SHIP IT BY BRITTA LUNDIN!! IT DOES HAVE NSFW/NSFW THEMES THOUGH, SO BE WARNED!!

Havemercy by Jaida Jones. I remember finding it back in school and loving the fact it was about giant magical metal dragons, their riders, war and espionage. After rereading it now, I’m surprised high school me didn’t pickup that it’s also a love story about a ward and one of those riders. It’s a great story that more people need to read. Very LGBTQ+ positive (for the time period).

Clear and Muddy Loss of Love by Qin Jun Mo Xiao (please don't laugh)

"A natural moat called the Luo river split the great land into two. Jing of the north, and Wei of the south.

One was the Prince of the grass plains who had no worries nor sorrow. One was a lawful Princess who received exclusive favour of the Emperor.

A war turned the Prince of the grass plains into an orphan, she who had laid dormant for ten years had originally planned to become a sycophantic official, to manipulate the enemy kingdom into chaos, but was appointed as Fuma at the Chionglin banquet.

Wait and see, how this debt of grudge from a fallen kingdom and devastated home will be settled"

its kind of long, but the read is basolutely worth it. I'm pretty sure it has a happy ending too!!

- I Was Born For This by Alice Oseman

- Radio Silence by Alice Oseman

- Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝

Out of Character by Jenna Miller is really good, LGBT and nerdy

The truth about keeping secrets and the things we don't see (both by Savannah Brown) are books with queer female leads! They have really nice prose and endearing characters with plots outside of just the romance aspect, but still a fun read for anyone looking for books with lgbtq+ themes!

The whole damn riordanverse.

A read a book recently called the drowning summer, it is a young adult fiction mystery book with a wlw love story. 

song of achilles! (tears guaranteed!!)

Cinderella is Dead! Amazing sapphic book with a great twist : ) Even If We Break is also good, there's a lot of LGBT rep in that one too

Cinderella is Dead! Amazing sapphic book with a great twist : ) Even If We Break is also good, there's a lot of LGBT rep in that one too

In Memoriam by Alice Winn is my favorite book ive ever read! I’ve read it four times now

Its set during ww1, two boys in boarding school are really close “friends” ;). one of them enlists in the war to hopefully escape his “unreciprocated” feelings for his friend, but the friend follows him soon after because they need each other. Devastating at parts, and heartfelt at others, its breaks you down and then gently puts you back together.

scout is not a band kid!!

the book has some pretty good representation!

while the book never says that the main character is openly gay, it really implies it. it’s a pretty short graphic novel so i’m not sure if this is what you where looking for! :3

"they both die at the end" is a good book. kinda short tho ngl

If manga counts, Rose of Versailles. It’s about a masc military woman, Oscar, (originally intended to be a lesbian, but eventually changed to bisexual due to pressure from readers in the 70s) in 18th century France, who works her way up to being Marie Antoinette’s personal guard before the revolution. 

The Lucky List

One Last Stop 

The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

It isn't a romance novel, but the main character is gay and it talks a lot about his relationships and boyfriend. It is not in any way wholesome, one again NOT a romance, and can be a little disturbing as it takes place during civil war in Sri Lanka. 

I thought the story was really good, the queer rep was nice. I would totally recommend. Even though it covered some really dark topics, there was a healthy amount of humer sprinkled in. 

heartstopper  :)

The Love + Lies of Rukhsana Ali,

Clap When You Land, 

Heartstopper ofc,

The Poet X (very briefly mentioned)

Ash by Malinda Lo

The Huntress by Malinda Lo

Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult

just realized this is a 2 year old thread... oh well.

"River of Souls" by TL Bodine. Zombie book with (somewhat subtle) political analogies and gay man main character. Good, short read. Happy ending.

"Criers War" by Nina Varela. High-fantasy with gay women leads. Definitely YA-oriented but I really enjoyed reading it back in 2021. There is a sequel out as well called "Iron Heart"  but I never got around to it.

If anyone likes horror, quite a few of Clive Barker's books have gay characters. He also has a few comics for the hellraiser series as well.

I really liked Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann. The main character is asexual. And it's a cute slice-of-life story.

I really liked Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann. The main character is asexual. And it's a cute slice-of-life story.

Wow just logged on for the first time in a long time! Thanks everyone for the suggestions!

One last stop by Casey McQuiston!!

idk if this is a book but read csm 

idk if this is a book but read csm 

hell followed with us by andrew joseph white, trans main character in an apocalyptic setting (ran away from his religious upbringing) contains body horror/descriptions of dysphoria, cast/supporting characters r LGBT+ as well! 

Spin by Rebecca Caprara is pretty good, it's a sapphic retelling of the story of Arachne.

I also liked The Immeasurable Depth of You (Maria Ingrande Mora) and Reader, I Murdered Him (Betsy Cornwell).

if ur into like fantasy, science fiction, the book More Than This is pretty kool. not a female gay character, but the main character is a gay guy. super good book, kinda matrix-ish, and i like it cuz it doesnt make him being gay a HUGE thing or anything. def recommend.

Echo after Echo is great - female characters, theater, murder mystery, romance, all in one book! 10 out of 10 would recommend!

the war of crier-lesbians

tithe by holly black 

cornelius "corny" is gay. the book is fiction about are girl who discovers the fairy world and corny is kinda her sidekick. 

Has anyone mentioned The Locked Tomb series yet? I'd be surprised if they haven't. It's like messy lesbians: the series.

The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice is a book series filled with bisexual, gender nonconforming vampires and a good majority of them are in same sex relationships! The books are super camp though and they aren’t for everyone but they’re very lgbtqia+ :333!!!

Shani and Ishus Guide To Fake Dating was rlly good, also I Kissed Shara Wheeler was good. it was kind of filled with cliches but that was so funny. I also read the Midnight Lie anddd i forgot what the second one is called but I THINK thats the first (might be the second tho you could try googling it)

I read two great books recently that are shockingly never talked about. Both are pretty dark, so that could be why.

• Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo - Andrew and Eddie did everything together, best friends bonded more deeply than brothers, until Eddie left Andrew behind to start his graduate program at Vanderbilt. Six months later, only days before Andrew was to join him in Nashville, Eddie dies of an apparent suicide. He leaves Andrew a horrible inheritance: a roommate he doesn't know, friends he never asked for, and a gruesome phantom with bleeding wrist that mutters of revenge. As Andrew searches for the truth of Eddie’s death, he uncovers the lies and secrets left behind by the person he trusted most, discovering a family history soaked in blood and death. Whirling between the backstabbing academic world where Eddie spent his days and the circle of hot boys, fast cars, and hard drugs that ruled Eddie’s nights, the walls Andrew has built against the world begin to crumble, letting in the phantom that hungers for him. [ canon gay, bisexual and trans characters ]

• Monstrilio by Gerardo Samano Cordova - Grieving mother Magos cuts out a piece of her deceased eleven-year-old son Santiago’s lung. Acting on fierce maternal instinct and the dubious logic of an old folktale, she nurtures the lung until it gains sentience, growing into the carnivorous little Monstrilio she keeps hidden within the walls of her family’s decaying Mexico City estate. Eventually, Monstrilio begins to resemble the Santiago he once was, but his innate impulses—though curbed by his biological and chosen family’s communal care—threaten to destroy this fragile second chance at life. [ canon lesbian and gay characters ]

depends on what genre u want

personally i rlly like fantasy with queer characters cause its something u rarley see

when it comes to female characters id reccomend criers war, the priory of the orange tree, and a day of fallen night

If you're into science fiction, The Silent Empire series by Steven Harper is pretty good!

The Welcome to Night Vale novel is pretty good too, as well as the next book in the Night Vale series; It Devours!

"They Both Die at the End" by Adam Silvera is a fantastic MLM story! Basically the way the world works is that every person will get a phone call 24 hours or less before they die (nothing can stop your death once you receive the phone call). It sounds like a depressing story but I personally loved everything about it (and it's not too terribly angsty, just a good amount).

Heartstopper And probably all of Alice Oseman's novels lol

if you like reading webtoon, i suggest castle swimmer :3

There's a few I like quite a lot. There's Hell Followed With us by Andrew Joseph White, a book about a 16-year-old trans man escaping from a cult in a dystopian/apocalyptic world. The author is trans as well, and very friendly in my experience. There's also the great The Song Of Achilles, about a romance between 2 ancient Greeks that puts a wonderful spin on the Illiad. Another good one would be The Sunbearer Trials, which has 2 books and is about a transmasculine demigod son of Quetzal, the goddess of birds and the like.

anything by alice oseman is marvellous. she has representation for everything

Happy Head by josh silver is a really good novel, the protagonist is gay!! 

Its basically a dystopian novel where this facility is trying to help troubled teens, only for them to realise that oh no!!! its actually selective breeding!!! and they have to escape

its really good.and i will recommend it to anyone who will listen

(allow me to use this as an excuse to infodump abt a super niche interest of mine) Lumberjanes by ND Stevenson (who also wrote SPOP and Nimona!)

(SPOILERS BTW)

-------------------

Molly and Mal are lesbians and dating

Ripley was confirmed by the writer to have identified as nonbinary in their teenhood

Jo is a trans girl

Barney is non-binary and uses they/them, they go through a pronoun transition mid-series

Diane (the goddess Artemis) is ace and sapphic and started dating a girl named Hes towards the end of the series

Diane's brother, Apollo, is bisexual

Abigail and Rosie are lesbians (doomed yuri trope !!)

And...probably more :)

Curious Tides, a very good book in general and has gays, a nonbinary character, and i think one of the girls is bi?

heartstopper (its male tho) :3 

I have no mouth has an lgbtq charater. Benny is gay