LGBTQ - General Fiction

"The year is 1986, and Yurka Konev, 16, has been sent off for another summer at Pioneer Camp. Impulsive, forthright, and unfairly branded as a troublemaker, he anticipates the weeks ahead of him with boredom and dread. But when he's pushed into working on the camp's theater production, he meets serious, thoughtful troop leader Volodya. Yurka finds himself drawn to the slightly older boy, and, surprisingly, Volodya seems to like him, too. The two boys...

"Newcastle, Australia, 1972. On a sticky summer night, a choice must be made: To give in to queer desire or suppress it? To venture into the unknown or stay the course? In alternating chapters, we trace the two versions of a life that follow. In one, a teenage girl is caught kissing her neighbor and is kicked out from her home. She lands at a queer communal home in Sydney called Uranian House, where she meets the people who will forever become her...

"After watching both his brothers get on with their lives, Apolo Hidalgo is excited to embark on his next stage: college. He's determined to live out his dream, studying psychology and helping others. But his plans are shattered when he's attacked and beaten in an alley one rainy night. But in the end, that's how he meets her: Rain. The girl with the umbrella saves him, and even though he doesn't know who she is, he can't forget her. When he finally...

"In Wild Failure bestselling novelist Zoe Whittall's debut collection of poetic fiction contends with the meaning of desire for both intimacy and danger in a world that devalues queer femininity. In "Oh, El" a dominant woman can't stop herself from toying with the tender heart of her co-worker. The title story, "Wild Failure" is a doomed love story between an agoraphobic and a wilderness hiker. In "Half Pipe" a teen girl's heterosexual ambivalence...

1 stars

"For weeks after the sinking of the Titanic, Yorick spots his own name among the list of those lost at sea. As an apprentice librarian for the White Star Line, his job was to curate the ship's second-class library. But just as he was about to board to tend to his library throughout the passage, a superior takes his place, leaving Yorick stranded at the dock. ... After he learns of the ship's sinking, he takes this twist of fate as a sign to follow...

A victim of sex trafficking, Dylan, when a new law is passed, allowing him to sue his abusers, is forced to look back on what happened to him, exploring a drug and sex-fueled world of bathhouses, clubs and strangers' apartments, emerging with a new purpose-extracting justice on his own terms.

5 stars

"Domenic Marino has become an expert at code-switching between the hypermasculine and ultrafeminine worlds of his two soon-to-be-wed best friends. But this summer-reeling from his own failed engagement and tasked with attending their bachelor and bachelorette parties-he's anxious over having to play both sides. The pressure is on. The bride wants Dom to keep things clean. The groom wants Dom to "let loose" with the guys. And Dom just wants to get...

"When the lifeless body of Eric Castle, a weapons technician for a major American defense contractor, is found under his hotel balcony, both his employer and the Egyptian authorities quickly declare his death a suicide. But the dead man's sister, Cate, doesn't believe Eric took his own life and is determined to get to the truth. Traveling to Egypt she begins to piece together her brother's life in Cairo with the help of a handsome, young, gay Egyptian...

Beneath the waters by the islands of Gelle-Geu, a star sleeps restlessly. The celebrated new starkeeper Ranra Kekeri, who is preoccupied by the increasing tremors, confronts the problems left behind by her predecessor. Meanwhile, the poet Erígra Lilún, who merely wants to be left alone, is repeatedly asked by their ancestor Semberí to take over the starkeeping helm. Semberí insists upon telling Lilún mysterious tales of the deliverance of...

3 stars

All it takes is the right book to turn a Book Hater into a Book Lover. That was Elliott's belief and the reason why he started The Book Haters' Book Club, a newsletter of reading recommendations for the self-proclaimed "nonreader." As the beloved co-owner of Over the Rainbow Bookstore, Elliott's passion and gift was recommending books to customers. Now, after his sudden death, his grief-ridden business partner, Irma, has agreed to sell Over the Rainbow...