reviews, releases and recommendations of LGBT media
There comes a time (usually after you’ve read all the fics) when you want to read a book similar in feeling to your favourite, but also different enough that it doesn’t just seem like a reread. Something to hit you right in that nostalgic spot.
That’s what I have here today: 10 LGBT books that kind of feel like The Raven Cycle. A lot of different themes going on, so let’s explore!
Today’s post is a review of a book we know you all must be chomping at the bit for. The City of Dusk is out in just over a week, and you don’t want to miss it. But if, for whatever reason, you’re still on the fence about things, check out our review for why you shouldn’t be!
And we’re running a giveaway of the book over on twitter, so head on over for a chance to win!
The Four Realms—Life, Death, Light, and Darkness—all converge on the city of dusk. For each realm there is a god, and for each god there is an heir.
But the gods have withdrawn their favor from the once vibrant and thriving city. And without it, all the realms are dying.
Unwilling to stand by and watch the destruction, the four heirs—Risha, a necromancer struggling to keep the peace; Angelica, an elementalist with her eyes set on the throne; Taesia, a shadow-wielding rogue with rebellion in her heart; and Nik, a soldier who struggles to see the light— will sacrifice everything to save the city.
But their defiance will cost them dearly.
Tara Sim
Rep: lesbian mc, bi mcs
Release: 22nd March 2022
Earlier, I ran a quick Twitter poll to ask the question of what genre of sapphic recs people would prefer and so, here we are! 20 science fiction recs (and some dystopia) just for you! If you’re interested in what I recced last time, that list is here. And if you’re interested in all the other sapphic posts I’ve done, those can be found here. Otherwise, enjoy!
This is the last of our big releases posts of the first half of the year. Here you will find 62 middle grade releases, and 25 picture book releases, all of which feature LGBT main characters! Everything I know at this point in time (give or take a couple that I’m waiting for clarification on). This list will get updated as I find more books, so if there’s one you know that’s not on here, feel free to mention it.
And as ever, 🌈 means the author IDs as LGBT.
A list of ownvoices m/m books in the sense that they’re all written by achillean authors. They’re not even all strictly m/m romances, some have little to no romance. But they all have achillean main characters.
Also worth noting is that last year’s post had barely 69 books, but this year it’s over 100! Let’s hope this number keeps growing with each year.
There are no rainbow emojis, since all the authors are achillean. But there are plant emojis for nonbinary authors.
And hey, a lot of those titles are available on Scribd, so if you want to check out that service but don’t have an account yet, use my invite code to get 2 months for free! (This also gives me one free month.)
You know when you want to read a YA book, but actually you don’t want to read about teenagers, because you just got back home from your day job & you’re in a different head space? I got you!
Just so we’re clear, though, I’m not saying those books should be shelved as YA, I’m not saying those authors didn’t know what they were writing, I’m not saying those authors have no idea how to write adult books… I’m not here to infantilise anyone, I’m simply offering you books with the vibes you’re looking for.
About two years back now, maybe nearer three, I started a rec series of posts of sapphic books split by genre. Then, sometime early 2020, I got bored, and stopped. Now, though, I’ve decided to come back to it, partly because I’ve read so much more since then I feel I have more content to rec. Partly because of recent dumbass twitter discourse. So yeah.
It’s been a while, though. It’s been so long, in fact, I decided I had to expand how many books I included in here, just so none of my favourites would have to miss out! I upped it to 25 and there are still more that I haven’t added, so keep an eye out for a third post sometime soon…haha…
As ever, all of the previous posts can be found here.
As ever, when I run out of rec list ideas, I turn back to this one. Books which I consider underrated (where “underrated” is specifically defined as “less than 400 ratings on Goodreads. Yeah, Goodreads is not the be all and end all, yeah, 400 is pretty harsh comparably, but it’ll do. At least until I run out of books and need to increase the number haha). I’ve done this 3 times already, so this rec list marks the 76th-100th books (round of applause please). Hopefully, there’s something here for everyone.
And don’t forget, you can also check out the previous posts: find the first post here, the second one here and the third one here.
January on Reads Rainbow means big releases posts (big as in long & time-consuming to draft; not big as in only about big books!). And today it’s time for books with bi and/or pan rep.m
Those posts have been going for a few years, but just as a reminder: I only include books where there’s no doubt that a character actually is bisexual (or pansexual). That means the character either uses a label or the narrative makes it abundantly clear (especially in case of sff novels). Also, I include books with bi/pan main characters and love interests, and sometimes really major side characters.
If you know any books I missed or mistakes I made, please let me know in the comment! And like always, the rainbow emoji means the author is LGBT. Happy reading!
A lot of those titles are available on Scribd, so if you want to check out that service but don’t have an account yet, use my invite code to get 2 months for free! (This also gives me one free month.)
It’s the moment you’ve all undoubtedly been waiting for, the first of our 2022 sapphic releases posts! This one is the biggest initial post so far, with over 300 releases that I know about as of this moment in time. Yeah, it’s a monster post, and I am somewhat exhausted just making it. There’s something for everyone here, so dive in!
Update, 27/1/22: I’ve decided to add in rep again here, since sapphic is a blanket term and books here do include sapphic mcs in m/f relationships, as well as those in f/f relationships and, while I know which are which, and also that I mean it in this blanket sense, others may not. This will, of course, be updated as I read more of the books/it’s easier to find rep info.
And hey, a lot of those titles are available on Scribd, so if you want to check out that service but don’t have an account yet, use my invite code to get 2 months for free! (This also gives me one free month.)
This is a post I’ve been meaning to do for a while. We all know about all of the Big 5 books, the ones that appear on most rec lists most often, that get more marketing (comparatively speaking) and which more people know about. So, today’s rec list is specifically the opposite of that. Today, I’m reccing you books by independent publishers, small presses, and self-published authors.
For ease, the definition of indie here that I’m using is “not Big 5 or an imprint of Big 5”. That is, not Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, or Hachette. Since the indies range in size beyond that, I’ve split those into two sections: smaller and larger (generally decided by output).
A little key before we start:
💛 = sapphic
💚 = achillean
💙 = trans or nonbinary
🌻 = contemporary
🌿 = historical
🐚 = fantasy
🌺 = mystery/thriller
🍂 = paranormal/horror
🍃 = science fiction
For this list, I stuck to a single book by each author (although there are many where I’d rec multiple books) because I figured, hey, this can be a series! So, check back later this year for more, I guess!
It’s a new year and, since the number of book releases we know about per month is just tipping into unwieldy (June alone last year had 150 books to add to the post, not to mention the 50+ more we found later), we’ve decided to change up the way we’re doing releases posts. We started organising releases posts by genre around halfway through last year, so we’re sticking with that here. The major difference? Each genre gets its own post, which will eventually cover a period of 6 months. So, like with our various other releases posts (although those go up all at once, whereas here we’ll add each month), these are more easily edited and added to! Which means, even if we miss a book, we can better come back and add it to the post. A win for everyone!
In this post, you’ll find the collection of contemporary books that we know about from January to June of 2022!
Looking for the other posts?
Looking for July to December?
It’s a new year and, since the number of book releases we know about per month is just tipping into unwieldy (June alone last year had 150 books to add to the post, not to mention the 50+ more we found later), we’ve decided to change up the way we’re doing releases posts. We started organising releases posts by genre around halfway through last year, so we’re sticking with that here. The major difference? Each genre gets its own post, which will eventually cover a period of 6 months. So, like with our various other releases posts (although those go up all at once, whereas here we’ll add each month), these are more easily edited and added to! Which means, even if we miss a book, we can better come back and add it to the post. A win for everyone!
In this post, you’ll find the collection of historical books that we know about from January to June of 2022!
Looking for the other posts?
Looking for July to December?
It’s a new year and, since the number of book releases we know about per month is just tipping into unwieldy (June alone last year had 150 books to add to the post, not to mention the 50+ more we found later), we’ve decided to change up the way we’re doing releases posts. We started organising releases posts by genre around halfway through last year, so we’re sticking with that here. The major difference? Each genre gets its own post, which will eventually cover a period of 6 months. So, like with our various other releases posts (although those go up all at once, whereas here we’ll add each month), these are more easily edited and added to! Which means, even if we miss a book, we can better come back and add it to the post. A win for everyone!
In this post, you’ll find the collection of fantasy books that we know about from January to June of 2022!
Looking for the other posts?
Looking for July to December?
It’s a new year and, since the number of book releases we know about per month is just tipping into unwieldy (June alone last year had 150 books to add to the post, not to mention the 50+ more we found later), we’ve decided to change up the way we’re doing releases posts. We started organising releases posts by genre around halfway through last year, so we’re sticking with that here. The major difference? Each genre gets its own post, which will eventually cover a period of 6 months. So, like with our various other releases posts (although those go up all at once, whereas here we’ll add each month), these are more easily edited and added to! Which means, even if we miss a book, we can better come back and add it to the post. A win for everyone!
In this post, you’ll find the collection of mystery and thriller books that we know about from January to June of 2022!
Looking for the other posts?
Looking for July to December?
