Published in April, Kay’s most recent book, Tell Me Everything, is another romcom, this time about therapist Natasha, who is still living with her ex-girlfriend. But Kay’s book is far from alone. This summer, a host of LGBTQ+ romcom novels are coming out (excuse the pun), crammed with blossoming romances and glittery escapism. “It feels like there’s sort of a shift,” says Kay. “I think that’s because the people that make the decisions are seeing that there’s an audience that are desperate to read queer romcoms.” With their first novel, Reputation, Lex Croucher wrote a regency rom com that was as much about friendship as romance and told a historically detailed story with a modern voice. Infamous is a sort of spiritual sequel, with the same mood of twenty-first-century-sensibility-meets-Regency-style. In this work, however, the scope is broader and the story feels bigger than a young woman's misadventures (even though, on a literal level, that's more or less what it is). Infamous is primarily about love rather than friendship, and it's about the world: art and its importance, power and who wields it, the rules society makes and who is allowed to bend or break them. Largely because of the popularity of Netflix’s Bridgerton, there’s a new demand for queer regency romcoms. One such historical romance is Alexis Hall’s A Lady for a Duke , which has a transgender heroine. Meanwhile Lex Croucher’s Infamous, out in July, is described on the cover as “ Booksmart meets Bridgerton”, and includes bisexual, lesbian and non-binary characters. Croucher’s previous novel Reputation was another regency-era romcom. “The publishing industry is coming to the realisation that there is an audience for this stuff, there is money to be made telling these stories,” Croucher says.

They had been sitting apart, leaning across the space between them, but it suddenly occurred to Eddie that it might make more sense, logistically speaking, to press her body closer to Rose’s—so she did. That certainly improved matters even more. She could feel the swell of Rose’s chest pressing into hers now, smell the faint scent of lilac in her hair. It all seemed to be going swimmingly until Rose shifted against her and let slip a breathy, half-restrained gasp into her mouth. I loved this story - think Jane Eyre meets Bridgerton, but more difficult eldest Child than mad wife in the attic plus it’s forty years earlier and with a supporting cast who are comedy gold. Oliver in particular is a total sass master. It is interesting because when you write rom-coms there are expectations around romantic love, but then, I’m like, ‘it’s actually about friendship’,” they laugh.All right. It was a cold, misty morning in March when Anne Bonny opened the door to the Jelly Roger Tea House—for all intents and purposes a morning like any other, although the events that were about to transpire were to change the course of her life forever…” If you’re quite finished with the interrogation,” she said, “this bird is not going to eat itself.” With some laugh-out-loud moments, the novel leaves the reader wanting more. Will Emily be found out, who is the stranger in the pub wanting to know all of the gossip regarding Captain Edward's dismissal from the navy and what secret is Aster hiding? They wanted to focus on doing other things, including writing, but the author says the notoriety it brought them has helped them navigate being an author. “If you haven’t been a public-facing person before, it can be quite intense,” Croucher says. “I’ve been online publicly since I was 16 so, for better or worse, my brain is wired to deal with that experience.” Lukewarm on TikTok

Then Eddie meets charming, renowned poet Nash Nicholson––a rival of Lord Byron, if he does say so himself––and he welcomes her into his world of eccentric artists and boundary-breaking visionaries. When Eddie receives an invitation to Nash's crumbling Gothic estate in the countryside, promising inspiration (and time to finish her novel, a long-held dream), she eagerly agrees. But the pure hedonism and debauchery that ensues isn’t exactly what she had in mind, and Eddie soon finds herself torn between her complicated feelings for Rose and her equally complicated dynamic with Nash, whose increasingly bad behavior doesn’t match up to her vision for her literary hero. Croucher’s novel is witty, well-written, and heartfelt and will intrigue those looking for writerly heroines and friends-to-lovers romance between women." –– Library Journal Fun and genuinely funny, with lovely friendships and first-rate dialogue. Gwen and Art may not be in love, but I fell for them both' RAINBOW ROWELL, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of the SIMON SNOW Trilogy What I loved most about this book is the way that all the people around Emil Eddie had always loved to invent stories, lengthy plays for her siblings to perform and short dramatic tales of daring starring herself and Rose in the main roles, but it was in her early teens that she started to write what she thought of as proper stories—all of them written exclusively for the entertainment and delight of her best friend. She was relentlessly prolific; there was an entire trunk full of her work at the foot of her bed, a treasure trove of great loves and gruesome deaths that she would dip into regularly so that she could present Rose with a story as one might give a bouquet of flowers.Aah! But, enter one super enthusiastic 14-year-old Grace and one grumpy and unresponsive Aster and top it all off with hot (even hotter without his shirt, right Akia?!) single dad Captain Edwards, argh. Everything about this made me so happy. The storyline throughout is so cute and I sobbed a lot. But in classic Lex style, I was laughing throughout! All of the other characters, particularly everyone that worked in the house just hold such a special place in my heart and I could give each an essay on why I love them so. Eddie ignored her and took a seat next to her father; Rose sat down next to Simon, who solemnly offered her his hand to shake. Oh, Edith,” said Mrs. Miller, sounding tired but unsurprised. “You are a woman of two-and-twenty. Don’t you think you’re a little old for that sort of thing?” I'd been seeing Lex Croucher's books around for quite a while and had previously read and enjoyed Gwen & Art Are Not In Love, so when I had the opportunity to read Trouble (the blurb sounded right up my street!) I jumped at the chance.