The Best Queer Romances of All Time

4 days ago 13

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It’s been a while since we talked about the latest LGBTQIA+ literary news, so let’s get caught up! First up, the Polari Prize—the UK LGBTQ+ writing prize—made the baffling decision to nominate a self-proclaimed TERF author and then doubled down when criticized.

We also have the Rolling Stone‘s picks for the 20 best queer romances of all time, the best queer books of the first half of 2025, and the most-anticipated queer books of the second half of 2025.

All Access members get a bonus section of 15 new queer books out this week, from literary fiction to horror to celebrity memoir and more.

LGBTQ+ Writing Prize Nominates Self-Proclaimed TERF Author

The Polari Prize is a UK writing prize for LGBTQ+ literature. This year, one of the authors nominated was John Boyne. I’m most familiar with Boyne for writing an Holocaust novel that was criticized by multiple Holocaust museums for perpetuating harmful stereotypes and historical inaccuracies. But he has also recently published a piece celebrating JK Rowling’s transphobic statements and saying “as a fellow Terf, I stand four-square behind her.”

When the Polari Prize predictably got pushback for nominating Boyne, they doubled down, saying, “we can at times hold radically different positions on substantive issues.” Following this statement, the majority of the authors on the longlist for the 2025 Polari Prize withdrew.

It is heartening to see so many authors protest by withdrawing their books from consideration, though this shouldn’t have happened in the first place. What, exactly, is the point of an LGBTQ+ writing prize that doesn’t take a strong stance against transphobia? As with most online controversies, the response to criticism is where this really fell apart.

At the time of writing, the Polari Prize has not addressed that fact that the majority of its nominees have withdrawn, along with judge Nicola Dinan.

20 of the Best Queer Romances of All Time

The Rolling Stone has posted a list of 20 of the Best Queer Romances of All Time. As with most mainstream lists like this, many of these aren’t actually romance novels. Romance books aren’t just any book with a romantic subplot: they have to have a Happily Ever After (or Happy for Now) ending. So their #13 pick, The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, is definitely not a romance, though it is a love story. In fact, I think only four of the books on their list are capital-R-Romance books.

My favourite queer romance did make the list, at least: The Pairing by Casey McQuiston. This is a bi4bi romance with a nonbinary main character that really nails the best part of friends-to-lovers. It also is such a decadent story, set on a food and drink tour across Europe. There are beautiful locales, mouth-watering food descriptions, and a whole lot of steamy scenes.

I find the inclusion of All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews especially puzzling. Although I really liked this book, I found the romance to be a very small part of the story; it’s more about self-discovery and found family.

Queer Books From the First Half of 2025

Elle has posted their picks for the 20 best queer books of 2025 so far. I’m ashamed to say I’ve only read three, but a lot more of them are on my TBR! Last month, I posted Book Riot’s picks for the best queer books of the year so far, and there is some overlap: we both agree on Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab and Disappoint Me by Nicola Dinan.

2025 has been a great year for transfem books, as Bethany Karsten at The Transfeminine Review points out in this catalogue of 115(!) transfeminine books that came out in the first half of 2025. Some of the buzzy titles include Woodworking by Emily St. James, Disappoint Me by Nicola Dinan, Stag Dance: A Novel and Stories by Torrey Peters, Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson by Tourmaline, and A/S/L by Jeanne Thornton, but Bethany Karsten recommends picking up at least one book you’ve never heard of from the list.

…and the Second Half of 2025

In case your TBR isn’t big enough, Dahlia Adler at LGBTQ Reads has put together guides to the most-anticipated queer books out in the rest of the year, separated by genre. There’s a list for adult fiction, romances, YA, and middle grade. Dahlia Adler does so much to promote queer lit: I know these lists take a long time to put together!

15 New Queer Books Out This Week

As a bonus for All Access members, here are 15 queer books out this week, including the anthologies The New Lesbian Pulp edited by Sarah Fonseca and Octavia Saenz and Both/And: Essays by Trans and Gender-Nonconforming Writers of Color by Denne Michele Norris with Electric Literature.

Medusa of the Roses by Navid Sinaki (Queer Fiction) (Paperback Release)

The Sunflower Boys by Sam Wachman (Queer Fiction)