Fall in Love with the Baes of Juneteenth

As far as holiday romances go, Juneteenth is celebrated probably about as much as Earth Day is. And, it was only a few years ago that when you heard the words “holiday romance,” it was just a PC way to say “Christmas Romance” of the Hallmark persuasion, but romance authors have taken it upon themselves to expand their offerings. Juneteenth has been a delightful part of this expansion, from the unfortunately out-of-print The Brightest Day: A Juneteenth Historical Romance Anthology (though you can get three of the four novellas individually) to Kennedy Ryan’s perpetually free-on-Amazon Unlimited Juneteenth short Free to Love. It’s always nice to see Juneteenth recognized in books, even before it was made a federal holiday, but nothing made me jump out of my seat quite the way the announcement of the Baes of Juneteenth collection did a couple of years ago. 

Baes of Juneteenth is an interconnected series of books by an array of Black romance authors, set in various locations across the country. Each contributing author gives us a story in their signature style, while highlighting the way each of their selected communities celebrates and honors Juneteenth. Instead of just being a story set around the time of Juneteenth, each one centers the holiday in its own way, mostly via the central characters being involved in the organization of their local Juneteenth events. Each book centers a member of the Mr. Black organization, and the titles acknowledge that connection with their shared naming convention around their personalities–we’ve got every Mister from Mr. Big Stuff to Mr. Tall, Dark, and Unavailable. While multi-author collections aren’t a new thing, it was still a surprise and delight to see such an extensive collection written by so many familiar names in a shared universe. Needless to say, I skipped KU (Kindle Unlimited) entirely and went ahead and preordered the whole set.

My only qualm with the series on the whole is the fact that every book centers a M/F relationship, and all of the central characters from what I remember are allocishet, or at least are not described as something different. It would have been affirming to see Juneteenth from the point of view of a queer character, even if the pairing remained M/F. Maybe one or both of the protagonists could have been bi or pan, or maybe we could have had a transmasc member of the Mr. Black organization. If the Baes organizers decide to expand their Juneteenth universe, I hope they invite in some authors who might be interested in doing something like that with their world.

There are plenty of ways to get started, from reading in order of release date or alphabetical order, or just picking authors or titles that appeal to you. You can start with the one that takes place in the city nearest to you, or your hometown! You can put all of the titles on a spinning wheel and let gravity make the decision. Or you can start with these three and read the rest at your leisure!

Mr. Alpha Undone by Kelsey Green If you’re only going to read one, you should probably start with the one that takes place in Texas. Mr. Black Dallas, Titan Stone, always gets his way. So when his planning for the Dallas Juneteenth celebration gets disrupted by a beautiful photographer who refuses to toe the line, his entire world gets shaken up. But he’s never backed down from a fight, and he doesn’t intend to now.

Mr. Straight Up No Chaser by Sherelle Green If you want to start from the beginning, this is the one that was released first (the eleven volumes were first released in a countdown to Juneteenth in 2023). We’re introduced to the history of Juneteenth and the Mr. Black organization via Mr. Black Chicago, Porter Crowne, who is determined to put on a larger-than-ever Juneteenth celebration, and the body positivity influencer driving him crazy, Alanna. The two share a desire to serve Black Chicago and a less-than-sparkling past, and their history is bound to make both of their lives and any potential romance a lot more complicated.

Mr. Play for Keeps by Kimmie Ferrell Having been born and raised there, I love a good DC story that talks about the real people who live there instead of pretending everybody works on The Hill and lives in the suburbs. In this one, Nathaniel needs a replacement when he loses a big vendor for the upcoming Juneteenth celebration. His best option is his one-night-stand turned FWB Stephanie, who runs a holistic skincare company and doesn’t believe in commitment. But Nathaniel is determined to spend the four straight days he has with her to convince her that they both deserve to turn their Not Relationship into something real and permanent.

Once you’ve finished exploring the world of Baes of Juneteenth, there are other Baes to check out, including Four20 Bae (whose theme should be obvious), Baes of Christmas (also this), and Baes Reimagined, which drops fairy tales and folklore into the mix. 

When you’ve maxed out these books about folks doing the work, check out this list of workplace romances with unusual places of work, and then read about the OGs of interconnected series by different authors, Harlequin Category Romance.