10 Autistic Romance Books to Read for Autism Awareness Month

Disabled people deserve a happily ever after! But when we talk about disability representation in romance books, we don’t often get to see books that feature autistic people. Depending on the level of your support needs, autistic people are often infantilized or erased altogether.

And since this is Autism awareness month, and I am autistic (AuADHD ftw). I thought it was high time that I recommend some autistic romance books. Without furtherado here are 10 autistic romance books to add to your to your tbr!

1. Odd Blood by Azalea Crowley

2. Debate and Decadence by Sula Sullivan

3. Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert

In USA Today bestselling author Talia Hibbert’s newest rom-com, the flightiest Brown sister crashes into the life of an uptight B&B owner and has him falling hard—literally.

Eve Brown is a certified hot mess. No matter how hard she strives to do right, her life always goes horribly wrong—so she’s given up trying. But when her personal brand of chaos ruins an expensive wedding (someone had to liberate those poor doves), her parents draw the line. It’s time for Eve to grow up and prove herself—even though she’s not entirely sure how…

Jacob Wayne is in control. Always. The bed and breakfast owner’s on a mission to dominate the hospitality industry—and he expects nothing less than perfection. So when a purple-haired tornado of a woman turns up out of the blue to interview for his open chef position, he tells her the brutal truth: not a chance in hell. Then she hits him with her car—supposedly by accident. Yeah, right.

Now his arm is broken, his B&B is understaffed, and the dangerously unpredictable Eve is fluttering around, trying to help. Before long, she’s infiltrated his work, his kitchen—and his spare bedroom. Jacob hates everything about it. Or rather, he should. Sunny, chaotic Eve is his natural-born nemesis, but the longer these two enemies spend in close quarters, the more their animosity turns into something else. Like Eve, the heat between them is impossible to ignore—and it’s melting Jacob’s frosty exterior.

4. Their Troublesome Crush by Xan West

In this queer polyamorous m/f romance novella, two metamours realize they have crushes on each other while planning their shared partner’s birthday party together.

Ernest, a Jewish autistic demiromantic queer fat trans man submissive, and Nora, a Jewish disabled queer fat femme cis woman switch, have to contend with an age gap, a desire not to mess up their lovely polyamorous dynamic as metamours, the fact that Ernest has never been attracted to a cis person before, and the reality that they are romantically attracted to each other, all while planning their dominant’s birthday party and trying to do a really good job.

5. Thistlewood House By Robin Pine

LIVER

Thistlewood House is my life. I always knew I would return to my hometown of Willowburn to run the historic museum. It’s my safe place, where I always know what to expect. What took me by surprise was how the place never quite bounced back after the pandemic. Now it’s just as beautiful as it’s always been, but attendance is down and the former monastery is at risk of being forgotten. Until I find explicit sketches proving the long-rumoured clandestine relationship between the famous Friar Randall and the local physician. This is just what the museum needs to make a fresh splash. Now I just need the right art conservator to restore the sketches for display.

RYLAN

Oliver Wicklow was my dream man back in university. But I was scrawny and painfully shy then, so I never made a move. Since my dad’s accident, most days he doesn’t remember who I am, and I’ve been stressed and lonely in a way I never imagined. The care home is bleeding me dry, so when Oliver contacts me out of the blue to assist with an important restoration, I jump at the well-paying gig. But the blunt, resilient, enigmatic man I remember is even more alluring now. And with each day I descend deeper into his historic little world in the woods — and feel a strange sense of belonging with the other “Thistles” who work here — I risk getting so lost I won’t be able to find my way out again. And maybe… I won’t want to.

The Thistlewood House series explores the queer love found by the quirky staff of this crumbling old museum. In these interconnected standalone novellas, you’ll find a lot of hurt/comfort and a spectrum of relationships, with a focus on trans and nonbinary folks. This story is an MM romance featuring a trans hero. For readers 18+.

Content Warning: mention of secondary character in car accident, themes of caring for a parent with cognitive decline, mention of parental abandonment, mention of childhood autistic meltdown resulting in permanent injury, explicit sexual content.

6. Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner

A sapphic rivals to lovers rom-com for fans of Ted Lasso and A League of Their Own, where two soccer teammates are at odds before falling in love as their team gears up for the World Cup.

Grace Henderson has been a star of the US Women’s National Team for ten years, even though she’s only 26. But when she’s sidelined with an injury, a bold new upstart, Phoebe Matthews, takes her spot. 22-year-old Phoebe is everything Grace isn’t — a gregarious jokester who plays with a joy that Grace lost somewhere along the way. The last thing Grace expects is to become teammates with benefits with this class clown she sees as her rival.

Phoebe Matthews is too focused on her first season as a professional soccer player to think about seducing her longtime idol. But when Grace ends up making the first move, they can’t keep their hands off of each other.

As the World Cup approaches and Grace works her way back from injury, a miscommunication leaves the women with hilariously different perspectives on their relationship. But they’re on the same page on the field, realizing they can play together instead of vying for the same position. With every tackle the tension between them grows, and both players soon have to decide what’s more important — being together or making the roster.

The perfect blend of funny and steamy, Meryl Wilsner’s Cleat Cute is about being brave enough to win on and off the field.

7. Wildfire Griffin by Zoe Chant

8. Heart of Stone by Johannes T Evans

The year is 1764, and following a glowing recommendation from his last employer, Henry Coffey, vampire, takes on a new personal secretary: young Theophilus Essex.

The man is quite unlike any secretary—or any man, for that matter—that Henry has ever met.

Heart of Stone is a slowly unfolding period romance between a vampire and his inimitably devoted clerk: lushly depicted in flowing, lovingly appended prose, we follow the slow understanding these two men grasp of one another, and the cross of their two worlds into each other’s.

Henry Coffey, immortal and ever-oscillating between periods of delighted focus upon his current passion project, is charming, witty, and seems utterly incapable of closing his mouth for more than a few moments; in contrast, Theophilus Essex is quiet and keenly focused, adopting an ever-flat affect, but as time goes on, he relaxes in his employer’s presence.

Craving resounding intimacy but with an ever aware of the polite boundaries for their situation, Coffey and Essex perform a slow dance as they grow closer to one another, and find themselves entangled.

9. Being Wrong by R.A. Armstrong

When Charlie gets away from his drug dealing father and is sent to live with his grandparents, things aren’t suddenly okay. Charlie’s broken. He’s not sure he ever wasn’t broken. When things get unbearable, the only thing that helps Charlie feel grounded is music. What can he do when he runs out of batteries for his old Walkman?

At school crowds of people gather to watch Travis perform, but when he goes home his only company is his cat. He escaped his abusive parents, but now he lives with his older brother who is usually away working. Will the strange, quiet boy he finds sitting on his porch trying to listen in on his music put an end to his loneliness?

10. Boyfriend Goals by Riley Hart

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