The 30 Best Queer Books of the Summer, According to All the Lists

The best and most-anticipated books of the summer lists are popping up all over the place, and as is my wont, I’ve been combing them for queer books. I looked through the Atlantic, AV Club, Goodreads, Kirkus Reviews, LA Times, Lit Hub, New York Times, Publishers Weekly, Town and Country, USA Today, and Vulture lists and found 30 queer titles mentioned.

As always, I’ve likely missed some—I don’t yet have a 100% accurate book gaydar. Still, I’m pretty happy with the number of titles I spotted. 12 were mentioned on multiple lists, while 18 only appeared on one. Shout out to the Goodreads list for including 16 queer titles, a full 20% of their total list. (Now go buy them from a queer-owned indie bookstore.)

Unfortunately, there are very few queer books by authors of color that made it onto any of these lists. While queer books have an uphill battle in getting published and then getting sufficient marketing, that’s exponentially more true for queer books by authors of color. A few of the ones that did appear on these lists are Disappoint Me by Nicola Dinan, Hot Girls With Balls by Benedict Nguyễn, Forest Euphoria by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian, and Walk Like a Girl by Prabal Gurung.

Here are the 30 best queer books of the summer, according to all the lists.

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab (Goodreads, Publishers Weekly, AV Club, Kirkus Reviews, Lit Hub, New York Times, Town and Country, USA Today)

Atmosphere: A Love Story by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Goodreads, Atlantic, AV Club, Kirkus Reviews, New York Times, Town and Country, USA Today)

The Möbius Book by Catherine Lacey (Publishers Weekly, LA Times, Lit Hub, New York Times, Vulture)

Baldwin: A Love Story by Nicholas Boggs (Goodreads, Publishers Weekly, AV Club, LA Times)

The Dry Season by Melissa Febos (Goodreads, New York Times, USA Today, Vulture)

Lucky Day by Chuck Tingle (Goodreads, AV Club, Vulture)

The Phoenix Pencil Company by Allison King (Goodreads, Town and Country)

A Family Matter by Claire Lynch (Goodreads, USA Today)

Disappoint Me by Nicola Dinan (Goodreads, Vulture)

So Gay for You by Leisha Hailey and Kate Moenning (Town and Country, Vulture)

The Original by Nell Stevens (Lit Hub, Town and Country)

Hot Girls With Balls by Benedict Nguyễn (AV Club, Vulture)

Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove (Goodreads)

Volatile Memory by Seth Haddon (Goodreads)

The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling (Goodreads)

Black Flame by Gretchen Felker-Martin (Goodreads)

Well, Actually by Mazey Eddings (Goodreads)

And They Were Roommates by Page Powars (Goodreads)

Tenderly, I Am Devoured by Lyndall Clipstone (Goodreads)

Aggregated Discontent: Confessions of the Last Normal Woman by Harron Walker (Goodreads)

Boys Weekend by Mattie Lubchansky (Atlantic)

Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One by Kristen Arnett (Atlantic)

A Language of Limbs by Dylin Hardcastle (Publishers Weekly)

Palm Meridian by Grace Flahive (Publishers Weekly)

Walk Like a Girl by Prabal Gurung (Kirkus Reviews)

Sick and Dirty: Hollywood’s Gay Golden Age and the Making of Modern Queerness by Michael Koresky (LA Times)

Human Rites (The HMRC Trilogy) by Juno Dawson (Town and Country)

Forest Euphoria by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian (Vulture)

Simplicity by Mattie Lubchansky (Vulture)

Trying by Chloé Caldwell (Vulture)

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