Alexandra's Staff Picks

For my LGTBQ+ book lists, search "LGBTQ YA," "LGBTQ Children's," "Queer Nonfiction," and/or "Queer Books I Have Read."

Showing 1 - 20 of 24  There are a total of 147 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for "Ben and Beatriz"
Star rating for Ben and Beatriz
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"Beatriz Herrera is a fierce woman who will take you down with her quick wit and keen intellect. And after the results of the 2016 election worked hard to erase her identity as a queer biracial woman, she'd be right to. Especially if you come for her sweet BFF cousin, Hero. Beatriz would do anything for her, a loyalty that lands Beatriz precisely where she doesn't want to be: spending a week at the ridiculous Cape Cod mansion of stupid-hot playboy...
Book cover for "Check, please!"
Star rating for Check, please!
Author:
Series:
Check please! volume 1.
Average Rating:
4.7 stars
Description:
Eric Bittle ('Bitty') may be a former junior figure skating champion, vlogger extraordinaire, and very talented amateur pâtissier, but being a freshman on the Samwell University hockey team is a whole new challenge. It is nothing like co-ed club hockey back in Georgia. First of all? There's checking (anything that hinders the player with possession of the puck, ranging from a stick check all the way to a physical sweep). And then there is Jack--his...
Book cover for "Come as you are"
Star rating for Come as you are
Average Rating:
3.6 stars
Description:
"A revised and updated edition of Emily Nagoski's game-changing New York Times bestseller Come As You Are, featuring new information and research on mindfulness, desire, and pleasure that will radically transform your sex life"--
Book cover for "Eligible"
Star rating for Eligible
Average Rating:
3.5 stars
Description:
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Wonderfully tender and hilariously funny, Eligible tackles gender, class, courtship, and family as Curtis Sittenfeld reaffirms herself as one of the most dazzling authors writing today.
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR AND THE TIMES (UK)

This version of the Bennet family—and Mr. Darcy—is one that you have and haven’t met...
Book cover for "Felix ever after"
Star rating for Felix ever after
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Description:
Felix Love, a transgender seventeen-year-old, attempts to get revenge by catfishing his anonymous bully, but lands in a quasi-love triangle with his former enemy and his best friend.
Book cover for "Gender"
Star rating for Gender
Average Rating:
4.5 stars
Book cover for "I kissed Shara Wheeler"
Star rating for I kissed Shara Wheeler
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Description:
After seventeen-year-olds Chole and Shara, Chole's rival for valedictorian, kiss, Shara vanishes leaving Chole and two boys, who are also enamored with Shara, to follow the trail of clues she left behind, but during the search, Chloe starts to suspect there might be more to Shara and her small Alabama town than she thought.
Book cover for "Kiss her once for me"
Star rating for Kiss her once for me
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
"The author of the "swoon-worthy debut" (Harper's Bazaar) The Charm Offensive returns with a festive romantic comedy about a woman who fakes an engagement with her landlord...only to fall for his sister. One year ago, recent Portland transplant Ellie Oliver had her dream job in animation and a Christmas Eve meet-cute with a woman at a bookstore that led her to fall in love over the course of a single night. But after a betrayal the next morning and...
Book cover for "Meg & Jo"
Star rating for Meg & Jo
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Description:
"From New York Times bestselling author Virginia Kantra comes a heartwarming modern novel inspired by the timeless classic Little Women. The March sisters-reliable Meg, independent Jo, stylish Amy and shy Beth-have grown up to pursue their separate dreams. When Jo followed her ambitions to New York City, she never thought her career in journalism would come crashing down, leaving her struggling to stay afloat in a gig economy as a prep cook-slash-secret...
Book cover for "Monument"
Star rating for Monument
Average Rating:
5 stars
Book cover for "Moonstruck"
Star rating for Moonstruck
Author:
Series:
Moonstruck volume 1.
Average Rating:
3.5 stars
Description:
"Werewolf barista Julie and her new girlfriend go on a date to a close-up magic show, but all heck breaks loose when the magician casts a horrible spell on their friend Chet. Now it's up to the team of mythical pals to stop the illicit illusionist before it's too late." --
Book cover for "On such a full sea"
Star rating for On such a full sea
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"From the beloved award-winning author of Native Speaker and The Surrendered, a highly provocative, deeply affecting story of one woman's legendary quest in a shocking, future America. On Such a Full Sea takes Chang-rae Lee's elegance of prose, his masterly storytelling, and his long-standing interests in identity, culture, work, and love, and lifts them to a new plane. Stepping from the realistic and historical territories of his previous work, Lee...
Book cover for "Satisfaction guaranteed"
Star rating for Satisfaction guaranteed
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"Cade Elgin has a life and career in New York City, and she's determined to get back to both as soon as possible after her aunt's funeral in Portland. However, when she unexpectedly inherits her aunt's sex toy store -- and has to save it from foreclosure -- Cade realizes she's not going anywhere. But making Satisfaction Guaranteed profitable won't be as easy as Cade had hoped. Her new partner has an infuriating lack of business sense, and an infuriating...
Book cover for "Seeing gender"
Star rating for Seeing gender
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
"Gender is an intensely personal, yet universal, facet of humanity. In this ... book, queer author and artist Iris Gottlieb visually explores gender in all of its complexities, answering questions and providing guidance while also mining history and pop culture for the stories and people who have shaped the conversation on gender"--
Book cover for "Slippery creatures"
Star rating for Slippery creatures
Author:
Series:
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Will Darling came back from the Great War with a few scars, a lot of medals, and no idea what to do next. Inheriting his uncle's chaotic second-hand bookshop is a blessing...until strange visitors start making threats. First a criminal gang, then the War Office, both telling Will to give them the information they want, or else. Will has no idea what that information is, and nobody to turn to, until Kim Secretan--charming, cultured, oddly attractive--steps...
Book cover for "Solomon's crown"
Star rating for Solomon's crown
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"Two destined rivals fall desperately in love-but the fate of medieval Europe hangs in the balance. 'A pair of thrones between us, and my heart clutched like a rosary within his hands...' Twelfth-century Europe. Newly-crowned King Philip of France is determined to restore his nation to its former empire and bring glory to his name. But when his greatest enemy, King Henry of England, threatens to end his reign before it can even begin, Philip is forced...
Book cover for "Spinning silver"
Star rating for Spinning silver
Author:
Average Rating:
4.5 stars
Description:
"Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, but her father is not a very good one. Free to lend and reluctant to collect, he has left his family on the edge of poverty--until Miryem intercedes. Hardening her heart, she sets out to retrieve what is owed, and soon gains a reputation for being able to turn silver into gold. But when an ill-advised boast brings her to the attention of the cold creatures who haunt the wood, nothing will...
Book cover for "Swan Lake"
Star rating for Swan Lake
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"Odette and Dillie are supposed to be enemies. Their kingdoms have been feuding since before they were born. But when the two princesses meet each other at the lake that separates their castles, it's clear they were destined to be best friends. Odette--who lives with a curse that magically transforms her into a swan when the sun rises--is happy to find someone who treats her like everyone else. And Dillie has finally met someone who understands her...
Book cover for "That time I got drunk and saved a demon"
Star rating for That time I got drunk and saved a demon
Series:
Mead mishaps volume 1.
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Description:
"All I wanted to do was live my life in peace. Maybe get a cat, expand my spice farm. Really anything that doesn't involve going on a quest where an orc might rip my face off. But they say the Goddess has favourites. If so, I'm clearly not one of them. After saving the demon Fallon in a wine-drunk stupor, all he wanted to do was kill an evil witch enslaving his people. I mean, I get it, don't get me wrong. But he's dragging me along for the ride,...
Book cover for "Think of England"
Star rating for Think of England
Author:
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"Lie back and think of England ... England, 1904. Two years ago, Captain Archie Curtis lost his friends, fingers, and future to a terrible military accident. Alone, purposeless, and angry, Curtis is determined to discover if he and his comrades were the victims of fate, or of sabotage. Curtis's search takes him to an isolated, ultra-modern country house, where he meets and instantly clashes with fellow guest Daniel da Silva. Effete, decadent, foreign...