i’m kicking off a new series called “the pansexual bookshelf” where i highlight and discuss books with pansexual or panromantic representation that fit different themes, categories, or other marginalizations.
first up is realization or coming out stories.
i’ve read (and watched) many gay, lesbian, and even bisexual realization and coming out stories, but when it comes to pansexuality, those stories don’t seem to pile up. which is a shame because they are super important to me. i love seeing characters go through any or all the steps to finding pansexuality: the questioning, denial, confusion, exploration, caution, excitement, acceptance, and finally, celebration. i can’t help but imagine the impact pansexual realization/coming out stories could have on people, especially young ones. they could be a game changer. and we deserve to have that.
this list has 9 books with realization/coming out stories featuring pan main characters, excepting one side character, and all feature on page use of the word pan, again excepting one that was confirmed out of text.
note: this list and future lists aren’t necessarily full of my personal recommendations or books i’ve read myself, they are merely a compilation of the pan books i’m aware of that fit various specifications.
love letters for joy by melissa see
a young adult contemporary romance novel following joy, a 17 year old panromantic asexual with cerebral palsy, as she navigates working towards being valedictorian, her close friend’s unrequited feelings for her, and falling in love for the first time with her academic rival, nathaniel who is pansexual and struggling with unsupportive parents and being outed.
love, nature by jenn matthews
an adult contemporary romance novel following toni, as she learns to give her teenaged daughter independence, involves herself in an eco-friendly group, finds her identity outside of being a mother, and surprisingly falls in love with a woman, stella who is 12 years her senior, for the first time. toni’s journey to discovering her pansexuality is described as joyful, scary, and exhilarating; like finding a puzzle piece; like a tear has been repaired. this realization leads to her navigating coming out to her daughter and ex-husband. seeing a pansexual discovery storyline for a character in their thirties is so important: it’s never too late.
a cruel and fated light by ashley shuttleworth
the second book in the hollow star saga, a young adult fantasy fae series following four queer main characters, a half-fae outcast; an exiled fury; a fae prince; and the prince’s guardian, who form an alliance and uncover secrets and fight evil. the half-fae outcast is arlo, and she’s questioning her sexuality in the first book and comes to realize her pansexuality by the second book, sparked by the exiled fury herself.
scorpio hates virgo by anyta sunday
a new adult contemporary romance following percy, who inherits his aunt’s house after her death. he wants to sell, but the close-knit neighborhood wants him to stay, including love interest cal, who he has a frenemies dynamic with. while percy and cal fall into a friendship and eventual romance, cal is questioning his sexuality and percy is assuming he’s just a curious straight guy. we don’t get cal’s pov, but his struggle to make sense of his feelings is clear, and he eventually expresses that demipansexual is the label that best describes how he feels and approaches relationships.
loveless by alice oseman
a new adult contemporary novel following fanfiction lover georgia as she’s entering university and the real life world of romance for the first time. her journey to finally have all her romantic firsts leads her to the realization that she’s asexual and aromantic. one person along for the ride with georgia is her roommate rooney, who has her own pansexual realization side plot, which is a casual and relatively smooth discovery compared to georgia’s complicated and emotional journey.
miss meteor by tehlor kay mejia & anna-marie mclemore
a young adult magical realism novel following former best friends lita and chicky as they embark on making history in their small town’s beauty pageant, repair their friendship, fall in love (not with each other), challenge their town’s prejudices, and learn that they are enough, actually. chicky’s pansexuality is written so beautifully and her development from struggling to accept it to loudly declaring it is wonderful to see.
fierce & fabulous by elizabeth varlet
an adult contemporary romance following fitch, who is totally straight and not at all enchanted by the man who gave him a lap dance, ansel. the fact that he goes back for an encore is beside the point. as they spend time together and fall in love, ansel, who is secure in his gayness, aids in fitch’s journey of what it means to be attracted to a man for the first. his pansexuality is not named on page but has been confirmed out of text by the author, and the way he speaks of his sexuality speaks to it.
seven ways we lie by riley redgate
a contemporary young adult novel following seven students, each representing one of the seven deadly sins, and how their lives collide. one of the seven students is lucas, who is dealing with coming out as pansexual, which his ex-girlfriend takes out his hands some by outing him. he speaks about the challenges of being pansexual, people’s perception and ignorance, and how tiresome it is to explain and defend your sexuality.
our way by t.l. swan
an adult contemporary romance novel following two deeply close best friends falling in love. what makes it unique? he’s only ever dated men his entire life and she’s, well, a woman. nathan’s journey to realizing his pansexuality is a layered one: he starts as not labeling himself, as if it never occurred to him to label himself that way based on gender, he fields continuous assumptions and attempts to label him, and after a lot of contemplation and self-reflection, he comes to the conclusion that the pansexual label captures how he feels.
