Jan 2019 Book of the Month - Poll up - VOTE through Jan 7

[Kaje]

What YA LGBTQ book would you like to read, or do you think members who haven't read it should try, (and those who have read it can discuss), as our BotM for Jan-Feb?

What book made a difference to you, and might to other readers? What sounds interesting, appealing or different that you want to read?

If possible, link the book page on GR and tell us a little about it or why you picked it, or post the blurb.

The titles of past books of the month that we have read are on all the threads in this "Book of the Month" folder, and you can also check with a search of the group's book-of-the-month Bookshelf at - https://www.goodreads.com/group/books... Please do not repeat a book we have read - either as a past Book of the Month or as a Buddy Read (check the Buddy Read folder) - and please only nominate the first book in a series, unless a later book stands alone as a solo read.

Up to two nominations per member. Nominations will be open through Midnight Dec 31, or sooner if we get 12 nominations - the max for voting. Feel free to renominate a book that did not win in a past vote, if it fits this category.

Authors please do not nominate your own books - but readers can definitely nominate a member author's work

Poll is up Here: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

Vote through Jan 7th.

[TJ]

Brave Face

I usually don't like biographies, but I read this one this year and it really impacted me. I related to it so much, and you can just feel that Shaun poured his heart and soul into this novel. It's worth a read. And the author reads the audiobook, which is also phenomenal.

"Shaun David Hutchinson was nineteen. Confused. Struggling to find the vocabulary to understand and accept who he was and how he fit into a community in which he couldn’t see himself. The voice of depression told him that he would never be loved or wanted, while powerful and hurtful messages from society told him that being gay meant love and happiness weren’t for him.

A million moments large and small over the years all came together to convince Shaun that he couldn’t keep going, that he had no future. And so he followed through on trying to make that a reality.

Thankfully Shaun survived, and over time, came to embrace how grateful he is and how to find self-acceptance. In this courageous and deeply honest memoir, Shaun takes readers through the journey of what brought him to the edge, and what has helped him truly believe that it does get better."

Call Down the Hawk

This was one of the best YA books I read this year, and the main protagonist is gay. It's a continuation of the character's story from The Raven Cycle series, but this is a brand new trilogy and it stands on its own. Stiefvater's writing is sooo good. And the Ronan/Adam relationship is one of my personal favorites at the moment.

"Ronan Lynch is a dreamer. He can pull both curiosities and catastrophes out of his dreams and into his compromised reality.

Jordan Hennessy is a thief. The closer she comes to the dream object she is after, the more inextricably she becomes tied to it.

Carmen Farooq-Lane is a hunter. Her brother was a dreamer . . . and a killer. She has seen what dreaming can do to a person. And she has seen the damage that dreamers can do. But that is nothing compared to the destruction that is about to be unleashed. . . ."

[Isaac]

Call Down the Hawk does not stand on its own. If you have not read The Raven Cycle then you will be missing literally all the context - the characters' relationships, the worldbuilding, bits of the story.

I nominate Wonders of the Invisible World by Christopher Barzak, because it's my favourite book of all time. No other book I've read has impacted me as much as Wonders did. It's a story about how when you feel invisible, just one person seeing you can make a difference. It's a story about taking control of your own destiny. It's a story about buried history and family secrets.

"Seventeen-year-old Aidan Lockwood lives in the sleepy farming community of Temperance, Ohio—known for its cattle ranches and not much else. That is until Jarrod, a friend he hasn't seen in five years, moves back to town and opens Aidan's eyes in startling ways: to Aidan's ability to see the spirit world; to the red-bearded specter of Death; to a family curse that has claimed the lives of the Lockwood men one by one…and to the new feelings he has developed for Jarrod."

[TJ]

Isaac wrote: "Call Down the Hawk does not stand on its own. If you have not read The Raven Cycle then you will be missing literally all the context - the characters' relationships, the worldbuilding, bits of the..."

While I agree with you, the author has said it can be read on its own, so that's why I suggested it anyways. I definitely think one should start with The Raven Cycle though, personally.

[Kaje]

I think I'm going to take a pass on Call Down the Hawk, because reading through the reviews, I see everyone referencing the original series, and we don't do books that need that kind of context. It suggests the author may have been a bit optimistic in it as a stand alone.

You could, however, nominate the first of The Raven Cycle, assuming sufficient LGBTQ content. I don't think we ever read that as a BotM. I have never read it.

[Isaac]

Unfortunately, The Raven Boys does not have any LGBT+ content in it, and the gay character is a side-character in that book. So it doesn't qualify. The second book is basically entirely his though, and majorly focused on his sexuality.

[Kaje]

Poll is up Here: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

Vote through Jan 7th.