June is Caribbean History Month! What better way to celebrate than to explore some romance novels set in the Caribbean by Caribbean authors! This list is only a mini cupcake in the greater buffet of romance, and these picks are primarily set in the islands themselves, though a couple of the ones I couldn’t resist including feature characters traveling for work or vacation. These selections include people from across the region, with different traditions born from different colonizing, enslaving, and indigenous cultures past and present. We’ve got contemporary romance and historical fiction, and if you would rather read something fantastical but inspired by various Caribbean cultures and places, I’ve got a few recommendations for you at the end.
Once you’ve explored these books, make sure to further explore the reality and kaleidoscopic experiences of the people who live across the Caribbean, which extends beyond the four or five islands we as Americans think to visit via cruise stops, all-inclusive resorts, and Carnival vacations. Grab a map and point to one of the islands you see; have you heard of it? Did you know that’s where it was? How big it is? What is the majority demographic of that island? Its gross national income? What work did the enslaved people brought there do? Who is wealthy there, and who is not? What indigenous population was there before the Europeans? Are they still there?
…My bad. Got a little carried away there. Sorry Not Sorry. But here are some kissing books for you.
Sweethand by NG Peltier
What better way to settle yourself into the island breeze than the first in a trilogy of queer romances set in Trinidad? Cherisse and Keiran have always butted heads, but now they have to play nice as the best man and maid of honor at the wedding of their closest mutual friends. If you’re looking for a romance that will have our enemies falling into bed long before they come to grips with their feelings…this one might not be for you. But all the yearning is definitely worth the payoff.
Compromised into a Scandalous Marriage by Lydia San Andres
If you want to explore a Caribbean historical vibe, you can’t miss with Lydia San Andres. Her books are set in the early 20th Century and feature characters of varying backgrounds falling in love. Compromised is the first in a series she wrote for Harlequin Historicals, which features two people with plenty of chemistry forced to marry by a bad actor. It’s a sharp, page-turning dive into the lives of two people with very different lived experiences who come to appreciate and love one another, and is a great jumping off point into the rest of Lydia’s work (including her first contemporary, which came out earlier this year).
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Every Dark Desire by Fiona Zedde
Fiona Zedde has been a powerhouse of Black sapphic literature for over 20 years, and we celebrated the 20th anniversary of Bliss, one of her most monumental works, last year. Every Dark Desire is one of the ones she’s written that is set in Jamaica, and y’all! Legit Jamaican vampires!
There are so many other Caribbean authors and authors with Caribbean heritage that could be on this list. AH Cunningham. Adriana Herrera. Tember Sapphire. So many of their books highlight interesting, well-built out characters and their friends and families with Caribbean heritage, even if they don’t live in or visit their respective islands. As I mentioned before, there are also authors building excellent fantasy worlds inspired by their homelands or those of their ancestry—Kamilah Cole’s YA duology that starts with So Let Them Burn is inspired in several different ways by her Jamaican heritage, and Jaclyn Rodriguez’s A Vow In Vengeance literally has the island of Puerto Rico on its map (even if it’s called the Isle of Riches). Ligia N. Cushman has multiple universes with hints of Dominican tradition and folklore.
While there are other Caribbean romance authors, there still aren’t as many as we’d love to see. Hopefully that will continue to change, and we’ll keep getting more and more representation from all over the globe, particularly the Global South.
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