Because pride month is just around the corner (it always takes me by surprise), I decided to compile some of my favorite LGBTQ YA reads that are sweet, wonderful, and angsty (but happy ends abound). Check them out below!
- Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by MacKenzi Lee
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Monty, an 18th century bisexual british lord, goes on a romp across Europe with his annoying little sister and his devastatingly handsome best friend, Percy. There are pirates involved.
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Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by MacKenzi Lee
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This is the hilarious sequel to “Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue”, centered on Monty’s younger sister. She’s asexual and hilarious. Plus: almost all the characters from the first book are in this one, so it’s also a continuation of Monty and Percy’s story.
- Autoboyography by Christina Lauren
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I just recently read this, and I can’t get it out of my mind. It’s a wonderful and tender book from the point of view of Tanner, a high school senior who also happens to be Jewish and bisexual in Provo, Utah, where 90% of the population is Mormon. His parents are extremely supportive, and they want him to get out of this town and go live his best life at a liberal college in a liberal city. So, of course, he falls in love with the bishop’s closeted son during his last semester.
- Carry on by Rainbow Rowell
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I’ve heard it described as Harry Potter if #drarry were canon, and though that’s technically true, it’s also so much more than that. Simon Snow is the Chosen One at Watford, a magical school in England, and his archenemy also happens to be his roommate. You figure it out.
- Aristotle and Dante Discovere the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
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This is one of the most tender and magnificent books I’ve ever read. It charts the love story of Aristotle and Dante, two latin-americas teen boys growing up during the 1980’s. It’s lifechanging.
Happy reading, folx!