Tag Archives: ownvoices

New Release Spotlight: Dreadnought by April Daniels

The past year has been great for trans lit by trans authors getting some spotlight time, and for awesome diversity in superhero books (see: Not Your Sidekick by CB Lee, Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge by Paul Krueger, The Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn), so this month’s spotlight is on a book that combines both by starring a trans lesbian protag who inherits a superhero’s mantel when he dies in front of her and sees her body morph into one that reflects her gender as a result!

33126630Danny Tozer has a problem: she just inherited the powers of Dreadnought, the world’s greatest superhero. Until Dreadnought fell out of the sky and died right in front of her, Danny was trying to keep people from finding out she’s transgender. But before he expired, Dreadnought passed his mantle to her, and those secondhand superpowers transformed Danny’s body into what she’s always thought it should be. Now there’s no hiding that she’s a girl.

It should be the happiest time of her life, but Danny’s first weeks finally living in a body that fits her are more difficult and complicated than she could have imagined. Between her father’s dangerous obsession with “curing” her girlhood, her best friend suddenly acting like he’s entitled to date her, and her fellow superheroes arguing over her place in their ranks, Danny feels like she’s in over her head.

She doesn’t have time to adjust. Dreadnought’s murderer—a cyborg named Utopia—still haunts the streets of New Port City, threatening destruction. If Danny can’t sort through the confusion of coming out, master her powers, and stop Utopia in time, humanity faces extinction.

Buy it: B&N * Amazon

Add the sequel to your TBR here!

Backlist Book of the Month: Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera

This is another one of those titles I had to jump on covering as soon as it hit being just over a year old, because it’s got one of the most memorable heroines I’ve ever read, and it’s just a must-read for basically everyone. Plus, the next time you’ll be seeing Gabby Rivera, it’ll be in the America Chavez solo series! How cool is that??

28648863Juliet Milagros Palante is leaving the Bronx and headed to Portland, Oregon. She just came out to her family and isn’t sure if her mom will ever speak to her again. But Juliet has a plan, sort of, one that’s going to help her figure out this whole “Puerto Rican lesbian” thing. She’s interning with the author of her favorite book: Harlowe Brisbane, the ultimate authority on feminism, women’s bodies, and other gay-sounding stuff.

Will Juliet be able to figure out her life over the course of one magical summer? Is that even possible? Or is she running away from all the problems that seem too big to handle?

With more questions than answers, Juliet takes on Portland, Harlowe, and most importantly, herself.

Buy It: Amazon * B&N * Indiebound

New Releases: January 2017

The Cursed Queen, by Sarah Fine (3rd)

28684363Ansa has always been a fighter.

As a child, she fought the invaders who murdered her parents and snatched her as a raid prize. She fought for her place next to Thyra, the daughter of the Krigere Chieftain. She fought for her status as a warrior in her tribe: blood and victory are her way of life. But the day her Krigere cross the great lake and threaten the witch queen of the Kupari, everything changes.

Cursed by the queen with fire and ice, Ansa is forced to fight against an invisible enemy—the dark magic that has embedded itself deep in her bones. The more she seeks to hide it, the more dangerous it becomes. And with the Krigere numbers decimated and the tribe under threat from the traitorous brother of the dead Chieftain, Ansa is torn between her loyalty to the Krigere, her love for Thyra, and her own survival instincts.

With her world in chaos and each side wanting to claim her for their own, only one thing is certain: unless Ansa can control the terrible magic inside her, everything she’s fought for will be destroyed.

Buy it: B&N * Amazon

Assassins: Nemesis by Erica Cameron (9th)

Being orphaned and almost kidnapped in the space of a week sent Blake Marks into hiding. For months, Blake tries to help the Calvers—a family of vigilante bodyguards—investigate the people behind the hit on Blake’s father, Isaac, but then the safehouse is compromised. Just as hired thugs storm the house to grab Blake, Daelan Calver dives into the fight, getting them both out alive.

Hiding isn’t an option anymore, but hit squads, under-the-table deals, and international espionage? Blake has no idea how to handle any of it, not even with Daelan’s family there to play teachers. The one thing Blake knows for sure is that there are only two options: keep up with the Calvers or get out of their way.

But even with the Calvers’ help and the glimmer of a possible future with Daelan giving Blake hope, chances of survival keep shrinking. The man who ordered the hit on Isaac may be dead, but his partner is viciously cold-blooded, and her plans could change the course of history. Blake wants to finish what Isaac started, but it’s looking like someone is going to die before this is over. And that someone might be Blake.

Buy it: Riptide/Triton | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book DepositoryBooks-A-Million |IndieBound

Finding Your Feet, by Cass Lennox (16th)

31567740While on holiday in Toronto, Evie Whitmore planned to sightsee and meet other asexuals, not audition for a dance competition. Now she’s representing Toronto’s newest queer dance studio, despite never having danced before. Not only does she have to spend hours learning her routine, she has to do it with one of the grumpiest men she’s ever met. Tyler turns out to be more than a dedicated dancer, though—he might be the kind of man who can sweep her off her feet, literally and figuratively.

Tyler Davis has spent the last year recovering from an emotionally abusive relationship. So he doesn’t need to be pushed into a rushed routine for a dumb competition. Ticking major representation boxes for being trans and biracial isn’t why he went into dance. But Evie turns out to be a dream student. In fact, she helps him remember just how good partnering can be, in all senses of the word. Teaching her the routine, however, raises ghosts for him, ones he’s not sure he can handle.

Plans change, and people change with them. Learning a few steps is one thing; learning to trust again is another entirely.

Buy it: Amazon * B&N * Riptide

History is All You Left Me, by Adam Silvera (17th)

25014114When Griffin’s first love and ex-boyfriend, Theo, dies in a drowning accident, his universe implodes. Even though Theo had moved to California for college and started seeing Jackson, Griffin never doubted Theo would come back to him when the time was right. But now, the future he’s been imagining for himself has gone far off course.

To make things worse, the only person who truly understands his heartache is Jackson. But no matter how much they open up to each other, Griffin’s downward spiral continues. He’s losing himself in his obsessive compulsions and destructive choices, and the secrets he’s been keeping are tearing him apart.

If Griffin is ever to rebuild his future, he must first confront his history, every last heartbreaking piece in the puzzle of his life.

Buy it: B&N * Amazon * Books of Wonder

The You I’ve Never Known, by Ellen Hopkins (24th)

30312837For as long as she can remember, it’s been just Ariel and Dad. Ariel’s mom disappeared when she was a baby. Dad says home is wherever the two of them are, but Ariel is now seventeen and after years of new apartments, new schools, and new faces, all she wants is to put down some roots. Complicating things are Monica and Gabe, both of whom have stirred a different kind of desire.

Maya’s a teenager who’s run from an abusive mother right into the arms of an older man she thinks she can trust. But now she’s isolated with a baby on the way, and life’s getting more complicated than Maya ever could have imagined.

Ariel and Maya’s lives collide unexpectedly when Ariel’s mother shows up out of the blue with wild accusations: Ariel wasn’t abandoned. Her father kidnapped her fourteen years ago.

What is Ariel supposed to believe? Is it possible Dad’s woven her entire history into a tapestry of lies? How can she choose between the mother she’s been taught to mistrust and the father who has taken care of her all these years?

Buy it: B&N * Amazon

Dreadnought, by April Daniels (24th)

30279514Danny Tozer has a problem: she just inherited the powers of Dreadnought, the world’s greatest superhero. Until Dreadnought fell out of the sky and died right in front of her, Danny was trying to keep people from finding out she’s transgender. But before he expired, Dreadnought passed his mantle to her, and those secondhand superpowers transformed Danny’s body into what she’s always thought it should be. Now there’s no hiding that she’s a girl.

It should be the happiest time of her life, but Danny’s first weeks finally living in a body that fits her are more difficult and complicated than she could have imagined. Between her father’s dangerous obsession with “curing” her girlhood, her best friend suddenly acting like he’s entitled to date her, and her fellow superheroes arguing over her place in their ranks, Danny feels like she’s in over her head.

She doesn’t have time to adjust. Dreadnought’s murderer—a cyborg named Utopia—still haunts the streets of New Port City, threatening destruction. If Danny can’t sort through the confusion of coming out, master her powers, and stop Utopia in time, humanity faces extinction.

Buy it: B&N * Amazon

Our Own Private Universe, by Robin Talley (31st)

22082082Fifteen-year-old Aki Hunter knows she’s bisexual, but up until now she’s only dated guys—and her best friend, Lori, is the only person she’s out to. When she and Lori set off on a four-week youth-group mission trip in a small Mexican town, it never crosses Aki’s mind that there might be anyone in the group she’d be interested in dating. But that all goes out the window when Aki meets Christa.

Buy it: IndieBound * Barnes & Noble * Book Depository *
Amazon.com * Amazon.co.uk * Waterstones * Chapters

 

Ten Intersectional Anthologies and Essay Collections

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Queer and Trans Artists of Color: Stories of Some of Our Lives ed. by Nia King

Balancing on the Mechitza: Transgender in the Jewish Community ed. by Noach Dzmura

Queer Brown Voices: Personal Narratives of Latina/o LGBT Activism ed. by Uriel Quesada, Letitia Gomez, and Salvador Vidal-Ortiz

Love Beyond Body, Space, and Time: an LGBT and Two Spirit Sci-Fi Anthology ed. by Hope Nicholson

Black Queer Studies: a Critical Anthology ed. by E. Patrick Johnson and Mae G. Henderson

Prime by L. Lamar Wilson, Ricky Laurentiis, Darrel Alejandro Holnes, Saeed Jones, and Phillip B. Williams

Living Out Islam: Voices of Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Muslims ed. by Scott Siraj al-Haqq Kugle

Lez Talk: A Collection of Black Lesbian Short Fiction ed. by S. Andrea Allen and Lauren Cherelle

Moving Truth(s): Queer and Transgender Desi Writings on Family by Aparajeeta Duttchoudhury and Rukie Hartman

QDA: Queer Disability Anthology ed. by Raymond Luczak

Fave Five: Contemporary Queer YA/NA with Black MCs

Treasure by Rebekah Weatherspoon (NA)

37 Things I Love (in No Particular Order) by Kekla Magoon (YA)

The House You Pass on the Way by Jacqueline Woodson (YA)

F*ths by G.L. Thomas (NA)

A Hundred Thousand Words by Nyrae Dawn (NA)

Bonus: Coming in 2017, Little & Lion by Brandy Colbert (YA)

Double Bonus: For a Sci-Fi NA, check out To Terminator, With Love by Wes Kennedy (NA)

Note: All of the above are by Black authors as well. To add a more titles to your list, a couple that aren’t: Out of Frame by Megan Erickson (NA) and Our Own Private Universe by Robin Talley (YA)

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Fave Five: Bi Girls in YA Fantasy

Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst

Ash and Huntress by Malinda Lo

Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova

Otherbound by Corinne Duyvis

The Impostor Queen and The Cursed Queen by Sarah Fine

Bonus: I’m never really sure what genre A Darkly Beating Heart by Lindsay Smith is, but Fantasy’s one of the ones I juggle, so, let’s put that here

Double Bonus: Coming in 2018, Garden of Blood and Dust by K.K. Pérez

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Fave Five: Interracial LGBTQ Contemp NA Romances

A Hundred Thousand Words by Nyrae Dawn

Certainly, Possibly, You by Lissa Reed 

Out of Frame by Megan Erickson 

F*ths by G.L. Thomas

Hold Me by Courtney Milan 

Bonus: Non-Contemp NAs: Vampire Sorority Sisters series by Rebekah Weatherspoon (Paranormal) and To Terminator, With Love by Wes Kennedy (Sci-Fi)

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TBRainbow Alert #6!

For those of you who feel like you’ve already read every LGBTQIAP+ book in existence, not to worry – there’s plenty still to come! Every TBRainbow Alert will have a mix of five LGBTQIAP+ titles to make sure are on your radar, along with why I think they should be on your radar. If you missed the earlier alerts, you can check out those titles here. And now, because I can’t wait to get these books on your reading lists, check out some of what awaits in 2017!

How to Make a Wish (May 2)
Author: Ashley Herring Blake
Genre/Category: Contemporary YA
Rainbow details: bi MC, lesbian LI
Why put it on your radar?
Bi MC! Great bi rep! Also a really beautiful mother-daughter story with a great romance that is definitely sex-positive.

As La Vista Turns (February 27)
Author: Kris Ripper
Genre/Category: Contemporary Romance
Rainbow details: f/f
Why put it on your radar?
God, just the names of the books in this series (Queers of La Vista) make them all auto-buys for me, and I love how much varied representation is in it, too.

Looking for Group (April 25)
Author: Rory Harrison
Genre/Category: Contemporary YA
Rainbow details: Gay MC, bi/pan trans girl LI
Why put it on your radar?
So much rainbow! Plus I love the POV of a main character who’s in remission. We’ve seen so much YA about teens with cancer but so, so rarely what life feels like afterward. And I’m always a sucker for romances between people who meet through gaming.

Honestly Ben (March 28)
Author: Bill Konigsberg
Genre/Category: Contemporary YA
Rainbow details: Bi MC
Why put it on your radar?
Most obvious reason: if you were a fan of Openly Straight, as I was, it’s bi boy companion time!

At the End of the Universe (February 7)
Author: Shaun David Hutchinson
Genre/Category: Contemporary YA
Rainbow details: Gay MC
Why put it on your radar?
I dunno, by now shouldn’t “Shaun David Hutchinson” be enough? Especially after We Are the Ants? Just read the damn thing.

Fave Five: Contemporary f/f YA with Sex on the Page

Far From You by Tess Sharpe

Style by Chelsea M. Cameron

Under the Lights by Dahlia Adler

Cherry by Lindsey Rosin

Her Name in the Sky by Kelly Quindlen

Bonus: Coming in 2017, Our Own Private Universe by Robin Talley and How to Make a Wish by Ashley Herring Blake

New Releases: October 4, 2016

Big YA Release Day! Two of these are among my favorite reads of the year (that’s not shade re: the third; I just haven’t read it yet!) and I’m not online to enthuse about them allllll day because it’s Rosh Hashana, so I need other people to buy and read them immediately so we can gush about them for the rest of the week!

When the Moon Was Ours, by Anna-Marie McLemore

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When the Moon Was Ours follows two characters through a story that has multicultural elements and magical realism, but also has central LGBT themes—a transgender boy, the best friend he’s falling in love with, and both of them deciding how they want to define themselves.

To everyone who knows them, best friends Miel and Sam are as strange as they are inseparable. Roses grow out of Miel’s wrist, and rumors say that she spilled out of a water tower when she was five. Sam is known for the moons he paints and hangs in the trees, and for how little anyone knows about his life before he and his mother moved to town.

But as odd as everyone considers Miel and Sam, even they stay away from the Bonner girls, four beautiful sisters rumored to be witches. Now they want the roses that grow from Miel’s skin, convinced that their scent can make anyone fall in love. And they’re willing to use every secret Miel has fought to protect to make sure she gives them up.

Buy it: AmazonBarnes & NobleBooks-a-MillionIndieBoundPowell’s

Last Seen Leaving, by Caleb Roehrig

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Flynn’s girlfriend has disappeared. How can he uncover her secrets without revealing his own?

Flynn’s girlfriend, January, is missing. The cops are asking questions he can’t answer, and her friends are telling stories that don’t add up. All eyes are on Flynn—as January’s boyfriend, he must know something.

But Flynn has a secret of his own. And as he struggles to uncover the truth about January’s disappearance, he must also face the truth about himself.

Buy it: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository

Look Past, by Eric Devine

Someone brutally murdered Mary Mathison, daughter of a prominent and very conservative local pastor. Whoever it was is now taunting Avery, a transgender boy, with disturbing messages, claiming that Mary’s murder was revenge for her relationship with Avery. The killer’s demands are simple and horrific: Avery must repent for changing his gender identity, or he will be the next one killed.

Can Avery deny who he is to catch Mary’s killer? Or will sacrificing himself be the ultimate betrayal?

Buy it: Amazon * IndieBound