12 Queer Novels You'll Love This Summer

Beach reads for LQBTQs!

I’s almost summer and you know what that means: time to read about gays while you’re out in the sunshine! I actuall read most of these books over the winter, and they felt like a nice warm beach breeze on my cold face, so if you read them at the actual beach, it’ll be like a double delightful breeze, I bet. A couple of these books made it to my Favorites shelf, which I’ll tell you more about below. As always, if you’ve got any good recommendations, drop ‘em in the comments!

Here for the Wrong Reasons by Annabel Paulsen and Lydia Wang

May 21

I don’t really like reality TV, but I love to hear people talk about reality TV, especially when they’re really into it. It’s like hearing someone you love give you all the details about their vacation to a whole other planet. Also, it turns out that I love books about bisexuals falling in love on a straight reality TV show. Krystin and Lauren both go on Hopelessly Devoted for different reasons, wishing for love or a career boost, and are both shocked when they discover that what they really want from the Bachelor-esque series is to end up together.

Update: I heard your fave and mine, Mara Wilson, is narrating this audiobook!

Lady Eve's Last Con by Rebecca Fraimow

June 4

Lady Eve's Last Con is my favorite book I’ve read this year, and will probably remain so because it’s so smart and so fresh and so jazzy and so punk and so sci-fi and so gay. Most of the queer sci-fi books I’ve read — and it’s only been a slim few — are slow-rolling deep-dives on different characters. And I do like that a lot! But I’m also a child of the 80s so I love my space operas with some action! Lady Eve's Last Con delivers on both things. Ruth Johnson is out for revenge on a planet far from home. When she meets dapper rogue Sol, she thinks Sol is just a dapper woman who happens to be the brother of her target. But things get complicated with them real quick, due to some intergalactic mobsters and dubious actions on both of their parts. And they go from complicated to swoony even faster.

Rebecca Fraimow’s voice is absolutely enchanting. Look here:

"Sol turned to scan the drinking area and left me still standing there, reminding myself over and over that those grey eyes of hers had hooked in a dozen stupider girls, and I didn't have to be one of them just because she gave me a heated look. But I knew I was going to be stupid. There wasn’t anyone there to stop me but myself. And when it came to saving myself from myself, it had already been proven that I just was not reliable."

The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye by Briony Cameron

June 4

Hear this: A queer Black female pirate captain is the star of The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye. Have you ever read a book about a queer Black female pirate captain? No, sir, you have not. This is a debut sensation from Briony Cameron, a three-part story about colonization, love, friendship, sex, swashbuckling, disability, found family, and the siren song of chasing adventure to find yourself most of all. It sounds like that’s too many themes for one novel to contain, but Briony Cameron deftly weaves them all together with masterful clarity. Jacquotte Delahaye might be an actual historical person, or a composite of women like her, or she might completely be a myth — but under the magic spell of Cameron’s pen, she will always be very real to me.

Wish You Weren't Here by Erin Baldwin

June 4

If you are a camp kid, or a camp grown-up — if you are a gay who has ever been to camp, you simply must read Wish You Weren’t Here. I have never read a book that gets to the heart of camp culture like this one. It’ll make you giggle with familiarity and hide your head under your blanket with embarrassment. Juliette has about ten siblings and feels mostly invisible at school and at home, but she’s a star every summer at camp. Priya Pendley is a star everywhere, even on the internet where she’s already a mega influencer, but she’s never even heard of camp. They go full enemies to friends to lovers over the course or one mosquito-filled summer and it feels so right. Plus, it’s camp, so only one bed twists into only one tent! I love a good trope!

Director's Cut by Carlyn Greenwald

June 11

Valeria Sullivan is an A-list actress and boy do I love books about A-list actresses. But only if they’re gay and at least a little bit of an ice queen. Valeria Sullivan is both! Maeve Arko is a beloved film studies professor who is so close to tenure that she’ll do just about anything to boost her standing at her university. That includes co-teaching a semester with Valeria, who’s trying to expand her horizons, and who is also the kind of gorgeous popular celebrity that Maeve hates. Opposites attract forced proximity at its Hollywood best.

Looking for a Sign by Susie Dumond

June 11

Gray is twenty-nine and looking for love. The kind of love that lasts forever. But she’s not having much luck because she’s not exactly sure what kind of person she’ll be forever-compatible with. At the behest of her best friend, Cherry, and New Orleans’ witchy queen Madame Nouvelle Lune, Gray decides her best bet is to simply date every astrological sign. I think maybe if you’re the kind of person who is super annoyed by astrology memes — either because they don’t tell the whole story or because you don’t like people pre-judging you based on the day you were born — you will not like this book. But if you think astrology memes are cute and funny and you can laugh at yourself, you will probably really like this book. I’m in the second camp, so I got some good giggles and swoons out of Looking For a Sign.

It showcases so many different races, genders, body types, sexualities, etc. in Gray’s quest to date every sign. There were a few seriously hilarious moments, one where I had to put the book down and get myself together from wheeze-laughing with secondhand embarrassment. And best of all, Gray figures out some really important life lessons about Queer Time (not existing inside the Heteronormative Timeline of Perpetual Misery).

Saints of Storm and Sorrow by Gabriella Buba

June 25

Gabriella Buba’s Filipino-inspired fantasy debut is seriously epic! But don’t be biphobic if you’re gonna read it! The story follows bisexual nun Sister Maria, who’s real name is Maria Lunurin. She’s posing as a religious devotee of the colonizers who destroyed her childhood, but actually, she’s a STORMCALLER of the goddess Anitun Tabu. Maria spends a lot of time trying to hide, from her oppressors, from her goddess, from her girlfriend, from basically everyone — but circumstances beyond her control, and one cinnamon roll prince, force her to finally embrace her full power. This is not a YA fantasy where it’s all Good vs. Evil in clear cut lines, and squeaky-clean heroes. This sucker is messy! And fascinating! And page-turning! I can’t believe we get two entire queer fantasy books that rain down vengeance on imperialism in the same summer!

Hot Summer by Elle Everhart

June 25

Hey, it’s another queer reality dating show book! Cas Morgan lands on Hot Summer — a reality TV series where a bunch of hot twenty-somethings live in the same house and do half-naked competitions to try to win love and money — because her company sponsors the show and basically forces her to participate. Ada arrives looking for actual love because she’s been a fan of the show as long as it’s been on the air. She’s a True Believer. They fall for each other and try to hide it from the cameras while Cas tries to also hide the fact that she’s a corporate plant. DRAMA. But with a happy ending, of course, so don’t you worry about that.

The Pairing by Casey McQuiston

August 6

Honestly, the only thing I need to tell you about this book is that it’s Casey McQuiston’s newest book. It has all the trademarks of the other beloved gay novels they’ve written; you’ll be highlighting six sentences on every page and biting a pillow to keep from yelling at the characters. This one takes place between a pair of bisexual exes who end up on the same trip across Europe. It’s full of food and wine and gorgeous locations and even more making out with all the other bisexuals who are out there traveling the world. It’s luscious and indulgent and just so very McQuiston.

Rules for Ghosting by Shelly Jay Shore

August 20

I can’t even believe this book exists. It is so funny and so sweet and so unlike anything I have ever read. I just love, love, love it. Ezra Friedman is a trans Jewish clairvoyant (I know!) who fled from the family business as soon as he could because his family owns and lives in a funeral home. He grew up being spoken to and judged by all the family ghosts! When he returns home to help the failing business, he has to cope with the fact that his mother is running off with their rabbi’s wife, and also the fact that he’s got a crush on a guy named Jonathan, whose dead husband keeps popping up to talk to Ezra! Shelly Jay Shore charmed me beyond the telling of it with this debut novel. I’m one of those people who loves life and loves to laugh but always has a current of grief running somewhere below the surface. Ezra Friedman gets that in a way I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced in a book before.

Hers for the Weekend by Helena Greer

August 27

Okay I’m going to confess something to you. I liked Helena Greer’s Season of Love, the book about Miriam Blum falling in love with with the butch tree farmer at Carrigan’s Christmasland. And of course I did because I love butches. HOWEVER, I really wanted justice for Tara Chadwick, Miriam’s ex, after reading it. Well! Hers for the Weekend is that justice! It follows Tara on her trip back to Carrigan’s for Miriam and Noelle’s wedding. It is, by far, my favorite of the three books in the Carrigan’s universe, and not just because I have a soft spot for intense southern lesbians who are torn between loving their homes and also trying to dismantle everything that props them up.

Tara decides she needs a date to go to her ex-fiancee’s wedding, so she proposes a fake dating scheme to Holly, the waitress/baker she’s been crushing on for ages. Holly is no-nonsense and full-tilt adventure and also a little bit reckless with other people’s hearts. Tara doesn’t think that will be a problem because she doesn’t think she actually has a heart. Guess what? WRONG! Fake dating quickly becomes actual dating, and one weekend on that damn magical farm changes both of their lives forever. Bonus: the return of Kringle the giant cat!

You're the Problem, It's You by Emma R. Alban

August 27

If you couldn’t get enough Gwen and Beth in Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend, I’ve got some great news for you: They’re back as supporting characters in You're the Problem, It's You! You’ll be shocked to hear that they have not given up on their gay matchmaking schemes, and this time they turn their attention to cousin Bobby Mason and James Demeroven, the new Viscount who’s presence led Beth and her mom into all that financial panic in the first book. Turns out it’s actually James’ stepdad who is the worst and James would very much like to take care of Beth. In a platonic way, because James is as gay as a window. He and Bobby dance around each other, and their feelings, and their attarction, and their family obligations, all while Gwen destroys them at various Victorian lawn games. If you like happy happy happy endings, you don’t want to miss Emma R. Alban’s follow-up to her beloved debut queer romance novel.