Rainbow Reads 2023: Young Adult | Washoe County Library System

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1) On top of glass: stories of a queer girl in figure skating

Author

Description

"A memoir of Karina Manta, the first female member of USA Figure Skating to come out as queer. A figure skating champion and star of Cirque de Soleil’s on-ice show, AXEL shares her struggles with not only queerness but also body image, panic attacks, first crushes and feeling different than everybody around her."--

2) Queer ducks (and other animals): the natural world of animal sexuality

Author

Schrefer, Eliot

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

"A quiet revolution has been underway in recent years, with study after study revealing substantial same-sex sexual behavior in animals. Join celebrated author Eliot Schrefer on an exploration of queer behavior in the animal world—from albatrosses to bonobos to clownfish to doodlebugs. In sharp and witty prose—aided by humorous comics from artist Jules Zuckerberg—Schrefer uses science, history, anthropology, and sociology to illustrate the...

3) All signs point to yes

Description

A literal star-studded anthology that delivers a love story for every star sign straight from the hearts of thirteen multicultural YA authors. A haunted Aquarius finds love behind the veil. An ambitious Aries will do anything to stay in the spotlight. A foodie Taurus discovers the best eats in town (with a side of romance). A witchy Cancer stumbles into a curious meet-cute. Whether it’s romantic, platonic, familial, or something else you can’t...

4) This is why they hate us

Author

Aceves, Aaron H

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle

Description

Enrique “Quique” Luna has one goal this summer—get over his crush on Saleem Kanazi by pursuing his other romantic prospects. Never mind that he’s only out to his best friend, Fabiola. Never mind that he has absolutely zero game. And definitely forget the fact that good and kind and, not to mention, beautiful Saleem is leaving LA for the summer to meet a girl his parents are trying to set him up with. Luckily, Quique’s prospects are each...

5) Home field advantage

Author

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook

Description

Amber McCloud’s dream is to become cheer captain at the end of the year, but it’s an extra-tall order to be joyful and spirited when the quarterback of your team has been killed in a car accident. For both the team and the squad, watching Robbie get replaced by newcomer Jack Walsh is brutal. And when it turns out Jack is actually short for Jaclyn, all hell breaks loose. The players refuse to be led by a girl, the cheerleaders are mad about the...

6) Here's to us

Author

Albertalli, Becky

Series

What if it's us volume 2

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

"Ben survived freshman year of college, but he’s feeling more stuck than ever. His classes are a slog, his part-time job working with his father is even worse, and his best friend Dylan’s been acting weird for weeks. Ben’s only real bright spot is his writing partner Mario, who’s been giving him a lot of Spanish lessons and even more kisses. Mario’s big Hollywood dreams make Ben start to dream bigger—and the choices he makes now could...

7) Bad things happen here

Author

Barrow, Rebecca

Description

Luca Laine Thomas lives on a cursed island. To the outside world, Parris is an exclusive, idyllic escape accessible only to the one percent. There’s nothing idyllic about its history, though, scattered with the unsolved deaths of young women—deaths Parris society happily ignores to maintain its polished veneer. But Luca can’t ignore them. Not when the curse that took them killed her best friend, Polly, three years ago. Not when she feels the...

Author

Description

"High school seniors Julian Jackson and Elijah Vance reconnect on the football field after three years apart, learning to both trust and love each other again"--

9) All that's left in the world

Author

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle

Description

When Andrew stumbles upon Jamie’s house, he’s injured, starved, and has nothing left to lose. A deadly pathogen has killed off most of the world’s population, including everyone both boys have ever loved. And if this new world has taught them anything, it’s to be scared of what other desperate people will do . . . so why does it seem so easy for them to trust each other?After danger breaches their shelter, they flee south in search of civilization....

10) My Dearest Darkest

Author

Cottingham, Kayla

Formats:

Description

*Bustle Best Book of March 2022

*Buzzfeed Highly Anticipated YA Novel

*Lambda Literary Most Anticipated LGBTQIA+

*BookRiot Best New Dark Academia YA Book

Wilder Girls meets The Craft in this Sapphic horror debut that asks: what price would you be willing to pay to achieve your deepest desires?

Finch Chamberlin is the newest transfer student to the ultra-competitive Ulalume Academy... but she's also

...

11) Blaine for the win

Author

Description

After his boyfriend Joey breaks up with him to pursue more "serious" guys, Blaine decides to run for senior class president as Joey's successor to prove his worth--but is Blaine willing to sacrifice everything about himself to do it?

12) Melt with you

Author

Dugan, Jennifer

Description

Fallon is Type A, looks before she leaps, and always has a plan (and a backup plan). Chloe is happy-go-lucky, flies by the seat of her pants, and always follows her bliss. The two girls used to be best friends, but last summer they hooked up right before Chloe left for college, and after a series of misunderstandings, they aren't even speaking to each other. A year later, Chloe's back home from school, and Fallon is doing everything in her power to...

Author

Description

"After a childhood in foster care, Bitter is thrilled to have been chosen to attend Eucalyptus, a special school where she can focus on her painting surrounded by other creative teens. But outside this haven, the streets are filled with protests against the deep injustices that grip the city of Lucille. Bitter's instinct is to stay safe within the walls of Eucalyptus but her friends aren't willing to settle for a world that's so far away from what...

14) The summer of bitter and sweet

Author

Ferguson, Jenny

Description

"Lou has enough confusion in front of her this summer. She'll be working in her family's ice-cream shack with...her former best friend, King, who is back in their Canadian prairie town after disappearing three years ago...But when she gets a letter from her biological father...Lou immediately knows that she cannot meet him...While King's friendship makes Lou feel safer...when her family's business comes under threat, she soon realizes that she can't...

15) If this gets out

Author

Description

Best friends and members of a popular British boy band find their once-easy rapport straining under the pressures of fame and their management's decision for gay singer Reuben to stay in the closet.

16) The Dead and the Dark

Author

Gould, Courtney

Description

"Nankani channels every teen character—whether perky nerd, cool dude, or shy girl—and imbues the adults with memorable characterizations to match their strong personalities, making this an absorbing and fun listen." - AudioFile Magazine

"Imagine Riverdale crossing streams with Stephen King's The Outsider and you'll get a sense of this gripping supernatural mystery...Gould's debut begins as

...

Author

Graziadei, A. L

Description

Mickey James III is following in his father's (and grandfather's) skates by playing hockey at Hartland University, but he is not enjoying the situation: for one thing he is seriously depressed, unsure of anything, even whether he can make it as a hockey player (or wants to); more troubling his rival, Jaysen Caulfield, is also on the team and seems to bitterly resent him--and Mickey actually finds Jaysen very attractive and does not know how to deal...

18) Dead end girls

Author

Description

In one week, Maude will be dead. At least, that’s what she wants everyone to think. After years of research, Maude has decided to fake her own death. She’s figured out the how, the when, the where, and who will help her unsuspectingly. The why is complex: revenge, partly. Her terrible parents deserve this. But there’s also l’appel du vide, the call of the void, that beckons her toward a new life where she will be tied to no one, free and adrift....

19) Epically earnest

Author

Description

"Jane Worthing's claim to fame is that she was one first viral internet sensations...discovered as a one-year-old in an oversized Gucci bag by her adopted father in a Poughkeepsie train station. Now in her senior year of high school, Janey is questioning whether she wants to look for her bio family due to a loving, but deeply misguided push from her best friend Algie, while also navigating an all-consuming crush on his cousin, the beautiful, way-out-of-her-league...

20) Howl

Author

Hutchinson, Shaun David

Description

When no one in the small town of Merritt, Florida, believes that he was attacked by a monster, fifteen-year-old Virgil Knox fears the monster will return to finish him off, or worse--that he is becoming a monster himself.