14 New LGBTQ+ Books You've Gotta Check Out in 2024

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If you haven't yet explored the wonderful world of LGBTQ+ books then I'm sorry to say but you're seriously missing out. Now, you don't have to be part of the LGBTQ+ community to enjoy these books, but for those who are, it's great to see more and more representation finally showing up on the page. It seems like every year now we're flooded with amazing books to choose from featuring lesbian, gay, bi, trans, and queer characters, and 2024 is no exception.

So far this year we're getting everything from a Regency-era friends-turned-lovers story (perfect for any Bridgerton fans out there), a murder-mystery involving a circus performer and a gay dating blogger, and a beautiful yet heartbreaking love story between two women in a country that doesn't allow same-sex relationships. I'll take all three, please!

To get you started, here are 14 of the best LGBTQ+ books coming out this year that need to be added to your to-be-read pile, like, right this second.

Don't Want You Like a Best Friend, by Emma R. Alban

If you're a fan of Bridgerton but wished you could see some queer relationships play out, this is the book to read. Beth is begrudgingly on the hunt for a wealthy husband to snap up by the end of the season, whereas Gwen has zero intentions of settling down. To take the pressure off themselves, they decide to set up their single parents and in the process, start to fall for each other too.

The (Fake) Dating Game, by Timothy Janovsky

When Holden James finally gets the chance to audition for one of his favorite game shows, he's kinda at a post-breakup low point, taking full advantage of the mini bar in his LA hotel room. When the surprisingly hot concierge takes pity on him with pizza and Monopoly, he realizes they have some pretty good chemistry and maybe, just maybe, he can convince the show's casting director they're a couple and give himself a better chance of making it past the audition.

How We Named the Stars, by Andrés Ordorica

When Daniel gets a scholarship to a prestigious east coast university, he struggles to manage the pressures of his family. But his roommate, Sam, becomes like a supportive brother, and then something more.

Just Happy to Be Here, by Naomi Kanakia

Tara is the first out trans girl at an all-girls school, and all she wants is to fit in and be treated like everyone else. But when she tries to join an old-school sisterhood, she's reluctantly forced to argue what girlhood even means.

Cirque du Slay, by Rob Osler

Who doesn't love some amateur sleuthing? Hayden, a middle school teacher and gay dating blogger, and his bestie, Hollister, are invited to the Bakers Without Borders fundraiser, which is serving up some swanky food and an upscale circus act. Except that the circus performer is found dead in his hotel room, along with Hayden and Hollister's frenemy, Sarah Lee, who's very much alive and looking like the main suspect.

Release date: March 5, 2024

Cirque du Slay, by Rob Osler

amazon.com

$20.11

These Letters End in Tears, by Musih Tedji Xaviere

Bessem and Fatima can't help but be attracted to one another, even as their country, Cameroon, continues to punish same-sex relationships. But when Fatima vanishes one day without a trace, Bessem is left with nothing to go on. Cut to 13 years later, and Bessem, after speaking with the last person to see Fatima, decides to head out on a search for her lost love.

Release date: March 12, 2024

Infinity Kings, by Adam Silvera

This is the final book in the Infinity Cycle series, so if you haven't read the other two yet, definitely go do that. Brighton now has an army at his command (and an unbelievably powerful weapon on hand), and his brother, Emil, needs to rise up and stop him before it's too late, even if that means walking away from the men competing for his heart. As brother takes on brother, who will be crowned the Infinity King?

Release date: March 12, 2024

Who's Afraid of Gender?, by Judith Butler

From one of the foremost voices on gender, Judith Butler's latest book delves into the ways emerging authoritarian regimes, fascist formations, and transexclusionary feminists are fueled by a reactionary fear of gender.

Release date: March 19, 2024

Cover Story, by Rachel Lacey

If the fake-dating-turned-real trope is one you can't get enough of, you'll love Rachel Lacey's latest book. Hollywood starlet Natalie Keane is facing some serious threats, so she agrees to having extra security, but she wants to keep it under wraps. She hires bodyguard Taylor Vaughn, but has her masquerade as her girlfriend and, well, you can probably guess where this is headed.

Release date: March 26, 2024

Late Bloomer, by Mazey Eddings

Winning the lottery might not be all it's cracked up to be, as Opal Devlin finds out. Wanting to escape the endless string of people hitting her up for money, she takes her newfound wealth and uses it to buy a failing flower farm in North Carolina. But when she shows up to her new home, a huffy Pepper Boden is there waiting, and she (claiming to be the property's true owner) refuses to leave.

Release date: April 16, 2024

Late Bloomer, by Mazey Eddings

amazon.com

$16.20

The Z Word, by Lindsay King-Miller

After a particularly brutal breakup, Wendy is just trying to find her place in her Arizona town's queer community as a bisexual woman. That's enough to handle on its own, but things get even more chaotic when people around her start turning into scary, violent zombies. She has to team up with some friends (and frenemies) to try to stay alive and hopefully find the cause of this outbreak.

Release date: May 7, 2024

The Bump, by Sidney Karger

Wyatt and Bill's surrogate is due in just a few weeks, and rather than fly out to California to be there for their baby's birth, they decide on a cross-country road trip for one last adventure before becoming parents. From funny road trip antics to moving emotional conversations, it's a bumpy (yet amazing) ride.

Release date: May 21, 2024

The Guncle Abroad, by Steven Rowley

Set five years after the first book, where Patrick became the caretaker of his niece, Maisie, and nephew, Grant, following their mom's death, his brother Greg has just announced that he's getting remarried in Italy, and Maisie and Grant aren't exactly happy about it. Patrick feels a need to take the sullen teenagers back under his wing, and he helps them (and the rest of his chaotic family) navigate this wedding.

Release date: May 21, 2024

Blessings, by Chukwuebuka Ibeh

Set in post-military Nigeria, Obiefuna forms a connection with a boy from a nearby village. But when his father catches them together, he's sent away to boarding school. At his new school, he tries to find (and hide) who he really is, just as it looks like Nigeria is about to criminalize same-sex relationships.

Release date: June 4, 2024

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