Which 2024 Romance Books Include LGBTQ+ Main Characters?

I get this itch to scribble lists whenever a new year’s release calendar drops, so here’s the practical, fan-brain version: I don’t have every title memorized, but 2024 kept up a strong streak of romances with LGBTQ+ leads across YA, adult contemporary, and queer historicals. If you want direct titles from 2024, the best way I found was to scan a few hubs—Lambda Literary’s lists and longlists for 2024, Goodreads’ 2024 releases shelves tagged with ‘LGBTQ+ Romance’, and publisher catalogs (especially indie presses like Bold Strokes Books and Ylva Publishing). Those places reliably surface late-season gems and mid-list queer romances that big retailers miss.

Beyond catalogs, I followed BookTok and Bookstagram creators who curate “Queer Romance 2024” reels; that actually led me to three different debut romances earlier this spring that center same-sex and trans protagonists and span enemies-to-lovers, found-family contemporary, and sapphic fantasy. Also watch award shortlists—Romance Writers of America and Lambda selections in 2024 often point to the best adult queer romances that crossed mainstream visibility.

If you want a short reading plan: 1) pick one YA and one adult from Lambda/Goodreads 2024 lists; 2) check indie romance imprints’ spring catalogs; and 3) follow two BookTok creators who focus on queer rep. Do that and you’ll hit a solid roster of 2024 romances with LGBTQ+ main characters—plus you’ll discover subgenres (f/f contemporary, m/m small-town, trans MC historical) you didn’t know you needed. If you want, I can pull together a focused list of 10 specific 2024 titles from those sources next—just tell me whether you prefer YA, adult, or a mix.

I’m the person who carries a paperback and a highlighter around, so when I say 2024 was good for queer romance, I mean there were releases in lots of flavors: sapphic contemporaries, queer fairy-tale retellings, and a handful of m/m romances that leaned into found-family themes. Rather than risk misnaming something from memory, I leaned on consistent discovery tactics that worked for me this year.

First, keep an eye on midyear publisher catalogs—Penguin Random House, Hachette, and several independent presses published 2024 romance lists that explicitly call out LGBTQ+ representation in book blurbs. Second, scanning Goodreads lists tagged with ‘romance’ + ‘LGBTQIA’ + ‘2024’ is superb for crowdsourced recs—readers there often note which books center queer protagonists and whether the rep is respectful. Third, award lists: the Lambda Literary longlist and shortlist for 2024 highlighted several romance titles that centered queer main characters, and that was my quickest route to find quality recommendations.

A couple of other tricks I used: follow a couple of romance review blogs that note orientation/gender in their content warnings, and check indie bookstore new release displays online—many indie staff lists (like Bookshop.org store pages) have 2024 queer romance roundups. If you want me to assemble a concrete bookshelf of 8–12 named 2024 titles I vetted through those sources, I’m happy to do that—I just want to make sure you get accurate publication info and content notes for each pick.

Okay, quick and cozy take: 2024 had a really healthy crop of romance novels with LGBTQ+ protagonists, spanning YA to adult and everything from cozy small-town plots to queer fantasy. I discovered most of them by following Lambda Literary’s updates, bookmarking Goodreads’ 2024 queer romance lists, and watching a couple of BookTok creators who focus on representation. Those three paths brought me the broadest, most reliable picks.

If you’re hunting right now, look at indie press catalogs (Bold Strokes, Ylva), check Goodreads’ ‘Most Anticipated 2024’ shelves filtered for LGBTQ+ tags, and scroll the Lambda longlist/shortlist for romance categories. That combo gives you named, vetted 2024 releases that actually center queer leads rather than tacking on secondary rep. I can happily narrow this down into a concrete 10-title reading list (YA/adult/mixed), with content notes and where to buy—tell me which vibe you want and I’ll pull it together.