Five Queer Book Recommendations!

I am queer (shocker!) and I love reading queer literature! I have some recommendations from multiple genres, and there will most definitely be more posts in the future as I read even more!

Here are the five queer books I would like to recommend to you now:

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

Genre(s): Contemporary Fiction, Literary Fiction

This is my favorite book of all time! I read it a little over a year ago and I still think about it every single day. Vuong is a poet so if you are looking for a novel with beautiful prose, you will fall in love with this book.

The description (via The Storygraph): “Poet Ocean Vuong's debut novel is a shattering portrait of a family, a first love, and the redemptive power of storytelling

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family's history that began before he was born -- a history whose epicenter is rooted in Vietnam -- and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all of it leading to an unforgettable revelation. At once a witness to the fraught yet undeniable love between a single mother and her son, it is also a brutally honest exploration of race, class, and masculinity. Asking questions central to our American moment, immersed as we are in addiction, violence, and trauma, but undergirded by compassion and tenderness, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is as much about the power of telling one's own story as it is about the obliterating silence of not being heard.

With stunning urgency and grace, Ocean Vuong writes of people caught between disparate worlds, and asks how we heal and rescue one another without forsaking who we are. The question of how to survive, and how to make of it a kind of joy, powers the most important debut novel of many years.”

Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune

Genre(s): Fantasy

This book made me cry like a little baby! After reading The House in the Cerulean Sea (also by Klune) last year, I was itching to read another book by him! I honestly didn’t know what this was about when I borrowed it from my local library, but I spent the vast majority of it sobbing, which is a great thing in my book!

The description (via The Storygraph):” From TJ Klune, USA Today bestselling author of The House in the Cerulean Sea, comes Under the Whispering Door, a new contemporary fantasy about a ghost who refuses to cross over and the ferryman he falls in love with.

When a reaper comes to collect Wallace Price from his own funeral, Wallace suspects he really might be dead.

Instead of leading him directly to the afterlife, the reaper takes him to a small village. On the outskirts, off the path through the woods, tucked between mountains, is a particular tea shop, run by a man named Hugo. Hugo is the tea shop's owner to locals and the ferryman to souls who need to cross over.

But Wallace isn't ready to abandon the life he barely lived. With Hugo's help he finally starts to learn about all the things he missed in life.

When the Manager, a curious and powerful being, arrives at the tea shop and gives Wallace one week to cross over, Wallace sets about living a lifetime in seven days.

By turns heartwarming and heartbreaking, this absorbing tale of grief and hope is told with TJ Klune's signature warmth, humor, and extraordinary empathy.”

The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun

Genre(s): Contemporary Fiction, Romance

I had no idea what I was getting into with this book, but I got it secondhand for cheap and gave it a chance! And oh my goodness, this made me giggle and blush and believe in love again.

Description (via The Storygraph): ​​​​”In this witty and heartwarming romantic comedy—reminiscent of Red, White & Royal Blue and One to Watch—an awkward tech wunderkind on a reality dating show goes off-script when sparks fly with his producer.

Dev Deshpande has always believed in fairy tales. So it’s no wonder then that he’s spent his career crafting them on the long-running reality dating show Ever After. As the most successful producer in the franchise’s history, Dev always scripts the perfect love story for his contestants, even as his own love life crashes and burns. But then the show casts disgraced tech wunderkind Charlie Winshaw as its star.

Charlie is far from the romantic Prince Charming Ever After expects. He doesn’t believe in true love, and only agreed to the show as a last-ditch effort to rehabilitate his image. In front of the cameras, he’s a stiff, anxious mess with no idea how to date twenty women on national television. Behind the scenes, he’s cold, awkward, and emotionally closed-off.

As Dev fights to get Charlie to connect with the contestants on a whirlwind, worldwide tour, they begin to open up to each other, and Charlie realizes he has better chemistry with Dev than with any of his female co-stars. But even reality TV has a script, and in order to find to happily ever after, they’ll have to reconsider whose love story gets told.”

The Drowning Summer by C.L. Herman

Genre(s): Fantasy, Mystery, Young Adult

This book reminded me how much I love paranormal mysteries! An underrated but fantastic Young Adult novel with sapphic childhood friends to lovers? Sign me up!

Description (via The Storygraph): “A gorgeously atmospheric contemporary fantasy by the author of The Devouring Gray and The Deck of Omens.

Six years ago, three Long Island teenagers were murdered—their drowned bodies discovered with sand dollars placed over their eyes. The mystery of the drowning summer was never solved, but as far as the town’s concerned, Evelyn Mackenzie’s father did it. His charges were dropped only because Evelyn summoned a ghost to clear his name. She swore never to call a spirit again.

She lied.

For generations, Mina Zanetti’s family has used the ocean’s power to guide the dead to their final resting place. But as sea levels rise, the ghosts grow more dangerous, and Mina has been shut out of the family business. When her former friend Evelyn performs another summoning that goes horribly wrong, the two girls must uncover who was really behind the drowning summer murders—and navigate their growing attraction—before the line between life and death dissolves for good.

Beautifully written and enticingly witchy, The Drowning Summer is an eerie story perfect for reading under a full moon.”

We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds

Genre(s): Contemporary Fiction, Young Adult

I read this book in one sitting, it was that good! Hammonds is an incredible writer and I could not get enough of this story. If you want fantastic prose, a coming of age story, and a story that tackles grief and generational trauma, this book is for you!

Description (via The Storygraph): “Family secrets, a swoon-worthy romance, and a slow-burn mystery collide in We Deserve Monuments, a YA debut from Jas Hammonds that explores how racial violence can ripple down through generations.

What’s more important? Knowing the truth or keeping the peace?

Seventeen-year-old Avery Anderson is convinced her senior year is ruined when she's uprooted from her life from DC and forced into the hostile home of her terminally ill grandmother, Mama Letty. The tension between Avery’s mom and Mama Letty makes for a frosty arrival and unearths past drama they refuse to talk about. Every time Avery tries to look deeper, she’s turned away, leaving her desperate to learn the secrets that split her family in two.

While tempers flare in her avoidant family, Avery finds friendship in unexpected places: in Simone Cole, her captivating next-door neighbor, and Jade Oliver, daughter of the town’s most prominent family—whose mother’s murder remains unsolved.

As the three girls grow closer—Avery and Simone’s friendship blossoming into romance—the sharp-edged opinions of their small southern town begin to hint at something insidious underneath. The racist history of Bardell, Georgia is rooted in Avery’s family in ways she can’t even imagine. With Mama Letty's health dwindling every day, Avery must decide if digging for the truth is worth toppling the delicate relationships she's built in Bardell—or if some things are better left buried.”

Have you read any of these books? Are there any queer books you think I should read? Let me know in the comments!