19 Must-Read Queer Books Out in May

This premise is hard to resist. Viola was presumed dead at Waterloo, and she used the opportunity to become the person she’s always known herself to be. Years later, she reunites with her old best friend, Justin, who’s still mourning the death of his friend. As they start to fall for each other, Viola’s life just got even more complicated.

In 1955 was the Mass Dragoning, during which many women (trans and cis) transformed into dragons, including Alex’s aunt. But Alex’s mother took in her sister’s daughter and raised her as her own — in fact, no one mentions the dragons; it’s unseemly. This is a story about misogyny and women’s rage, and the main character is a lesbian.

As girls, Helena, Leonie, Niamh and Elle vowed to join Her Majesty’s Royal Coven: a secret society of witches started by Queen Elizabeth I. As adults, though, the witch community has been scattered, and they all have different ideas of what their roles should be, especially as witches are being captured. This story is an exploration of gender and a commentary on the UK’s entrenched transphobia.

I absolutely adored Vo’s dreamy and compelling Gatsby retelling, The Chosen and the Beautiful, so I can’t wait for this one. Luli is a queer Chinese American girl trying to break into Hollywood during its golden age, and she’s willing to do anything — which is good, because it turns out that Hollywood is run on blood bargains and sacrifices. Becoming a star might mean becoming a monster.

This is from the author of The Black Flamingo, which won the Stonewall Award. Atta’s newest follows Mack, who finds himself in a love triangle when he and his father move from the U.S. to Scotland. He’s has a crush on Karim for a long time, but he can be hard to read, and long distance only makes that worse. Meanwhile, he meets Finlay in Scotland and is swept off his feet. What now?

This is an ice cream truck road trip F/F romance!! It’s from the author of Hot Dog Girl, a sapphic YA romance I really enjoyed, so I’m confident this will be as amazing as it sounds. Fallon and Chloe were best friends. Then they hooked up one night, and nothing’s been the same since. After a series of misunderstandings, they don’t speak to each other anymore. But their moms own an ice cream truck together, and now they’re expected to work a series of festivals across the country together.

Meet Cute Diary was a fantastic trans M/M YA novel, so sign me up for Lee’s second book. This one follows Theo and Gabriel, whose parents run rival companies: an Asian American café and a Puerto Rican bakery. But then a new fusion café threatens to put both spots under, and the two of them join forces to try to fend it off.

There are so many books out today by beloved authors of queer YA! You might remember Lyla Lee from her fat bisexual K-Pop book I’ll Be the One. This one is set in the world of K-dramas, where Hana has signed up for a contract romance with her on-screen boyfriend, Bryan. But when Bryan’s character gets another love interest, Hana finds herself falling for the competition. Oops.

Speaking of books by superstar authors of queer YA, the author of Red, White, and Royal Blue and One Last Stop is making their YA debut! Chloe’s competition with Shara for valedictorian gets interesting when Shara 1) kisses her, 2) disappears, and 3) leaves a series of cryptic clues for where to find her. Together with the two boys Shara also kissed that night, Chloe is determined to find her, and delighted when the letters prove Chloe wasn’t the golden girl everyone thought she was. This is a book about growing up queer in a conservative Christian town, and it’s also a romance between two ridiculous, stubborn, clueless academic rivals.

Look, I’m sold on this just from the title. Maggie needs a date for her sister’s quinceañera, and she’s torn between the ex-boyfriend she can’t seem to quit, her first crush, and the new girl in town. Things are about to get very messy, and Maggie has to confront that being true to herself might mean uncomfortable conversations and making some big changes.

Speaking of great titles, I’ve been eagerly anticipating this one ever since I saw the author’s description of this book in the form of a Reddit post: “I (16F) got sent to a Catholic school with my brother (15M) after getting outed at my old school. I’m not out at the new school, but there’s this openly queer girl (16F) there who makes my gay heart do happy little flips. How do I date her without letting her know I’m gay?”

Harrison and Linus have one last summer together before college — at least, that was the plan. But then Linus drops the bomb that his family is moving at the end of the week. Inspired by Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Harrison is determined to fit a summer’s worth of experiences into a day together, including a Pride parade, a mini road trip, and a rooftop dance party.

When people from the Bronx start going missing and her mom goes into a coma after coming in contact with someone covered in a strange mold, Raquel is drawn into the Echo: a nightmare version of the 1970s Bronx Burning. Now she has to save her mom, her friends, and her crush Charlize, without getting trapped in this world of monsters, mold, zombie-like victims, and unending flames.

Rowan Ellis is known for her YouTube channel, where she discusses LGBTQ+ pop culture and history. In Here and Queer, she’s put together a guide to the basics of being a queer teenage girl. I had to learn this through Tumblr posts and other questionable means, but now queer girls have an accessible jumping off point to the questions they have, including about community, relationships, facing prejudice, and more.

You guessed it: this is a picture book modeled after ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, but looking forward to Pride! It offers a little bit of history, as well as colorful illustrations of what Pride parades look like today.