Some books I’d recommend that feature disabled characters to read this July!
image IDs in alt text!
Note: I’m aware that not all everyone in every community represented on this list considers themself disabled. As an outsider, it’s not my place to say- they are included because some people in these communities do consider themselves disabled, especially with many being spectrums where different people will experience different severities.
Cosmoknights - Amputee side character (major character in book 2)
Nimona - Amputee main character
Before the Devil Knows You’re Here - Dyslexic love interest
The Spirit Bares its Teeth - Autistic main character, autistic side character
The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue - Love interest with epilepsy, main character becomes deaf in one ear, MC with anxiety in the third book of the series
To Shape a Dragon’s Breath - Autistic major side character, wheelchair user minor side character
A Lady For a Duke - Love interest with PTSD
Cemetery Boys - Love interest with undiagnosed ADHD (confirmed by author)
Into the Drowning Deep - Autistic character, two Deaf characters
Don’t Be a Drag - MC with depression and anxiety
Iron Widow - Wheelchair user MC with chronic pain
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet - Little person character
Forward March by Skye Quinlan (f/f)
Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann (m/f)
You Don’t Have a Shot by Racquel Marie (f/f)
Tash Hearts Tolstoy by Kathryn Ormsbee (m/f)
Planning Perfect by Haley Neil (f/f)
Bonus: Coming later this year, Love Letters for Joy by Melissa See (m/f) and Wren Martin Ruins it All by Amanda DeWitt (m/m)
Yellow books were surprisingly not my least owned color, but barely. 🤏🏻
Surprising no one, I haven't read Ander & Santi or The Fae Keeper yet. I have an issue with leaving series unread because I put off reading finales unless I'm marathoning. Case in point: The Fae Keeper. I have no good reason for not reading it yet, but it's not the only one. I haven't finished The Dreamer Trilogy, The Aurora Cycle, the Willow Creek Ren Faire series, among others.
Do you put off reading finales?
Remember: whether you are out or not, know you are greatly loved and my account is a safe space. 🌈 Bigots can't and won't win.
🌈 Good morning, my bookish bats! Struggling to keep up with all the amazing queer books coming out this month? Here are a FEW of the stunning, diverse queer books you can add to your TBR before the year is over. Remember to #readqueerallyear! Happy reading!
[ Release dates may have changed. ]
❤️ Farzana's Spite - Felix Graves
🧡 Archangels of Funk - Andrea Hairston
💛 How It Works Out - Myriam Lacroix
💚 Queer History A to Z - Robin Stevenson, Vivian Rosas
💙 Queerceañera - Alex Crespo
💜 Second Night Stand - Karelia Stetz-Waters, Fay Stetz-Waters
❤️ You Can Call Me Cooper - Cali Kitsu
🧡 Gooseberry - Robin Gow
💛 Grand Slam Romance - Ollie Hicks, Emma Oosterhous
💙The Witches of Silverlake - Simon Curtis, Stephanie Son
💜 Drawn to the Enemy - Barbara Winkes
🌈 The Truth of Our Past - Heather Leighson
❤️ Infaust - T.D. Cloud, Ambi Sun
🧡 Garner for Gold - Catherine Labadie
💛 The Z Word - Lindsay King-Miller
💚 Snake Charming - Genevieve McCluer
💙 The 7-10 Split - Karmen Lee
💜 Loving Jemima - Sienna Waters
❤️ The Potion Gardener - Arden Powell
🧡 A Swift and Sudden Exit - Nico Vincenty
💛 The Worst Ronin - Maggie Tokuda-Hall, Faith Schaffer
💙 Murray Out of Water -Taylor Tracy
💜 The Guncle Abroad - Steven Rowley
🌈 The Weight of What Was - Pip Landers-Letts
❤️ The Amazing Alpha Tau Pledge Project - Lisa Henry, Sarah Honey
🧡 I Met Death & Sex Through My Friend, Tom Meuley - Thom Vernon
💛 Malicia - Steven dos Santos
💚 The Sins on Their Bones - Laura R. Samotin
💙 SLUTS: Anthology - Michelle Tea
💜 You Should Be So Lucky - Cat Sebastian
❤️ Death's Country - R.M. Romero
🧡 Cinema Love - Jiaming Tang
💛 The Brides of High Hill - Nghi Vo
💙 Emma - Jenna Kent
💜 Wish We Were There - Lionel Hart
🌈 A Troublemaker in Her Eyes - Genta Sebastian
❤️ I Make Envy on Your Disco - Eric Schnall
🧡 Lavash at First Sight - Taleen Voskuni
💛 Queer Power Couples - Hannah Murphy Winter, Billie Winter
💚 In Repair - A.L. Graziadei
💙 A Heart Divided - Angie Williams
💜 Long After We Are Gone - Terah Shelton Harris
❤️ The Queen of Steeplechase Park - David Ciminello
🧡 Lunar Boy - Jes Wibowo, Cin Wibowo
💛 Hot Boy Summer - Joe Jiménez
💙 Sunhead - Alex Assan
💜 The Summer Love Strategy - Ray Stoeve
🌈 Into the Mouth of the Wolf - Erin Gough
❤️ The Girl in Question - Tess Sharpe
🧡 The Lost Erwain - Mariah Stillbrook
💛 Starfire - Naomi Hughes
💚 Adrift - Sam Ledel
💙 Shanghai Murder - Jessie Chandler
💜 April May June July - Alison B. Hart
❤️ A Bone in His Teeth - Kellen Graves
🧡 Cabin Fever - Tagan Shepard
💛 Don't Be a Drag - Skye Quinlan
💙 The Ride of Her Life - Jennifer Dugan
💜 The Redemption of Daya Keane - Gia Gordon
🌈 Nearlywed - Nicolas DiDomizio
❤️ The Sunforge - Sascha Stronach
🧡 The End of Time - Trudie Skies
💛 Silent Ones - Melissa Polk
💚 Prime Time Travelers - Neil Laird
💙 My Darling Dreadful Thing - Johanna van Veen
💜 The Honey Witch - Sydney J. Shields
❤️ Spitting Gold - Carmella Lowkis
🧡 Last Chance - Claire Highton-Stevenson
💛 Road Home - Rex Ogle
💙 Only for Convenience - Shannon O'Connor
💜 Linus and Etta Could Use a Win - Caroline Huntoon
🌈 Finding Molly Parsons - Alyson Root
❤️ Breathe: Journeys to Healthy Binding - Maia Kobabe, Dr. Sarah Peitzmeier
🧡 See You Next Month - Jamey Moody
💛 Until You Say My Name - Tatum Schroeder
💚 Disembark - Jen Currin
💙 True Love and Other Impossible Odds - Christina Li
💜 Flyboy - Kasey LeBlanc
❤️ Thirsty - Jas Hammonds
🧡 Hands Off - N. Slater
💛 Flooded Secrets - Claudie Arseneault
💙 The Deer and the Dragon - Piper C.J.
💜 To Be Loved - Frank G. Anderson
🌈 Snowblooded - Emma Sterner-Radley
❤️ Blood Remains - Cathy Pegau
🧡 Blood on the Tide - Katee Robert
💛 We Were the Universe - Kimberly King Parsons
💚 Loyalty - E.J. Noyes
💙 Spirits and Sirens - Kelly Fireside
💜 Clean Kill - Anne Laughlin
❤️ The Worst Perfect Moment - Shivaun Plozza
🧡 Oye - Melissa Mogollon
💛 Here for the Wrong Reasons - Annabel Paulsen, Lydia Wang
💙 Exhibit - R.O. Kwon
💜 Experienced - Kate Young
🌈 Parenting with Pride - Heather Hester
❤️ Road to Ruin - Hana Lee
🧡 Meet Me in Berlin - Samantha L. Valentine
💛 The Advice Columnist - Cade Haddock Strong
💚 where lost & hopeless things go - Bryony Rosehurst
💙 Pit Stop - Ellis Mae
💜 The Switchboard - Christina K. Glover
❤️ In the Shallows - Tanya Byrne
🧡 Have You Seen This Girl - Nita Tyndall
💛 Another First Chance - Robbie Couch
💙 The Only Light Left Burning - Erik J. Brown
💜 Keepers of the Stones and Stars - Michael Barakiva
🌈 A Little Kissing Between Friends - Chencia C. Higgins
Harper “Band Geek” McKinley just wants to make it through her senior year of marching band—and her Republican father’s presidential campaign. That was a tall order to start, but everything was going well enough until someone made a fake gay dating profile posing as Harper. The real Harper can’t afford for anyone to find out about the Tinder profile for three very important reasons:
1. Her mom is the school dean and dating profiles for students are strictly forbidden.
2. Harper doesn't even know if she likes anyone like that—let alone if she likes other girls.
3. If this secret gets out, her father could lose the election, one she's not sure she even wants him to win.
But upon meeting Margot Blanchard, the drumline leader who swiped right, Harper thinks it might be worth the trouble to let Margot get to know the real her.
With her dad’s campaign on the line, Harper’s relationship with her family at stake, and no idea who made that fake dating profile, Harper has to decide what’s more important to her: living her truth or becoming the First Daughter of America.
Genres: contemporary, romance
Get the book from Blackwell's with free worldwide shipping here!
It Sounds Like This by Anna Meriano (This is How We Fly) was a lot of fun. Yasmín is part of her school's marching band. She plays the flute, but following a need for new people in the low brass section, she starts playing the tuba.
Yasmín's non-binary sibling, Ellen, was the protagonist of This is How We Fly. This takes place a few years later, but the books are very independent and can be read in either order.
I've compared Anna Meriano to Alice Oseman before and I'm doing it again: this novel is for fans of Loveless.
Yasmín is a-spec (with no romance plotline) and Latina. Bloom is grey-ace and grey-aro. There are a bunch of other LGBT characters.
For more a-spec marching band stories, check out Forward March by Skye Quinlan (I haven't read it, but it looks interesting as well).
Ironically, i forgot this one had major mental health themes, and started reading it to distract myself from anxiety. This was a bad idea. I finished the book anyway, it was fun.
Anyway. I can’t speak for the accuracy of the portrayal of drag, but you can tell Quinlan loves it from how they write about the subculture- the way their love of it seeps into their writing is palpable throughout the book. I thought the portrayal of mental health stuff was good- and the way every character is messy in some ways and fucks up sometimes makes for a cohesive plot. There was one misunderstanding plot line that stuck out to me, but overall the interpersonal conflict was internally logical and compelling. The characters are all so loveable- for a book where the main plot is fueled by pettiness, the way you root for every character is admirable. I thought the cast was a really great size, large enough to be interesting and small enough that i never got lost. I think the writing itself wasn’t always the strongest (mostly with, like. Word choice), not the worst I’ve read but not the best either.
I’d recommend people looking for a book that: deals with the messy side of mental health, is full of drag queens and kings, a rivals to lovers plot line, a fun summer read, or queer found family in general.
Check out my review for Don't be a Drag #DontBeADrag #TBRBeyondTours #SkyeQuinlan
Book Description
Don’t Be a Drag by Skye Quinlan
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Publishing Date: May 28, 2024
Synopsis:
Two rival drag kings competing for a crown might just win each other’s hearts.
When eighteen-year-old Briar Vincent’s mental health takes a turn for the worst, her parents send her to spend the summer in New York City with her older brother, Beau, also known as the drag…
🩷 There's something especially sweet about a sapphic romance. Here are only a few of the amazing sapphic books hitting shelves in May 2024. Which ones are you adding to your ever-growing TBR?
Contemporary
💖 Here For the Wrong Reasons - Annabel Paulsen & Lydia Wang
💖 Perfume & Pain - Anna Dorn
💖 Cheryl - Jillian Fleck
💖 A Little Kissing Between Friends - Chencia C. Higgins
💖 Lavash At First Sight - Taleen Voskuni
💖 The Game of Giants - Marion Douglas
💖 We Were the Universe - Kimberly King Parsons
💖 Oye - Melissa Mogollon
💖 The Summer Love Strategy - Ray Stoeve
💖 Noah Frye Gets Crushed - Maggie Horne
💖 Halfway to Harbor - Nicole Melleby
💖 Sunhead - Alex Assan
💖 The 7-10 Split - Karmen Lee
💖 Trust & Safety - Laura Blackett & Eve Gleichman
💖 Second Night Stand - Karelia Stetz-Waters & Fay Stetz-Waters
💖 How It Works Out - Myriam Lacroix
💖 April May June July - Alison B. Hart
💖 The Ride of Her Life - Jennifer Dugan
💖 One Night With the CEO - Emily Hayes
💖 Dulhaniyaa - Talia Bhatt
💖 A Girl Can Dream - Emily Barr
💖 I Want You More - Swan Huntley
💖 Exhibit - R. O. Kwon
💖 Only a Bridesmaid - Haley Donnell
💖 Thirsty - Jas Hammonds
💖 Housemates - Emma Copley Eisenberg
💖 Don’t Be a Drag - Skye Quinlan
💖 True Love and Other Impossible Odds - Christina Li
💖 Murray Out of Water - Taylor Tracy
💖 The Redemption of Daya Keane - Gia Gordon
💖 Blame My Virgo Moon - Freja Nicole Woolf
💖 From Where We Are - Nicole Zelniker
💖 Cabin Fever - Tagan Shepard
💖 Channel Surfing in the Sea of Happiness - Guy Babineau
💖 Meet Me in Berlin - Samantha L. Valentine
💖 Behind You - Catherine Hernandez
Paranormal/Horror
💖 Primal Hunt - L.L. Raand
💖 Blood on the Tide - Katee Robert
💖 We Mostly Come Out at Night - (ed) Rob Costello
💖 Flowers from the Void - Gianni Washington
💖 My Darling Dreadful Thing - Johanna van Veen
💖 When the Devil - Emma E. Murray
💖 Honeybites - I. S. Belle
💖 My Favorite Thing Is Monsters - Emil Ferris
💖 The Worst Perfect Moment -Shivaun Plozza
Fantasy
💖 The Honey Witch - Sydney J. Shields
💖 The Fireborne Blade - Charlotte Bond
💖 Chained Destinies - D. Jordan Redhawk
💖 Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea - Rebecca Thorne
💖 Grand Slam Romance: Major League Hotties - Ollie Hicks & Emma Oosterhous
💖 Snake Charming - Genevieve McCluer
💖 The Witches of Silverlake - Simon Curtis
💖 Death’s Country - R. M. Romero
💖 Snowblooded - Emma Sterner-Radleygh
💖 Bird Suit - Sydney Hegele
💖 Farzana's Spite - Felix Graves
Historical
💖 The Good Women of Fudi - Liu Hong
💖 Spitting Gold - Carmella Lowkis
💖 Adrift - Sam Ledel
💖 A Heart Divided - Angie Williams
💖 A Liaison with Her Leading Lady - Lotte R. James
Mystery/Thriller
💖 The Deadly Spark - Roxie Key
💖 The Advice Columnist - Cade Haddock Strong
💖 The Lilies - Quinn Diacon-Furtado
💖 Loyalty - E. J. Noyes
💖 Clean Kill - Anne Laughlin
💖 Have You Seen This Girl - Nita Tyndall
💖 The Last to Pie - Misha Popp
Sci-Fi
💖 The Sunforge - Sascha Stronach
💖 Road to Ruin - Hana Lee
💖 Exile in Guyville - Amy Lee Lillard
💖 The Lily of Enarah - Arden Brax
💖 The Z Word - Lindsay King-Miller