Tag Archives: bisexual

Uncategorized

Under the Gaydar: Bad Girls Edition

3 Comments

“Under the Gaydar” features books you might not realize have queer content but should definitely have on your radar. This edition is all about some great “bad girls” in YA who, in addition to loving lying, petty crime, bullying, and more, also quite love the ladies. (Or at least one lady!)

Depositphotos_40057967_s-2015

Winning by Lara Zeises Deloza – Mean Girls meets Election, with multiple POVs, including Sam, best friend to the Regina George-esque lead, who’s easily manipulated into helping her BFF get on top… or is she?  (my convoluted little review here)

Trust Me, I’m Trouble by Mary Elizabeth Summer – The second in a series about a teen girl con artist sees her going from a male love interest in book 1 to a female love interest in book 2, and it does so with zero sexuality angst while also not ignoring that sexual angst about your first time having feelings for someone of another gender can be a Thing. This series is so voice-y and fabulous and these girls are hands-down one of my favorite YA pairings ever. I ship it so hard, and so will you.

Underneath Everything by Marcy Beller Paul – Uggghhhh homoerotic toxic friendship novels are my crack, and Mattie and Jolene in this one are basically, like, “Match, meet gasoline. I think you guys are gonna hit it off super well.” Don’t go in thinking this is a Romance – it isn’t – but when I say “Homoerotic toxic friendship novel” I mean every single one of those words to the max.

Suicide Notes From Beautiful Girls by Lynn Weingarten – My thoughts on this one are similar to Underneath Everything, but whereas UE is sort of dreamily lyrical and introspective, SNFBG is rife with plot twistiness, and I still think about that ending and wish I were in a book club just so I could discuss it with other people.

Vanished by E.E. Cooper – Kalah isn’t really a bad girl, per se, but she’s gone ahead and fallen for one, who also happens to be one of her best friends…who also happens to be missing. There’s a whole web of lies and twists, and all that’s cool, but the best part of this book is Kalah herself, how she comes into her own sexuality, and finally seeing some intersectional diversity in “cool girl” YA.

Backlist Book of the Month

Backlist Book of the Month: Not Otherwise Specified by Hannah Moskowitz

Leave a comment

Every month, the site will feature an LGTBQIAP+ read that’s over a year old, as part of a “Backlist Book of the Month” feature. I’m excited to kick it off with one of my personal favorites, Not Otherwise Specified by Hannah Moskowitz (Simon Pulse). Three reasons I love this book:

  1. Intersectionality FTW: Etta is a Black, bisexual ballerina in recovery for an eating disorder
  2. So much bi pride. So much. If you’re sick and tired of seeing bi erasure in lit, this book will make you do a serious fist pump of pride. (And yes, it’s nominated for a Bisexual Book Award.)
  3. The voice. Etta’s voice is killer. If you wanna see just how much that can matter for a book, this is definitely one to pick up.

ed201c_fe71b360b1994cf7859f2c2a7d1d853fEtta is tired of dealing with all of the labels and categories that seem so important to everyone else in her small Nebraska hometown.

Everywhere she turns, someone feels she’s too fringe for the fringe. Not gay enough for the Dykes, her ex-clique, thanks to a recent relationship with a boy; not tiny and white enough for ballet, her first passion; and not sick enough to look anorexic (partially thanks to recovery). Etta doesn’t fit anywhere— until she meets Bianca, the straight, white, Christian, and seriously sick girl in Etta’s therapy group. Both girls are auditioning for Brentwood, a prestigious New York theater academy that is so not Nebraska. Bianca seems like Etta’s salvation, but how can Etta be saved by a girl who needs saving herself? 

IndieBound * Amazon * Barnes and Noble * iBooks