#Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend by Emma R. Alban

[betterbooksandthings]

"Radically reimagining queer joy is the project of the best queer historical romance books.

Historical research and fantasy are the founding pillars of historical romance. There are certain things about the past that any historical romance is willing to hand-wave away. In return, readers of the genre buy into that imagined past.

Queer historical romance is perhaps more radical in its approach. Not because it is less historically accurate than any other historical romance but because it works against the myth that queer people never existed in the past.

Patriarchy, Teleology, and Queer Historical Romance

Patriarchy and teleology undoubtedly work against queer historical romance. The teleological view of history is the idea that history works in a forward march of progress to a single unified goal. Teleology works against historical romance’s aim to humanize people from the past. The genre gives characters access to joy and agency that often feels anachronistic, especially to readers unfamiliar with the periods.

Pair teleology with a frankly overwhelming body of historians using patriarchal lenses to interpret history, and many dismiss all historical romance as entirely inaccurate. Not to mention, a general de-prioritization of joy and the humanization of people throughout history complicates the idea that everyone should view the past one way.

As historical romance books continue to include queer and BIPOC characters, arguments of historical inaccuracy continue to pile onto the genre. Queer historical romance rejects the claim, “In the before times, things were bad, everyone was horrible, and queer people or non-white people didn’t have power.”

So, while all historical fiction will include fiction by its genre category alone, diverse historical romance bears the brunt of historical inaccuracy claims.

What Makes a Great Queer Historical Romance?

So maybe it is unsurprising that I love queer historical romance quite so much. It’s radical, fun, engrossing, and sometimes downright silly.

Selecting just a dozen books to feature in this list was difficult, especially when so many queer historical romance authors have excellent backlists. If I were you, I would start with the twelve best queer historical romance books here and then go into each other’s backlist for an even better time."

[yourfavebooklrsfavebooklr]

Some lesbian books for international lesbian day!

So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole - 1/2 MCs is a lesbian

The Orc and Her Bride by Lila Gwynn - 1/2 MCs is a lesbian

Tell Me How It Ends by Quinton Li - MC is a lesbian (confirmed by author, pretty clear in book, not explicitly stated yet)

Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant - there’s a large cast of characters, one major SC / love interest is a lesbian

Like Other Girls by Britta Lundin - MC is a lesbian

The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar- MC is a lesbian

Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend by Emma R. Alban - I’m pretty sure both MCs are lesbians? At least one is

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo - MC is a lesbian

Cosmoknights by Hannah Templer - pretty sure at least one major character is a lesbian

[harleychick91]

Victorian Parent Trap Indeed!

This book had me ranting and raving. The twists and turns are wonderful! I love (begrudgingly) the slow burn between Gwen and Beth. Does have some spice but done in a tasteful manner. I fell in love with all of the main characters. Especially when they are so supportive. The cousins are hilarious by the end.

[savesappho]

Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend (2024)

NEW REVIEW: Don't Want You Like a Best Friend (2024) gets 2/10 optimistic, historically-accurate violets. RATING out of 10 violets, with 1 being the least and 10 being the most painful to read

Author: Emma R. Alban Content Warnings: non-graphic discussion of domestic violence; alcohol use/abuse Genre: Sapphic Historical Romance Gwen has a brilliant beyond brilliant idea. It’s 1857, and anxious debutante Beth has just one season to snag a wealthy husband, or she and her mother will be out on the street. But playing the blushing ingenue makes Beth’s skin crawl and she’d rather be…

[myhikari21things]

Read of Don’t Want You Like A Best Friend by Emma R. Alban (2024) (368pgs)

[nottobehornyonthemain]

Mostly ignoring the initial post, but the book they’re talking about is “Don’t Want You Like A Best Friend” by Emma R Alban, and I actually did listen to this interview with her where she talks about the fashion and the research she did into it, and specifically why she found the idea of “the one year where everyone had to figure out how to wear a hoop skirt instead of several layers of petticoats” funny.

Historical romance novels or as I like to call it: a whole lot of misinformation about historical fashion and society (wdym your hoop skirt makes you life hard? What do you mean you’re supprised at how the London Season goes? You’re gentry in the Victorian era! You live in this society! Like she can “not fit into society” in a “1860s way”, she’s not a time traveling millennial)

[lgbtqreads]

Fave Five: Historical F/F Romance

Feminine Pursuits and Hen Fever by Olivia Waite Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend by Emma R. Alban The Spinsters of Inverley by Jane Walsh That Could Be Enough by Alyssa Cole A Little Light Mischief by Cat Sebastian Bonus: For cozy mystery/romance mashup, check out Proper English by KJ Charles Double Bonus: These are all realistic fiction, but for historical fantasy, try Heather Rose Jones’s…

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🪞 What to Read After Watching Bridgerton Season 3

🪞 Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend - Emma R. Alban 🪞 The Ladies Rewrite the Rules - Suzanne Allain 🪞 Confounding Oaths - Alexis Hall 🪞 Hathor and the Prince - J.J. McAvoy 🪞 Ne’er Duke Well - Alexandra Vasti 🪞 The Lord of Stariel - A. J. Lancaster 🪞 The Lily of Ludgate Hill - Mimi Matthews 🪞 To Catch a Suitor - Sarah Adams 🪞 To Woo and to Wed - Martha Waters 🪞 My Season of Scandal - Julie Anne Long 🪞 Damned If I Duke - Anna Bradley 🪞 A Viscount for the Egyptian Princess - Heba Helmy 🪞 The Diamond and the Duke - Christi Caldwell 🪞 An Unlikely Proposition - Rosalyn Eves 🪞 A Governess’s Guide to Passion and Peril - Manda Collins 🪞 Lies and Weddings - Kevin Kwan 🪞 Viscount in Love - Eloisa James 🪞 A Lady for a Duke - Alexis Hall 🪞 Lady Charlotte Always Gets Her Man - Violet Marsh 🪞 My Rogue to Ruin - Erica Ridley 🪞 Never Met a Duke Like You - Amalie Howard 🪞 Never Blow a Kiss - Lindsay Lovise 🪞 Wake Me Most Wickedly - Felicia Grossman 🪞 The Duke’s All That - Christina Britton 🪞 Bookshop Cinderella - Laura Lee Guhrke 🪞 Dukes Do It Better - Bethany Bennett

[appropriatelystupid]

Do you have a list of book recs by any chance? 👀 I trust your book vibes so I’d read anything you thought was good

okay as is usual with an ask like this i’ve forgotten everything i felt about everything but here are some that i enjoyed so far this year per my gr ratings:

you, with a view by jessica joyce (bonus point for my hometown getting a mention)

raiders of the lost heart by jo segura

the good part by sophie cousens

don’t want you like a best friend by emma r. alban

kilt trip by alexandra kiley

the bodyguard by katherine center

fish out of water by katie ruggle

till there was you by lindsay hameroff

the falling in love montage by ciara smyth

fly with me by andie burke

[13uswntimagines]

If you like Bridgerton, I just finished Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend by Emma R. Alban. I will preference that I haven’t seen Bridgerton, but I imagine it gives heavy Bridgerton vibes.

I tried that one, but I just couldn’t get into it.

[darlingofdots]

I haven’t read it personally so I cannot recommend it but it seems the book Don’t Want You Like A Best Friend by Emma R Alban is a f/f historical romance! Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner is f/f contemporary sports so not quite but if you look at lists that have it on you might find something. Good luck!

Cleat Cute is actually already part of the corpus! Like I said in the post, I'm just looking to fill in some gaps especially with areas I haven't personally read as much of, and Cleat Cute was recommended to me at a conference earlier this year and I really enjoyed it. I've read the sample of Don't Want You Like a Best Friend and I've heard good things about it, maybe I'll give it another go :)

[femmilingus]

You're the Problem, It's You - Book Review

Gorgeous Cover This book is expected to be released on 15 August 2024 and is the second book in the Mischief & Matchmaking series by Emma R. Alban. The enemies-to-lovers queer Victorian romance follow-up to Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend, in which a young lord and a second son clash, but find themselves thrust together again and again by their meddling cousins. “That man is, without a doubt,…

[dreamlandreader]

Hi! Hope you're doing well 🥰🥰 I have a few more questions for you, some are fic related, others are just for fun.

If you could only pick one flavor of starburst to eat for the rest of your life, what would it be? There is a wrong answer, and if you pick it, I will seriously question your sanity. You don't seem like a mean person, but what is your favorite insult? I'm talking like those really weird ones that make people stop and question if they heard you right.

Do you have any favorite sapphic ships in TV shows or books you've read? What are some songs that make you think of Emorie and why (the answer can just be the vibes, you don't have to go super deep)? Which Valkyrie is your favorite if it isn't Emerie?

Hope you have a fun week!

-Santa

Hello Santa, 

I'm so excited to hear from you. I am doing well thank you, I hope you are too. 

I love a starburst! I defo think that if we are talking about the originals I would have to go for blackcurrant flavour, and my least favourite would have to be lime. I hope that’s not the wrong answer! 😬

I think my favourite insult is one my Grandma likes to use if someone isn’t doing something the way she wants it done - “You’re as much use as a chocolate teapot”. It's hard to be offended when it is exclaimed by a very cute 85 year old.

I absolutely adore the relationship that develops between Emily Dickinson and Susan Gilbert in the TV show Dickinson. I think the way they develop the chemistry between them is incredible and now I think I have to give the show a rewatch because I just love it!

Book wise Tansy and Gemma's story in The Fiancée Farce by Alexandria Bellefleur is one of my favs but I am also currently loving the relationship of Beth and Gwen in More than a Best Friend by Emma R. Alban which is the sapphic Bridgerton of my dreams!

There are so many songs that give me Emerie and Mor vibes but I will try my best to shorten it down to a few -

Don’t Call Me Angel by Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey gives off the badass female vibes they both have so I always think of them when I hear that song. The Prophecy by Taylor Swift reminds me of that feeling of really wishing it was your turn to find true love and with everyone around them falling in love it makes me think of how they might feel at this point in the canon of the books. Antidote by Fletcher also reminds me of what they could become for each other. I think that they have both been through so much in their lives and I think they could give each other buckets full of love, and their relationship could be incredibly healing for them both. 

I love all of the Valkyries so much for different reasons, but I would say that Emerie is the character who I love the most. I was so invested in her character from the second I saw her on the page and I am so excited to see where her story goes. 

I hope you also have the most lovely week Santa ❤️

[bookblog2003]

Don’t want you like a best friend-Emma R. Alban

Finished April 18th

[yourfavebooklrsfavebooklr]

library haul!

Borrowed today:

Ocean’s Echo by Everina Maxwell

network effect by Martha wells

Don’t want you like a best friend by Emma r. Alban

from last week:

Artemis by Andy weir

the case for sanctions against Israel, edited by audrea lim