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Told in multiple perspectives, a couple breaks up and is immediately pulled into dark parts of Nigerian underworld. I was delighted to find out that there was still so much growth in store for Oliver and Luc. That, combined with how dynamic the side characters were, made for a wonderful sequel. You'll wish you knew him IRL.
'People Collide' by Esle McElroy
People Collide presents a Kafka-like metamorphosis, but one about gender: One day a man named Eli wakes up and realizes he’s swapped bodies with his wife Elizabeth, who seems to have disappeared without a trace.
Sasha and Jesse are a butch/femme couple invited on a trip to a cabin with an older lesbian couple they admire. Now, 10 years later, her daughter Lucia is desperate to know anything about her father, forcing Andrea to dive into the past she was happy to leave behind.
'Under the Rainbow' by Celia Laskey
The small town of Big Burr, Kansas, has just been named "the most homophobic town in the U.S." by a national nonprofit.
I was hooked from the start and felt myself drawn into the main character’s inner monologue.
I truly cannot explain enough how deeply moving this book was. Lakelore
Author: Anna-Marie McLemore
Release Date: March 8th, 2022
Find the Book: Goodreads | StoryGraph | Bookshop
Lakelore is the perfect choice for lovers of adorable YA coming of age novels.
This may be in part due to my obsession with aesthetically-pleasing covers or a plot that sounds so intriguing I have to stop whatever I'm doing to read it.
This college campus novel is brimming with queer joy while carefully handling topics like mental health, sexual assault and outgrown friendships.
It lent an emotional gravitas to every single word that could not have been achieved any other way. Liquid
Author: Mariam Rahmani
Release Date: March 11th, 2025
Find the Book:Goodreads | StoryGraph | Bookshop
I am Liquid‘s biggest defender.
He tells the story of a boy, known as Little Dog, and his family trauma. This is an enemies to lovers story about how, sometimes, opposites can attract. I will note that this could be extremely triggering for those with an eating disorder, as the main plot is that Rose Winters becomes increasingly anorexic until she is ultimately institutionalized.
I loved every minute of it, especially the way it allowed characters to find themselves and share that discovery with each other in their own time without the entire book devolving into a “coming out” novel. The educational experiment doesn't exactly go as planned, but brings everyone together more than they ever would've thought.
'We Were the Universe' by Kimberly King Parsons
Kit takes a weekend vacay with her friend after his boyfriend breaks up with him and she’s grieving her sister’s death.
These two teens fall in love with each other at the same time they are learning to love themselves. The two sisters used to be snakes, and now they’re immortal human beings drifting in and out of each other’s lives.
Ahead, here are some of the best books by LGBTQ+ authors spanning genres from romance, mystery, and more.
'100 Boyfriends' by Brontez Purnell
Brontez Purnell had long been a hero of the indie lit world before he published the short story collection 100 Boyfriends, but this work made him even more of a name to watch.
A lesbian and a gay man drift in and out of each other’s lives over the course of the years spanning from college through adulthood.