#lgbtq ya

[richincolor]

9 QTPoC books for your 2023 Pride Month TBR

Happy Pride Month! Every year, I do a little round-up of YA books starring LGBTQ and BIPOC characters that have come out so far this year. This year was particularly exciting -- there were so many books that I loved or have at the very top of my TBR! So, without further ado, here's 9 of them for your TBR!

The Wicked Bargain by Gabe Cole Novoa El Diablo is in the details in this Latinx pirate fantasy starring a transmasculine nonbinary teen with a mission of revenge, redemption, and revolution.

On Mar León-de la Rosa's 16th birthday, el Diablo comes calling. Mar is a transmasculine nonbinary teen pirate hiding a magical ability to manipulate fire and ice. But their magic isn't enough to reverse a wicked bargain made by their father and now el Diablo has come to collect his payment: the soul of Mar's father and the entire crew of their ship. When Mar is miraculously rescued by the sole remaining pirate crew in the Caribbean, el Diablo returns to give them a choice: give up your soul to save your father by the Harvest Moon or never see him again. The task is impossible--Mar refuses to make a bargain and there's no way their magic is any match for el Diablo. Then, Mar finds the most unlikely allies: Bas, an infuriatingly arrogant and handsome pirate -- and the captain's son; and Dami, a genderfluid demonio whose motives are never quite clear. For the first time in their life, Mar may have the courage to use their magic. It could be their only redemption -- or it could mean certain death.

Fake Dates and Mooncakes by Sher Lee Heartstopper meets Crazy Rich Asians in this heartfelt, joyful paperback original rom-com that follows an aspiring chef who discovers the recipe for love is more complicated than it seems when he starts fake-dating a handsome new customer.

Dylan Tang wants to win a Mid-Autumn Festival mooncake-making competition for teen chefs—in memory of his mom, and to bring much-needed publicity to his aunt’s struggling Chinese takeout in Brooklyn.

Enter Theo Somers: charming, wealthy, with a smile that makes Dylan’s stomach do backflips. AKA a distraction. Their worlds are sun-and-moon apart, but Theo keeps showing up. He even convinces Dylan to be his fake date at a family wedding in the Hamptons. In Theo’s glittering world of pomp, privilege, and crazy rich drama, their romance is supposed to be just pretend... but Dylan finds himself falling for Theo. For real. Then Theo’s relatives reveal their true colors—but with the mooncake contest looming, Dylan can’t risk being sidetracked by rich-people problems.Can Dylan save his family’s business and follow his heart—or will he fail to do both?

Ander & Santi Were Here by Jonny Garza Villa Aristotle and Dante meets The Hate U Give meets The Sun Is Also A Star: A stunning YA contemporary love story about a Mexican-American teen who falls in love with an undocumented Mexican boy.

Finding home. Falling in love. Fighting to belong. The Santos Vista neighborhood of San Antonio, Texas, is all Ander Martínez has ever known. The smell of pan dulce. The mixture of Spanish and English filling the streets. And, especially their job at their family's taquería. It's the place that has inspired Ander as a muralist, and, as they get ready to leave for art school, it's all of these things that give them hesitancy. That give them the thought, are they ready to leave it all behind?

To keep Ander from becoming complacent during their gap year, their family "fires" them so they can transition from restaurant life to focusing on their murals and prepare for college. That is, until they meet Santiago López Alvarado, the hot new waiter. Falling for each other becomes as natural as breathing. Through Santi's eyes, Ander starts to understand who they are and want to be as an artist, and Ander becomes Santi's first steps toward making Santos Vista and the United States feel like home. Until ICE agents come for Santi, and Ander realizes how fragile that sense of home is. How love can only hold on so long when the whole world is against them. And when, eventually, the world starts to win.

She Is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran A house with a terrifying appetite haunts a broken family in this atmospheric horror, perfect for fans of Mexican Gothic.

When Jade Nguyen arrives in Vietnam for a visit with her estranged father, she has one goal: survive five weeks pretending to be a happy family in the French colonial house Ba is restoring. She’s always lied to fit in, so if she’s straight enough, Vietnamese enough, American enough, she can get out with the college money he promised. But the house has other plans. Night after night, Jade wakes up paralyzed. The walls exude a thrumming sound, while bugs leave their legs and feelers in places they don’t belong. She finds curious traces of her ancestors in the gardens they once tended. And at night Jade can’t ignore the ghost of the beautiful bride who leaves her cryptic warnings: Don’t eat.

Neither Ba nor her sweet sister Lily believe that there is anything strange happening. With help from a delinquent girl, Jade will prove this house—the home her family has always wanted—will not rest until it destroys them. Maybe, this time, she can keep her family together. As she roots out the house’s rot, she must also face the truth of who she is and who she must become to save them all.

Venom & Vow by Anna-Marie McLemore, Elliott McLemore Keep your enemy closer.

Cade McKenna is a transgender prince who’s doubling for his brother. Valencia Palafox is a young dama attending the future queen of Eliana. Gael Palma is the infamous boy assassin Cade has vowed to protect. Patrick McKenna is the reluctant heir to a kingdom, and the prince Gael has vowed to destroy. Cade doesn’t know that Gael and Valencia are the same person. Valencia doesn’t know that every time she thinks she’s fighting Patrick, she’s fighting Cade. And when Cade and Valencia blame each other for a devastating enchantment that takes both their families, neither of them realizes that they have far more dangerous enemies.

Cowritten by married writing team Anna-Marie and Elliott McLemore, this is a lush and powerful YA novel about owning your power and becoming who you really are - no matter the cost.

You Don't Have a Shot by Racquel Marie A queer YA romance about rival soccer players from author Racquel Marie, perfect for fans of She Drives Me Crazy .

Valentina “Vale” Castillo-Green’s life revolves around soccer. Her friends, her future, and her father’s intense expectations are all wrapped up in the beautiful game. But after she incites a fight during playoffs with her long-time rival, Leticia Ortiz, everything she’s been working toward seems to disappear.

Embarrassed and desperate to be anywhere but home, Vale escapes to her beloved childhood soccer camp for a summer of relaxation and redemption…only to find out that she and the endlessly aggravating Leticia will be co-captaining a team that could play in front of college scouts. But the competition might be stiffer than expected, so unless they can get their rookie team’s act together, this second chance―and any hope of playing college soccer―will slip through Vale’s fingers. When the growing pressure, friendship friction, and her overbearing father push Vale to turn to Leticia for help, what starts off as a shaky alliance of necessity begins to blossom into something more through a shared love of soccer. . . and maybe each other.

The Dos and Donuts of Love by Adiba Jaigirdar A pun-filled YA contemporary romance, The Dos and Donuts of Love by Adiba Jaigirdar finds a teenage girl competing in a televised baking competition, with contestants including her ex-girlfriend and a potential new crush - perfect for fans of The Great British Bake Off and She Drives Me Crazy!

“Welcome to the first ever Junior Irish Baking Show!”

Shireen Malik is still reeling from the breakup with her ex-girlfriend, Chris, when she receives news that she’s been accepted as a contestant on a new televised baking competition show. This is Shireen’s dream come true! Because winning will not only mean prize money, but it will also bring some much-needed attention to You Drive Me Glazy, her parents’ beloved donut shop.

Things get complicated, though, because Chris is also a contestant on the show. Then there’s the very outgoing Niamh, a fellow contestant who is becoming fast friends with Shireen. Things are heating up between them, and not just in the kitchen. As the competition intensifies, Shireen will have to ignore all these factors and more― including potential sabotage―if she wants a sweet victory!

My Dear Henry by Kalynn Bayron In this gothic YA remix of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, a teen boy tries to discover the reason behind his best friend's disappearance—and the arrival of a mysterious and magnetic stranger—in misty Victorian London.

London, 1885. Gabriel Utterson, a 17-year-old law clerk, has returned to London for the first time since his life— and that of his dearest friend, Henry Jekyll—was derailed by a scandal that led to his and Henry's expuslion from the London Medical School. Whispers about the true nature of Gabriel and Henry's relationship have followed the boys for two years, and now Gabriel has a chance to start again. But Gabriel doesn't want to move on, not without Henry. His friend has become distant and cold since the disastrous events of the prior spring, and now his letters have stopped altogether. Desperate to discover what's become of him, Gabriel takes to watching the Jekyll house.

In doing so, Gabriel meets Hyde, a a strangely familiar young man with white hair and a magnetic charisma. He claims to be friends with Henry, and Gabriel can't help but begin to grow jealous at their apparent closeness, especially as Henry continues to act like Gabriel means nothing to him. But the secret behind Henry's apathy is only the first part of a deeper mystery that has begun to coalesce. Monsters of all kinds prowl within the London fog—and not all of them are out for blood...

As You Walk On By by Julian Winters The Breakfast Club meets Can't Hardly Wait with an unforgettable ensemble cast in another swoony YA contemporary from award-winning author Julian Winters!

Seventeen-year-old Theo Wright has it all figured out. His plan (well, more like his dad's plan) is a foolproof strategy that involves exceling at his magnet school, getting scouted by college recruiters, and going to Duke on athletic scholarship. But for now, all Theo wants is a perfect prom night. After his best friend Jay dares Theo to prompose to his crush at Chloe Campbell's party, Theo's ready to throw caution to the wind and take his chances.

But when the promposal goes epically wrong, Theo seeks refuge in an empty bedroom while the party rages on downstairs. Having an existential crisis about who he really is with and without his so-called best friend wasn't on tonight's agenda. Though, as the night goes on, Theo finds he's not as alone as he thinks when, one by one, new classmates join him to avoid who they're supposed be outside the bedroom door. Among them, a familiar acquaintance, a quiet outsider, an old friend, and a new flame . . .

#long post #pride month #lgbtq ya #qtpoc #tbr pile #booklr

[marshmyers]

IF YOU LOVE THE GRAPHIC NOVELS — DID YOU KNOW THAT THERE ARE FENCE ORIGINAL SERIES NOVELS, TOO?!?!

Fence: Striking Distance: It takes a shoplifting scandal, a couple of moonlit forest strolls, several hilariously bad dates, and a whole lot of introspection for the Kings Row fencing team to realize they are stronger together than they could ever be apart. The first installment of this enticing original YA novel series by Sarah Rees Brennan, rich with casual diversity and queer self-discovery, explores never-before-seen drama inspired by C.S. Pacat's critically acclaimed Fence comic series. PURCHASE

Fence: Disarmed: The boys of Kings Row are off to a training camp in Europe! Surrounded impressive scenery and even more impressive European fencing teams, underdog Nicholas can't help but feel out of place. With the help of a local legend, though, he and the rest of the team finds it within themselves to face superior fencers, ex-boyfriends, expulsion, and even Nicholas's golden-boy, secret half-brother, the infamous Jesse Coste. Will Aiden and Harvard end up together, though? En grade! PURCHASE

#yabooks #youngadultbooks #yalit #teenbooks #yabookstagram #graphic novels #fence comic #fence #c.s. pacat #sarah rees brennan #lgbtq ya #lgbt pride #lgbtq romance

[miss-chevious19]

Book Review: Loveless by Alice Oseman

Loveless by Alice Oseman For fans of Love, Simon and I Wish You All the Best, a funny, honest, messy, completely relatable story of a girl who realizes that love can be found in many ways that don’t involve sex or romance. From the marvelous author of Heartstopper comes an exceptional YA novel about discovering that it’s okay if you don’t have sexual or romantic feelings for anyone . . . since…

View On WordPress

#aromantic #asexual #book club #LGBTQ YA #LGBTQ+ #LGBTQ+ Reads #YA lit #Young adult fiction

[flowerbwrites]

I Kissed Shara Wheeler - Casey McQuiston

Let me start with saying, I adored Red, White, and Royal Blue and found One Last Stop not as good. But I still bought and read this book to see if it could recapture some of the sweeping romance of RWRB I loved so much.

Honestly, amazing! I loved it more than I expected, knowing it was a high school book and I’m 25. There’s something about reading it, grieving for all of us who didn’t have a good high school experience, and some closure in reading characters who are supported by each other and their families. There’s a LOT of self discovery explored here and it’s all really well done.

I enjoyed the mystery and the awe inspiring descriptions of Shara Wheeler. The unexpected friendships and unexpected development of some of the characters - honestly, this is the love triangle resolution we’ve all wanted to see play out.

If you weren’t thrilled with One Last Stop, give this one a chance and you won’t be disappointed. It has a range of diverse queer characters and does not shit on queer people who are religious. It does a great job and has some beautiful lines. Casey McQuiston has a way with metaphors that makes me swoon~

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Favorite line: The problem has always been this: When I look at you, I taste lime, and I see light on water.

5/14/2022

#casey mcquiston #i kissed shara wheeler #bookblr #lgbtq books #books #lgbtq romance #queer romance #red white and royal blue #non binary #my thoughts #shara wheeler #chloe green #lgbtq ya #ya #ya books

[kaleidoskuls]

Heartstopper🤍✨

they are couple goals I swear

#my current hyperfixation #it is sooo cute #heartstopper netflix #heartstopper #nick nelson #charlie spring #gay gay gay gay #gay #bisexual #queer couple #lgbtq ya #lgbt #lgbtq #netflix #alice oseman

[readingrobin]

I can always appreciate a story that has the greatest summer vibes, where there's this great sense of freedom and you can reinvent yourself, which this book has in spades. Nima's journey is a crazy one full of family drama, romantic woes, and the utter sparkly whirlwind that is the drag scene. Throughout all that, though, it feels like such a grounded story and it's written in a voice that feels so honest and open. Nima's just a little bit awkward, a little bit guarded, and has just a little smidgen of gay panic when it comes to girls and, yeah same. The book doesn't really have any major rises and falls in terms of plot, it's just a nice character driven story set at an easy steady pace.

And oh my god, Deirdre, Nima's wonderful fairy dragmother is just a delight. Usually I would question the decision of a teenager letting an adult crash on their couch the night they met, but Deirdre gets a pass since she's a ride or die friend. She's such a wonderfully supportive figure who is loud, proud, and everything great in between without being forceful and constantly comes from a place of understanding.

Another thing that usually gives me pause in stories is age gaps between love interests, though I think here it's somewhat tolerable. I don't think we're ever given a definite age for Winnow, Nima's crush, but it's clear that she's older. For me, it never seemed like Winnow was trying to coerce Nima into a relationship, nor was she tapping into a power dynamic and was always checking in with Nima to make sure she was comfortable. There's a moment later in the book where Nima encounters someone a bit more manipulative and yeah, that got a bit too uncomfy for my taste. But, overall, her and Winnow was not the most egregious age gap romance I've encountered.

The book is chockfull of representation, whether through sexuality, gender, ethnicity, it's fairly diverse which made everything feel all the more realistic. It's a book that's a celebration of queer culture and identity, where sure there are moments of homophobia and intolerance, but that all gets drowned out when our characters are easily met with acceptance by so many others.

There are some plot threads that ultimately end up fizzling out in the end, resolving either somewhat quickly without too much focus or are simply not brought up again. The book tries to take on a more realistic tone with this, showing that life is messy and not every part of our lives is going to have a happy ending, but there were a couple of points I wish we got to see get some kind of conclusion.

Ultimately, I would love to put this book into the hands of the younger people of the LGBTQ community, as I definitely needed something like this was I was that age. Just something so full of queer joy and self discovery.

#tbrbusterchallenge2022 #bookbanditchallenge #kings queens and inbetweens #tanya boteju #lgbtq reads #lgbtq ya #reading challenge #reviews

[nita-tyndall]

welp I’m back on tumblr as an author so! quick intro post:

I’m Nita. I’m the author of Who I Was with Her, a sapphic YA about a bisexual cross-country runner whose secret girlfriend dies, and Nothing Sung and Nothing Spoken, about a German girl falling for her best friend while resisting the Nazis during WWII. I write queer, messy books and also translate from German.

Basically if you like messy sapphics, my books are for you.

#ya lit #who I was with her #Nita Tyndall #ya author #lgbtqia #lgbtq ya

[uncarving-the-block]

New hema jacket patches what up

Edit: I added photos of the other side (plus me wearing it) as a rb, fyi to y’all

#hema #the other sleeve is gonna be ‘we are here to awaken from the illusion of our separateness/pride flag/peace is every step’ #ya know just so people dont think im insane #transgender #trans #queer #lgbtq #lgbt #ksbd #k6bd #kill six billion demons

[normalpeoplethiings]

“It was something adults said all the time. “You'll change your mind when you're older. You never know what might happen. You'll feel differently one day.” As if we teenagers knew so little about ourselves that we could wake up one day a completely different person. As if the person we are right now doesn't matter at all.”

- Loveless, Alice Oseman (2020)

#loveless #loveless quotes #alice oseman quotes #asexual #aromantic #aroace #asexuality #aromantism #lgbtqia #queer #alice oseman #ya novels #osemanverse #lgbtq #georgia warr #sunil jha

[thatheathen]

Literal motherfucking genocide!

#suck my fat lady cock ya fascist fucks we told you #we knew it #fuck transphobes #fuck republicans #fuck fascism #fuck terfs #arm trans women #the war on trans people #trans rights #trans rights are human rights #lgbtq community #lgbtq rights

[richincolor]

Belle of the Ball by Mari Costa

A young adult graphic novel about high school wallflower Belle Hawkins, who ends up in a love triangle after tutoring the girlfriend of her crush.

High-school senior and notorious wallflower Hawkins finally works up the courage to remove her mascot mask and ask out her longtime crush: Regina Moreno, head cheerleader, academic overachiever, and all-around popular girl. There’s only one teensy little problem: Regina is already dating Chloe Kitagawa, athletic all-star…and middling English student. Regina sees a perfectly self-serving opportunity here, and asks the smitten Hawkins to tutor Chloe free of charge, knowing Hawkins will do anything to get closer to her.

And while Regina’s plan works at first, she doesn’t realize that Hawkins and Chloe knew each other as kids, when Hawkins went by Belle and wore princess dresses to school every single day. Before long, romance does start to blossom…but not between who you might expect. With Belle of the Ball, cartoonist Mariana Costa has reinvigorated satisfying, reliable tropes into your new favorite teen romantic comedy.

Review: This is going to be a short and sweet review, because there isn't much to say about Belle of the Ball other than -- wow, that was so much fun! But okay, I'll elaborate a bit since this is a review after all, and not a text I'm shooting off to a friend to persuade them to pick up this sweet, funny, and queer coming-of-age graphic novel.

Belle of the Ball follows one Belle Hawkins, who agrees to tutor her crush's girlfriend. Belle is a bit of a wallflower -- she's literally the school mascot, while her crush is a cheerleader. And her crush's girlfriend is a jock, who just so happens to have a history with Belle. Cue romantic shenanigans.

This is a heartfelt and adorable queer teen romcom that you won't regret picking up. You'll end up with a smile on your face.

Recommendation: Get it soon!

#graphic novel #lgbtq ya #ya lit #belle of the ball

[marshmyers]

In this sweet and stylish romance, two lovers turned cosplay rivals go head-to-head for a chance at their dream school . . . and maybe a second chance at love. 

Eli Peterson is a self-taught, up-and-coming makeup artist in the cosplay scene who is barely making ends meet. While they might be slaying it with their breathtaking looks, they're also trying to save enough money for top surgery and convince their parents that their artistic dream is worthwhile. During a convention, Eli hears about Makeup Wars, a competition that could change everything . . . 

The grand prize? A scholarship to Beyond, the best SFX school on the West Coast. The problem? Going head-to-head with the most talented up-and-coming makeup artists in the scene--including rival influencer Zachary Miller, their ex-boyfriend. Eli will have to juggle their makeup brushes, their rekindled feelings for Zach, and their self-doubt in order to win everything they've ever wanted: a chance to chase their dream and a second chance at love.

PURCHASE

#yabooks #youngadultbooks #yabookstagram #teenbooks #yalit #laughing boy books #lgbtq ya #lgbtq books #gay books #queer books #queer lit #queer romance #cosplaying #cosplay #cosplayer

[torteen]

This advertisement is for Infinity Alchemist, a dark academia fantasy about a quest that leads three young alchemists toward dangerous truth, legendary love, and extraordinary power from the bestselling and award-winning author of Felix Ever After, Kacen Callender.

The art featured in this image is by Chris Sack. 

WHAT’S IT ABOUT

Defy All Limits.

For Ash Woods, practicing alchemy is a crime. Only an elite few are legally permitted to study the science of magic—so when Ash is rejected by Lancaster College of Alchemic Science, he takes a job as the school’s groundskeeper instead, forced to learn alchemy in secret. When he’s discovered by the condescending and brilliant apprentice Ramsay Thorne, Ash is sure he's about to be arrested—but instead of calling the reds, Ramsay surprises Ash by making him an offer: Ramsay will keep Ash's secret if he helps her find the legendary Book of Source, a sacred text that gives its reader extraordinary power. As Ash and Ramsay work together and their feelings for each other grow, Ash discovers their mission is more dangerous than he imagined, pitting them against influential and powerful alchemists—Ash’s estranged father included. Ash’s journey takes him through the cities and wilds across New Anglia, forcing him to discover his own definition of true power and how far he and other alchemists will go to seize it.

#Infinity Alchemist #Kacen Callender #Defy All Limits #Tor Teen #Tor Books #Fantasy #YA Fantasy #Dark Fantasy #Dark Academia #LGBTQ romance #Alchemy #Alchemist #Magic School #Booklr #New books #New releases #Tbr #Bookworm #Literature #Bookish

[rayghosts]

jk rowling: wrote a childrens book series in the 2000s about a society of outcasts, which attracted a lot of queer fans because of its themes on acceptance. comes out as transphobic, tweets out "merry terfmas 😘," and proceeds to write a crime novel about a man who disguises himself as a woman to kill people

eoin colfer: wrote a childrens book series in the 2000s that he describes as "die hard but with fairies," which attracted a lot of queer fans because he accidentally gave his male protagonist a feminine name. is confused but supportive of his largely queer fanbase, leaves nice comments on trans artemis fanart, and proceeds to have one of the protagonists in the sequel series marry a ghost princess inhabiting the clone body of her evil uncle, which when she asks if its weird, the protagonist responds with “Maybe people would think you strange back in the olden days, but kids these days don’t care about stuff like insides and outsides matching”

#harry potter #artemis fowl #the fowl twins #jk rowling #eoin colfer #ya literature #lgbtq #lgbt #transgender #mine #1k

[little--leaves]

actually, I like the getting-to-know-each-other stage. where you stay up late just to talk to them. where you ask a ton of questions. where you clearly are smitten by each other but both are too shy to say anything. where you share music and memories with each other. the flirting, the yearning, the silly jokes forming, letting guards down, making plans to meet.

#I actually think it's cute #i kinda miss this but it's okay because I'm cool ya know? #I'M BEING A COOL GIRL 🎶 #wlw #lesbian #sapphic #text post #lgbtq #sapphic yearning #lgbt

[keezybees]

Character-designing the 55-year-old woman of my dreams

(from Hello Sunshine)

#hello sunshine #hello sunshine comic #queer comics #lgbtq comics #comics #graphic novel #ya comics #ya graphic novel #horror comics #comic art #character design