Somehow I forgot to write a post about books to read during Pride Month leading up to it, but we should be reading queer books all year long. Before the month ends, here are some queer books I read within the past six months that you should check out now and after June is over.

1. She Loves to Cook and She Loves to Eat by Sakaomi Yuzaki- This is a super cute sapphic manga featuring an office worker who loves to cook and a truck driver with a large appetite. When Nomoto cooks more than she can eat, she invites her neighbor, Kasuga, over to share it and kicks off their friendship. And as the women get closer, they realize their relationship might be more. It is an ongoing manga series.
2. The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw– a horror novella about a mermaid and a nonbinary plague doctor who stumble upon children in the woods who are being preyed upon by “gods.” It’s a story about the inhumanity of humans and the brutality (and beauty) of nature. The story is also a horror riff on what should have been the aftermath of The Little Mermaid. It was phenomenal.
3. This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone- I don’t care that this was all over Twitter and Tiktok; it was so good. It’s a novella told from the perspective of two time-hopping agents who are working for opposite factions in a time war, order and chaos. As the two agents start leaving letters for each other, they grow dangerously close. The story is so well woven and layered that it kept me on the edge of my seat ’til the end.
4. The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich by Deya Muniz- This is a young adult graphic novel about a young woman who disguises herself as a man in order to inherit her father’s title after his death. When she returns to the capital, she is supposed to be keeping a low profile, but the allure of fashion and the princess’s gala is too much to resist. She is attracted to the princess’s activism and passion draws her to her, but she may not be able to keep her secret much longer. This story was so cute, and I loved the way Muniz balances a Regency-esque style with modern devices like a Nintendo Switch.
5. The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles- If you liked Poldark but wish he was gay and less… him, this one is for you. Joss and Gareth have been secretly meeting, though they don’t know each other’s names. After breaking up, they quickly realize they are neighbors as Gareth moves into his late-estranged father’s house in the town where Joss runs the local smuggling ring. Can an uptight baronet and a smuggler figure out what his father was up to before Gareth ends up paying for his crimes? Gareth and Joss are great compliments for each other, and I loved them immensely, even if I wanted to smack their heads together.
6. A Novel Arrangement by Arden Powell- As soon as Elizabeth and Arthur get engaged, there is friction between her and his best friend, Coxley. Determined to find a truce, Elizabeth and Coxley try to become friends and find that sometimes a love triangle can become why choose? There’s also a boudoir painting, magic, and blackmail. I loved how 2/3 of the main characters are creative types, and the dynamic between the three of them is absolutely lovely.
7. Sword Dance by AJ Demas- I haven’t read many historical romances set in an Ancient Greek-esque setting, but I absolutely loved it. Damiskos is a disabled ex-soldier who stumbles into a party at an old friend’s house that is more than it seems. The person who draws his eye is eunuch and sword-dancer, Varazda, but they are more than they seem. Drawn together against a common enemy, Damiskos and Varazda must work together to solve a murder and prevent something far worse. Once again, I loved their dynamic, and I adored the novelty of this story being set in the ancient world. This is the first book in a trilogy, so we get a happy for now ending.
8. A Garter as a Lesser Gift by Aster Glenn Grey- This story is a retelling of Gawain and the Green Knight but set during WWII. It still has that stylized quality of a Brenton lais during parts of it, which I loved. Briarley, Grey’s Beauty and the Beast retelling is one of my absolute favorite queer books of all time, and this story feels similar, though a little less dramatic. In this case, we end up a polyamorous, why choose situation between Gawain and his illustrious hosts.
9. Last Gender by Rei Taki- is a three volume manga series about Bar California, a queer sex club where members can explore who they are. The volumes are broken down into vignettes about each character where we learn more about specific flavors of queerness, including aromantic, bisexual, queer, transgender, gender nonconforming, etc. At times, it feels informational rather than character driven, but I enjoyed the ways the stories wove together and how we get to see more sides of Japanese queer culture.
10. A Mirror Mended by Alix E. Harrow- This is the second book in the Fractured Fairytales series (and you should read book one for context) where we find Zinnia universe hopping and rescuing princesses until her actions start to break the multiverse. When she stumbles into the wrong fairytale and ends up face-to-face with Snow White’s Evil Queen, who is also quite a hottie by the way even if she is a bit evil, she begins to question everything she knows about fairytales. This series also has a chronically ill, sapphic main character and queer side characters.