From horror to heartfelt romance (and sometimes both at once), here are some of our favorite reads of this year.

Overall, 2025 has been a strange year for LGBTQ+ culture, but thankfully it has been a somewhat banner year for queer and trans literature. We’ve been blessed with new releases from beloved LGBTQ+ authors like Torrey Peters, Bryan Washington, Ocean Vuong, and more — not to mention many exciting debuts that herald the arrival of some exciting new voices, many of them trans. In fact, there have been so many great LGBTQ+ books released this year that some of your faves are, inevitably, missing — but that’s an amazing problem to have, if you ask us.

Without further ado, read on for some of our favorite LGBTQ+ books of 2025. — James Factora