What makes queer monster romances the best is they tend not to be Princess and the Frog stories. Monstrosity does not need to be remedied by love. Queer monster romances are often between a human and a monster, where by the end the human has embraced the so-called monstrosity within themselves. That monstrosity may in truth be individuality, or the ability to prioritize oneself, one’s own values, and one’s own desires over what the wider world is offering. That kind of character growth facilitates the human’s ability to love and be loved in return, and it gets me every single time. There’s been a real uptick in queer monster romances as of late, I’m happy to say: Enough that I can give you a list of some of the best without including vampires, werewolves, or aliens, which are honestly all romance sub-genres unto themselves deserving of their own lists. So, with all apologies to Lewis Carroll, here you go: the jaws that (love) bite, the claws that catch (feelings). If you like thinking about monster romances more deeply, we’ve written here before about monster love and the history of monster romance. And if you need more queer romance with imaginative characters and settings, we’ve got queer fantasy and queer science fiction recommendations. There’s something so powerful about the queer imagination applied to romance! I hope you find books that resonate with you.
