Summary
- New LGBTQ+ books out in June 2024 offer diverse representation & stories for everyone to explore and celebrate their sexualities.
- Books like Blessings, Becoming Ted, & Wish You Weren’t Here provide vital insights into LGBTQ+ experiences & relationships beyond romance.
- LGBTQ+ novels like Cuckoo, The Future Was Color, & All Friends Are Necessary tackle important topics, from loss to self-discovery.
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LGBTQ+ books are amazing resources for people to explore and celebrate their sexualities, and many new queer books are coming out in June 2024, in time for Pride month. Within these upcoming releases, many genres, identities, and methods of self-expression will be expanded upon, ensuring that there’s something out there for everyone. While sometimes the best gay and LGBTQ+ rom-coms are the first place audiences look for representation, there’s plenty to be found in the pages of new novels from outstanding authors.
Though not every tale is one of glittering romance and happy endings, they all provide vital insight into the diversity of experiences faced by the LGBTQ+ community.
The best teen shows with LGBTQ+ representation show how accessible and well-received these characters and stories are becoming in mass media. Though not every tale is one of glittering romance and happy endings, they all provide vital insight into the diversity of experiences faced by the LGBTQ+ community. Every year, Pride is an opportunity for people from all corners of the community to come together in celebration and remembrance of those who didn’t have the chance to live in a world that loved and accepted them. Books like these are part of many LGBTQ+ people’s journey to self-love and joy.
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10 Blessings By Chukwuebuka Ibeh
June 4
Blessings is the debut novel by the up-and-coming author, Chukwuebuka Ibeh, and though it’s Ibeh’s first outing with a full-length book, it tackles subjects more experienced writers have struggled with. The story follows Obiefuna and his mother, Uzoamaka, providing the two sides of their interconnected story from their unique points of view. When Obiefuna’s father sends him to a Christian boarding school and turns his life on its head, both Obiefuna and Uzoamaka must adapt to survive their new realities.
As their lives progress and Nigeria changes around them, each character develops into a more fully evolved person. However, Ibeh continuously asks himself and the audience questions about freedom and interpersonal connections as the story slowly unfolds in the years before the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act of 2013. At once about the universality of growing up and the unique relationships Obiefuna cultivates, Blessings is a fantastic addition to the LGBTQ+ canon. Ibeh’s future novels will doubtlessly be as intimate and expressive as his debut.
9 Becoming Ted By Matt Cain
June 4
Matt Cain isn’t afraid to make the audience smile and laugh in Becoming Ted, a sweet story about Ted, a man who has to rediscover himself in the wake of being left by his husband. In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of books and movies about reinventing oneself in middle age. These projects find that life’s second act holds more joy and wonder than expected. Ted realizes his ex-husband might have stifled his development, as there’s plenty more life to live.
However, the ice cream is only the tip of the iceberg, as Ted harbors secret dreams and desires about how to best express himself.
Becoming Ted is only the most recent in a long line of stories about happiness and queer love that Cain has penned. Set in the U.K., the novel also sees Ted working for his family’s ice cream company, creating the perfect environment for a romantic comedy of epically cute proportions. However, the ice cream is only the tip of the iceberg, as Ted harbors secret dreams and desires about how to best express himself. As he lets himself blossom, readers will feel encouraged to take a risk and do the same.
8 Wish You Weren’t Here By Erin Baldwin
June 4
As the best enemies-to-lovers rom-com movies have taught audiences since the beginning of cinema, even a well-worn trope can be made interesting again with the right characters. Wish You Weren’t Here provides those characters in Juliette and Priya, two high school rivals who couldn’t be more different, or, it turns out, compatible. When Juliette escapes to her usual summer camp, and suddenly, Priya appears as her roommate, it doesn’t take long for sparks to start flying. However, both young women are also navigating the hard lessons of growing up.
Not only are Erin Baldwin’s characters crystal clear, but her settings are so immersive that it’s impossible for the reader not to feel transported to a summer camp of their very own. Though the audience begins reading Wish You Weren’t Here knowing that a romance is bound to unfold, it still feels fresh and surprising and the young women discover the hidden parts of themselves and each other. Chock-full of activity and characteristically woodsy storylines, Wish You Weren’t Here will warm the heart of the most cynical reader.
7 The Future Was Color By Patrick Nathan
June 4
…The narrative is rooted in the inescapable reality of George Curtis, an LGBTQ+ Jewish immigrant who came to America before World War II.
For fans of the Hollywood Golden Era and the secrets it kept, The Future Was Color is the perfect summer read. Patrick Nathan transports the audience to sunny Los Angeles and its glittering citizens. However, the narrative is rooted in the inescapable reality of George Curtis, an LGBTQ+ Jewish immigrant who came to America before World War II. It’s well-known that America in the 1950s was rampant with McCarthyism and the persecution of anything that strayed from the mold of the nuclear family. However, Nathan isn’t afraid to bring the nuclear bomb into the discussion in the same breath.
This period is one well-worn by artists and historians, but Nathan manages to uncover something new in his novel. For those interested in the true story behind shows like Fellow Travelers, The Future Was Color fills this niche and expands upon it brilliantly, connecting the personal and the political. The book understands how politicized the identity of LGBTQ+ individuals was and still is to this day. Though politics is inextricable from many identities across the world, George still manages to make art in the face of violence.
6 Experienced By Kate Young
June 4
For Bette in Kate Young’s Experienced, coming out late in life is only the beginning. Once Bette discovers herself and her sexuality, it doesn’t take long to find Mei and settle down with her new long-term partner. However, Mei has other ideas, as she informs Bette that they should take a break for Bette to fully experience the extent of queer dating and nightlife before they fully commit to each other. Unfortunately, Bette barely knows where to start, and is going to need all the help she can get.
Young paints a painful, hopeful, and realistic picture of dating and Bette’s path to fully discovering not just how others can make her happy but how she can find that love within herself. She’s a strong protagonist whose stumbles are all too relatable. In any romantic relationship, the question of experience inevitably pops up, and Young is interested in what people mean when they use the word. Reading Experienced is compelling and comfortable, tackling important subjects, but having plenty of fun along the way.
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5 Cuckoo By Gretchen Feller-Martin
June 11
Gretchen Feller-Martin’s previous novel, Manhunt, set the stage for Cuckoo, a supernatural take on the dangers and traumas faced in conversion camps. Set in the 1990s, Cuckoo sees its main characters sent to such a camp and abused until they realize there’s something else afoot in the nearby mountains. The story catches up with the remaining kids who were sent to that camp as they join together to stop the cycle of evil in its tracks.
Plenty of media has tackled the issue of conversation camps and the horrible toll it takes on LGBTQ+ youth, and Cuckoo joins the ranks of books that sometimes cross the line into hard-to-read. Not because the writing or storytelling is lacking, but because the fiction is all too often found in the real world. With elements of classic horror and contemporary fiction, Cuckoo includes many descriptions of violence and gore that readers should be aware of before opening up the new book.
4 The Stars Too Fondly By Emily Hamilton
June 11
As Hamilton’s characters hurtle through space, they fall in love with themselves and each other.
Many LGBTQ+ novels fall purely under the romance genre. However, The Stars Too Fondly is a reminder that science fiction and fantasy should have just as much queer love as any other story. The book is Emily Hamilton’s debut, and she makes full use of all the stars have to offer. As Hamilton’s characters hurtle through space, they fall in love with themselves and each other. Cleo, the protagonist, finds herself and her friends trapped on a spaceship leaving Earth behind when she discovers that the person she was might have been left on Earth too.
The Stars Too Fondly is for anyone who loves sci-fi as much as they love romantic comedies. It even takes a stab at commenting on the effects of climate change on upcoming generations. Though the scientific aspects of the novel might not be the most accurate, this is hardly the point of a feel-good story like The Stars Too Fondly. Even if the characters only have each other while they’re alone in space, this is all they need. However, The Stars Too Fondly also throws in some good old-fashioned adventure.
3 All Friends Are Necessary By Tomas Moniz
June 11
A wonderful aspect of LGBTQ+ art and writing is that platonic friendships and found family are elevated to the same level of importance as romantic relationships. While this stems from the fact that many LGBTQ+ people aren’t initially accepted by their loved ones as children, they grow up and build communities that are as loving and accepting as any home. In All Friends Are Necessary, Efren “Chino” Flores finds his life turned upside down after a tragedy, but the comfort he finds in his friends is life-changing for the better.
The author, Tomaz Moniz, is an excellent advocate for queer community building, and it’s at the forefront of every part of All Friends Are Necessary. Though romantic love isn’t absent from the novel, it’s not something that Chino’s life solely revolves around. As Chino builds his life back up and finds comfort in those closest to him, the reader roots for him to stay on his path and become his truest self. Set against the backdrop of the Bay Area in California, All Friends Are Necessary is true to its title.
2 Little Rot By Akwaeke Emezi
June 18
Akwaeke Emezi’s Little Rot is thrilling to the bitter end as it takes the reader on an odyssey through a Nigerian city when a group of friends and strangers bite off more than they can chew. Combining sex, crime, and interweaving stories, Little Rot is an expansive tale that deals with difficult subjects that won’t appeal to all readers, but will deeply resonate with those interested. It should be noted that there are descriptions of violence in the text, and any reader embarking on the novel should be sure to read the content warnings.
The relationships at the heart of Little Rot are deeply compelling as the flourishing descriptors of the city and its nightlife.
However, there is still much to be gained from reading Emezi’s new work, as they embark on a new genre and push their writing to be even more interesting and experimental. The relationships at the heart of Little Rot are deeply compelling as the flourishing descriptors of the city and its nightlife. With fast-paced writing and continual twists, the reader is on the edge of their seat wondering what the next twist will be and how the characters will seal their fates.
1 Hombrecito By Santiago Jose Sanchez
June 25
Santiago Jose Sanchez had already made a mark on the literary world before their book hit the shelves, but once Hombrecito reaches a wider audience, it will never be forgotten. Chronicling the journey of self-expression and love of a young man who immigrates to Miami from Colombia with his mother at a young age, his relationship with his mother is central to the book’s themes. The protagonist never questions his LBGTQ+ identity and revels in it from a young age, but his mother is not always as easy to understand as his own feelings.
As he ages, he moves to New York, seeking out like-minded people, but he continuously finds himself drawn back to his mother and the country they left behind. Hombrecito doesn’t display the character’s identities and convictions in a vacuum. The book allows them to be in constant conversation with where they’ve been and where they’re heading. The main character’s experience might be specific, but it’s easy to find oneself in the pages of Hombrecito thanks to Sanchez’s brilliant writing.