M/M romance is romance fiction about two men falling in love. Like every romance, it makes one non-negotiable promise: the relationship ends happily — happily ever after (HEA) or at least happy for now (HFN). Everything else — setting, heat, tone, sub-genre — is up for grabs.

A short history

The genre's roots run through slash fan fiction, which since the 1970s has paired male characters from television and books in romantic stories. In the 2000s, digital-first small presses and e-readers turned that readership into a market: publishers such as Dreamspinner Press, Riptide Publishing, Less Than Three Press, Torquere and Samhain built catalogues of M/M romance in every sub-genre, and self-publishing on Kindle multiplied it. In the 2010s and 2020s mainstream publishers caught up, with books like Casey McQuiston's Red, White & Royal Blue and Alexis Hall's Boyfriend Material reaching bestseller lists.

M/M romance vs gay fiction

The distinction is about genre promise, not about who writes or reads the books. Gay fiction can end in tragedy, focus on family or career, or treat romance as a subplot. M/M romance puts the love story at the centre and guarantees the happy ending. Both are on this site: see gay fiction and M/M romance.

Sub-genres

  • Contemporary — modern-day settings: hockey players, small towns, office rivals.
  • Historical — Regency and Victorian England are favourites, where the danger of exposure raises the stakes.
  • Paranormal — shifters, vampires, demons and fated mates.
  • Fantasy and sci-fi — invented worlds where queerness can be unremarkable.
  • Romantic suspense — bodyguards, detectives, assassins and plenty of danger.
  • Steampunk — airship captains, inventors and gentleman thieves.

The tropes readers love

M/M romance uses the same tropes as all romance — with a few that are especially popular, like coming out, friends to lovers and found family.

Heat levels

M/M romance spans the full range, from closed-door sweet romance to explicit erotic romance. Most retailers and review sites flag the heat level; our guide to romance heat levels explains the usual scale.

Most-read M/M romance

Award winners

The Lambda Literary Awards have honoured LGBTQ+ romance for decades, and the RITA Awards occasionally recognised queer romances before they ended in 2019.