If queer representation lacks onscreen or leaves viewers wishing for more accuracy, literature steps in to save the day. Several authors dive into different scenarios in which queerness is celebrated, and their characters can thrive.
If you have read the books in our LGBTQIA picks for July, we have 7 new titles to add to your TBR list. Hayley Dennings, Jen Wang, Jennifer Dugan, and Kristen Seaton are among the authors we highlight this month.
In order of release date, here are 7 LGBTQIA books we are looking forward to reading this August:
1. This Ravenous Fate by Hayley Dennings – August 6
Layla and Elise were once friends, but their destiny set them apart. Elise was raised to become a reaper hunter, eventually taking over her family’s empire. Five years ago, Layla turned into her best friend’s biggest enemy.
As the hunt for the reapers continues, Layla is framed for recent murders. The only way in which she can clear her name is by working with her former best friend turned enemy. Can they put their feelings aside to find out what’s happening?
Book Description: The first book in a decadent fantasy duology set in Jazz Age Harlem, where at night the dance halls come to life—and death waits in the dark.
It’s 1926 and reapers, the once-human vampires with a terrifying affliction, are on the rise in New York. But the Saint family’s thriving reaper-hunting enterprise holds reign over the city, giving them more power than even the organized criminals who run the nightclubs. Eighteen year-old Elise Saint, home after five years in Paris, is the reluctant heir to the empire. Only one thing weighs heavier on Elise’s mind than her family obligations: the knowledge that the Harlem reapers want her dead.
Layla Quinn is a young reaper haunted by her past. Though reapers have existed in America for three centuries, created by New World atrocities and cruel experiments, Layla became one just five years ago. The night she was turned, she lost her parents, the protection of the Saints, and her humanity, and she’ll never forget how Elise Saint betrayed her.
But some reapers are inexplicably turning part human again, leaving a wake of mysterious and brutal killings. When Layla is framed for one of these attacks, the Saint patriarch offers her a deal she can’t refuse: to work with Elise to investigate how these murders might be linked to shocking rumors of a reaper cure. Once close friends, now bitter enemies, Elise and Layla explore the city’s underworld, confronting their intense feelings for one another and uncovering the sinister truths about a growing threat to reapers and humans alike.
2. The Pairing by Casey McQuiston – August 6
Casey McQuinton is known for writing queer stories that appeal to all kinds of readers. The Pairing follows the story of Theo and Kit as they meet again four years after their breakup. Even though they both moved on with their lives, there is something between them.
When they show up on the same European food and wine tour, they challenge each other to a hookup competition. What better way to prove you’ve moved on from your ex than keeping a body count on your tour?
Book Description: In #1 New York Times bestselling author Casey McQuiston’s latest romantic comedy, two bisexual exes accidentally book the same European food and wine tour and challenge each other to a hookup competition to prove they’re over each other—except they’re definitely not.
Theo and Kit have been a lot of things: childhood best friends, crushes, in love, and now estranged exes. After a brutal breakup on the transatlantic flight to their dream European food and wine tour, they exited each other’s lives once and for all.
Time apart has done them good. Theo has found confidence as a hustling bartender by night and aspiring sommelier by day, with a long roster of casual lovers. Kit, who never returned to America, graduated as the reigning sex god of his pastry school class and now bakes at one of the finest restaurants in Paris. Sure, nothing really compares to what they had, and life stretches out long and lonely ahead of them, but—yeah. It’s in the past.
All that remains is the unused voucher for the European tour that never happened, good for 48 months after its original date and about to expire. Four years later, it seems like a great idea to finally take the trip. Solo. Separately.
It’s not until they board the tour bus that they discover they’ve both accidentally had the exact same idea, and now they’re trapped with each other for three weeks of stunning views, luscious flavors, and the most romantic cities of France, Spain, and Italy. It’s fine. There’s nothing left between them. So much nothing that, when Theo suggests a friendly wager to see who can sleep with their hot Italian tour guide first, Kit is totally game. And why stop there? Why not a full-on European hookup competition?
3. The Dark We Know by Wen-yi Lee – August 13
After two of her friends die, Isadora Chang leaves the former mining town of Slater, hoping never to return. However, after her abusive father dies, she must return to collect her inheritance. She plans to do what she needs to and get out.
Things change when Mason, her only surviving friend, tells her a supernatural entity murdered their friends, and he needs her help to stop this evil force. That is when Isadora starts hearing a strange song and finding artwork in her sketchbook that she doesn’t remember drawing.
Book Description: From Gillian Flynn Books, a lyrical YA horror by debut author Wen-yi Lee that’s perfect for fans of She Is a Haunting, Stephen King’s IT, and The Haunting of Hill House.
Art student Isadora Chang swore never to return to Slater. Growing up, Isa never felt at ease in the repressive former mining town, even before she realized she was bisexual—but after the deaths of two of her childhood friends, Slater went from feeling claustrophobic to suffocating. Isa took off before the town could swallow her, too, even though it meant leaving behind everything she knew, including her last surviving friend Mason.
When Isa’s abusive father kicks the bucket, she agrees to come back just long enough to collect the inheritance. But then Mason, son of the local medium, turns up at the cemetery with a revelation and a plea: their friends were murdered by a supernatural entity, and he needs Isa to help stop the evil—before it takes anyone else.
When Isa begins to hear strange songs on the wind, and eerie artwork fills her sketchbook that she can’t recall drawing, she’s forced to stop running and confront her past. Because something is waiting in the shadows of Slater’s valleys, something that feeds on the pain and heartbreak of its children. Whatever it is, it knows Isa’s back… and it won’t let her escape twice.
4. Ash’s Cabin by Jen Wang – August 13
In a world where Ash feels completely alone, the only person they can rely on is their grandfather, Edwin. After Edwin’s death, Ash decides to go on a journey to find the secret cabin their grandpa promised to build in California.
They believe the cabin will be a fresh start away from a world that doesn’t seem to understand them. However, can Ash survive completely alone? Will they be happy there?
Book Description: Ash has always felt alone.
Adults ignore the climate crisis. Other kids Ash’s age are more interested in pop stars and popularity contests than in fighting for change. Even Ash’s family seems to be sleepwalking through life.
The only person who ever seemed to get Ash was their Grandpa Edwin. Before he died, he used to talk about building a secret cabin, deep in the California wilderness. Did he ever build it? What if it’s still there, waiting for him to come back…or for Ash to find it? To Ash, that maybe-mythical cabin is starting to feel like the perfect place for a fresh start and an escape from the miserable feeling of alienation that haunts their daily life.
But making the wilds your home isn’t easy. And as much as Ash wants to be alone…can they really be happy alone? Can they survive alone?
From New York Times –bestselling author and illustrator Jen Wang comes a singularly affecting story about self-discovery, self-reliance, and the choice to live when it feels like you have no place in the world.
5. The Maid and the Crocodile by Jordan Ifueko – August 13
Small Sade is a maid with a secret. She is a Curse Eater and has the ability to change people’s fates by cleaning their houses. Her life and gift are at risk when the Crocodile, a powerful god who eats pretty girls, discovers her secret.
As she evades the Crocodile and starts working at an inn, Small Sade dives into life as a Curse Eater. Can she change her life and the life of everyone else in town?
Book Description: The smallest spark can bind two hearts . . . or start a revolution.
In the magic-soaked capital city of Oluwan, country bumpkin Small Sade needs a job—preferably as a maid, with employers who don’t mind her unique appearance and unlucky foot. But before she can be hired, she accidentally binds herself to a powerful god known only as the Crocodile, who is rumored to devour pretty girls. Small Sade entrances the Crocodile with her secret: she is a Curse Eater, gifted with the ability to alter people’s fates by cleaning their houses.
The handsome god warns that their fates are bound, but Small Sade evades him, launching herself into a new career as the Curse Eater of a swanky inn. She is determined to impress the wealthy inhabitants and earn her place in Oluwan City . . . assuming her secret-filled past—and the revolutionary ambitions of the Crocodile God—don’t catch up with her.
But maybe there is more to Small Sade. And maybe everyone in Oluwan City deserves more, too, from the maids all the way to the Anointed Ones.
Fans of the Raybearer series, Howl’s Moving Castle, and Beauty and the Beast will enjoy The Maid and the Crocodile–no prior knowledge of the Raybearer series necessary.
6. A Bánh Mì for Two by Trinity Nguyen – August 20
Vivi takes a chance and decides to study abroad in Vietnam during her freshman year of college. As much as she has tried to learn her culture from her parents, they have avoided any topic related to their homeland. Lan lives in Sài Gòn, taking care of her mother and their bánh mì stall. Vivi loves the food blog A Bánh Mì for Two, and Lan has stopped writing it since her father passed away.
The two young women meet in Vietnam. Lan helps Vivi explore the city and learn about her mother’s past, while Vivi helps Lan get back to her food blogging to enter a contest. As they help each other, they can’t help but fall in love.
Book Description: In this sweet sapphic romance about two foodies in love, Vivi meets Lan while studying abroad in Vietnam and they spend the semester unraveling their families’ histories—and eating all the street food in Sài Gòn.
In Sài Gòn, Lan is always trying to be the perfect daughter, dependable and willing to care for her widowed mother and their bánh mì stall. Her secret passion, however, is A Bánh Mì for Two, the food blog she started with her father but has stopped updating since his passing.
Meanwhile, Vietnamese American Vivi Huynh, has never been to Việt Nam. Her parents rarely talk about the homeland that clearly haunts them. So Vivi secretly goes to Vietnam for a study abroad program her freshman year of college. She’s determined to figure out why her parents left, and to try everything she’s seen on her favorite food blog, A Bánh Mì for Two.When Vivi and Lan meet in Sài Gòn, they strike a deal. Lan will show Vivi around the city, helping her piece together her mother’s story through crumbling photographs and old memories. Vivi will help Lan start writing again so she can enter a food blogging contest. And slowly, as they explore the city and their pasts, Vivi and Lan fall in love.
7. Full Shift by Jennifer Dugan and Kristen Seaton – August 27
Tessa has always felt like she didn’t belong. In her family, she isn’t werewolf enough because she cannot transform into her full wolf form. At school, she can’t relate to the other girls because she isn’t human. On top of that, she hasn’t found a way to confess to her best friend, Maddie, that she has feelings for her.
When a group of hunters arrives at Tessa’s territory, she hears rumors they have found a way to turn werewolves into humans—that is her dream. However, the closer she gets to becoming a human, the more she is unable to trust the hunters.
Book Description: In this queer, supernatural YA graphic novel from the author of Some Girls Do and the illustrator of Wonder Warbringer, a reluctant teen werewolf would do anything to be human—if that’s what it takes to win her crush’s heart. High school senior Tessa doesn’t fit in anywhere. Not at school, where she can’t figure out how to confess the feelings she’s had for her best friend Maddie since the fourth grade. And definitely not at home, where the rest of her family of werewolves make her feel like an outcast because she can’t even shift into her full wolf form yet. Sometimes she thinks her whole life would be easier if she was normal, like Maddie and everyone else at school. When word gets out that a group of werewolf hunters has infiltrated her pack’s territory, and that they’ve developed a treatment that can make werewolves become human, Tessa thinks she’s found the answer to her problems. But when it turns out there might be more to the hunters’ plans than anyone knows, it’s up to Tessa to put herself on the line to protect the lives of those she loves the most.
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What will you be reading in August? Share your picks in the comments below!
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Lara Rosales
Lara Rosales is a bilingual writer with a BA in Latin-American Literature. She works in PR, hosts a podcast (Cats, Milfs & Lesbian Things), and writes on the internet about TV and movies. Some of her articles can be found on Tell-Tale TV, Geek Girl Authority, Collider, USA Wire, Mentors Collective, Instelite, Noodle, Dear Movies, and Flip Screened.
