Hi friends, happy Wednesday, happy June, Happy Pride Month ?
I’m back today with my recommendations for this wonderful month and…well. When I started drafting this post, I came up with over 30 books I could recommend and this made me so, so happy. This made me realize how many diverse books I’ve been reading lately and just most importantly, how much I adored them. So YAY!
For the sake of this post though, I managed to narrow it down to 20 books overall and, I thought I’d do it a little differently than my previous recommendations posts: I’m going to recommend 10 books I’ve read and loved and 10 other books I’ve heard GREAT things about and really, really, really want to read.
As always, I hope you’ll enjoy my recommendations!
Also, a side-note: I did my very best to mention rightly the representations I found in all of these books, if something is missing or if I made any mistake, please feel free to point it out so I can correct it. Thank you!
You can click on the covers to get to the goodreads page of the book!
? YA Books I recommend for Pride Month
Going Off-Script, Jen Wilde
Why I recommend it ? I could have recommended ALL of Jen Wilde’s books, because they are all wonderfully amazing, but today I thought I’d keep Going Off-Script, my most recent read. I ADORED It so, so very much.
Rep ? Queer main and side characters, POC & Queer, POC & Gay characters, questioning of gender identity, f/f relationship.
? read my review
How To Make A Wish, Ashley Herring Blake
Why I recommend it ? Okay so this book deserves MORE hype than it’s getting, because it’s absolutely wonderful, has the loveliest f/f romance I rooted for. It was cute, soft, adorable and also had a complex mother/daughter relationship and I just need people to read this???
Rep ? Bisexual main character, f/f relationship.
? read my review
What If It’s Us, Adam Silvera & Becky Albertalli
Why I recommend it ? This book is the kind of book that will make you smile, make your heart sing and overall it’s the kind of fluff I’m always here for.
Rep ? m/m relationship
? read my review
We Set The Dark On Fire, Tehlor Kay Meija
Why I recommend it ? I’ve ranted for a long time now about my love for We Set The Dark On Fire…. SO let me do it once more, okay? I love this book with all my heart, from the world-building to the characters and writing to the wonderfully slow-burned f/f relationship that had my heart melt and WHY is the sequel so far away.
Rep ? sapphic main characters, f/f relationship
? read my review
Final Draft, Riley Redgate
Why I recommend it ? I think this is another book that deserves WAY more hype, because it’s fantastic. Not only it deals with writer’s struggles, it also has lovely friendships, a wonderful slow-burned romance, identity struggles ahhh I loved this please read it.
Rep ? pansexual main character, lesbian character, f/f relationship.
? read my review
Small Town Hearts, Lillie Vale
Why I recommend it ? This book just made me HAPPY, simply and purely HAPPY. From the small town on the seaside setting to the CAKES -yes-, to the ADORABLE romance and the complex friendships, this was such, such a wonderful read.
Rep ? Bisexual main character
? read my review
You Asked For Perfect, Laura Silverman
Why I recommend it ? I have to mention this one right here because, well, this is one of my favorite books. EVER. This one mostly deals with anxiety and school pressure and it was really damn relatable, yet the soft romance had my heart and made me smile and ahhh.
Rep ? Bisexual main character, gay main character, m/m romance.
? read my review
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid
Why I recommend it ? I’m… I think I might be at a loss for words here. Everyone has heard about Evelyn Hugo by now and everyone has heard of the hype surrounding it, so I’ll just leave you with one thing: it’s all true. This book is a work of art, that’s all I’ll say.
Side note: this is shelved as an adult book, but there on my recs list because of the praise and love it has gotten in the young adult book blogging community, too.
Rep ? Bisexual, lesbian, gay characters, f/f relationship, m/m relationship.
? read my review
The Fever King, Victoria Lee
Why I recommend it ? I kind of had a fantastic time with The Fever King and I love books that surprise you in this way. The story was REALLY good, the characters were amazing and the romance had me EHZRKUBRZLAYURKFBJ because I just need them to be okay. Please.
Rep ? Cast of queer characters, POC & Queer character, bisexual main character, m/m romance.
? read my review
Girls Made of Snow and Glass, Melissa Bashardoust
Why I recommend it ? HELLO can anyone read this book please. It’s such a wonderful, very atmospheric read, a Snow-White retelling, a complex step-mother/daughter relationship, with a f/f romance on the side that was lovely, too. Definitely recommending it!
Rep ? f/f relationship.
? YA Books I want to read soon
SUMMER OF SALT ? lesbian rep, aro/ace rep, questioning rep, sapphic romance.
WHEN THE MOON WAS OURS ? transgender rep, lesbian rep.
SUMMER BIRD BLUE ? questioning main character, aromantic and asexual identities explored.
DARIUS THE GREAT IS NOT OKAY ? Queer main character – unspecified clearly in the book?
WANT ? Bisexual rep, characters in a f/f relationship.
LET’S TALK ABOUT LOVE ? asexual rep, biromantic rep.
THE SUMMER OF JORDI PEREZ ? f/f relationship.
PULP ? lesbian main characters.
THE RESOLUTIONS ? gay rep, bisexual rep, f/f relationship.
PICTURE US IN THE LIGHT ? no labels are used, but the main character (m) is in love with his best friend (m).
☂️ You might also be interested in the wonderful LGBTQ Reads Website for more recommendations!
Did you read any of these books? What are some books you’d recommend reading for Pride Month (Or, well, all year long, because we need all these books all year long!) ?
Let me know in comments!
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Wonderful list! Definitely adding some of these to my TBR list!
Ahh thank you so much, Jenna, so happy you enjoyed it! I hope you’ll love these books 😀
Thank you!! <3
OMG YES!! The Summer of Jordi Perez is so good!! I hope you enjoy it x
Ahhh so happy you loved this one, it sounds so good, I can’t wait to read it 🙂
Thank you so much!! 🙂
My daughter said Simon and the Homosapien Agenda was just wonderful.
It IS such a wonderful book and deserves all of the love, I have to agree on that! 🙂
thank you for stopping by 🙂
Girls Made of Snow and Glass sounds just like my kind of book so I’m not too sure how it hasn’t ended up on my TBR already but it’s definitely on there now. Everything I hear about Evelyn Hugo is how amazing it is and I still can’t believe I have yet to read it. I think I need to bump it up to my ‘must read’ of 2019!
Ahh I’m so happy to hear that and I hope you’ll love Girls Made of Snow and Glass, it deserves all of the love, I loved it so much <3
Evelyn Hugo was SO good. I adored it ahhh. I hope you'll l love it 🙂
thank you so much for your sweet comment! <3
Great recommendations! Seven Husbands is one I need to read ASAP.
Thank you so much! 🙂 Yes you should when you get a chance, it’s such a great read 😀
I hope you like When the Moon Was Ours!
My reaction to the romance in The Fever King was very similar to yours, and… well, that’s why I’m equally anticipating and very afraid of The Electric Heir.
Both Girls Made of Snow and Glass and Final Draft deserved so much more hype. Quiet YA books don’t get that much attention to begin with, and when they happen to be both quiet and f/f, they don’t get any hype if not from the people who are specifically looking for f/f novels.
Another quiet, kind of slice-of-life book about lesbians I read recently that is getting very little attention is Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me – I usually don’t care about graphic novels that much, but this one. So soft, and such a good message.
Great list!
I hope so too, very excited to read it, hopefully I can get a copy soon 😀
I can’t WAIT to read The Electric Heir ahhhhhh I am way too impatient and scared and ahh. So many emotions.
I’m so glad you both liked Girls Made of Snow and Glass and Final Draft! These books deserve all of the love, I agree. <3
Oh thank you so much for this lovely recommendation, I need to check it out! Thank you 😀
I loved Evelyn Hugo. Almost every other book here is on my tbr but I haven’t gotten to them yet.
It’s such a fantastic book 🙂 I hope you’ll get around to reading some of the other books here and will love them 🙂
thank you for your comment! 😀
I *loved* the Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo! It was a stunning read. Great list! 🙂
I can’t stop thinking about it ahhh. Such a great book 😀
Thank you so much for your comment! 😀
YESSS!! Pride Month!! And We Set the Dark on Fire is amazing ahhhhhh! Dani and Carmen are ?? I’ve been anticipating The Fever King since last year, and I have zero clue how I haven’t gotten to it yet, and I hope that I can use Pride Month as an opportunity to get to it soon. You Asked for Perfect also sounds amazing, but I actually hope to save it for my senior year so that I can relate all the more lmao. Darius the Great, Summer Bird Blue, Summer of Salt and Want are books I plan to read too! I’ve heard the most amazing things about them and I can’t wait! I’m especially excited because Want is a heist book set in Taiwan! And also for Summer Bird Blue because I haven’t read enough books with ace/aro spectrum yet, and I’d like to change that fact very soon.
I LOVE DANI AND CARMEN AHH we can scream about them together (and we should) they’re just too amazing, I love themm <3 <3
I hope you'll love The Fever King and You Asked For Perfect when you can read them! And yees, I can't wait to read all of these books either. I've heard so many positive things about Want, I'm eager to discover this book 🙂 and agree on Summer Bird Blue, plus I've heard great things about this one too 😀
Thank you so much for your sweet comment! 😀
Happy Pride! I love LGBT+ books. I still need to read You Asked for Perfect, Evelyn Hugo, and The Fever King. I have read What If It’s Us and Picture Us in the Light (which is amazing and you should definitely read it!)
-Lauren
http://www.shootingstarsmag.net
Happy Pride!!
I can’t wait for you to read these books, I ope you’ll love them! Picture us in the light sounds like the kind of book I’d fall in love with. I can’t wait to get to it 😀
Thank you, Lauren <3
Hey if you want to buddy read when the moon was ours whenever i’d be up for that!! most of the recs are contemporary which is not my FAVE genre as we know but ive tried to pick girls made of snow and glass so many times but ive never been in the right mood. 🙁 i really want to read the 7 husbands of evelyn hugo soon!
Oooohhh yes this could be very very very awesome, I’d love to! I have no idea when I’ll be able to get a copy though 🙁 but that could be great!!
I hope you’ll read Evelyn Hugo at some point, it’s such a fantastic story, deserves all of the hype, I can’t stop thinking about it ahah. <3
This was such a great post. Thank you for all the recommendations!
Oh thank you so much, I’m so happy you enjoyed it! 😀
The YA recommendations ?? are superb and so captivating. I want to read all of them. ?
Well my job here is done ahah, thank you so much! 😀
Love your list! I’ve read quite a few and a lot of the others are on my TBR.
Ah thank you so much! I hope you’ll love the ones you haven’t read just yet 🙂
Thank you!
Wonderful list mySweechie! I love your recs!
Aww thank you so much my sweechie! <3
This is such a wonderful list of recommendations, Marie! What If It’s Us and Final Draft are both on my TBR for the month, so I’m so happy to hear you speak so highly of them ? And now you have me thinking I need to make time for We Set the Dark on Fire and Small Town Hearts as well, they sound amazing! And I really hope you’ll love Anna-Marie McLemore ? Happy Pride reading, dear! ?
Oh thank you, so happy you liked it! I hope you’ll love all of these books… ESPECIALLY We Set The Dark On Fire, I’m a little obsessed ahah I loved it so very much <3
Thank you so much, happy Pride month and happy reading to you!! <3
This is a great list! : Except for Want, I haven’t read any of these books but I really want to check out Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. I’ve heard great things about it. I’m glad you loved it so much!
)
Ahh thank you Raven! I hope you’ll get to read Evelyn Hugo, I love it so much <3
I would recommend Autoboyography by Christina Lauren, and The Gentleman’s Guide To VIce and Virtue by Mackenzie Lee.
Oh thank you so much for the recommendations, I need to read these 🙂
I haven’t read any of these but I own Darius and want to read it soon! Wonderful list Marie!
Ahh, I hope you will love Darius, I’ve heard so many good things about this book. I can’t wait to read it 🙂
thank you so much!! <3
Great list! I’ve been trying to add more pride titles to my already existing June TBR and I’ll definitely be checking out some of these. I loved Evelyn Hugo, What If It’s Us and The Fever King myself! I’m currently about to start Queens Of Geek (I’ve heard great things about it) and other titles that come to mind are They Both Die At The End (Adam Silvera), I Have Lost My Way (Gayle Forman), Every Heart A Doorway (Seanan McGuire), The Song Of Achilles (Madeline Miller), The Art Of Being Normal (Lisa Williamson)… And one of my all time favorites Simon VS The Homo Sapiens Agenda of course. <3
Oh thank you so much! I LOVED Queens of Geek so much, I hope you will enjoy it just as well! and thank you so much for all of these wonderful recommendations, seems like I have a lot of boks to check out. And Simon, yes, ahh, loved that one <3
Thank you so much! <3
Yay! I’m starting Queens Of Geek tomorrow and I can’t wait. It sounds like such an adorable read! And I’m glad I mentioned a few you hadn’t read yet. 🙂
Hope you will love it! 🙂
I manage to finish it yesterday and it was so so adorkable! Such a fun read. 🙂
Ahhhh yay! this makes me so happy 🙂
Thank you so much for this list! I’ve only read Evelyn Hugo and adored it, but there are other books there I wanna try as well. I’m starting How to Make a Wish tonight! Happy pride month, Marie! ?
Ahh, I hope you’ll love how to make a wish, I had such a great time reading it 🙂
Thank you so much Marta, have a lovely Pride month 🙂
Agh this post made me want to read ALL THE THINGS! Why is there only Pride Month and not PRIDE YEAR? I mean, it’s 20BITEEN right?
But seriously, this is a lovely list. I’ve read many of the books on your list, but others are ones I’m flailing over how much I want them in my life. Evelyn Hugo is on my bookshelf RIGHT NOW and I still haven’t read it, because the hype is so scary! And because there aren’t enough hours in the day.
I’m so glad you shared this post. It brightened my day because, like you said, there really are just so many wonderful and diverse queer books out in the world now, and that’s something to celebrate for sure. <3
I know right??? There should be a PRIDE YEAR anyway and we should read all the books all the time, no matter what month it is, because they all deserve ALL The love 😀
I can’t wait for you to read Evelyn Hugo! The hype is a little scary, that’s for sure, but I fell in love with this book. I hope you will, too <3
Thank you so, so much Christine, your comment made me so happy <3
My copy of Girls Made Of Snow And Glass turned up today so I’m hoping to get to it fairly soon. I’ve also been meaning to read We Set The Dark On Fire for a while too. Although there are quite a few others that I want to check out on here as well (:
Ahh yay, I hope you will love it 🙂 and WE Set The Dark On Fire is SO good. Can’t wait for you to read it 🙂
Thank you so much for your comment, Charlotte! 🙂
Aww thanks (: I’ve been looking forward to both of them for a long time so I hope so too.
Eee I love Small Town Hearts and Summer Bird Blue, and really want to read some on here like You Asked For Perfect and Seven Husabands! Lovely list 🙂
Ahh, I hope you’ll read and will LOVE You Asked For Perfect and Evelyn Hugo, both were SO good! 😀
omg I am reading What if It’s Us right now and I’m really really liking it!! 😀 Though I feel a little discomfited by Ben and Arthur googling each other (they haven’t met yet but are kind of stalking each other in my opinion). Samantha is super cool and Ethan…I kind of dislike him tbh. I feel like he’s only pretending to be friends with Arthur 🙁 Also the Craiglist coincidence…THINK OF ALL THE ANGST THAT COULD BE AVOIDED
But I’m so glad it’s going to continue to be cute and fluffy! May from Forever and Everly told me that it would be fluffy too, I think! It’s pretty fluffy right now and what I need!! I am here for all the universe banter when they finally meet which I haven’t read about yet ??❤️
Also I need to read Darius the Great is Not Okay so I put a hold on it and I’m hoping it comes in soon!!
Ahah I’m so glad you’re enjoying it so far, it’s such an endearing read overall even if… well, yes, some angst could have been avoided hahaha.
I can’t WAIT for you to read Darius The Great, I’m SO excited about this book it sounds AMAZING. I hope we’ll both love it 🙂
Thank you so, so much! <3
Me too! I’m excited for Darius the Great & I can’t wait to get to it!! Ahhhhh
I hope we’ll both love it!! 😀
I loved Darius The Great! Yes, it’s unspecified as it’s set before he comes out.
Two books I’d recommend are Once and Future, it’s a queer retelling of Arthur, and Red White and Royal Blue is new adult about the prince of England and first son.
I’m so glad you loved it, I can’t wait to read it 🙂
Thank you for the recommendations! I actually read and really liked both of these, even loved RW&RB so much! 😀
What a lovely list, Marie. I am glad that I have actually read a few of these books ? That never happens with me whenever I see your lists ? I loved Small Town Hearts and You asked for Perfect so much. They definitely deserve more hype. And The Fever King? It totally surprised me. See, I am not a fan of sci-fi but after reading that book I need more from this genre ? I have to read rest of the books from your list. I am definitely super hyped about Evelyn Hugo, I am just waiting for its price to go down ?
And from the list of books you are yet to read- you know how I totally recommend The Summer of Jordi Perez?
Summer of Salt, Darius the Great, Let’s Talk About Love and Summer Bird Blue are on my TBR too. I can’t wait to read them. And this morning only, I saw WANT in some list and instantly added it to my TBR. See, I am ready to read more sci-fi now ?
Oh thank you so much Sim, and I’m so happy you recognize and have read so many of these, yay!! 😀
I hope you will be able to get a copy of Evelyn Hugo soon, this book was so, so, soooo good, I loved it so much! 🙂
Here’s to hoping we can read all of these and YES ahh, I added Jordi Perez because of you 😀
Thank you so, so much for your comment! <3
I would recommend “George” by Alex Gino. It’s an MG novel. Really good.
Oh thank you so much for the recommendation, I’ll check it out 😀
Aahh Marie!! I love this post with my whole heart. And honestly, I’m writing up my Pride recs post right now but I’m so tempted to do what you did and recommend books that I haven’t read yet, because there are sooo many books that sound amazing that I haven’t been able to experience yet!! But I agree with a lot of the books you recommended, I’ve read and loved so many of these and I’m so happy to see you did as well! Evelyn Hugo, The Fever King, and Picture Us in the Light are some of my ultimate favorites. And I’m so excited to read Going Off-Script — the premise intrigues me so much and I love Jen Wilde’s books!!
Oh May this means so, so much to me ahhh thank you, I spent over 8 hours writing this I’m terrible haah thank you for this, I’m so happy you liked it <3 <3
I am so, so, so impatient to read Picture Us In the Light, especially after knowing just how much you loved it. And Going Off Script, ahhh this one was amazing, I can't wait to hear what you think of it 😀
Thank you so much!!
Wonderful list Marie! <3 I'll be sure to add many of these to my TBR. 🙂
Oh thank you so much Anna, this makes me so happy 🙂
I’m so happy to see You Asked for Perfect on this list! That book needs all the love! I think my recommendation right now is Red, White, & Royal Blue! I’ve been recommending it and shouting about my love for it to anyone who will listen! It’s just so cute and it makes me so happy!
Ahhhh. I loved RW&RB as well, I just read it very recently and ahh I loved it so much, it’s such a great read 😀
Oh my goddd I need to read the Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo!!! Listen, I won a giveaway and I chose this book & Girl Made of Stars and then it never got to me??? So I’m super super salty because I really wanted to read those ughhh. Anyways, yes yes to Girls Made of Snow and Glass because it’s so smol and wholesome and I just love Lynet and Nadia (?) so much!
AH YES YOU HAVE TO I hope you’ll read it soon, I loved it so so soooo very much, it’s such an amazing read <3
I think that Girls Made of Snow and Glass deserve way more love, it was such a good read! 🙂
Thank you so much!! <3
Thanks for this great list! I definitely recommend Picture Us in the Light—I loved that book!
Ohh I’m so happy to hear it! I can’t wait to get to it 🙂
Thank you for fmaking me finally put We Set the Dark on Fire audiobook on hold. I’ve been eyeing it off for a while but now I know I need to get to it.
AH YES you do! I hope you will love it, I adore it so so very much <3
Thank you so much for your comment! 😀
I’ve heard so much about the seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo! I’m really excited to read that. Summer of salt is a great great book. I love it. Excellent recommendations ❤❤ happy pride month!
Ahh can’t wait for you to read it, I hope you will love it 🙂
Oh I’m SO happy you read and enjoyed Summer of Salt, it sounds like a wonderful read (and I’m so in love with the cover haha)
Thank you so much!! <3
There are sooo many great books on this list…I don’t even know where to start gushing!! WHAT IF IT”S US was such a nice sweet read, and I (of course) LOVED Evelyn Hugo and You Asked For Perfect <3 I've been meaning to read The Fever King for forever so this is another reminder to get on that!!
Ahhh Tiffany, please read The Fever King soon, I loved this one SOOO much and I can’t wait for you to read it!! 😀
Thank you so, so much, I’m so happy you liked my list <3
I read 3 from your “read” list and 5 from your unread list. The Resolutions was such a hit for me. What a great story of friendship. I recently finished Like a Love Story and it was really an incredible look at the activism of the gay community during the AIDS crisis. It was very moving. I also adored How Not to Ask a Boy to Prom. So fun and fabulous with excellent family focus. Her Royal Highness was a lot of fun as well. So many good books out there!
Oh I’m so glad you loved The Resolutions! I don’t know a lot of people who have read that one, but it sounds so good 🙂
I need to read these three books you recommended, then! I had my eye on Her Royal Highness already, I love a good royalty romance aha 🙂 thank you so much!! <3
Great list, Marie! 🙂 I really loved Going Off Script as well and How to make a wish is such an underrated book! ? I really want to read Let’s Talk about Love as well, because I just recently read If It Makes You Happy by the same author and really, really enjoyed it ?
Oh thank you, Caro! I agree, How to make a wish is sooo underrated, it deserves all of the love <3
Oh I'm glad you liked If it makes you happy! I can't wait to read anything by this author ahah 🙂
I was looking for more books to add to my list this month! Thanks so much for this list. Perfect combination of what I am in the mood for too! 🙂 ?
Oh you’re so welcome, this makes me so happy <3 I hope you'll love these 🙂
When the Moon Was Ours is one of my favorite books ever. I hope you end up loving it as much as I did. I really want to get to Summer Bird Blue and Let’s Talk About Love this summer. Great list!
Ahhh, I can’t wait to read it then 🙂 I’ve only heard great things about this one and, well, all of McLemore’s books, so I can’t wait 🙂
Thank you Alicia! <3
This is an AMAZING list, Marie! I saw so many books I loved and tons that are on my TBR. Some books are on my TBR but I didn’t realize they were diverse reads, and now I’m even more excited to get to them! <3
Summer of Salt and Darius the Great are two of my all time favorites. Summer of Salt was SO magical and beautiful and Darius was equally beautiful, and on top of the amazing relationship, also had such a rich culture that I loved reading about. I hope you enjoy them!
Thank you so much Olivia, this makes me SO happy <3
I can't WAIt to read both of these, knowing you loved them and how similar our bookish taste are, I have a feeling I could love them too!! <3
Oh I love your list! And I’ve read so many of these already which makes me super happy ?I love that queer books so often are hyped now, and super loved, and it’s so good how YA is becoming more inclusive and diverse (of course still a long way to go but I looove all these amazing books we’re getting!)
Oh thank you so much! I so agree with you, I’m glad to see that we’re getting more and more diverse and queer YA books and can only hope this continues 😀
this was such an amazing list + post, boosting this forever! i love you asked for perfect and evelyn hugo so much and i’m glad you did too! small town hearts is on my TBR this month and i can’t wait to check that one out! it makes me so happy that summer bird blue & darius are on your TBR, they’re literally my only 5 stars of the year and are so heartbreakingly amazing ?? i can’t wait for you to read it and to give your thoughts on them!
Ahhh you’re too sweet thank you so much <3 <3 I NEED DARIUS in my life, wish I could get a copy, hopefully I can soon, I can't wait it sounds way too great <3 <3