What are my top favorite m/m romance books with fall colors of yellow/orange/red covers?

When I saw what this month’s topic was I did two things…

1. Checked out the covers for my all-time favorite books/series to see if they qualified. I even went to Goodreads where I could easily search through the covers of earlier editions because that still qualifies, right?
2. Flipped through my book reading apps looking for covers that jumped with those colors and noted the ones of some of my faves.

This is what I came up with:

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Tippy Top Faves

If I were forced to name my tippy top favorite m/m books, there are at least four series that I reread regularly and they’ll never get old. Since the romance arc for each of these spans the series with a backdrop of mysteries in the individual books, I can’t help but think of each series as “a book.” I was thrilled to find red, orange, and yellow represented within various editions of some of the individual books in these series.

These are those series I’m referring to, in no particular order:

The Adrien English Mysteries by Josh Lanyon

I can’t even tell you how many copies of The Adrien English Mysteries I’ve bought over the years. I was late to the party with the first five books already out before I ever read one, but I’ve been through EPUBS, then got them on Kindle when I decided to also buy the audiobooks so I could easily switch with sync between reading and listening and/or do the immersion reading thing. I’ve also got all the paperbacks.

So yeah, that’s how much I love this series. There’s a separate mystery in each book, but the romance arc takes the entire series to fully develop with ups and downs along the way, but there’s never a solid HEA until the end, so it’s not like they get an HEA then some contrived nonsense breaks them up (I don’t like those). They are slowly working to define their relationship as Jake resists his sexuality. I love Adrien and Jake’s tumultuous relationship, Adrien’s lovely family, the hurt/comfort that features throughout the series, and Jakes brilliant redemption after their relationship goes completely to hell at one point.

The current edition covers have an overall blue theme, but I found all kinds of reds, oranges, and yellows among the older edition covers. All six books are represented at least once each:

The Plumber’s Mate Mysteries by J.L. Merrow

This is another series where I’ve gone through several editions of the ebooks, owning the earlier editions in EPUB, then rebought in Kindle when I got the audiobooks, too. I still need to get the paperbacks (they’re pricey!), but will do that some day.

As with the above series, the relationship arc spans the series, though the dips are less drastic. There’s a separate mystery for each installment, entertaining side characters in the form of family members and eccentric friends, and a nice dose of hurt/comfort throughout. At the beginning this is a second chance story with Phil and Tom having had a less than idea relationship back in their school days when Phil’d been in denial of his sexuality running with a crowd of bullies, and Tom had been a target.

I tend to think of it as a contemporary story because it mostly reads that way, but there’s a paranormal element to it relating to a special ability of Tom’s. Anyway, a few of the covers—mostly from earlier editions—qualify for the fall colors theme, mostly due to the font color standing out against a neutral background:

The Sixth Sense Series by Sarah Madison

I only have the ebooks for this series, and I’ve been through different editions/e-formats. Audiobooks don’t exist, and neither, at the moment, do paperbacks other than for book three only. If they ever become available, I’ll collect all the formats.

This series brings more in the way of a romance arc that grows a little more with each installment with a few bumps along the way, with a mystery background and a bit of hurt/comfort (are you detecting a pattern of what my faves tend to include?). As indicated by the series name, there’s a paranormal element, though again, it’s an outlier thing in an otherwise “normal” world, so it reads much like a contemporary series. The mystery also spans the series, but is broken into well-defined segments.:

Two of the books in the series qualified for this color scheme, and they’re even the most recent editions!

The Carstairs Affair Series by Elin Gregory

I have both editions of book 1 (pictured below) in ebook formats, and book 2 in first edition only (the second edition is pending). I’ve also bought the paperback for book 1 second edition and will buy the paperback for the second edition of book 2 when it becomes available. If audiobooks are ever made, I’ll jump on them (as well as any/all formats of subsequent books in the series)!

More mysteries, this time historical, so the relationship arc must veer from what it could be in present times. The mysteries are thrilling, and the relationship touches my heart.

Both editions of book one qualify for the color scheme:

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Honorable Mentions

Here are a few more books fitting the theme that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed! Three I’ve read more than once, and three are very recent reads that I’m so glad I discovered!

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WEBRING ~ Read Around the Rainbow!

Be sure to flip through the webring to read your favorite authors’ takes on this topic! For your convenience, here are direct links to the other WebRing participants’ posts for this month’s topic:

Ofelia Gränd :: Nell Iris :: A.L. Lester :: Lillian Francis :: Fiona Glass :: Holly Day :: Amy Spector :: K.L. Noone :: Ellie Thomas

Read around the Rainbow

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