It Gets Better’s 2026 Summer Reading Challenge

Our summer reading list should come with a warning: Read at your own risk.

You might get under the skin of people trying to silence queer voices.

You might wind up celebrating LGBTQ+ people living full, joyful, complicated lives.

You might discover a story that changes how you see yourself and the world around you.

Starting today, July 21, the second annual It Gets Better Summer Reading Challenge begins. Through August 15, we’re inviting you to read stories about LGBTQ+ people, written by LGBTQ+ authors.

Here are the six books we’ll be reading:

• “Girls Like Girls” by Hayley Kiyoko
• “I Don’t Wish You Well” by Jumata Emill
• “Shapes of Love” by L.V. Peñalba
• “The Names We Buried” by Mia Siegert
• “The Great Disillusionment of Nick and Jay” by Ryan Douglass
• “You Pierce My Soul” by Jessica Mary Best

Over the next few weeks, we’ll introduce you to these six authors, dig into the stories behind their books, and ask them who — and what — made them want to tell stories in the first place. You can read more about them below.

A good story can make someone feel seen. It can also introduce people to a life or experience they may otherwise never encounter. That’s why storytelling is central to It Gets Better: it gives LGBTQ+ young people more ways to see themselves and more room to be understood.

So read one of these six. Or grab any LGBTQ+ story that’s been sitting on your shelf. Then do the most old-fashioned, effective marketing there is: tell someone else why they should read it too.

Want to do more? Donate or start a fundraiser and help us put LGBTQ+ stories in front of more young people.

More about the 2026 Summer Reading Challenge book selections.

This year’s Summer Reading Challenge selections move from first love and pop stardom to murder investigations, buried identities, algorithmic soulmates, and a queer reimagining of The Great Gatsby. Across all six books, LGBTQ+ characters are not pushed to the margins. They are solving mysteries, falling in love, questioning the rules, rebuilding relationships, and figuring out the people they want to become. Read along with us through August 15, donate or start a fundraiser in support of It Gets Better, and help us amplify LGBTQ+ stories and writers. You can learn more about this year’s selections below. 

“Girls Like Girls” by Hayley Kiyoko

It’s summertime and 17-year-old Coley has found herself alone, again. Forced to move to rural Oregon after just losing her mother, she is in no position to risk her already fragile heart. But when she meets Sonya, the attraction is immediate.

Coley worries she isn’t worthy of love. Up until now, everyone she’s loved has left her. And Sonya’s never been with a girl before. What if she’s too afraid to show up for Coley? What if by opening her heart, Coley’s risking it all?

They both realize that when things are pushed down, and feelings are forced to shrivel away, Coley and Sonya will be the ones to shrink. It’s not until they accept the love they fear and deserve most, that suddenly the song makes sense.

Based on the billboard-charting smash hit song and viral music video “Girls Like Girls,” Hayley Kiyoko’s debut novel is about embracing your truth and realizing we are all worthy of being loved back. (find the book here)

“I Don’t Wish You Well” by Jumata Emill

Five years ago, the infamous Trojan murders turned the small town of Moss Pointe, Louisiana into a living nightmare. Four teen boys—all star players on Moss Pointe High’s football team—were murdered one after the other by a Trojan-mask wearing killer. 

Eventually, the murderer was unmasked. But the community has never forgotten—and some folks in town still wonder whether the police got it right.

Eighteen-year-old Pryce Cummings is one of them. An aspiring journalist, Pryce is pretty sure he just stumbled upon evidence that throws the killer’s guilt into question. It’s the perfect story for his own podcast, and a reason to go back to the hometown he’s avoided since coming to terms with his sexuality while at college.

But in Moss Pointe, digging into the past is anything but welcome. There’s so much more to what happened there five years ago, and Pryce is ready to crack it all wide open . . . if he lives to tell the tale. (find the book here)

“Shapes of Love” by L.V. Peñalba

When nineteen-year-old Sasha’s first album throws her into stardom, her fans become obsessed with discovering who inspired her love songs. Except, Sasha is aroace-spec (aromantic, asexual), and she’s not interested in romance (unless it comes in the shape of a slowburn enemies-to-lovers book or a star-crossed-lovers manga). Her music is all about her favorite love stories, not her own.

After running into Kai, her estranged best friend who she hasn’t seen in two years, pictures of them together leak, and everyone assumes he’s Sasha’s muse, the “boyfriend” who broke her heart. Pressured by her label and fearing fan backlash, Sasha agrees to a PR relationship with Kai for six months – but her sense of self is put to the ultimate test. Where does she fit in a society that equates happiness with romantic love? One where even her closest friends prioritize their partners over her?

Under the guise of their faux romance, Sasha and Kai get a chance to rebuild their platonic bond and heal the wounds of their past. But when actor Asher Grish enters the scene, threatening to shake the foundation of Sasha’s PR relationship, she finds herself at a crossroads. Either she loses herself, or her career. (find the book here)

“The Names We Buried” by Mia Siegert

Jaden’s seventeenth birthday was meant to be monumental. As a surprise, his dad and Jaden’s boyfriend, Andy, arranged to take him to the courthouse to get his name changed to reflect his gender. But, horrifyingly, the clerk accuses Jaden’s dad of forging Jaden’s original birth certificate, and due to his criminal past, he’s arrested.

Heartbroken but also suspicious, Jaden secretly takes a DNA test and makes an even more shocking discovery: he’s not biologically related to his dad. Jaden can’t imagine his mother cheating, but the truth might be worse — further DNA testing also identify Jaden as a perfect genetic match for a couple who have spent the last seventeen years searching for their kidnapped child.

Their kidnapped daughter.

After years struggling to come to terms with his gender identity as well as his parents’ complicated pasts, Jaden is forced to re-evaluate everything. Who is he really? And where does he belong? With the dad who raised and loved him, and supported his transition without question? Or with the parents Jaden’s never met, who might never be able to accept Jaden as their son? (find the book here)

“The Great Disillusionment of Nick and Jay” by Ryan Douglass

Seventeen-year-old Nick Carrington wants nothing more than to leave Greenwood, Oklahoma, behind and make a name for himself in the papers. But when tragedy strikes, dreams turn into a twisted reality. Forced to start anew in Harlem, only a letter of acceptance from the prestigious West Egg Academy is able to pull him back into the world.

But the supposedly integrated private boys’ school is more of a catchy headline than a fact, with the same prejudices Nick left behind back home. And his secret but growing feelings for the founder’s wickedly charismatic son, Jay Gatsby Jr.— who dances past society’s conventions with practiced ease—only add more complications.

When Nick’s cutting pen exposes dangerous truths about West Egg and leads to perilous consequences, he and Jay must decide whether to spend a lifetime outrunning trouble or be the ones to light the match. Can they not only fight back but triumph? Or will the powers that be win yet again? (find the book here)

“You Pierce My Soul” by Jessica Mary Best

In the utopian city of New Ionia, everyone gets a soulmate, and Zada can’t wait for hers. Now that she’s eighteen, it’s her turn to meet her destiny with the help of Heartsong, an algorithm that chooses your perfect match for you.

Then Zada crashes into her soulmate, setting off their shared Heartsong, and the unthinkable happens: She feels nothing for him. But the program doesn’t make mistakes, and by the end of the night, Zada is engaged to a man she doesn’t love.

Desperate, Zada turns to a surprising ally: her daringly beautiful former best friend, Daphne. Despite their estrangement, Daphne may be the only person who can help Zada uncover the truth about Heartsong. But can she trust her after all this time? And if what they find upends everything, can Zada find the courage to choose what she believes—and who she loves? (find the book here)