I read another one of TJR's books within the Evelyn Hugo "universe" and it also has a queer character. I may be wrong, but I don't think the author is queer. Perhaps that's why the romances feel inauthentic to me. I'm a cishet woman btw, so by no means do I feel like I'm an expert on queer relationships. Nor do I feel like only queer authors can write stories with an LGBTQ character. I think I just feel like the best relationships in stories are drawn from real experience and the author didn't have that experience to draw on.