What’s New in LGBTQIA+ YA September 2017

It’s time for another roundup for new and forthcoming YA (and sometimes not YA) books featuring LGBTQIA+ characters.  The titles I include in these roundups have LGBTQIA+ main characters as well as secondary characters (in some cases parents), as well as anthologies that include LGBTQIA+ stories. Know of a title I missed in this list? Or know of a forthcoming title that should be on my radar for an upcoming list? Leave a comment or tweet me @CiteSomething. This list covers September 2017 titles. Head over to this link for the previous post (August 2017 titles) in this series. All annotations here are via the publishers/Goodreads. I also have a 2017 master list that I’m always working on. I’m happy to send you the list if you’re interested. Tweet at me or email me to request the list. I’m amanda DOT macgregor AT gmail DOT com.

Looking for more information on LGBTQIA+ books or resources? Check out the hashtag here on TLT and go visit Gay YA and LGBTQ Reads, two phenomenal resources. 

September 2017

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera (ISBN-13: 9780062457790 Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Publication date: 09/05/2017)

New York Times bestselling author Adam Silvera reminds us that there’s no life without death and no love without loss in this devastating yet uplifting story about two people whose lives change over the course of one unforgettable day.

On September 5, a little after midnight, Death-Cast calls Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio to give them some bad news: They’re going to die today. Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they’re both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: There’s an app for that. It’s called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure—to live a lifetime in a single day.

In the tradition of Before I Fall and If I Stay, They Both Die at the End is a tour de force from acclaimed author Adam Silvera, whose debut, More Happy Than Not, the New York Timescalled “profound.”

New Hoofprints in the Snow by A.M. Burns, K.T. Spence (ISBN-13: 9781635337082 Publisher: Dreamspinner Press Publication date: 09/05/2017)

Can giving up one friend lead to the discovery of an even deeper bond?

Maia’s horse, Selena, is her best friend. Unfortunately, when Maia’s brother suffers a serious accident, an already strained financial situation reaches the breaking point, and the family simply can’t care for Selena. The horse will have to go to a rescue center. It’s there that Maia meets Emma, whose mother owns the center. Emma understands Maia’s attachment to Selena, and the two girls spend time together caring for the animals on the ranch and riding. Emma even thinks she knows a way to help Maia’s brother deal with his handicap. They become fast friends—but when Emma confesses that she would like to be more, Maia isn’t sure she can fly in the face of family expectations. Even if she’s attracted to Emma, she’s been raised with marriage and children in mind. And since Emma isn’t the only one interested in Maia, Maia has a difficult decision to make. Who does she want to ride off into the sunset with?

Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust (ISBN-13: 9781250077738 Publisher: Flatiron Books Publication date: 09/05/2017)

Frozen meets The Bloody Chamber in this feminist fantasy reimagining of the Snow White fairytale

At sixteen, Mina’s mother is dead, her magician father is vicious, and her silent heart has never beat with love for anyone—has never beat at all, in fact, but she’d always thought that fact normal. She never guessed that her father cut out her heart and replaced it with one of glass. When she moves to Whitespring Castle and sees its king for the first time, Mina forms a plan: win the king’s heart with her beauty, become queen, and finally know love. The only catch is that she’ll have to become a stepmother.

Fifteen-year-old Lynet looks just like her late mother, and one day she discovers why: a magician created her out of snow in the dead queen’s image, at her father’s order. But despite being the dead queen made flesh, Lynet would rather be like her fierce and regal stepmother, Mina. She gets her wish when her father makes Lynet queen of the southern territories, displacing Mina. Now Mina is starting to look at Lynet with something like hatred, and Lynet must decide what to do—and who to be—to win back the only mother she’s ever known…or else defeat her once and for all.

Entwining the stories of both Lynet and Mina in the past and present, Girls Made of Snow and Glass traces the relationship of two young women doomed to be rivals from the start. Only one can win all, while the other must lose everything—unless both can find a way to reshape themselves and their story.

Feral Youth by Shaun David Hutchinson, Suzanne Young, Marieke Nijkamp, Robin Talley, Stephanie Kuehn, E. C. Myers, Tim Floreen, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Justina Ireland, Brandy Colbert (ISBN-13: 9781481491112 Publisher: Simon Pulse Publication date: 09/05/2017)

Ten teens are left alone in the wilderness during a three-day survival test in this multi-authored novel edited by award-winning author Shaun David Hutchinson.

At Zeppelin Bend, an outdoor-education program designed to teach troubled youth the value of hard work, cooperation, and compassion, ten teens are left alone in the wild. The teens are a diverse group who come all walks of life, and were all sent to Zeppelin Bend as a last chance to get them to turn their lives around. They’ve just spent nearly two weeks hiking, working, learning to survive in the wilderness, and now their instructors have dropped them off eighteen miles from camp with no food, no water, and only their packs, and they’ll have to struggle to overcome their vast differences if they hope to survive.

Inspired by The Canterbury Tales, the characters in Feral Youth, each complex and damaged in their own ways, are enticed to tell a story (or two) with the promise of a cash prize. The stories range from noir-inspired revenge tales to mythological stories of fierce heroines and angry gods. And while few of the stories are claimed to be based in truth, they ultimately reveal more about the teller than the truth ever could.

Alan Cole Is Not a Coward by Eric Bell (ISBN-13: 9780062567024 Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Publication date: 09/05/2017)

Perfect for fans of Tim Federle and Gary Schmidt, this is a hilarious and poignant tale about the trials of middle school when you’re coming of age—and coming out.

Alan Cole can’t stand up to his cruel brother, Nathan. He can’t escape the wrath of his demanding father, who thinks he’s about as exceptional as a goldfish. And—scariest of all—he can’t let the cute boy across the cafeteria know he has a crush on him.

But when Nathan discovers Alan’s secret, his older brother announces a high-stakes round of Cole vs. Cole. Each brother must complete seven nearly impossible tasks; whoever finishes the most wins the game. If Alan doesn’t want to be outed to all of Evergreen Middle School, he’s got to become the most well-known kid in school, get his first kiss, and stand up to Dad. Alan’s determined to prove—to Nathan, to the world, to himself—that this goldfish can learn to swim.

May the best Cole win.

Spinning by Tillie Walden (ISBN-13: 9781626729407 Publisher: First Second Publication date: 09/12/2017)

Ignatz Award winner Tillie Walden’s powerful graphic memoir captures what it’s like to come of age, come out, and come to terms with leaving behind everything you used to know.

It was the same every morning. Wake up, grab the ice skates, and head to the rink while the world was still dark.

Weekends were spent in glitter and tights at competitions. Perform. Smile. And do it again.

She was good. She won. And she hated it.

For ten years, figure skating was Tillie Walden’s life. She woke before dawn for morning lessons, went straight to group practice after school, and spent weekends competing at ice rinks across the state. Skating was a central piece of her identity, her safe haven from the stress of school, bullies, and family. But as she switched schools, got into art, and fell in love with her first girlfriend, she began to question how the close-minded world of figure skating fit in with the rest of her life, and whether all the work was worth it given the reality: that she, and her friends on the team, were nowhere close to Olympic hopefuls. The more Tillie thought about it, the more Tillie realized she’d outgrown her passion—and she finally needed to find her own voice.

Release by Patrick Ness (ISBN-13: 9780062403193 Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Publication date: 09/19/2017)

Inspired by Judy Blume’s Forever and Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, this novel that Andrew Smith calls “beautiful, enchanting, [and] exquisitely written” is a new classic about teenage relationships, self-acceptance—and what happens when the walls we build start coming down.

Adam Thorn doesn’t know it yet, but today will change his life.

Between his religious family, a deeply unpleasant ultimatum from his boss, and his own unrequited love for his sort-of ex, Enzo, it seems as though Adam’s life is falling apart.  At least he has two people to keep him sane: his new boyfriend (he does love Linus, doesn’t he?) and his best friend, Angela.

But all day long, old memories and new heartaches come crashing together, throwing Adam’s life into chaos. The bindings of his world are coming untied one by one; yet in spite of everything he has to let go, he may also find freedom in the release.

From the New York Times bestselling author of A Monster Calls comes a raw, darkly funny, and deeply affecting story about the courage it takes to live your truth.

Behind the Tales by Aurora Peppermint (ISBN-13: 978-1-63533-710-5 Publisher: Harmony Ink Publication date: 09/19/2017)

When a family consists of a mostly reformed thief, a dragon struggling to control his transformations and destructive impulses, and a little girl so magickally skilled it’s literally scary, juggling personal problems with making a living is a constant struggle. Martus wants his boyfriend, Hal, and his sister, Elsaben, to be safe and happy, but providing for them is harder now that he’s trying to live honestly—and that means taking jobs where he finds them, even if the details don’t exactly add up.

Martus’s rich benefactor fears for her son, the celebrated adventurer Fitzy. He’s missing and possibly in danger—or he’s tired of living up to expectations and has snuck off to crawl into a bottle. Either way, Martus and Hal are being well paid to bring him back. Fitzy’s estranged sister, Mel, insists on coming along, and Martus understands wanting to protect a loved one. But is that the only reason Mel joins the quest?

As they track the missing hero, someone is tracking them. They must reach Fitzy first, and the terrible powers Elsaben and Hal hold back by fraying threads aren’t the only dangers closing in.

Kaleidoscope Song by Fox Benwell (ISBN-13: 9781481477673 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers Publication date: 09/19/2017)

Fox Benwell delivers a harrowing and beautifully written novel that explores the relationship between two girls obsessed with music, the practice of corrective rape, and the risks and power of using your voice.

Neo loves music, and all she ever wanted was a life sharing this passion, on the radio. When she meets Tale, the lead singer in a local South African band, their shared love of music grows. So does their love for each other. But not everyone approves. Then Neo lands her dream job of working at a popular radio station, and she discovers that using your voice is sometimes harder than expected, and there are always consequences.

Filed under: New Releases