Friday Five: Free Fiction

I know, the alliteration is cheesy, but I couldn’t help myself.

It’s Friday, which means the weekend is almost upon us! And since everyone loves free things, I wanted to recommend five of my favorite novel-length romances… all 100% free to read online! So if you’re not sure what to do with your weekend, give one of these recs a try; you may end up getting so hooked that you’ll forget to do laundry and run errands, but you won’t regret it!

In no particular order…

More Than You Know, by ColdCoffeeEyes25: She’s an incognito pop star trying to break away from her white-supremacist family while fighting off paparazzi, homesickness and forbidden romantic feelings that could sever her family ties once and for all. This novel is absolutely beautiful! Pop star Liberty was raised by a prominent white-supremacist family, but has finally left her childhood home to go to college and study music. There, she meets Max, whose dark skin is almost as forbidden as the sexual relationship she offers. Liberty slowly grows into her own person with her own opinions as the relationship blooms between her and Max.

Shadow of the Templar, by M Chandler: Simon Drake is an up-and-coming young FBI hotshot, an agent with a personal track record so outstanding that it borders on unbelievable. Jeremy Archer is the brilliant and unpredictable scion of a long line of international art thieves, and one of the most infamous criminals in the world. This is a classic, although I’m surprised by how many people haven’t heard of it. Simon is snarky and rude, but the best at what he does, and he has an amazing team backing him up at the FBI. But when he ends up having to work with Jeremy Archer– sarcastic but brilliant– to stop a dangerous criminal, sparks start to fly. Simon plays by the rules, and Jeremy doesn’t even know what rules are! (Short version: like the gay version of White Collar, but with more profanity.)

The Girl for Me, by failte200:
Straight jockboy Kevin thinks he has gay, cross-dressing Danny under his thumb. Kevin only likes girls. So… why does he keep thinking about her? Or him. Whatever. (Warning for dubcon.) Kevin is kind of an idiot, but he’s amazing at reading people and knowing if they’re genuine or phony. When he first sees Danny at a party in drag (going by Dani), Kevin isn’t sure what to think; his instincts tell him that Dani is genuine, and a beautiful woman, but his mind tells him that it’s just a guy in a dress. But Kevin isn’t as dumb as he looks, and he quickly learns to accept Dani for who she is. Some of the plot is a bit over-the-top, but Kevin’s progress from dumb, lazy jock to caring boyfriend is actually really great.

Close Protection, by Cordelia Kingsbridge aka ckingsbridge: After three consecutive expulsions for sexual misconduct, Luca D’Amato has no choice but to return to America. Jacob Ryder is the man charged with protecting him from his family’s many enemies – but who will protect Ryder from Luca? This story is hot, hot, HOT. Luca is wealthy, spoiled, and attractive, all of which help his craving for sexual relationships. Ryder is Luca’s bodyguard, openly gay, and is the first person Luca’s met who won’t respond to his advances. Luca wants what he can’t have, but Ryder isn’t willing to give in to his own attraction. The relationship here is stunning; Luca is smart and calculating, but also fragile, and Ryder is struggling to protect Luca from attacks on his life while trying to maintain a professional relationship.

Chaos Life, by A. Stiffler & K. Copeland: ChaosLife is a semi-autobiographical comic, focusing on a queer relationship between A. Stiffler and K. Copeland, who create the comic! It also delves into politics, GSM issues, mental health, pop culture, cats and other randomness. While technically not fiction, I’m still including it on this list because it’s a really great (and funny) look into the creators’ relationship. It’s also been running for almost four years, so I think it qualifies as ‘novel-length’ by comic standards! Stiffler and Copeland are a married couple, and are super geeky and hilarious. My favorite comics are about their ridiculous cats, but they also talk about being agender, weird animals who are not their cats, and Batman’s beauty regime (which is actually the comic that first brought me to their site). Start from the beginning and read them all, I highly recommend it!

There are hundreds more free stories out there, and some are extremely well known, but I’d love to know if anyone else has recommendations! All images are (c) their respective authors/artists.