Casey McQuiston is an American author who has become a defining voice in contemporary LGBTQ+ romance, crafting exuberant, inclusive love stories that celebrate queer joy whilst tackling meaningful themes. With a background in journalism and a passion for fanfiction, McQuiston brings both sharp cultural commentary and deep fandom understanding to their work, creating novels that feel both culturally relevant and timelessly romantic.
McQuiston's debut novel, Red, White & Royal Blue (2019), became an instant cultural phenomenon. This enemies-to-lovers romance between the First Son of the United States and a British prince captured hearts worldwide with its wish-fulfilment premise, sparkling banter, and unapologetically joyful depiction of queer love. The novel imagines a better America - one with a divorced female president and a society more accepting than reality - whilst exploring the very real pressures of public life, political dynasty, and coming out in the spotlight. The book's success led to a popular Amazon Prime film adaptation in 2023.
One Last Stop (2021) showcased McQuiston's range by blending romance with time travel and found family themes. The novel follows August Landry, a cynical college student who falls for Jane, a punk girl she meets on the subway - only to discover Jane is unstuck in time from the 1970s. The book celebrates queer history, chosen family, and the magic of New York City whilst delivering a tender sapphic love story wrapped in temporal mystery.
I Kissed Shara Wheeler (2022) took McQuiston into YA territory with a queer reimagining of classic teen mystery tropes. Set in small-town Alabama, the novel follows three students - including openly queer Chloe Green - as they follow clues left by the mysteriously disappeared prom queen, Shara Wheeler. The book tackles Southern queerness, religious trauma, and bisexual representation whilst maintaining McQuiston's signature humour and heart.
Their most recent novel, The Pairing (2024), is an adult bisexual romcom following exes Kit and Theo who unexpectedly end up on the same European food and wine tour. As they attempt to out-hook-up each other with various people along the journey, old feelings resurface. The novel celebrates bisexual identity, foodie culture, and second-chance romance.
McQuiston's work is characterised by explicit queer representation across the LGBTQ+ spectrum, deep engagement with fanfiction tropes and romance conventions, political and social awareness woven into romance, found family as central theme, witty banter and pop culture references, and sex-positive, realistic depictions of intimacy.
Common themes include queer joy as resistance, chosen family versus biological family, the courage required to live authentically, how the personal is political, bisexual and pansexual visibility, and historical queer erasure and recovery. McQuiston writes both to celebrate queerness and to create the representation they wished they'd had growing up.
Their prose is contemporary and accessible, filled with pop culture savvy and internet-age humour that resonates particularly with millennial and Gen Z readers. McQuiston's novels have become BookTok staples and are frequently credited with helping readers understand their own queer identities.
McQuiston (who uses they/them pronouns) has become an important advocate for LGBTQ+ representation in mainstream romance, proving that queer love stories can achieve both critical acclaim and commercial success.
