I have a post similar to this here, but this post is going to be my personal recommendations from books I’ve read. This isn’t all the lgbtq+ books I’ve read, just my favourite. ALL these books are ones in which the main character is lgbtq+
queens of geek by jen wilde: this is such a perfect read for fandom peoples. It follows three friends from Melbourne, Australia who attend Supacon (basically comic con) in America. The main character Charlie is a bisexual Chinese/Australian girl. There is side rep for anxiety, latinx representation, there is an f/f relationship where the LI is a black woman. This is #ownvoices for the bisexual and anxiety rep. trigger warnings for anxiety
when the moon was ours by anna marie mclemore: this is a magical realism book about a girl who can grow roses from her wrist and a boy who can paint moons and hang them in the sky. The main character Meil is latinx and the other main character Sam is a trans boy, and also Pakistani. There’s also a side lesbian character. This is ownvoices for the latinx rep, and the trans rep is heavily based off of the authors husband. trigger warnings for transphobia
the abyss surrounds us by emily skrutskie: LESBIAN PIRATES + SEA MONSTERS. This is sff with an f/f relationship and it’s so good. The main character is bi and also of Chinese descent, and her LI is a lesbian. There’s also a strong black woman as a side character, and it’s #ownvoices for the bisexual rep.
we are the ants by shaun david hutchinson: it’s about a boy who gets abducted by aliens – the aliens have told him on a certain date that the world will end unless he presses a red button on their spaceship, but the mc isn’t sure the world is worth saving. m/m relationship, the mc is gay and also mentally ill and his love interest is pansexual and latinx. Trigger warnings for rape and sexual assault, suicide. #Ownvoices for the gay and mental illness rep. I also highly rec SDH other books, the five stages of andrew brawley and especially at the edge of the universe.
simon vs the homo sapiens agenda by becky albertalli: this is about a boy called Simon who secretly messages a boy who anonymously goes by the name Blue at his school through email. When a classmate gets a hold of the emails, Simon gets blackmailed eventually leading to him meeting Blue. This isn’t OV but the rep is generally well liked, for example it’s Adam Silvera’s favourite book. trigger warnings for: forceful outing, alcohol use/getting drunk. There is a moving coming out in March of 2018!
aristotle and dante discover the secrets of the universe by benjamin alire saenz: literally my favourite book, about a boy called Aristotle who becomes best friends with another boy called Dante. m/m relationship, both gay and mexican and the rep is all #ownvoices. trigger warnings for homophobia, physical assault
radio silence by alice oseman: a girl called Frances randomly meets Aled, the creator of her favourite podcast, and becomes best friends with him. Frances is bisexual and biracial (Ethiopian/White) and there’s a discussed f/f relationship, as well as an m/m relationship. Aled is demisexual, and his love interest Dan is South Korean and gay. The demisexual rep is #ownvoices.
history is all you left me by adam silvera: a boy named Griffin must deal with the death of his boyfriend and ex boyfriend, and while doing so befriends Theo’s new boyfriend Jackson. Griffin is gay and has OCD while Theo is bisexual. The gay and OCD representation is #ownvoices. This book is so sad so be warned. trigger warnings for drowning, OCD and anxiety, some biphobia is not called out as well. I also highly recommend they both die at the end by adam silvera
dreadnought by April Daniels: sff where a trans girl named Danny see’s a powerful superhero die, and ends up absorbing his powers as well as having her body transformed into her ideal body. Side rep for a black lesbian girl. This is #ownvoices for the trans rep, but beware there is some pretty harsh transphobia (called out but fyi), as well as a real TERFy character. tw: transphobia, parental abuse
the long way to a small, angry planet by becky chambers: this is science fiction that follows a group of people who are travelling across space. the mc is a lesbian, and there’s an f/f relationship. this world is absolutely amazing I love it.
i feel like it’s worth noting that although her name in the sky had a happy ending, a lot of the book deals with a lot of internalized as well as external homophobia and the bullying that the girls face can be kind of extreme, so be careful if you’re looking for feel good books!
and i forgot to add: She’s My Ride Home – Jackie Bushore
Embrace in Motion / Car Pool / Wild Thing / Just Like That / One Degree of Separation / Love by the Numbers / Substitute for Love / Finders Keepers / In Deep Waters / Warming Trend / Sugar / In Every Port / Roller Coaster / All the Wrong Places / Paperback Romance / The Kiss that Counted by Karin Kallmaker
The Wild One / Dreams Found / Getting There / Dream Lover / Always and Forever / The Feel of Forever by Lyn Denison
Sierra City / Love Waits / Devil’s Rock / Artist’s Dream / Storms / Coyote Sky / No Strings / One Summer Night / Gulf Breeze / Dawn of Change by Gerri Hill
Curious Wine by Katherine V Forrest
Silent Heart / Under the Southern Cross by Claire McNab
Butch Girls Can Fix Anything by Paula Offutt
Once More with Feeling by Peggy J Herring
Sea Legs / Sumter Point / Worth Every Step / Out of Love / The House on Sandstone by KG MacGregor
Payback by Gabrielle Goldsby
1049 Club by Kim Pritekel
Bobby Blanchard, Lesbian Gym Teacher / Lois Lenz, Lesbian Secretary by Monica Nolan
Starting from Scratch / 96 Hours by Georgia Beers
Just Business by Julie Cannon
Something in the Wine by Jae
Wild at Heart by Layce Gardner
Green Eyed Monster by Gill McKnight
Babyji – Abha Dawesar
NEVER FORGET MY FAVORITE BOOK GUYS IT’S SO GOOD AND SO UNDERAPPRECIATED
a love story starring my dead best friend by emily horner
Tell me again how a crush should feel – sarah farizan
The summer i wasnt me – jessica verdi (this one is set in a gay-conversion camp though so fair warning!)
When Women Were Warriors – Catherine M Wilson. (Lady warriors with weapons! and POC main character?!)
carry onby rainbow rowell: it’s harry potter but gay and with extra scones and dumbledore wears tights
the raven cycle seriesby maggie steifvater (everyone has heard of this already so): delightfully weird with the strongest set of characters in anything i’ve read and lots of cars and bees
shades of magic series by ve schwab: whimsical fantasy and cross-dressing pirates and again, brilliant characters and just excitingness
monsters of verity duology by ve schwab: so so dark with savagely beautiful imagery and creepy nursery rhymes and almost horror writing in book 2
villains duology by ve schwab: moral ambiguity!!! edginess!!! subversion of the superhero genre!!! characters you both like and hate!!! gritty urban settings!!!
six of crows duologyby leigh bardugo: more moral ambiguity and an absolutely stellar cast of six with an insanely well-crafted heist
the great library series by rachel caine: a book about books do i need to say more also christopher wolfe is my dad, the worldbuilding is insane and this is SO underrated
the girl at midnight seriesby melissa grey: the poetic justice makes me cry every time i think about it and honestly it’s just worth reading to see the character development dorian goes through
magisterium series by cassandra clare and holly black: harry potter but so much darker even though it’s mg not ya, and it has already made me cry my entire soul out so considering it’s written by 2 of the most popular authors this is criminally underrated honestly
strange the dreamerby laini taylor: i’m only halfway through this but the worldbuilding is amazing and the writing is absolutely gorgeous and it actually has a plot unlike some books this reminds me of
CONTEMPORARY
all for the game seriesby nora sakavic: so dark and so quick-paced and exciting with more amazing characters and more jaw-dropping plot twists and a mc who likes to destroy people on live tv
one of us is lying by karen m. mcmanus: criminally good ending that might be a direct comparison to a certain other popular tv series around rn with also a good cast of characters
troublemakers by catherine barter: really poignant narrative on protesting and things and it really helped me come to terms with the attack on my city in may
releaseby patrick ness: ok this crosses over into fantasy but it’s like 80% contemporary and it’s just a really good story on coming out into a homophobic environment and coming to terms with being loved and stuff
a list of cages by robin roe: just straight-up made me cry until i couldnt breathe honestly it has lots of narrative abt child abuse but if that’s not bad for you it’s really really good
HISTORICAL
the song of achilles by madeline miller: again, i straight up cried by the end of this one. the dramatic irony (cough cough what has hector ever done) is honestly the best dramatic irony in any book ive ever read ever
the gentleman’s guide to vice and virtue by mackenzi lee: just a really fun whimsical book with pirates and a cute relationship and good side characters and things like that
PLEASE SEND ME MORE I’M RUNNING OUT OF BOOKS TO READ
Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit by Jaye Robin Brown
A&B by JC Lillis*
Style by Chelsea Cameron
Dating Sarah Cooper by Siera Maley
There are also two multi-POV books that each have one wlw POV/Romance and are a lot of fun:
Cherry by Lindsey Rosin
Winning by Lara Deloza
For a little less lighthearted/funny but still on the lighter side, and with happy endings try:
Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour
How to Make a Wish by Ashley Herring Blake
Our Own Private Universe by Robin Talley
Keeping Her Secret by Sarah Nicolas
Dirty London by Kelley York
Girl Mans Up by M-E Girard
Get it Together, Delilah by Erin Gough
*It does totally stand alone, but it’s a lot more fun if you read How to Repair a Mechanical Heart (which is mlm with a Simon vibe) first, because those characters appear a lot
When it comes to asexual representation in books, I’m most
interested in reading ace main characters written by ace authors. Ace side
characters are always great, but I really love getting the ace character’s
point of view, and I believe authors who are ace themselves are best equipped
to pull that off realistically. Thinking about this, I ended up making the
following list of all the books/series I could find that have an ace-spec MC
(or at least a point-of-view character) and were written by an ace-spec author.
Click the links for more info and discussion. If you know of any I missed, I’d
love to hear about them!
because you can never have too many lgbtq+ rec lists right? here’s yet another one for your pleasure. i’ve tried for the most part to include books by lgbtq+ authors (there are some that aren’t, i realise, mostly because they were so good i had to include them), and i’ve also, to the best of my knowledge/memory, put trigger warnings alongside.
criteria for inclusion
happy ending
no bury your gays
lgbtq+ character is the/a main and gets a pov
not harmful representation
lgbtq-ness is not the only plotline – tho there may be argued to be some exceptions to this included. i mean more like, the plot does not revolve around them realising they’re gay and having a terrible time of everything before someone (usually straight) tells them they’re allowed to be happy or whatever. you know what kind of book i mean.
most importantly (lol) i liked it
p.s. there will be more parts to this, as i read more. if there’s one not on here that you think should be, feel free to ask about it. i’ll either have not read it or it’ll be excluded for one of the reasons above. equally, if there’s one on here with bad rep of any sort, let me know and i’ll take it off.
i don’t see enough of these books so i decided to make a post about them so more people will read them:
–the darkest part of the forest by holly black (ya; fantasy; stand alone; listen y’all the boy gets the prince in this one its glorious)
–the coldest girl in coldtown by holly black (ya; fantasy; stand alone; not as gay but still very enjoyable i even did a project on it)
–tithe by holly black (ya; fantasy; series; the first book is tithe and this series is actually connected to tsc im pretty sure like its about the unseelie and seelie courts yall)
–all for the gameby nora sakavic (i think its ya?; sports gays; first book is the foxhole court; i know that it’s all over my blog but why isnt this book fucking #1 on every list im pissed about this its the best thing ive ever read but major tws)
–daughter of smoke and bone by laini taylor (ya; fantasy; series; this one is so wild and creative and i love it so much)
–lockwood & co by jonathan stroud (this is more like pjo series level not ya; paranormal; series; the first book is called the screaming staircase and its so cute and enjoyable its about a ghost hunting company basically)
–the lunar chronicles by marissa meyer (ya; scifi; series; the first book is cinder and its all retellings of fairy tales but scifi and badass)
–fangirl by rainbow rowell (ya; realistic; stand alone HOWEVER if you have heard of carry on that is literally the fanfiction the protagonist was writing in fangirl so they are connected)
–carry on by rainbow rowell (ya; fantasy; stand alone however as mentioned above its connected to fangirl)
–legend by marie lu (ya; dystopian; series; first book is legend)
–the secret history by donna tartt (this one is adult for sure; realistic; stand alone; this is easily the best standalone book i have ever read and really tied as the best book ive ever read)
–red queen by victoria aveyard (ya; fantasy i guess idk what genre this would actually be? dystopian? scifi? idek; series; first book is red queen)
–slasher girls & monster boys (this is a ya i guess horror/thriller compilation from several authors including marie lu, leigh bardugo, and others)
please go read these books and i hope y’all enjoy them as i have!!!
Nothing but My Aching Soul 