lgbtq

Julian Jackson has lived his whole life in a small town, and now, as the captain of the football team, he is pressured to get scholarships, pursue his dreams, and go to a good college. Then Elijah Vance returns to his town, Elijah was his best friend and teammate.  Will they be able to mend their friendship?

I really liked this story, I enjoyed the plot of the story, and I think its original. This is a heartfelt romance story perfect for those that are looking for happy books to read. I liked how the characters are relatable and face real struggles.  I like the cover of the book, it relates

Meet two rival magician assistants, Jack and Wilhelm. Jack works for the Enchantress, and Wilhelm works for Laszlo. During the Exposition, they both cross paths and form a secret romance. Does the romance between Jack and Wilhelm keep them together? Or does it fall apart? Read more to find out!

I had high expectations for this book, I thought it would be entertaining and romance filled. Thought I think that the book was an okay read, it didn’t really exceed my expectations that much. There was just not anything memorable in this book. I enjoyed the romance between the main characters, but

Two boys named Mateo and Rufus have the rest of the day to do whatever they please to do in the short remainder of their lives. They both want to figure out where their lives go and what they are going to pursue in the future. But when they are told they are going to die today by the Death-cast they become stuck. When they end up finding each other and go on these emotional and adventurous activities together and build a connection. When it comes down to their last moments together will they truly die or not?

This book had me on the tip of my chair and made me keep wanting to read. This

For centuries, time has been controlled by clock towers, but when a tower is broken, time upsets. When a tower is destroyed, time Stops. Clock mechanics are tasked with fixing broken towers, but Stopped cities are unable to be rescued. In Victorian England, Danny Hart, a 17-year-old prodigy mechanic with a traumatic past, fixes clock towers that are victims of mysterious bombings across England while trying to find a way to save his father from a Stopped town. But in the process, he meets someone that most people believe doesn’t even exist: a clock spirit, whose name is Colton.

There is so

Noah Ramirez runs a popular blog called “Meet Cute Diary” where he writes stories of loves stories including trans people. These blogs give many trans people hope for love of their own. But there seems to be one problem for Noah: the stories are fake. He tries to keep this under wraps until someone exposes his stories as fiction. He tries to stage a romance with Drew, his friend, but it quickly turns into something real.

I enjoy that Noah is not a perfect character; he is a teenager that experiences a lot of emotions, mostly bad. This book was an easy read and a light hearted story. I like

June’s daily life revolves around her best friend, Jess. But when June gets sent away to Virginia because of underage drinking, it seems to be the start of a series of bad events for her. While living with her grandmother, she goes through growth, discovery, and learning to be independent.

This story is written nicely. It shows how June changes for the better throughout the book.  The book shows us how June strengthens her relationship with her loved ones, while also learning to surround herself with good people.  I enjoyed how the characters were not perfect, but instead they were

In a world called Asalin, faes are in control of, and rule over witches. A 17-year-old transgender boy named Wyatt Croft is a witch destined to marry the prince of the fae kingdom, Emyr. No longer wanting to be oppressed by his family and the faes, he flees to the human world. When Prince Emyr wants Wyatt to continue the marriage and stop an uprising, Wyatt is hesitant. Wyatt soon becomes tangled in his feelings and desire to stop the revolution.  Will Wyatt fall for Emyr? Will they both stop the uprising? Read more to find out!

I think that it’s nice that there is more diversity and

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, by Benjamin Alire Sáenz, is a realistic fiction novel about Aristotle “Ari” Mendoza. Aristotle is a lonely, angry teenager. He wants to learn more about his brother, who is in prison. And his father, who has become quiet and closed off after returning from war. Once he meets his best friend, Dante, he starts questioning more things than he ever had before.

It’s a really sweet ending, a perfect lead-in to the second book I can’t wait to read. I absolutely love the way this book is written. It’s emotional and relatable to a lot of

Camp is about Randy who wanted to make Hudson, a masculine gay guy, fall in love with him. However, Randy isn't what Hudson's type is, so he turns into "Del" for Hudson. Later on, things get complicated as they both realize that they are not who they really are.

I think the most compelling part is that it is an lgbtq+ book. I also liked it because it had diversity, with trans, non-binary, ace-spectrum, and POC representation. I also liked that it talked about toxic masculinity, gender norms. and other things too.

This book is incredible. A kid struggles to find himself. In the end, he realizes that he just needs to be himself and not be afraid.

I think that the fact that the kid relates to so many people. The kid doesn't know what is happening to him because he grew up thing being gay is bad but in fact, it definitely isn't. When the kid finds who he is it's so peaceful and incredible. I read this in one sitting it was so good!

The gay love story was by far the most compelling. I would say that most of the novel circulates on the trials and tribulations of Charlie coming to terms with who he is and wanting to be in a relationship with a boy.

I signed up for a love story, and I was handed just that. It's everything I wanted without lots of annoying stuff to get in the way. When reading the back cover, this is what I hoped for, and it's exactly what I was given,

The Grief Keeper tells the story of a young girl named Marisol who is trying to immigrate with her younger sister to America after the murder of their brother. She is caught crossing the border and told she must participate in an experimental study, or be sent back home to El Salvador. As part of the study, Marisol becomes a grief keeper, taking upon the grief of Rey, a young woman struggling with mental illness, to ensure she can stay in the country.

The most compelling aspect of the book, in my opinion, was Marisol coming to terms with her sexuality. Throughout the book, Marisol reveals

Freddy is a young teen who is struggling with her friends, her job, and most importantly her relationship. The book makes you feel a connection with these characters very quickly so from the start you’re rooting for your favorite character. I was not disappointed by anything. The art was outstanding and the story was impeccable. I was extremely satisfied by the ending. Hard to imagine a better book.

Do you ever find your self wanting to escape into a different world? Well, that is exactly what happens in this book. High school students Sam and Zoe have existed on two very different platforms, but find themselves more similar than they thought. It all starts with an unexpected encounter that leads the two girls to swap phone numbers, and in their text messages they build up the wonderful Starworld. In Starworld both girls feel free and they share things they never shared with other people. But will this amazing world last? Will feelings get in way of this unexpected friendship?

I really

Kiss Number 8 tells us about all of the kisses that Mads (the main character) has had so far in her life. The book leads up to her kiss number eight. After that, the book continues to tell us how her life dramatically changed after kiss number eight. The most compelling aspect was how after she kissed one of her good friends that was a girl, and all her friends suddenly stopped hanging around her. I was never disappointed, and I thought this book was very good at connecting with teens.

Dino's ex-best friend, July, just died. Or so Dino thinks. Dino's family owns a funeral home, and Dino's family tries to make dead people look like they're peacefully resting in their coffin before their burial. Dino is preparing for July's funeral, putting make-up on her, doing the usual, when suddenly, July bolts upright and starts screaming. She's not dead, but she's not quite alive, either. Dino then learns that July's awakening has made it so that nobody, and I mean nobody, is able to die anymore! This compelling, coming-of-age story about friendship will suck readers into it.

The most

Prince Sebastian has a secret, one no one can ever find out. At night, he wears beautiful dresses and takes Paris by storm as a fashion icon named Lady Crystallia. Only two people know his dangerous secret, and one of them is his best friend, Frances, his dressmaker. But she dreams of greatness as a fashion designer, but as long as she remains a secret, she will never be able to gain recognition for her work. But how long can she put her dreams on hold to protect her friend?

I loved how this book turned around the YA cliche of a girl dressing up as a guy, but I honestly loved everything

What labels define you? Which boxes contain you? No middle ground. No grey. Keep it simple. Describe yourself with categories. Binaries. Either-ors. Extremes.

Once you tell me, do I know you?

Or do you want to say, "Wait, that's not really me. I'm much more complicated and nuanced than that. Those are mere ideas. I'm a person."?

This is the story of two teens who didn't fit nicely into categories. For a short while in 2013-4, they were media sensations. The media loves extremes. All the outsiders kept their definitions of the two simple, imposed their preferred categories, saw only

Once upon a time, not so long ago, a viral Tumblr post fell across the dashboard of an established author. This inspired a search for stories written around the theme: as far as alien species go, humans are strange and weird and wonderful. The result is this collection.

I only rate this three stars (really, three and a half) because the stories don't all resonate with me. There are some exciting adventures: "Sidekick," featuring a kidnaped child and their view of the human that's rescuing them and "The Sound of His Footsteps," which exemplifies why you really want a human if you crash on a

This graphic memoir is a thoughtful examination of a young woman learning hard truths and trying to find love and support as she figures out what to do with them. Nicole Georges has always believed her father died of colon cancer when she was very young. But she suddenly learns as an adult that he never died at all and that the truth had been hidden by her mother her entire life. The title, Calling Dr. Laura, refers to Dr. Laura, one of the most popular talk show hosts in radio history. Nicole calls Dr. Laura hoping to get advice about whether she should confront her mother about the lie. At

Hurricane Harvey in the news raises the relevance of this novel to a category five. The fact that we're bringing Julie Murphy--one of the best contemporary realistic fiction authors in the country--to town for a Meet the Author visit means you must put this book on your radar. I listened to the audio version. It's fantastic. The narrator is a perfect fit for Ramona's voice. Ramona is a high school senior living with her overworked and underpaid father and her nineteen-year-old pregnant sister in a too-small trailer in Eulogy, Mississippi, right off the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. When Ramona

Aristotle is angry. And wondering. And confused. Dante is laid back. And smart. And confused. These two boys, opposites, with nothing in common, begin to spend more time together, becoming fast friends. The friendship that they discover is the kind that has the power to morph and change lives - and lasts a lifetime. And Aristotle becomes sad - then happy. And realizes things. And Dante gets angry - then hurt. And realizes things. This is a remarkable coming-of-age novel about two Mexican-American boys as they battle through the uncertain, calamitous front of life.

Aristotle and Dante

Henry Page has never been in love, and he's fine with it. He's much happier focusing on college and the future, and becoming the newspaper editor at his school. When Grace Town walks into Henry Page's school one day, he practically overlooks her. Were it not for her rather oversized boy's clothes and the cane she walks with, he may have ignored her completely. But their paths cross in the form of the newspaper, and sparks fly, and Henry's about to learn for the first time just how stunning and disastrous love can be.

Honestly, I didn't expect much from this book. I just assumed it would be

Secrets abound in Planetfall. Since establishing a colony on a distant planet, no one has seen the leader of the mission, Suh-Mi, who has gone to live in a strange network of tunnels called God’s City. The protagonist, Renata, believes in the supernatural, but has her doubts about the religion that has formed around the leader’s disappearance into God’s City. A stranger arrives at the colony, but no one knows how he got there. His arrival sets off a chain of events that unravels life in the colony and forces Renata to confront the doubts she has suppressed for too long.

This turned out to

I don’t normally recommend books about elementary school kids to teens, but this is an exception. Especially a book about a hot topic in the news: transgender rights. See Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s recent speech here. From the speech, here's a quote that gets me in the feels:

“Let me also speak directly to the transgender community itself. Some of you have lived freely for decades. Others of you are still wondering how you can possibly live the lives you were born to lead. But no matter how isolated or scared you may feel today, the Department of Justice and the entire Obama

This is the story of Amanda and how she overcomes her past and embraces her new life, learning to live with her father, and making new friends. Amanda has a complicated past that she struggles with and does not want people to know about. There are flashbacks, sprinkled throughout the book, which feature Andrew and his battle with everyday life. Andrew and Amanda are connected in ways that most would not understand, as they are the same person only in different versions. Andrew’s life was not easy and neither will Amanda’s be as she navigates life as a transgendered woman searching to find

The House You Pass on the Way is a short novel--less than 100 pages--but it contains unusual depth and beauty. It's a pre-sexual love story about two fourteen-year-old cousins who don't yet know where they fit in. One girl, Staggerlee, is biracial--black and white. One girl, Trout, is adopted. Both girls are struggling with their budding sexuality. Are they gay? Are they straight? Does it matter? Woodson gracefully captures the confusion these two feel as they explore what it means to grow from girls to women. 

Their intense, platonic relationship reminds me of the two girls in Woodson's

When Alix's girlfriend, Swanee dies, she feels like nothing can get any worse. Until one afternoon, she stumbles upon Swanee's phone, and discovers text messages from a strange number. Alix decides to take initiative and meet with her. It turns out, Swanee was living a secret life with another girl named Liana. Both of them will come together to find peace in her death, and also love.

At first I was excited because I would be reading an LGBTQA novel where the main character didn't have to worry about her sexuality or think of it as a disease or problem. It was about a simple romance

Tiny Cooper is a character in David Levithan's book Will Grayson, Will Grayson. He is flamboyant and emotional, and he spends that novel writing and then performing a musical of his life. Hold Me Closer is that musical, written in theater script format.

David Levithan is one of my favorite authors (Every Day is AMAZING!) I thoroughly enjoyed Will Grayson, Will Grayson. I liked Tiny Cooper in that story - a lot. I enjoyed his flamboyancy and his emotional honesty - "Here I am, love me please!!!" But I struggled with this book, perhaps because I am not a musical person. I could picture some

Following on the heels of the critically-acclaimed Dragon Age: Origins, and its horribly rushed sequel Dragon Age II, Bioware has clearly taken customer feedback to heart and created something wonderful in Inquisition.

To get it out of the way, I'll talk about the flaws first.  I played the PS3 version, (it's also available in other formats) and it was filled with graphical glitches like slow-loading textures and falling through the ground.  The crafting system is cumbersome (if occasionally hilarious/fabulous), my controlled character trudged through battle as if the field were drenched in