I don’t know about you, but I totally pick books based on mood. Some days I want pure serotonin in book form, other days I’m craving ghost-filled chaos, and sometimes I want to emotionally implode in the most dramatic way possible. So, I figured: why not make a handy little queer book guide sorted by mood?
Think of this as a rainbow spectrum—cozy on one side, catastrophic on the other—with plenty of pit stops in between.
When You Want Cozy, Wholesome Vibes 🌈
These are your serotonin boosters. Nothing tragic, nothing soul-crushing—just pure comfort.
- “The House in the Cerulean Sea” by TJ Klune – Bureaucrat meets magical misfits, learns to open his heart. Uplifting and gentle.
- “Loveless” by Alice Oseman – Tender exploration of asexuality, friendship, and found family.
- “Tea Dragon Society” by Kay O’Neill – Graphic novel with tiny dragons that grow tea leaves. Yes, it’s as wholesome as it sounds.
When You Want Fun, Flirty Rom-Coms 💕🎉
Sometimes you just need banter, chaos, and a guaranteed happy ending.
- “Boyfriend Material” by Alexis Hall – Fake dating done right, with banter so sharp it could cut glass.
- “Delilah Green Doesn’t Care” by Ashley Herring Blake – Chaotic bisexual photographer + small-town sapphic romance = absolute joy.
- “She Gets the Girl” by Rachael Lippincott & Alyson Derrick – YA rom-com with opposites attract vibes.
When You Want Fantasy & Queer Epics ⚔️🐉
Swords, spells, and more representation than your average D&D campaign.
- “Blackwater Sister” by Zen Cho – Malaysian spirits, family drama, and one very reluctant lesbian protagonist.
- “The Priory of the Orange Tree” by Samantha Shannon – Dragons + sapphic queens + 800 pages of worldbuilding glory.
- “Crier’s War” by Nina Varela – Sapphic slow-burn romance in a world of human/AI tension.
When You Want a Mystery or a Little Spookiness 🔎👻
Not horror-horror, but just enough eerie vibes to make you double-check your locks at night.
- “Cemetery Boys” by Aiden Thomas – Summoning ghosts + trans rep + adorable romance.
- “Plain Bad Heroines” by Emily M. Danforth – Cursed boarding school, queer actresses, dark academia deliciousness.
- “The Verifiers” by Jane Pek – Queer detective investigating shady dating apps in NYC.
When You Want Messy, Angsty Drama 💔🔥
Think yearning, bad decisions, and the kind of angst that makes you want to throw the book across the room (lovingly).
- “We Are the Ants” by Shaun David Hutchinson – Queer grief + possible alien abduction = chef’s ki— (oops, can’t say it). Let’s just say it’s gorgeous and devastating.
- “Summer Sons” by Lee Mandelo – Southern gothic, drag racing, ghostly hauntings, and repressed desire.
- “Exciting Times” by Naoise Dolan – Bisexual protagonist caught between messy love interests in Hong Kong.
When You Want Historical Queer Vibes 🕰️🌹
Queer people have always existed—these books remind us that history has more rainbows than the textbooks admit.
- “The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue” by Mackenzi Lee – 18th-century romp across Europe, starring a bisexual disaster and his crush.
- “Last Night at the Telegraph Club” by Malinda Lo – Sapphic romance in 1950s San Francisco, tender and beautifully researched.
- “Maurice” by E.M. Forster – Written in 1914, unapologetically queer, and groundbreaking for its time.
When You Want Catastrophic Feels 🌪️😭
Here’s where you willingly dive into heartbreak city. I don’t make the rules.
- “The Song of Achilles” by Madeline Miller – If you know, you know (this one wrecked me!).
- “Giovanni’s Room” by James Baldwin – Beautiful, brutal, and gut-wrenching.
- “A Little Life” by Hanya Yanagihara – A marathon of trauma and love. Enter at your own risk.
The Mood Map
- Need comfort? → Klune, Oseman, O’Neill
- Want swoony banter? → Hall, Blake, Lippincott
- Fantasy cravings? → Cho, Shannon, Varela
- Feeling spooky? → Thomas, Danforth, Pek
- Angst appetite? → Hutchinson, Mandelo, Dolan
- Historical feels? → Lee, Lo, Forster
- Want emotional destruction? → Miller, Baldwin, Yanagihara
I’ve realized my own reading life is basically mood-swings on paper. Sometimes I want something as soft as a marshmallow, sometimes I want a haunted house with repressed homoerotic tension, and sometimes I just want to sob dramatically while whispering “why did I do this to myself?”
Your turn: what’s your go-to mood shelf? Got a catastrophic fave I missed? Drop it in the comments so I can add it to my ever-growing pile of emotional chaos.
Every choice matters when myths walk the streets. With the golem at his side and his sister at his back, David faces a scholar turned monster, a prophecy of upheaval, and the terrifying question: who’s really in control? The Golem’s Guardian – get it HERE