This novel, set in the 1820s, is a gothic thriller with a riveting crime narrative. Frannie Langton is awaiting trial in London’s Newgate prison (such an iconic location for historical fiction fans!). She is accused of murdering her master and mistress, but she doesn’t think she could have done it. So she goes back to the beginning and traces her full story, starting with her early life on a plantation in Jamaica. This is the gothic for fans of historical fiction that makes sharp commentary on racism, like The Underground Railroad and Washington Black.

Jane Eyre is both an incredible book and one full of all kinds of problems. I enjoy reading books that engage with this text and choose different angles to explore. This book — great on audio if you’re into that — spoils the major plot detail of Jane Eyre right in its title. Even knowing that, you will find Sir Kit, the Mr. Rochester analogue, charismatic at first. You’ll watch with fascination as the Jane stand-in, Deborah, falls in love with the titular character and the two exact vengeance. As a bonus, this book is set in the same universe as Rose Lerner’s other Lively St. Lemeson books.

Vampires are a staple of gothic literature, and this book has become a modern classic since its 1991 publication. Gilda is an enslaved girl who escapes, and is then consensually turned by a vampire. She makes her way in the world, taking what she needs to survive but also giving back as best she can. If you like the idea of a Black lesbian vampire finding a family and witnessing the changes that come with history, this book will glamour you just like a vampire.

I’m often singing the praises of this series, and here I am doing it again! This book has one of the most awesomely spooky haunted houses, and really amazing opera magic. The romance between a nonbinary singer named Mio and an immortal with the power of a bear spirit is action-packed, strange, and cathartic. The best gothic novels have truly villainous villains, and this book has some doozies.

This is a ghost story. It’s a vampire story. It’s got a small town that’s festering with evil. Good stuff, is what I’m saying. And if you’re looking for asexuality in your queer gothic books, it’s not a major plot point of this book. But its casual presence as part of the main character Elatsoe’s identity may be affirming for you. Ellie is a ghost wrangler who ends up in Willowbee investigating the death of her cousin. While that sounds serious, this book has ghost dinosaurs. It manages to be extremely fun while also commenting on colonialism and spotlighting Lipan Apache culture.

This book taps into a bunch of different gothic modes that you’re sure to appreciate. Not only queer gothic, but dark academia and Southern Gothic as well. In it, we meet Andrew and Eddie, who are the closest of friends. Eddie left for grad school in Nashville, and then died in an apparent suicide. Andrew inherits his house, which comes with a roommate he doesn’t know and more dark secrets than you can shake a stick at. 

This gothic horror has a richly detailed setting: a historic hotel in Chicago called the Sentinel Club. Gabe works there in the Rosebriar Room, their fine dining establishment. He’s trying to dig himself out of a hard time — a traumatic breakup and a suicide attempt. His dark past mirrors that of the hotel itself. It’s haunted by something sinister that has its eyes on Gabe. This is a story that delves into gothic metaphors for racism and generational trauma, and it’s the kind of book that pulls you in and doesn’t let go.

Daphne Du Maurier’s classic Rebecca helped usher in a wave of gothic romances in the mid 20th century that dwindled as historical romances and straight-up horror novels become popular. Most of those gothic romances featured straight couples, but Gaywyck aimed to use those beloved storytelling beats to tell a deliciously gay tale. Robert heads to clifftop mansion Gaywyck to catalog the library. There he meets Donough Gaylord, and you can guess how it goes. Side note: the Fated Mates podcast episode with author Vincent Virga is not to be missed!

Queer horror from a MacArthur genius? Yes, and a slim, Kafkaesque read at that. The story, translated from Spanish, follows an unnamed narrator, who claims to be male. When two women invade his house on a stormy night interrogating him about his gender, his failure to convince anyone about his maleness lands him in a sanitarium. It’s a little The Yellow Wallpaper, a little The Trial. Perfectly gothic and surreal.

Can you tell I love Jane Eyre? I will read just about any twist on it, and this one will keep you on your toes. In the original novel Jane is Adele’s governess. In this novel, Adele knows why Mr. Rochester — who might be her father? — is no good. She leaves home for finishing school in London and meets a charming thief named Nan. And then she becomes a vigilante, murdering men who commit violence against women. I’m pumping my fist triumphantly just writing that!

This book has a contemporary setting, starting on the Yorkshire Moors, one of the most gothic of landscapes. A population of people who literally eat books lives there. When Devon gives birth to a child who has a hunger for human minds, she tries to keep him safe by integrating into regular human society. This book definitely has body horror elements, if that’s your jam.

If you’ve read and enjoyed the gothic classic Dracula, this one’s for you. Dracula is a bunch of things: an epistolary novel, a gothic novel, but also a detective novel. Rin Chupeco continues in this vein with their vampire novel starring Remy, the son of a duke in the fictional kingdom of Aluria. He’s trying to find who’s unleashing mutant vampires on his city. But here’s the real clincher: this is your book if you wish more of the sexual tension in the novels you read resulted in polyamory.

While classic gothic settings include crumbling castles, estates, and monasteries, a school for girls is another perfect setting for tales of the macabre. Plain Bad Heroines is a Russian nesting doll of a book, telling multiple stories across time. Two girls in 1902 are obsessed with a scandalous memoir, but they end up mysteriously dead and the school closes up. Over 100 years later, a film is being made about the event. The stories interweave in delightful and twisty ways. Hint: if you listen to this in audio, check out a hard copy from your library if you want to see the illustrations.

America Chavez finally gets a break from the Young Avengers and is trying to forge her own path and be her own person. But of course, things start to get a little wild, After all, it can be hard to be a queer, super-powered individual just trying to survive school. Luckily, America has her moms to support her, an incredible mentor, and some really good friends to back her up. This is a fast-paced thrill ride perfect for any comic fan.

Adopted by her two moms, Mira has always felt out of place in her mostly white community. All she knows about her mother is that she had Mira in high school and then returned to India. But then Mira finds some letters addressed to her from her birth mom and decides the time has come to learn more about where she came from. But, is she really prepared to finally meet her bio mom? This is a heartwarming story of family, belonging, and self discovery that will stay with long after reading.

Nova works for her grandmas’ bookshop, and knows a lot about magic and being a witch. One night her childhood crush, who is a werewolf, gets into some trouble, and it’s up to Nova to find out what happened and help her friend. Backed up by magic, her two grandmothers, and some absolutely delicious desserts, Nova and Tam work together, and maybe find something more than friendship along the way.

The Secret Series is a delightful tale that I can’t tell you a single thing about! It’s all a secret, even the main characters names, so we just call them Cass and Max-Earnest. One day Cass finds a mysterious item delivered to her grandfathers’ antique shop, it’s said to come from the home of a magician. Cass starts to investigate and soon finds out about a secret, two secret societies, and a whole bunch of magic.

It’s really hard to be a teenage superhero. Especially one that no one knows about. Struggling to keep her powers a secret, Nubia does her best to blend in, hang out with her friends, and be normal. But how can she be normal when she secretly has super strength and other amazing powers? When a student threatens her friends and their school, Nubia steps in to save the day, and prove to her moms that she is ready to be an actual hero. The art and story in this book is simply breathtaking.

Nova has had enough with the “so-called heroes” that have taken over the world. Sure they claim they want the world to be a better place, but they killed her uncle. After an attack goes wrong, Nova must go undercover with these people to bring an end to their rule. But are they as corrupt as she thought? Or are they really trying to do good in the world? This is a fantastic book with a very nuanced discussion about good and evil, right and wrong, and the responsibility of the powerful.

Monty finds a “mystical amulet” for only six bucks and decides to buy it. However, soon strange things start happening. This amulet called “the Eye of Know” seems to cause strange things to happen to people who Monty hates. Can Monty use this newfound power for good? Like taking down the preacher who hates her moms? Or are some powers too great for one person to have? This is a delightful and magical book with truly unforgettable characters.

Bri has always been able to make plants grow from the smallest seeds, to the biggest bloom. When her moms decide it’s time to get out of Brooklyn after the death of her aunt, Bri finally has the chance to understand and control her powers. Surrounded by flowers, and idyllic vistas, not all is perfect in this new summer home. Strangers keep appearing to ask for strange elixirs, and this house seems to hold a mystery that could be the key to answering all of Bri’s questions.

From the author of Love, Simon comes this adorable tale of Molly, who has been in love a total of 26 times. And not once has that love been returned. But, when her sister starts dating the new girl and spending less time with Molly, she cooks up a plan. She’s gonna date the brother of sister’s girlfriend, get her sister back, and, most importantly, get her first kiss. That’s the plan until for the first time Molly realizes she might actually have an impossible crush on her best friend Reid. But that can’t be? Can it?

Alexis has it all! A group of best friends, and magic. But all good things must come to an end, and after a freak magical accident that results in the death of a boy, Alexis starts to feel helpless. Now this group of friends must come together to make things right, no matter how may times they fail. Which turns up being a lot. But this group has got each other’s backs and Alexis just might be remembering what brought them all together as friends in the first place. This is a dark, but heartwarming look at friendship, love, and the painful process of growing up.

These are just a few of the amazing YA books out there that feature queer parents. Some have been around a while, and some came out pretty recently, but no matter what you’re looking for, there’s bound to be the perfect book on this list for you.

If this gorgeous cover isn’t enough to convince you to read this YA romance from the author of Full Disclosure and Off the Record, maybe this will: instead of a big Sweet Sixteen, Mahalia Harris is planning a huge Coming Out Party. All she wants is a break from worrying about school and crushes and money. And is that really so much to ask? But despite all her extra work and savings and the flirting she’s put in with the cute new girl, soon Mahalia is drowning in bills and drama and her dream of the perfect Coming Out Party might just be dead before it’s even started.

In this “daring, proactive, and radically hopeful” memoir, Lamya recounts her discovery of her sexuality as a young Muslim girl in South Asia and the ways in which comparing her own queer experiences to stories from the Quran helps her reinterpret herself and her religion. Through a series of essays covering her childhood through her arrival in the United States and early adulthood in New York, Lamya paints a powerful portrait of what it means to be queer and Muslim at the same time.

In this sapphic Hollywood romance, a screenwriter falls for the bossy movie star who convinces her to start writing again. But between returning to L.A., reconnecting with her old crew, and working on a new script, does Nina really have time to be falling for a movie star? Even if Ari is the movie star who told her she shouldn’t quit on her dreams? Maybe. Or maybe not. And, either way, maybe it’s worth the risk.

Jade Nguyen plans to visit her father in the French colonial house he’s renovating in Vietnam, get in, pretend to be the good, straight, Vietnamese American girl he thinks she is, get the college money he’s promised her, and get out. The house has other plans. Each morning she wakes paralyzed, covered in insect legs, and haunted by the ghost of a bride who leaves her with one warning: don’t eat. her father doesn’t believe her. Even her sweet little sister doesn’t believe anything is wrong. It’s only with the help of a delinquent girl named Jade that she can prove this house her family has always dreamed of will destroy them from the inside out if they don’t get away first.

The author of Written in the Stars is back with another contemporary sapphic romance, this time between a bookseller and a cover model who agree to a marriage-of-convenience only to discover they have very real feelings for each other. I’m so here for a story about a small bookstore owner and a publishing heiress with a book modeling career on the side falling for each other. I mean, this feels like straight up reader fanfic in the absolute best way possible. I’m in.

In this SFF take on a Pinocchio retelling, a human raised by a robot discovers his adoptive father’s dark past spent hunting humans. When a recently repaired robot alerts other robots of Giovanni and Vic’s location in the woods, Gio is taken back to a laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams. To save the only father he has ever known from decommissioning or reprogramming, Vic must journey across a treacherous landscape with his robot companions — including the very one who gave them up.

When a stillborn baby’s heart begins to beat and her skin turns a vibrant blue in the Pacific Northwest, the Rummani family’s matriarch, Aunt Nuha, insists it’s no coincidence that their centuries-old soap factory in Palestine was destroyed that very same day. Decades later, that same girl returns to her aunt’s grave, questioning whether she should follow her heart — and the woman she loves — perpetuating her family’s cycle of exile or stay in the only place she’s ever known. The answer comes in the form of her aunt’s partially-translated journals, documenting Nuha’s choice to hide her sexuality during the family’s immigration to the U.S. Suddenly the story Betty thought she’d always known is a new one. How will knowing the full story help Betty redefine her own?

Mickey Hayward might not be living the life of her dreams, but it seems close enough for now, anyway. That is, until she finds out the flashy media job that always leaves her feeling depleted and demoralized is replacing her. So she fires off a furious response detailing all the racism and sexism she’s faced as a Black woman in media. And it’s met with silence. Stunned and heartbroken, she heads home to small town Maryland, where her old life and her former flame help her remember what enjoying life feels like. At least until a new media scandal catapults her forgotten letter back into the public — and this time people what to know what Mickey has to say. It’s exactly what she’s always wanted…isn’t it?

This YA romcom had me at “Heartstopper meets Crazy Rich Asians,” but goodness just keeps on coming. Not only does it feature a mooncake-making competition for teen chefs, but also fake dating and a “crazy rich” wedding in the Hamptons. All Dylan wants is to save his family’s struggling takeout business and honor his late mom by winning the Mid-Autumn Festival mooncake-making competition. He wasn’t expecting a cute, charming distraction like Theo Somers to walk into his life. And he definitely wasn’t expecting to fake date him. But can Dylan follow his heart and win the competition, too? Or will choosing one mean losing the other?

A young gay man in 1990s India flees the all-consuming guilt and grief that fills the house after his twin sister’s death by joining an all-boys boarding school. Most of all, though, he seeks to escape his father’s violent threats and promises to send him to a conversion center. It’s not until he joins a street theatre troupe, playing the role of humans and gods, men and women, that Shagun truly begins to feel like himself. But the trauma of the past hangs over him still, and in order to accept the love he has always longed for, he’ll have to finally accept himself for who he is and claim the happiness he deserves.

Set in a United States that feels eerily and easily plausible, where criminals are given extra shadows to publicly shame them and the state surveils everyone, this novel is an intimate portrait of queer parenthood and an exploration of personal and community accountability. Kris is a grieving widow just trying to survive in a world that doesn’t make space for her or her kid — both of whom carry extra shadows.

The second installment in adrienne maree brown’s Grievers trilogy follows Dune, a young Black woman still trying to make sense of the pandemic that swept through Detroit, and that killed so many people, including her mother. Grieving and alone, Dune slowly makes connections with other survivors, and, in community, begins to imagine a future for herself and the city she loves.

After they are attacked and arrested in their own neighborhood one day, Sterling Beckenbauer decides they will hold their own trial. From there, the book descends into a dizzying blend of ordinary and strange—it’s full of time travel, spaceships, and the everyday dilemmas of contemporary life. It’s an experimental novel uses surrealism to explore the many horrors of the world we live in, most especially surveillance and state-sanctioned violence against queer and trans people.

Get read for a wildly fun trans sci-fi adventure, set in the barren wastelands of a future Utah. Valentine is a salvager, trying desperately to make enough money to buy him citizenship in Salt Lake City, where he’ll have access to the health care he needs. Then he meets Osric, an AI with a grand money-making scheme, and Valentine thinks he has a chance at freedom at least. But Osric’s plan is a whole lot more complicated than Valentine realizes, and so is Osric.

First published in 1982, this novel of surviving trauma and coming into queer identity is now available in English for the first time. It tells the story of Noenka, a young Black woman living in Suriname, on the northeastern coast of South America, who flees her abusive husband and beings to build a free life for herself in the nation’s capital.

A mystery about a queer nun! Do you really need to know anything else? Here’s a tidbit: After a string of arsons upends the lives of the Sisters of the Sublime Blood and their community, Sister Halliday decides to take matters into her own hands and track down the arsonist herself. If you’re looking for something new in crime and whodunits, take note.

We’ve been getting more and more memoirs and essay collections from fat authors that deal with fatphobia and the systemic oppression fat people face, and I am here for all of them. In this memoir, Kent writes about her life as a fat, Black, queer woman, reflects on the harm fatphobia has done, and explores what liberation from heteronormativity and reductive beauty standards might look like — for her and all of us.

I love a good family drama, so I’m especially excited for this debut about two Jamaican Trinidadian sisters dealing with a whole lot of life messes — their mother’s illness, their father’s violence, and their own winding journeys of self-discovery. It’s a novel about the power of ghosts and stories, and about what it means to haunt, or be haunted, by both.

This joy-filled but thoughtful YA novels follows Mexican American teenager Yamilet through a turbulent school year at a new Catholic school. She’s dealing with racism from her peers, trying to keep her queerness hidden despite a new crush, working to support herself for fear of being rejected by her family, and trying to be there for her brother through his struggles with mental health. It’s a lot. Reyes’s writing is full of compassion, and while this book doesn’t avoid tough subjects, it’s ultimately hopeful.

River is a trans swimmer trying to figure out who they are and what they want in a small Midwestern town. Their story is messy and circular and full of ups and downs. It unfolds over a long time period, capturing River’s early teens and their years in college. This feels true to life — River changes and grows so much, and in so many different ways, as they move through the world. It makes for an intense, emotional, and satisfying read.

As far as real-life queer siblings go, twins Tegan and Sara are definitely some of the best well-known and well-loved, especially in the LGBTQ community. In this joint memoir, they write about growing up in Calgary, Alberta, in the 1990s. They reflect on their formative childhood years, their parents’ divorce, their first loves, and the beginnings of their music career.

There’s so much queer family in this book! A queer sibling relationship is just one of the many kinds of queer familial relationships Harper explores. It’s a beautiful intergenerational family saga that unfolds across decades and through various POVs. It’s about parenthood and making art, finding your roots and running from them, holding onto secrets and letting them go, forgiveness and loss, and so much more.

In this charming and often hilarious novel, a teenager who runs a popular anonymous advice column learns the hard way that navigating relationships is a whole lot more complicated than telling people how to navigate them. Darcy is an A+ bisexual whirlwind, and this book has a little bit of everything: friendship, romance, family drama, queer joy, intense growth, and an in-the-background-but-super-grounding queer sibling relationship.

This historical romance stars Phillip, a grumpy, grieving sea captain who doesn’t know what to do with his rowdy children, and Ben, a charming, affable vicar who loves kids and dogs. It’s not about queer siblings, exactly, but it is the first in Cat Sebastian’s Seducing the Sedgwicks series, which is very much about queer siblings, as Ben’s two brothers find love in the subsequent books. There’s nothing better than a good family romance series, especially when everyone in the family is queer!

If you’re skeptical about how realistic a romance series about three queer brothers is, here’s a memoir for you! Because, spoiler alert: there are plenty of families in which all the siblings are queer. In this warmhearted book about change and growth, Jessi Hempel recounts what happened after almost everyone in her family her came out: she and her dad are gay, her brother is trans, and her sister is bi. It’s a beautiful story about one family’s messy journey from keeping secrets and pretending everything was fine to finding wholeness and happiness — though not in the way any of them expected.

The queer sibling storyline in this novel is subtle — so subtle you might miss it. But that’s part of why I’m including it: not all queer sibling stories are flashy. This is a gorgeous book about a Syrian American trans man who finds an unexpected connection to his family’s queer history while researching a bird artist his mother loved. It’s a moving story about immigrant communities, queer lineage, and the homes queer and trans people have built for and with each other throughout history.

This powerful, introspective book is set in a version of the United States where, instead of being sent to prison, wrongdoers are given an extra shadow. It’s a complex character study of a grieving widow, a meditation on queer parenthood, and an exploration of state power, surveillance, and liberation.

If you’re looking for an engrossing, thoughtful read, this YA novel has it all: magic, romance, and adventure! Set in London in 1885, it’s a queer, gothic retelling of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde featuring a teenager who’s trying to figure out why his best friend disappeared — and why the mysterious new stranger in town is so familiar.

This collection of interconnected stories features a queer and Latine cast of parents, lovers, and friends, all trying to survive as best they can in New York City and the surrounding suburbs. The stories hone in on the everyday realities of long-term partnership, work, parenthood, racism, alienation, and more. If you’re looking for something that’s as funny as it is sharp, Varela should definitely be at the top of your list.

A journey of gender discovery! Messy queer relationships! Lesbian pulp! This book sounds like queer heaven. Dawn is a bookbinder living in New York in 2003, but she’s stuck: in her relationship, in her work, in her body, in her gender. Then she finds a love letter written on the back of the cover of a 1950s lesbian pulp novel, and her obsession with finding the author of the letter leads her somewhere she doesn’t expect.

It’s time for a queer romcom! This charming romance is about Nar, a bisexual Armenian American woman who grudgingly allows her mother to convince her to attend a series of Armenian cultural events taking place in the city. The intended purpose, of course: to meet a nice man. But she meets a nice woman instead, a woman who makes her feel like she can be her whole self. The only problem: now she just has to tell her mom about it.

This memoir isn’t just about Royster’s journey to motherhood. It’s also about all the ways that queer people and Black people have been making families outside of white, heteronormative expectations for centuries. Royster shares stories of her African American family, her childhood in Chicago, and the winding road she and her partner traveled to become mothers. It’s a beautiful, moving, and insightful book.

In this memoir in essays, Lamya H shares the stories from the Quran that have shaped her understanding of herself as a queer Muslim person. Struggling to understand her identity and desires as a teenager and young adult, she turns to the Quran, and finds a wealth of stories that speak to her — stories about resistance and resilience, and about people who, like her, don’t fit into neat boxes.

In this memoir, Greg Marshall blends a whole lot of hilarity with a poignant coming-of-age story. He writes about growing up gay in the 1990s, claiming his disabled identity as someone with cerebral palsy as a young man, and all the messes that unfold in between. It’s the perfect mix of heartfelt, observant, and just a little bit absurd — because who wants to take life too seriously?

Harrison and Linus do everything together. They’re even planning on going to college together. But then Linus has to move in with his dad in Charleston and their plans come crashing down. As a last hurrah, the boys have a Ferris Bueller-esque day of antics including a train trip, a Pride celebration, and a dance party together. It turns out escaping their parents’ attention is easier than escaping the feelings building up about saying goodbye.

Best friends Fallon and Chloe aren’t exactly on speaking terms after they hooked up at Chloe’s going-away bonfire. With Chloe off to college, they turn to avoiding each other in the aftermath. But when their moms have a big business presentation, the girls are left running their ice cream truck at festivals across the country. Now, in close proximity, their past is impossible to ignore.

Trixie and Luz need to get out of their small town, so they plan a little weekend trip. With soda, cigarettes, and Lux’s camera, they’re set. But when a stop at a bar turns violent, the girls have to outrun the media making them into examples and police hot on their heels. This modern, sapphic Thelma & Louise is a thrill ride.

When 30-year-old asexual Joy’s best friend Malcolm tells her he’s met the love of his life, she should be happy for him. Too bad her deep and very secret love for him turns in the direction of heartbreak.

When Malcolm invites her on a weekend trip with him, his girlfriend, and his girlfriend’s friend, Fox, she takes advantage of the opportunity as one last chance to get Malcolm to love her back. To do it, she and Fox devise a fake-dating scheme to get Malcolm jealous. But their plan may not be so clever or so fake after all.

Bea is a teenager on the run from a home life she doesn’t want to talk about. Lou is a twenty-something deep in grief after the loss of her mom en-route to visit family. The two set out on a road trip together, strangers both stuck with their trauma and grief. On the road, they find a lost cat, are pursued by mysterious men, and spend a lot of time in thought. This slow-moving, magical-feeling graphic novel is as beautiful as it is touching.

After Maria breaks up with her girlfriend Steph and loses her job, she’s thrown off kilter. Her typical routine of drinking, pills, and remembering her estrogen shots isn’t quite cutting it. In a maybe not so rational reaction, Maria steals Steph’s car and just drives until she ends up in the small town of Star City, Nevada. There, she meets James, who is just as lost as she was at his age. Maria has the chance to be a role model and friend to James in a way she never got herself.

Dalia’s summer plans of riding roller coasters and making friends are thrown off by her dad’s engagement. Her dad wants her to spend time with her soon-to-be stepsister, Alexa, instead. But Dalia has an idea for everyone to get what they want, and it includes a road trip to an amusement park with Alexa and a girl from Alexa’s swim team, Rani. It turns out the roller coaster might be thrilling, but the butterflies might be about whatever it is Dalia is starting to feel for Rani instead.

After a volcanic eruption detours the plane with Paloma’s mother’s body inside, she and her old friends Iquela and Felipe embark on a road trip in a hearse. With alternating point of views between Felipe and Iquela, their journey becomes one into their pasts in Chile as the children of ex-militants too. Time on the road allows them to process their complicated past together.

Written by queer, Muslim, Arab-American Randa Jarrar, this memoir explores her past through a road trip from California to Connecticut in 2016. The non-linear structure and varying topics like being the target of social media threats, violence experienced as a child and an adult, and discrimination keep the memoir engaging as the road trip continues on in the background. You’ll both laugh and cry reading Love is an Ex-Country.