Pride Reads
By: Brianna Robinson
Tags: LGBTQ, Pride, Pride Reads, The Reading Lists, Pride Month

By Lindsay Wallace

June is upon us, but with the cancellation of Pride events nationwide, we will be forced to go without the rainbow-spangled, brand-laden bacchanalia that has surged through the streets in years past. Thankfully, there are still ways to celebrate Pride! One important way is to reflect on LGBTQ history. As folks across the country turn out to protest systemic racism and police brutality, you might be reminded of another uprising: the 1969 Stonewall Riots, when LGBTQ people, led by trans women of color, pushed back against persecution. These five days of demonstrations are credited with kicking off the gay rights movement in the US.

There are lots of ways to push back against systemic oppression. In addition to donating to causes and organizations, and following the tradition of protest that is a pillar of the LGBTQ community, you can learn from and elevate LGBTQ voices by reading their stories. And so, here are just ten of the countless fantastic #OwnVoices LGBTQ books out there, with as much range as the LGBTQ community, to help you celebrate Pride this month, and beyond.

You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson

Scholastic Press

This big-hearted debut centers on prom queen hopeful Liz Lighty as she vies to become high school royalty in order to win a scholarship that will help pay for her dream school. Things only get more complicated when, in addition to navigating a financial aid malfunction and the melee of social media, Liz realizes she’s falling for her competition. Author Leah Johnson told The Nerd Daily that the story, “rose out of an attempt to write into the empty spaces that I saw in YA growing up,” and that she was “thinking a lot about the imagery of what it would look like to give a queer Black girl everything she deserves.” Electric Lit describes You Should See Me in a Crown as, “full of pop culture quips, awkward moments, and meet-cute romance.” You can get your copy here!

Finna by Nino Cipri

Tor.com

Finna follows dynamic ex-duo Ava and Jules on a multi-dimensional romp through an Ikea-esque furniture store with a backdoor into another world. If you’ve ever wondered about the worst that could happen if you forget a piece in your new BRöR, consider having to track a missing person through parallel realities, all while keeping up your customer-service smile. NPR’s review of this “knuckle-biting delight” of a book describes how “the traumas and marginalizations” that Ava and Jules have faced “are part of what brought them together, but also what collapsed their relationship,” highlighting an often messy reality of many queer relationships. You can get your copy here!

Fire on the Island by Timothy Jay Smith

Arcade

Fire on the Island is a playful, romantic thriller set in contemporary Greece, featuring Nick Damigos, a gay Greek-American FBI agent, who is undercover on the island to investigate a series of mysterious fires. Set against the very real refugee crisis on the beautiful, sun-drenched Greek islands, this novel paints a loving portrait of a community in crisis. As the people of Vourvoulos grapple with declining tourism, a refugee crisis, family feuds, and a perilously damaged church, the invasion of an arsonist in their midst may just send the village past the point of no return. Nick’s position as an outsider and law enforcement agent in Vourvoulos is explored through his nuanced relationships to the village locals. Publishers Weekly calls Fire on the Island, “the perfect blend of intrigue, romance, and travelogue.” You can get your copy here!

Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn

Liveright

This novel is a Lambda Literary Award winner, a New York Times Editors’ Choice, a Stonewall Book Awards Honor Book, and a stunning meditation on the meaning of motherhood and selfhood. Patsy leaves Jamaica for New York City, in hopes of joining her childhood best friend and lover Cicely in a place where they can finally be together. But life in America is not at all what she expected, and she cannot shake the specter of guilt she feels over leaving her young daughter Tru behind. As Tru mourns for her mother, she also begins to explore her identity, and so the journeys of mother and daughter unfold in tandem. “What stands out,” says The Atlantic, “is yearning — for opportunity, for pleasure, for connection, almost exclusively among women.” You can get your copy here!

Crier’s War by Nina Varela

Katherine Tegen

Crier’s War is an elegant example of a masterful wedding between science fiction and fantasy. Nina Varela’s expertly-crafted world is one of strict social stratification between the humans and the Made: perfect automatons that were originally constructed to serve humanity, before they overthrew their oppressors. The kingdom of Rabu still bears the scars of its painful revolution, and human servant Ayla has a plan to exact revenge on those who took everything from her: get close to the Sovereign’s daughter Lady Crier. Close enough to show him what it feels like to lose your family. Meanwhile, Crier struggles with the revelation that she may be less perfect, and more free, than she’s been raised to believe. With deftly-handled themes of both mental and bodily autonomy, and a slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romance, Crier’s War as “an absolute masterpiece that everyone needs in their life” (The Nerd Daily). You can get your copy here!

The Electric Heir by Victoria Lee (Feverwake Series Book #2)

Skyscape

Consider this recommendation a prescient two-for-one! The Electric Heir is the sequel to Victoria Lee’s The Fever King, which was described by Booklist as “a book for teens of today wrestling with political unrest in the United States.” Young technopath revolutionary Noam Álvaro and turncoat Dara Shirazi must work to reconcile both their strategic differences and their complicated feelings for one another, as they fight to take down a corrupt government in a world still ravaged by the magical virus of The Fever King. Tor.com says, “Lee’s Feverwake novels remind us that we deserve a better future, that there is real magic in fighting for justice — and that within the fight, we are not alone.” You can get your copy here!

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender

HarperCollins

With a funny and irreverent narrator who you just can’t help but adore (even if he himself is something of a skeptic when it comes to the topic of love), Felix Ever After is a breath of fresh NYC air for everyone who will be missing the country’s biggest pride celebration this year. An act of online hate leads Felix on a journey for revenge that will also bring him romance, and self-discovery. Stonewall and Lambda Award-winning author Kacen Callender explained to The Nerd Daily that in writing Felix Ever After, they wanted “to make the point that it’s okay to…go on questioning” your gender and sexuality. You can get your copy here!

Estranged by Ethan M. Aldridge (Estranged Series Book #1)

HarperCollins

This graphic novel is the first in the Estranged series (currently at two titles with Estranged and The Changeling King). It combines gorgeous watercolor illustrations with a fantastical story of faerie underworlds and found family — all created by multi-talented author Ethan M. Aldridge. This magical adventure is an exciting reminder of how it feels to puzzle through your identity, and meet wonderful people (and faerie beings) along the way. As Comics Beat puts it, “faeries are [often]…employed as a metaphor for queer identity and sexuality,” and tradition is clear in the world and story of Estranged. Get your copy here!

Destroy All Monsters by Sam J. Miller

HarperCollins

In this genre-defying novel from Andre Norton Award-winning author Sam J. Miller, best friends Ash and Solomon are haunted by a dark event that neither can remember. As their hometown is plagued by ominous acts of violence, all seeming to lead back to the high school football team and the weaponized charm of its ringmaster Sheffield, the lines between Ash’s “real world” and Solomon’s fantastical reality blur. Destroy All Monsters alternates between their two intertwined perspectives, creating a timely tale woven from both the wonder of semi-domestic dinosaurs, and the struggle of an oppressed class to seize their rights and openly embrace their gifts. New York Times-bestselling author Daniel Jose Older describes it as, “Explosively beautiful, wild, and fresh…uplifting and challenging and painful and still somehow joyous all the way through. A helluva journey.” You can get your copy here!

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi

Penguin Random House/Make Me A World

Jam has been raised to believe that there are no monsters left. In the city of Lucille, all dangerous people have been eliminated, allowing for a perfect paradise — or at least, that’s what Jam believes, until a snarl of colorful claws calling itself Pet appears from within one of Jam’s mother’s paintings. Pet has arrived with a mission: to hunt down the monster that seems to be hiding in the home of Jam’s best friend, Redemption. Already renowned for their adult fiction, Akwaeke Emezi makes their young adult debut with signature skill, crafting a Stonewall Book Award-winning story of bravery and truth, described by The New York Times as “a nesting doll of creative possibilities.” Get your copy here!