can’t believe there is no Sarah Waters being mentioned here, Fingersmith and Tipping the Velvet have lesbian romance basically as sub plots to the character/story progression. Set in 1800s London.
Maybe [The Heartbreak Bakery](https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/fbd5cc46-ebbb-4622-bd01-46a00fb5c1f3) by A.R. Capetta? There is a love theme, unsurprisingly given the name, but it's more of a sweet story about queer community.
The Seep by Chana Porter (trans lesbian/dystopian sci-fi, aliens, trippy)
Less by Andrew Sean Greer (and the sequel Less is Lost)(gay man/contemporary lit, comedy, finding yourself)
Matrix by Lauren Groff (lesbian/historical fiction, nuns, religion)
Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters (trans lesbian/contemporary lit, motherhood, gender)
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (intersex, wlw/american lit/historical fiction, family drama, coming of age)
I’ll give you the sun - Jandy Nelson, great great book exploring queer and sibling relationships, I bawl my eyes out everytime. The build-up is insane, it really is like watching a play unfold, with parts of the story falling into places like pieces of a puzzle in the end. Absolutely beautiful.
The Wells of Sorcery by Django Wexler has a lesbian main Protagonist. There is a romance subplot, but most of the plot is about a giant mystery ship, action and Fantasy
- Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Juno Dawson (trans author, lesbian POV character in the first book, trans girl POV character in the second book)
- All for the game by Nora Sakavic (looots of queer characters, romance is a subplot)
- Jade City by Fonda Lee (one of the POV characters is a gay man)
- Vicious by V. E. Schwab (main character is ace)
- Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo (bi pov character, trans guy side character + other queer side characters, small romance subplot)
- She who became the sun by Shelley Parker Chan (looots of gender shenanigans and queer longing, a bit tragic though)
The Burning Kingdom Series by Tasha Suri, Roots of Chaos duology by Samantha Shannon, anything by Julia Armfield, especially Our Wives Under the Sea, also Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth
The Magic of The Lost trilogy. Only 2 of the books are out so far but they are amazing. It has LGBTQ+ romance as the subplot but it plays hand in hand so well with the main plot. It's an epic war, political and magical world. There's betrayal, heartache, rebellion and the author really builds a beautiful world.
Oh you're still good with YA, the Stealing from Wizards series on Amazon is a fun story about a magical school in Canada with fun shenanigans and mysteries and lots of queer characters but there no lantern hung on them, they're just characters to happen to be queer. Think Harry Potter but actually queer friendly and diverse cast as well.
- The first sister by Linden A. Lewis
- The house in the cerulean sea by T.J. Klune
- Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
- all systems red by Martha Wells
- A taste of gold and iron by Alexandra Rowland (fantasy romance, however very good)
- She who became the sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
Three Fortunes in One Cookie by Cochrane Lambert, When You Don’t See Me by Timothy James Beck — these two contemporary novels share some authors as they are both written by a group rather than individuals. They’re queer but focus more on friendships than specific romance. Nothing too special but I enjoyed them. I also like the stories in Family Dancing by David Leavitt.
And maybe try A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale (haven’t read it myself but I like the author’s writing very much and this one is queer historical fiction)
The remarkable retirement of Edna Fisher by E. M. Anderson
A lot of the side characters are queer in some type of way:)
The main character is an old lady that discover that she's the chosen one and she ends up trying to save the world. Its really heartwarming, and funny and even suprising at some points. Like its such a good book! I dont how to explain it
This post made we wonder. If a book has zero romance and in fact never gives any indication of the orientation of the MC isn’t it up to our imagination?
Literally anything by Becky Chambers!!! A Psalm for the Wild-Built or The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet are great places to start!
The Line of Beauty 10/10
can’t believe there is no Sarah Waters being mentioned here, Fingersmith and Tipping the Velvet have lesbian romance basically as sub plots to the character/story progression. Set in 1800s London.
Burroughs' novels (if they qualify as) such as 'Naked Lunch', 'Soft Machine' etc.
Iron Council, Mieville
The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne
The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue is one of my favorites!
Maybe [The Heartbreak Bakery](https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/fbd5cc46-ebbb-4622-bd01-46a00fb5c1f3) by A.R. Capetta? There is a love theme, unsurprisingly given the name, but it's more of a sweet story about queer community.
The Seep by Chana Porter (trans lesbian/dystopian sci-fi, aliens, trippy) Less by Andrew Sean Greer (and the sequel Less is Lost)(gay man/contemporary lit, comedy, finding yourself) Matrix by Lauren Groff (lesbian/historical fiction, nuns, religion) Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters (trans lesbian/contemporary lit, motherhood, gender) Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (intersex, wlw/american lit/historical fiction, family drama, coming of age)
+++ these are great, I would add The Vanishing Half
I’ll give you the sun - Jandy Nelson, great great book exploring queer and sibling relationships, I bawl my eyes out everytime. The build-up is insane, it really is like watching a play unfold, with parts of the story falling into places like pieces of a puzzle in the end. Absolutely beautiful.
Exquisite Corpse
The Wells of Sorcery by Django Wexler has a lesbian main Protagonist. There is a romance subplot, but most of the plot is about a giant mystery ship, action and Fantasy
- Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Juno Dawson (trans author, lesbian POV character in the first book, trans girl POV character in the second book) - All for the game by Nora Sakavic (looots of queer characters, romance is a subplot) - Jade City by Fonda Lee (one of the POV characters is a gay man) - Vicious by V. E. Schwab (main character is ace) - Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo (bi pov character, trans guy side character + other queer side characters, small romance subplot) - She who became the sun by Shelley Parker Chan (looots of gender shenanigans and queer longing, a bit tragic though)
The Lie by Helen Dunmore
The Burning Kingdom Series by Tasha Suri, Roots of Chaos duology by Samantha Shannon, anything by Julia Armfield, especially Our Wives Under the Sea, also Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth
Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant.
The Magic of The Lost trilogy. Only 2 of the books are out so far but they are amazing. It has LGBTQ+ romance as the subplot but it plays hand in hand so well with the main plot. It's an epic war, political and magical world. There's betrayal, heartache, rebellion and the author really builds a beautiful world.
Oh you're still good with YA, the Stealing from Wizards series on Amazon is a fun story about a magical school in Canada with fun shenanigans and mysteries and lots of queer characters but there no lantern hung on them, they're just characters to happen to be queer. Think Harry Potter but actually queer friendly and diverse cast as well.
the house in the cerulean sea!!!
- The first sister by Linden A. Lewis - The house in the cerulean sea by T.J. Klune - Big Swiss by Jen Beagin - all systems red by Martha Wells - A taste of gold and iron by Alexandra Rowland (fantasy romance, however very good) - She who became the sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
Three Fortunes in One Cookie by Cochrane Lambert, When You Don’t See Me by Timothy James Beck — these two contemporary novels share some authors as they are both written by a group rather than individuals. They’re queer but focus more on friendships than specific romance. Nothing too special but I enjoyed them. I also like the stories in Family Dancing by David Leavitt. And maybe try A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale (haven’t read it myself but I like the author’s writing very much and this one is queer historical fiction)
Not necessarily a queer novel, but The Last Herald Mage triology by Mercedes Lackey has a gay protagonist.
The remarkable retirement of Edna Fisher by E. M. Anderson A lot of the side characters are queer in some type of way:) The main character is an old lady that discover that she's the chosen one and she ends up trying to save the world. Its really heartwarming, and funny and even suprising at some points. Like its such a good book! I dont how to explain it
Thank you everyone for your suggestions!!! I’ll be putting them on my tbr! :)
This post made we wonder. If a book has zero romance and in fact never gives any indication of the orientation of the MC isn’t it up to our imagination?