Archives de catégorie : LGBT+

WANDERLUST de Rachel Lynn Solomon

A senior year trip to Europe holds romantic surprises for two best friends in this sweet and swoony YA novel from a beloved New York Times bestselling author.

WANDERLUST
by Rachel Lynn Solomon
Simon & Schuster BYR, Spring 2026
(via Sterling Lord Literistic)

A Young Adult romantic comedy about best friends who vow to lose their virginities on a spring break trip to Europe, ideally to their respective crushes—a plan complicated by their growing feelings for each other.

Rachel Lynn Solomon is the New York Times bestselling author of The Ex Talk, Today Tonight Tomorrow, and other romantic comedies for teens and adults. Originally from Seattle, she is currently navigating expat life with her husband in Amsterdam, where she can often be found exploring the city, collecting stationery, and working up the courage to knit her first sweater.

JUST SHY OF ORDINARY d’A. J. Sass

In this heartfelt novel about family, friendship, and identity perfect for fans of The List of Things That Will Not Change and Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World, a thirteen-year-old nonbinary kid discovers that life doesn’t always go according to plan—especially when they start public school for the first time.

JUST SHY OF ORDINARY
by A. J. Sass
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, January 2024
(via JABberwocky Literary Agency)

Thirteen-year-old Shai is an expert problem-solver. There’s never been something they couldn’t research and figure out on their own. But there’s one thing Shai hasn’t been able to logic their way through: picking at the hair on their arms.

Ever since their mom lost her job, the two had to move in with family friends, and the world went into pandemic lockdown, Shai’s been unable to control their picking. Now, as the difficult times recede and everyone begins to discover their “new normal,” Shai’s hoping the stress that caused their picking will end, too.

After reading that a routine can reduce anxiety, Shai makes a plan to create a brand new normal for themself that includes going to public school. But when their academic evaluation places them into 9th grade instead of 8th, it sets off a chain of events that veer off the path Shai had prepared for, encouraging Shai to learn how to accept life’s twists and turns, especially when you can’t plan for them.

“Via sensitive depictions of Shai’s skin picking, as well as sincere prose that yields richly developed characters, relationships, and interactions, Sass captures the tension and dread of grappling with a hidden illness during a tumultuous transition. » —Publishers Weekly, STARRED Review

“Shai’s struggles with identity, anxiety, first love, and faith will resonate with middle grade and young adult readers. » —School Library Journal

“Sass writes about intersectionality with plainspoken authenticity and normalizes asking for (and accepting) help from loved ones… An empathetic portrayal of multifaceted identities and the challenges of facing change. » —Booklist

“Shai’s tenderhearted first-person voice will keep readers rooting for them until the book’s final pages. Moving and memorable.” —Kirkus Reviews

“While Sass tackles several heavy subjects in this affecting novel, readers remain hopeful as Shai comes out of each trial a stronger person. » —Horn Book Review

“This is a nuanced, empathetic novel packed with the ups and downs of school and home life.” —Jewish Book Council

A. J. Sass (he/they) is the author of the ALA Rainbow Book List Top 10 titles Ellen Outside the Lines, which was also a Sydney Taylor Honor Book, and Ana on the Edge, as well as Camp QUILTBAG (co-written with Nicole Melleby). He grew up in the Midwest and South, spending many of his summers with his family enjoying the beautiful Northwoods lakes and scenery in Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his husband and two cats who act like dogs.

LION’S LEGACY de L.C. Rosen

Against the backdrop of a sunlit Greek landscape, author L. C. Rosen masterfully weaves together adventure, romance, and magic in a celebration of the power of claiming your queer legacy.

LION’S LEGACY
(Tennessee Russo Book 1)
by L.C. Rosen
Union Square & Co., May 2023
(via David Black Literary)

Seventeen-year-old Tennessee Russo’s life is imploding. His boyfriend has been cheating on him, and all his friends know about it. Worse, they expect him to just accept his ex’s new relationship and make nice. So when his father, a famous archaeologist and reality show celebrity whom he hasn’t seen in two years, shows up unexpectedly and offers to take him on an adventure, Tennessee only has a few choices:

1. Stay, mope, regret it forever.
2. Go, try to reconcile with Dad, become his sidekick again.
3. Go, but make it his adventure, and Dad will be the sidekick.

The object of his father’s latest quest, the Rings of the Sacred Band of Thebes, is too enticing to say no to. Finding artifacts related to the troop of ancient Greek soldiers, composed of one-hundred-and-fifty gay couples, means navigating ruins, deciphering ancient mysteries, and maybe meeting a cute boy.

But will his dad let Tennessee do the right thing with the rings if they find them? And what is the right thing? Who does queer history belong to?

KING’S LEGACY, Book 2 in the Tennessee Russo series, will be published April 1, 2025.

A New York Public Library Best Book of 2023
Booklist Editors’ Choice 2023: Books for Youth

“Flirtatious friendships and a fun summer romance, Indiana Jones-esque booby traps, and the logistics of filming reality TV mesh seamlessly with heavier discussions of rightful ownership of historical artifacts, erasure of queer history, and the power of an actual apology. Rosen emphasizes the importance between connecting the historical existence and contributions of queer people to the queer community in the present and includes many small tidbits of queer history throughout . . . . [A]ction-packed and illuminative.” —Booklist, starred review

“Rosen has balanced a thrilling adventure with a flirtatious queer romance, while highlighting moments from history most won’t learn about in school and discussing what responsible archeology entails. While the magic rings are not real, the Sacred Band of Thebes was, and readers who enjoy Greek mythology and history will be riveted by this adventure . . . . A page-turning action-adventure that highlights the importance of reclaiming queer history and culture.—School Library Journal

“This action-packed adventure inspired by history and legend engages in a conflict-driven exploration of the ethics of archaeology. Tennessee grapples with tangled emotions about his relationship with his father, his longing for community, and what it means to be in love . . . . An entertaining, emotional rush tackling critical subjects.” —Kirkus Reviews

“[G]ripping series kickoff from Rosen (Lavender House) that’s both thrilling escapade and simmering romance . . . . Through Ten and Leo’s visits to a museum of queer history and culture, and the meticulous detail with which the author recounts underreported events in Grecian history, Rosen makes an insistent case for recognizing and teaching LGBTQ history and understanding legacy.” —Publishers Weekly

Lev AC Rosen writes books for people of all ages, including the Evander Mills series, which began with the Macavity Award winning Lavender House, and continues with The Bell in the Fog. His most recent young adult novels are Emmett, Lion’s Legacy, and Camp. Rosen’s books have been nominated for Anthony and Lambda Awards and have been selected for Best of lists from The Today Show, Amazon, Library Journal, Buzzfeed, Autostraddle, Forbes, and many others. He lives in NYC with his husband and a very small cat. 

ALL THE TRUTH I CAN STAND de Mason Stokes

A gay teenager in 1990s Wyoming must contend with the violent loss of a loved one in this historical YA novel that draws from the tragic murder of Matthew Shepard in 1998.

ALL THE TRUTH I CAN STAND
by Mason Stokes
Publisher, November 2024
(via KT Literary)

Juniper, Wyoming, high school student Ash is still reeling from his mother’s death and ostracization by his friends when his father signs him up to join the crew for a college production of Oklahoma! Ash is slowly drawn out of his shell by student reporter Jenna and the star of the show, Shane, with whom a romance slowly blooms. Shane is talented, sensitive, and magnetic, but also deeply troubled. When Shane is found brutally beaten and unconscious, Jenna and Ash are shattered. And after Shane dies, they watch his death become a rallying point for gay rights advocates, and they wonder what the full story is and if they truly knew Shane at all.

ALL THE TRUTH I CAN STAND is a heartbreaking exploration of grief and legacy, and details the good and the bad that can come to pass when an imperfect person is made into a symbol.

YA debut author Mason Stokes is a professor of English at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, where he teaches African American literature and queer fiction. In addition to his scholarly writing, Stokes is the author of the adult novel Saving Julian and the personal essay “Namesake,” which was selected by Jonathan Franzen for inclusion in the 2016 edition of Best American Essays.

DAUGHTERS OF CHAOS de Jen Fawkes

A spellbinding story about a renowned Nashville brothel during the Civil War, a centuries-old secret society, and the earth-shaking power of women—charged with suspense, mystery, and sapphic romance.

DAUGHTERS OF CHAOS
by Jen Fawkes
The Overlook Press, July 2024

The year is 1862, and the United States Civil War is in full force. After a harrowing tragedy at home, 19-year-old Sylvie Swift finds herself living in a brothel in Nashville, the Union headquarters, a river city overflowing with soldiers, commanders, politicians, and powerful men––and powerful women. Targeted by a Union colonel and trained to be a spy against suspected Confederate secret societies, Sylvie suddenly finds herself neck-deep in an underground world she never expected: Also at work in Nashville is a centuries-old feminist cult populated by the women Sylvie thought she knew, including Hannah, a revolutionary with whom Sylvie falls headfirst into a heart-wrenching romance. She soon becomes entwined in the lives of the Daughters of Chaos, steadfast in their centuries-long mission to confront and eradicate the injustices enacted by the men who think they’re in charge.

Inspired both by Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, about women who strategically withhold sex from their warring men, and by the true story of Nashville’s attempt to ban its “public women” during wartime, DAUGHTERS OF CHAOS journeys through Ancient Greece, the Renaissance, and American history as Sylvie navigates the complex mythology of this secret world of women against the backdrop of a transformative American conflict.

Jen Fawkes is the author of Mannequin and Wife, a 2020 Shirley Jackson Award Nominee, winner of the 2023 Phillip H. McMath Post-Publication Book Award, and Foreword INDIES gold medalist. Her collection Tales the Devil Told Me was a Foreword INDIES silver medal recipient, Largehearted Boy Favorite Collection of 2021, and finalist for the 2022 World Fantasy Award for Single-Author Story Collection. Her fiction won the 2021 Porter Fund Literary Prize and has appeared in One Story, Lit Hub, The Iowa Review, Crazyhorse, Best Small Fictions, and more. A two-time finalist for the Calvino Prize for fabulist fiction, Jen lives in Little Rock, Arkansas.