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Happy Pride Month! We hope that you are staying safe and well as well as being able to celebrate yourselves and your identity through June! The bibliophiles at Fuzzable love reading so, for Pride Month, we wanted to put together a series of lists for you so that you can see yourself within the pages of a book. And, this list features books that have gay characters and feature male/male romances in.
Let’s dive in!
Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzales
Will Tavares is the dream summer fling―he’s fun, affectionate, kind―but just when Ollie thinks he’s found his Happily Ever After, summer vacation ends and Will stops texting Ollie back. Now Ollie is one prince short of his fairy tale ending, and to complicate the fairy tale further, a family emergency sees Ollie uprooted and enrolled at a new school across the country. Which he minds a little less when he realizes it’s the same school Will goes to…except Ollie finds that the sweet, comfortably queer guy he knew from summer isn’t the same one attending Collinswood High. This Will is a class clown, closeted―and, to be honest, a bit of a jerk.
Ollie has no intention of pining after a guy who clearly isn’t ready for a relationship, especially since this new, bro-y jock version of Will seems to go from hot to cold every other week. But then Will starts “coincidentally” popping up in every area of Ollie’s life, from music class to the lunch table, and Ollie finds his resolve weakening.
You may be able to tell from the description but “Only Mostly Devastated” is actually a gay retelling of the very popular musical Grease and trust us when we tell you that you need to read this book! It’s so sweet and fun whilst also dealing with some heavy topics such as loss of a loved one and homophobia.
Throughout this book, you see so much development in the main characters, not only Will and Ollie but also their respective groups of friends. It’s truly a heartwarming novel about love, loss, and identity. As well as having those musical moments sprinkled in, whilst they may not be characters bursting into song, it’s in the form of characters playing musical instruments and being in a band which gives it that Grease feeling!
“Only Mostly Devastated” is a truly wonderful novel especially for the summer season so make sure it’s on your to be read list!
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository
Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
Simon Snow is the worst Chosen One who’s ever been chosen. That’s what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he’s probably right.
Half the time, Simon can’t even make his wand work, and the other half, he starts something on fire. His mentor’s avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there’s a magic-eating monster running around, wearing Simon’s face. Baz would be having a field day with all this, if he were here — it’s their last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and Simon’s infuriating nemesis didn’t even bother to show up.
“Carry On” wraps a series of genres together and still manages to blow the mind away. The novel is actually a spin-off of Rowell’s equally popular novel “Fangirl” which is about a girl named Cath who writes fanfiction for a book series called “Simon Snow” and “Carry On” is actually the fanfiction that she is writing in that book. Don’t let that put you off if that’s not really your thing though, “Carry On” is definitely its own novel and will fill your heart with so much joy.
It is definitely a little bit over the top in some spaces but that’s what makes it such a fun novel! There are some scenes that will make your heart clench but it’s worth it for the pay off at the end for sure. Also, we love enemies to lovers romance, don’t we? Plus Baz is a gay vampire which is always fun. Simon is a character that you are guaranteed to fall in love with because he’s so funny and he truly cares about the people around him as well as being a truly disaster gay. It is again a great novel to pick up in the summer months to take you away to a magical school before the actual school year starts again!
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository
The Music Of What Happens by Bill Konigsberg
Max: Chill. Sports. Video games. Gay and not a big deal, not to him, not to his mom, not to his buddies. And a secret: An encounter with an older kid that makes it hard to breathe, one that he doesn’t want to think about, ever.
Jordan: The opposite of chill. Poetry. His “wives” and the Chandler Mall. Never been kissed and searching for Mr. Right, who probably won’t like him anyway. And a secret: A spiraling out of control mother, and the knowledge that he’s the only one who can keep the family from falling apart.
Throw in a rickety, 1980s-era food truck called Coq Au Vinny. Add in prickly pears, cloud eggs, and a murky idea of what’s considered locally sourced and organic. Place it all in Mesa, Arizona, in June, where the temp regularly hits 114. And top it off with a touch of undeniable chemistry between utter opposites. Over the course of one summer, two boys will have to face their biggest fears and decide what they’re willing to risk — to get the thing they want the most.
“The Music Of What Happens” is a heartwarming coming of age novel about two gay teenagers finding themselves whilst also dealing with some hard topics such as addiction and sexual assault. It’s a novel that is set over the course of one summer revolving around Max and Jordan who are thrown together. We witness them building their relationship from strangers to friends to lovers and it’s a journey that you will love going on with the two of them.
One of the things we love most about this novel is the deep relationship between the two boys. Yes, they get into a relationship but their relationship is built on their friendship, the foundation of which lies on trust and a connection that the two of them weren’t expecting to share. It also shines a light on conversations about people wanting a ‘gay best friend’ which we found very important. We loved seeing the two of them develop as people throughout the novel as well as truly learning to trust and lean on each other. It’s a beautiful story that is definitely underrated so you should add it to your want to read lists or pick up a copy soon!
“The Music of What Happens” is also own voices for gay representation!
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository
They Both Die At The End by Adam Silvera
On September 5, a little after midnight, Death-Cast calls Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio to give them some bad news: They’re going to die today.
Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they’re both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: There’s an app for that. It’s called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure—to live a lifetime in a single day.
Unfortunately yes, “They Both Die At The End” is exactly how it sounds. It’s heartbreaking especially at the end but that’s what we have come to love and expect from Adam Silvera novels. Throughout this novel, you will fall in love with Mateo and Rufus even though you tell yourself that you shouldn’t because you know the outcome but you just won’t be able to help yourself.
In addition to the chapters from the perspectives of our main characters, there are also insert chapters following different people who work at death cast which are also really interesting because they give more of an insight into the way society has to build itself around the fact that death cast exists.
“They Both Die At The End” will truly break your heart but the relationship between these two boys in the space of one day is beautiful and well worth reading about. It will fill your heart with warmth as well as that painful feeling of losing a character but we promise, you’ll love it anyway.
This is another own voices novel for the gay representation!
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository.
We Are The Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson
Henry Denton has spent years being periodically abducted by aliens. Then the aliens give him an ultimatum: The world will end in 144 days, and all Henry has to do to stop it, is push a big red button. Only he isn’t sure he wants to.
After all, life hasn’t been great for Henry. His mom is a struggling waitress held together by a thin layer of cigarette smoke. His brother is a jobless dropout who just knocked someone up. His grandmother is slowly losing herself to Alzheimer’s. And Henry is still dealing with the grief of his boyfriend’s suicide last year. Wiping the slate clean sounds like a pretty good choice to him.
But Henry is a scientist first, and facing the question thoroughly and logically, he begins to look for pros and cons: in the bully who is his perpetual one-night stand, in the best friend who betrayed him, in the brilliant and mysterious boy who walked into the wrong class. Weighing the pain and the joy that surrounds him, Henry is left with the ultimate choice: push the button and save the planet and everyone on it…or let the world—and his pain—be destroyed forever.
Well, we made no such promise that they would all be happy books, did we? Another sad book here yes but also a book that is filled with hope, love and, friendship. It does deal with some heavy topics such as suicide and rape so make sure you are aware of that if you are planning to dive into this novel! But “We Are The Ants” isn’t just a beautifully written novel, it is also such an interesting one that will make you put yourself in Henry’s shoes and ask yourself if you would press that button or not. Henry is a character that you will love although it will definitely frustrate you at times because of some of the decisions he makes. As well as the love interest, Diego – he’s such a sweet yet mysterious character that you will fall for straight away for sure.
“We Are The Ants” is a book that will make you laugh and cry and think about yourself, your loved ones, and your own life. It’ll be a reading experience that you will truly never forget and these characters will stick with you for a long time. Although, similar to “They Both Die At The End”, we definitely recommend having some tissues nearby because you may shed a few tears within these pages.
“We Are The Ants” is again an own voices novel for gay representation.
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository
Also, don’t forget to check out previous articles about LGBTQIAP+ books here! And also the first article in this series here!
