Category Archives: Queer Lit

Ace of Shadows by Amanda Foody

Enne Salta was raised as a proper young lady, and no lady would willingly visit New Reynes, the so-called City of Sin. But when her mother goes missing, Enne must leave her finishing school—and her reputation—behind to follow her mother’s trail to the city where no one survives uncorrupted. Frightened and alone, Enne has only one lead: the name Levi Glaisyer. Unfortunately, Levi is not the gentleman she expected—he’s a street lord and a con man. Levi is also only one payment away from cleaning up a rapidly unraveling investment scam, so he doesn’t have time to investigate a… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Paedophilia & sexual assault*
  • Blood & injury depiction, including burns
  • Death of a mother
  • Death of a friend in a fire
  • Murder (on-page) & regicide
  • Torture
  • Physical assault
  • Poisoning
  • Bullying

Context : The villain is an adult man with a fetish for young girls; the only on-page sexual assault is unwanted touching.

Abroad by Liz Jacobs

Nick Melnikov doesn’t know where he belongs. He was just a kid when his Russian-Jewish family immigrated to Michigan. Now he’s in London for university, overwhelmed by unexpected memories. Socially anxious, intensely private, and closeted, Nick doesn’t expect to fall in so quickly with a tight-knit group of students from his college, and it’s both exhilarating and scary. Hanging out with them is a roller coaster of serious awkward and incredible longing, especially when the most intimidating of the group, Dex, looks his way. Dex Cartwell knows exactly who he… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Coming out themes
  • Transphobia & internalised homophobia
  • Anxiety & agoraphobia
  • Alcohol consumption

Out on Good Behaviour

Out on Good Behaviour by Dahlia Adler

Frankie Bellisario knows she can get anyone she sets her sights on, but just because she can doesn’t mean she should—not when the person she’s eyeing is Samara Kazarian, the daughter of a southern Republican mayor. No matter how badly Frankie wants to test her powers of persuasion, even she recognizes some lines aren’t meant to be crossed. But when Frankie learns she’s been on Samara’s mind too, the idea of hooking up with her grows too strong to resist. Only Sam’s not looking for a hookup; she wants—needs—the real thing, and she’s afraid she’ll never find it as long… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Coming out themes
  • Slut-shaming

The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta

I masquerade in makeup and feathers and I am applauded. A boy comes to terms with his identity as a mixed-race gay teen – then at university he finds his wings as a drag artist, The Black Flamingo. A bold story about the power of embracing your uniqueness. Sometimes, we need to take charge, to stand up wearing pink feathers – to show ourselves to the world in bold colour.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Sexism discussed
  • Homomisia, internalised homomisia & homomisic slurs
  • Lesbomisia & internalised lesbomisia discussed
  • Coming out themes
  • Dubious consent situation*
  • Parental abandonment
  • Physical parental abuse (single act)
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Recreational drug use
  • Emesis
  • Physical assault (minor fight scenes)
  • Bullying
  • Poverty themes

Context : The sixteen-year-old protagonist meets an adult man on a dating app and agrees to meet with him for sex. The man offers him drugs which cause the protagonist to lose consciousness and his memory of the event.

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender

Felix Love has never been in love—and, yes, he’s painfully aware of the irony. He desperately wants to know what it’s like and why it seems so easy for everyone but him to find someone. What’s worse is that, even though he is proud of his identity, Felix also secretly fears that he’s one marginalization too many—Black, queer, and transgender—to ever get his own happily-ever-after. When an anonymous student begins sending him transphobic messages—after publicly posting Felix’s deadname alongside images of him before he transitioned—Felix comes up with a plan for revenge. What he didn’t count on: his catfish scenario landing him in a quasi–love triangle… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Queerphobia & mentions of disownment from queerphobic parents
  • Transphobia, internalised transphobia, misgendering & deadnaming
  • Biphobia & internalised biphobia
  • Coming out themes
  • Racism & racist microaggressions
  • Parental abandonment
  • Emotional parental & domestic abuse mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption & recreational drug use
  • Top surgery recounted & Hormone Replacement Therapy
  • Needles & injections (on-page)
  • Scars
  • Bullying
  • Cyberbullying, cyberharassment, catfishing & doxxing