10 Sapphic Books You'll Love in Early 2024

From romance to fantasy to YA to graphic novels.

I’ve been so, so excited to make this list! 2024 is going to be a fantastic year for queer books, a thing I know to be 100% completely and totally true because I’ve had the great good fortune to already read so many of the brilliant LGBTQ+ stories coming our way this year! Below is a list of ten novels and graphic novels I adored, all hitting bookstores and libraries before summer!

Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend

Emma Alban (January 9)

Look, you put two women in petticoats and let them fall in love, and I’m gonna read it. Which is how I’ve ended up gobbling down a couple of good sapphic period romances and also a whole bunch of not-so-great ones. The thing that gets me most of all is when publishers go for the Austen comparison when the book itself is neither Austen-esque, spiritually; nor Austen-esque, plot-wise — but here! Finally! In a book titled with a Taylor Swift Reputation era lyric and endless comparisons to The Parent Trap is the truly modern Austen lesbian love story I’ve been waiting for.

A comedy of manners where everyone has their own distinct voice, and our sapphic friends-to-lovers heroines — tomboy Gwen and by-the-book Beth — are full of wit and good humor, and everyone learns more about themselves and grows and gets braver and stronger. The decimation of patriarchal tradition! The longing! The pining! The desperation of knowing the love of your life is one tear-smudged letter away from disappearing from your world forever!

Plus, Gwen makes rude boys cry for sport, and you know I how much I love that.

Keep This Off The Record

Arden Joy (January 30)

It is so hard to write a modern Shakespeare because there was so much going on in that bitch’s plays, every genre under the sun stuffed into Much Ado, so I approached Arden Joy's debut novel, Keep This Off the Record, with a little trepidation. What makes the romance genre so comforting to me is the familiar beats. But wow, once I let my expectations go, I absolutely loved this book. The friend group reminds me heartily of Casey McQuiston's found family dynamics: fully realized, true to life, and so funny. And the central queer romance was one of the most intense enemies-to-lovers I ever read.

Abigail Meyer and Freya Jonsson really, really hate each other. But the second their lips crashed into each other the first time, I felt as relieved and giddy as they did, and by the end, their relationship felt delightfully inevitable. My only wish for this story is that there'd been maybe 25% less friend group and 25% more Abby and Freya. But it wouldn’t have been modern Shakespeare without a wacky cast of supporting characters, right?

At Her Service

Amy Spalding (February 9)

Another banger from Amy Spalding! I read so much that there are few writers whose characters just keep on living inside my head long after I finish their stories, but Amy Spalding does it to me every time. I found myself revisiting Ari and Nina in my imagination long after I’d finished For Her Consideration — and I’m positive Max and Sadie will be cozied up in my noggin forever now too. Yes, that Max! Joyce’s queer assistant from the last book takes center stage in At Her Service. What I loved most about this book was Max’s hilarious, heartfelt, entirely relatable journey toward self-actualization. The romance was so sweet and sexy and comfortable, but it was really the cherry on top of a wonderful tale about the trials and joys and heartache and triumph of becoming a happy queer adult.

I especially loved that Max wasn’t always the most reliable narrator about herself (especially about how other people felt about her) because that’s what it’s like to be human! I was so moved finding out, right along with Max, how people really perceived her. Spalding makes me cackle out loud so much I won’t even read her books in bed because I know I’ll wake up my wife with my giggling. I’m also always endlessly impressed with how deeply versed she is in queer pop culture: all her references and jokes are so organic they feel like my own friends and I could be making them.

I hope there’s even more to come in this series, but either way, Amy Spalding’s got a lifelong fan in me!

We Got the Beat

Jenna Miller (February 20)

It is so rare to read/watch stories about LGBTQ high school kids that feel like they were made for actual LGBTQ high school kids. I'm in my mid-40s, I've been out a zillion years, the world has changed shape a dozen times for queer people just in my lifetime. I shouldn't be able to get all the jokes and references in books about high schoolers! Sabrina should be a Netflix show to these kids, not a WB show from the mid-90s! Matt Smith should be old-school Doctor Who! I sincerely loved that this book wasn't written for me, but was written for youths that will never experience the same kinds of things I did growing up as a closeted teen in rural Georgia. We Got the Beat made me feel old, in a really wonderful way. A triumphant way! It also made me feel so hopeful.

Jordan Elliot is a self-described fat nerd, whose main dream is to be the editor in chief of her high school newspaper. Mackenzie West is the star volleyball player on the school’s state championship-winning team. They were friends, and now they’re enemies, but they’ve gotta figure out how to work together when Jordan gets assigned to the sports beat. My only struggle with We Got the Beat is that it felt like our narrator took one huuuuuuuge deeeeep breath and then told the entire story before she ran out of air! Probably that was intentional due to TikTiok Brain, but this was such a sweet and empowering YA read and I know in my heart this one's gonna change lives!

The Baker and the Bard

Fern Haught (March 5)

Juniper and Hadley are best friends who work in a bakery, with dreams of something bigger. Going on adventures! Opening their own pâtisserie! They get the chance to shine when their shop owner sends them to the next town over to pick up some glowing mushrooms. Once there, in true D&D style, they meet some villagers in need of help, and set out to find out who's been eating all the crops. They don't find an enemy, though; they find a fae who's just taking care of her caterpillar friends. They all work together to solve the mystery while making sure everyone's needs are met.

The Baker and the Bard is an absolutely adorable all-ages graphic novel and a perfect entry into the cozy fantasy canon, and aimed at younger audiences who are on a gender journey, without a hint of patronization. Fern Haught's art is so warm and soft and inviting, colors layered and enchanting — I found the full-page art to be just as moving as the story itself. If you liked Legends and Lattes or Bookshops and Bonedust, and know a younger person who might also like it, if they were a little older, give them this!

Weavers of Alamaxa

Hadeer Elsbai (March 19)

When I reviewed Hadeer Elsbai's Daughters of Izdihar, I called it "fantastical, feminist rage." The second book in her Alamaxa Duology is all those things, elevated. Which is to say: I absolutely loved it. And, frankly, I can't think of a more timely read. My main worry when I started Daughters of Izdihar was that it was going to be a love triangle pitting our main character magic-havers, Nehal and Giorgina, against each other. I could not have been more wrong. They have one of the most fascinating companionships between two women I've ever read in any novel. In Weavers of Alamaxa, their relationships to their Weaving grows and evolves, as do their relationships with their lovers, and with each other. They grow to care about each other, deeply, as they see each other in new ways. They save each other, over and over!

In Daughters, they were fighting for the right to vote. In Weavers, they're fighting for their lives and the promise of democracy for their entire country. They're fighting for their collective freedom and their personal agency. They're fighting for oppressed people everywhere, in every way, because all our liberation is tied together. Weavers finds a remarkable balance between action, relationships, and character interiority that moves the entire story along at such a clip I couldn't put it down on. My only complaint about this entire series is that I wish it had been a trilogy. I wish the first third of Weavers had been a second book, and the last two-thirds had been the third book, just a little expanded. My only complaint is I wanted even more of Giorgina and Nehal's story!

The Weavers of Alamaxa is empowering and devastating, and oh so very queer — and I'll be thinking about it for a very, very long time.

Here We Go Again

Alison Cochrun (April 2)

Alison Cochrun's Kiss Her Once For Me was one of my favorite books I read in 2022, so I knew I was going to really like this. What I didn't know was that it would be one of my favorite books ever written. There are so many ways for a book to be good: solid plot, engaging storytelling, fresh writing (crisp turns of phrase, new ways to describe the rain, etc.), resonant characters, narratives that hit just the right way at just the right time culturally, giving voice to underrepresented people. Here We Go Again is all of that and so much more. I don't think I have highlighted this many sentences in a book in 15 years. It just exceeded all my expectations in every way.

Logan and Rosemary (and Joe's) story is laugh out loud funny, and so swoony too. Yes, absolutely, a friends-to-enemies-to-lovers cross-country road trip to say goodbye to a gay life well lived. But it's also a mediation on grief, on neurodivergence, on trauma, on loving and allowing yourself to be loved. It's also messy (the characters, not the writing) in a way that's full of empathy and hope, and not messy in a way that's an excuse for refusing to grow up (looking at you forever, The L Word!). I'm going to make everyone I know read this book, so get ready! (And go ahead and buy some Kleenex, the kind with lotion.)

Late Bloomer

Mazey Eddings (April 16)

Mazey Eddings’ Late Bloomer is one of my favorite romance novels I've ever read. It’s a forced-proximity/nemesis-to-soul mates story on a flower farm in the rural South. And as a neurodivergent queer artist from Appalachia who was raised by a narcissistic con artist mom, I kinda feel like this book was written specifically for me. I saw so much of myself in both Opal Devlin (total pushover, people pleaser, hyper-empath) and Pepper Boden (autism, sensory processing, a deep desire to always be in her warm, safe place), and even if I hadn't, I wouldn't have been able to help myself from rooting for them with my whole heart.

Their chemistry knocked the breath out of me more than once, the way they learn to manage their own insecurities and brain chemistry so they can communicate with tenderness; their softness and sweetness with each other. I love romance where the characters have to overcome more than just life's obstacles to be together. I love romance where the characters become better people because of each other. Braver, stronger, more hopeful. I also love that we’re getting more and more books by and about neurodivergent queers! It’s about dang time!

Playing for Keeps

Jennifer Dugan (April 30)

This is another one of those rare unicorn queer YA books that actually feels like it was written for real-life queer youths. And, at the same time, it healed me from all the heterosexual nonsense I’ve had to endure over the years every time a fictional girl outshined all the boys on her sports team. (I am truly never going to be over Bend It Like Beckham’s supposed straightness!)

June is a baseball pitcher phenom with dreams of being the first woman to go pro. Or, well, they’re her dad’s dreams, really, the only hope he’s had since June’s mom died. Ivy is an aspiring professional referee/umpire; she wants to bust down the doors that other women have barely pushed through. Only, her mom wants her to fulfill her dead brother’s collegiate dreams instead. Seems like June and Ivy are a match made in an Iowan cornfield, right? Wrong! It’s totally against the rules for umpires to date players! If you’re looking for something to scratch your League of Their Own heartache/itch, this is it.

Here For the Wrong Reasons

Annabel Paulsen and Lydia Wang (May 21)

I've never seen any reality dating TV, despite the fact that so many of my best friends love it, but I was completely enraptured by Annabel Paulsen and Lydia Wang's Here for the Wrong Reasons, a sapphic romance that plays out behind-the-scenes of a long-running, super-straight reality show called Hopelessly Devoted. There was so much to love about this book; it surprised the absolute heck out of me.

First of all, the world-building is aspirational. Paulsen and Wang have created not only an entire dating show, but a whole believable universe around that dating show, one that feels so lived in I could easily describe the entire enterprise using all the shorthand language longtime fictional viewers have created over the show's 20+ seasons. The characters in the book talk about it with such matter-of-fact earnestness, it somehow both skewers Bachelor-type TV shows, while also winking fondly at them. Second of all, the relationship between Lauren and Krystin, two queer contestants on Hopelessly Devoted, is simply wonderful, in large part because neither of them are squeaky-clean-perfect; they have complicated, sometimes selfish motivations, and they also sometimes hurt the people they love. But there's something so beautiful about seeing two people come to terms with their sexuality in completely different ways, in their 20s, and find ways to be authentic about it, for themselves and for each other.

I started laughing out loud on page two and kept it up throughout the whole book. Not laughing at these women, but with them (mostly) — Paulsen and Wang apply so much empathy to the brushes they use to fill in the lines of their characters. This book came to me at the exact right time, when I needed a warm, light-hearted, hilarious gay book. And yes, this book is GAY GAY GAY. I saw a review that said it was for straight readers, and it boggled my brain. The only straight dude main character is simply an avatar for innocuous curly-haired decent every-guys everywhere. The real story and development is all Lauren and Krystin, and it is through them that the book cements its female-only gaze. I still don’t plan to watch reality TV, but I would read ten more gay books in this Hopelessly Devoted universe!