Category: Our Queerest Shelves

This is set in 1894 London, following John Addington and Henry Ellis as they write a book together arguing that homosexuality is a natural variation in human sexuality. This puts them at risk, since homosexuality is outlawed. Both have unconventional marriages: Henry has a male lover, and John’s wife is also seeing a woman — and all parties are aware of this arrangement. When Oscar Wilde is arrested, they have to decide whether it’s worth going through with the book.

Ponjirou is an actor who is afraid his weight will keep him from landing a big role. But his confidence is lifted when he unexpectedly receives fan mail (including pastries). Konnosuke is a pastry chef, and in this duology, they help to support each other’s dreams. The second and final volume comes out in June. According to reviews, this does mention weight loss in passing, but Ponjirou is confident in his body.

A Ruinous Fate (Heartless Fates #1) by Kaylie Smith (Bisexual YA Fantasy)

We Are Not Broken by George M Johnson (Queer YA Nonfiction) (Paperback Rerelease)

Edmund White’s A Boy’s Own Story: The Graphic Novel by Brian Alessandro, Michael Carroll, and Igor Karash (Gay Graphic Novel)

My Love Mix-Up!, Vol. 6 by Wataru Hinekure and Aruko (M/M Manga)

Pulse, Vol. 2 by Ratana Satis (Yuri Manga)

This is the latest in the First Conversations series, and it provides a way into talking about love and relationships with young kids. It includes illustrations of all kinds of families, and it introduces words like “gay” and “queer.”

This is a slice-of-life manga following two women, a voice actor and a scriptwriter, who are “just roommates” to the outside world, but inside their apartment, they have a cozy and romantic life together. This volume introduces more characters into the cast, including their neighbors.

This is the U.S. release of this title, and it looks adorable. Jack and Nate’s ex-boyfriends are dating each other, and they seem to be the perfect couple. So Jack and Nate decide to have their own Instagram-worthy summer together, documenting themselves as @TheHeartbreakBoys — and falling for each other along the way.

Midori broke up with Maki at their high school graduation, saying they were “too old to be fooling around dating girls.” But now Maki bumps into Midori years later and discovers three important things: 1) they both still have feelings for each other, 2) Midori is engaged, and 3) her soon-to-be husband is kind of a jerk. Can she show Midori that their relationships is worth rekindling?

Red Lightning by Marco B. Bucci and Riccardo Atzeni (Queer Sci-Fi Graphic Novel)

The Legend of Korra: Patterns in Time by Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko, Heather Campbell, Jayd Ait-Kaci, and Killian Ng (Sapphic Graphic Novel)

My Cute Little Kitten, Vol. 1 by Milk Morinaga (Yuri Manga)

Hello, Melancholic! Vol. 3 by Yayoi Ohsawa (Yuri Manga)

Adachi and Shimamura (Light Novel) Vol. 10 by by Hitoma Iruma, illustrated by Non (Yuri Light Novel)

This is a sapphic heist story set on the Titanic. Need I say more? Josefa has recruited three other teen girls — including one she has a crush on — to help her steal the jewel-encrusted Rubiyat being transported on the Titanic. But they all have their own reasons for taking this job, and these secrets will come to a head just before they collide with a much bigger problem…

This short graphic novel is the sequel to the novel Every Word You Never Said, but it looks like it could be read independently. Skylar is excited — if a little nervous — to spend the holidays with his boyfriend Jacob’s family. Meanwhile, Jacob is racing to find Skylar the perfect gift just in time. This looks like the absolutely cutest holiday read.

Don’t finalize your best books of 2022 list too early, because this December release turned out to be my favorite read all year. It weaves together fascinating facts about sea creatures with stories from their own life, and it’s also gloriously queer: queer people as feral goldfish, as swarms, as immortal. I savored reading every essay.

Hayes’s reality changes forever when Yusuf walks into his life. For one thing, he’s falling for him, but for another, he introduces Hayes to parallel universes. Soon, he’s trying to save an infinite cascade of universes, but it might mean sacrificing the man he loves…

A Dash of Salt and Pepper by Kosoko Jackson (M/M Romance)

A Singh Family Christmas by Nisha Sharma (M/M Holiday Romance Novella)

Best Lesbian Erotica of the Year, Volume 7 edited by Sinclair Sexsmith (Queer Erotica)

This Cursed Crown (These Feathered Flames #2) by by Alexandra Overy (Sapphic YA Fantasy)

When Maya is invited to go on a reality dating show called Second-Chance Romance to date her ex Jordy again, she agrees for one reason: revenge. Sure, it’s a little uncomfortable to be there with the person he cheated on her with, Skye — along with four more of his exes. But soon, Maya and Skye start to get closer to a romance that definitely wasn’t in the script.

Avery’s mom has moved them to a small town in Georgia to take care of her dying grandmother. There’s a lot of tension between Avery’s mother and grandmother, so she finds comfort in new friendships (and maybe a romance) with two other teenage girls in town. Soon, though, the racist history of the town begins to make itself known, and Avery is forced to face the impact it’s had on her family.

Geometries of Belonging (Birdverse) by R B Lemberg (Queer Fantasy Short Stories)

Here’s To Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera (M/M YA Contemporary) (Paperback Rerelease)

Aquamen by Brandon Thomas, Chuck Brown, Sami Basri (Queer Superhero Comics)

Tell Me How to Be by Neel Patel (Queer Fiction) (Paperback Rerelease)

If you read Delilah Green Doesn’t Care, then you, too, have been eagerly anticipating the sequel following Delilah’s stepsister. Astrid is designing the Everwood Inn renovation for an HGTV show, but she keeps butting heads with the lead carpenter, Jordan — which turns out to make for good TV. But somewhere along the way, their animosity unexpectedly turns into something else…

Do I really have to say anything other than “lesbian space opera” and gesture towards the cover? There’s also space pirates, a sentient spaceship, and an F/F marriage of convenience. Oh, and did I mention that the sentient spaceship is who the main character is marrying?

Love and Rockets: The First Fifty: The Classic 40th Anniversary Collection by Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez, et al (Queer Graphic Novel)

Men I Trust by Tommi Parrish (Sapphic Graphic Novel)

Hirano and Kagiura, Vol. 1 by Shou Harusono (M/M Manga)

Catch These Hands, Vol. 3 by Murata (F/F Manga)

From the author of Jonny Appleseed comes a collection of essays that are part memoir, part cultural commentary, “explor[ing] the relationships between body, language, and land.”

This memoir follows Will in the months after their mother is diagnosed with cancer, through hospital visits, jigsaw puzzles, and coming out as nonbinary. Each of the characters in this graphic memoir is represented as a bird!

The Husky and His White Cat Shizun, Vol. 1 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou (M/M Historical Fiction)

All Work, Let’s Play by Rosyln Faulk (Bisexual M/M Romance)

Shy by Ashish Rastogi (M/M Sports Romance)

Her Vixen Actress by Violet Cowper (F/F Historical Romance)

The Frenemy Zone by Yolanda Wallace (F/F YA Contemporary)

Reader, I Murdered Him by Betsy Cornwell (Sapphic YA Historical Thriller)

Beneath the Burning Wave by Jennifer Hayashi Danns (Queer YA Fantasy)

Wicked Little Things by Justin Arnold (Queer YA Horror)

Ten years ago, Hussam and Wassim’s lives are changed forever when they’re caught by Hussam’s father in a romantic moment. Now, Hussam is a refugee in Canada, struggling with a controlling sponsor, but able to be openly gay. Wassim is still in Syria, living on the streets. There, he stumbles on someone else’s buried secrets.

From the author of Witchmark and The Midnight Bargain comes a new supernatural noir story. Helen sold her soul to save her brother. Before she spends an eternity in hell, though, she has one shot to have a happily ever after (at least in life) with the woman she loves. All she has to do is find the White City Vampire, a serial killer in Chicago. But she only has three days to do it.

Christmas Mouse by Rachel Spangler (F/F Holiday Romance)

The Fruit (Wrath & Athenaeum #3) by Na’amen Gobert Tilahun (Gay, M/M Fantasy)

The Last Hero (The First Sister #3) by Linden A. Lewis (Sapphic Fantasy)

The Stars Undying (Empire Without End #1) by Emery Robin (Queer Space Opera)

The Nightland Express by J.M. Lee (Trans YA Historical)

Sir Callie and the Champions of Helston by Esme Symes-Smith (Nonbinary Middle Grade Fantasy)

My Paati’s Saris by Jyoti Rajan Gopal and Art Twink (Gender Nonconforming Picture Book)

A Song for the Unsung: Bayard Rustin, the Man Behind the 1963 March on Washington written by Carole Boston Weatherford and Rob Sanders, illustrated by Byron McCray (Gay Nonfiction Picture Book)

In this dystopian future, after a war destroys most of the world, the remaining humans have forgotten how to read, write, or create the tools they once had. Enforcers controlled by the spirit who started this war roam the Earth to keep them in line. Màgòdiz follows six Indigenous people, some of them Two-Spirit, as they survive and fight back against this invading force.

Hitting May with her car was an accident; Shani was a little distracted by her recent breakup. Still, it’s not surprising that it started May and Shani’s relationship off on the wrong foot. When they’re snowed in together on Christmas Eve, though, these two Jewish lesbian teenagers start to fall for each other — but is Shani ready for that kind of vulnerability? (Also, crucially, look at the corgi with his little booties on the cover!!)

Paris Daillencourt Is About to Crumble by Alexis Hall (M/M Romance)

A Restless Truth (The Last Binding #2) by Freya Marske (Lesbian Fantasy)

Ocean’s Echo (Winter’s Orbit #2) by Everina Maxwell (M/M Sci-Fi)

The Reckless Kind by Carly Heath (Asexual YA Historical Fiction) (Paperback Rerelease)

They Both Die at the End Collector’s Edition by Adam Silvera (M/M YA SFF)

My Pinup by Hilton Als (Queer Memoir)

I Am Onir and I Am Gay: A Memoir by Onir Onir (Gay Memoir)

Love This For You: How to Rewrite the Rules and Live Authentically by Deni Todorović (Queer & Nonbinary Nonfiction)