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books i read on 2016- everything leads to you by nina lacour

if only you could talk to girls in equations. just girls? no. not just girls.

WLW BOOKS: (part one)

Some stellar under-hyped f/f and m/m romance books holla

Annie On My Mind by  Nancy Garden 

F/F 

Own voice

Stellar classic

Happy ending

My very brief review

One Man Guy by Michael Barakiva

M/M

Own voice

Armenian mc

Super cute like wow so wonderful

Happy ending

The Summer I Wasn’t Me by Jessica Verdi

F/F

Own voice

Happy ending

Trigger warnings

Homophobia

Conversion therapy

Sexual abuse (not to mc)

My review

Black Iris by Elliot Wake (w/a Leah Raeder)

F/F

Mentally ill mc

Own voice (author ID’s as queer and mc doesn’t completely ID as a lesbian, and author drew mental illness aspects from his own experience with bipolar disorder)

Happy ending

Trigger warnings

Homophobia

Lesbophobia

Suicide

Physical assault

Content warnings

Sexual content

Drug use

Almost Like Being In Love by Steve Kluger

M/M romance

Own voice

Told through multimedia and narrative

So freaking cute oh my 

Proxy by Alex London

M/M romance

Gay mc

Black mc

Own voice (sexuality)

First in duology, open ending in second book

Hotline by Quinn Anderson

M/M romance

Happy ending

My review

Content warning

Sexual content

Beauty of the Broken by Tawni Waters

F/F romance

Native American side character, possibly asexual

Open ending, not happy

Trigger warnings

Self harm

Rape

Homophobia

Abuse

Ableism 

Under the Lights by Dahlia Adler

F/F romance

Own voice

Bisexual love interest

Asian mc

Such happy ending

My review

Second in a duology but you don’t need to read the first

Content warning

YA Novels with LGBTQIA protagonists, who are also characters of colour.

To add some more diversity to our posts and recommendations, we’ve decided to bring some attention to some novels which include both a lgbtqia character who are also a character of colour and the main protagonist of the story. We haven’t personally read all of them, but many are on my wishlist. I have heard nothing but good things about most of these reads though.

Huntress by Malinda Lo

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz

The House You Pass On The Way by Jacqueline Woodson

Otherbound by Corinne Duyvis

If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan

Tell Me Again How A Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan

Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley

Vanished by E.E. Cooper

Not Otherwise Specified by Hannah Moskowitz

THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS - Marieke Nijkamp: An intense contemporary about a school shooting. (Jan 2016, Sourcebooks Fire) 

ON THE EDGE OF GONE - Corinne Duyvis: An exciting sci-fi about humanity having to colonize a new planet after a comet hits Earth. (Mar 2016, Amulet Books) 

GENA/FINN - Hannah Moskowitz & Kat Helgeson: Told in blog posts, texts, and chats, two girls bond over message boards and fan fiction. (May 16th 2016, Chronicle)

RUN - Kody Keplinger: A delightfully queer contemporary about friendship that you don’t want to miss. (Jun 2016, Scholastic Press) 

LOVE AND FIRST SIGHT - Josh Sundquist: A contemporary with a blind protagonist whose eyesight gets restored but has been told lies about his crush’s looks. (Jan 2017, Little, Brown Books) 

UNFOLDING - Jonathan Friesen: A mystery with a protagonist that has frequent seizures. (Jan 2017, Blink)

UNDER ROSE-TAINTED SKIES - Louise Gornall: A house-bound agoraphobic girl falls for her next-door neighbour. (Jan 2017, Clarion) 

QUEENS OF GEEK - Jen Wilde: A queer contemporary set at comic con. (Mar 2017, Swoon Reads) 

THE SHIP BEYOND TIME - Heidi Heilig: The sequel to THE GIRL FROM EVERYWHERE, a fantastically diverse time travel high fantasy with pirates! (Mar 2017, Greenwillow Books) 

GIRL OUT OF WATER - Laura Silverman: A coming-of-age novel in the wake of a tragedy. (May 2017, Sourcebooks Fire)

not pictured:

WONDER WOMAN: WARBRINGER - Leigh Bardugo: More adventures from Wonder Woman, this time YA style! (Aug 2017, Random House)

THE STATE OF GRACE - Rachael Lucas: This one features a teen with Asperger’s. (April 2017, Macmillan Children’s Books) 

27 HOURS - Tristina Wright: A queer sci-fi set in space. (Oct 2017, Entangled: Teen) 

GRAY WOLF ISLAND - Tracey Neithercott: Five teens are looking for a treasure on an island. (2017, Knopf Books for Young Readers) 

THE GIRL WITH THE RED BALLOON - Katherine Locke: Time travel and magic in 1988 East Berlin. (2017, Albert Whitman) 

FLOWERS OF LUNA - Jennifer Linsky: A sapphic sci-fi romance involving mining ships in space. (2017, KDP)

Every month through 2016 I have been giving away a science fiction or fantasy book that showcases diversity in some form, preferably in multiple forms. All books included are books that I have enjoyed reading.

December brings us to the final month of the giveaway. I have been waiting all year for this book to be re-released in paperback so that I can include it. December’s giveaway is the fantastic Pantomime (UK link, US link) by Laura Lam aka @lauraroselam.

Gene was raised as girl despite having both male and female genitalia. Now she is a teenager, her parents want her to get surgery to “fix” her and make her a proper young lady. She runs away dressed as a boy, reinvents herself as Micah Grey, and experiences the male side of herself for the first time. As Micah, he joins a circus and starts to uncover the magic that has been hidden inside him.

Diversity showcased: intersex, genderqueer, bisexual protagonist. Other LGBT characters.

As a thank you for the incredible amount of cover love y'all have shown, here’s a little something: http://www.fluxnow.com/abyss2/

Cover Reveal: THE EDGE OF THE ABYSS

Three weeks have passed since Cassandra Leung pledged her allegiance to the ruthless pirate-queen Santa Elena and set free Bao, the sea monster Reckoner she’d been forced to train. The days as a pirate trainee are long and grueling, but it’s not the physical pain that Cas dreads most. It’s being forced to work with Swift, the pirate girl who broke her heart. But Cas has even bigger problems when she discovers that Bao is not the only monster swimming free. Other Reckoners illegally sold to pirates have escaped their captors and are taking the NeoPacific by storm, attacking ships at random and ruining the ocean ecosystem. As a Reckoner trainer, Cas might be the only one who can stop them. But how can she take up arms against creatures she used to care for and protect? Will Cas embrace the murky morals that life as a pirate brings or perish in the dark waters of the NeoPacific?

Don’t forget to check out YA Interrobang for a chance to win an ARC of THE EDGE OF THE ABYSS (+ a copy of THE ABYSS SURROUNDS US!) 

And oh yeah, THE EDGE OF THE ABYSS drops on APRIL 18TH, 2017.

9 Christmas themed wlw book recommendations!

Sylvie and the Christmas Ghost by Foxglove Lee

Do You Feel What I Feel: A Holiday Anthology

Christmas Crush by Kate McLachlan

Season’s Meetings by Amy Dunne

Mistletoe by Lyn Gardner

Ruth Gogoll’s Christmas Carol by Ruth M. Gogoll

All I Want For Christmas by Clare Lydon

Unwrap These Presents anthology

Gingerbread Hearts anthology

We’re super(hero) grateful to see CB Lee’s upcoming Not Your Sidekick make this list of Barnes & Noble’s most anticipated LGBTQYA books for fall 2016!

And should we announce it? Okay, we will…