. Historical YA romance, trans hero, m/m. A YA retelling of Pride and Prejudice in which Oliver Bennet must deal with (on top of his ordeal of having to dress like a woman) the fact that snarky Darcy is the absolute WORST. Or... is he...?

A Shore Thing by Joanna Lowell. Historical romance, trans hero, m/f. A botanist widow ends up in a long-distance bicycle race alongside a rakish former artist who really isn't the commitment type.... but boy is he hot!

first of all ive seen every comment or thought piece or edit ever. so lets get that straight 💀💀 hr content is literally my morning routine. it is possible i have a problem.

second of all, i still find it a pretty silly comparison ngl, and i think it ultimately falls yet again under "people are missing the point of heated rivalry." while a wlw story set in a traditionally "feminine" but intense environment like elite ballet or gymnastics could absolutely be powerful, tense, and brilliant if done well, it would be a different story altogether. one with no real tie or relation to heated rivalry

as i said in that post, hr is a story fundamentally about masculinity: its repression, its hypermasculine performance, and what is socially sanctioned within that world. it's about two men who were raised to equate their worth with a physically violent, casually homophobic ideal. their entire identities and careers are built on that foundation. the tension comes from the fact that the very institution that made them is the one that would destroy them for their desire. even stripped of explicit romance (like maybe platonic but innuendo to be romantic), that narrative is incredibly strong

a "wlw version" wouldn't be a version of heated rivalry. it would just be another wlw sports romance. whether it honored the specificity of its sport and queer dynamic the way hr does would depend entirely on its execution. ballet, for example, would have to be told through the lens of what's policed for women: the makeup, the costuming, the diet culture, the smiling, the specific kind of bodily control. visible strength paired with enforced thinness. not to mention, the most vocal homophobia in ballet is often directed at men in that space, not women. so the social pressure, the threat, the texture of the secrecy, it's all completely different. again not at all like hockey, or mlm dynamics, or the nhl

you cannot transplant the dynamic of hr is what it comes down to imo. a wlw ballet story would grapple with misogyny and lesbophobia, yes, but not with the cult of masculinity that is the nhl's entire ecosystem. the self loathing, the fear, the way desire gets funneled into sanctioned violence on the ice. that's a particular mlm experience the story is built to dissect

so, to be profound (lol) about it: the suggestion, even well intentioned, often comes from a place of wanting "parallel" representation. but true respect for a story is understanding that its power is in its specificity. heated rivalry is a masterclass in that, as my post analyzed. it's about these men in this machine. the second you change the machine, you're writing a different story. and that's okay! we should have that story, too. but we shouldn't pretend it's the same.

in hr, hockey isn't the setting. hockey is the antagonist. and the antagonist is specifically, irreplaceably homophobic hypermasculinity. you can't get that in ballet. you get a different antagonist

so overall, i think people should stop trying to create "versions" of heated rivalry. instead, they should learn from its lesson. the best stories (queer or not) are built from the ground up around the specific culture they're critiquing, making that culture indispensable to the tension, the desire, and the stakes.

Masculanized an Asian character

Became a heartthrob as a POC

Gave an award-winning performance for a neurodivergent character

Is dating a woman after playing a gay man

Gets just as much praise as his white costar

Doesn't censor himself to fit in

And for Harris…Ilya signed with Ottawa not long after he started working there. As an Ottawa fan, Harris was probably THRILLED to land a star center. But as their new employee he must have been nervous that Ilya would live up to every asshole rumor. Then in walks a kind, gloriously catty man whose eyes light up when he sees Harris’s pride pins

"The sex tells the story, so it never felt gratuitous to me. The sex is character development. The sex is what is moving this relationship forward, and watching it change over time."