The Best Queer Books I Read in 2024 (That Weren’t Published in 2024)

This was a book club pick, and I think I would have DNFed it otherwise. Sneha is a difficult main character to read about at the beginning of the book: she’s a queer woman of colour with a lot of internalized racism and homophobia that she projects onto other people. I’m glad I stuck with it, though, because it ended up being one of my most memorable reads of the year. I enjoyed seeing the journey Sneha goes on to accept herself, and the messy found family dynamic is compelling.

This sapphic fantasy trilogy is one I’ve only heard excellent things about, but I was intimidated by the idea of starting a new epic fantasy series—especially when the first volume is 500+ pages. Despite the length and the many characters’ points of view, I was completely absorbed by this story. Have you ever read a book so good it makes you angry? Like you want to just shove it at people and say, “Why aren’t you reading and talking about this??” That’s how I felt after finishing The Jasmine Throne. The characters and the world are so vivid; it really showed me what a fantasy novel can do.

Cozy fantasy is closer to my reading comfort zone, so I knew this one would be a new favourite. What really shone was the two main characters, Kianthe and Reyna, and their relationship to each other. They’re both flawed and three-dimensional, and I enjoyed seeing how they learn to live together and deepen their relationship. Also, I was always going to love a sapphic cozy fantasy about starting a bookshop/teashop. That’s almost unfair. If you’re a fan of Legends and Lattes, you have to pick this one up. I can’t wait to continue with the series!

This sci-fi novella with a nonbinary main character is about two minimum wage employees at an Ikea-like store who have to follow an elderly customer through a wormhole to get her back safely—a death-defying rescue that corporate will reward with gift cards. Making the whole situation more awkward, the two employees—Ava and Jules—just broke up a week ago. The juxtaposition between the wacky sci-fi adventure and the complicated friendship between the two main characters worked really well for me.

Green Fuse Burning is a novella about Rita, an artist mourning her estranged father—and regretting she didn’t get the opportunity to learn more about their Mi’kmaq culture from him. When Rita’s girlfriend reveals that she signed her up for an artist’s residency in an isolated cabin, she’s furious, but because it’s close to where her father grew up, she decides to go anyway. There, she begins hearing strange sounds in the woods and seeing visions in the surrounding swamp. This is a beautiful, haunting story by a poet, and despite its scant page count, it’s one you’ll want to savor every page of.

I didn’t know what to expect when picking up the first horror book from Chuck Tingle, but I really enjoyed it. I liked seeing the world through Rose’s eyes. She’s been raised in an extremely religious sect, so she has that perspective, but she’s also autistic and has a scientific interest in the world around her, inserting facts whenever possible. She describes even the bloodiest scenes in a refreshingly matter-of-fact way. This gay conversion horror story combines gore with heart and emotion, which I thought Chuck Tingle was able to pull off. Love is real!

I’m embarrassed that it took me this long to pick up Last Night at the Telegraph Club, especially because I paid extra for a signed copy that’s been sitting on my shelves for years. I know it will come as a shock to you, but this award-winning historical YA novel is good. It’s hard to overstate how well this was received critically when it came out, and it absolutely deserved it. I always enjoy Malinda Lo’s writing, but this may be a perfect novel. This 1950s lesbian historical YA read is immersive, bittersweet, and beautifully written.

Another favourite sapphic YA read of this year was this one, the first in a horror duology. It follows a Black ballerina in Paris who makes a deal with a river of blood to gain power after being shut out of success because of racism in the institution. I loved reading about Laure because she’s unapologetically angry and ambitious—traits women, especially Black women, are punished for. She does some horrific things, but I couldn’t help still having sympathy for her. I’m really looking forward to the second and final book in this series!

Here is another example of a book I’ve heard great things about for years that ended up exceeding my high expectations. The artwork is stunning, and I loved that this wasn’t just about Tien trying to come out to his mother, but also about his mother’s experiences as an immigrant from Vietnam. The embedded fairy tale stories all have their own visual style, including the fashion, that reflects something about the storyteller. This is such a work of art.

This book, in two volumes, is a queer Cree telling of the history of Turtle Island, particularly “Canada.” It’s funny, heartbreaking, and educational, packed full of citations but told through the fictional figure of Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, a shapeshifting queer form who guides us through this history. Interspersed are gorgeous paintings by Kent Monkman, like the one on the cover. This is a new all-time favorite.