As a first publication, Lavery released
Quaint, Exquisite in 2019 on a subject connected to her post-doctoral research: Victorian era sensibilities in relation to Japan as viewed through a
queer theory lens. One major focus of the book is on the idea of
orientalism and how that colored English understanding of Japan as the "Other Empire". A 2022
memoir titled
Please Miss was her second published book and covered a wide range of topics beyond her own life and background. An introspection on being trans through a wide variety of genres and non-sequitur asides, the book psychoanalyzes the trans experience and aspects of life that represent it. Lavery's third book,
Pleasure and Efficacy, was released in 2023 and discussed the meaning of being transgender and how transitioning works in relation to how the topic is discussed in various genres of literature. The book also includes philosophical views of writers from the 19th century and how understanding of "transness" is complicated and nuanced, unlike how it can commonly be portrayed in current times.
Pleasure and Efficacy was announced as a finalist for the 2024
National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism. In 2024,
Closures, her fourth book, was published on the topic of the American
sitcom and its usage of heterosexuality to define the
nuclear family and cause conflict and issues that reinforce the scenario. Lavery explains how the storylines in sitcoms use "external agents" to create strife that ultimately promotes the
heteronormativity seen in the nuclear family value system. She received a $125,000 advance from
Substack to publish a newsletter on their platform. ==Personal life==