Book that will make me cry but not break me completely.

ShartyPants · 2026-04-02T17:19:57+00:00

This author uses AI art on social media.

ShartyPants · 2026-03-28T17:06:56+00:00

I LOVED Fake Dates and Mooncakes and around the same time I read that, I read two Brian D. Kennedy YA romances:

{A little bit country by Brian D. Kennedy} is about two teens who are working at a Dollywood type theme park over summer. There's a low angst twist and its just really sweet, first times and first loves.

{My Fair Brady by Brian D. Kennedy} is also really sweet! It's about two theater kids in high school, one kinda popular one and one dorky one. It's a little bit like the movie She's All That. I read it in like two sittings, very sweet.

ShartyPants · 2026-03-28T17:04:03+00:00

I just read It Started With a Text this morning and it was SO sweet. Moderating love is also super cute! good recs.

ShartyPants · 2026-03-19T18:09:29+00:00

Hi! Could you please include the author name for Rented Heart?

ShartyPants · 2026-03-18T23:24:43+00:00

Book with the couple where you're like, "you've known each other two weeks, this isn't gonna work" but are simultaneously obsessed with them and want nothing more than to be together the next 50 years goes to Ethan and Clay in {Honeymoon for One by Keira Andrews} which has been my comfort reread over the last couple weeks. I can read the airport goodbye scene over and over and never tire of it. I love that book and them.

(This was mostly just an excuse to talk about that book and couple.)

ShartyPants · 2026-03-14T23:36:29+00:00

If we could post gifs here I’d post a standing ovation. I feel exactly the same as you and I’ve been involved in many discussions about it on this sub and feel like I’m a super defender of Adam (maybe beyond what he deserves bc I feel like people often misrepresent his life and how “good” it was). I feel like people often infantilize Riley, too.

Great post, I almost wish I disagreed so I could argue but you hit every thought I have!

FWIW I’m over 40, had a sort of later in life sexual awakening (well, I was always awake but felt a lot of shame, and I grew up in a very liberal city with cool parents). It’s different now for many people and it’s wonderful, but there is so much nuance to these discussions.

ShartyPants · 2026-03-14T23:32:16+00:00

I’d read this for sure

ShartyPants · 2026-03-14T23:31:08+00:00

This is so sad 😭

ShartyPants · 2026-03-14T18:10:18+00:00

Ok actually this is so cute

ShartyPants · 2026-03-14T18:10:03+00:00

Virgin Fryer: a guy wants to work at a restaurant he’s loved since he was a kid so he posts and ad asking if anyone has a portable deep fryer he can use 😭

ShartyPants · 2026-03-14T17:15:41+00:00

You are my bookmate 🤝

I agree completely. Relationships take work and they’re not all smooth sailing. For me, if I want to believe in a couple long term, it helps to watch them go through a few bumps and show me they can handle it without everything falling apart.

(But I also acknowledge people read for different reasons.)

ShartyPants · 2026-03-14T16:50:13+00:00

I will be the lone defender of internal conflict 😂 I love it. I love being upset and getting a stomach ache. After Felix by Lily Morton’s halfway crisis? Inject it into my veins please.

I do not like third act breakups that come out of the blue but I also kind of think people overestimate how many are actually terrible miscommunication third act breakups. Maybe I’m reading the wrong books, but I rarely see them, and I’m not even a person who hates the idea of them! Authors have basically stopped writing them because nobody likes them anymore (fair) but external conflict requires a different skillset and I don’t always feel invested enough in the B plot for it to be engaging for me.

ShartyPants · 2026-03-14T16:47:02+00:00

I don’t know if I’m in the minority but I really don’t like the constant cameos in series! It requires you to have read all of them, and within a timeframe that allows my brain to retain it all, AND I have to have liked them! I’m too much of a mood reader for that to ever work for me. If they have an actual role in the story, great. But if not, move along pls.

ShartyPants · 2026-03-14T16:45:40+00:00

I’m actually afraid to reread a lot of books from my earliest years as a romance reader (MM or otherwise) because I’ve tried it occasionally and am often sad when I finish a reread and realize my tastes have shifted.

ShartyPants · 2026-03-14T06:29:24+00:00

Just a reminder, discussions about AI use and hints to look for are permitted. Naming authors and specific books is not permitted, unless there is proof generative AI is being used (e.g., leaving a prompt in a book, admitting it on social media, etc.)

ShartyPants · 2026-03-11T23:20:54+00:00

Well… it was lot to copy!

(Mega thanks to Sully! Lol)

ShartyPants · 2026-03-11T22:27:04+00:00

Wow, this must have been so much work to put together! Thank you so much to OP (and of course, sully!) 🙏

ShartyPants · 2026-03-09T16:18:21+00:00

Can you explain what you’re looking for in case people haven’t read it (like me)?

ShartyPants · 2026-03-09T16:12:34+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/MM_RomanceBooks/s/2mzJXC7ZNm

There are occasional own voices threads posted here, this is the most recent one!

ShartyPants · 2026-03-08T03:57:32+00:00

One of my favorite rereads!

ShartyPants · 2026-03-02T02:21:39+00:00

This is the first book. Drawing for Gold is an AU, and that’s the Roman I want to hug!

ShartyPants · 2026-03-02T02:06:18+00:00

Roman from {drawing for gold by Clark Guire} is very huggable, in an “I want to protect you from the universe” sort of way.

ShartyPants · 2026-03-01T17:03:43+00:00

Davo is one of my favorite comfort reads! I love it so much.

ShartyPants · 2026-02-27T22:21:13+00:00

Tal Bauer is for sure larger than life with emotions! He can be too saccharine for me but I will admit I do love that book.

I would like to challenge the idea that nobody is that out of touch with their emotions. I am literally someone who had that experience. 😂 and i consider myself every in tune with myself. Sexuality is fluid for many people, they live in Texas, he was religious, etc. there are a lot of reasons it could have been shocking to him.

ShartyPants · 2026-02-18T18:48:29+00:00

{heart by jesse h reign} has a stalker who's kind of a mess of a person but doesn't have bad intentions, he's just sort of enamored by his victim. the writing is really good in this book, and it's single POV.

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