Celebrate Pride Month by making a point to read a novel by or about a queer person. To get you started, we’ve rounded up some of our favorites from the library’s new release shelves, including mystery, romance, and more.
Need more recommendations? Check cloudLibrary for LGBTQ+ e-books and audiobooks.
Literary Fiction
All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews
This National Book Award finalist introduces Sneha, a first-generation Asian American woman fighting her way through the jaws of the American recession. She has a good job, deep connections, and a budding relationship with a beautiful dancer. But when painful secrets emerge and Sneha’s job and housing are threatened, one of her friends dreams up a radical solution to their problems.
My Government Means to Kill Me by Rasheed Newson
With only a few dollars to his name, Trey flees his Indianapolis family to start a new life in New York City, where he meets a cast of characters that change his life forever. After being put to the test by gay rights activists, he becomes a member of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) while navigating his own traumas.
Small Joys by Elvin James Mensah
After dropping out of college to move back home to rural England, Harley is on the verge of making a devastating final decision. Fortunately, his attempt on his own life is interrupted by his new roommate, Muddy, who takes Harley under his wing and shows him everything that makes life worth living.
Mystery
Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen
Knives Out with a queer twist! Step into Lavender House: the home of recently deceased matriarch Irene Lamontaine, head of a famous soap empire. Irene’s estate offers a unique freedom, where none of the residents or staff must hide who they are. But to keep their secrets, they must keep others out. And now they’re worried they’re keeping a murderer in.
The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older
On a remote outpost of a colony on Jupiter, a man goes missing. Investigator Mossa follows his trail to the colony’s university – and Mossa’s former girlfriend, Pleiti, who has dedicated her career toward a possible return to Earth. When Mossa arrives requesting help with the investigation, the two of them set out on a twisting path that just might impact the future of life on Earth.
Romance
A Dash of Salt and Pepper by Kosoko Jackson
Burned out after being dumped and passed over for a fellowship, Xavier finds himself back in his tiny hometown, working as a prep chef in a hip new restaurant run by Logan, who needs help in his kitchen. Stuck between a stove and a hot place, Logan and Xavier soon discover they have real chemistry – but they have to find the right flavors for their relationship.
Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble by Alexis J. Hall
Paris’s life has left him a directionless, self-doubting mess. So when his roommate enters him into the country’s top baking show, he’s sure he’ll be the first one sent home – until he meets fellow contestant Tariq, who brings more than a little sweetness into Paris’s life.
The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle by Matt Cain
After being forced to retire, Albert finds he suddenly has no friends, family, or hobbies – only a lost love he can’t bring himself to speak of. Rather than continue his lonely existence, he sets out to find George: the man he loved and lost nearly 50 years ago.
Fantasy/Horror
The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean
A fantasy to sink your teeth into! In the Yorkshire Moors, a secretive clan consumes books – and retains all of the content after eating it. One of the members, Devon, has been raised on a careful diet of fairy tales and cautionary stories. But when her son is born with a rare and dark hunger for something other than books, she must confront her beliefs about happy endings.
Chlorine by Jade Song
Young swimmer Ren Yu’s entire life revolves around swimming. If she swims well enough, she’ll get a good college scholarship. Her parents will love her. Life will be sweet. But Ren finds herself locked on another goal: to become a mermaid, by any means necessary, no matter how much blood needs to be spilled.
The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts by Soraya Palmer
Fans of Helen Oyeyemi will love this book! In the wake of their father’s violence and their mother’s illness, sisters Zora and Sasha are drifting apart. Told from the perspective of a mischievous narrator, this novel explores the love between sisters who don’t always see eye to eye.
I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself by Marisa Crane
In the world of this experimentally written novel, the Department of Balance gives criminals a second shadow to remind them of their wrongdoings and warn others. Those with extra shadows – Shadesters – are disenfranchised and deprived of civil rights. Kris, a Shadester and new mother, grapples with the loss of her wife while raising a baby given a second shadow right after birth.
