Hi everyone!
So, obviously, I am a book blogger disaster…I have missed 2 planned blog posts so far this month, I guess it’s catching up time! Here is a list of 15 of my favourite underhyped LGBTQ+ books.
First off, what constitutes as “underhyped” for me? For the sake of this post, all the books I will be recommending have lower than 5,000 ratings on Goodreads. This may seem like a lot, but let’s compare it to books like Six of Crows and A Court of Thorns and Roses, which have between 200,000-350,000 ratings respectively. Hopefully, you can see what I mean. I have added a screenshot below to explain.
This is just the first post, I will be continuing my recommendations in a second post soon!
Lastly, I have read all of these books, I will share my rating as well as a link to my reviews if applicable!
1) The Normal Heart by Larry Kramer
My rating: 5 stars
Rep: gay MCs
This is a play that takes place around the time of the AIDS epidemic. Honestly, I would class this book as one of the few that has changed my life, or at the very least, my outlook on life. I was a total mess when I finished this. They also adapted this into a movie which I highly recommend watching.
2) All of Shelby Eileen’s poetry!
My ratings: all between 4.5-5 stars each.
Rep: poetry collections which feature; plus size rep, mental illness and aro/ace-spectrum rep.
Link to my review of all 3 collections: click here
3) Proper English by K.J Charles
My rating: 4 stars
Rep: F/F romance
Link to my full review: click here
4) Grease Bats by Archie Bongiovanni
Rating: 4 stars
Rep: every single character is LGBTQ+. Genderqueer MC and lesbian MC.
Link to my full review: click here
5) Reverb by Anna Zabo
Rating: 4 stars
Rep: Pansexual MC and trans MC. Pretty much every character in this book is LGBTQ+
Link to my full review: click here
6) Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe
My rating: 4 stars
Rep: Non-binary and ace main character, a range of queer and LGBTQ+ side characters.
Link to me full review: click here
7) Play it Again by Aidan Wayne
My rating: 4 stars
Rep: blind, Jewish and bisexual main character, homoromantic ace main character and aroace side character.
Link to my full review: click here
8) Stage Dreams by Melanie Gillman
My rating: 4 stars
Rep: F/F romance. Trans MC and queer & Latinx MC.
Link to my full review: click here
9) Princess Princess Ever After by Katie O’Neill
My rating: 4.5 stars
Rep: F/F romance and POC main character.
A short and very sweet webcomic about two princesses who find each other, strike up a friendship and go on a quest!
10) Valhalla by L.A Ashton
My rating: 4 stars
Rep: M/M romance, pansexual rep.
Link to my full review: click here
11) You Asked for Perfect by Laura Silverman
My rating: 4 stars
Rep: mental illness rep, Jewish & bisexual main character, Muslim & gay love interest, Korean & lesbian best friend.
Link to my full review: click here
12) Proud by Various (compiled by Juno Dawson)
My rating: 4 stars
Rep: all stories centred around gay, lesbian, non-binary, trans, bisexual and questioning characters
Link to my full review: click here
13) EE Ottoman: A Matter of Disagreement & The Doctor’s Discretion
My rating: between 3-4 stars
Rep: trans MC, disability rep and POC MC.
Own voices stories with trans main characters. AMOD is a novella set in a fantasy/steampunk-inspired world and is enemies-to-lovers romance and TDD is a historical romance!
Link to my review for A Matter of Disagreement: click here
Link to my review for The Doctor’s Discretion: click here
14) Learning Curves by Ceillie Simkiss
My rating: 3.5/4 stars
Rep: Panromantic asexual love interest with ADHD. plus size, Puerto Rican lesbian main character with anxiety.
This was such an effortlessly diverse contemporary novella which I really enjoyed! Set in America where two girls met in college and strike up a relationship.
15) The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman
My rating: 3.5/4 stars
Rep: 2 bisexual MCs, disability rep (MC). There are also two queer side characters (no labels mentioned)
Link to my full review: click here
Icons from: Freepik
Let me know in the comments some underhyped books you love!
Haven’t heard of Grease Bats but it sounds right up my street! Thanks for sharing this!
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Yay! I hope you like it if you do get around to reading! 🙂
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Amazing list!!! And I’m actually surprised that I’ve read a couple of these because I’m mostly carried away by hype… Definitely gonna add a few more to my tbr 😊😊😊
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haha, aren’t we all! I hope you find some you love! 🙂
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Loved this post!! My TBR continures to grow uncontrollably haha. One of my favorite underrated LGBTQ reads is Defense of an Other. It’s a legal thriller written by a queer practicing attorney and it’s sooo good.
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Haha, thank you! Oo I will definitley be checking that one out! 🙂
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I love You Asked for Perfect! I’m so happy to see it on this list! I’ve discovered a whole bunch of amazing LGBTQ graphic novels this year including Bloom, On a Sunbeam, and Kiss Number 8!
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Same here! I can’t believe it only has like 1,000 ratings on GR! Oo, I have been obsessed with LGBTQ+ comics this year, all of those are on my TBR! 🙂
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I really enjoyed Proud. The Devouring Gray is on my TBR
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I hope you love The Devouring Gray! 🙂
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I’m definitely super interested in The Normal Heart now! Also I had no idea that The Devouring Gray had less than 5000 ratings on gr? It was super hyped up on book twitter lmao 😂 I also think that Stage Dreams sounds super cute, and I’d really have to get myself a physical copy, which is gonna be hard because I cannot find graphic novels on my TBR in any of the bookstores here! Thanks so much for boosting these underrated queer books 💖
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I hope you love Stage Dreams and The Nomral Heart if you do get around to reading! Yes, I was shocked too, it actually has less than 2,000! But I guess it’s still early days, the book did only come out a couple of months ago 🙂 Thank you so much!
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Play it again sounds really interesting. I’ve never heard of that before so I’m off to look it up!
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Yay! Hope you like it if you do get around to reading 🙂
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Love this list! Will check them out 💜
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Thank you! 🙂
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Great list! I can’t wait to read Genderqueer and You asked for perfect!! 💜
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Thank you! I hope you love them if you do get around to reading 🙂
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