5 Wholesome Queer Books to Gush Over this Pride

Happy Pride Month!!!

I know every time pride month comes around the bookish community is absolutely bursting with queer book recs. And yes at this point my post might as well be a drop in the sea but screw it, I wanted to recommend fluffy queer books, so here I am!

I often find myself gravitating towards the fluffy, wholesome lgbtq+ books, like a little pick-me-up with cute ships I can spend all my time gushing over 🙂 And of course, I need some friends who have the same books and can yell about them with me. So here’s my personal agenda today’s recommendations of some wholesome queer books that I hope you pick up soon!

The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun

Dev Deshpande has always believed in fairy tales. So it’s no wonder then that he’s spent his career crafting them on the long-running reality dating show Ever After. As the most successful producer in the franchise’s history, Dev always scripts the perfect love story for his contestants, even as his own love life crashes and burns. But then the show casts disgraced tech wunderkind Charlie Winshaw as its star.

Charlie is far from the romantic Prince Charming Ever After expects. He doesn’t believe in true love, and only agreed to the show as a last-ditch effort to rehabilitate his image. In front of the cameras, he’s a stiff, anxious mess with no idea how to date twenty women on national television. Behind the scenes, he’s cold, awkward, and emotionally closed-off.

As Dev fights to get Charlie to connect with the contestants on a whirlwind, worldwide tour, they begin to open up to each other, and Charlie realizes he has better chemistry with Dev than with any of his female co-stars. But even reality TV has a script, and in order to find to happily ever after, they’ll have to reconsider whose love story gets told.

• Behind the scenes or the setting up of The Bachelor vibes
• The mental health rep!!!
• When I say the romance is swoon-worthy I mean it
• Found family trope
• I mean queer rep of course but also demisexual rep!!

Perfect On Paper by Sophie Gonzales

Her advice, spot on. Her love life, way off.

Darcy Phillips:
• Can give you the solution to any of your relationship woes―for a fee.
• Uses her power for good. Most of the time.
• Really cannot stand Alexander Brougham.
• Has maybe not the best judgement when it comes to her best friend, Brooke…who is in love with someone else.
• Does not appreciate being blackmailed.

However, when Brougham catches her in the act of collecting letters from locker 89―out of which she’s been running her questionably legal, anonymous relationship advice service―that’s exactly what happens. In exchange for keeping her secret, Darcy begrudgingly agrees to become his personal dating coach―at a generous hourly rate, at least. The goal? To help him win his ex-girlfriend back.

Darcy has a good reason to keep her identity secret. If word gets out that she’s behind the locker, some things she’s not proud of will come to light, and there’s a good chance Brooke will never speak to her again. Okay, so all she has to do is help an entitled, bratty, (annoyingly hot) guy win over a girl who’s already fallen for him once? What could go wrong? 

• The relationship advice is so spot on, I can’t even
• Messy protagonists!!
• Brooding, mysterious guy (yes it’s a cliche but we love to see it)
• The sibling relationship is so wholesome!
• 100% bingeable
• Just the nuanced manner in which queerness and romance is explored

Afterlove by Tanya Byrne

Ash Persaud is about to become a reaper in the afterlife, but she is determined to see her first love Poppy Morgan again, the only thing that separates them is death. Car headlights. The last thing Ash hears is the snap of breaking glass as the windscreen hits her and breaks into a million pieces like stars. But she made it, she’s still here. Or is she?

This New Year’s Eve, Ash is gets an RSVP from the afterlife she can’t decline: to join a clan of fierce girl reapers who take the souls of the city’s dead to await their fate. But Ash can’t forget her first love, Poppy, and she will do anything to see her again… even if it means they only get a few more days together. Dead or alive…

NOT EVEN DEATH CAN TEAR THEM APART.

• The most wholesome lesbian romance you’ll find
• They really said queers deserve happiness 🙂
• Desi rep!
• No, but the death reaper plot is so good!!
• I cried buckets while reading this

The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen

Real life isn’t a fairytale.

But Tiến still enjoys reading his favorite stories with his parents from the books he borrows from the local library. It’s hard enough trying to communicate with your parents as a kid, but for Tiến, he doesn’t even have the right words because his parents are struggling with their English. Is there a Vietnamese word for what he’s going through?

Is there a way to tell them he’s gay?

A beautifully illustrated story by Trung Le Nguyen that follows a young boy as he tries to navigate life through fairytales, an instant classic that shows us how we are all connected. The Magic Fish tackles tough subjects in a way that accessible with readers of all ages, and teaches us that no matter what—we can all have our own happy endings. 

• The colours and art are just STUNNING
• Tien is the most adorable cinnamon roll uwu
• The intersectionality of queerness and immigrant experience is done so well
• It just touches your heart ❤
• An emotional read for sure

A Quick & Easy Guide to Asexuality

This book is for anyone who wants to learn about asexuality, and for Ace people themselves, to validate their experiences.

Asexuality is often called The Invisible Orientation. You don’t learn about it in school, you don’t hear “ace” on television. So, it’s kinda hard to be ace in a society so steeped in sex that no one knows you exist. Too many young people grow up believing that their lack of sexual desire means they are broken – so writer Molly Muldoon and cartoonist Will Hernandez, both in the ace community, are here to shed light on society’s misconceptions of asexuality and what being ace is really like. This book is for anyone who wants to learn about asexuality, and for Ace people themselves, to validate their experiences. Asexuality is a real identity and it’s time the world recognizes it. Here’s to being invisible no more!

• I know it’s non-fic but it’s still very wholesome cause ace rep!!
• Seriously, this is so quick yet informative
• My heart was so full when I finished this 🙂
• There are some really pretty illustrations in there!

What are some queer wholesome books that you love and would recommend?

Have you read any of these books or are they on your TBR?

What’s the last queer book you read?