Do you want to read a book about a transgender romance?
If so, then the Boston Public Library has some recommendations for you.
Boston Public Library members received the library’s monthly email newsletter earlier this month. In the “The Boston Public Library Recommends” section of the email missive, the library has recommendations for several genres of books. One category included is called “Trans Romance: 11 Happily-Ever-Afters to Check Out Today.”
Clicking that link takes the reader to the section of the Boston Public Library web site that has the library’s transgender romance book recommendations.
The top of the web page tells the viewer that it’s a staff-created list. The library also says that it created the list in the wake of what it views as “frightening times of anti-trans legislation.”
“In these frightening times of anti-trans legislation, romance can be a joyful escape,” the library’s web site says. “Check out one of these romances in which trans and nonbinary protagonists find the happily-ever-afters they deserve!”
Here are the 11 transgender romance books that the Boston Public Library recommends as well as the library staff’s descriptions of the books:
1. For the Love of April French (by Penny Aimes, 2021) — As a trans woman, April’s used to being the scenic rest stop for others on their way to a happily-ever-after. When her relationship with newcomer Dennis moves from complicated to impossible, April will have to decide how much she’s willing to want.
2. Love & Other Disasters (by Anita Kelly, 2022) — Dahlia stirs up trouble on the set of Chef’s Special when she gets involved with nonbinary contestant London. As their relationship heats up both in and out of the kitchen, she wonders if they have the right ingredients for a happily ever after.
3. Reverb (by Anna Zarbo, 2020) — When an attack by a stalker lands rockstar Mish Sullivan in the hospital, her band puts their foot down. Her new bodyguard David is more than capable of keeping Mish safe… if their blazing sexual attraction doesn’t distract them both.
4. The Calyx Charm — A Fantasy Romance (by May Peterson, 2021) — Romeo and Juliet have nothing on these star-crossed lovers from rival crime families — one a magician, the other undead. Will Violetta and Tibario make the most of their second chance at life and love?
5. Drag Me Up (by R.M. Virtues, 2021) — Landing a residency as an aerialist at the legendary Casino Asphodel is everything Persephone trained for. Meeting a man she’d been convinced didn’t exist? She could never be prepared for that … and Hades isn’t prepared for her either.
6. Coffee Boy (by Austin Chant, 2016) — Kieran is excited to intern on a political campaign, but the pressure of being an out trans man in the workplace quickly sucks the joy out of things. Is the prickly campaign strategist who seems to watch his every move an enemy or an unexpected ally?
7. Second Chance (by Jay Northcote, 2018) — Returning to the village where he grew up is hard for Nate — he hates seeing people who knew him before he transitioned. When he reconnects with his former best friend (and crush), they have to decide if they want to fight for a second chance together.
8. A Lady For A Duke (by Alexis Hall, 2022) — Presumed dead at Waterloo, Viola is finally living as herself — even though it meant losing her wealth, her title, and her closest friend, who was left grief-stricken by her disappearance. Can she help him recover without losing everything again?
9. Documenting Light (by E.E. Ottoman, 2016) — When Wyatt brings an unidentified photograph to the local historical society, he hopes staff historian Grayson will tell him more about the people in the picture. Together, they find new ways to write the unwritten history of their own lives.
10. The Love Study (by Kris Ripper, 2020) — When Declan agrees to let Sidney, a nonbinary YouTuber who runs an advice channel, set him up on a few dates, he isn’t really expecting to find true love. As it turns out, the dates are all flops, but his chemistry with Sidney is off the charts!
11. Tea (by Matthew Metzger, 2019) — When John bumps into Chris in a coffee shop, their instant attraction is overwhelming. Can they overcome John’s fear of commitment and Chris’ family’s disapproval in order to find a place in each other’s world?
Massachusetts Family Institute communications director Mary Ellen Siegler told NewBostonPost that a publicly-funded institute like the Boston Public Library shouldn’t be making these kinds of recommendations to the public.
Siegler said by email:
The Boston Public Library is promoting trans romance novels with the misleading messaging of “in these frightening times of anti-trans legislation, romance can be a joyful escape.” Presumably they are referencing the increased amount of common sense legislation being presented in states across the country aimed at protecting women’s sports and young children from ideological sexual content in school. The message is subtle, but it is blatant nonetheless. Sadly, the constant normalization of the new radical sexual and gender orthodoxy by tax payer funded institutions is turning young people away from the values and beliefs their parents have labored to instill in them. Boys cannot be boys and girls cannot be girls. Biological sex is immutable. It is absurd to have to assert such a basic reality, but sadly we must, to combat the lies that are harming so many people, particularly young people. Less than fifteen years ago there was only a handful of gender clinics administering harmful puberty blockers and cross sex hormonal treatments to children. Now there are over two hundred in North America alone. Ideas have consequences. Legislation aimed at protecting women and children is not frightening, the BPL promoting and normalizing unscientific ideas that set people up for irreversible physical and mental harm is.
The Boston Public Library is a city-run library founded in 1852. It’s the third-largest public library in the United States.
A spokesman for the Boston Public Library could not be reached for comment on Monday or Tuesday this week.
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