My Least Favorite Queer Books of 2024
I read a lot of queer books—that probably won’t come as a surprise to you. That means it’s inevitable that I’ll pick up some queer books I don’t like, but I usually keep that to myself. I’d rather help spread the word about the great queer books I’ve read—that’s why I put together a list of My Favorite Queer Books of 2024!
But that’s one of the things I love about All Access: it gives me space to be a little more snarky, because it’s not on the open internet. I can whisper about my biggest disappointments of the year instead of feeling like I’m broadcasting them.
Luckily, the vast majority of the books I read this year were successes. Even the books I didn’t like, it was usually because I just wasn’t the right audience for them. There are always exceptions, though, so here were my least favorite and most disappointing queer books I read in 2024.
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I’m happy to report that I only have three queer books that really disappointed me in 2024. While I had others that were three stars, those were just books that were decent and not mind-blowing—usually because I wasn’t the right audience for the story they were trying to tell.
Now, onto the books I do want to vent about a little bit.
Trust and Safety by Laura Blackett and Eve Gleichman
The Very Nice Box by Laura Blackett and Eve Gleichman was a reading experience like no other. It took a turn that I was not expecting—in fact, I was listening to it to wind down before going to sleep, and I bolted upright when that chapter happened. So, I admit that I went into Trust and Safety with unrealistic expectations. Like The Very Nice Box, this is a satire, but I ended up finding it sad instead of funny. Our main character, Rosie, seems to just flail around, confused about why she’s so unsatisfied with her life. While I thought the arc with Dylan was interesting, the ending of the novel was a let-down. At least I learned reading this that books described as darkly hilarious satires I will probably just find distressing.
Sabine by A.P.
I love lesbian vampire novels, and this 2005 title has been sitting on by TBR shelf for many years—ever since it came into the bookstore I was working at. Unfortunately, it ended up being a slog about rich teens in the 1950s lounging around their school. The idea of vampires doesn’t come into the plot until far later than a book with fangs on the cover warrants. I realized the day after finishing it that I couldn’t even remember if the vampires ended up being real or not: that’s how forgettable it was. Let’s be honest, though, you weren’t going to be picking up this obscure book anyway! And I’m glad I finally got around to it and can take it off my shelves.
I Might Be in Trouble by Daniel Aleman
I think of myself as someone who likes satire, but maybe I’m wrong about that, because here’s another queer satire that fell flat. The premise sounded like fun, but the tone was all over the place to me. The actual plot of trying to hide the body was ridiculous and over the top, but later, I felt like I was supposed to take the main character seriously. Spoilers: the end of the book was a bittersweet conversation with his ex about how he’s not yet ready to try for a serious relationship again…which would be fine if the rest of the book wasn’t him Weekend at Bernie’s-ing a corpse around town. Again, though, this one is getting positive reviews, so it may just be a me problem!
Thank you for allowing me to vent about my most disappointing queer reads of the year. Have you read any of these? Did I just miss the point? Let’s chat in the comments!
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