Hi!! Today I have a list of all of the LGBTQ+ books I read this summer! There are 11 in total, and I’m so excited to share my thoughts on them all with you! Two are rereads, but the rest are new, and I think that I’ve done a good job this summer in trying to read lots of books with LGBTQ+ rep!!

Also, these all have queer main characters, and those are the ones I wanted to include. I have read lots of other books with LGBTQ+ side characters, and I do want to point that out too.

Anyways, I read a ton of amazing books this summer, and I do recommend all of these, so you can take this as a wrap up and as a queer books recommendations post. I did prefer some of the books more than others though, so you can read about all of my thoughts on them below! So, let’s get into the post!

• 

• 

• 

Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating, by Adiba Jaigirdar

I’ve been excited for Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating for months, and it lived up to every amazing expectation I had for it!! I loved Adiba Jaigirdar’s debut, The Henna Wars, so when I first learned about Hani and Ishu I was thrilled. I also had the experience to buddy read Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating with the amazing Ruby, which was so much fun, and I loved talking to her about the book!!

Some Girls Do, by Jennifer Dugan

I loved every page of this adorable YA contemporary!! I buddy read it with Manon (@manon.loves.books on instagram) which was so much fun. It is mostely a light read, but it does have it’s more intense and serious parts, which I also thought were really well done.

The Falling in Love Montage, by Ciara Smyth

Another amazing sapphic contemporary, The Falling in Love Montage is an incredible book!! It’s such an adorable romance, with amazing characters, and I laughed out loud while reading it so many times. It definitely also is very emotional, and made me cry multiple times. I’ve watched just enough rom coms to get most of the references in the book, and I now really want to go through and watch all the ones listed I haven’t seen yet!! I loved the style of this book, and I really want to pick up Ciara Smyth’s other book sometime soon!!

• 

• 

• 

They Both Die at the End, by Adam Silvera

This one was good, but the ending was disapointing. They Both Die at the End is so, so popular on booktok, and that was a lot of the reason I picked it up. I listened to the audiobook with a friend, and we both found the book as a whole to be a little unsatisfying. It wasn’t a bad book, and I did cry a little a lot but it still wasn’t what I wanted it to be. I guess that’s the problem with books that popular; you can end up with pretty unrealistic expectations for them.

One Last Stop, by Casey McQuiston

I LOVE this book with all my heart. I read it for a Pride month book club back in June, and it was just so much fun. The characters are fantastic, and the plot is so unique and gripping. I could not put this romance down, and I loved it so much!! It’s also made me desperate to read Casey McQuiston’s other book, Red White and Royal Blue.

She’s Too Pretty to Burn, by Wendy Heard

I went into She’s Too Pretty to Burn expecting a thriller, since that was what the synopsis had promised. This felt like a bit of false advertising though, unfortunately, because most of the book was a contemporary, up until the last chunk, where the thriller aspect felt quite rushed. It was a fun read, but wasn’t incredible, and I can definitely recommend much better thrillers.

• 

• 

• 

The Gilded Wolves, by Roshani Chokshi

The Gilded Wolves is a longtime favorite of mine, and I absolutely loved rereading it for the third time this summer. I find new things in the book every time, and the characters are all just so amazing. (Shout out to Enrique Mercado-Lopez for being the most amazingly relatable bisexual historian in all of existence.)

The Silvered Serpents, by Roshani Chokshi

Reading this painful sequel was fun, and just as heartbreaking as it was the first time I read it, over a year ago. I loved every second of it though, and it made me all the more excited for book three of the trilogy.

The Bronzed Beasts, by Roshani Chokshi

I was happy, sad, thrilled, and terrified all at the same time while reading The Bronzed Beasts, and while going into. I’ve been so eagerly anticipating the conclusion to the Gilded Wolves trilogy for so long, and The Bronzed Beasts was everything I could ever have expected, and more. I laughed, cried, and cried some more while reading it, and it was such a bittersweet read. I definitely will be rereading in the not to distance future, to relive it all over again (though nothing compares to reading a Roshani Chokshi book for the first time.) I guess I’m just clinging to the hope of a sequel or novella sometime in the future.

• 

• 

These Feathered Flames, by Alexandra Over

Birdie from over at Birdie’s Booktopia had been recommending These Feathered Flames to me since its release this spring, and reading it was one of the best decisions I made all summer!! It’s such an incredible fantasy, with a unique plot and really complex and interesting court politic-y stuff which I always love to read about. Not to mention the INCREDIBLE sapphic romance central to the plot. I am so invested in everything to do with this book, and the world, and I cannot wait for the sequel which comes out in 2022!!

My Contrary Mary, by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows

I loved the Lady Janies trilolgy by these same three, so when I found out they were writing another series together, this time about three different Marys, I was absolutely thrilled. I loved My Contrary Mary so much, and I can’t wait for the next two books in the series!

Have you read any of these? What LGBTQ+ books do you love? Did you discover any new favorites this summer? Chat with me in the comments below!