A friend of mine recommended Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers to me after I ranted about a different romance novel I disliked, and it was the perfect palate cleanser! At its most basic core, this is a lesbian spin on the classic “waking up married to a stranger in Vegas” trope, but it is so much more. Main character, Grace Porter, starts the novel off as a young black woman struggling to find her place in the racist, sexist world of professional astronomy after receiving her PhD. Failing to procure a job she was sure would be hers results in an impulsive move to drunkenly marry a woman she doesn’t know, Yuki Yamamoto. Yuki is a waitress with a late night radio show about monsters in folklore (and what they say about humanity), who lives across the country from Grace in New York. To get away from the pressure of unwarranted rejection after unwarranted rejection from all of the jobs her academic mentor thought she was perfect for, Grace decides to spend the summer in New York, getting to know her new wife. Yes, Grace and Yuki go on to develop a wonderfully formulaic and adorable relationship filled with laughter and vulnerability and honesty and love, but there’s so much more to this story. Porter (who has been called by her last name her whole life thanks to her military upbringing) is a determined and strong character, who has spent a decade of her life on the single-minded goal to break through the systematic oppression trying to hold her back in the astronomy world, without considering the toll that has been taking on her wellbeing. She spends the first half of the novel trying to prove she is the best, but her time with Yuki and connecting with family (biological and chosen family) drives Grace to question what best actually means for her. Not only does this novel offer a seriously adorable and loving couple with Grace and Yuki, but Grace’s journey is one of self-care, self-love, exploration and growth. And Honey Girl definitely gets bonus points in my book for the strong emphasis on the non-romantic relationships in this novel, through Grace’s complicated and beautiful relationships with her family and friends and her relationship with Yuki’s roommates. If you’re looking for a cute lesbian romance, a story that emphasizes queer friendship, and a romance story that acknowledges the importance of caring for oneself, Honey Girl is definitely worth a read.