Sometimes it seems we can't get enough of romance and love stories. But sometimes it also seems as if those stories don't really apply to GLBT teens.

Luckily, a number of authors have started writing great gay teen novels. Many are not "officially" romances, but just as GLBT teens often have to chart out new territory in their every day lives, as these books show, many gay teens are also finding romance in places and ways they may not have expected.


Here are five of my top picks!

1. Hero, by Perry Moore, tells the story of Thom Creed, a gay teen with some amazing super powers as well as a pretty intense crush on a brooding boy he keeps bumping into under awkward circumstances.
   1. Keeping You a Secret. Author Julie Ann Peters looks at what happens when a popular girl with a boyfriend discovers she has feelings for an "out-and-proud" lesbian. Their romance and the challenges it presents will ring true to a lot of GLBT teens.
      1. Jennifer McMahon'sMy Tiki Girl tells the story of two girls, Maggie who is broken physically and emotionally after a devastating accident and Dahlia who is breaking all the rules. But roles start to change after Maggie's realizes she is falling in love with her new friend and finds she has to chart some new territory of her own.
         1. The title of David Levithan'sBoy Meets Boy, gives you a pretty good idea of where this novel is going. But Boy Meets Boy is more that just a straightforward love story, and the novel introduces us to a world where GLBT teens are accepted by their peers and where kids, both gay and straight, have to contend with similar relationship issues.
            1. In Down to the Bone by Mayra Lazara Dole, we meet Laura, a Cuban American teen living in Miami. When Laura is rejected by her family, her school and her community for being a lesbian she must answer some tough questions about who she is. And part of the quest for self discovery sees her becoming romantically involved with both guys and girls of very different stripes.