HOT Gay/Lesbian Fiction & Literature
Explore the best HOT gay and lesbian fiction & literature with our curated list of must-read books. Discover passionate stories, LGBTQ+ romance, and compelling narratives in top fiction for lesbian and gay readers.
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The Girls in 3-B
by Valerie Taylor
Three small-town girls move to the big city in this reissue of a classic 1950s pulp.
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Tipping the Velvet
by Sarah Waters
“Erotic and absorbing…Written with startling power.”—The New York Times Book Review Nan King, an oyster girl, is captivated by the music hall phenomenon Kitty Butler, a male impersonator extraordinaire treading the boards in Canterbury. Through a friend at the box office, Nan manages to visit all her shows and finally meet her heroine. Soon after, she becomes Kitty's dresser and the two head for the bright lights of Leicester Square where they begin a glittering career as music-hall stars in an all-singing and dancing double act. At the same time, behind closed doors, they admit their attraction to each other and their affair begins.
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Fingersmith
by Sarah Waters
“Oliver Twist with a twist…Waters spins an absorbing tale that withholds as much as it discloses. A pulsating story.”—The New York Times Book Review The Handmaiden, a film adaptation of Fingersmith, directed by Park Chan-wook and starring Kim Tae-Ri, is now available. Sue Trinder is an orphan, left as an infant in the care of Mrs. Sucksby, a "baby farmer," who raised her with unusual tenderness, as if Sue were her own. Mrs. Sucksby’s household, with its fussy babies calmed with doses of gin, also hosts a transient family of petty thieves—fingersmiths—for whom this house in the heart of a mean London slum is home. One day, the most beloved thief of all arrives—Gentleman, an elegant con man, who carries with him an enticing proposition for Sue: If she wins a position as the maid to Maud Lilly, a naïve gentlewoman, and aids Gentleman in her seduction, then they will all share in Maud’s vast inheritance. Once the inheritance is secured, Maud will be disposed of—passed off as mad, and made to live out the rest of her days in a lunatic asylum. With dreams of paying back the kindness of her adopted family, Sue agrees to the plan. Once in, however, Sue begins to pity her helpless mark and care for Maud Lilly in unexpected ways...But no one and nothing is as it seems in this Dickensian novel of thrills and reversals.
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Maybe Next Time
by Karin Kallmaker
"Sabrina doesn't need love. She has worldwide fame as a brilliant concert violinist, houses on three continents, and endlessly available women for company. Nothing can shake her--except the memory of her very first love. "I hate that thing!" It was Jorie who shouted those words about the only constant in Sabrina's life--her violin. Jorie, her childhood love. Her true love. After relinquishing all hope of a life with Jorie, Sabrina immersed herself in the music and the violin that Jorie hated--blind to everyone and everything, including the unhappiness that was leading her down the path of destruction. Sidelined at the pinnacle of her career due to a nagging wrist injury, Sabrina finally finds the one woman who could free her from the memory of those magical Hawaiian nights with Jorie. Except that this time, Diana, the object of Sabrina's desire, is deeply in love with Pam, her partner of eighteen years.."--Jacket.
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Desert Sons
by Mark Kendrick
Scott Faraday is 16, gregarious, talented, never been in a relationship, and is out to only a select few. Ryan St. Charles is 17, hot-tempered, has already has been in a long relationship, yet is barely out to himself. Behind Ryan's carefully fashioned façade is emotional scarring from a past he's never been able to reconcile. When he comes to live with his uncle in Yucca Valley, CA, he meets Scott. An unlikely pair, the boys form a tentative friendship. When Scott starts to suspect that Ryan might be gay, he plans his coming out to him. The result is that he transforms their friendship into his first real relationship. Then, Ryan's hidden past comes into view. Scott is not at all prepared for what he discovers - suicide attempts, past abuse, and loads of denial. Tightly focused on their new relationship, 'Desert Sons' follows these two teenagers as they plunge headlong through a summer that will forever change them both.
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Love the One You're With
by James Earl Hardy
Do men and monogamy mix? It's not a question Mitchell "Little Bit" Crawford gave much thought to until his beaufriend of almost two years, Raheim "Pooquie" Rivers, an All-American jeans model, heads to Hollywood to make his first feature film. As Mitchell soon discovers, the temptation to cheat is very real . . . and it seems to be everywhere. An ex even pops up hoping to pick up where they left -- and got -- off. While intrigued, Mitchell chalks all the attention up to "the married man" syndrome: one is much more desirable when he's attached to someone else. But as he continues to run into bisexual musician Montgomery "Montee" Simms, the look-but-don't-touch rule is put to the test. As he and Montee get closer, Mitchell's idealistic beliefs about commitment are challenged. Will he love the one he's with because he can't be with the one he loves?
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Dancer from the Dance
by Andrew Holleran
One of the most important works of gay literature, this haunting, brilliant novel is a seriocomic remembrance of things past -- and still poignantly present. It depicts the adventures of Malone, a beautiful young man searching for love amid New York's emerging gay scene. From Manhattan's Everard Baths and after-hours discos to Fire Island's deserted parks and lavish orgies, Malone looks high and low for meaningful companionship. The person he finds is Sutherland, a campy quintessential queen -- and one of the most memorable literary creations of contemporary fiction. Hilarious, witty, and ultimately heartbreaking, Dancer from the Dance is truthful, provocative, outrageous fiction told in a voice as close to laughter as to tears.
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Bittersweet
by Nevada Barr
Award-winning author Nevada Barr reveals another side to her remarkable storytelling prowess with this heart-wrenching yet tender tale of two women whose boundless devotion to each other is continually challenged in nineteenth century America.
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The Blue Place
by Nicola Griffith
A police lieutenant with the elite "Red Dogs" until she retired at twenty-nine , Aud Torvigen is a rangy six-footer with eyes the color of cement and a tendency to hurt people who get in her way. Born in Norway into the failed marriage between a Scandinavian diplomat and an American businessman, she now makes Atlanta her home, luxuriating in the lush heat and brashness of the New South. She glides easily between the world of silken elegance and that of sleaze and sudden savagery, equally at home in both; functional, deadly, and temporarily quiescent, like a folded razor. On a humid April evening between storms, out walking just to stay sharp, she turns a corner and collides with a running woman, Catching the scent of clean, rain-soaked hair, Aud nods and silently tells the stranger Today, you are lucky, and moves on—when behind her house explodes, incinerating its sole occupant, a renowned art historian. When Aud turns back, the woman is gone.
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Another Kind of Love
by Paula Christian
In this classic collection, the revolutionary author introduces Another Kind of Love and Love is Where You Find it, two unforgettable stories of women - one in New York and one in Los Angeles - who discover the joy and fulfillment of love with their female coworkers.
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Between Girlfriends
by Elizabeth Dean
Four friends--Gracy, a freelance writer; Lindsay, a conservative workaholic; Parker, a wealthy socialite; and Blair, an African-American princess--embark on a rollicking quest for Ms. Right that is filled with hilarity, insight, hope, and high fashion. 10,000 first printing.
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Bourbon Street Blues
by Greg Herren
From the drug-fueled dance floors of New Orleans's hottest bars, to the body-worship of its packed gyms and the slow, hungry crawl through streets where danger lurks behind every beautiful smile, "Bourbon Street blues" takes readers on a dizzying tour ofgay life in the French Quarter and introduces an unlikely investigator whose ironic, lusty, tell-it-like-it-is take on things is as cool as the city he loves.
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Cathedral City
by Gregory Hinton
Set against the backdrop of Cathedral City, which is about to be recontructed by greedy developers, a powerful story details the intertwining lives of an extraordinary cast of characters from passionate lovers Kenny and Nick, who are desperately trying to hold on to their club, and their landlord Harry Singer, who must choose between loyalty to his tenants and money, to Pablo Seladon, a young hustler. 15,000 first printing.
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Close Calls
by Susan Fox Rogers
Close Calls presents twenty-one new stories that reflect the complexity and richness of lesbian life today, exploring a wide range of topics such as family, love and loss, children, violence, and sex. Susan Fox Rogers has brought together both established and new writers, including Ruthann Robson, Donna Allegra, Gwendolyn Bikis, Linda Smukler, Wickie Stamps, Anna Livia, among many others. Close Calls showcases the innovative and provocative writing that makes lesbian fiction today.
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A Secret Woman
by Rachel Pollack
What happens to a detective with more secrets than the killers he investigates? Lieutenant Simon Goldtree is the boy wonder of the Essex City Police Department in upstate New York. The man who gets all the really tough homicide cases, Simon can stand in the center if a case and simply feel the lies. The media love him and women seem fascinated by him. The other detectives may consider Simon a grandstander, but as Simon tells his friend Andrea, all he really cares about is the truth. But what about his own truth, his own lies? What about the secret desires he tells no one but Andrea? When insurance executive Martin Stanstead turns up dead in his own car, Simon's partner, Sergeant Frank Garrowey, throws himself into the hard work of the investigation. From the beginning, however, Simon knows that this case is different. He knows this is the one that could destroy him. Slowly the two detectives close in on Stanstead's killer. They discover mob ties only to see a cover-up take shape right in front of them. Knowing that Frank has too much to lose, Simon prepares to take on Essex City's gang boss, his own police department, and anyone else, to expose the lies-- until his own secrets explode in the local media. Publicly humiliated and forced to resign from the force, Simon decides at last to follow his heart and become the person he always wanted to be. But what about the Stanstead case? If a desire for truth pulls the ex-cop back to Essex City, what will happen to his new life-- assuming the gang boss lets the former investigator live at all?
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There Came Two Angels
by Julia Lieber
Loy Lombard is hired to clear the name of former republican senator Jasper Slade, who has been charged with the murder of a young gay hustler. Loy begins to suspect she is being used as a prawn to help destroy the state's gay right's group. But by whom? And how far are they willing to go to protect the powerful tobacco families that are linked to both sides of this dirty war?