This science fantasy comedy often carries the tagline of “lesbian necromancers in space,” but even for those who take a while to ease into sci-fi settings will be completely drawn in by such a detailed story of love placed in a crumbling, space knight setting. You can read this instead.
9. There’s a list for adult fiction, romances, YA, and middle grade.
All This Could Be Different
Author: Sarah Thankham Mathews
Release Date: August 2nd, 2022
Find the Book: Goodreads | StoryGraph | Bookshop
This book about a somewhat problematic early-20s woman trying to figure out her life, her friends, and her job during the recession was incredibly well done.
The book is beautiful and complex and you’re bound to either love it or hate it.
32.
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. Two futuristic rivals go from corresponding to something stronger — and possibly bigger than their entire military campaigns.
I Want You More
Author: Swan Huntley
Release Date: May 21st, 2024
Find the Book:Goodreads | StoryGraph | Bookshop | Review
This book was so good and fun! After all, what’s more romantic than two best friends devoting their entire lives to one another?
‘Call Me By Your Name’ by Andre Aciman
The source material for the Academy Award-nominated film starring Timothee Chalamet is a lush portrait of sticky, summer love affair between Italian teen Elio and Oliver, the American grad student staying in Elio’s home for the summer.
I truly cannot explain enough how deeply moving this book was. Judging gay romances by this criteria is a little more complicated, mostly because so many of the early narratives to even begin to touch on queer love could often only mention them peripherally to avoid censorship and public decency laws. Even when queer romances were explicit, many were steeped in trauma, malaise, and hand wringing, matching the real world repercussions of being gay in less accepting times.
You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty
Author: Akwaeke Emezi
Release Date: May 24th, 2022
Find the Book: Goodreads | StoryGraph | Bookshop | Review
Everything is beautiful. We Deserve Monuments
Author: Jas Hammonds
Release Date: November 29th, 2022
Find the Book: Goodreads | StoryGraph | Bookshop | Review
This high school story of inter-generational trauma and coming of age hit me right where it hurt.
We Could Be Rats
Author: Emily Austin
Release Date: January 28th, 2025
Find the Book: Goodreads | StoryGraph | Bookshop
I read this book in one day while sick and cried nearly the entire time.
It’s so refreshing to read a book that doesn’t center high schoolers or younger, especially as I grow up and start to see myself more in 30-year-olds than 16-year-olds. Reid takes on topics of race, gender, sexuality, and power dynamics all within the world of University of Arkansas.
23. 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.
As always, Emezi’s prose is beautifully constructed and manages to strike exactly the right balance between simplicity and elegance. As with most mainstream lists like this, many of these aren’t actually romance novels. It’s adorable and well written and the perfect encompassment of being a kid while feeling like an adult.
24.
From pedophilic sex parties to falling in love with a friend, this book has everything.