In the midst of Riese and I working on this list of upcoming LGBTQ+ books for June 2025, news began circulating that the Chicago Sun-Times and other newspapers had published a syndicated summer books reading list that was generated by AI. While the list was full of real authors, the books attributed to them were largely made up. Only five in 15 titles were real, the rest were cobbled together imagined descriptions pulled from the dregs of AI slop.

Riese and I spend so many hours on these monthly books previews for Autostraddle. Could AI do it faster? Sure. They could do something faster, but it wouldn’t be the list you see here. AI misses books, labels things gay that aren’t gay, makes some up and could even pull transphobic books if they had the right keywords attached to them. (Out of curiosity, Riese asked Gemini to pull release dates for a list of 2025 LGBTQ+ books she found on Goodreads. It got about half of them wrong.) Regardless of quality or accuracy alone, the list would be soulless. Two real queer humans curate this list for you every month, and we do so with the deep knowledge of the queer publishing landscape and its history. AI only has slop and keywords.

One frustrating response to the AI reading list debacle I saw made fun of the writer behind it for using a cheap trick to complete such an easy task. Writing books previews like this is not easy. Devaluing this work is not the answer. Our LGBTQ-specific lists, which we now do monthly instead of seasonally, require a tremendous amount of work. Riese uses all resources available to her to try to find the titles, authors, and pub dates for upcoming queer books. This requires referencing a compendium of various sources, from Amazon’s “Coming Soon” sub-section to publisher catalogues to PR emails we’ve been sent to lists on other websites like Book Riot, Literary Hub, The Lesbrary, Electric Literature, and LGBTQ Reads. She also pulls the Bookshop.org links for all the titles.

Riese then passes that list off to me, and I essentially check her work, using all the resources available to me to see if anything has been missed. Literally always, I make additions when we get to this point, which is not a knock on Riese’s research abilities, which are pristine. It just really is a two-person job. There are plenty of queer books, especially in the literary fiction realm, that don’t necessarily use words like “queer” or “lesbian” or “gay” in their description copy, so it takes a closer look or personal knowledge of the author to determine that queerness. We are bibliophiles. We recognize the names of queer authors or celebrities, we recognize popular series, we recognize iconography or visual cues invisible to AI.

It’s not just about research, it’s the realities of our lives as queer writers and editors, socializing with and working with other queer writers. We both have so many personal connections with authors that enable us to add more titles to the list that might be more underground. I always add some harder-to-discover poetry collections. I go to dozens of literary events a year, as an attendee and as a panelist myself. My wife is a queer novelist, so between the two of us, we get a constant stream of ARCs sent to our home. AI famously does not have a literary wife.

I then write up descriptions for each book, usually only having been able to actually read a handful of them ahead of time and not wanting to just echo the publisher description word for word. So I’ll pull out the parts of the book’s premise I think will be most interesting to our readers specifically, usually the parts most interesting to me, too.

By this point, I have no idea how many hours Riese and I have put into this — maybe three days, if I had to guess — but after finishing those descriptions, double checking all the pub dates and name spellings, and pulling all the images and writing alt text descriptions for them, the list starts to look like a list. We then work with our coworker Motti to figure out how to best social it. At no point does AI touch the process, because it would suck the life out of it.

The fact that this list is painstakingly researched and written by two queer human readers is part of its value. You can trust us as experts. We’ve seen over and over again how AI is not to be trusted. But you can also see our humanity come through in this list, in our nuances, in the authentic queer perspectives we bring to the titles we choose to champion.

You should also read Maris Kreizman on this issue. She writes:

There are so many factors to consider when putting together a list. I not only want to feature the best books, but I also want diversity of topic, of tone, of author background, of publisher size, of general popularity. I use my expertise to weigh my choices and game them out to create a balanced list that reflects both my personal taste plus the voice of the outlet I’m writing for. I would wager to say that ChatGPT can’t do this, and now it’s just a matter of convincing the world, including media bosses and readers alike, that there is value in what I do.

I couldn’t agree more. June is an especially busy time for queer books, because publishers like to capitalize on Pride month roundups and bookstore display tables. The density of June’s LGBTQ+ book lineup requires even greater attention to the painstaking details, research, and nuances of this work we do, making sure we’re not just championing the titles on every Pride month upcoming book list but also the ones at the margins. We don’t get every queer book coming out on here, and we don’t pretend to, but we do try to offer a wide range of genres, identities, tones, and themes so that there’s a little bit of something for everyone. It’s a labor of love.

And with all that, I’d like to remind you that we can’t do what we do without the support of our members. For AF+ members, Autostraddle x For Them has rolled out some new hats specifically for queer book lovers, include the Read a Fucking Book hat which nods to Autostraddle’s long legacy of covering queer books (before it was cool to do so) and the Banned Books Reader hat, so you can wear your support for banned books on your head and also know you’ve put $$$ into the queer media committed to continuing to cover those banned books. Take a look:

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Autostraddle’s Top Most Anticipated LGBTQ Books for June 2025

Atmosphere: A Love Story, by Taylor Jenkins Reid (June 3, Romance, Thriller)

Huge news for The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo heads! Taylor Jenkins Reid, who recently came out as bisexual, has penned a thrilling new lesbian love story set in the 1980s and involving a SPACE MISSION. The romance that unfolds is between one woman in space and one on the ground, which as Riese has pointed out is a bizarrely popular setup, as seen on Netflix’s space seriesAwayand in Apple TV’sInvasion. Atmosphere has indeed also already been optioned for film.

Be Gay Do Crime by multiple authors, edited by Molly Llewellyn and Kristel Buckley (June 3, Short Fiction)

I, Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya, have a short story in this anthology of nasty stories in which gays are behaving very badly. I feel so lucky to share the pages of this book with so many queer geniuses, like Alissa Nutting, Temim Fruchter, Myriam Lacroix, Anna Dorn, Mac Crane, SJ Sindu, Priya Guns, and so many more! You can read Fruchter’s story from the anthology on Autostraddle. And if you want to read more about some of the stories contained within as well as learn those stories’ origins, take a look at the Inside the Anthology piece published by LGBTQ Reads, which includes a description and artist statement about my story “Of Course, A Curse”, about a woman who destroys her girlfriend’s favorite hat after becoming convinced it’s cursed.

The Can-Do Mindset, by Candace Parker (June 3, Memoir)

The one and only WNBA superstar Candace Parker has penned a memoir that doubles as a self-help book hinging on her daily mantra of “Can-Do” (which was also her nickname as a child). In the book, she uses her personal stories both on and off the court to illuminate how this mindset has helped her achieve her purpose.

The Dry Season: A Memoir of Pleasure in a Year Without Sex, by Melissa Febos (June 3, Memoir)

I have been so excited for this book ever since I heard Melissa read from it a couple summers ago. I mean, look, I’m a Febos completist. I read everything she writes, and Abandon Me is one of my favorite books of all time. Well, The Dry Season, which I’ve already had the chance to devour, is a perfect companion to that previous Febos work. It details the author’s one year commitment to herself to remain celibate, an exercise not necessarily in restraint but in self-discovery and excavation. I am sure I will have more to write about this book very soon. For now, you can get a taste in the essay excerpted in the New York Times (which is actually the portion of the book I heard Melissa read from that summer) as well as in the NYT profile of her ahead of the book’s release.

A Language of Limbs, by Dylin Hardcastle (June 3, Literary Fiction)

I’m in the midst of reading this formally inventive novel, which begins with a seismic event in Newcastle, Australia in 1972 when a teenage girl is caught kissing her neighbor in a forbidden act of queer love. The narrative then splits into two possible stories —one where her family kicks her out of the house and she ends up at a queer communal home in Sydney, and another in which she represses her queerness and feelings for her neighbor friend and makes her way to a university in Sydney to study English literature. It’s like gay, literary Sliding Doors. And its told in gorgeous, often fragmentary prose.

Songs of No Provenance, by Lydi Conklin (June 3, Literary Fiction)

From the author of the excellent queer story collection Rainbow Rainbow comes their debut novel, which follows indie folk singer Joan Vole as she flees her life in New York after a scandalous performance on stage and ends up teaching at a writing camp for teens in rural Virginia. There, she encounters her toxic relationship to making art, a complicated history with a friend/mentee, and a burgeoning closeness with a nonbinary artist also on the camp staff. Complicated mentorship and artistic turmoil? Yeah, I will be reading this one ASAP. We also recently published a gorgeous essay written by Lydi ahead of the book’s release.

So Gay For You: Friendship, Found Family, and the Show That Started It All, by Kate Moennig and Leisha Hailey (June 3, Memoir)

You know ’em, you love ’em, and they’ve written a book for you, homos! This joint memoir tracks the trailblazing success of The L Word and how the show and its fans forever changed the careers and lives of real-life friends Kate Moennig and Leisha Hailey. It includes all sorts of never-before-told/seen stories and photos. Between this and the Jennifer Beals L Word photography book, fans of the original series are well fed this year!

Backlight, by Pirkko Saisio, translated by Mia Spangenberg (June 10 Literary Fiction)

This breakout Finnish queer novel has been translated by Mia Spangenberg and tells the story of young Pirkko from teenagehood through her young adult life working at a Swiss orphanage in the summer of 1968. It’s a story about the writing life, language, and suppressed queerness, political and personal narratives all tangled up together.

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, by V.E. Schwab (June 10, Historical Fantasy)

A genre-bending work of fantasy and horror, this new title from V.E. Schwab tells three interlocking stories: one of hunger, set in 1532 in Santo Domingo de la Calzada; one of love, set in 1827 in London; and one of rage set in 2019 in Boston. The throughline? Vampires, my dear! The book received a starred Kirkus review, which describes the book as “a beautiful meditation on queer identity against a supernatural backdrop.”

Girls Girls Girls, by Shoshana von Blanckensee (June 17, Literary Fiction)

In the summer of 1996, best friends and secret girlfriends Hannah and Sam drive across the country from Long Beach, New York to San Francisco to get away from their hometown and out from under the thumb of Hannah’s devout Orthodox Jewish mother. In San Francisco, they find queer community for the first time and can be out together as a couple. They also start stripping together at The Chez Paree, adding another secret to the list of things Hannah’s keeping from her family.

Terror Counter, by Fargo Nissim Tbakhi (June 24, Poetry)

From a queer Palestinian performance artist comes this debut poetry collection of Palestinian survival, imagination, preservation, and liberation. The collection experiments with various forms, including the invented visual form of the Gazan Tunnel. You can read excerpted poems online.

And now enjoy the rest of our most anticipated LGBTQ books for June 2025!

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June 3

Ordinary Love, by Marie Rutkoski (Literary Fiction, Romance)

Emily’s on-paper perfect life —a townhouse on the UES, two kids, and a husband —is of course not perfect at all. Her marriage is in shambles, her relationship with her parents is strained, and she’s still hurt from a long-ago heartbreak that has never really left her. Enter: her ex-girlfriend! Emily’s high school girlfriend Gen is a famous Olympian now with a roster of high profile ex-girlfriends, and her re-entry into Emily’s life of course kicks up the drama of the past while also threatening to upend Emily’s life in the present.

A Family Matter, by Claire Lynch (Literary Fiction)

A huge family secret lives at the core of this book, which is told across two timelines: 1982 and 2022. In the 1982 timeline, Dawn is a young mother to a daughter who is settling into a life with her husband, when Hazel shows up and changes everything. She then has to fight for her daughter when she’s punished purely for who she loves.

Of Monsters and Mainframes, by Barbara Truelove (Sci-Fi)

This sci-fi/horror novel features monsters…in space! Ever wonder what it would look like if Dracula showed up on a spaceship? Well, here’s your answer! The publisher describes it as “the queer love child of pulp horror and ​classic ​sci-fi,” which did indeed pique my interest.

There Are Reasons For This, by Nini Berndt (Literary Fiction)

Atmospheric and strange, this novel follows Lucy as she heads to Denver in search of Helen, the woman loved by her dead brother Mikey. Climate crisis looms over the story, which feels like it’s set in a not so distant future. It’s a weird one, but listen to my wife who blurbed it and described it as a “queer gut punch of a novel.”

Kill Creatures, by Rory Power (Horror)

A dark and twisty thriller, Kill Creatures is about the summer night when Luce, Edie, Jane, and Nan took a boat out for one last river swim. Only Nan returns, the others disappearing forever…until…a year later at the memorial for the missing girls, Luce emerges from the water. This is awfully shocking for Nan…because she killed Luce, right before she killed Edie and Jane. Yikes!

All This Can Be True, by Jen Michalski (Literary Fiction)

Lacie Johnson is planning to divorce her husband and start her life over now that their kids are grown, but that plan is complicated by the fact of her husband ending up in a coma. In the hospital halls, she meets Quinn, who is passing through on her way to a co-op of grief survivors on a remote island after losing her daughter. Quinn is also the former singer of a post-riot grrrl band who left the band over a decade before. And she has a connection to Lacie’s husband Derek that she has to keep secret or else risk her burgeoning connection with Lacie. The novel alternates perspectives.

Cosmic Love at the Multiverse Hair Salon, by Annie Mare (Romance, Sci-Fi)

Queer love is complicated by temporal paradox in this tale of two women who fall in love….despite existing five months apart.

I Can Fix Her, by Rae Wilde (Horror)

And here we have a book where queer love is complicated by nightmare logic! Johnny runs into her ex Alice one day and is still reeling from the way things ended with Alice ghosting. But she seizes a second chance at romance, which takes a bizarre turn when after a night spent together, they wake up to find the dog has doubled in size. Reality keeps distorting as Johnny contends with whether the two can really change. The world, the narrator, and the time are all unreliable narrators here.

Crueler Mercies, by Maren Chase (Romantasy)

Here’s a high fantasy tale about princess Vita, who witnesses her father execute her mother before she’s forced into an exile where her only friends are crows. (Bird gays, rise!) Eleven years later, she meets lady-in-waiting Soline who introduces her to alchemy and…a little more. Together, the pair band together to take down the patriarchy.

Angel Eye, by Madeleine Nakamura (Romantasy)

This is the second book in the Cursebreakers series. Professor Adrien Desfourneaux is pulled into a dangerous witch hunt when a healer starts murdering hospital patients.

Sick and Dirty: Hollywood’s Gay Golden Age and the Making of Modern Queerness, by Michael Kroskey (Nonfiction)

We’ve got a lot of great queer nonfiction and history books coming out during Pride month, and in this one, a cinema historian takes a deeper look at the queer classics of the Code era in Hollywood and how subversive these films could be. There’s a smart timely connection here, as the publisher’s description notes, the book reminds “in an age of book bans and gag laws, that nothing makes queerness speak louder than its opponents’ bids to silence it.”

Nobody in Particular, by Sophie Gonzales (YA Romance)

A disgraced princess falls for another student at her all-girls school, and the two have to choose between the paths they’ve been working towards and this new path with each other.

A Fellowship of Librarians & Dragons, by J Penner (Fantasy)

This cozy fantasy novel features a gargoyle librarian, a dragon egg, tea magic, and queer romance.

What is Queer Food? How We Served a Revolution, by John Birdsall (Nonfiction)

Ohhhhh as a queer lover of food and a former food writer myself, I am all in on this one! The book combines criticism and cultural history in its deep exploration of queer food from the early 20th century to post-Stonewall liberation and the AIDS crisis. Lesbian potlucks during the Cold War! Paper chicken shared among gender-nonconforming stars of the Chinese opera in San Francisco! Dinner parties with James Baldwin, Alice B. Toklas, and Esther Eng! I want to live inside this book.

Too Good to Get Married: The Life and Photographs of Miss Alice Austen, by Bonnie Yochelson (Nonfiction)

Queer artist Alice Austen (1866-1952) captured Gilded Age New York through her camera lens, satirizing gender norms through her subversive and cheeky photography. This book looks at her life and the history of American photography through Alice’s photographs and lived experiences as a woman who thwarted all societal expectations.

The Uncertainty Principle, by Joshua Davis & Kal Kini-Davis (YA)

Seventeen-year-old Mia’s parents move her onto an old sailboat after deciding she needs to reset following a meltdown in her school cafeteria. Mia spends her days trying to secretly collect the supplies to build a satellite phone so she can call her best friend. But things are looking up for her socially and romantically when two teens sail into her life, including bold and beautiful Nisha.

The Very Heart of It: New York Diaries, 1983-1994, by Thomas Mallon (Nonfiction)

Through journal entries from the 1980s and 1990s, this collection details the literary coming-of-age of Thomas Mallon as he rose from unknown professor to a breakout star in New York’s gay literature scene. The time period was also marked by great tragedy as the AIDS crisis touched every part of that scene, and these diary entries detail all of it: the hookups and the parties but also the politicization of queer life and the personal tragedies.

Dining Out: First Dates, Defiant Nights, and Last Call Disco Fries at America’s Gay Restaurants, by Erik Piepenburg (Nonfiction)

More gay food writing! Let’s go!!!! Here, a New York Times journalist takes you on a delicious culinary tour of the history of gay restaurants and how they have served as community spaces through the years. Restaurants have long served as places for queer people to organize, connect, fall in love, and more. There’s so much scholarship on queer bars, less on the importance of restaurants —from early 20th century cafeterias to new queer culinary hotspots —so this book is a welcome addition.

Pioneer Summer, by Kateryna Sylvanova and Elena Malisova (Romance)

This gay romance book from a Ukrainian-Russian author duo has made international news due to the arrest of current and former employees at one of Russia’s largest publishing houses for distributing LGBTQ+ books. Now one of those books that has sparked so much controversy and was intensely banned overseas is set to debut in the U.S. It’s set in 1986 and follows two teen boys falling in love at a summer camp.

Ready to Score, by Jodie Slaughter (Romance)

Two women are gunning for a coveted head coaching spot in the heated — and male-dominated —world of Texas high school football. An enemies-to-lovers sports romance for those of you who are Gay 4 WNBA.

Fight AIDS! How Activism, Art and Protest Changed the Course of a Deadly Epidemic and Reshaped a Nation, by Michael G Lung (Nonfiction)

There are a lot of history books out there about ACT UP! and the queer liberation organizing around the HIV/AIDS crisis, but this one is specifically for young readers! This would be a perfect Pride gift for a queer youth in your life who is looking to learn more about queer organizing and queer history.

Lady’s Knight, by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner (YA Fantasy)

Here’s a queer and feminist reimagining of medieval legend with dragons, castles, and knights, including, you guessed it, a lady knight!

Devils Like Us, by L.T. Thompson (YA Historical Fantasy)

Three queer teens and their found family of queer pilots embark on a magical adventure. I swear there has been a queer pirate book on every one of these lists for the past few months! Great news for fans of Our Flag Means Death.

Tramps Like Us, by Joe Westmoreland (Literary Fiction)

This beloved queer cult classic about a gay man who graduates from his Kansas City high school in 1974 and hitchhikes across the country with Ali, another queer outcast from his hometown. They make their way to New Orleans and eventually to San Francisco in 1979. The re-release comes with a fresh introduction by none other than Eileen Myles.

All Dead Girls Lie, by Piper L. White (YA Thriller)

Set in Boiling Springs, North Carolina, this YA thriller tale follows 16-year-old Quinn, who becomes romantically involved with Gilly, the best friend of a dead girl recently murdered in their town and the daughter of the town sheriff. Quinn starts an investigation of her own when another of Gilly’s friends turns up dead.

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June 10

Actress of a Certain Age: My Twenty-Year Trail to Overnight Success, by Jeff Hiller (Memoir)

Fans of HBO’s Somebody Somewhere will want to get their hands on this funny, sweet, and vulnerable memoir from Jeff Hiller, who played Joel in the series. It details his rollercoaster journey of growing up gay and Lutheran in Texas, working as a social worker for unhoused youth, and grinding his way through the Hollywood machine in pursuit of his dreams.

We Can Never Leave, by H.E. Edgmon (YA Fantasy)

A queer young adult contemporary fantasy, this novel details a world where inhuman creatures wake up with no memory of who they are or where they’re from. A traveling community known as the Caravan offers refuge and family to these wandering creatures, but one morning five teen travelers wake up to discover their community has vanished. You can expect an eerie, uncanny fantasy adventure from this one.

Amelia, if Only, by Becky Albertalli (Romance)

Amelia Applebaum has a slightly obsessive parasocial fascination with chaotic bisexual YouTuber Walter Holland, and she convinces her best friend to join her on a road trip to one of his meet and greets, but along the way she realizes the butterflies she feels might not be for Walter at all.

Palm Meridian, by Grace Flahive (Sci-Fi)

Well, as a queer Floridian, I’m definitely interested in this speculative future-set novel that takes place at a retirement resort for queer women in 2067. Florida is partially underwater, and the residents of this community are partying at the end of the world. One resident, Hannah, receives a terminal cancer diagnosis and quite literally decides to throw an end of life rager. Invited to the festivities is Sophie, Hannah’s ex who she hasn’t spoken with since their bad breakup four decades ago. It’s never too late for a second chance romance though!

Reading, Writing & Queer Survival: Affects, Matterings and Literacies Across Appalachia, by Caleb Pendygraft (Nonfiction)

We’re always here for critical and historical work on queer voices and art from underrepresented areas, like Appalachia! This one comes from the University Press of Kentucky and focuses on literacy studies in the region, challenging and queering our understanding of literacy.

The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses, by Malka Older (Sci-Fi, Mystery)

This is the third book in the cozy space-opera mystery series know as The Investigations of Mossa and Pleiti, which also includes The Mimicking of Known Successes, which received a glowing review from Autostraddle books critic Casey.

Love, Misha, by Askel Aden (YA Mystery)

Audrey and her nonbinary child Misha head on a road trip meant to bring them closer together, but Audrey is having trouble wrapping her mind around Misha’s gender, and Misha is struggling to really connect with their mother. A wrong turn down a forest road takes them into the Real of Spirits, infinitely complicating their parent/child journey.

A Rare Find, by Joanna Lowell (Historical Romance)

A queer historical romance with an enemies-to-lovers arc, this novel follows an aspiring archeologist teaming up with her childhood nemesis for a treasure hunt. There’s also a long rivalry between their two families, so we’ve got some star-crossed tropes going on, too.

If I Told You, I’d Have To Kiss You, by Mae Marvel (Romance)

Girlfriends Yardley Whitmer and KC “Tabasco” Nolan have no idea they both work for the same spy agency in jobs that have been gradually eroding their relationship. An undercover job gone wrong reveals the truth to them, and then they have to figure out what to do next in this sapphic twist on Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

Backhanded Compliments, by Katie Chandler (Romance)

Wow, there really are so many books coming out this month SPECIFICALLY for me, and while I’m not necessarily the biggest romance reader, I AM a queer tennis player, and this is a queer tennis romance!!!

The Next Chapter, by Camille Kellogg (Romance)

Our critic Ashni loved Camille Kellogg’s Just As You Are, and this is the author’s follow-up romance, inspired by Notting Hill and centering a former child actress and a West Village bookseller. Let’s see if it can out-gay when Ashni declared as the “gayest rom-com I’ve ever read.”

It Rhymes With Takei, by George Takei (Memoir)

A follow-up to his first graphic memoir They Called Us Enemy, Takei’s latest graphic memoir chronicles his queer journey, including his early gay crushes, a life lived in the closet, and coming out at 68.

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June 12

Rainbow Trap: Queer Lives, Classifications and the Dangers of Inclusion, by Kevin Guyan

This book looks at six different systems and how they’ve impacted LGBTQ life and community, including: the recording of hate crimes; dating apps; outness in the film and television industry; borders and LGBTQ asylum seekers; LGBTQ health and fitness activities; and DEI initiatives in the workplace.

Unconventional Love: Anthology on the Expanse of Love, by Effie Joe Stock & Nathaniel Luscombe

This anthology promises a look into the expansive nature of love —what it means to love and what it means to be loved.

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June 17

Work Nights, by Erica Peplin (Literary Fiction)

Protagonist Jane works a nine to five office job at NYC’s top newspaper and is captivated by the beautiful intern Madeline, who has never dated a woman but is seduced by Jane, whose artist roommate desperately tries to keep her from going after a potentially straight girl. Jane ends up in a fraught love triangle between Madeline and Addy, who she meets on one of the queer distraction excursions orchestrated by her roommate.

American Scare: Florida’s Hidden Cold War on Black and Queer Lives, by Robert W Fieseler (Nonfiction)

A historical look at the Florida government’s attempts to stifle queer and Black public life here, this book uses primary source documents and narrative history to unfurl a political tale of the work spearheaded by the Johns Committee in Florida. It’s essential to learn history in order to better understand what’s happening in the present —not just in Florida but elsewhere, too.

If We Survive This, by Racquel Marie (Horror)

Flora Braddock Paz is half a year into the global outbreak of a rabies virus that turns the infected into zombie-like beings called “rabids.” She and her brother Cain are still alive, but their mom is dead and their dad is missing. They depart their abandoned LA suburb for a secluded cabin in Northern California where they vacationed growing up.

The Tournament, by Rebecca Barrow (YA Fantasy/Thriller)

This queer dark academia thriller sees three girls through their private boarding school’s annual competition of survival skills.

A Date with the Fairy Drag Queen, by Julie Harthill Turner (Literary Fiction)

In the early 1990s, Saskia Nash’s single-parent father moves her from a quaint childhood in Germany to run away to a new life teaching at a Jesuit college on the East Coast. Saskia comes of age with questions about belonging, home, family, sexual identity, and faith. She’s pressured into having an abortion and ends up sent to recover at a hospice for patients dying of AIDS, where she is assigned as a companion to a dying drag queen who she helps prepare for one final stage performance.

The Ghosts of Gwendolyn Montgomery, by Clarence A. Haynes (Fantasy)

Gwendolyn Montgomery is New York’s most powerful publicist with a secret mystical past. A violent incident at the Brooklyn Museum brings Fonsi Harewood, a queer Latinx psychic from the South Bronx, back into her life. There’s a love triangle with a ghost, which is my favorite kind of love triangle, personally.

The Mercy Makers, by Tessa Gratton (Romantasy)

This book will serve as the start to a new romantasy trilogy with a bisexual protagonist, high fantasy mythology, and a sharp look at gender and gender roles.

This Princess Kills Monsters, by Ry Herman (Fantasy)

A satire of the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale The Twelve Huntsmen, this novel follows a princess as she, well, kills monsters. Melilot evil stepmother is constantly tasking her with dangerous quests, and now she’s being commanded to marry a man she has never met. The book features queer and trans characters and will surely appeal to fans of queer fairytale reimaginings.

Last Dance Before Dawn, by Katharine Schellman (Historical Mystery)

This is the last book in the queer mystery Nightingale series, which is set in 1920s New York and centers Vivian Kelly, who has found her people at the glamorous speakeasy known as The Nightingale, where everyone has a secret.

Holly Jolly July, by Lindsay Maple (romance)

How about a little Christmas in July in June? Mariah and Ellie are the central characters of this opposites attract romance. Ellie is a small-time actress starring in a cozy holiday film, and Mariah is the makeup artist working on set. They each have flings with men who end up cheating on them, so they band together for revenge and end up falling for each other in the process.

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June 24

I’ll Be Right Here, by Amy Bloom (Literary Fiction)

This sprawling novel features polyamory and queer love in a story of family, loss, home, friendship, and unconventional relationships that spans nearly a century. It begins at the end of World War II with a young Frenchwoman named Gazala leaving Paris for New York where she becomes close with two sisters and reconnects with her adopted older brother.

A Treachery of Swans, by A.B. Poranek (YA Fantasy)

We have here a queer Swan Lake retelling set in a queernormative world for fans of gothic fairytale thrills injected with lesbian romance.

Incendiant, by Virginia Black (Romantasy)

More vampire-themed romance coming your way this summer! This thriller features war witch Joan, who just wants to settle down with Leigh in a comfortable life, but not everyone is happy with Joan’s solution to the recent vampire crisis in their hometown.

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Thank you for reading this list of gay books written by gay humans. Want to shout out something that didn’t make the list? Please do so in the comments! Real, not AI-invented books only, please! 😘