JANUARY 1ST (UK)
The Art of Being Normal (David Fickling Books, 2015)
The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson — (TRANS)
Goodreads Summary: “Two boys. Two secrets. David Piper has always been an outsider. His parents think he’s gay. The school bully thinks he’s a freak. Only his two best friends know the real truth – David wants to be a girl.
On the first day at his new school Leo Denton has one goal – to be invisible. Attracting the attention of the most beautiful girl in year eleven is definitely not part of that plan.
When Leo stands up for David in a fight, an unlikely friendship forms. But things are about to get messy. Because at Eden Park School secrets have a funny habit of not staying secret for long…”
JANUARY 2ND (USA)
Recipe for Magic (Harmony Ink, 2015)
Recipe for Magic by Agatha Bird — (GAY)
Goodreads Summary: Connor Roth is a fire mage who’s going places. He’s powerful, popular, and he has a plan. But his plan for fame and glory is disrupted when the Oracle sticks him with Landyn Glendower for Senior Trial. This is an act unprecedented in their school’s history. Landyn is a water mage, and everyone knows mages with opposing elements can’t work magic together.
Connor is left with a choice: work alone and fail or swallow his pride and work with Landyn to find a way to combine their magic in a display the Archmages will never forget—if they don’t get kicked out of school in the process.
Harmony Ink / Dreamspinner Press / Amazon
JANUARY 4th (USA)
The Eldermaid (Krystal R. Henderson, 2015)
The Eldermaid by K. Henderson — (QUEER)
Goodreads Summary: Once, it is said, the Powers–the five deities who rule over Love, War, Knowledge, Nature, and Death–walked the land.
But now They are gone, entrusting the guardianship of the world to the many spirits that live in it. These spirits of flame and sea, of tree and metal and storm form bonds with chosen humans, strengthening humanity’s ties with the land.
In this world, bereft of the Powers that created it, a young girl bonds with a spirit of the elder tree. All is not right with the world, however; and it will be up to these two companions to survive an invisible war of conflicting ideologies in which politics, religion, love, and jealousy are major players.
JANUARY 6TH (USA)
Take Them by Storm (2015)
Take Them By Storm (Angel Island #3) by Marie Landry — (LESBIAN)
Goodreads Summary: This book is a standalone companion novel to Waiting for the Storm and After the Storm.
Sadie Fitzgerald has always been different, and not just because she makes her own clothes and would rather stay home watching Doctor Who than party with kids her age. When it’s time to leave Angel Island for college, Sadie is eager to put her old life behind her. Small-minded people and rumors have plagued her for years, but with the love of her adoptive family, the O’Dells, Sadie has learned to embrace who she is. Now she’s not afraid to admit the rumors about her are true: she’s gay. For the first time in her life, Sadie feels free to be herself. She dives into college life and begins volunteering at the local LGBT center, where she discovers her small-town upbringing left holes in her education about life outside Angel Island.
The world is a bigger and more accepting place than Sadie ever imagined. She’s finally found where she belongs, but with the reappearance of someone from her past, an unexpected new friendship, and a chance at love, Sadie soon realizes she still has a lot to learn about life, friendship, and love.
JANUARY 6TH (USA)
Lunaside (Prizm Books, 2015)
Lunaside by J.L Douglas — (LESBIAN)
Goodreads Summary: Moira Connell just wants to drink tea, draw pictures, and hang out with Andrea, her girlfriend. But that’s before her mother accuses her of wanting to spend her time making out with girls, rather than planning which universities to court in senior year.
A job as an art counselor at Lunaside, the summer camp down the road from Moira’s house, is supposed to help Moira prove she isn’t procrastinating, and that she isn’t ‘girl-crazy’ either. Then the eccentric owner of Lunaside ropes her into starring in the camp’s new web series before she can say ‘on-screen panic attack.’ But it’s exactly the kind of huge responsibility Moira’s mother thinks Moira is allergic to, so she jumps in anyway.
Of course, the fact that Andrea is directing the web series, combined with Moira’s sudden, mutual attraction to new counselor Millie, might not help her case. And the way her best friend keeps trying to set her up with Millie certainly isn’t helping, well, anything.
And amidst all of this, she’s still got an art camp to run. On her own. But how hard could that be?
One summer can change everything. Moira’s hoping hers doesn’t end in a worst-case-scenario disaster.
JANUARY 8TH (USA)
Cold Ennaline (Harmony Ink Press, 2015)
Cold Ennaline by RJ Astruc — (ASEXUAL)
Goodreads Summary: Ennaline Whitehall has always been faithful. The god’s love is all encompassing, after all. Besides, she hardly had a choice growing up in the church alongside Ro and Ray, the twin sons of Father Piedmont. Now the twins are talking about marriage—all three are reaching the age for betrothal—but Ennaline doesn’t feel that way about the boys. She doesn’t feel that way about anyone, and who knows what the other faithful will do if they learn of her peculiar coldness?
Questions about romance pale in comparison to the rising god, however. Ennaline and the twins have always helped to keep evil at bay and reassure the people, but the holes aren’t closing properly anymore, and the smell of rot is growing. As the faithful gather at the Piedmont farm and something unfathomable claws its way up from beneath the earth, Ennaline struggles to maintain her beliefs. Alone, she is forced to come face-to-face with her god.
Harmony Ink / Dreamspinner Press / Amazon
JANUARY 8TH (USA)
Poz (The Lives of Remy and Michael #1) by Christopher Koehler — (GAY)
Poz (Harmony Ink, 2015)
Goodreads Summary: Remy Babcock and Mikey Castelreigh are stalwart members of the Capital City Rowing Club’s junior crew, pulling their hardest to earn scholarships to rowing powerhouses like California Pacific. Just a couple of all-American boys, they face the usual pressures of life in an academic hothouse and playing a varsity sport. Add to that the stifling confines of the closet, and sometimes life isn’t always easy, even in the golden bubble of their accepting community. Because Remy and Mikey have a secret: they’re both gay. While Mikey has never hidden it, Remy is a parka and a pair of mittens away from Narnia.
Mikey has always been open about wanting more than friendship, but Remy is as uncomfortable in his own skin as he is a demon on the water. After their signals cross, and a man mistakes Remy for a college student, Remy takes the plunge and hooks up with him. After a furious Mikey cuts Remy off, Remy falls to the pressure of teenage life, wanting to be more and needing it now. In his innocence and naiveté, Remy makes mistakes that have life-long consequences. When Remy falls in the midst of the most important regatta of his life, he can only hope Mikey will be there to catch him when he needs it most.
Harmony Ink / Dreamspinner Press / Amazon
JANUARY 8TH (USA)
Lightfall Three (Adoxography Books, 2015)
Lightfall Three: Luck, Lost, Lady by Jordan Taylor (Book 3 of 8) — (GAY)
Goodreads Summary: It’s always darkest before it’s pitch.
The saga continues….
Raised in 1870s Boston and coming of age in the Wild West, Ivy has to make adjustments. Gala balls and modern plumbing of her youth have given way to a life of dust, horses, and danger around every canyon wall—often zombies. Now Ivy is running for her life, but she has one advantage: she might be the only expert on Daray’s disease west of the Mississippi. If she ever hopes to see Boston again, she must rely on a strange group of new acquaintances and an eccentric Swedish maker who just might be able to build her a ride home—for a price.
JANUARY 13TH (USA)
Unmade (HMH Books for Young Readers, 2015)
Unmade (Entangled #2) by Amy Rose Capetta — (LESBIAN, BISEXUAL)
Goodreads Summary: The galaxy-spanning conclusion to Amy Rose Capetta’s acclaimed sci-fi debut, Entangled.
Cadence is in a race against time and space to save her family and friends from the Unmakers, who are tracking the last vestiges of humanity across the cosmos. As the epic battle begins, Cade learns that letting people in also means letting them go. The universe spins out of control and Cade alone must face the music in the page-turning conclusion to Entangled.
Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Indie Bound
JANUARY 20TH (USA)
The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley (Simon Pulse, 2015)
The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley by Shaun Hutchinson — (GAY)
THIS WILL BE GAYYA’S BOOK CLUB BOOK FOR FEBRUARY!
Goodreads Summary: Andrew Brawley was supposed to die that night. His parents did, and so did his sister, but he survived.
Now he lives in the hospital. He serves food in the cafeteria, he hangs out with the nurses, and he sleeps in a forgotten supply closet. Drew blends in to near invisibility, hiding from his past, his guilt, and those who are trying to find him.
Then one night Rusty is wheeled into the ER, burned on half his body by hateful classmates. His agony calls out to Drew like a beacon, pulling them both together through all their pain and grief. In Rusty, Drew sees hope, happiness, and a future for both of them. A future outside the hospital, and away from their pasts. But Drew knows that life is never that simple. Death roams the hospital, searching for Drew, and now Rusty. Drew lost his family, but he refuses to lose Rusty, too, so he’s determined to make things right. He’s determined to bargain, and to settle his debts once and for all.
But Death is not easily placated, and Drew’s life will have to get worse before there is any chance for things to get better.
A partly graphic novel.
Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Indie Bound
JANUARY 20TH (USA)
Alex as Well by Alyssa Brugman — (INTERSEX)
Alex as Well (Henry Holt and Co., 2015)
Originally published by Text Publishing in 2013, this is a new edition published by Henry Holt & Co.
Goodreads Summary: Alex is ready for things to change, in a big way. Everyone seems to think she’s a boy, but for Alex the whole boy/girl thing isn’t as simple as either/or, and when she decides girl is closer to the truth, no one knows how to react, least of all her parents. Undeterred, Alex begins to create a new identity for herself: ditching one school, enrolling in another, and throwing out most of her clothes. But the other Alex—the boy Alex—has a lot to say about that. Heartbreaking and droll in equal measures, Alex As Well is a brilliantly told story of exploring gender and sexuality, navigating friendships, and finding a place to belong.
Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Indie Bound
JANUARY 21ST (USA)
A Harvest of Ripe Figs (Prizm Books, 2015)
A Harvest of Ripe Figs by Shira Glassman –(LESBIAN)
Goodreads Summary: Esther of the Singing Hands is Perach’s Sweetheart, a young and beautiful musician with a Girl Next Door image. When her violin is stolen after a concert in the capital city, she doesn’t expect the queen herself to show up, intent upon solving the mystery.
But Queen Shulamit–lesbian, intellectual, and mother of the six month old crown princess–loves to play detective. With the help of her legendary bodyguard Rivka and her dragon, and with the support of her partner Aviva the Chef, Shulamit turns her mind toward the solution–which she quickly begins to suspect involves the use of illegal magic that could threaten the safety of her citizens.
JANUARY 27TH (USA)
Train by Danny M. Cohen — (GAY)
Train (Unsilence Project , 2015)
Goodreads Summary: Over ten days in 1943 Berlin, six teenagers witness and try to escape the Nazi round-ups of Jews and Roma. Giving voice to the unheard victims of Nazism — the Roma, the disabled, homosexuals, intermarried Jews, and political enemies of the Nazi regime — this historical thriller will change how we think about Holocaust history.
Marko screwed up. But he’s good at swallowing his fear. By now, the 17-year-old ‘Gypsy’ should be far from Nazi Germany. By now, he should be with Alex. That’s how they planned it. But while Marko has managed to escape the Gestapo, Alex has been arrested in the final round-ups of Berlin’s Jews. Even worse, Marko’s little cousin Kizzy is missing. And Marko knows he’s to blame.
Yet the tides of war are turning. With hundreds of Christian women gathered in the streets to protest the round-ups, the Nazis have suspended the trains to the camps. But for how long? Marko must act now. Against time, and with British warplanes bombing Berlin, Marko hatches a dangerous plan to rescue Alex and find Kizzy.
There are three people who can help: Marko’s sister with her connections to the Resistance, Alex’s Catholic stepsister, and a mysterious Nazi girl with a deadly secret. But will Marko own up to how Kizzy disappeared? And then there’s the truth about Alex — they just wouldn’t understand.
JANUARY 29TH (UK)
Love Hurts (Corgi Childrens, 2015)
Love Hurts (Anthology) edited by Malorie Blackman — (some stories feature QUEER characters)
Goodreads Summary: Malorie Blackman brings together the best teen writers of today in a stunningly romantic collection about love against the odds. Featuring short stories and extracts about modern star-crossed lovers from stars such as Gayle Forman, Markus Zusak and Patrick Ness, and with a brand-new story from Malorie Blackman herself, Love Hurts looks at every kind of relationship, from first kiss to final heartbreak.
Contributors: Maureen Johnson, Catherine Johnson, Philip Pullman, James Dawson, Jenny Downham, Patrick Ness, e.lockhart, Lauren Myracle, Laura Dockrill, Gayle Forman, Makus Zusak, Susie Day, David Levithan, Lauren Kate.
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