Books like 'When Skies Have Fallen'

Readers who enjoyed When Skies Have Fallen by Debbie McGowan also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.

historical  gay romance  20th century  military  queer

  • Twist and Shout by Gabriel (AO3), Standbyme

    Twist and Shout by Gabriel (AO3), Standbyme

    Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars
    · 25 ratings
    Destiel FanficWhat begins as a transforming love between Dean Winchester and Castiel Novak in the summer of 1965 quickly derails into something far more tumultuous when Dean is drafted in the Vietnam War. Though the two both voice their relationship is one where saying goodbye is never a real truth, their story becomes fraught with the tragedy of circumstance...
  • Into Deep Waters by Kaje Harper

    Into Deep Waters by Kaje Harper

    Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars
    · 28 ratings
    For Jacob and Daniel, two young gay men aboard a Navy ship in WWII, the risks were high. Not just the risks of injury and death from Japanese planes and submarines, but the risk of discovery, of discharge, imprisonment or worse. Only a special kind of love was worth taking that chance. But from the moment Daniel met Jacob's eyes across a battle-scarred deck, he knew he had to try...
  • Sponsored links
  • Maurice by E.M. Forster

    Maurice by E.M. Forster

    Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 2 of 5
    Behind closed doors [?] · 59 ratings
    Written in 1914 by the Nobel Prize–nominated author of Howard’s End, this intimate portrait of homosexual desire “seems as relevant as ever” (The Guardian).   From early adolescence to his college years at Cambridge and into professional life at his father’s firm, Maurice Hall plays the part of the conventional Englishman...
  • The Death of Friends by Michael Nava

    The Death of Friends by Michael Nava

    Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars
    · 13 ratings
    Winner of six Lambda Literary awards, the Henry Rios mystery series is iconic. Originally published during the darkest years of the AIDS epidemic in the gay community, The Death of Friends received extraordinary praise both as a mystery and an eloquent work of witness...
  • Chain Reaction by Nicole Edwards

    Chain Reaction by Nicole Edwards

    Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    From New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Nicole Edwards comes the tenth installment in her Brantley Off the Books series.During the two years since they created the Off the Books Task Force, Brantley Walker and Reese Tavoularis have had their share of difficult cases, but their next one hits close to home. Too close...
  • Eryx: A Spartan Tale by Jaclyn Osborn

    Eryx: A Spartan Tale by Jaclyn Osborn

    Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    My father once told me, above all else... Live and die for Sparta. Honor. Loyalty. Duty. These were the things that mattered most. And then Axios came into my life, teaching me other lessons: humility, brotherhood... love. There were moments when the brutal training stripped me of my humanity, where it turned me into a mindless beast of flesh and muscle set to destroy everything in my way...
  • Rough Pages by Lev A.C. Rosen

    Rough Pages by Lev A.C. Rosen

    Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Private Detective Evander "Andy" Mills has been drawn back to the Lavender House estate for a missing person case. Pat, the family butler, has been volunteering for a book service, one that specializes in mailing queer books to a carefully guarded list of subscribers...
    Categorized as:
    queer  mystery  historical  m-m  length-medium
  • A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale

    A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale

    Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars
    · 33 ratings
    In the golden 1900s, Harry Cane, a shy, eligible gentleman of leisure is drawn from a life of quiet routine into courting and marrying Winnie, eldest daughter of the fatherless Wells clan, who are not quite as respectable as they would appear. They settle by the sea and have a daughter and conventional marriage does not seem such a tumultuous change after all...
  • 夜畫帳 第三卷 by Byeonduck

    夜畫帳 第三卷 by Byeonduck

    Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 5 of 5
    Explicit and plentiful [?] · 13 ratings
    白羅謙一直以為自己是不得已才留在尹府。為了先生的官途,他才重拾春宮畫筆,甚至不惜委身尹勝浩,付出比他想像更多的代價。可被他寄託了所有的先生,卻似乎並不這麼想。比起對他呼來喚去動手動腳的尹少爺,先生那不經意間流露出的輕視,更傷人。他在尹勝浩帶給他的肉體歡愉之中漸漸沉淪,本以為這一切的本質都是傷害,可當隱隱感受到尹勝浩對他流露出的在意與占有慾時,少年越發感到迷惘……本書特色※韓國話題性耽美漫畫第三卷堂堂登場!※韓國Lezhin...
  • Rag and Bone by Michael Nava

    Rag and Bone by Michael Nava

    Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    One of the most highly acclaimed writers in the mystery genre "explores new emotional depths" in this last Henry Rios novel. The gay Mexican-American attorney, after the loss of his lover, must face his own mortality while recovering from a heart attack-and reach out to a family he didn't know he had...
  • An Affair for Aumont by J.A. Rock, Lisa Henry

    An Affair for Aumont by J.A. Rock, Lisa Henry

    Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    All he wants is the love he lost.Four years ago, Louis-Charles Aumont, the Marquis de Montespan, chose duty over the man he loved. And then the man he loved chose death in service to England. Now, after finally cutting ties with his king, Aumont is living in a slum in Seven Dials–and intending to die there too...
    Categorized as:
    queer  historical  m-m  regency  georgian  length-short
  • Year of the Rat by Marshall Thornton

    Year of the Rat by Marshall Thornton

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Long Beach, California 1996. Despite having little obvious experience, bartender Dom Reilly is hired as an investigator for the Freedom Agenda, a not-for-profit justice project. His first case involves a twelve-year-old homicide, in which a teenage girl was viciously murdered...
    Categorized as:
    queer  mystery  m-m  historical  suspense  length-short
  • A Mean Season by Marshall Thornton

    A Mean Season by Marshall Thornton

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Dom Reilly is back. In this follow up to Year of the Rat, Dom helps clear three men wrongly convicted of rape while also following a pet project—the twenty-year-old case of a man accused of killing his lover in 1976. Meanwhile, Dom gets wind that someone is looking for him. A private detective from Chicago...
  • The Absolutist by John Boyne

    The Absolutist by John Boyne

    Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 2 of 5
    Behind closed doors [?] · 39 ratings
    September 1919:20 year-old Tristan Sadler takes a train from London to Norwich to deliver some letters to Marian Bancroft. Tristan fought alongside Marian’s brother Will during the Great War but in 1917, Will laid down his guns on the battlefield, declared himself a conscientious objector and was shot as a traitor, an act which has brought shame and dishonour on the Bancroft family...
  • Alec by William di Canzio

    Alec by William di Canzio

    Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars
    · 17 ratings
    William di Canzio's Alec, inspired by Maurice, E. M. Forster's secret novel of a happy same-sex love affair, tells the story of Alec Scudder, the gamekeeper Maurice Hall falls in love with in Forster's classic, published only after the author's death.Di Canzio follows their story past the end of Maurice to the front lines of battle in World War I and beyond...
    Categorized as:
    queer  historical  m-m  war  contemporary  length-medium
  • Skybound by Aleksandr Voinov

    Skybound by Aleksandr Voinov

    Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars
    · 17 ratings
    Germany, 1945. The Third Reich is on its knees as Allied forces bomb Berlin to break the last resistance. Yet on an airfield near Berlin, the battle is far from over for a young mechanic, Felix, who’s attached to a squadron of fighter pilots. He’s especially attached to fighter ace Baldur Vogt, a man he admires and secretly loves...
  • A Sanctuary for Soulden by J.A. Rock, Lisa Henry

    A Sanctuary for Soulden by J.A. Rock, Lisa Henry

    Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    He wasn't meant for a quiet life.Philip Winthrop, Viscount Soulden, is a fop. An idle popinjay with nothing more on his mind than how to best knot his cravat. He definitely doesn’t spy against the French. Or arrange hasty weddings. Or occasionally commandeer the navy. And he certainly doesn’t seek out mortal danger in order to combat his pervasive ennui...
  • The Charioteer by Mary Renault

    The Charioteer by Mary Renault

    Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars
    · 33 ratings
    After enduring an injury at Dunkirk during World War II, Laurie Odell is sent to a rural veterans’ hospital in England to convalesce. There he befriends the young, bright Andrew, a conscientious objector serving as an orderly. As they find solace and companionship together in the idyllic surroundings of the hospital, their friendship blooms into a discreet, chaste romance...
  • After Being Forced to Marry the Evil Star General by 顾三跃

    After Being Forced to Marry the Evil Star General by 顾三跃

    Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars
    · 5 ratings
    Zhao Yelan was born as a criminal s*ave and was rescued by the Third Prince. After years of painstaking efforts to put him on the throne, Zhao Yelan became a sycophantic minister whom everyone detested, but he was actually given a marriage by that person to general Yan Mingting, the lone star of Tiansha.The general caused the death of his own father, his mother, his wife, and his dog...
  • Unspeakable Acts by Jackson Marsh

    Unspeakable Acts by Jackson Marsh

    Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars
    · 5 ratings
    "Death will come da capo, suddenly silent, and you will not hear your final applause. Fail us, and you die." Blackmail, a death threat and an opera. The Clearwater Foundation is to be launched with a charity gala at the City Opera House where Archer's old friend, Cadwell Roxton, is to star. But Roxton has a dark secret...
    Categorized as:
    queer  historical  mystery  m-m  victorian  length-medium
  • Now and Then by William Corlett

    Now and Then by William Corlett

    Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars
    · 13 ratings
    Now. Christopher Metcalfe returns to his family home in Kent after the death of his father. Sorting through a box of memorabilia from his days at public school, Chris is suddenly confronted by the face that has haunted him for thirty years...
  • Eleventh Hour by Elin Gregory

    Eleventh Hour by Elin Gregory

    Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 3 of 5
    Open door [?] · 13 ratings
    Borrowed from the Secret Intelligence Service cipher department to assist Briers Allerdale - a field agent returning to 1920s London with news of a dangerous anarchist plot - Miles Siward moves into a 'couples only' boarding house, posing as Allerdale’s 'wife'...
  • When Skies Have Fallen (When Skies Have Fallen) by Debbie McGowan

    When Skies Have Fallen (When Skies Have Fallen) by Debbie McGowan

    Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 3 of 5
    Open door [?] · 9 ratings
    For many in war-torn 1944, love blossoms in the dance hall, and airman Arty Clarke is no exception. He’s a thinker and a dreamer; however, it’s not the beautiful, talented dancer in his arms—his best friend Jean—who inspires his dreams. For when his gaze meets that of Technical Sergeant Jim Johnson, Arty dares to imagine a different dance...
  • Midnight Flit by Elin Gregory

    Midnight Flit by Elin Gregory

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Miles Siward and Briers Allerdale return for another thrilling Jazz Age adventure.“Silk stockings on expenses.” Miles’s aristocratic mother has information of importance to the British Government and he must escort her home from Bucharest immediately, but their plans go violently awry and Miles and Lady Siward find themselves on a train to Belgrade - where Miles’s lover is posted...
  • Till Death Do Us Part by Tangstory

    Till Death Do Us Part by Tangstory

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Set in early-20th century China, this story takes off in the port city of Tientsin (Tianjin) that is divided into lands called concessions and owned by several foreign powers. Shen Liangsheng is a charismatic and cunning playboy, a son of a rich businessman, who has profits as his top priority...
    Categorized as:
    queer  historical  m-m  war  contemporary  length-medium
  • Help Wanted by Marshall Thornton

    Help Wanted by Marshall Thornton

    Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars
    · 7 ratings
    In the sixth Pinx Video Mystery, Noah is thrilled that it's been months and months since he's been involved in a murder... but then, the boys learn that Javier O'Shea (tall, dark and LAPD) has been arrested for theft of evidence. As the bodies pile up, they learn that Javier may, or may not, have run afoul of rogue cops at the notoriously corrupt Rampart Station...
    Categorized as:
    queer  mystery  humor  m-m  historical
  • Walking Wounded by Lauren Gilley

    Walking Wounded by Lauren Gilley

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    Luke always thought he’d grow up to be a famous author. He also thought nothing could ever damage his relationship with his childhood best friend, Hal. He thought a lot of things that proved to be untrue. Now he barely makes rent and proofreads articles at a New York gossip rag, dreaming about what-might-have-been. He’s not bitter about it. He’s not. And he certainly isn’t lonely...
  • Deck the Halls in Secret Agents by Aster Glenn Gray

    Deck the Halls in Secret Agents by Aster Glenn Gray

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 3 of 5
    Open door [?] · 6 ratings
    Christmas Eve, 1991. The Soviet Union is on the rocks, and so is George Douglass's career in espionage. Nonetheless, the American agent is wading through a blizzard on one last mission.But when George emerges from the snow at a supposedly abandoned chateau, it's lit up like a Christmas tree...
  • Just a Little Danger by Merry Farmer

    Just a Little Danger by Merry Farmer

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 5 ratings
    Everett Jewel is the hottest star the London stage has seen in a generation. He is brash, sensual, and sure of himself. Men and women throw themselves at his feet, and he laps up the attention. But all of Everett’s glittering star power hides his wounded heart. He has adoration, but he longs for a love that he doesn’t think he’s worthy of, due to his dark past...
    Categorized as:
    queer  victorian  historical  regency  m-m  length-medium
  • Sweet Honesty by Joan Vassar

    Sweet Honesty by Joan Vassar

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 5 ratings
    Atlanta, Georgia, 1950–Michael can’t believe his eyes as he watches the man he loves marry a woman from the back row of Mount Zion Baptist Church. When the beautiful couple is pronounced man and wife, he leaves his home in Georgia for the chance of a better life in New York City.Alexander is just trying to exist in Queens, New York...
  • The Fourteenth Year of Chenghua [成化十四年] by Meng Xi Shi, 梦溪石

    The Fourteenth Year of Chenghua [成化十四年] by Meng Xi Shi, 梦溪石

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 5 ratings
    It is the fourteenth year of Chenghua.As the harem has Imperial Consort Wan, the Western Depot has a Commander named Wang Zhi. Crown Prince Zhu Youcheng is merely eight years old—and no one knows if he will be able to reach adulthood without issue...
    Categorized as:
    queer  historical  mystery  m-m  length-medium
  • Full Circle by Michael Thomas Ford

    Full Circle by Michael Thomas Ford

    Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars
    · 13 ratings
    History professor Ned Brummel is living happily with his partner of twelve years in small-town Maine when he receives a phone call from his estranged friend--Jack--telling him that another friend--Andy--is very ill and possibly near death...
    Categorized as:
    queer  historical  m-m  contemporary  length-long
  • Putting on the Ritz by Joe Keenan

    Putting on the Ritz by Joe Keenan

    Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Putting on the...
  • The General and the Horse-Lord by Sarah Black

    The General and the Horse-Lord by Sarah Black

    Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    2nd Edition The General and the Horse-Lord: Book One General John Mitchel and his favorite pilot, Gabriel Sanchez, served together as comrades and brothers-in-arms for more than twenty-five years. They followed the warrior’s path: honor first, and service, and the safety of the tribe. Their own needs for love and companionship were secondary to the mission...
  • The Custom of the Army by Diana Gabaldon

    The Custom of the Army by Diana Gabaldon

    Rated: 4.01 of 5 stars
    · 32 ratings
    Diana Gabaldon, bestselling author of the acclaimed Outlander series, weaves an engrossing tale of war, history, and suspense in this original novella—available exclusively as an eBook—featuring returning hero Lord John Grey. London, 1759. After a high society electric-eel party leads to a duel that ends badly, Lord John Grey feels the need to lie low for a while...
  • Farrell Covington and the Limits of Style by Paul Rudnick

    Farrell Covington and the Limits of Style by Paul Rudnick

    Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 4 of 5
    Explicit open door [?] · 18 ratings
    From the acclaimed writer Paul Rudnick, a riotously funny, perceptive, and life-affirming novel following the decades-long, rule-breaking romance between the son of one of American’s wealthiest families and a middle-class aspiring author.Devastatingly handsome and insanely rich, Farrell Covington is capable of anything and impossible to resist...
  • Forever Hold His Peace by Rebecca Cohen

    Forever Hold His Peace by Rebecca Cohen

    Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    Sebastian and Anthony face an uncertain future together when accusations of witchcraft and a traitor in their midst threaten everything they’ve fought for.Playing the role of his twin sister Bronwyn, the wife of Anthony Redbourn, Earl of Crofton, is not an easy task, but Sebastian does it willing for them to be together...
    Categorized as:
    queer  historical  m-m  medieval  length-short
  • Eleventh Hour by Elin Gregory

    Eleventh Hour by Elin Gregory

    Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Borrowed from the Secret Intelligence Service cipher department to assist Briers Allerdale - a field agent returning to 1920s London with news of a dangerous anarchist plot - Miles Siward moves into a 'couples only' boarding house, posing as Allerdale’s 'wife'...
  • Counterpoint: Dylan's Story by Ruth Sims

    Counterpoint: Dylan's Story by Ruth Sims

    Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    At eighteen Dylan Rutledge has one music. He believes his destiny is to be the greatest composer of the rapidly approaching twentieth century. Only Laurence Northcliff, a young history master at The Venerable Bede School for Young Gentlemen, believes in Dylan’s talent and encourages his dream, not realizing Dylan is in love with him...
  • The Flight of the Heron by Historical Novel

    The Flight of the Heron by Historical Novel

    Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Diving into the historical turmoil of the Jacobite Uprising, 'The Flight of the Heron' by Historical Novel is a captivating historical novel that skillfully weaves together the intricacies of politics, loyalty, and love during this tumultuous period...
    Categorized as:
    queer  historical  war  m-m  length-short
  • Untethered by R.A. Thorn

    Untethered by R.A. Thorn

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 4 of 5
    Explicit open door [?] · 6 ratings
    Determined to help the war effort, Frankie Norris joins the US Air Force in 1943. Braving intimidating drill sergeants and unending marches, Frankie struggles to hide his secret—he’s queer. But having passed basic training, he’s not going to risk an undesirable discharge or any of his fellow recruits finding out...
  • The Flight of the Heron by D.K. Broster

    The Flight of the Heron by D.K. Broster

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    A young Highlander leaves his home and his bride-to-be to follow the standard of Bonnie Prince Charlie...
    Categorized as:
    military  queer  historical  highlander  m-m  war  georgian  suspense
  • Man's World by Rupert Smith

    Man's World by Rupert Smith

    Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars
    · 5 ratings
    Contrasting today’s blogs with diaries of the past, this novel follows two parallel narratives that are 50 years apart and vastly different, at least at first appearance. In modern-day London, Robert searches for fulfillment in a world of sex, drugs, designer clothes, and hip gay clubs, during which he records his experience on his blog...
  • Hammer & Powder by Megan Derr

    Hammer & Powder by Megan Derr

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    The Kingdom of Rinaha is all that stands between the violent, greedy Boorna and the rest of the continent, and they do so by way of their immense and heavily guarded Wall of Gamala, an enormous undertaking that runs the length of the southern end of the continent, standing strong for more than two hundred years...
    Categorized as:
    military  queer  m-m  suspense  historical  length-medium
  • The Oak and the Ash by Annick Trent

    The Oak and the Ash by Annick Trent

    Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars
    · 5 ratings
    A standalone M/M historical romanceRadical surgeon George Evans is called to the scene of a midnight duel between an earl and his cousin. Despite the strained atmosphere in the house, George finds he must stay and tend to the injured duellists. Fortunately, his sojourn is made more than bearable by the earl's quietly competent and oddly attractive valet, Noah Moorecott...
    Categorized as:
    queer  historical  m-m  regency  length-medium
  • Thrown by Merry Farmer

    Thrown by Merry Farmer

    Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars
    · 5 ratings
    The art of love is falling for your enemy without ruining everything… Ceramic artist Robbie Hawthorne is dedicated not only to his art, but to keeping the arts center and school housed at his family’s ancestral estate vibrant and flourishing...
  • One More Soldier by Marie Sexton

    One More Soldier by Marie Sexton

    Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars
    · 13 ratings
    It is 1963. Being gay is a sin against God. And twenty-eight year old mechanic Will meets Bran for the first time. Over the years a close bond forms between them despite the seventeen year age difference. Will teaches Bran to swim and helps him with homework. The years pass, Bran drops out of school and moves away. Then Bran comes home...
  • The Impetuous Afflictions of Jonathan Wolfe by Charlie Cochet

    The Impetuous Afflictions of Jonathan Wolfe by Charlie Cochet

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    Eight years after leaving the deserts of Africa and the French Foreign Legion behind, Jonathan Wolfe has settled into life at Hawthorne Manor in the English countryside. Johnnie helps his adopted family run the manor and provide a safe, loving home for a new generation of “brats”: boys mistreated and discarded for their homosexuality—something all too familiar to Johnnie...
  • Unmentionables by David Greene

    Unmentionables by David Greene

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Winner Book of the Year bronze medal for Gay literary fiction.Unmentionables is the story of two pairs of lovers in the American Civil War south. One couple is straight, white and wealthy. The other couple is gay, black and enslaved. Field hand Jimmy meets Cato, a house servant from a nearby plantation. Over time, Jimmy's fascination with Cato grows into romantic love...
Fantastic book recommendations by romance book lovers for romance book lovers.
Find out more about romance.io.


Get recommendations by genres & tropes

Use the romance book finder to mix and match over 100 content keywords to find the books that match your preferences

romance book finder

Looking for more inspiration? Enter another book title to get more suggestions on what to read next.


Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.