Sci-fi with a romantic sub-plot

[Peter]

Every search I do for sci-fi and romance lands me in an endless sea of books whose covers feature blue or green hunky, six-pack guys (aliens I guess), where every result seems to be book 8 of a 56-part series whose name implies sex with hunky aliens.

I'm looking for a novel (like >50k words) that has human/human romance, but the main thrust of that book (see what I did there) comes from the tradition of good old-fashioned speculative fiction.

[Kandice]

Peter wrote: "Every search I do for sci-fi and romance lands me in an endless sea of books whose covers feature blue or green hunky, six-pack guys (aliens I guess), where every result seems to be book 8 of a 56-..."

11/22/63 by Stephen King fits your criteria and is fantastic book to boot!

[DivaDiane]

Catherine Asaro writes good hard SF romance. Hard in the sense that she is a trained physicist and chemist. Haha!

[Kaladin]

I recently picked up a copy of The Cold Between by Elizabeth Bonesteel. Looks like a good scifi mystery with some romance. No hunky aliens on the cover. :D

[Cheryl]

Catherine Asaro

Elizabeth Bonesteel The Cold Between

(I sure wish GR could fix it so ppl using mobile could post links to books and authors. But I imagine there would be all sorts of problems so I won't beg for it. ;)

[Kaladin]

Thanks Cheryl. I just found out that it's possible to post links if mobile users open GR in a browser as a desktop site. Suddenly there is the magic "add book/author" tab. :)

[Jacqueline]

One of my Mother's favourites was High Couch of Silistra by Janet E. Morris.

[Richard]

Have you tried The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord.

[Jan]

Restoree by Anne McCaffrey. One of her standalone books. It's older and not everyone's cup of tea, but it's definitely sci fi and a light romance, with no six-pack green aliens. I read and enjoyed this one as a teen, and still feel a nostalgic affection for it.

Oddly, it's labelled fantasy on kindle books, but that's wrong because it's very clearly based on a sci-fi premise.

[Bnz]

Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold deals with, among other things, loves, requited and not so much, of the protagonist, Miles Vorkosigan, but also his parents, cousin and others.

You might start with a pretty hilarious entry slightly removed from the whole series story arc, Captain Vorpatril's Alliance, where Miles appears only peripherally, but his cousin goes through quite a rollercoaster, romantic and otherwise.

[Andres]

Red Rising

The reaper and Mustang <3

[Michelle]

Jan wrote: "Restoree by Anne McCaffrey. One of her standalone books. It's older and not everyone's cup of tea, but it's definitely sci fi and a light romance, with no six-pack green aliens. I r..."

I really liked that book.

[Tomas]

It's probably longer than 50k per book, but I loved

And if you want a mix of SF and fantasy, this series has some romance elements as well.

[K.V.]

I recommend:

The Fifth Season (Afrofuturism, sci-fi, platonic love) (1st of the trilogy)
Dark Matter (love and multiverse)
Contact (Carl Sagan's wonderful novel)
The Memories Between Us (love across parallel universes)
The Atlantis Grail Series. Book one is called Qualify. Four books, novellas, and other fan books.