Good gay books for young adults
I don’t believe in the idea of guilty pleasures. I even used to run a pop tradition blog centered around the fact that they shouldn’t be a thing—we should never have to sense guilty about something that brings us pleasure. Growing up queer, it can be really easy to be made to touch guilty about what you might secretly love, because it might not fit the rigid yet inconsistent gender norms you never really adhered to. Therefore, it can also accept a long time for you to feel cozy enjoying what you like without shame or ridicule—from other people or from yourself. Internalized homophobia at its finest!
As a teenager, I rarely felt comfortable reading YA books, let alone gay YA books, because I felt so disconnected and rejected by my age group—having never really shared the same interests or ideals of people my retain age, and often creature bullied for it—that I did anything I could to subtly and adv set myself apart from kids my age. Adults called me an antique soul, which I was, but I also didn’t feel free to reside my own life, and I faced the consequences of acting more grown up than I actually was when I reached early adulthood.
There’s a notion in gay culture that we actuall
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This one is fantastic! A diverse, magical mystery with trans, gay leads. Also the writing is fun and inviting, reminded me of The Graveyard Book, which was one of my favorites as a child. This is a stunning work of literature that I will scream…
Love magic, stunning fantasy worlds, pirates, witches, and also genderqueer lesbians? This book is for you! (Did I mention the nonbinary pirates?!)
This is an excellent example of robust worldbuilding, complex characters, and diversity in a novel for teens. I loved both this one and its sequel and highly recommend them!
This is an incredible read! Enemies to lovers, fake relationship, endless pining! In this uplifting alternate history, the first son of the Merged States falls in cherish with the Prince of England.
Another Cinderella one! This one is a dystopian future of the classic tale that includes magic, lesbians, and rebelling against a oppressive government.
More same-sex attracted fairytale retellings!
A teen teen is asked to move back in the closet after moving to a small town. Of course as soon as she does so she meets a girl she cannot resist! This book is cute and well written, perfect for any
Browse Books: Fiction / Passion / LGBTQ+ / Gay
Today on the site I’m delighted to welcome Rebecca Bendheim, author of the upcoming lesbian Middle Grade When You’re Brave Enough, which releases April 7, 2026 from Viking Books for Young Readers! Here’s the story:
A heartfelt, gorgeously written debut middle grade novel about best friends, first crushes, and coming out—perfect for fans of Kyle Lukoff and Jake Maia Arlow.
Before she moved from Austin to Rhode Island, everybody knew Lacey as one half of an inseparable duo: Lacey-and-Grace, best friends since they were toddlers. Grace and her moms were practically family. But at educational facility, being lumped together with overeager, worm-obsessed, crushes-on-everyone Grace meant Lacey never quite fit in—and that’s why at her new middle school, Lacey plans to reinvent herself. This second, she’s going to be cool. She’s going to be normal.
At first, everything seems to go as planned. Lacey makes modern friends right away, she finds a rabbi to help her prepare for the bat mitzvah that got deprioritized by her parents in the chaos of the move, and she even gets cast in the lead role of the eighth-grade musical. Which is when things start to get stressful, because it turns out
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