f/f sports romance

[rmc28]

On my own journal I've reviewed Undulterated Something by M.J. Duncan, a romance between two former international ice hockey rivals.

Last weekend I was inspired to go looking for f/f ice hockey romance, and discovered it is sadly nowhere near as abundant as m/m. I found five books in total, all fairly expensive as romance ebooks go. Unadulterated Something was the only one in KU, which is why it got read first.

Anyway, as it seems f/f ice hockey is so very niche, I'd greatly appreciate recs for f/f sporting rivalry romances in any sport!

Comments

[havocthecat]

I can't rec you anything specific, but I would suggest checking basketball or soccer, because those are sports I have seen significant f/f content in. Maybe women's softball, but I don't think they have as much of a media presence as the WNBA or the women's soccer league, the name of which escapes me.

If you're looking for femslash sports content, I would check out real-world sports where there is a significant women's presence in the media, because, by and large, the RPF sports femslashers I know have been more likely to be drawn to that.

My info may also be behind the times! I am also significantly distanced from the friends who were deeply into f/f sports rpf, as they have also long since gone off to grad school and left my parts of the fandom world behind.

[rmc28]

Oooh, thank you.

I think I'm keener on fictional romance than RPF - although I was charmed to discover during my googling that at least two USA-Canada f/f ice hockey marriages actually exist. (I am new to following ice hockey, which is my excuse for not knowing this already.)

[havocthecat]

I only know about what my friends were into, I'm sorry! But I'd check those sports in the Amazon lesbian romance sections, maybe, for fiction? Though just searching "lesbian romance sports" under ebooks does net quite some results!

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=lesbian+romance+sports&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss

(Searching for "lesbian sports romance" nets het results, ugh search oddities.)

Including roller derby, I can't believe I forgot roller derby! Field hockey maybe if you hit up UK sports, I also did not think of that as I am such a St. Trinian's fandom person, but UK girls school stuff? I'm very American.

I read way more fantasy and SF than contemporary, I'm so ridiculously genre-specific. But some of these do look interesting, I might have to investigate. Especially that roller derby book, that looks like it might be adorable: Kat & Mouse: a Crosscannon Roller Derby romance

I think you sent me down a bit of a rabbit hole here. Terrible fate, that. More f/f books, AUGH, no, excuse me, must add to wishlist now... ;)

[rmc28]

Oooh, I did enjoy Roller Girl by Vanessa North, which is a romance on a roller derby team, with a trans woman MC. I know even less about roller derby than I do ice hockey, but I gather it's a very physical contact sport, so yeah, I think that is a good line to try.

edited: eeeee and Kat & Mouse is in KU, which is good for my budget

[wychwood]

Yeah, I was coming in here to say that, how is there not a thriving romance sub-genre when it's so common IRL???

(also in cricket, there are several couples on and between national teams :D)

[rmc28]

I mean, I was inspired to go looking while watching women's ice hockey where it was proving that "no checking" is very much not "no contact".

[the_kellephant]

This post just made me realize I've barely read an f/f sports romances! I need to remedy that asap. Off the top of my head, I know I've read Sparks Like Ours by Melissa Brayden (surfing) and Fire on Ice by Jea Hawkins (ice skating). I haven't read it, but Kelly Farmer's Out on the Ice is a new ice hockey f/f romance. Not sure if you had that one on your list.

[rmc28]

Out On the Ice is one of the five I found, and currently in progress on my ereader :-)

Thanks for the two recs, neither of which I've read, I've added them to my wishlist ...

[el_staplador]

I reviewed Fire On The Ice here last year, though it's more a rivalry between sports than a rivalry between sportswomen ;-)

[rmc28]

Thank you! Although it sounds like the skating-to-sex ratio is quite low?

[el_staplador]

Yup, it's mostly sex!

Trying to think now if there's any Yuri!!! on Ice f/f that really get into the skating (that I didn't write myself). This is the only one that I have bookmarked, and it's pretty short.

[delacourtings]

i recently came across this and thought it might be relevant to your interests: there's a contemporary lesbian sports romance set on the professional rodeo circuit coming out may of next year!