LGBTQ

MY LGBTQ YA NOVELS

Quinton's summer break before high school should be nothing but wall-to-wall fun. Instead, his best friend has stopped talking to him; his fiendish older sister has filled his head with tales of a sadistic high school ritual; and his divorced father has started dating the city's most notorious barfly. Maybe a robot rabbit and a boy from his past can help salvage his vacation.
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Two years ago, Quinton Wyatt had the worst summer vacation of his life... but Summer Break '79 looks like a winner. Quint loves his job at a local movie theater, he adores his new baby brother, and he and T.J. Shapleigh aren't just close — they're downright inseparable. But sometimes fate, like a desert monsoon, can roar in and wash away everything.
Amazon | Bookshop

It is June 1981 and Quinton Wyatt has just graduated from high school. In three months’ time, he’ll start a new adventure at an out-of-state university. That doesn’t give him much time to pack, to finalize his roommate situation, and to deal with two loves — one urging him to go, the other begging him to stay. My Summer (and the Song of Cicadas) is the third and final book in the Quinton’s Curious Mind series.
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After a phenomenally successful book run and Netflix series, the Heartstopper era is about to end in a big way in 2026 — with a feature movie and the final book by Alice Oseman, Heartstopper: Volume 6.

The story follows shy and softhearted Charlie Spring who sits next to rugby player Nick Nelson in class one morning. A warm and intimate friendship follows, and that soon develops into something more for Charlie, who doesn't think he has a chance. But Nick is struggling with feelings of his own, and as the two grow closer and take on the ups and downs of high school, they come to understand the surprising and delightful ways in which love works.

In Heartstopper Volume 6, everyone in school knows Nick and Charlie. Everyone knows they’re going to be together forever. But Charlie’s busy with his bid to become head boy. And while Nick is preparing to leave for college, he’s starting to wonder who he’ll be… without Charlie.

You can pre-order Volume 6 now with a scheduled ship date of July 2, 2026. Click here to see all the Heartstopper books and related titles on Bookshop.org.

Heartstopper, Volume 1 by Alice Oseman

Heartstopper, Volume 2 by Alice Oseman

Heartstopper, Volume 3 by Alice Oseman

Heartstopper, Volume 4 by Alice Oseman

Heartstopper, Volume 5 by Alice Oseman

Red and the Wolves: A Graphic Novel by Cherry Zong

The Demon of Beausoleil by Mari Costa

Les Normaux, Volume Two A Graphic Novel by Janine Janssen and S. Al Sabado

Infinity Son by Adam Silvera

Infinity Reaper by Adam Silvera

Infinity Kings by Adam Silvera

Don't Let Me Go by Kevin Christopher Snipes

Out of the Blue by Jason June

What If It's Us by Adam Silvera

Here’s to Us by Adam Silvera

History Is All You Left Me (Deluxe Edition) by Adam Silvera

Imogen, Obviously by Becky Albertalli

Kate in Waiting by Becky Albertalli

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

The First to Die at the End by Adam Silvera

The Survivor Wants to Die at the End by Adam Silvera

The Simonverse Novels 3-Book Box Set (Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, The Upside of Unrequited, and Leah on the Offbeat) by Becky Albertalli

The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli

Amelia, If Only by Becky Albertalli

More Happy Than Not (Deluxe Edition) by Adam Silvera

My Roommate from Hell: A Novel by Cale Dietrich

In this swoony and spooky teen summer romance graphic novel set on a Texas ranch, sixteen-year-old Cade Muñoz finds himself falling for the ranch owner's mysterious and handsome son, only to discover that he may be harboring a dangerous secret. Cade has always loved to escape into the world of a good horror movie. After all, horror movies are scary — but to Cade, a closeted queer Latino teen growing up in rural Texas — real life can be way scarier. When Cade is sent to spend the summer working as a ranch hand to help earn extra money for his family, he is horrified. Cade hates everything about the ranch, from the early mornings to the mountains of horse poop he has to clean up. The only silver lining is the company of the two teens who live there — in particular, the ruggedly handsome and enigmatic Henry. But as unexpected sparks begin to fly between Cade and Henry, things get...complicated. Henry is reluctant to share the details of his mother's death, and Cade begins to wonder what else he might be hiding. Inspired by the gothic romance of Jane Austen's Northranger Abbey and perfect for fans of Heartstopper and Bloom comes a modern love story so romantic it's scary. PURCHASE THIS TITLE >>

DC Pride Box Set by Various Authors

The Entanglement of Rival Wizards by Sara Raasch

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda 10th Anniversary Deluxe Limited Edition by Becky Albertalli

To the Stars and Back (a Graphic Novel), Volume 1 by Peglo

All That's Left in the World by Erik J. Brown

Carry on by Rainbow Rowell

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

The Raven Boys (the Raven Cycle, Book 1) by Maggie Stiefvater

Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli

Something Like Summer by Jay Bell

Otherworldly by F. T. Lukens

Cheer Up: Love and Pompoms by Crystal Frasier and Val Wise

Blackwater by Jeannette Arroyo and Ren Graham

Fire from the Sky by Moa Backe Åstot

Sins of the Black Flamingo by Andrew Wheeler

Summer Shadows John Harris Dunning (Author) Ricardo Cabral (Illust

Summer Shadows by John Harris Dunning and Ricardo Cabral

Icarus by K. Ancrum

The Unbroken by C L Clark

Where Shadows Meet A Novel by Patrice Caldwell

Teach the Torches to Burn: A Romeo & Juliet Remix by Caleb Roehrig

THE FIRST LGBTQ YA BOOK IS OLDER THAN YOU THINK!

We often think of LGBTQ YA literature as being a very modern phenomenon, but it roots date back over half a century. Published in 1969, I'll Get There. It Better Be Worth the Trip by John Donovan is considered the first YA book with a gay protagonist.

Davy Ross is a a lonely thirteen-year-old who moves to Manhattan to live with his estranged mother after the grandmother who raised him dies. Between alcohol-infused lectures about her self-sacrifice and awkward visits with his distant father, Davy's only comforts are his pet dog and a boy from school named Douglas Altschuler. Eventually, Davy and Douglas's relationship becomes sexual, but when his dog's hit by a car, Davy worries that it's a punishment for his homosexual feelings.

Overall, the book received positive critical reviews and even won a Newbery Award. Yet the incorporation of gay characters into YA lit was still slow in coming, with only a handful of books touching the subject over the next decade.

Fence Vol. 1 by C. S. Pacat and Johanna the Mad

Fence Vol. 2 by C. S. Pacat and Johanna the Mad

Fence Vol. 3 by C. S. Pacat and Johanna the Mad

Fence Vol. 4 - Rivals by C. S. Pacat and Johanna the Mad

Fence Vol. 5 - Rise by C. S. Pacat and Johanna the Mad

Fence Vol. 6 - Redemption by C. S. Pacat and Johanna the Mad

Fence Vol. 7 - Challengers by C. S. Pacat and Johanna the Mad

Fence: Disarmed by Sarah Rees Brennan

Fence: Striking Distance by Sarah Rees Brennan

Check, Please! Book 1: # Hockey by Ngozi Ukazu

Check, Please! Book 2: Sticks & Scones by Ngozi Ukazu

Dear Medusa by Olivia A. Cole

Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram

Fake Dates and Mooncakes by Sher Lee

I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston

Running with Lions by Julian Winters

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

A Little Bit Country by Brian D. Kennedy

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson

FINDING QUEER CHARACTERS BETWEEN THE LINES

Before it was acceptable to have openly gay characters in YA books, sexuality often was inferred by the reader. This may have been the closeted teen anxious to find a role model, but it might have also been a hysterical parent or a conservative school board looking for a reason to ban a certain title.

One book that has long been accused of homosexual subtext is A Separate Peace (1959) by John Knowles. Set in a prestigious New English boarding school, it features two male protagonists who are in a very enmeshed and unhealthy relationship. Studious Gene both admires and is jealous of the popular and athletic, Phineas. And their loving yet codependent relationship been interpreted as being sexual desire by some critics who likely hadn't even read the novel. Back in the 1980s, one school board called A Separate Peace "a filthy, trashy sex novel.” Yet the book contains no mention of sex or sexual desire of any flavor, and even author John Knowles insisted those themes didn't exist. "If there had been homoeroticism between Phineas and Gene, I would have put it in the book, I assure you," he stated.

Both hope and paranoia can cause a reader to "read between the lines" and A Separate Peace is still one of the most challenged books in America to this day. In fact, despite all the progress over the decades, YA books with gay LGBTQ+ are still some of the most challenged and banned in the United States and this has only become worse in recent years.