Fall 2026 is about to become aggressively Italian, emotionally repressed, and catastrophically gay.
There are books you write.
And then there are universes that slowly start taking over your brain at 2am while you’re driving down Route 1 wondering why every Italian family in New Jersey communicates exclusively through:
food
yelling
emotional avoidance
and unsolicited home improvement advice.
So…
I’m officially announcing that a brand-new MM Romance universe is currently in development for Fall 2026:
THE RULES JERSEY BROKE
And honestly?
This might be one of the most personal, funniest, loudest, and emotionally devastating worlds I’ve built yet.
This series is deeply rooted in New Jersey Italian culture:
Hamilton kitchens that smell like sauce at 7am
Catholic guilt that qualifies as cardio
cousins everywhere
construction businesses run like family dynasties
emotional repression disguised as masculinity
espresso after midnight
and entire family arguments happening while someone’s carrying a tray of cannoli
At the center of Book One:
No Son of Mine (Except Obviously You’re Still My Son)
…is Jimmy Santoro.
A contractor.
A builder.
A son who spent his entire life trying to fit inside a version of masculinity that never fully belonged to him.
Then one night at the Met Opera he meets Adrian Moretti:
a Sicilian-born attorney living in Hoboken who understands Jimmy far too quickly.
What starts as attraction slowly becomes something much more dangerous:
the possibility of a future.
And in true AQ fashion:
absolutely nobody handles this calmly.
Not:
Antonio Santoro, the old-school patriarch trying to reconcile love with fear
Maria Santoro, who weaponizes lasagna and emotional intuition
Sal, the exhausted older brother trying to survive this circus
or Anthony Santoro…
…who may genuinely become one of the most chaotic bisexual men I’ve ever written.
This series is NOT about perfect acceptance.
It’s not a Hallmark movie.
And it’s definitely not sanitized.
It’s about:
inherited masculinity
immigrant family expectations
queer identity inside deeply traditional spaces
emotional survival
leaving home
and discovering that sometimes love doesn’t heal cleanly…
…it heals loudly.
Very loudly.
Honestly, this universe feels different already.
Bigger.
Warmer.
Sharper.
More Espresso.
And somehow incredibly Jersey.
If you’ve ever:
sat at a Sunday dinner pretending everything was fine
loved your family while also suffocating inside it
feared disappointing people more than losing yourself
or tried building a life that didn’t match the blueprint handed to you…
…this series is probably going to hurt a little.
In the best way.
Welcome to the Santoro family.
You’ll laugh.
You’ll cry.
You’ll absolutely need blood pressure medication by Chapter 15.
Coming Fall 2026 from AQ-Books.
