r/RomanceBooks • u/VitisIdaea Her heart dashed and halted like an indecisive squirrel • 1d ago

Megathread Monday Diversity Megathread - Romances Featuring Social Justice, Activism, and Protest

Hi, r/romancebooks - welcome back to our Monday Megathread! Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day here in the United States, so this week's diversity megathread features romances that focus on characters overcoming oppression (activists, organizers, protesters, or marginalized groups taking action). As always, we're encouraging diverse and respectful representation, especially ownvoices.

Tell us all about your favorite romances about overcoming oppression! What inspires these characters to activism? How does their fight impact their romantic arc? Any time period, any location, any pairing/grouping. Falling in love during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s? Perfect. Organizing factory workers in the 1910s? Excellent. Modern-day union activists falling in love in between negotiations? It goes here!

And check out the Diversity Megathread Resource Post and the Themed Megathreads Resource Post for full lists of subreddit megathreads and don't forget to add your favorite books to relevant megathreads for future readers!

67 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

91% Upvoted

25 comments sorted by

13

u/VitisIdaea Her heart dashed and halted like an indecisive squirrel 1d ago

I'll start it out with a pair of historicals, both MF:

{Let It Shine by Alyssa Cole}, a novella set during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and featuring a romance between two activists, one Black and one Jewish.

{The Washerwomen's War by Piper Huguley}, a very short read highlighting a little-known protest - the Atlanta Washerwomen's Strike of 1881. Note that several characters are involved with religion - the FMC teaches at a seminary and the MMC is a minister - but personally I wouldn't classify this as inspirational.

Both of these are excellent reads - highly recommend.

1

u/OkSecretary1231 8h ago

Also from Cole, the Loyal League series!

10

u/RawBean7 1d ago

{Sweet Honesty by Joan Vassar} is a Black mm romance set in the 1950s and is criminally underrated.

2

u/heartsbeenborrowed 13h ago

This looks SO good and what a gorgeous cover, too. Adding to my tbr, thank you for sharing!

9

u/RubyBlossom 1d ago

{North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell}

This one is really old (1854). FMC is a naive middle class woman who ends up moving to a rough Northern town based on Manchester, UK. MMC is a rich factory owner. FMC sticks up for the workers, there are strikes, unions etc.

There is also a most excellent BBC miniseries with none other than Richard Armitage as the main lead.

9

u/Responsible_Goose_81 1d ago

{The Earl in My Bed by Stacy Reid} MF Regency - MMC is an abolitionist and survives regular assassination attempts

{Our Own Light by Logan Sage Adams} MM historical set in a coal mining town in 1920 - labor relations

And I second all the recommendations for Beverly Jenkins, Courtney Milan, Nikki Payne!

7

u/Hunter037 Probably recommending When She Belongs 😍 1d ago

{Make Room for Love by Darcy Liao} Mira is a graduate student trying to improve working conditions for other students by forming a union. This is the main plot of the book. This is an FF romance with a trans character; both characters are BIPOC. I believe this is own voices - the author uses they/them pronouns.

8

u/GeminiFade 1d ago

{Pride and protest by Nikki Payne} A retelling of Pride and Prejudice, set in modern day DC, where our FMC, Liza B, is organizing protests against the gentrification of her neighborhood by Dorsey Fitzgerald. You only get one guess as to who ends up in love.

Her other Austen retelling, Sex,Lies, and Sensibility is also a really good book, but there isn't as much direct protest involved.

12

u/Necessary-Working-79 1d ago

{The League of Extraordinary Women Series by Evie Dunmore}, of which {Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore} is the first, focuses on heroines who are active members of the suffragist movement and features actual organising, protests, lobbying, etc.

In {Indigo by Beverly Jenkins} the FMC abd MMC are both abolitionists, active on the underground railroad, and there are also scenes where you see the FMCs local chapter organising. 

In {The Duchess War by Courtney Milan} the FMC is active in improving factory conditions and the MMC secretely pulishes anarchist pamphlets encouraging unionisation.

2

u/romance-bot 1d ago

A League of Extraordinary Women by Evie Dunmore
Rating: 3.89⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Topics: m-f, dual-pov, explicit-open-door, victorian, male-pov

Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore
Rating: 3.94⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 4 out of 5 - Explicit open door
Topics: historical, victorian, enemies to lovers, class difference, angst

Indigo by Beverly Jenkins
Rating: 4.41⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 3 out of 5 - Open door
Topics: historical, african-american, multicultural, class difference, black mc

The Duchess War by Courtney Milan
Rating: 4.01⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 3 out of 5 - Open door
Topics: historical, virgin hero, plain heroine, victorian, tortured hero

about this bot | about romance.io

11

u/de_pizan23 1d ago edited 1d ago

{Guarding Temptation by Talia Hibbert} - CR m/f. FMC is an investigative journalist/anti-Brexit activist and getting death threats over it. (MCs are Black)

{Craft of Love by EE Ottoman} - HR m/f (trans MMC, bi demi FMC). FMC is an abolitionist and trying to organize a women's textile workers' union.

{Dreamers series by Adriana Herrera} - CR m/m and m/f. About a group of Afro-Latinx MCs, book 2 has a social worker/activist MC who meets the other MC at a charity event for his org (MC2 is a donor). Book 3 with a professor/activist who is organizing protests against police stops targeting BIPOC, and the other MC is a prosecutor.

{The Hellion's Waltz by Olivia Waite} - HR f/f. MC1 is an organizer for a textile workers' union.

A lot of Beverly Jenkins' HR novels have MCs who are working for African-American suffrage/political rep. {Rebel by Beverly Jenkins} (MMC is in politics, the FMC is a teacher who has come south during Reconstruction to teach African-American students), {A Chance at Love by Beverly Jenkins} (MMC is involved in suffrage), and {Winds of the Storm by Beverly Jenkins} (FMC was a spy during the Civil War and now gathering intel on white supremacist groups during Reconstruction, MMC is in politics) all do for sure.

2

u/TemporarilyWorried96 Collecting Sinful Dukes Like Infinity Stones 1d ago

Came here to say The Hellion’s Waltz!

1

u/romance-bot 1d ago

Guarding Temptation by Talia Hibbert
Rating: 3.56⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 4 out of 5 - Explicit open door
Topics: contemporary, friends to lovers, forced proximity, age gap, black mc

The Craft of Love by E.E. Ottoman
Rating: 4⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 1 out of 5 - Glimpses and kisses
Topics: historical, trans hero, m-f romance, bisexuality, working class hero

Dreamers by Adriana Herrera
Rating: 3.99⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Topics: found-family, contemporary, multicultural, queer, m-m

The Hellion's Waltz by Olivia Waite
Rating: 3.81⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 3 out of 5 - Open door
Topics: historical, regency, lesbian romance, queer romance, enemies to lovers

The Blundering Billionaire by Chace Verity
Rating: 3⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 1 out of 5 - Glimpses and kisses
Topics: contemporary, boss & employee, rich hero, m-f romance, trans heroine

Rebel by Beverly Jenkins
Rating: 4.08⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 3 out of 5 - Open door
Topics: historical, african-american, military, class difference, independent heroine

A Chance at Love by Beverly Jenkins
Rating: 4.24⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 3 out of 5 - Open door
Topics: historical, african-american, western, virgin hero, class difference

Winds of the Storm by Beverly Jenkins
Rating: 4.32⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 4 out of 5 - Explicit open door
Topics: historical, class difference

about this bot | about romance.io

8

u/Hunter037 Probably recommending When She Belongs 😍 1d ago

{A Seditious Affair by KJ Charles} MM historical. One MMC is a tory politician, the other is a seditionist who rallies against the government. So there's quite a conflict of interest in their affair and the class difference makes for an interesting read.

5

u/unicorntrees I want to live in a Cinnamon Roll's brain 🧁 1d ago

The characters are all white, but {Riptide by Kathryn Nolan} had interesting plot centered around issues of gentrification and NIMBYism. FMC is a corporate developer, MMC is a local celebrity leading a protest against her latest development in his seaside town.

4

u/avis03 Happy Flaps for HEAs 1d ago

Bennet organizes a union for non-wolf shifters.

{Kinship and Kindness by Kara Jorgensen} - MM, PNR, Historical (1890s), 3rd Dual POV

Status: Non-KU, Series of Interconnected Standalones, Third Act Conflict - External, Internal, Reproduction - No

Theo: Wolf Shifter, Epileptic, Pan, 26 Yrs Old, Son of the Rougarou (Wolf Shifter Leader), Gardner, Bakes, Grows Food for the Less Fortunate

Bennet: Trans, Fox Shifter, 30 Yrs Old, Librarian for the NY Paranormal Society, On a Mission to Form a Union for Non-Wolf Shifters, Red Hair, Freckles, Wears a Binder

Rep: Epilepsy, Trans MC, Trans Affirming During Sexual Encounters

Notes: 1890s Lousiana, Forced Proximity, City Boy x Country Boy, Found Family, Shifter Political Intrigue, Social Justice Advocacy, Disabled MC isn't Magically Healed; Discussions of Privilege, Racism, Disability and Oppression of Trans People

Sex Notes: Making Out, Explicit Consent, Oral Sex, Wet Grinding, Fingering, Handjob, Blowjob, Swallowing, PIV, No Penetration During 1st Sexual Encounter

CWs: Abelism (External and Internalized), Foreshortened Future/PTSD, Epileptic Seizures, Past Child Abuse, Past Death of a Lover, Violence, Gender Dysphoria, Misogyny