Book picks similar to
The Ruiner by Nem Rowan
queer-af-wants
transgender
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A Bar Tender Tale
Melanie Tushmore - 2012
It's tough to get a date when his love of loud music, tattoos, and zombie paraphernalia usually sends potential candidates running for the hills. Trying to find anyone who wants to spend time with him, let alone stay in and watch trashy horror movies, has always been a problem.Then, on his day off, Nathan does a friend a favor by covering a shift at a pub, and in walks a handsome stranger who shares his love of horror. It could be a match made in B-movie heaven, and Nathan is determined to pursue this new acquaintance, but—zombies aside—has Nathan got the guts to go on a real date?
May the Best Man Win
Z.R. Ellor - 2021
Instead of bowing to the bigots and an outdated school administration, Jeremy decides to make some noise—and how better than by challenging his all-star ex-boyfriend Lukas for the title of Homecoming King?Lukas Rivers, football star and head of the Homecoming Committee, is just trying to find order in his life after his older brother’s funeral and the loss of his long-term girlfriend—who turned out to be a boy. But when Jeremy threatens to break his heart and steal his crown, Lukas kickstarts a plot to sabotage Jeremy’s campaign.When both boys take their rivalry too far, the dance is on the verge of being canceled. To save Homecoming, they’ll have to face the hurt they’re both hiding—and the lingering butterflies they can’t deny.
When Dachshunds Ruled the Serengeti
Michael Murphy - 2013
Phillip is an only child from a wealthy New York City family. José is the oldest of nine children of Mexican migrant workers. He has only known rural life in the Southern US—though he was born in California, his family moved from state to state, following the crops across the country.Phillip comes to school with every electronic gadget known to man. José arrives with the clothes on his back, a paperback he pulled from the trash in a bus station, and a notebook and pencil. They both need to adapt to their new environment and, in the process, quickly become fond of each other despite their differences.As their fondness grows into love, their world is turned upside down when they are charged with caring for José’s eight younger siblings. To Phillip, sharing José is not easy. To José, caring for his siblings is his most important responsibility, even more so than his education. If his relationship with Phillip is to survive, they have to bridge the gap between two very different worlds.
Crash
R.J. Moray - 2018
He's got more money than he knows what to do with, a partnership in the hottest security software company on the planet, and a townhouse overlooking the bay. What more could a single billionaire Dominant want? Obviously someone who knows when to get down on their knees and beg. But Nate needs more than an obedient submissive, demurely bending to his every whim. He needs someone with teeth. When trouble-making (and brilliant) programmer Ewan McKinney walks into Nate's office and recognizes him from the Club, he seems like the worst possible candidate for the role. He's stubborn, unpredictable, and fiercely independent. Nate knows he should keep his distance, but he can't stand back and watch Ewan tear his own life apart. Not when it's becoming painfully clear how Nate wants to take care of him. Ewan has nothing in his life under control. If he had, he wouldn't have ended up the pet project of his new boss, who just happens to know Ewan's kinky little secret. But instead of blackmailing him, Nathaniel Scott seems determined to fix him somehow. It would be hilarious if it wasn't so tragic Ewan is determined to prove he doesn't need Nate's pity, but the closer they get the more obvious it becomes that Ewan needs someone in his life to tell him 'no'. But does it have to be Nate? And why does this feel so much like falling in love?
Real Queer America: LGBT Stories from Red States
Samantha Allen - 2019
Now she's a senior Daily Beast reporter happily married to another woman. A lot in her life has changed, but what hasn't changed is her deep love of Red State America, and of queer people who stay in so-called "flyover country" rather than moving to the liberal coasts. In Real Queer America, Allen takes us on a cross-country road-trip stretching all the way from Provo, Utah to the Rio Grande Valley to the Bible Belt to the Deep South. Her motto for the trip: "Something gay every day." Making pit stops at drag shows, political rallies, and hubs of queer life across the heartland, she introduces us to scores of extraordinary LGBT people working for change, from the first openly transgender mayor in Texas history to the manager of the only queer night club in Bloomington, Indiana, and many more.Capturing profound cultural shifts underway in unexpected places and revealing a national network of chosen family fighting for a better world, Real Queer America is a treasure trove of uplifting stories and a much-needed source of hope and inspiration in these divided times.
When the Moon Was Ours
Anna-Marie McLemore - 2016
Roses grow out of Miel’s wrist, and rumors say that she spilled out of a water tower when she was five. Sam is known for the moons he paints and hangs in the trees, and for how little anyone knows about his life before he and his mother moved to town. But as odd as everyone considers Miel and Sam, even they stay away from the Bonner girls, four beautiful sisters rumored to be witches. Now they want the roses that grow from Miel’s skin, convinced that their scent can make anyone fall in love. And they’re willing to use every secret Miel has fought to protect to make sure she gives them up.
Cash & Cary
Sam E. Kraemer - 2021
He told me the first day of our minicamp that he’d make my life a living hell. Oh, he achieved that goal in spades, but I doubt in the way he intended.Tragedy never takes a holiday, and having suffered one, I’m not ready for another. When it happens, Cary is there to support me. I have a guardian angel who’s been looking out for me, and I never knew it.Now, I wonder what the cost will be for both of us—since I’ve already fallen for him.••◆◆◆••★Cary Brewer★Skip Mitchell told me that his nephew is a hell of a pitcher. Seeing the kid in action proves the man right. But when I lay eyes on Cash Mitchell, my gut ties itself in knots. Ask anyone—I’m not that guy.The attraction I’m fighting tooth and claw will only be detrimental to both of our careers. I need to get away from him, but how do I do that?The kid has me completely under his spell, and the blue in my uniform will match the blue in my pants if something doesn’t give.This work of fiction is approximately 55,000 words in length, ends in an HEA, and can be read as a standalone novel.
Little Fish
Casey Plett - 2018
At first she dismisses this revelation, having other problems at hand, but as she and her friends struggle to cope with the challenges of their increasingly volatile lives--from alcoholism, to sex work, to suicide--Wendy is drawn to the lost pieces of her grandfather's life, becoming determined to unravel the mystery of his truth. Alternately warm-hearted and dark-spirited, desperate and mirthful, Little Fish explores the winter of discontent in the life of one transgender woman as her past and future become irrevocably entwined.
Strings Attached
Nick Nolan - 2001
Closeted teenager Jeremy is sent to live with wealthy relatives after his mother enters rehab. Struggling to fit into the posh world of Ballena Beach, Jeremy joins the high school swim team, dates a popular girl, and begins to think he may have landed in paradise - until his great aunt Katharine starts to dictate his every move and a late-night phone call insinuates that his father's accidental death was not so accidental after all.As Jeremy grows accustomed to the veneer of a fabulous life, so grows his need for answers - as well as the danger of immeasurable harm. Weaving together a murder mystery, sexual ambiguity, and characters with hidden identities and agendas, Nick Nolan offers listeners a deliciously witty novel about the "puppet" who wishes only to be a real boy. Strings Attached is also a surprisingly heartfelt story about coming-of-age and coming out - not necessarily in that order.