List of queer books I read, loved & recommend!
(There isn't any particular order, I wrote these as I remembered them)
Master Of One - Jaida Jones & Dani Bennett (mlm, fantasy, very cool worldbuilding and magic system, funny, cool characters)
Legends & Lattes - Travis Baldree (wlw, fantasy, very soft & chill vibes)
The Priory of the Orange Tree - Samantha Shannon (wlw, high fantasy, cool worldbuilding, kinda reminds me of LOTR but with more dragons and feminism and lesbians)
Even Though I Knew The End - C.L. Polk (wlw, supernatural noir, cool 1930s detective story with angels & demons, I loved this one!)
The Love Interest - Cale Dietrich (mlm, science fiction, very cool concept)
The Darkest Part Of The Forest - Holly Black (side mlm, fantasy, cool fae lore)
The Weight Of The Stars - K. Ancrum (wlw, not quite science fiction but space stuff is involved, lovely and complex characters)
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Sáenz (mlm, fiction, very nice in general, there is also a sequel)
The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue - Mackenzi Lee (mlm, historical and vaguely fantasy, nice story but I preferred the sequel honestly)
The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy - Mackenzi Lee (wlw, the sequel to the one before, more fantasy elements than the first, asexual main character!!)
Gallant - V.E. Schwab (no romance, but in the background one of the characters(?) uses they/them pronouns, very cool dark fantasy vibe)
Stranger Than Fanfiction - Chris Colfer (gay main character, trans main character, coming-of-age, nice book)
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (yes it's the Love, Simon book, mlm, fiction, pretty nice)
They Both Die At The End - Adam Silvera (mlm, sci-fi ish but mostly fiction, cool ideas, but the ending is sad! Very amazing book though, I haven't read the prequel yet)
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid (wlw, bi main character, historical fiction, cool story, just a neat book in general)
This Is How You Lose The Time War - Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone (wlw, sci-fi, very cool time travel stuff!! and very beautiful, it felt like reading poetry most of the time)
One Last Stop - Casey McQuinston (wlw, background trans & pan & queer characters, sci-fi or fantasy idk, but time travel, I loooved this book, great)
The House In The Cerulean Sea - TJ Klune (mlm, fantasy, THIS BOOK oh my gosh you should read it!!, just cute and lovely and good)
Under The Whispering Door - TJ Klune (mlm, fantasy, this book is also sooo amazing, great character development and awesome relationships and stuff, it's been a while since I read it but it was so good)
And They Lived... - Steven Salvatore (nblm, fiction, about gender identity and learning to love yourself, read it a while ago but it was very nice)
I Wish You All The Best - Mason Deaver (nblm, fiction, about finding your identity and people who care about you, very cute and sweet)
The Song Of Achilles - Madeleine Miller (mlm, historical, very good in general)
Carry On - Rainbow Rowell (mlm, background wlw in the third book, fantasy, it's a trilogy, basically Harry Potter if it was gay and also better)
Silver In The Wood - Emily Tesh (mlm, fantasy, very pretty, lots of fae stuff and lovely descriptions, it has a really good sequel too)
Pretty much anything by Alice Oseman (all cute and lovely and great, though I've only read Radio Silence so far I hear only good things, Solitaire is on my to-read list)
I Kissed Shara Wheeler - Casey McQuinston (wlw, fiction, it's been a while but I liked this book)
The Falling In Love Montage - Ciara Smyth (wlw, fiction, this book was so cute and funny and deeply emotional it made me Feel way too many things, I'd definitely recommend it)
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Happy International Asexuality Day!!
I discovered the terms asexual and aromatic back in 2015, and they changed my life. I went from feeling broken and wrong because of my lack of attraction, both sexual and romantic, to understanding and loving myself. It's totally fine and normal for me to be aroace! I no longer feel like I have to try to force feelings or have a relationship (which is GREAT because that stage of my life was awkward, confusing, and not fun).
Some people wonder what it's like to be ace or aro or aroace, and I can only speak for myself. I'm a solitary person. I live with two cats, I like to read, I go on solo camping trips and road trips. I really value my friendships. My platonic soul mate lives across the country but we still see each other once a year and keep in touch. I try to give back to my community as much as possible.
I'm sex repulsed when it comes to thinking about myself in sexual situations (NOPE NOPE NOPE) but I'm also sex positive (yay for other folks doing it!). I can read smut (books, fanfic, manga) but still feel uncomfortable watching sexy scenes in movies or shows.
Sexuality, like gender, is a spectrum. Asexuality is an umbrella term that covers a myriad of identities and experiences. I recommend A Quick & Easy Guide to Asexuality if you want to know more!
Some book recs from my shelf: I Want to Be a Wall by Honami Shirono (ace woman in a platonic marriage to a gay man), Our Dreams at Dusk by Yuhki Kamatami (multiple queer characters, including an aroace person named Somebody who has a very big role in the series), Loveless by Alice Oseman (main character is aroace, supporting ace character, multiple queer characters), The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee (aroace main character, multiple queer characters), The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic (demisexual main character, multiple queer characters).
Some shout outs to webcomics I love: Heart of Gold (ace main character, multiple queer characters) and The Witch Door (very important ace character, multiple queer characters)
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"It's leagues away from what I pictured years ago... It isn't what I wanted. But I don't care. It is not a failure to readjust my sails to fit the waters I find myself in. It's a new heading. A fresh start."
-Felicity Montague, The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzie Lee
My dad never worked in the field he initially trained for. His strong statistics background landed him a totally different, and ultimately very satisfying, career.
I spent several years doing low-paid, hard domestic work while applying for job after job in my chosen profession. I began to despair that I would ever win the uphill battle for a position in a field in which I was an unheard-of minority.
I told a friend I was afraid I was stuck at a dead end & needed to turn around. She said, "you're not at a dead end. You're taking the scenic route. The river is meandering, & you'll end up where you're going with a lot of experience along the way."
It's stuck with me through landing my dream job, and through becoming disabled and having to leave that job in less than a decade.
I read that quote today (excellent book btw) & thought, what the heck, maybe someone else needs to hear this too. The route probably isn't gonna be what you expect. It's going to be okay. It'll be a route worth traveling.
(image credit Wikimedia)
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Ahoy, mates and mutineers!
This month’s list features some of my top picks for women who rule the high seas–and the occasional space ship. Or really fucked up ghost ship. Plus a couple extra disaster male pirates 😘
Book descriptions and rep for lesbian, bisexual, butch, disabled, autistic, and women of color below the cut!
*Barbary Station / R. E. Stearns: Sci-Fi; grad students turn to space-piracy to pay off their debts but find they’re trapped on-station by an evil AI, feat. autistic lesbian x bi girlfriend
The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea / Maggie Tokuda-Hall: YA Fantasy; a genderfluid pirate accidentally bonds with their noble Lady passenger, set on a wild escape, and free a captured mermaid
Ship of Smoke and Steel / Django Wexler: YA Fantasy, Action; Asian bisexual crime boss fights a ghost pirate ship (yes, the ship itself) with her lesbian healer girlfriend
The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy / Mackenzi Lee: YA Historical; an aro-ace lady schemes to become a doctor, but she’ll settle for being a pirate!
The Fifth Season / N. K. Jemisin: Fantasy, Dystopia; a poly bisexual woman sets out on a vengeance quest to rescue her kidnapped daughter the day the world ends
Compass Rose / Anna Burke: Fantasy / Sci-Fi; a black lesbian goes undercover as a pirate in the 26th century
Windfall / Shawna Barnett: Fantasy; a secret-princess pirate Captain is blackmailed into protecting a runaway real princess in bisexual love square
A Song of Silver and Gold / Melissa Karibian: Fantasy; retelling of The Little Mermaid with enemies-to-lovers, butch lesbian pirate Captain x siren warrior who must cut out her heart
The Dawnhounds by Sascha Stronach: Sci-Fi; bisexual dead cop comes back wrong and works w/pirates to stop a plague
*Captain Raven and the All Girl Pirate Crew: YA graphic novel; Raven needs revenge against her brothers, so she hires a female crew, feat. Deaf, lesbian, and women of color
(extra) The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue: YA Historical; alcoholic bi male x epileptic biracial gay male; the first in the series by Makenzie Lee
*(extra) Kidnapped by the Pirate / Keira Andrews: Romance; a young gay man offers himself as hostage to an older pirate Captain to save his sister
*titles with an asterisk next to them have been featured on QBdatabase.com as a daily book; this lists the book's full jacket summary, detailed notes on representation, and a link to its goodreads page!
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