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LGBTQAI+
Rainbow Love: Want Awesome Queer YA Books?
LGBTQAI+ YA books (of the smutless variety)
I was recently doing a sit for a very amazing parent whose teenage child is agender. We had an amazing conversation, and one of the things we talked about was books — but of course. Because I’m all about the representation in the books I write, and I’m also all about the representation in what I read. Right now, I’m writing a YA queer sports romance, and I’m reading a hell of a lot of YA queer fiction. Specifically, gay fiction, because that’s my jam.
This parent was very interested because as they pointed out, it seems a lot of queer books are highly sexualized. And they are right! There’s that infantilization and fetishization that hetero-normative society creates to call queer people the problem. But even as the USA drifts into the future predicted in ‘Civil’ (which I watched recently and holy crap that’s a great movie - and terrifying because… well, it could be accurate), I see much evidence that representation is increasing and improving. That is a step towards a better world!
So, with all this in mind, I wanted to gather together a list of great YA queer books I’ve read of the very NON-smutty variety. And I figured, if I’m doing that, why not gather it here and share it with you too?
