10 Queer Books You Should Read

At Bruyere Books & Tea, representation is not a side shelf or a seasonal display. It is part of why we exist. We believe readers deserve stories that reflect the fullness of who they are, especially readers who have too often been pushed to the margins: LGBTQ readers, neurodivergent readers, disabled readers, readers of color, and anyone who has had to search too hard to find themselves treated with care on the page.

That belief shapes the books we recommend, the conversations we want to host, and the kind of community we hope to build. A bookstore should be a place where people feel welcome to discover themselves, understand others more deeply, and find stories that say, clearly and generously, you belong here. We hope to become that for you.

This list gathers ten queer books we are excited to recommend right now, from middle grade novels and YA thrillers to sapphic dystopias, space opera, gothic fantasy, horror, and romance. Some are already on shelves, and at least one is headed our way soon. If you are looking for your next queer read, start here.

1. The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan

I read The Red Winter and loved it. It is dark, romantic, historical, bloody, and completely absorbing, the kind of book that feels like it is stalking you a little while you read. The story blends queer romance, horror, fantasy, and historical atmosphere, with the return of the Beast of Gévaudan pulling old wounds and old desires back into the light. Spooky and irresistible.

What I especially loved is that the ending managed to be both surprising and predictable at the same time. That sounds contradictory, but it is one of my favorite reading experiences: when a book lands exactly where it needs to land, yet still catches you off guard in the moment. If you want a lush, dangerous read with teeth, start here. I’m fairly certain I ordered this one for Bruyere Books & Tea, and if you can’t find it, just ask me!

2. Just Ask Elsie by Ari Koontz

Just Ask Elsie is a great choice for kids who are reaching middle school and beginning to navigate the complicated, sometimes awkward space between childhood and adolescence. Ari Koontz’s middle grade novel follows Elsie Parker as she worries about middle school, learns more about puberty, identity, consent, and crushes, and starts an anonymous advice board to share the information kids are not always given clearly enough.

This one belongs on the list because queer books for younger readers matter so much. At Bruyere Books & Tea, we care deeply about stories that help young people feel less alone before the world tells them they should. For LGBTQ kids, neurodivergent kids, questioning kids, and kids who simply feel different, a thoughtful middle grade book can offer language, comfort, and the radical reassurance that growing up does not have to mean becoming smaller. We have lots of middle grade books of all genres. If you don’t see something you or your child likes, ask us!

3. Bluebird by Ciel Pierlot

If your favorite kind of science fiction includes rebels, chase scenes, found family, and queer characters in space, Bluebird should be on your radar. Ciel Pierlot’s novel is a fast-moving space opera with plenty of danger, but it also has the emotional pull that makes the best adventures stick. I loved the juxtaposition of the romantic aspect and the science fiction aspect and finished it in a week (it was a busy week).

This is a terrific pick for readers who want their queer stories to be big, bold, and interstellar. Sometimes you want a quiet coming-of-age story, and sometimes you want blasters, fugitives, secrets, and romance in the middle of a galaxy that will not sit still. Queer readers deserve every kind of story, including the ones where they get to save the universe.

4. Ghost Wood Song by Erica Waters

Erica Waters writes the kind of YA gothic that feels damp with fog and thick with music. Ghost Wood Song has family secrets, hauntings, fiddles, grief, and a Southern setting that gives the whole novel a lingering, eerie beauty.

This is a strong recommendation for readers who like queer YA with atmosphere. It is haunting without being only about fear, romantic without losing its edge, and magical in a way that feels rooted in memory and place. For readers who have ever felt haunted by family expectations or old stories about who they are supposed to be, this book offers a beautifully eerie way in.

5. Raven, Rising by Christine Hartman Derr

Raven, Rising is another middle grade novel I enjoyed, and it is one to watch for when it releases in July. Middle grade fantasy has a special power: it can turn questions about identity, courage, friendship, and belonging into stories that feel both accessible and wondrous.

This is a good pick for young readers who like magic and transformation, but also for adults who still believe middle grade books can say profound things with clarity and heart. We are always glad to see more stories for young readers that understand identity as something layered, personal, communal, and still becoming.

6. Where Lost Girls Go by Kody Keplinger

Kody Keplinger’s Where Lost Girls Go is a YA thriller with LGBTQ representation, and it sounds like the sort of page-turner that pulls you in quickly. The story follows Caela, an openly gay teen who is taken in by a cult-like off-grid community after being pushed into a vulnerable situation.

Thrillers about belonging can hit especially hard because they ask a frightening question: what happens when the place that seems to save you also wants to control you? For readers who want suspense, danger, and queer characters at the center of the story, this one deserves a spot on the list.

7. The Last Bookstore on Earth by Lily Braun-Arnold

A queer YA dystopian novel set in an abandoned bookstore is almost unfairly designed to get our attention. The Last Bookstore on Earth follows two teen girls who fall in love while trying to survive at the end of the world, and honestly, what better place to wait out the apocalypse than among the shelves?

This is a great recommendation for readers who like their survival stories with romance, longing, and a little bit of bookish magic. It is also an easy hand-sell for anyone who has ever believed that bookstores are shelters, not just shops. That belief is close to the heart of Bruyere Books & Tea: books can be refuge, connection, and proof that even in frightening times, people still find each other.

8. The Pairing by Casey McQuiston

Casey McQuiston’s The Pairing is for readers who want queer joy, European food and wine, exes with unresolved feelings, and the delicious tension of people insisting they are absolutely over each other when they are very obviously not.

The premise is irresistible: two bisexual exes accidentally end up on the same European food and wine tour and decide to prove they have moved on. It is romantic, sensual, funny, and full of appetite in every sense of the word. Representation is not only about struggle; it is also about pleasure, humor, flirtation, travel, longing, second chances, and the sheer delight of queer people getting to want things.

9. Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle

Chuck Tingle’s Bury Your Gays takes one of the most infamous tropes in media and turns it into horror with a bite. The novel follows a Hollywood writer who refuses to kill off gay characters for the sake of an algorithm, only to find himself targeted by monsters from his own horror-movie past.

It is scary, meta, angry, funny, and deeply aware of the ways queer audiences have been asked to accept scraps, tragedy, or corporate calculation in place of real representation. Horror fans should read it for the monsters, but also for the catharsis. At Bruyere Books & Tea, we believe marginalized readers deserve more than symbolic inclusion. They deserve stories with teeth, imagination, complexity, and power.

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10. The Deep Dark by Lee Knox Ostertag, published under Molly Knox Ostertag

The Deep Dark is a YA graphic novel about secrets, identity, family, love, and magic. Lee Knox Ostertag, whose earlier published work may still appear under the name Molly Knox Ostertag, has a gift for stories that feel intimate and fantastical at the same time.

This is a great choice for readers who love graphic novels that take young people’s emotional lives seriously. It has darkness, but also tenderness; magic, but also ordinary pain; and the kind of visual storytelling that can make a secret feel alive on the page. Graphic novels can be especially powerful for many readers, including neurodivergent readers, because image and text work together to create an immersive, emotionally immediate reading experience.

Why Representation Matters to Us

At Bruyere Books & Tea, our mission is grounded in the belief that books can widen the world. When LGBTQ readers see themselves in love stories, adventures, mysteries, horror novels, and middle grade classrooms, they receive more than representation. They receive possibility. When neurodivergent readers and other marginalized readers find stories that honor difference instead of flattening it, they receive recognition without apology.

A good bookstore does not tell readers who they are allowed to be. It opens the door wider and says, there is room for you here.

That is the kind of space we want Bruyere Books & Tea to be: welcoming, curious, inclusive, and full of stories that reflect many ways of living, thinking, feeling, loving, and becoming.

Final Thoughts

Queer books do not have to be one thing. They can be cozy, terrifying, messy, funny, romantic, political, magical, or strange. They can help a young reader feel less alone, give an adult reader a new favorite love story, or remind all of us that there are more ways to live, love, survive, and imagine than the world sometimes admits. We believe in queer joy here!

So pick one that fits your mood, or pick the one that surprises you. Better yet, pick a few. The shelves (Note: not one or two shelves, but distributed throughout at a ratio that will surprise you!) are full of queer stories worth reading. At Bruyere Books & Tea, we are honored to help readers find them.