Fans pick 82 books like Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake

By Alexis Hall,

Here are 82 books that Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake fans have personally recommended if you like Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Book cover of Carry On

Terry Bartley Author Of Tyranny of the Fey

From my list on casually queer sci-fi fantasy.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always been a big fan of sci-fi and fantasy, especially anything involving superheroes or D&D-style adventure. For the longest time, I had to find queer representation through subtle glances and creative readings of characters. I loved these stories for the sci-fi and fantasy elements, but it was frustrating that every love story that came up was straight. It didn’t feel possible for queer love to be a part of a plot, and even when there was a queer character it had a “very special episode” vibe to it. Finally, queer characters are becoming part of the story, and it doesn’t have to be a “big deal.”

Terry's book list on casually queer sci-fi fantasy

Terry Bartley Why did Terry love this book?

It took me months to pick up Carry On after it initially caught my eye on the bookshelf. It was everything I could have wanted.

It is a less problematic Harry Potter, if Harry and Draco ended up getting together. It shows a really authentic representation of unrequited queer love and recognizing one’s own queer identity. It is character-driven, but also full of fun magic adventure. I love a book that knows how to give you exactly what you want.

By Rainbow Rowell,

Why should I read it?

9 authors picked Carry On as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 13, 14, 15, and 16.

What is this book about?

#1 New York Times best seller!
Booklist Editors’ Choice 2015 - Youth!
Named a "Best Book of 2015" by Time Magazine, School Library Journal, Barnes & Noble, NPR, PopSugar, The Millions, and The News & Observer!

Simon Snow is the worst Chosen One who's ever been chosen.

That's what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he's probably right.

Half the time, Simon can't even make his wand work, and the other half, he starts something on fire. His mentor's avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there's…


Book cover of Take a Hint, Dani Brown

Katherine E. Webb Author Of Champagne Kisses: A Curvy Romance

From my list on romance where the plus-sized heroine gets her man.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a plus-sized woman of color, and I feel women like me are woefully underrepresented in romance books. Too many times, I read a book claiming to feature a “curvy heroine”, only to find she’s a size 6, or just wears baggy clothes. Even worse, some novels make plus-sized female leads lose weight before they get their happily ever after! There are great books out there that show love comes at any size and they deserve to be showcased.

Katherine's book list on romance where the plus-sized heroine gets her man

Katherine E. Webb Why did Katherine love this book?

Talia Hibbert’s characters have so much depth; this book is no exception. I saw myself in the curvy lead, Dani Brown, as she’s always looking for signs to lead her in the right direction.

It was great to see her warm relationship with her sisters, even though they are all so different. But I absolutely loved seeing her flirtatious friendship turned fake relationship with former rugby player Zafir Ansari grow into true love. Plus, the spice was top-notch!

By Talia Hibbert,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked Take a Hint, Dani Brown as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Talia Hibbert is a rockstar! Her writing is smart, funny, and sexy' Meg Cabot

'The author's charm and wit sings off the page in this delightful fake-romance fare' Bolu Babalola, bestselling author of Love in Colour

USA Today bestselling author Talia Hibbert returns with another charming romantic comedy about a young woman who agrees to fake date her friend after a video of him 'rescuing' her from their office building goes viral - perfect for fans of Sally Thorne, Jasmine Guillory and Helen Hoang!

Danika Brown knows what she wants: professional success, academic renown and an occasional roll in the…


Book cover of Sunstone Volume 1

Lin Lustig Author Of Gilded Lies

From my list on with bisexual romance.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a geeky nerd who loves Disney villains and escaping reality while also supporting a slice of the world that means a lot to me. Bi-erasure sucks and the perpetuated stereotypes aren’t helping. So, I tell better bisexual stories. One magical thing about being an author is exploring healthy ways of presenting messy, complicated, and loving relationships with realistic bisexual characters—especially men. Heck, I have a world where the assumed sexuality is always bi. I don’t want to be erased, so I’m leaving a mark behind and, now as a bestselling author, I think I’m getting through for us all—but I’m not the only one. Enjoy the other amazing authors on this list. I certainly have!

Lin's book list on with bisexual romance

Lin Lustig Why did Lin love this book?

I feel like it’s cheating to recommend a graphic novel, but don’t be fooled by the labels. This BDSM erotica is one of the sweetest, silliest, and most heartwarming stories I’ve had the pleasure of stumbling across. The story behind Sunstone’s creation brings me incredible joy: Stjepan was burned out hard, he’d run out of wick on the candle he’d burned at both ends and worried he might never create again. But, as an artist, Stjepan loved drawing beautiful—and kinky—outfits. This sparked into a story he was passionate about, one that he posted for free on DeviantArt to the masses. A common comment from the original posting? "I'm not into BDSM...but this story...I get it." These main characters will win your heart, and possibly awaken things you aren’t expecting.

By Stjepan Sejic,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Sunstone Volume 1 as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Two women deal with modern themes of sex, relationships, and fetishism in this erotic romantic comedy. So beware all who enter, because, to quote a few hundred thousand readers on DeviantArt: "I'm not into BDSM...but this story...I get it."


Book cover of Red, White & Royal Blue

Terry Newman Author Of Hearts on the Rocks

From my list on fake-relationship themed books.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am, first and foremost, an avid reader. And romance, especially romantic comedy, is my go-to choice. And if that romantic comedy has a fake-dating theme…YAY! It was only natural that I write that theme. I believe that life throws you love at the most unexpected times and unexpected places. I love writing character-driven stories, and what better way to have them show off their true selves than by pretending to be in a relationship with a stranger? 

Terry's book list on fake-relationship themed books

Terry Newman Why did Terry love this book?

I loved that this book’s inciting incident is the toppling of a many-tiered wedding cake of a British royal couple. The cause? The immature tussling of a prince and the U.S. president’s son? (Adults, mind you. They’re adults) And because of that, they have to pretend to be friends, pals, buddies.

And as with most fake-relationship-themed books, the fake friendship soon turns into real love. Even though both Alex and Henry are outrageously advantaged individuals, I saw them as people—people in love—and not as a representation of their class.

Perhaps the thing I love most about McQuiston’s writing is the idealism and hopefulness she brings to the story. The obstacles Alex and Henry must overcome are literally international and yet, she can boil their love down to the simplest of gestures—and make it seem realistic.

By Casey McQuiston,

Why should I read it?

11 authors picked Red, White & Royal Blue as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

* Instant NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY bestseller *
* GOODREADS CHOICE AWARD WINNER for BEST DEBUT and BEST ROMANCE of 2019 *
* BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR* for VOGUE, NPR, VANITY FAIR, and more! *

What happens when America's First Son falls in love with the Prince of Wales?

When his mother became President, Alex Claremont-Diaz was promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. Handsome, charismatic, genius--his image is pure millennial-marketing gold for the White House. There's only one problem: Alex has a beef with the actual prince, Henry, across the pond. And when…


Book cover of Tempest

Bethany Bennett Author Of Dukes Do It Better

From my list on single parent romances that bang.

Why am I passionate about this?

I spent a decade as a single mom, so stories featuring solo parent protagonists make my book antennae perk up. A happy ever after is a must for a relaxing read, and I prefer stories that don’t slam the door in your face when things heat up between the couple. So much character work can happen between the sheets—especially when you’re dealing with people who have been hurt by love before. While there are closed-door or chaste romances out there that feature single parents, those are less likely to end up in my TBR, and thus less likely for me to push them into your hands.

Bethany's book list on single parent romances that bang

Bethany Bennett Why did Bethany love this book?

There’s a reason those in Romancelandia call Beverly Jenkins Ms. Bev. The woman is a queen. Jenkins is a trailblazer in the genre and writes unforgettable historical romances. So many historicals take place in England (mine included), but she prefers an American setting. Catnip tropes in this one include a mail-order bride and a single dad. The heroine makes you care about her personal love story while upending the usual power dynamic. Ms. Bev will always make the path to the happy ever after worth it.

By Beverly Jenkins,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Tempest as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

What kind of mail-order bride greets her intended with a bullet instead of a kiss? One like Regan Carmichael-an independent spirit equally at home in denims and dresses. Shooting Dr. Colton Lee in the shoulder is an honest error, but soon Regan wonders if her entire plan to marry a man she's never met is a mistake. Colton, who buried his heart along with his first wife, insists he only wants someone to care for his daughter. Yet Regan is drawn to the unmistakable desire in his gaze.


Regan's far from the docile bride Colton was expecting. Still, few women…


Book cover of Rafe

Gia De Cadenet Author Of Not the Plan

From my list on helping romance lovers remember who they are.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a long-time expat in France, a creative and a Black woman, I get othered and rejected a lot. I’ve had to learn how to own my story – of starting over, of building something from nothing, of remembering where I’ve been, and reminding myself of where I’m going. I had to learn to reject the labels that others want to put on me and draft my own personal hype mantra then embellish it with a little bombshell sparkle. The books I’ve chosen are meant to entertain while giving you the chance to remind yourself of who you are and who you can choose to be.  

Gia's book list on helping romance lovers remember who they are

Gia De Cadenet Why did Gia love this book?

Sometimes you just gotta move far away and start all over.

That’s what Karim, my male lead does in my book, and what Dr. Sloan, the female lead does in Rafe. Neither is looking for love, but as luck would have it…

What I loved about Rafe was the reversal of a common trope – male nanny hired by well-to-do single mother. A bearded, muscular, tattooed nanny who cooks and can fold a fitted sheet? Sign me up!

This book is a fun, spicy ride and poses the question, “why not?” Why can’t a woman killing it in her field come home to a man taking care of the home front, ready to meet all of her needs?

By Rebekah Weatherspoon,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Rafe as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

All Dr. Sloan Copeland needed was someone to watch her kids. What she found was the man of her dreams…After a nasty divorce and a thousand mile move, Dr. Sloan Copeland and her twin daughters are finally getting the hang of their new life in Los Angeles. When their live-in nanny bails with no warning, Sloan is left scrambling to find a competent caretaker to wrangle her smart, sensitive girls. Nothing less will do.Enter Rafe Whitcomb. He's all of those things, not to mention good-natured and one heck of a whiz in the kitchen. He's also tall, and handsome, and…


Book cover of Sustained

Bethany Bennett Author Of Dukes Do It Better

From my list on single parent romances that bang.

Why am I passionate about this?

I spent a decade as a single mom, so stories featuring solo parent protagonists make my book antennae perk up. A happy ever after is a must for a relaxing read, and I prefer stories that don’t slam the door in your face when things heat up between the couple. So much character work can happen between the sheets—especially when you’re dealing with people who have been hurt by love before. While there are closed-door or chaste romances out there that feature single parents, those are less likely to end up in my TBR, and thus less likely for me to push them into your hands.

Bethany's book list on single parent romances that bang

Bethany Bennett Why did Bethany love this book?

I’ll be honest, I didn’t like Jake at first. But, trusting the author to make it all worthwhile, I hung in there, anticipating watching the hero fall flat on his face. It was worth the wait. Chelsea has custody of her nieces and nephews—six of them—and Jake is a lawyer who undergoes a massive transformation from Dude Bro to Father Figure.

By Emma Chase,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Sustained as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A knight in tarnished armour is still a knight.

When you're a defence attorney in Washington D.C., you see first-hand how hard life can be and that sometimes the only way to survive is to be harder. I have a reputation for being cold, callous, intimidating - and that suits me just fine. In fact, it's necessary when I'm breaking down a witness on the stand.

Complications don't work for me - I'm a "need-to-know" type of man. If you're my client, tell me the basic facts. If you're my date, stick to what will get you off. I'm not…


Book cover of Forever and a Day

Bethany Bennett Author Of Dukes Do It Better

From my list on single parent romances that bang.

Why am I passionate about this?

I spent a decade as a single mom, so stories featuring solo parent protagonists make my book antennae perk up. A happy ever after is a must for a relaxing read, and I prefer stories that don’t slam the door in your face when things heat up between the couple. So much character work can happen between the sheets—especially when you’re dealing with people who have been hurt by love before. While there are closed-door or chaste romances out there that feature single parents, those are less likely to end up in my TBR, and thus less likely for me to push them into your hands.

Bethany's book list on single parent romances that bang

Bethany Bennett Why did Bethany love this book?

This one is part of her Lucky Harbor series, which takes place in a fictional small town. Shalvis has a loyal following of readers who love the small town trope, where everyone knows everyone else’s business, and half the residents are related to each other. If you like interconnected books that read as standalones, give it a try and see if you like her particular flavor of Americana! Forever and a Day focuses on a doctor and a woman rebuilding her life after losing everything.

By Jill Shalvis,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Forever and a Day as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Grace had a great life in New York, until it shattered. Finding out at age 30 that you're adopted will do that to a person. With everything she once believed in yanked out from beneath her feet, Grace travels across the country to find herself. She goes looking for roots, but what she finds is much, much more. Some of that comes in the form of Dr. Josh Scott, an ER doc working nights. He's tough and jaded when Grace first shows up at his place looking for his employee - whom she believes is her birth mother. But she's…


Book cover of Catharsis

Christian Pan Author Of The Best Bi Erotica of the Year: Volume 1

From my list on exploring bisexual identity and experience.

Why am I passionate about this?

I came out as bisexual way back in 1991, and experienced a lot of discrimination, hostility, and ridicule from both the gay and straight communities. Finding stories about me and my own experience has always been vital, to help me explore and understand more about myself and how I “fit in” in a world that seems to be so locked into an either/or framework. True, I have witnessed a number of positive changes for bi+ folks in the decades since I came out, but there's still a long way to go in terms of visibility, acceptance, and understanding.

Christian's book list on exploring bisexual identity and experience

Christian Pan Why did Christian love this book?

Dierdre Winter is one of my favorite independent writers of bisexual erotic literature. Like all of her novellas and short stories, this book takes its time introducing its characters, allowing the reader to get inside their heads.

For all of its highly charged erotic scenes, the book is about communication within a marriage, being honest with your partner about what you desire, and also about trust. Instead of just delivering some quick “word porn,” Winter takes her time to engage all of my senses, particularly my brain.

By Dierdre Winter,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Catharsis as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"He looked at me like I was the greatest thing to ever happen to him, like I was a genie he’d finally unleashed from its lamp after years of struggle and hope, like I was a goddess descended from on high, and he couldn’t believe I’d lowered myself to such an extent that I deigned to walk among the mortals. I felt power, an almost uncomfortable level of power, like I could have asked him for anything in the world, at that moment, and he would have jumped up to make it happen. But that’s not what I wanted, not…


Book cover of The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon

Trebor Healey Author Of A Horse Named Sorrow

From my list on erotic themes that are imaginative and insightful.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been writing stories and poems with erotic themes since I first entered the spoken word scene in 1980s San Francisco. As a young queer boy, raised in the highly eroticized Catholic Church, I was actually comfortable talking about and writing about sex and eros as I’d been stigmatized by it, and it got me fascinated with what the big deal was and why writers were afraid to approach it or why they did so in a corny/predictable/idealized and/or often dishonest and clumsy way. Soon I was teaching erotic writing and have been integrating it into my writing in honest, fresh, and enlivening ways—and helping others do soever since.

Trebor's book list on erotic themes that are imaginative and insightful

Trebor Healey Why did Trebor love this book?

This book is probably the single most praised underground gay novel of my generation, and deservedly so. It’s so many things—beautiful writing, an old west setting in all its ugliness and adventure and hope, and a highly original narrative voice in the bisexual native orphan, Shed, who is being raised in a bordello. All the characters are well-drawn and as odd as the narrator, and the erotic journey, if I can call it that, is one of the most original, thought-provoking, and beautiful expressions of the possibilities of queer I’ve ever encountered. Spanbauer has helped me to write more skillfully about class and race and sexuality and how they are everywhere and how they can warpand sometimes, oftentimesset people free. 

By Tom Spanbauer,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The cult gay classic of the early 1990s, reissued to mark the year of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots

Between nights, earning his keep at Excellent, Idaho's outrageously pink whorehouse, Shed or, Duivichi-un-Dua - lives a life of drinking, talking and smoking opium stardust with his eccentric family. But soon, he will leave this tiny turn-of-the-century town in search of the true meaning of his Shoshone name - and in search of himself.

Along the way Shed will fall in love with the philosophical, green-eyed, half-crazy cowboy Dellwood Barker, a man who talks to the moon, on a…


Book cover of Carry On
Book cover of Take a Hint, Dani Brown
Book cover of Sunstone Volume 1

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,588

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in bisexuality, Europe, and friendships?

Bisexuality 44 books
Europe 959 books
Friendships 1,518 books