Fans were thrilled with the arrival of Love, Victor Season 2 on Hulu, especially during Pride Month. However, as is the case for most shows that release all the episodes at once, many fans quickly binged the show and are now left wanting more.
While Hollywood has been making significant strides in LGBTQ+ representation in both movies and television, the lack of options shows there is a long journey ahead. Luckily, books have always been a bit ahead of the curve and provide many different chances for LGBTQ+ representation and also provide a chance to uplift LGBTQ+ voices so they’re able to tell their own story of young love.
10 We Contain Multitudes
This fan-favorite LGBTQ+ book takes two people who would never normally converse. We Contain Multitudes follows Jonathan Hopkirk, a nerdy Walt Whitman fanboy, and Adam Kurlansky, the star football player, while they write letters to one another for a pen pal assignment at their school.
While at the beginning of the story, they are anything but friends, they eventually start to build a relationship that leads into something more intense than originally thought. Like Love, Victor, We Contain Multitudes isn’t afraid to cover harsh topics and show what can happen when a family isn’t supportive when someone comes out of the closet.
9 Red, White, & Royal Blue
Red, White, & Royal Blue follows the President’s son and the British Prince in this gay take on the beloved enemies-to-love trope. Forced to make a fake public friendship after a public argument at a wedding and knocking over the cake, the two slowly start to develop a friendship until the deeply closeted Prince makes his move.
The story has the pair of lovers start their secret romance, both being too scared to be outed and deal with the consequences of being the first openly gay son of the US Presidency or the first openly gay Prince. The story not only covers topics like sexuality, but also focuses on race, life in the public eye, drug use, and families that rather stick to tradition than allow someone to be themselves.
8 Only Mostly Devastated
This story puts a twist on the famous musical, Grease, and follows Ollie who is forced to finish his senior year in a new school to be closer to his dying Aunt. While at first, he’s excited to see his summer love, Will, at the school, he soon finds that Will is not the same boy he was with over the summer and is deeply in the closet.
This story sees them start off on bad terms, Ollie obviously upset about being pushed aside and Will scared to come out. However, no matter how hard they try to stay apart, Will just finds he can’t be without Ollie and they try their relationship even though Will’s family isn’t the most accepting.
7 Alex In Wonderland
This LGBTQ+ coming-of-age story follows Alex as he gets a job at the run-down arcade, Wonderland, in his neighborhood. Quickly making friends with the two other employees, he starts to develop a crush on one of them, Ben, who is not only straight but in a relationship.
The story follows the two of them as they start to get closer, and Alex realizes that Ben may not have been honest about his relationship and his feelings towards the other. For the most part, this story is upbeat and perfect for fans of Love, Victor who are looking to extend the happy feeling they get when seeing Benji and Victor together.
6 Date Me, Bryson Keller
This feel-good LGBTQ+ story follows Bryson Keller, the most popular person at his high school, who famously doesn’t believe high school relationships matter or last, so he takes a bet to have a different relationship each week, the catch being he needs to be asked out each Monday.
In comes Kai, a closeted boy dealing with a deeply catholic mother, who was having a bad day one Monday morning due to Bryson’s bet, causing him to snap and ask Bryson out to mess with him. After Kai admits to Bryson that he’s still in the closet, the two decide to go forward with the bet but keep it a secret so Kai isn’t outed.
5 They Both Die At The End
Set in the near future after the invention of Death-Cast, a service that is able to predict when people will die and calls them 24 hours before. Strangers, Mateo Torez and Rufus Emeterio both get the call on their fateful day and after some self-pitying and denial, both try to enjoy the time they have left.
Eventually, the pair run into each other and go about their last day together, slowly realizing that they finally found what they’ve been missing from their life before. This tear-jerker is currently in development for a limited series over at HBO max.
4 The Gravity Of Us
Cal, an upcoming social media journalist, has his whole life uprooted when his pilot father is chosen for a NASA mission and they are forced to relocate.
Leon has been in the public eye ever since his mother was chosen to head up the NASA mission and has been portrayed as the perfect son on the NASA reality show about the families. The two eventually meet and go through a journey of self-discovery together and uncover secrets for both the mission and the studio behind the reality show.
3 What If It’s Us
Told from the point of view of both main characters, Arthur, a hopeless romantic temporarily in NYC for the summer, and Ben, a New York native going through a breakup. The two have a chance encounter at the Post Office while Ben is mailing his ex his belongings, but he ends up brushing it off thinking they’ll never see each other again.
The story follows the two as they eventually get together for what Arthur hopes is the great love Fate has had planned for him. The sequel Here’s to Us, picks up where book 1 ends and is set to come out December 28th.
2 How (Not) To Ask A Boy To Prom
Nolan Grant is content to live his life under the radar, already being out of the closet at his small PA high school, however, his close friend Daphne has other plans. After creating a large promposal banner and forcing it in Nolan’s hands, she shoves him into a classroom to force him to ask his crush to prom.
The only problem is he chokes and his nemesis, Bern, is the one to bail him out by accepting before he says anything. The story follows these two once enemies as they start to advance past their petty differences and learn that Nolan may have been the one to start the feud.
1 This Is Kind Of An Epic Love Story
Nate, an aspiring screenwriter and movie buff, is trying his best to get through his senior year of high school with his pessimistic view towards love and relationships, despite being in one.
However, the return of his childhood friend, Oliver, uncovers feelings that Nate had thought he was able to bury down. The two attempt to rekindle their relationship but Nate isn’t so sure he’ll be able to forgive Oliver for running away after their first kiss and not saying goodbye before his family moved away.
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