2017 YA Books with LGBT Themes

This list is for 2017 books with gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender characters or themes. Books on this list must be published for the YA or middle grade market.

Let me know if something doesn't belong here, and I'll delete it.
1

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4.03 avg rating — 141,367 ratings
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2

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3.76 avg rating — 796,567 ratings
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3

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3.92 avg rating — 75,467 ratings
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4

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3.89 avg rating — 76,300 ratings
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5

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3.20 avg rating — 11,369 ratings
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6

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4.12 avg rating — 58,686 ratings
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7

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3.94 avg rating — 95,757 ratings
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8

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4.13 avg rating — 27,317 ratings
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9

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4.14 avg rating — 6,282 ratings
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10

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3.77 avg rating — 9,569 ratings
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11

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3.65 avg rating — 18,972 ratings
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12

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4.41 avg rating — 151,597 ratings
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13

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4.12 avg rating — 8,937 ratings
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14

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3.92 avg rating — 934,270 ratings
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15

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3.93 avg rating — 7,866 ratings
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16

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3.31 avg rating — 942 ratings
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17

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3.54 avg rating — 11,114 ratings
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18

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3.68 avg rating — 5,708 ratings
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19

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4.09 avg rating — 5,292 ratings
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20

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3.91 avg rating — 12,314 ratings
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21

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3.63 avg rating — 3,472 ratings
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22

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4.08 avg rating — 3,113 ratings
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23

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3.59 avg rating — 794 ratings
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24

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4.37 avg rating — 97,267 ratings
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25

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4.35 avg rating — 502 ratings
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26

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4.17 avg rating — 20,265 ratings
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27

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4.13 avg rating — 3,185 ratings
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28

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3.68 avg rating — 7,063 ratings
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29

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3.74 avg rating — 4,425 ratings
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30

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3.61 avg rating — 8,147 ratings
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31

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3.40 avg rating — 490 ratings
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32

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4.23 avg rating — 146 ratings
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33

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3.85 avg rating — 2,674 ratings
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34

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3.88 avg rating — 4,727 ratings
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35

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3.80 avg rating — 10,590 ratings
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36

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3.73 avg rating — 4,937 ratings
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37

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3.86 avg rating — 1,414 ratings
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38

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3.75 avg rating — 5,997 ratings
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39

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3.60 avg rating — 201 ratings
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40

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3.89 avg rating — 67,761 ratings
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41

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4.08 avg rating — 2,825 ratings
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42

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3.57 avg rating — 2,470 ratings
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43

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3.62 avg rating — 1,614 ratings
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44

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4.27 avg rating — 3,568 ratings
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45

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4.35 avg rating — 12,332 ratings
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46

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3.75 avg rating — 1,363 ratings
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47

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3.77 avg rating — 13,632 ratings
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48

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3.74 avg rating — 1,426 ratings
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49

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4.06 avg rating — 1,855 ratings
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50

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3.67 avg rating — 1,110 ratings
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51

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4.27 avg rating — 13,258 ratings
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52

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3.76 avg rating — 5,654 ratings
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53

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3.84 avg rating — 1,177 ratings
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54

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3.62 avg rating — 1,046 ratings
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55

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3.94 avg rating — 7,337 ratings
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56

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4.17 avg rating — 2,379 ratings
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57

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3.80 avg rating — 689 ratings
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58

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4.09 avg rating — 14,670 ratings
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59

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3.82 avg rating — 7,354 ratings
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60

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3.54 avg rating — 32,858 ratings
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61

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4.12 avg rating — 126,018 ratings
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62

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4.17 avg rating — 619 ratings
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63

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3.45 avg rating — 629 ratings
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64

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4.10 avg rating — 7,005 ratings
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65

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3.35 avg rating — 923 ratings
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66

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3.25 avg rating — 4,099 ratings
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67

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3.56 avg rating — 201 ratings
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68

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3.88 avg rating — 2,766 ratings
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69

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3.55 avg rating — 429 ratings
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70

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4.23 avg rating — 1,529 ratings
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71

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3.63 avg rating — 995 ratings
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72

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3.48 avg rating — 165 ratings
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73

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4.12 avg rating — 152,133 ratings
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74

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4.19 avg rating — 34,124 ratings
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75

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3.77 avg rating — 748 ratings
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76

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4.03 avg rating — 5,235 ratings
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77

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4.13 avg rating — 118,450 ratings
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78

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3.21 avg rating — 4,860 ratings
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79

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3.72 avg rating — 1,663 ratings
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79

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4.12 avg rating — 2,324 ratings
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81

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4.11 avg rating — 40,392 ratings
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82

by
3.82 avg rating — 298 ratings
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83

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3.43 avg rating — 2,231 ratings
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84

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3.51 avg rating — 3,087 ratings
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85

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3.65 avg rating — 2,119 ratings
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86

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3.98 avg rating — 12,326 ratings
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87

by
4.13 avg rating — 57,207 ratings
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88

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4.30 avg rating — 26,553 ratings
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89

by
3.91 avg rating — 7,737 ratings
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90

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4.04 avg rating — 2,935 ratings
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91

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3.73 avg rating — 430 ratings
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91

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4.25 avg rating — 46,854 ratings
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93

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4.21 avg rating — 29,978 ratings
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94

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3.92 avg rating — 2,550 ratings
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95

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3.95 avg rating — 22,459 ratings
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96

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4.28 avg rating — 60,927 ratings
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97

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3.38 avg rating — 11,477 ratings
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98

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3.59 avg rating — 4,193 ratings
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99

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3.97 avg rating — 257 ratings
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100

by
3.59 avg rating — 1,596 ratings
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376 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Rainbowheart 2030 books
154 friends
Ruth 1654 books
131 friends
Emily 1282 books
177 friends
Dahlia 5533 books
485 friends
Becca 1781 books
26 friends
Jasmine 10239 books
302 friends
Jarrah 948 books
18 friends
Cale 684 books
133 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-50 of 56 (56 new)


message 2: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Thanks for the heads up, Meredith! I added it to the list.


message 3: by Meredith (new)

Meredith Miller Thank you!


message 4: by Misa (new)

Misa Sugiura The Wishing Heart by J.C. Welker is a 2017 release LGBT Fantasy.


message 5: by Antonica (new)

Antonica WARRIOR is an LGBTQIA sci-fi/fantasy anthology out in Jan 2017! :) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...


message 6: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Annika, Warrior is YA? I didn't see any obvious sign that it was published for teens.


message 7: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Removed Get It Together, Delilah! It was first published in 2015.


message 8: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Removed Someday by David Levithan, which got pushed to 2018.


message 9: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Removed The Tiger’s Daughter, which is adult fiction, not YA.


message 10: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Removed Peter Darling, which is an adult m/m romance.


message 11: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Removed My Perfect Me and P.S. I Miss You, both of which got pushed to 2018.


message 12: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Removed The Unbinding of Mary Reade, which got pushed to 2018.


message 13: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Removed The Prince and the Dressmaker, which got pushed to 2018, and There Will Be Other Summers, release date still unknown.


message 14: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Removed Nice Try, Jane Sinner, which got pushed to 2018.


message 15: by Angela (new)

Angela Vera A list of cages by Robin Roe, a beautiful book, but I don't think it belongs in this list


message 16: by Rainbowheart (last edited Apr 10, 2017 08:52PM) (new)

Rainbowheart Hmmmm, two people have voted for A List of Cages. I see that a bunch of people have also shelved the book as LGBT, but googling doesn't bring up any evidence of characters fitting the description. For people who have read it, are there any LGBT characters at all, even minor ones?


message 17: by David (new)

David Rainbowheart wrote: "Hmmmm, two people have voted for A List of Cages. I see that a bunch of people have also shelved the book as LGBT, but googling doesn't bring up any evidence of characters fitting the description. ..."

I read it a few months ago, and I don't recall that there were. It was a pretty good book, nonetheless, but not LGBT.


message 18: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Thanks for the info, David! I removed A List of Cages.


message 19: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Removed Amelia Westlake, which got pushed to 2018.


message 20: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Removed Boomerang, which got pushed to 2018.


Jessica (Goldenfurpro) Should The Cerulean by Amy Ewing (#178) be removed?
The author says on her website that it comes out in 2018


message 22: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Removed The Cerulean. Thanks for the heads up, Jessica!

Also, erotica is *not* appropriate for this list. Please keep it YA, guys.


message 23: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Removed Circle Unbroken, which got pushed to 2018, and Here So Far Away which also got pushed to 2018, and appears not to have an LGBT theme after all.


message 24: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Removed The Last to Let Go and Kaitan Chronicles #2, which got pushed to 2018.


message 26: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Thanks for the heads up, Kaelyn. I added that one.


message 27: by Justine (new)

Justine The Tiger's Watch by Julia Ember is a YA fantasy that was recently released that features a genderfluid protagonist.


message 28: by Justine (new)

Justine Also this list:

https://www.tor.com/2017/09/07/new-yo...

I'm sorry, I didn’t have time to go through and compare the lists to see if all these upcoming new releases were already on here, but I thought there were at least 1 or 2 missing. Is there actually a way to search the list by title? I wasn't sure about that.


message 29: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Thanks, Justine. That was a great link. As far as I know, there's no way to search the list, but I added the ones that were missing. Feel free to vote as well. Anyone can add books. :)


message 30: by Justine (new)

Justine Oh that's too bad. Oh well, I will add books as I come across them! Thanks for maintaining this list ♡


message 31: by Todd (new)

Todd Add Decelerate Blue (YA graphic novel, same sex, lesbian relationship); Star Scouts (middle grades, one character has same sex parents). Thanks!


message 32: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Thanks, Todd! I added Star Scouts. Decelerate Blue looks like it was originally released in 2009, so it's a bit too old for this list.


message 33: by Todd (new)

Todd Rainbowheart wrote: "Thanks, Todd! I added Star Scouts. Decelerate Blue looks like it was originally released in 2009, so it's a bit too old for this list."
...hmm, looks like First Second reprinted it this year, I wonder why my committee read it since we're only reading 2017 published books now... we'll have to work that out on our end. Thanks for the info!


message 34: by Rainbowheart (last edited Sep 30, 2017 10:39AM) (new)

Rainbowheart Removed Chainbreaker and The Curses, which got pushed to 2018.


message 35: by Carrie (new)

Carrie Pack I loved Moxie but there is no queer content apart from one scene where the MC sees two girls from the soccer team making out. One character is never mentioned before or again, and the other is a named character who only speaks like once or twice. I'd hardly call that an LGBTQ+ theme.


message 36: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Hi Carrie, this list is for all books with LGBT characters, no matter how minor. :)


message 37: by Carrie (new)

Carrie Pack Rainbowheart wrote: "Hi Carrie, this list is for all books with LGBT characters, no matter how minor. :)"

Ok, I misunderstood, then. :)


message 38: by Todd (new)

Todd Could you add, I Am Alfonso Jones by Tony Medina? After his death, Alfonso's family is visited by members of the BLM and LGBTQ movement.


message 39: by Todd (new)

Todd Add Between Two Skies - main character visits neighbor's son, who is gay, in New Orleans during Mardi Gras.


message 40: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Todd, please feel free to vote for them! I can't add any more books since I'm already at the 100 vote limit.


message 41: by Todd (new)

Todd Got it! Thanks! It's great that there are so many books that could be on this list!


message 42: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Removed for having their original 2017 release date delayed....

Twitch, Hold My Hand, If Found Return to Astropop, The Queer History Project, and These Books Belong to Ken Z.

Does anyone know if Castle on the River Vistula or Year of Yes by A. Hesik were ever actually released? They have ISBNs, but no reviews or hard copies appear to be in existence.


message 43: by Adina (new)

Adina I'll Give You The Sun isn't a recent publication, it's from 2014... Doesn't belong.


message 44: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Thanks for catching that, Adina. I removed I'll Give You the Sun.


message 45: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Removed An Unstill Life, Saving Hamlet, and two Spanish language books, which all have non-2017 first publication dates.


message 46: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Removed some non-YA, non-2017 releases.


message 47: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart This list was a huge mess. Had to remove several non-2017 releases.


message 48: by Ian (new)

Ian Comstock Posted, by John David Anderson should be removed. Although the character "Wolf" faces a lot of bullying that is homophobic in nature, he never actually admits that he is attracted to boys. I don't believe it counts.


message 49: by Rainbowheart (new)

Rainbowheart Any book that mentions gay or lesbian characters, even in passing, counts as having LGBT themes.


message 50: by Ace (last edited Dec 22, 2019 08:36PM) (new)

Ace I don't know if this list is still active, but Ship of the Dead by Rick Riordan is middle grade, and not YA!

Also, I linked this list in my review of The Last Magician because it has bury-your-gays, and it made me angry lmao


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