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10 Queer Love Stories To Read This Valentines Day


1. BINGO LOVE (Graphic novel)

Queer Rep: Queer Women


Bingo Love is a story of a same-sex romance that spans over 60 years. A chance meeting at church bingo in 1963 brings Hazel Johnson and Mari McCray together. Through their formative years, these two women develop feelings for each other and finally profess their love for one another.


Forced apart by their families and society, Hazel and Mari both married young men and had families. Decades later, now in their mid 60’s, Hazel and Mari are reunited again at a bingo hall. Realizing their love for each other is still alive, what these grandmothers do next takes absolute strength and courage.


From TEE FRANKLIN (NAILBITER’s “THE OUTFIT,” Love is Love) and JENN ST-ONGE (Jem & the Misfits), BINGO LOVE is a touching story of love, family, and resiliency that spans over 60 years.


Buy it HERE

 

2. CHECK, PLEASE! BOOK 1: HOCKEY (Graphic novel)

Queer Rep: Queer Men


Eric Bittle is a former Georgia junior figure skating champion, vlogger extraordinaire, and amateur patissier. But as accomplished as he is, nothing could prepare him for his freshman year of playing hockey at the prestigious Samwell University in Samwell, Massachusetts. It's nothing like co-ed club hockey back in the South! For one? There's checking.


Second, there is Jack - his very attractive but moody captain. A collection of the first half of the mega-popular webcomic series of the same name, Check, Please!: # Hockey is the first in a hilarious and stirring two-volume coming-of-age story about hockey, bros, and trying to find yourself during the best four years of your life.


Buy it HERE

 

3. DREAM DADDY DATING SIMULATOR (Graphic novel)

Queer rep: Queer Men


Oni Press presents Dream Daddy, a comics series based on the acclaimed Game Grumps visual novel video game!


Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator invites the player to Maple Bay, where they play as a single Dad new to town and eager to romance other hot Dads. The comic series tells five standalone stories, each focused on different Maple Bay Dads, their kids, and their relationships with one another. Dive into entirely new stories featuring the backstories and adventures of your favourite Dads, told by game co-creators Leighton Gray and Vernon Shaw, along with the comic industry's top indie talent like C. Spike Trotman, Josh Trujillo, and Kris Anka!


Buy it HERE

 

4. THE FALLING IN LOVE MONTAGE (Paperback)

Queer rep: Queer Women


Seventeen-year-old Saoirse has finished with exams and is facing a long hot summer before uni. She plans to party, get drunk, watch horror movies and forget all her troubles by kissing girls. Ever since the breakup with her ex Hannah, she's been alone and angry, dealing with the hole left in her family by her sick mother's absence.


Worse, Dad drops a bombshell: he's remarrying at the end of the summer. Enter the scene: Ruby, who might just be the prettiest girl Saoirse's ever seen. A rom-com fan and a believer in true love, Ruby challenges cynical Saoirse to try a summer romance with the serious parts left out, just like in the movies.


Buy it HERE

 

5. HEARTSTOPPER (Graphic novel)

Queer rep: Queer Men


An LGBTQ+ graphic novel about life, love, and everything that happens in between - for fans of The Art of Being Normal, Holly Bourne and Love, Simon. 'Absolutely delightful. Sweet, romantic, kind.


Charlie and Nick are at the same school, but they've never met ... until one day when they're made to sit together. They quickly become friends, and soon Charlie is falling hard for Nick, even though he doesn't think he has a chance. But love works in surprising ways, and Nick is more interested in Charlie than either of them realised. Heartstopper is about love, friendship, loyalty and mental illness.


It encompasses all the small stories of Nick and Charlie's lives that together make up something larger, which speaks to all of us. 'The queer graphic novel we wished we had at high school.' Gay times this is the first volume of Heartstopper, which has now been optioned for television by See-Saw Films.


Buy it HERE

 

6. JACK OF HEARTS AND OTHER PARTS (Paperback)

Queer rep: Queer Men


Meet Jack Rothman. He's seventeen and loves partying, makeup and boys - sometimes all at the same time. His sex life makes him the hot topic for the high school gossip machine. But who cares? Like Jack always says, 'it could be worse'.


He doesn't actually expect that to come true.


But after Jack starts writing an online sex advice column, the mysterious love letters he's been getting take a turn for the creepy. Jack's secret admirer knows everything: where he's hanging out, who he's sleeping with, who his mum is dating. They claim they love Jack, but not his unashamedly queer lifestyle. They need him to curb his sexuality, or they'll force him.


As the pressure mounts, Jack must unmask his stalker before their obsession becomes genuinely dangerous...


Buy it HERE

 

7. JONESY (Graphic novel)

Queer rep: Queer Women


A sarcastic teenager with the powers of cupid unleashes her preternatural matchmaking abilities on her school with hilarious and charming results. Jonesy is a self-described "cool dork" who spends her time making zines nobody reads, watching anime, and listening to riot grrrl bands and 1D simultaneously. But she has a secret nobody knows.


She has the power to make people fall in love! Anyone. With anything. She's a cupid in plaid.


With a Tumblr. There's only one catch-it doesn't work on herself. She's gonna have to find love the old-fashioned way, and in the meantime, figure out how to distract herself from the real emotions she inevitably has to face when her powers go wrong...