Red, White, and Royal Blue meets WWE SmackDown! in Hold Me Like a Grudge (Berkley Trade Paperback Original; out on March 31). Author Celine Ong (she/they) debuts with a story that follows a pair of rival wrestlers battling for the World Championship title—and against their own chemistry. Ong delivers a sports romance that she describes as a “love letter to the queer community’s indomitable fighting spirit” that offers a unique exploration of queerness as told through the lens of a traditionally white and heteronormative industry: the world of professional wrestling.
Like the author, the protagonist is Singaporean and bisexual, and Ong felt compelled to write a story exploring what it means to carve out a place for yourself within a space that historically denied your identity, while also shining a light on the queer and prominent female wrestlers who made their mark in the industry. The result is a steamy, banter-filled forbidden romance with tender themes of acceptance and the myriad ways that families are formed.
“I have always been a huge fan of professional wrestling. There’s just something so exhilarating about the thrill of the rivalries, the theatrics of the sport-slash-entertainment, and the glitz and fireworks of Wrestlemania weekend,” Ong said in the book’s announcement.
From its dramatic gimmicks to death-defying stunts, everything in the world of professional wrestling is an act. Asher Ross’ hatred for golden boy Caleb Knight is not. So when Asher finally earns a spot on Global Elite Wrestling’s main roster and gets the opportunity to strip Caleb of his World Championship title, it’s easy enough to play up their rivalry for the cameras. He just wasn’t expecting the chemistry between them to be charged with something more.
Through training sessions, injuries and impromptu road trips, Caleb’s icy demeaner melts away, and Asher begins to see the real man behind the cruel persona GEW has molded him into. A shaky truce soon evolves into feelings neither want to deny, but their careers depend on them remaining rivals, both in and out of the ring. As Asher and Caleb grapple with what they truly want in an industry with a history of denying queerness, their forbidden romance comes crashing down, and both men are forced to decide if their relationship is real enough to last, and just how much they’re willing to fight for it.
“Ultimately, wrestling is drag! To this day, however, queerness is something that big wrestling companies like the WWE tend to mock or sweep under the rug… In addition to its exploration of what queerness in this industry could look like, [Hold me Lika a Grudge] is also an ode to queer wrestlers who quietly paved the way through history,” they stated.
Celine Ong is a bisexual, Singaporean writer who has her B.A. in Psychology and is currently an Associate Psychologist working primarily with her local queer community. Hold Me Like a Grudge is her debut novel.
–From staff reports