7 Wholesome LGBTQIA+ Books to Fill Your TBR!
Looking for some wholesome LGBTQIA+ books that aren’t major downers or filled with endless emotional turmoil? Here are some of my wholesome book recommendations in no particular order that I very much enjoyed and felt like they celebrate the joys of being LGBTQIA+ rather than reflect solely on the discrimination and emotional turmoil of identifying as queer in a heteronormative society:
Jude Saves the World by Ronnie Riley
Holy cow this book is so, so, SO cute! This middle grade fiction follows Jude, a nonbinary middle schooler, as they navigate their personal relationships with their identity and establish the first diversity club in their community. The entire book is very respectful to Jude’s pronouns and queer identity. Even though there’s a side plot about the grandparents misidentifying Jude, with some clever writing, Jude is never dead-named or referred to with their previous pronouns. The friendships shown in this novel as well are incredibly wholesome and unapologetically supportive of each other. Even when there’s conflict in the friend group, they still treat each other with tremendous empathy and kindness. This is probably the most wholesome LGBTQIA+ book I’ve ever read and I hope others enjoy this quick little middle grade assuring all of us that the kids will be alright.
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
Legitimately, this is one of my favorite books of all time. I’ve read it twice at this point - once in one sitting the first time I picked it up on my Kindle and then again as an audiobook. This formerly indie published adult fantasy took Twitter by a storm with its fun plot following Viv, an Orc barbarian retiring from adventuring to start a coffee shop in her fantasy world and how she builds a community with this one goal in mind. All of the characters are great and it’s an incredibly cozy fantasy with no real high end conflicts or stakes. The WLW side plot doesn’t really make any serious momentum until Act III, but the book is still an enjoyable time despite the lack of focus on the romance. Trust me, once you read this book, you’ll be dying for one of the cinnamon rolls in it. It’s a great time focusing on friendship and community in a cozy fantasy coffee shop atmosphere while also remaining LGBTQIA+ positive. There’s not even any conflict or question about the WLW relationship. It’s just a matter of fact and only shows how far the characters have grown with each other. Truly a wonderful book as beautiful as the world it builds within it.
Her Royal Highness by Rachel Hawkins
Listen, I’m a sucker for a solid royal romance. Her Royal Highness by Rachel Hawkins is a young adult romance that fulfills my adoration for royal romances while also remaining LGBTQIA+ positive. It follows Millie who discovers her new boarding school roommate is the royal princess Flora and the evolution of their enemies to lovers relationship as they break down each others’ walls in their close living environment. There’s a lot of fun quirkiness in it and it’s another book I finished in one sitting because I didn’t want to leave the fun, wholesome world it provided. There is some conflict with Princess Flora’s queer identity in the public eye but overall it remains very positive and wholesome in the scheme of things and is just a very fun YA romance between two young women surviving boarding school together.
Heartstopper by Alice Oseman
Adorable both in art style and in storytelling, this young adult graphic novel series is a delight and receiving the celebrated attention it deserves with its new Netflix series. Charlie is an openly gay high school student who develops a friendship with Nick, a wholesome himbo-esque (complimentary) rugby player at their all boys school. While there is conflict with Charlie being bullied for being gay and Nick’s own struggle with identifying his queerness, the relationship between these two boys remains wholesome and entirely empathetic towards each other. I haven’t had the opportunity to read the rest of the series, but the first volume is very cute in watching their relationship unfold and develop across the graphics. I’ve also heard great things about the Netflix series, but haven’t had a chance to watch it yet. Really, if nothing else sells you about this book, read it just for Nick’s dog Nellie. I think her introduction is my favorite thing in all of graphic novel history.
This is How We Fly by Anna Meriano
This young adult sports novel is honestly quite a hidden gem. The majority of the story follows Ellen as she celebrates her last summer before college playing Quidditch with one of her best friends on an all-gender team and is a classic young adult coming of age tale. While there are definitely some issues with Harry Potter’s LGBTQIA+ representation and even more problematic connotations with Harry Potter’s author, this novel absolutely does not delve into that world or franchise. Quidditch, now known as Quadball to separate itself from its franchise origins, is a legitimate sport played by multiple teams around the country and the focus of the story remains on the sport and the people playing it. The part that I especially remember is Ellen’s own exploration with her identity and her best friend discovering her own queer identity as well. It’s very much a modern coming of age with these themes of self-discovery and remains inclusive of all identities with a great amount of empathy in handling any conflicts that may arise with these discoveries.
Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers
Poetic in its prose and incredibly soft in its telling, this adult romance is a quiet and comforting story about Grace Porter who accidentally marries another woman in Vegas while celebrating her PhD. This book primarily focuses on Grace and the state of her life after spending most of it aspiring for a PhD she never really wanted, but the cool thing is that it never once has a conflict with her queer identity. She just is lesbian as a matter of fact and even when she confesses to marrying a woman, no one is questioning the gender of her spouse. Her primary conflict regarding her accidental marriage is that she got married in the first place without telling anyone, but her queer identity or gender are never questioned in this decision or revelation. It’s a wholesome read that is warm like honey and a soft study in what it means to live your own life outside of external validation with the added bonus of featuring a LGBTQIA+ romance as the center of it.
Star-Crossed by Barbara Dee
In a very clever Romeo & Juliet re-telling, this middle grade novel explores young Mattie’s self-discovery with her queer identity as she realizes she has a crush on her female classmate playing Juliet after being cast as a female Romeo in their school play. There is a lot of conflict with accepting her queer identity, but overall the story is incredibly wholesome and kind in its telling. I’m a big fan of Shakespeare (if you couldn’t tell when I made him a major character in my first book) so I was a big fan of all of the allusions to the classic Romeo & Juliet tale and all of the Shakespeare references. It’s a quick and fun read for Shakespeare fans looking for a light-hearted read about pre-teens discovering what it means to be true to themselves.