Books like 'The Only Light Left Burning'
Readers who enjoyed The Only Light Left Burning by Erik J. Brown also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary young adult gay romance science fiction humor queer survival dystopian bisexual disabilities and marks
-
At the Edge of the Universe by Shaun David Hutchinson
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsFrom the author of We Are the Ants comes “another winner” (Booklist, starred review) about a boy who believes the universe is slowly shrinking as the things he remembers are being erased from others’ memories.Tommy and Ozzie have been best friends since the second grade, and boyfriends since eighth. They spent countless days dreaming of escaping their small town—and then Tommy vanished...Categorized as:
queer young adult contemporary science fiction mental illness mystery m-m high-school -
The Case Files of Jeweler Richard Vol. 3 by Nanako Tsujimura
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsBLAST FROM THE PASTCollege student Seigi works part-time at Jewelry Étranger, run by the equally handsome and capable jeweler, Richard... -
Mon plus beau rêve by Lily Haime
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratings« C’est un oiseau sur un mur. »Depuis la mort de ses parents Aliocha vogue de familles d’accueil en foyer, de conneries en garde à vue. Il a appris très tôt à ne s’accrocher à rien, à ne croire qu’en lui, à ne laisser personne l’approcher d’assez prés. Il dessine le regard des gens qu’il croise dans la rue, les émotions, ces choses étranges qu’il ne ressent jamais... -
A Complicated Love Story Set in Space by Shaun David Hutchinson
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsBlack Mirror meets What If It’s Us in this gripping, romantic, and wildly surprising novel about two boys lost in space trying to find their way home—while falling in love—from the critically acclaimed author of We Are the Ants.When Noa closes his eyes on Earth and wakes up on a spaceship called Qriosity just as it’s about to explode, he’s pretty sure things can’t get much weirder.Boy is he wrong... -
-
Tracker Hacker by Jeff Adams
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsHigh school student. Hockey player. Computer whiz kid. Covert agent?At sixteen Theo Reese is the youngest agent for Tactical Operational Support. His way with computers makes him invaluable. He designs new gadgets, helps agents (including his parents) in the field, and works to keep the TOS network safe... -
Return to Me by James Oliver French
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 5 ratingsWhat would you do if the man you loved vanished without a trace? Kyle and Todd meet at a party in their freshman year at college. They fall in lust at first sight, then deep in love. In spite of Kyle’s melancholy past, their future together looks bright. Then Kyle disappears, leaving Todd heartbroken and alone, and their dreams in ruins... -
Milo and Marcos at the End of the World by Kevin Christopher Snipes
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWhen Marcos moves to town, Milo is forced to acknowledge the feelings he's kept hidden, especially from his religious parents. But as natural disasters begin to befall them the closer they become, Milo and Marcos soon begin to wonder if the universe itself is plotting against them in this young adult debut by playwright and creator of The Two Princes podcast, Kevin Christopher Snipes...Categorized as:
dystopian queer young adult contemporary science fiction m-m friends to lovers length-medium -
Draw the Line by Laurent Linn
Rated: 3.82 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAfter a hate crime occurs in his small Texas town, Adrian Piper must discover his own power, decide how to use it, and know where to draw the line in this “powerful debut” novel (Publishers Weekly, starred review) exquisitely illustrated by the author.Adrian Piper is used to blending into the background... -
The Gravity of Us by Phil Stamper
As a successful social media journalist with half a million followers, seventeen-year-old Cal is used to sharing his life online. But when his pilot father is selected for a highly publicized NASA mission to Mars, Cal and his family relocate from Brooklyn to Houston and are thrust into a media circus... -
The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer
Two boys, alone in space.After the first settler on Titan trips her distress signal, neither remaining country on Earth can afford to scramble a rescue of its own, and so two sworn enemies are installed in the same spaceship.Ambrose wakes up on the Coordinated Endeavor, with no memory of a launch...Categorized as:
suspense grumpy sunshine forced proximity cold hero survival dystopian first-person-pov angst -
Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare
Would you trade your soul mate for your soul?A Shadowhunter’s life is bound by duty. Constrained by honor. The word of a Shadowhunter is a solemn pledge, and no vow is more sacred than the vow that binds parabatai, warrior partners—sworn to fight together, die together, but never to fall in love... -
Nimona by Noelle Stevenson
The graphic novel debut from rising star Noelle Stevenson, based on her beloved and critically acclaimed web comic, which Slate awarded its Cartoonist Studio Prize, calling it "a deadpan epic." Nemeses! Dragons! Science! Symbolism! All these and more await in this brilliantly subversive, sharply irreverent epic from Noelle Stevenson... -
Taoree by Michele Notaro
If you’re reading this, I hope that means that we’ve survived, but after everything I’ve seen, I’m sure that’s only wishful thinking… This is my story… a story of what happens when you trust an alien race. A race that lived peacefully with humans for over two years, but something suddenly changed... -
We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson
From the author of The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley comes a brand-new novel about a teenage boy who must decide whether or not the world is worth saving.Henry Denton has spent years being periodically abducted by aliens. Then the aliens give him an ultimatum: The world will end in 144 days, and all Henry has to do to stop it is push a big red button.Only he isn’t sure he wants to... -
-
Icebreaker by A.L. Graziadei
A. L. Graziadei's Icebreaker is a YA debut about two hockey players fighting to be the best—and the romance that catches them by surprise along the way.Seventeen-year-old Mickey James III is a college freshman, a brother to five sisters, and a hockey legacy. With a father and a grandfather who have gone down in NHL history, Mickey is almost guaranteed the league's top draft spot... -
The Extraordinaries by T.J. Klune
Some people are extraordinary. Some are just extra. TJ Klune's YA debut, The Extraordinaries, is a queer coming-of-age story about a fanboy with ADHD and the heroes he loves.Nick Bell? Not extraordinary...Categorized as:
humor queer found-family fantasy young adult contemporary superheroes science fiction -
The First to Die at the End by Adam Silvera
In this prequel to #1 New York Times bestselling phenomenon They Both Die at the End, two new strangers spend a life-changing day together after Death-Cast first makes their fateful calls... -
The Strangest Forms by Gregory Ashe
Watson is dead. Holmes is alone. And Jack is desperate.Sixteen-year-old Jack Moreno is managing to hold his life together. Barely. After a terrible car accident leaves his father unable to work, Jack makes ends meet by dropping out of school and covering his dad’s custodial shifts at a school for troubled teens, high in the Wasatch Mountains... -
White Trash Warlock by David R. Slayton
Not all magicians go to schools of magic. Adam Binder has the Sight. It’s a power that runs in his bloodline: the ability to see beyond this world and into another, a realm of magic populated by elves, gnomes, and spirits of every kind. But for much of Adam’s life, that power has been a curse, hindering friendships, worrying his backwoods family, and fueling his abusive father’s rage... -
If I See You Again Tomorrow by Robbie Couch
For some reason, Clark has woken up and relived the same monotonous Monday 309 times. Until Day 310 turns out to be…different. Suddenly, his usual torturous math class is interrupted by an anomaly—a boy he’s never seen before in all his previous Mondays... -
Exit Plans for Teenage Freaks by 'Nathan Burgoine
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsBeing the kid abducted by old Ms. Easton when he was four permanently set Cole's status to freak. At seventeen, his exit plan is simple: make it through the last few weeks of high school with his grades up and his head down... -
More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera
Part Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, part Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Adam Silvera's extraordinary debut confronts race, class, and sexuality during one charged near-future summer in the Bronx. Sixteen-year-old Aaron Soto is struggling to find happiness after a family tragedy leaves him reeling... -
A Circle of Stars by Craig Montgomery
Sometimes you have to leave home to findit… All Casper Bell has ever wanted is to belong. But now,abandoned by his friends and family after being outed, he has nothing left to lose when thepeople of Novilem abduct him.Except Earth... -
More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera
Rated: 3.98 of 5 stars · 48 ratingsPart Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, part Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Adam Silvera's extraordinary debut confronts race, class, and sexuality during one charged near-future summer in the Bronx. Sixteen-year-old Aaron Soto is struggling to find happiness after a family tragedy leaves him reeling...Categorized as:
dystopian angst male-pov queer young adult contemporary science fiction mental illness -
-
Tattoo Atlas by Tim Floreen
Rated: 4.01 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsA year ago, Rem Braithwaite watched his classmate Franklin Kettle commit a horrific crime.Now, apart from the nightmares, life has gone back to normal for Rem. Franklin was caught, convicted, and put away in juvenile detention for what he did. The ordeal seems to be over... -
Milo and Marcos at the End of the World by Kevin Christopher Snipes
As natural disasters begin to befall them the closer they become, Milo and Marcos soon begin to wonder if the universe itself is plotting against them in this young adult debut by the playwright and creator of The Two Princes podcast, Kevin Christopher Snipes...Categorized as:
dystopian queer young adult contemporary fantasy m-m friends to lovers science fiction -
Superior by Jessica Lack
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsA superhero's intern falls in love with a supervillain's apprentice in this star-crossed LGBT YA story from The Book Smugglers. Here's the thing about being a superhero intern: there's a lot less crime fighting than you think there will be, what with the whole liability issue and the administrative headache of constantly monitoring the Heroic Help Hotline... -
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Night Circus, a timeless love story set in a secret underground world--a place of pirates, painters, lovers, liars, and ships that sail upon a starless sea.Zachary Ezra Rawlins is a graduate student in Vermont when he discovers a mysterious book hidden in the stacks... -
The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black
Children can have a cruel, absolute sense of justice. Children can kill a monster and feel quite proud of themselves. A girl can look at her brother and believe they’re destined to be a knight and a bard who battle evil. She can believe she’s found the thing she’s been made for. Hazel lives with her brother, Ben, in the strange town of Fairfold where humans and fae exist side by side... -
Willful Machines by Tim Floreen
Rated: 3.81 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsIn the near future, scientists create what may be a new form of life: an artificial human named Charlotte. All goes well until Charlotte escapes, transfers her consciousness to the Internet, and begins terrorizing the American public.Charlotte's attacks have everyone on high alert—everyone except Lee Fisher, the closeted son of the US president...
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

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