YA LGBT Books discussion
Book Related Banter
>
What YA Friendly Book Are You Currently Reading?
I'm currently about halfway through Hey, Joe by Ben Neihart, and it's one of the better books I've read lately. I also just finished Still Life Las Vegas by James Sie, also pretty decent. Just waiting now for a string of new books coming out in May.
Cueently reading "The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley" by Shaun David Hutchinson. Very good so far; on page 71.
Glen wrote: "Cueently reading "The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley" by Shaun David Hutchinson. Very good so far; on page 71."Good to know - I'm supposed to be reading that for an online book group. I should get started :)
I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Glen wrote: "I don't think you'll be disappointed."Cool - I was impressed by We Are the Ants so I know I like his writing style.
Kaje wrote: "...Good to know - I'm supposed to be reading that for an online book group...."
Five Stages was really good; it almost broke into my elusive 5-Star-Favorites club, but I was left wanting an epilogue so it just missed the mark.
That said it needs a trigger warning: character death (view spoiler).
I still need to read At the Edge of the Universe, and I'm anticipating his and Tim Floreen's parts in Feral Youth.
I'm currently reading At the Edge of the Universe by Shaun David Hutchinson. I love how his novels have a science fiction twist to them. Also, I am reading The Inexplicable Logic of My Life by Benjamin Alire Sáenz. His books are so lovely.
I just finished Wallaçonia
- I picked it up to see if there was too much sex for it to be a BotM nominee. (There isn't - some very mild, sketchily described, sex-definitely-as-plot, ironically the most complete scene is M/F). I thought this was very well done - The author uses an initially convoluted style and a breathless claustrophobia to the opening narrative that fits the space Jim finds himself in. He has a folder of photos of nearly-naked young men on his computer that he calls examples, inspiration, role models, ideals - anything but what they truly are. He tells himself that he wants to be like them, to have platonic friendships with them. Sometimes he knows how much of a lie that is, but much of the time he can half-convince himself. He has a girlfriend, Liz, who is the closest person in his life, and he's going to have sex with her, any day now. And once he does, surely he'll be normal. Or at least bi. Not... the other thing.
Indecisive, self-absorbed, and yet self-deprecating and afraid, Jim is a hot mess. The narrative simplifies, as Jim gains clarity. Watching him slowly, through this book, walk a path of pitfalls and mistakes on the way to finding himself, is painfully real.
Glad you enjoyed Thr Five Stages of Andrew Brawley, Kaji. Now I'm reading Undivided by Neal Shusterman. Very good novel.
Just finished Flipping for Him by Jeff Adams. Really enjoyed it.
I just finished All You Need Is Love...I wasn't a huge fan, but if there are readers looking for a 1960s gay YA romance, this might tickle your fancy.
I really enjoyed The God Box - I like Sanchez's writing style. And a good story with a lesbian MC is always welcome.
Junior Hero Blues was really fun.
Definitely worth reading.
I just finished an advance copy of Robin Reardon's upcoming Waiting for Walker
with an intersex MC. A good read, with a lot going on in the story.
Two chapters left in the book Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe it is really good! :)
Chxrimxr wrote: "Two chapters left in the book Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe it is really good! :)"That's one of my very favorites - slow and subtle and lovely, about growing up and discovering family adults are fallible and real, and figuring out who you are. <3
As far as I know, there is no LGBTQ content, but I am delighted to finally have a new Megan Whelan Turner in my hands - starting Thick as Thieves
(Not the very-adult M/M of the same title.) Looking forward to this for a long time - her World of the Queen's Thief Collection: The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, The King of Attolia, A Conspiracy of Kings, Thick as Thieves series ranks as an all-time YA favorite (for older YA after the first book, due to mature themes)
Kaje wrote: "As far as I know, there is no LGBTQ content, but I am delighted to finally have a new Megan Whelan Turner in my hands - starting Thick as Thieves ..."Between the combination of Kaje enthusiasm and the blurbs for the full collection I went ahead and bought them all. However, the AMZ link on the GR page for the collection is broken.
Here's the one that got me there:
https://www.amazon.com/World-Queens-T...
Eric
Although I'm not currently reading them, I will probably do so again later this year: the Magic's Pawn/Promise/Price (right order?) series by Mercedes Lackey. I personally consider these three suitable for YA readers, as there may be some onstage sex...can't recall for sure at the moment...but it's of the mild variety.In fact, I think all of her Valdemar books would qualify as YA (not so much the collections with other people writing stories), and there are same-sex couples scattered throughout, though the Magic series is, I think, the only one where the MCs are gay.
Just my USD .02.
Eric
Those books hit the radar for a lot of our older members, often mentioned as the first time they read a book where a gay MC was just a typical book hero, without it being a huge deal, and with a happy ending. I loved them when they first came out, and IMO they are YA.
I have a couple books I'm reading right now. The one I'm reading at night: The Darkest Part of the Forest
. The one I'm reading during slow desk hours at work: The raven Prince
The one I'm reading for myself: Idiot's Guide to Going Back to College
(Yeah, I know, that last one isn't a YA book, but personal advancement is something that should be universal and celebrated)
Are you thinking about more education Rez? Or just curious?
I'm trying to go back and finish at least one of my Bachelor degrees (interdisciplinary majors like my Medieval Studies tend to have a lot of gaps in scheduling, so one ends up taking a lot of different courses to fill units to qualify as a full-time student).Or I might just leave that in the past and pick up a creative writing degree.
After that, or maybe concurrently, I want to get my Masters of Information and Library Science.
My issue right now, is getting motivated to pick a course of action, thus the reading.
Lots of fun choices there - I hope it helps your planning.
Rez wrote: "I have a couple books I'm reading right now. The one I'm reading at night: The Darkest Part of the Forest
. The one I'm reading..."
I have been eyeballing "the darkest part of the forest" cor awhile now. Is it good?
Omg I loved that one. Very gay. 10/10
I just posted a video on my youtube channel where I talk about all the gay contemporary books I own (27 books in this video!) and I'm also planning on doing a part two, where I talk about all the books with secondary gay characters or where sexuality isn't the main focus, so if anyone is looking for recommendations check it out! (All but the last three books I talk about are YA friendly, and I mention in the video when the books are adult)
https://youtu.be/5e8ftNlWljg
I'm also doing videos about gay film and tv so if that interests anyone I'll post them up in here somewhere when they are up!
I just finished a new release, Perfect Ten.Not everyone is going to love this one, but it landed on my 5-Star Favorites list (which is notoriously hard). It's almost like the book was written for a younger me: the MC is a writer, his bestie is Wiccan, and his other bestie is an ex.
If you liked Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and The Great American Whatever, you'll probably like this one too. The characters are flawed and have an understandable penchant for hormone driven teenager logic (which a lot of people don't like in a story, but I love it because it makes the realism flesh out better, IMO). There is heartbreak abundant as the story comes to the plot climax. And just a small trigger warning: (view spoiler)
I'm currently reading a quirky series I just found (and it's Kindle Unlimited) that is technically sci-fi but more of a humorous adventure tale of a disparate group of adolescent and "young adult" (you'll understand why that's in quotes when you read it) individuals who are building a family together. Suddenly: Shanghaied!
Suddenly: Sabotaged!
It's by an author who's already on the shelves, Rose Christo. Right now I'm only 95% sure there are no detailed sex scenes. I skimmed the end and didn't see anything, but I'm still reading the book. And yes, I have terrible reading habits, don't judge me.
Wow, that sounds different from Rose Christo's books that I've read which ran to serious themes. I'll have to take a look.
Rez wrote: "I just finished a new release, Perfect Ten.Not everyone is going to love this one, but it landed on my 5-Star Favorites list (which is notoriously hard). It's almost like the book ..."
On the TBRs, thank you :) An interesting mix of reviews for that - seems to depend on liking or disliking certain styles and tropes...
Kaje wrote: "Wow, that sounds different from Rose Christo's books that I've read which ran to serious themes. I'll have to take a look."Yes, the setting was certainly different from the realistic seriousness of the Gives Light series, but I think Christo's usual themes are still prevalent. At first it was a little bit silly in a Pipi Longstocking kind of way. But her characters are more complex than they first seem. The writing is solid and she is still writing about her usual issues: being different from the norm, loss, grief, homophobia, building non-blood-related family. So this story style is probably not for everyone but obviously I've fallen in love with them.
Meghan wrote: "I'm currently reading a quirky series I just found (and it's Kindle Unlimited) that is technically sci-fi but more of a humorous adventure tale of a disparate group of adolescent and "young adult" ..."I read the first one and couldn't figure out how I felt about it. I ultimately decided not to continue to the second one. It was...good? But not good? It felt as is she was pulling story ideas out of a hat and trying to write a story based around them. Plus the characters felt so much like the ones from Gives Light, I started thinking it was them putting on a play without a script - which would've made a lot more sense, lol.
I just finished listening to If I Was Your Girl on audiobook. The narration was really well done with excellent southern accents I thought (and I did grow up in the south). Also there was a note from the author at the end of the audiobook read by herself indicating that she knew that how she wrote some things (view spoiler) but also told why she chose to do those things. I liked that. The end was a tiny bit dangling but overall a very enjoyable read/listen.
Good to know - YA in audio is still a limited list, and a bad narration can alter a good book (especially if they'd got the accents wrong.) Thanks for recommending this one.
I found another audiobook available from my library that I am listening to now which is also YA and good so far... None of the Above
Tully wrote: "I found another audiobook available from my library that I am listening to now which is also YA and good so far... None of the Above"I LOVED that book!
I'm doing a reread of Vivaldi in the Dark - a favorite about loving someone who has major depression, very real, but also fun and sometimes sweet along with the stresses.
Jay Bell has released a YA-friendly version of Something Like Summer: School Edition with the explicit stuff removed.
Linda ~ chock full of hoot, just a little bit of nanny ~ wrote: "Jay Bell has released a YA-friendly version of Something Like Summer: School Edition with the explicit stuff removed."That's great - the book is often listed as YA, but the original was pretty explicit. With the movie in the works, it's good to have a YA version too. (Not sure where the movie will be positioned.)
Kaje wrote: "Not sure where the movie will be positioned."I'm not sure either... Blue Seraph's other films were kinda high on the maturity scale. But all the promotional material is pointing in the direction of a PG-13 rating, so I'm hopeful that it lands in the teen-friendly zone.
I just finished Looking for Group
by Alexis Hall. This is the only YA story I know from this excellent author of adult M/M.It's very deeply tied into RPGs and a fair bit of on page time is spent in the game play, with conversations as text of various forms, and action consisting of taking out game bosses and collecting rewards, and developing friendship connections through the game.
Since the closest I've come to RPGs is watching my family members play Oblivion, and since I also insist on being able to read a book from context, without looking stuff up on the fly, this story and I were a bit of a mismatch. But I love Alexis Hall's writing, so I went for it.
It worked. Just.
If you're a game-player, I think this story might be smooth sailing and much more fun. I did enjoy watching a guy who prided himself on his game-to-real-life balance, falling for another guy he met first as an elf maiden in a game. For me, appreciating it took not insisting on deciphering every part of the game play, and mining the story out from around those details. For others, the details are no doubt part of the charm. This is a sweet, no-sex story about falling for who someone is inside, not outside. About how and when to draw distinctions between friends you talk to in life and friends you chat with online. Or not. I enjoyed Drew's good hearted fumbling toward romance, and Kit's shy self-awareness.
I recently read The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee. I may have cried a bit. Or a lot a bit. The book is an lgbt+ historical fiction and it deals with really heavy topics like mental illness/physical disabilites, the treatment of people of color at the time, and realizing your privilege. The main character, Monty, has a fantastic development over the course of the novel. He is gay and hopelessly in love with his best friend, Percy. I cry over how adorable and oblivious they are. Also, Monty's sister, Felicity, is ace and will be getting a sequel all through her point of view. I loved this novel so much and I highly recommend it to everyone.
Good to know - it's been sitting on my TBRs. Will have to move it up.Would you consider this more YA (not erotic) or NA (on page sex content)? I can't tell from reviews.
Kaje wrote: "Good to know - it's been sitting on my TBRs. Will have to move it up.Would you consider this more YA (not erotic) or NA (on page sex content)? I can't tell from reviews."
Well how 'bout that, the community questions section was actually helpful for once:
https://www.goodreads.com/questions/1...
Not sure if this is super 'YA friendly' as it can be (a little bit?) graphic. But it's a coming-of-age and the narrator is a seventeen year old boy. I'm currently reading Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman. The movie is coming out soon and it's also getting positive reviews from critics (heard it was a strong contender for the oscars). The hype is real. But it is also controversial; being debated between those who like it and those who loathe it. I'm not yet done with the book. I'm halfway there and so far, it's great. The emotions of the narrator is so vivid and well described by the author, I could almost feel it. The ending will surely wreck me.
I just finished
Star-Crossed by Barbara Dee and it was SO CUTE! Bisexual girl main character! A very positive, feel-good pageturner, I found.It's technically more middle-grade than YA (takes place in junior high) but I think the main character is 13. And I'm 29 and loved it. :P
YA LGBT Books
Books mentioned in this topic
The Wicked Bargain (other topics)The Wicked Bargain (other topics)
Into the Deep (other topics)
Blue Flag, Vol. 1 (other topics)
My Love Mix-Up!, Vol. 1 (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Zaya Feli (other topics)Kevin van Whye (other topics)
Marco Donati (other topics)
Simon James Green (other topics)
Cale Dietrich (other topics)
More...
Something like Summer disappointed me too. That was the most BS ending I've read in a long time. That said, I did really enjoy Winter and came to appreciate Tim more - though not enough to make up for the way Summer ended.