Queer Summer Reads, a JONNY APPLESEED Movie Adaptation, and LGBTQ Books OUT This Week!

After some sad years of being caught in limbo, this is finally back in print (with a brand new cover)! It’s a Peter Pan retelling where Wendy Darling and Peter Pan are the same person. Not only is this a trans Peter Pan story, but he’s also–of course–in love with Captain Hook. I can never resist a queer classics retelling, and this one has been sorely missed in its time out of print.

Of course, I couldn’t resist adding this one, which exudes queer Black joy just from the cover itself! Liz has to win prom queen in order to secure a scholarship that is her only hope of attending her dream school. Now not only does Liz have to be in a popularity contest that she feels she’s “too black, too poor, too awkward” to win–she also has to compete against Mack, the smart and funny girl she’s crushing on.

I find manga to be the most compulsively readable format there is, which makes it perfect for beach reading. This is a lesbian manga series that follows adult main characters, which is rare! It’s about two lesbians who bump into each other at college and say, “Hey, what are the chances we’re going to find any other queer women to date? Let’s give this relationship thing a try.” I love the frank discussions about navigating romantic and sexual relationships.

I’m showing my age a little with this one, but I can’t help but think of Boy Meets Boy fondly. It showed a kind of gay utopian high school when that was unthinkable in YA. The quarterback was also a drag queen (who won prom queen). The cheerleaders ride out on motorcycles. This is a delightful YA M/M romance that bursts with positivity–but with the acknowledgement that things aren’t always this easy. It’s also a short read, perfect for finishing in a day on the beach!

I first heard of this as a bisexual fantasy novel with cannibal nuns, and I’ve since heard that might be a little off, but it’s also not NOT about cannibal nuns. Elfreda is part of the Sisterhood of Aytrium, but she can’t stomach what it takes to preserve their magical bloodline, so she takes the first out she can find, which leads her to becoming a spy in the highest reaches of the Sisterhood, where she is surrounded by glittering parties and ritual bloodshed.

Mia McKenzie’s previous novel, The Summer We Got Free, is one of my favorite books–which also happens to be sapphic–so I can’t wait to get my hands on this one. It follows Skye, a queer Black woman in her late 30s living day-to-day, when a 12-year-old shows up on her doorstep, the product of one Skye’s eggs that she sold many years ago and hasn’t thought much about since. Her life has just gotten a lot more complicated.

Daniel and Aubrey were best friends during their youth in North Florida, despite their differences. Now, Daniel has escaped the stifling small town life for the freedom of New York, where he has embraced his queerness. When he hears about Aubrey’s death, though, he’s drawn back to his childhood home and has to grapple with the legacy of his and Aubrey’s friendship as well as his family’s history, both in Florida and Jamaica.

You might remember Brandon Taylor from his debut, Real Life. Now he’s back with a series of interconnected short stories following a group of young artists in the American Midwest, including a young man who finds himself involved in “emotionally fraught encounters” with dancers in an open relationship as well as a babysitter being driven to the brink by an out-of-control child. Brandon Taylor is a name to watch.