I love the book “A Brother’s Price” by Wen Spencer, and have re-read it about 5 times. Would love something similar!
To summarize the book I love without spoilers, a virginal young man is coming of marriageable age in a steamship-era society where the ratio of children born is about 10 girls per 1 boy, and where one man marries a family of sisters who are all his wives. Men are raised to be softer and take on kitchen and childrearing duties, kidnapping is frequent so men need to be protected by their sisters and mothers and it’s not safe to venture out much. Sexually-transmitted diseases make virginity very important, for men and women. A bunch of adventurous action and light non-explicit romance happens, starting when a mysterious rider is wounded and rescued at the hero’s family farm—embroiling the hero and his family in royal politics.
Good suggestions would likely include at least some of these points:
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inverting/broadening/exploring gender roles.
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it’d be really ideal if the male characters inhabit a more female social niche, and female characters take on a role considered more masculine by our society’s terms.
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possibly fantasy or sci-fi
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preferably not too gritty/dark
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preferably not super explicitly sexual (I prefer a side dish, not a main course)
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possibly polyamorous or queer or with otherwise non-traditional love arrangements
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I’d probably also enjoy a book where a male character is disguised as a female or has to hide among females longterm.
(I’ll note that I did read—and love—Tamora Pierce’s Alanna books, which do the woman-disguised-as-a-man thing well. East by Edith Pattou had a prince that needed rescuing, but I can’t think of much else that I’ve ever read that really scratches that gender-role-bending itch in a way that’s even close.)
by LarkScarlett