Book Releases: LGBT YA Books of July-December 2020

You already know about all the LGBT YA books that came out in the first half of the year (and if you don’t, check out my post about them!), so now it’s time for the second half. By now all of you probably know that I usually read YA books, but hopefully some of our readers share my preference and will find something to read among those 90 or so titles.

I tried my best, but of course, I’m only human so if you know of any books I missed, please let me know!

Like always on this blog, the rainbow emoji indicates that the book is by an LGBT author.

See also: 2019-2021 LGBT YA books

JULY

🌈 Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power (lesbian mc)
🌈 Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust (wlw relationship, bi mc, Persian-inspired setting & cast)
🌈 Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron (Black lesbian mc, lesbian li, gay side character) tw domestic abuse, misogyny & implied homophobic violence
🌈 You’re Next by Kylie Schachte (bi mc, f/m relationship)
Faith: Taking Flight by Julie Murphy (fat bi mc)

🌈 From Spirit and Binding by Carrie Ann Ryan (bi mc)
🌈 The Fell of Dark by Caleb Roehrig (gay mc, pan li, lesbian side characters)
🌈 The Extraordinaries by T. J. Klune (m/m relationship, gay mc with ADHD, bi li, lesbian side characters)
🌈 Ghost Wood Song by Erica Waters (bi mc, f/m relationship, lesbian side characters)
The Shadow of Kyoshi by F. C. Yee (bi mc, f/f relationship)

More Than Maybe by Erin Hahn (side m/m relationship)
Melt My Heart by Bethany Rutter (f/f relationship, plus-sized bi mc, Black wlw li, side mlm characters)
🌈 A Wicked Magic by Sasha Laurens (wlw mc)
🌈 I Kissed Alice by Anna Birch (f/f relationship, lesbian mc, bi mc)
🌈 Sparks by Kit Mallory (f/f relationship)

🌈 The Friend Scheme by Cale Dietrich (m/m relationship, gay mc & li)
B*WITCH by Paige McKenzie & Nancy Ohlin (wlw mc, trans character)
🌈 Cute Mutants, Vol 1: Mutant Pride by S.J. Whitby (pan mc, trans li, nonbinary character, sapphic characters)

AUGUST

Prelude for Lost Souls by Helene Dunbar (mlm mc)
Wayward Witch by Zoraida Cordova (nonbinary character)
Court of Lions by Somaiya Daud (Moroccan-inspired world & cast, lesbian mc and li)
Lobizona by Romina Garber (side f/f relationship)
🌈 Boy Queen by George Lester (gay mc)

Eight Pieces of Silva by Patrice Lawrence (lesbian mc)
🌈 Heartbreak Boys by Simon James Green (m/m relationship)
Six Angry Girls by Adrienne Kisner (bi mc, lesbian mc, trans mc)
🌈 The Faithless Hawk by Margaret Owen (pan li, m/f relationship, gay side character)
🌈 Ironspark by C. M. McGuire (bi mc & li)

🌈 Darius the Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram (m/m relationship, gay biracial (Iranian, white) mc with depression, gay li)
Cherrington Academy by Rebecca J. Caffery (m/m relationship)
Love, IRL by Tracy Goldfarb (gay trans mc)
🌈 Whispering Wildwood by Emma Sterner-Radley (f/f relationship)
Lumberjanes, Vol. 15 by Shannon Watters, Kat Leyh, Anne Marie Rogers & Maarta Laiho (wlw mcs)
🌈 We Go Together by Abigail de Niverville (bi mc, f/m relationship, trans li, Mi’kmaw bi side character, Mi’kmaw gay side character, sapphic side character, mlm side character) tw past toxic relationship, past rape, transphobia (off-page), teen pregnancy (off-page), incarceration (off-page)

SEPTEMBER

🌈 Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas (Mexican-Cuban American gay trans mc, Colombian American gay li with ADHD, lesbian character, trans character) tw deadnaming (name not on page), misgendering, transphobia, mentions of death of a parent, mentions of past gang violence, blood
🌈 Gold Wings Rising by Alex London (m/m relationship, gay mcs)
As the Shadow Rises by Katy Rose Pool (m/m relationship, gay mc, bi mc)
Throwaway Girls by Andrea Contos (past f/f relationship, bi mc) tw past conversion therapy
The Lost Book of the White by Cassandra Clare & Wesley Chu (m/m relationship, biracial (Malaysian, white) bi mc, gay mc)

🌈 Queen of Volts by Amanda Foody (Black bi mc)
Recommended for You by Laura Silverman (wlw parents)
The Reckless Afterlife of Harriet Stoker by Lauren James (gay & bi characters)
🌈 The Summer of Everything by Julian Winters (biracial (Black, white) gay mc, bi/pan Mexican American li, m/m relationship, lgbt side characters)
🌈 Iron Heart by Nina Varela (f/f relationship, lesbian poc mc, bi poc mc, side m/nb couple, side mlm & wlw couples) tw body horror (chapter 6 & 14), panic attack, torture, murder

🌈 Night Shine by Tessa Gratton (gq mc, m/gq relationship, nonbinary side characters)
🌈 The Art of Saving the World by Corinne Duyvis (ace lesbian mc with anxiety)
🌈 The Scapegracers by Hannah Abigail Clarke (lesbian mc, Chinese American bi mc, Black sapphic mc, gay parents)
🌈 Watch Over Me by Nina LaCour (wlw mc)
🌈 Surrender Your Sons by Adam Sass (gay mc, Latino gay li, trans side character, gay side characters, Black bi side character, lesbian side character) tw conversion therapy, murder (presented initially as suicide), homophobic language, internalised homophobia, homophobic violence (including murder), transphobia, homophobic abuse

🌈 Who I Was With Her by Nita Tyndall (f/f relationship, bi mc)
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn (bi li, Taiwanese American lesbian character, wlw Venezuelan American side character, bi side character, gay side character, nonbinary side character) tw death of a parent, descriptions of car accidents, mentions of slavery, racism, child abuse, violence, flashback to rape scene, gore
🌈 Each of Us a Desert by Mark Oshiro (f/f relationship, Latinx wlw mc & li)
🌈 Even if We Break by Marieke Nijkamp (trans mc, nonbinary mc, lgbt characters)
Smash It! by Francina Simone (side lgbt character)

🌈 Every Body Looking by Candice Iloh (Nigerian American wlw mc)
🌈 Vampires Never Get Old: Tales with Fresh Bite ed. by Zoraida Cordova & Natalie C. Parker (lgbt characters)
🌈 Miss Meteor by Tehlor Kay Mejia & Anna-Marie McLemore (Mexican American pan mc, trans li, m/f relationship)
🌈 How it All Blew Up by Arvin Ahmadi (gay Muslim Iranian American mc)
🌈 The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life by Dani Jansen (f/f relationship, lesbian mc, pan li, gay characters)

Under Shifting Stars by Alexandra Latos (genderfluid mc, nonbinary li)
Fence: Striking Distance by Sarah Rees Brennan (m/m relationship)
🌈 Crownchasers by Rebecca Coffindaffer (pan mc, lesbian, gay & nb side characters)
🌈 A Neon Darkness by Lauren Shippen (m/m relationship)
🌈 The Bridge by Bill Konigsberg (gay mc) tw suicide

🌈 Hey Jude by Star Spider (pan mc)
🌈 Road Out of Winter by Alison Stine (bi mc)
Goldie Vance: Larceny in La-La Land by Hope Larson (f/f relationship)
🌈 Flamer by Mike Curato (gay Filipino American mc)
The Silvered Serpents by Roshani Chokshi (Filipino Spanish bi mc, Haitian French mlm mc, m/m relationship)

OCTOBER

🌈 The Camino Club by Kevin Craig (m/m relationship, gay mc, gay li, lesbian side character)
🌈 I Hope You’re Listening by Tom Ryan (f/f relationship) tw child abduction
🌈 The Shadow Mission by Shamim Sarif (lesbian mc)
🌈 The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass by Adan Jerreat-Poole (nonbinary mc)
🌈 Into the Real by Z Brewer (gq mc)

Forget This Ever Happened by Cassandra Rose Clarke (wlw mc, lesbian li)
🌈 Wide Asleep by Arizona Tape (f/f relationship)
🌈 Cute Mutants, Vol. 2: Young, Gifted & Queer by S. J. Whitby (f/f relationship, bi, trans, ace, nonbinary characters)
This is All Your Fault by Aminah Mae Safi (wlw mc) tw sexual harassment, depression, anxiety
🌈 Beyond the Ruby Veil by Mara Fitzgerald (lesbian mc, gay side character, wlw side character) tw gore, blood, torture, eye horror/body mutilation including eating of an eyeball (chapter 16 & 18), murder, body horror (especially chapter 19)

🌈 Lightbringer by Claire LeGrand (bi mc)
🌈 Storm the Earth by Rebecca Kim Wells (bi mc, wlw li, nonbinary character) tw torture, gore, violence
Come On In ed. by Adi Alsaid (lgbt stories)
🌈 Rural Voices ed. by Nora Shalaway Carpenter (lesbian mc, Colombian American wlw li, gay mc, Mexican American bi mc)
🌈 The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen (Vietnamese-American gay mc, wlw side characters) tw cannibalism, off page death, on page death, murder, blood, homophobia

🌈 My Heart Underwater by Laurel Flores Fantauzzo (wlw mc) tw statutory rape
🌈 In the City of the Nightmare King by V. S. Santoni (gay mc)
🌈 Together, Apart by Erin A. Craig and others (lgbt cast)
Savage Her Reply by Deirdre Sullivan (wlw mc)

NOVEMBER

🌈 From Darkness by Kate Hazel Hall (f/f relationship)
🌈 Here the Whole Time by Vitor Martins (fat Bralizian gay mc, gay li, m/m relationship)
Stormbreak by Natalie C. Parker (bi mc)
🌈 Sasha Masha by Agnes Borinsky (trans mc, gay side character)
🌈 Laurel Everywhere by Erin Moynihan (wlw mc) tw family deaths

🌈 The Ever Cruel Kingdom by Rin Chupeco (lesbian mc, sapphic mc with ptsd)
Lies Like Poison by Chelsea Pitcher (lgbt character)
🌈 The Avant-Guards: Down to the Wire by Carly Usdin & Noah Hayes (wlw mcs, nonbinary mc)
🌈 Master of One by Danielle Bennett & Jaida Jones (m/m relationship, trans character) tw torture, blood, murder, mention of parental abuse
These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong (Korean mlm character, mlm character, Chinese trans character) tw blood, gore, violence

🌈 Ruinsong by Julia Ember (lesbian mcs, f/f relationship) tw torture, gore, animal torture and death
🌈 The Liar’s Guide to the Night Sky by Brianna R. Shrum (bi mc, pan aro li, lesbian side characters)
The Camelot Betrayal by Kiersten White (bi mc)
🌈 La flor y la muerte by Iria G. Parente & Selene M. Pascual (f/f relationship)

DECEMBER

🌈 A Curse of Roses by Diana Pinguicha (lesbian mc, lesbian Muslim li, lesbian side characters) tw religion-based self harm, homophobia, internalised homophobia, blood, murder, body horror
🌈 The Love Curse of Melody McIntyre by Robin Talley (f/f relationship)
🌈 The Ballad of Ami Miles by Kristy Dallas Alley (wlw mc)
The Dubious Gift of Dragon Blood by J. Marshall Freeman (gay mc)
🌈 The Good Girls by Claire Eliza Bartlett (bi mc, lesbian mc)

🌈 Juliet Takes a Breath: The Graphic Novel by Gabby Rivera & Celia Moscote (f/f relationship)
Moonstruck, Vol. 3 by Grace Ellis & Shea Beagle (f/f relationship)
🌈 Cute Mutants, Vol 3: The Demon Queer Saga by S.J. Whitby (genderfluid mc, lesbian, transmasc, bi, ace & nonbinary characters)

Which book are you most looking forward to?

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