It's the start of the 2026 Trans Rights Readathon (TRR) so I'm doing something a little different today, cross-posting from my newsletter.

Shout out to the queer + trans readers of Your LL Bean Boyfriend - I 👀 see 👀 that you're some of the most dedicated and consistent readers of this blog and I really appreciate it. I'm really glad to write catalog fantasies that anyone can enjoy.

Today's post is focused on the TRR, which is something that anyone and everyone can join in on! I'm gonna start us off with a recommendation from one of my fave romance novels featuring two very sweet boyfriends, Gene and Luis.

Fictional boyfriends in focus: The Prospects by KT Hoffman

“Gene Ionescu has always loved every detail of baseball, but none quite so much as its near-complete indifference to the body. In few other sports can a five-foot, two-inch sprinter appear on the same roster as a six-foot, five-inch pitcher. Size—muscle, height, maybe a few inches of reach or long running legs—helps. But baseball also rewards the patient, the crafty, and perhaps most of all, the optimistic. It’s that hope, more than anything else, that makes Gene a good baseball player. He plays baseball because he is an optimist; he is an optimist because he has to be.”

This is the start of the very romantic and optimistic novel, The Prospects, by KT Hoffman. The story follows Gene, the first openly trans player in professional baseball. Baseball is Gene’s dream, and he intends to do anything he can to hold onto it, when Luis Estrada, his current rival and former teammate, is traded to his team and threatens his status. Gene and Luis have history and neither is particularly willing to revisit or get over it, but as they’re forced to work together (because hating your teammate doesn’t really make you play better), they start seeing they have a lot more common ground than previously realized.

Queer + trans stories that get happy endings can still deal with real world issues, and I think Hoffman threads the needle well in having Gene (and Luis) deal with some transphobia & homophobia, but the real focus of the story is grounded in a world that is pretty accepting and open. (There are lots of queer tragedies, and not enough stories with happy endings.) There are real stakes in this story, but it remains solidly romantic and sweet. I think I was 15 or 16 when a bunch of friends and I passed around Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan, enthralled by this world where queer teens were unapologetically themselves and got to fall in love. In the mid-2000s it felt revolutionary (and to be honest—in an era of book banning BS—still does!!!) and was really special to have this romantic story that made my friends feel seen.

There’s a lot of shit news out there. So I recommend being an optimist like Gene, because to be an optimist is to believe in a future worth fighting for.

Sharing interests

Other than The Prospects, books I've loved that I recommend for your Trans Rights Readathon list (or anytime list!) this year:

A Bloomy Head by J. Winifred Butterworth: This is a historical romance with a zany mystery and layered plot. This one was SO fun and very romantic!

Finna by Nino Cipri: Short little sci-fi/spec fic about minimum wage employees/exes at a Swedish chain furniture store go through a portal to another dimension inside the store to rescue a customer.

Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi: A challenging literary fiction novel that explores gender, culture, and spirituality.

A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall: A historical second-chance romance.

Woodworking by Emily St. James: I LOVED THIS BOOK, it was one of the best/my favorites that I read in 2025. Trans women in small town South Dakota building community, really cool choices about narration and voice.

Several People are Typing by Calvin Kasulke. After one worker’s consciousness is uploaded into slack, he must figure out how to free himself and return to his body. The entire novel happens through slack messages, it is so funny.

People Collide by Isle McElroy. Freaky Friday meets Gone Girl in this novel about spouses who wake up one day in the other’s body.

Do you have recommendations? Let me know in the comments! I’m always looking for more books by trans authors/about trans characters, not just during TRR.

Acts of service

THEM!!!

For m/m hockey romance, which had to get its own post, click here. Unwritten Rules by KD Casey (Baseball) The Team by Tal Bauer (American Football) Glasgow Lads by Avery Cockburn (European Football) The Prospects by KT Hoffman (Baseball) See You at the Finish Line by Zac Hammett (Rowing) Bonus: Coming in 2026, Hold Me Like a Grudge by Celine Ong (Wrestling) and Thirty Love by Tom Vellner (Tennis)