reviews, releases and recommendations of LGBT media
This is part two of that really long adult lit rec list I promised you. Part one can be found here, and all the parts will be in this tag (eventually).
You might notice as this list goes on, some genres will have fewer recs. That’s just because there’s not a lot in those genres that I’ve been able to find (as of yet!).
Key:
lesbians & wlw relationships: ☀️
gays & mlm relationships: 🌿
bisexual characters: 💎
trans, genderqueer, non-binary, gnc characters: 🌷
LGBT authors: 🌈
The other day I was scrolling through twitter and I saw someone make a comment that they didn’t see any rec lists of adult LGBT books. Which. Once you say it, becomes obvious, really. There are a lot of lists of YA LGBT books. In fact, those are the ones me and Anna find easiest to confirm the rep in for you. Adult books? That’s hard. Often, those are the ones where we find ourselves spending 10 minutes just trying to find a confirmation that it is LGBT, let alone how.
So this is (probably only part one of) a list of all the adult LGBT lit we can find (read, unread, and pre-release). Where possible, we’ve added in rep as usual, but for that we’re mostly reliant on Goodreads reviewers (and you know how vague they can be). But. These are 50 confirmed LGBT novels. Sorted by genre (10 of each).
Enjoy!
Key:
lesbians & wlw relationships: ☀️
gays & mlm relationships: 🌿
bisexual characters: 💎
trans, genderqueer, non-binary, gnc characters: 🌷
LGBT authors: 🌈
First rec list published at my new flat! Because oh yeah, by the way, guys! I moved last Saturday. I’m still settling in, which is most obvious by the state of my bookcase – I just put books on it to get them out of boxes, but order? Never heard of her.
Anyway. Back to why we are actually here. Books set at boarding schools! I feel like it’s one of those Hot Tropes that y’all really like, so I hope my selection won’t disappoint. Frankly, though, I’m treating it a little bit loosely, by which I mean there are also books set at a university or books that take place at a boarding school only for a while. Generally speaking, there’s some kind of dorm situation in each book, though. So I think we’re good. Let’s go.
April 26th is the International Lesbian Visibility Day! And what’s a better way to celebrate that than having a lesbian talk about other lesbians? (Possibly getting said lesbian a girlfriend but shh…)
I was actually talking with Charlotte about what we should post for this occasion and at first we just wanted to go with books with lesbian protags. But then we realised… As many sapphic books as we’re getting lately, still not a lot of them uses the word “lesbian” on page. And I’m not gonna lie, I would really love for us to finally get over that and stop treating lesbian as a dirty word or whatever is happening here.
But yes, this is why y’all are getting a rec list of books written by lesbians. We gotta stick together, right? I’m also changing the format of our rec lists for this one, because I want to highlight authors more than anything else. I’ll be putting one book per a lesbian here, but that’s not to say I think it’s the only one you should read!
You know how there are some big tropes that are just autoread for you? But then it turns out that 9 times out of 10 that trope is just done with a heterosexual couple and you’re like please for once will someone make this trope gay (because we all know even the best tropes become a thousand times better when they’re gay).
Well then, you’re in luck! Because this list is ten upcoming (gay) releases that use all the best tropes. Here we have fake dating, hate to love, found family, second chance romance, friends to lovers, and that one where they’re project partners.
But, yes, they’re all as-of-yet-unreleased. Sorry.
Sometimes you just don’t have a lot of time, but you still want to Feel something, to make your gay heart beat faster. That’s when short movies come into play! Packing an emotional punch into a fifteen minutes long story? That’s art. And everyone can spare a quarter of an hour to watch a tiny little thing like that, right?
I’m starting the list with a title you all hopefully already know, but it’s always good to bring back our faves! And then it’s just a little bit of everything, to be honest.
Hello from Cornwall! Or not really, because this is a scheduled post and I am currently probably dragging my family around yet another castle (they should never have let me plan the trip, is all I’m saying). It’s probably apt, then, that my rec list is going to be full of history!
Historical LGBT books are a bit of a minefield, I think we can all agree. You think you’ll have come across a good one, and then all of a sudden, it’s either a) tragic, b) buries its gays (because no gay people ever had a happy ending in the past, did they?), or c) does both. So, of the utmost importance on this list, is that the book isn’t overly tragic all the way through, and it absolutely does not bury its gays.
So, with that in mind, here are ten historical LGBT books for you!
Have you ever noticed how a lot of fantasy with LGBT characters tends to be urban fantasy? Obviously, that’s no bad thing, but sometimes you just want to read about LGBT characters in high fantasy settings. (Or, let’s be real, you want to read high fantasy settings without the casual homophobia, but apparently that’s too hard for some people to write. Not that I’m bitter, but.) Because it’s fantasy, so why shouldn’t we be there too?
So here are ten high fantasy books with LGBT mains. Brief disclaimer before I begin: there are three books on here I haven’t read, but people I trust have reviewed them highly (and also I plan to read them asap).
LGBT people are magic, so obviously I had to do a rec list of LGBT books with witches (and various other magic-doers). Shamefully, I haven’t read all that many (that I’m willing to rec. There is that One Series We Don’t Talk About as well, but it’ll be a cold day in hell when I rec that), so some of the ones on here are ones people I trust have loved, or ones that aren’t yet published.
But, because they’re about witches (and other magic-doers), and they’re LGBT, I can guarantee* that they’ll be amazing.
*Please don’t actually hold me to this, thanks.
It’s niche rec list time! I asked, and you voted, so here it is: ten of my favourite love confessions. In LGBT lit, only, obviously.
A good love confession can leave you with such a warm feeling inside, and make even the hardest of hearts feel almost like they don’t mind romance (disclaimer: I don’t actually know this). So, clearly, I had to spread the love (lol). And that warm feeling.
Not gonna lie, Charlotte was the one who came up with today’s theme. Bur surprisingly she only helped me choose I think one title? But yes, see, we work together to bring you only the best stuff!!
Anyway, finding sci-fi books that specifically take place in space and not just in the future on a very different Earth… It’s not the easiest thing in the world. Especially, when one needs those books to have LGBT rep. Like one does. Always.
But I hope I did a decent job and you will find something of interest here! Let’s dive in!
I am, as ever, looking for ways to procrastinate doing work (usually reading professional practice articles, because Christ how dry can you make an already really dry subject, but anyway). So I figured I’d make a rec thread of quietly magical and gay books. Because I didn’t think I had that enough to turn into a rec list. But! Lo and behold, I did. So. That’s what you’re going to get. Books which are quietly magical (and gay, because this is a LGBT only site. No straights allowed here). (And also, this is a genre that there seem to be a lot of books where you go, hey I didn’t realise that was gay. Just trying to raise awareness here.)
Like I said in my last rec list – 10 upcoming books by Black authors – I wanted to celebrate Black History Month with some appropriate recommendations. So this is why today I decided to talk about books that feature Black characters. I tried to only choose titles with Black main characters, but I will admit in the end a few of the books have a Black love interest. Which, if you think about it… those are still kind of main characters…
Three out of ten books I’m recommending today are actually graphic novels, for some novelty. And three are novellas. There’s young adult and new adult, there’s fantasy and contemporary, and historical fiction… Today, you get a little bit of everything!!
Okay, so let’s jump in!
On a cold day deep in the heart of winter, Rowan’s father returns from an ill-fated hunting trip bearing a single, white rose. The rose is followed by the Huntress, a figure out of legend. Tall, cruel, and achingly beautiful, she brings Rowan back with her to a mountain fastness populated solely by the creatures of the hunt. Rowan, who once scorned the villagers for their superstitions, now finds herself at the heart of a curse with roots as deep as the mountains, ruled by an old magic that is as insidious as the touch of the winter rose. Torn between her family loyalties, her guilty relief at escaping her betrothal to the charming but arrogant Avery Lockland, and her complicated feelings for the Huntress, Rowan must find a way to break the curse before it destroys everything she loves. There is only one problem―if she can find a way to lift the curse, she will have to return to the life she left behind. And the only thing more unbearable than endless winter is facing a lifetime of springs without the Huntress.
Anna Burke
Rating: 4/5 🌈
Published: 29th January 2019
Goodreads
Rep: wlw mcs
“You,” she said, as if she had only just realized who I was. “Rowan.” Her eyes dropped to the dress, then back to my face. “Rowan,” she said again, like it was the only word she knew.
It’s the Black History Month so I wanted to focus my posts the next few weeks on books by and/or about Black people. As you can see from the title, today I will be recommending book written by Black authors. And specifically: books that are only about to come out. Most of them are set for this year, but there are a few 2020 titles as well.
Two books listed here are by authors I’ve already read something by before (I wonder if you can guess which authors I’m talking about…) & you can read my reviews of their previous books here and here.
There are some amazing stories coming our way, I can tell you that much already! So let’s dive in without any further ado.
