It’s 1st January, which means, firstly, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Secondly, here’s our best of summary of 2021, in typical expanding fashion (alright, so maybe a few books shorter than last year). If you want to have a look at the last few years of lists, you can find them here: from 2018, from 2019, and from 2020.
Once again, we have divided our list into 3 categories: backlist books, books released in 2021 & books to be released in 2022 (that we read ARCs of). Books of 2021 has a further category of ones we both loved (upped to six this year simply because we couldn’t keep it to five). However, on the whole we’ve tried to do that (except where Anna only read a handful of backlist books, so filled up their 10 with 7 releases from this year).
Before we start, though, I (Charlotte) would just like to note I found it incredibly hard to pick only 5 backlist books because there were so many I loved. So while this is technically our “best of” post, there’s still a lot that only just didn’t make it.
But anyway. Here’s our list of our favourite 36 books of the year!
BACKLIST BOOKS
ANNA
The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart
Rep: lesbian mcs
TW: abuse, medical experimentation, blood, gore, body horror, death, murder, physical assault
Release date: 8th September 2020
I am absolutely, wholeheartedly obsessed with the lesbians in this book. But what’s even sexier is the magic system. And that mind-fuck of an ending.
The Lie and How We Told It by Tommi Parrish
Rep: bi mc, achillean side character, sapphic side character
TW: internalised homophobia
Release date: 23rd January 2018
The art here is surprising; it’s not beautiful in an conventional way, but it somehow helps to tell the story. It’s simultaneously mundane and absolutely unreal. Just like a life of an LGBT person.
The Lost Arabs by Omar Sakr
Rep: poetry
Release date: 30th April 2019
The Lost Arabs gets described as “visceral and energetic” and those are perfect words for it. The feeling of yearning never leaves you, as you read this collection. Yearning for a lost land, for lost connection, lost culture.
CHARLOTTE
Point of Hopes by Melissa Scott
Rep: gay mc, bi mc
Release date: 1st December 1995
If you cross fantasy and mystery, with a little bit of romance, and a world where being gay is so totally normal that there’s even thought of how marriage works here, then you get Point of Hopes (and the wider Astreiant series). It’s a book that entirely deserves to be considered a classic.
There Is a Light by Ban Gilmartin
Rep: biracial Indian Scottish gay mc with depression and anxiety, bi mc, Black trans side character, nonbinary side character, Indian Scottish side characters
TW: alcoholism, past drug use, past suicide, suicidal ideation
Release date: 26th April 2020
Ban Gilmartin’s books are perfectly calculated to drive you the littlelist bit insane and nowhere is that more evident than in this. Honestly, if you want to start your 2022 off right, then you should pick this one up.
A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie
Rep: gay mc
TW: gore, violence, implied torture, implied(?) incest
Release date: 17th September 2019
A Little Hatred is the start of an entirely absorbing series full of twists and turns, events that will keep you on the edge of your seat, and characters who are, really, almost all of them awful in the best way possible. The only way to read this is to either root for everyone at once, or no one at all.
A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif
Rep: Pakistani cast & setting, gay mc, gay side character
TWs: racial slurs, homophobic slurs, torture
Release date: 20th May 2008
A Case of Exploding Mangoes is a book that gets its hooks into you early and doesn’t let go. It’s based on a real life event and all of the potential reasons that event might have happened, but in a tongue-in-cheek way. It’s also a book that will stick with you once you’re finished.
The Quaker by Liam McIlvanney
Rep: gay mc
TW: homophobia, misogynistic violence, mentions of rape, gore
Release date: 28th June 2018
A slowburning, utterly compelling historical mystery, and one I picked up on a whim, and subsequently binged along with the sequel (see 2022 ARCs section). It’s the kind of book you have to read: I cannot explain well to you just how it consumed me, only that it did.
2021 BOOKS
ANNA
The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri
Rep: Indian characters and setting, lesbian mcs
TW: homophobia, gore, violence, execution by burning, forced drug use
Release date: 8th June
The Jasmine Throne is the kind of book that grips you from the start and doesn’t let go until the very last page. It’s the kind of book that carves out a piece of your heart it can live in forever, just like its characters strive to carve out a piece of the world for themselves. [full review]
How to Become a Planet by Nicole Melleby
Rep: sapphic mc with depression & anxiety, nonbinary li, sapphic side characters, side character with OCD
TW: panic attacks
Release date: 25th May
How to Become a Planet is a very tender book. It breaks your heart a little bit, but it also stitches it back together, just like Pluto stitches herself back together, with the help of all the people around her who care deeply about her happiness. [full review]
The Midnight Girls by Alicia Jasinska
Rep: lesbian mc, bi mc, lesbian character, gay character, bi character, Muslim side character, Jewish side character
TW: child abuse, blood, body horror, death, murder
Release date: 28th December
The Midnight Girls is a beautiful, lush, Polish folklore-and-history-inspired story about two literal monster sapphic girls & the inherent homoeroticism of them being enemies. All we have ever asked for. [full review]
The Tea Dragon Tapestry by Kay O’Neill
Rep: sapphic mcs, achillean disabled character, achillean characters, nonbinary character
Release date: 21st June
It’s a quiet kind of story, but at the same time monumental, in a way that it’s very human. Wholesome is probably the best word to describe it. And the art is as magical as the words.
Unwritten Rules by KD Casey
Rep: Jewish hard of hearing gay mc, Venezuelan American bi li, sapphic side characters
TW: internalised homophobia
Release date: 12th October
Unwritten Rules is a captivating romance, but frankly, first of all it’s a story of a gay guy finally and slowly coming to terms with his sexuality. Gay sports romance books really do hit differently. [full review]
The Witch King by H. E. Edgmon
Rep: trans gay mc, Black achillean li, Native American bi ace side character, nonbinary lesbian side character, sapphic side character, side polyam relationship, side sapphic relationship
TW: transphobia, abuse (verbal & physical), blood, gore, panic attacks, fire, burning, mention of past sexual assault
Release date: 1st June
Things sure happen & this whole book is a great ride, but mostly I’m a fan of the witches being a metaphor for LGBT folks and how their treatment mimics the homophobia we actually face, but there is still no homophobia in this world.
If This Gets Out by Sophie Gonzales & Cale Dietrich
Rep: gay Spanish-American mc, bi mc with an eating disorder, biracial Black character, Vietnamese character
TW: abusive parents, homophobia, drugs & alcohol use
Release date: 7th December
Extremely stressful at that 75% mark, but worth every second of it! The way every single character grows in this book, learns to stand up for themself, to fight for what (or who) they want. Magical.
CHARLOTTE
The Dead and the Dark by Courtney Gould
Rep: lesbian mcs, bi Latino mc, gay mc
TW: murder, homophobia, homophobic violence, attempted drowning, child death
Release date: 3rd August
It should be of absolutely no surprise that this book on here. It may just look like a ghost story, but it’s so much more than that alone. It’s about family and love and growing up and finding yourself when everyone believes they know you, really. Frankly, it’s a book everyone should read. [full review]
The Hollow Inside by Brooke Lauren Davis
Rep: sapphic mc, lesbian li
TW: statutory rape, deaths in car accidents, abandonment, lesbophobia, emotional abuse, stalking
Release date: 25th May
This book filed under unexpected gem, really. Unexpected because I went into it with no expectations, a gem because it was, really, one of the best books I read this year (perhaps you can tell?). If you like books about mother-daughter relationships and the complexities of them, then I would recommend this one.
Sistersong by Lucy Holland
Rep: trans mc, genderfluid side character
TW: misgendering, transphobia, violence
Release date: 1st April
Sistersong is a book that so very effectively evokes the world it’s set in that you feel as though you’re stood right alongside the characters as the events unfold. It sucks you in, a first slowburning, and then picking up. And all the while, you’re steadily falling more and more in love with it.
Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney
Rep: bi mcs, m/f
TW: mentions of self harm, depression
Release date: 7th September
I waited for about a month to get hold of this one from the library and, when I did, proceeded to binge it in a day and go just the tiniest bit feral. Sally Rooney is an author whose words can make you gasp out loud and nowhere is that clearer than in this book.
The Final Child by Fran Dorricott
Rep: lesbian mcs
TW: child death, child abduction, gore, amputation, violence, child abuse, past suicide
Release date: 7th September
If you have followed this blog at all for any length of time, you must know that Fran Dorricott is one of my favourite authors, so you can’t be surprised to see this book on here. The Final Child is a truly thrilling thriller and one you won’t want to miss out on. [full review]
BOTH
The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid
Rep: gnc mc, Jewish characters, sapphic side characters
TW: magic requiring self harm, eye horror, gore, dismemberment, torture, animal deaths, antisemitism, ethnic cleansing, child abuse
Release date: 8th June
This is a book that is so lovingly and carefully crafted that it leaps off the page with it, spinning a tale that is perhaps less often told in fantasy. This is a book that sinks its teeth into you and doesn’t let you go, even after you finish the last page. [our review]
A Dark and Hollow Star by Ashley Shuttleworth
Rep: lesbian mc with depression, pan mc, gay mc, bi mc, genderfluid side character
Release date: 23rd February
This is like Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, but make it extra gay and also with less war crimes. The extra gay part is especially, but not solely, on account of Nausicaä being a giant, useless lesbian. A dream book, perhaps?
Sweet & Bitter Magic by Adrienne Tooley
Rep: bi mc, lesbian mc
Release date: August 4th
This is a story about love. Literally the only reason anything happens is that both of the main characters love their family. It’s love that dictates those girls’ actions. And it’s love that they both win at the end. [our reviews]
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
Rep: Chinese cast & setting, bi mcs, polyamory
TW: gore, murder, torture, mentions of rape, threats of rape, misogyny, femicide
Release date: 21st September
Iron Widow has to be one of the standout debuts of 2021. Action-packed and fast-paced, you cannot help but root for the main characters all of the way through. And the fact that this has a love triangle ending in polyamory? Candidate for book of the year on that alone. [our reviews]
The Hollow Heart by Marie Rutkoski
Rep: lesbian mc, nonbinary lesbian mc, gay side character, non-white cast
TW: gore, violence
Release date: 9th September
While the first book in the series depicted compulsory heterosexuality in incredible ways, this one shows us how lesbian pining looks & feels like. And what it can propel people to do. It’s like a fairy tale we’ve all lacked in our childhoods. [Charlotte’s review]
Love and Other Natural Disasters by Misa Sugiura
Rep: Japanese American lesbian mc, Japanese American lesbian li, Taiwanese American sapphic li, Black bi side character, Japanese American gay side character, Filipino American gay side character, Japanese American side characters
TW: homophobia
Release date: 8th June
Sometimes all you want is to see teens be allowed to be messy. If that’s so, then you’re in luck with this one. Nozomi is, quite frankly, a disaster and a mess, but she’s allowed to be one without judgement. She learns, she grows, and she is forgiven, and that’s the most beautiful part of this book. [our reviews]
2022 ARCS
Time is a Mother by Ocean Vuong
Rep: poetry
Release date: 5th April 2022
Ocean Vuong’s poetry has the power, in a single line or handful of words, to completely and fully eviscerate you. And for that very reason, it is not to be missed. Anna and Charlotte.
I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston
Rep: bi mc, lesbian li, dyslexic Black gay character, Black nonbinary achillean character, lesbian, gay, bi & nonbinary side characters
TW: religious homophobic
Release date: 3rd May 2022
This is, by far and away, McQuiston’s best yet for me. The confluence of some great tropes, complex and layered characters—you don’t always like them, but you do always love them—, and a compelling mystery story: all of it wrapped up in the love and heart that stands out in all of McQuiston’s books so far. I gave this 5-stars in mid-December and haven’t read anything like it since. Charlotte.
A Far Wilder Magic by Allison Saft
Rep: Jewish mc, dyslexic mc, gay side character, sapphic side characters
TW: antisemitism, animal injury, animal death, gore, parental neglect, panic attacks
Release date: 8th March 2022
A Far Wilder Magic is a gorgeous novel, the kind of book that only Allison Saft could have written. Each time I think about this book I uncover new layers to it. Truly, I can only hope that, this year, everyone recognises what a gem this is. Charlotte.
Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake
Rep: lesbian mc, bi mc, bi side characters
Release date: 22nd February 2022
We have asked for an intense sapphic relationship and we got more than we could ever hope for! I absolutely adore how nothing is what it seems to be at first, including the bond between the sisters. Truly a book to make you feel loved. Anna.
The One That Got Away by Sophie Gonzales
Rep: bi mc, f/f
Release date: 8th September 2022
Sophie has outdone herself! Not only is this the best YA retelling of John Tucker Must Die, but it’s also full of flawed, messy characters, like we expect from her novels, and has an actual villain, which is a super sexy concept. Oh, the power of teenage girls! Anna.
The Heretic by Liam McIlvanney
Rep: gay mc, gay li
TW: torture, implied institutional abuse, child sexual abuse, mentions of rape, incest, violence, mentions of domestic abuse
Release date: 20th January 2022
Having already discussed book one of this series up above, let me just say: The Heretic takes everything that was great about The Quaker and makes it even better. A must read for any mystery fans. Charlotte.
The Lighthouse by Fran Dorricott
Rep: lesbian mcs
Release date: 3rd February 2022
A gothic-esque thriller set in a lighthouse, that only Fran Dorricott could write. It’s the perfect winter read, and you’re in luck since it’s coming out in little over a month (and so, still winter). A creeping sense of unease and complex characters are what makes this book great. Charlotte.
Season’s Change by Cait Nary
Rep: gay mc, bi mc
TW: internalised homophobia, implied past homophobic abuse
Release date: 1st February 2022
I read this book twice in the space of a few weeks and that should really tell you all you need to know. A slowburning romance, with a well developed relationship and characters you will love: what more might you want? Charlotte.
Real Easy by Marie Rutkoski
Rep: biracial Black sapphic mc, lesbian li, intersex mc, Cuban mc, Black mc, character with scoliosis, gay side characters
TW: casual racism, misogyny, lesbophobia, transphobia, implied rape, mentions of domestic abuse
Release date: 18th January 2022
This is a very character-driven, a very human, thriller. It’s less about the event itself and more about the characters around it. From the dancers to the detectives, to the glimpses of others you get: all of it is focused on making you deeply care about the characters so that, when it all comes to a head, you’re fully invested in it. Charlotte.
Devotion by Hannah Kent
Rep: lesbian mcs
Release date: 3rd February 2022
This book is like poetry. Scratch that. It’s not like poetry, it is poetry. From page one here, the writing eviscerates you. You can really feel every aspect of the characters’ emotions, of their love, across all of space and time. Charlotte.
Are any of those books on your top of the year? What other books made your list?
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