I’m always looking for romances starring trans characters, and with Make Room for Love by Darcy Liao promising a slow-burn romance between roommates, I happily picked it up. That combination implies mutual pining at all hours between people gradually learning how to share their lives, and this book delivered on that premise.
With Mira in need of a place to live, she’s lucky that Isabel rescues her from her ex-boyfriend, as Isabel invites her to be her roommate. Mira doesn’t know quite how lucky she is, however, as she thinks she’s straight and doesn’t realize she’s falling for the stoic butch electrician she now lives with. To complicate matters, both women have wounds that make them hesitant to open up to this chance at love. When Isabel begins helping Mira prepare for a union election, their bond deepens, igniting new possibilities for them both—if they make room for them.
I felt for both characters and enjoyed watching their romance develop. They have a sweet dynamic, with enough obstacles and progress throughout the story that the slow burn feels earned. One of the initial roadblocks is that, as said, Mira does not realize she’s bi. I enjoyed that this realization is written in the context of her being trans. Discovering one’s gender and sexuality can be a complicated, multi-step process, and the different boxes that Mira has tried to fit herself into read as very believable to me. Meanwhile, due to her past abusive relationship, she is hesitant to date someone she is reliant on for housing. For Isabel’s part, she has closed herself off due to grief and struggles to accept support from others. These topics are all written with care.
I often see people categorize romances as either being closer to classic rom-coms or devoting plenty of page time to conflicts unrelated to the romance. While the characters in Make Room for Love have many grounded issues in their lives, they mostly work through those issues via their interactions with each other. I feel this book would be a good choice for readers looking for a romance that focuses on the relationship while being fairly serious in tone. Personally, while that combination suits a story about roommates dealing with various issues, I do think that if other characters and settings had been more fleshed out, it would have made me even more invested in the protagonists and their home life. That said, I will always be grateful to read about trans people being loved.
Spoiler-heavy content warnings taken from the author’s website: “Grief and depression over the past death of a sibling. Mentions of a past emotionally abusive romantic relationship, and an instance of on-page harassment by the ex. Mentions of societal and familial transmisogyny and homophobia. A character breaking a limb. Mentions of infidelity by a main character’s ex. Explicit sex.”
