“Coming-of-age” book recs?

[Keala]

I am the type of reader that very commonly finds one genre and then completely engulf myself within the genre until I am utterly burnt out. The phase I am in right now is coming of age stories/ realistic fic/ lgbtq+ lit. I’ve seen a common theme in my reading lately that the last handful of books that I have read have all been gay literature, which I am looking for more of. But not anything overly corny- for the longest time I did not enjoy romance at all. I have found that romance stories between two men have much more passion, tension, and yearning than any straight romance I have read. I absolutely LOVEDDDD “A Little Life” and “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” - Looking for more books like that, I want to bawl my eyes out!

[Kayla]

If you haven't read it already I recently read "The Safekeep" which is both lgbtq+ and literary fiction. It could also be considered coming of age as the main characters are both in their early 20's and figuring out their sexuality/how they're going to live the rest of their lives. It is wlw though, but it has a strong yearning aspect to it.

It has a little bit of a historical aspect to it, If you're not into history I wouldn't let it deter you from reading it. I'm not either but it was a really smooth read, nothing too draining about the history parts.

I will say it doesn't give the same vibe as a little life, you probably won't be balling. And they may have included a few too many spicy scenes (which i could've done without). But it has those other aspects that you were looking for.