My "to read" list on Goodreads is never-ending. I'm always on the hunt for the next new book that I can snag, read, and rave about before anyone else gets their hands on it. 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. Lucky for you, these books by LGBTQ+ authors hold all of these qualities.
If I asked you to take a look at your bookshelf to see how many spots were filled with a book not written by a straight white man, most people wouldn't be counting for long. So, yes, we have a long way to go toward diversifying the publishing industry, but thankfully, more stories featuring diverse authors like these are getting the space to be told. Ahead, here are some of the best books by LGBTQ+ authors spanning genres from romance, mystery, and more.
Books of Essays by LGBTQ+ Authors
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. The collection explores vignettes about the lives of gay men in the various worlds they inhabit, from secretive subcultures to community havens. It’s erotic, provocative, and full of wit.
For many of us, our first love—and sometimes our deepest—ends up being with our female friends and the various women in our lives. Lilly Dancyger's collection of essays reflects on those closest to her, from childhood BFFs to her mother to sexual awakenings, and what their bonds say about the spaces women create for themselves and their identities.
With his comedy newsletter, advice column, and former pop culture series on ELLE, R. Eric Thomas has become one of the most hilarious people on the internet. His sense of humor seamlessly translates to his book, Here for It: Or, How to Save Your Soul in America, which features essays on reclaiming his identity and ultimately finding self-acceptance.
Literary Fiction by LGBTQ+ Authors
When Maggie Krause returns home after her mom's sudden death, she finds a detached dad and a grieving, enraged brother. She doesn't expect to find five sealed envelopes from her mother, each addressed to a mysterious man she's never heard of. To find some closure, Maggie embarks on a road trip to hand-deliver her mother's letters to learn more about the men of her past. It's like The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, but better.
If you haven't read Torrey Peters's Detransition, Baby, do yourself a favor and order it stat. The book centers on three people—Reese, Ames, and Katrina—whose lives become intertwined when Ames decides to detransition and his boss-slash-lover becomes pregnant.
Hometowns can be complicated for many of us, especially those in the LGBTQ+ community. In Homebodies, Mickey finds herself returning to the place that raised her when she’s replaced at her media job and attempts to shine light on the challenges Black women face in the workplace, but is ultimately ignored. What results is a touching story turning away from the places that wronged you, examining where you came from, and stepping into your own power.
Housemates is like a contemporary, queerer take on the American dream. A road novel, it follows two young artists who form a deep connection as roommates and set out on a road trip when one is left with a hefty inheritance. Traveling from Philadelphia to rural Pennsylvania, they become even closer through discussions of art and in their embrace of America through the open road.
Vietnamese-American poet Ocean Vuong’s debut novel is gorgeous through and through. He tells the story of a boy, known as Little Dog, and his family trauma. Framed as a letter from Little Dog to his mother, he reflects on their complicated relationship, her and her mother’s immigrant story, and his journey discovering his sexuality. It’s tragic in its telling of coming to terms with having faced abuse and sacrifice but finds beauty in our fight for survival.
While Luciana would rather be out meeting girls and enjoying her senior year of high school, she faces traditionalism and frustration at home when her grandmother must move into her bedroom when she’s forced to evacuate a hurricane. Formatted between Luciana’s phone conversations with her older sister Mari, it’s a sweet story of how she faces challenges, learns from her elders, and embraces being a leader.
Let's go back to 1993. Paul Polydoris is thriving in his university town, but he hides one thing about himself. He's a shapeshifter who's sometimes Paul, sometimes Polly, and only his best friend Jane knows. Polydoris takes these identities with him from Iowa City, Boystown, Provincetown, and San Francisco in hopes of finding self-discovery. You'll wish you knew him IRL.
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. Searching for her in a journey spanning Europe and America, he questions his identity in a moving exploration of coming to terms with who we are.
In Portland, artist Andrea Morales is thriving in her local lesbian community, until she has a one-night stand with a man and gets pregnant. Despite her friends's thoughts, she has the baby. 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.
The small town of Big Burr, Kansas, has just been named "the most homophobic town in the U.S." by a national nonprofit. To help them out, a task force of queer volunteers decided to move and live in the Midwestern town for two years. The educational experiment doesn't exactly go as planned, but brings everyone together more than they ever would've thought.
Kit takes a weekend vacay with her friend after his boyfriend breaks up with him and she’s grieving her sister’s death. Then, when returns home to mom duties in the Dallas suburbs, she finds herself fixating on the wild child she used to be and fantasizing about turns her life could take. Both funny and meditative on loss, it’s a reminder that you always hold onto the youthful person you once were and still can be.
Memoirs by LGBTQ+ Authors
Not many books have been published about domestic abuse within the queer community, but Carmen Maria Machado addresses the topic deftly in her memoir. She utilizes tropes from folklore and reflects on the moments in her life that led her to be "in the dream house," or where she once lived with an emotionally abusive, manipulative partner, as if they were dreams and nightmares.
In The Purpose of Power, Alicia Garza, cofounder of Black Lives Matter, provides readers with informative lessons on how to start a movement and the lessons she's learned to create meaningful change.
Zoë Bossiere, who now identifies as gender-fluid, writes in this memoir of their childhood experiencing life as a transgender boy upon moving to the Cactus Country RV Park in the Sonoran Desert region of Tucson, Arizona. The desert environment is described in stunning detail as Zoë discovers gender identity through both its harshness and beauty. It becomes a moving tale of stepping into one’s sense of self, as Zoë adopts androgynous pronouns during adolescence and learns to confront binaries.
Mysteries and Thrillers by LGBTQ+ Authors
If you love queer horror stories, Helen House should be at the top of your stack. The nightmarish scenario of meeting your partner's parents for the first time proves to be outright terrifying for the unnamed narrator of this novel. Before their trip, she begins to wonder what her girlfriend has been hiding, upon realizing that they both have sisters who have died—and then eeriness abounds.
Rumaan Alam's Leave the World Behind topped the New York Times bestseller list and was adapted into a Netflix movie for good reason. In the novel, Alam writes about a white family on vacation whose weekend getaway gets interrupted late one night by an older Black couple who owns the home they are renting. What follows is a story about race, class, and family that will leave you analyzing our world.
This work of historical fiction from the author of The Room is set in the Irish midlands in 1859. Lib Wright, a British nurse, is sent to a tiny village to observe the wonder of 11-year-old Anna O'Donnell, who has survived without food for months. (Cue eyebrow raise.) Part mystery and romance, this book is the ultimate page-turner.
Romance Novels by LGBTQ+ Authors
Naoise Dolan's debut novel Exciting Times is about an Irish millennial named Ava who has moved to Hong Kong to teach children English. She soon finds herself in a love triangle with a British banker, Julian, and a Hong Kong-born lawyer named Edith. One side is filled with familiarity, and the other tempts the path of the unknown, what will she choose?
Milk Fed has the kind of premise that will stop you in your tracks: a woman with disordered eating habits and a poor relationship with her mother meets and falls for an Orthodox Jewish woman who works at a frozen yogurt shop. But with author Melissa Broder’s sense of humor and thorough understanding of female relationships, it’s the kind of book that will keep you well-fed in more ways than one.
This sexy and humorous novel by indie lit fave Anna Dorn is an homage to lesbian pulp fiction. Centered around a struggling L.A.-based author and perfume bottle collector named Astrid, it follows the mess she creates for herself when she becomes romantically involved with her neighbor, and an opportunity presents itself to revive her career that has plateaued due to controversy. It’s a SoCal sapphic spiral of melodrama; let the seductive notes and intoxicating fumes take over.
Robert Jones, Jr.'s debut novel, The Prophets, is a story centered on two enslaved men, Isaiah and Samuel, who live together on a plantation in the Deep South. Together, they're forced to confront their oppression, loyalty, and love when one of their own turns on them.
On one side of the Atlantic, you have Alex Claremont-Diaz, son of the president of the United States, and on the other, Prince Henry of the British royal family. Shockingly, they don't like each other. So when they're photographed fighting at a royal wedding, both parties are forced into a fake friendship to keep the tabloids at bay. Soon the friendship blossoms into something more that could put both of their countries at risk. Casey McQuiston's debut is like a warm hug you never want to break away from (and its rom-com adaptation on Prime Video is equally as delightful).
