Lesbian
2024 curated booklist
Juliet Takes a Breath
Gabby Rivera
Juliet Milagros Palante is leaving the Bronx and headed to Portland, Oregon. She just came out to her family and isn’t sure if her mom will ever speak to her again. But Juliet has a plan, sort of, one that’s going to help her figure out this whole “Puerto Rican lesbian” thing. She’s interning with the author of her favorite book: Harlowe Brisbane, the ultimate authority on feminism, women’s bodies, and other gay-sounding stuff.
Will Juliet be able to figure out her life over the course of one magical summer? Is that even possible? Or is she running away from all the problems that seem too big to handle?
With more questions than answers, Juliet takes on Portland, Harlowe, and most importantly, herself.
Category: Young Adult, Comic
Representation: Lesbian, bisexual, non-binary, transgender
Content Warnings: Racism, homophobia, sexual activity, sexual violence, fatphobia, transphobia, substance use/abuse
ISBN: 9781684156115
Find it in your local library (WorldCat)
I Kissed Shara Wheeler
Chloe Green is so close to winning. After her moms moved her from SoCal to Alabama for high school, she’s spent the past four years dodging gossipy, classmates and a puritanical administration at Willowgrove Christian Academy. The thing that’s kept her going: winning valedictorian. Her only rival: prom queen Shara Wheeler, the principal’s perfect daughter.
But a month before graduation, Shara kisses Chloe and vanishes.
On a furious hunt for answers, Chloe discovers she’s not the only one Shara kissed. There’s also Smith, Shara’s longtime quarterback sweetheart, and Rory, Shara’s bad boy neighbour with a crush. The three have nothing in common except Shara and the annoyingly cryptic notes she left behind, but together they must untangle Shara’s trail of clues and find her. It’ll be worth it, if Chloe can drag Shara back before graduation to beat her fair-and-square.
Thrown into an unlikely alliance, chasing a ghost through parties, break-ins, puzzles, and secrets revealed on monogrammed stationery, Chloe starts to suspect there might be more to this small town than she thought. And maybe – probably not, but maybe – more to Shara, too.
Category: Young Adult, Romance
Representation: Bisexual, non-binary, lesbian
Content Warnings: Racism, homophobia, substance use/abuse, bullying, abuse, religion
ISBN: 9781035001262
Find it in your local library (WorldCat)
She Drives Me Crazy
Kelly Quindlen
After an embarrassing loss to her ex-girlfriend in their first basketball game of the season, seventeen-year-old Scottie Zajac gets into a fender bender with the worst possible person: her nemesis, Irene Abraham, head cheerleader for the Fighting Reindeer.
Irene is as mean as she is beautiful, so Scottie makes a point to keep her distance. When the accident sends Irene’s car to the shop for weeks’ worth of repairs and the girls are forced to carpool, their rocky start only gets bumpier.
But when an opportunity arises for Scottie to get back at her toxic ex, and climb her school’s social ladder, she bribes Irene into an elaborate fake dating scheme that threatens to reveal some very real feelings.
Category: Young Adult, Romance
Representation: Non-binary bisexual, lesbian
Content Warnings: Racism, homophobia, substance use/abuse, bullying, abuse, religion
ISBN: 9781035001262
Find it in your local library (WorldCat)
Clap When You Land
Elizabeth Acevedo
In a novel-in-verse that brims with grief and love, National Book Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Acevedo writes about the devastation of loss, the difficulty of forgiveness, and the bittersweet bonds that shape our lives.
Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people…
In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal’s office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash.
Separated by distance—and Papi’s secrets—the two girls are forced to face a new reality in which their father is dead and their lives are forever altered.
And then, when it seems like they’ve lost everything of their father, they learn of each other.
Category: Young Adult, Poetry
Representation: Lesbian
Content Warnings: Character death, sexual violence, mental illness
ISBN: 9780062882776
Find it in your local library (WorldCat)
These Witches Don’t Burn
Isabel Sterling
Hannah’s a witch, but not the kind you’re thinking of. She’s the real deal, an Elemental with the power to control fire, earth, water, and air. But even though she lives in Salem, Massachusetts, her magic is a secret she has to keep to herself. If she’s ever caught using it in front of a Reg (read: non-witch), she could lose it. For good. So, Hannah spends most of her time avoiding her ex-girlfriend (and fellow Elemental Witch) Veronica, hanging out with her best friend, and working at the Fly by Night Cauldron selling candles and crystals to tourists, goths, and local Wiccans.
But dealing with her ex is the least of Hannah’s concerns when a terrifying blood ritual interrupts the end-of-school-year bonfire. Evidence of dark magic begins to appear all over Salem, and Hannah’s sure it’s the work of a deadly Blood Witch. The issue is, her coven is less than convinced, forcing Hannah to team up with the last person she wants to see: Veronica.
While the pair attempt to smoke out the Blood Witch at a house party, Hannah meets Morgan, a cute new ballerina in town. But trying to date amid a supernatural crisis is easier said than done, and Hannah will have to test the limits of her power if she’s going to save her coven and get the girl, especially when the attacks on Salem’s witches become deadlier by the day.
Category: Young Adult, Fantasy
Representation: Lesbian, bisexual
Content Warnings: Character death, substance use/abuse, violence, sexual activity
ISBN: 9780451480323
Find it in your local library (WorldCat)
Gideon the Ninth
Tamsyn Muir
The Emperor needs necromancers.
The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman.
Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead bullshit.
Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won’t set her free without a service.
Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and bone witch extraordinaire, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heirs to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of wits and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds she will become an immortal, all-powerful servant of the Resurrection, but no necromancer can ascend without their cavalier. Without Gideon’s sword, Harrow will fail, and the Ninth House will die.
Of course, some things are better left dead.
Category: Fantasy, NZ author, Science Fiction, Series, New Adult
Representation: Lesbian
Content Warnings: Character death, violence, suicide, gore
ISBN: 9781250313188
Find it in your local library (WorldCat)
Last Night at the Telegraph Club
Malinda Lo
Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu can’t remember exactly when the question took root, but the answer was in full bloom the moment she and Kathleen Miller walked under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club. America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her father–despite his hard-won citizenship–Lily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day.
Category: Young Adult, Historical, Romance
Representation: Lesbian
Content Warnings: Discrimination, sexual activity, racism, homophobia, police violence/brutality
ISBN: 9780525555254
Find it in your local library (WorldCat)
She Gets the Girl
Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick
Alex and Molly are two girls who don’t belong on the same planet, let alone the same college campus . . .
Alex Blackwood is a little bit headstrong, with a dash of chaos and a whole lot of flirt. She knows how to get the girl. Keeping her on the other hand . . . not so much.
Molly Parker has everything in her life totally in control, except for her complete awkwardness with just about anyone besides her mum. She knows she’s in love with the impossibly cool Cora Myers. She just . . . hasn’t actually talked to her yet.
When the girls’ paths cross unexpectedly, and Alex discovers Molly’s hidden crush, they realise they might have a common interest after all. Because maybe if Alex can help Molly to get her dream girl, she can prove to her ex that she’s serious about love.
As the two embark on their five-step plans to get their girls to fall for them, though, they both begin to wonder if maybe they’re the ones falling . . . for each other.
Category: Young Adult
Representation: Lesbian
Content Warnings: Racism, substance use/abuse, abuse, sexual activity, mental illness
ISBN: 9781398502635
Find it in your local library (WorldCat)
Annie on My Mind
Nancy Garden
This ground-breaking book is the story of two teenage girls whose friendship blossoms into love and who, despite pressures from family and school that threaten their relationship, promise to be true to each other and their feelings. The book has been banned from many school libraries and publicly burned in Kansas City.
Category: Young Adult, Historical, Romance
Representation: Lesbian
Content Warnings: Violence, religion, sexual activity, homophobia
ISBN: 9781439585818
Find it in your local library (WorldCat)
A Day of Fallen Night
Samantha Shannon
In A Day of Fallen Night, Samantha Shannon sweeps readers back to the universe of Priory of the Orange Tree and into the lives of four women, showing us a course of events that shaped their world for generations to come.
Tunuva Melim is a sister of the Priory. For fifty years, she has trained to slay wyrms – but none have appeared since the Nameless One, and the younger generation is starting to question the Priory’s purpose.
To the north, in the Queendom of Inys, Sabran the Ambitious has married the new King of Hróth, narrowly saving both realms from ruin. Their daughter, Glorian, trails in their shadow – exactly where she wants to be.
The dragons of the East have slept for centuries. Dumai has spent her life in a Seiikinese mountain temple, trying to wake the gods from their long slumber. Now someone from her mother’s past is coming to upend her fate.
When the Dreadmount erupts, bringing with it an age of terror and violence, these women must find the strength to protect humankind from a devastating threat.
Category: Fantasy, Series, Historical
Representation: Lesbian, gay, bisexual
Content Warnings: Character death, mental illness, religion, violence
ISBN: 9781639732999
Find it in your local library (WorldCat)