Top 10 LGBTQ+ Books

I'm a bit guilty when I say that I apparently haven't read as many LGBT books as I thought I had. I'm hoping to fix that this year. If you're wondering why a certain book isn't on this list, it's because I wanted to limit this list to books where the LGBT characters weren't just some obscure side character, they were pretty much front and center. A list of my favorite LGBT characters and ships is a whole other list. Without further ado, let me begin my list. 

10. Cut and Run 

Our two protagonists are two manly men FBI agents who don’t really get along at first but have to work with each other and soon realize they have a thing for each other. It’s thrilling, it’s sexy, it’s perfect.

9. Him

This has the honour of being the first Elle Kennedy book I ever read and I have to say it set me on the right path. Our two protagonists have been best friends for years, one openly gay and in love with the other and the other being 100% clueless. It’s as packed full of drama as you think.

8. The Raven King

Okay so these characters aren’t the main main characters, but they are main charactery enough for me to give them this spot on the list. Also there are two of them so that doubles their significance. I won’t say which characters because spoilers, I will however say it’s important enough to put on the list.

7. This is Where it Ends

I didn’t realize until I had finished my list that this is my only lesbian couple on this list. I’ve definitely read more books with lesbians in them, just never with them being protagonists. Their relationship is a huge part of the story. It’s important to plot and characters.

6. The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue

It took these two a billion years to figure it out but every second was worth it because they are so cute together. Monty and Percy are perfect together, Monty is out of control and has shit impulse control and Percy is calm and will call Monty out on his shit.

5. Carry On

This was basically the Harry and Draco fan fiction I always wanted, but better. These characters are loosely based on the previously mentioned characters, but they are also their own. 

4. Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens agenda

This was the last book I read in 2017 and I am happy to say I ended my year off on a good note.

3. Captive Prince

What I love about this book is how open it is about sexuality. Everyone is either gay or at least bisexual. I don’t think there is a single person who is 100% straight in this book and I loved that. In a sea of books where everyone is straight it’s nice to see a book where everyone is LGBTQ+.

2. I’ll Give You the Sun

Noah’s sexuality is a large part of this story, his point of view is all about him coming to terms with it and being in love with someone he shouldn’t. 

1. Wolfsong

This is the book that inspired this list. It was just so fantastic that I couldn’t stop thinking about it. This is officially my latest obsession. If you haven’t read this book yet, do.

Have any suggestions for LGBT books? 

Wolfsong Spoiler Free Review

Wolfsong
by T. J. Klune

Synopsis:

Ox was twelve when his daddy taught him a very valuable lesson. He said that Ox wasn’t worth anything and people would never understand him. Then he left.

Ox was sixteen when he met the boy on the road, the boy who talked and talked and talked. Ox found out later the boy hadn’t spoken in almost two years before that day, and that the boy belonged to a family who had moved into the house at the end of the lane.

Ox was seventeen when he found out the boy’s secret, and it painted the world around him in colors of red and orange and violet, of Alpha and Beta and Omega.

Ox was twenty-three when murder came to town and tore a hole in his head and heart. The boy chased after the monster with revenge in his bloodred eyes, leaving Ox behind to pick up the pieces.

It’s been three years since that fateful day—and the boy is back. Except now he’s a man, and Ox can no longer ignore the song that howls between them. 

My Thoughts:

I gave this book 5 stars. It was one of those books that I couldn’t put down, and then once I finished it I started it over right away.

I’ve only ever read gay romances written by women and I was actually really surprised to see how much a difference there would be when an actual man writes a gay romance.  It wasn’t even really the romance, but Ox. Ox was so different than any other character I’ve ever read about, maybe that’s because he was actually written by an actual man. At times this book read like a children’s novel, simple and to the point, but with a bit of a poetic spin. I don’t even really know how to describe it. The best possible way I could is that it’s a story written like a song or a song written like a story.

This book had all the emotions. There were times when it physically pained me how hard I was smiling and then there were times where it physically pained me at how sad it was. It brought me through the whole spectrum of emotions.

I loved how the title played an important part in the novel. They never actually used the word Wolfsong, but the entire story was laden with music and lyrical writing. Song was an important part of who Ox was. Now I could get into all kinds of hidden themes and meaning but I won’t because this isn’t English class and I doubt you guys would care. However, I will say that song has a lot to do with the story.

This was a pretty long book, but then, it took place over 10 years so it never dragged. I loved seeing how all the characters could change and how their lives are so completely different from the beginning and end. 

My only complaint is who the fuck names their child Oxnard? Actually who? I know it’s a city in California, but man it sounds so stupid. I honestly think his parents just naming him Ox would have been less stupid.

Overall, I loved this book. I loved the characters, I loved the romance, and I loved the plot. I would highly recommend this to those who love LGBT books and anyone who loves werewolf novels.

Blog Tour: Between the Blade and the Heart Review and Giveaway

Between the Blade and the Heart
by Amanda Hocking

Release Date: January 2nd, 2017

Publisher: Wednesday Books/St. Martin's Press

SUMMARY:

When the fate of the world is at stake
Loyalties will be tested

Game of Thrones meets Blade Runner in this commanding new YA fantasy inspired by Norse Mythology from New York Times bestselling author Amanda Hocking.

As one of Odin's Valkyries, Malin's greatest responsibility is to slay immortals and return them to the underworld. But when she unearths a secret that could unravel the balance of all she knows, Malin along with her best friend and her ex-girlfriend must decide where their loyalties lie. And if helping the blue-eyed boy Asher enact his revenge is worth the risk—to the world and her heart.

AUTHOR BIO: 

Amanda Hocking is the author of over twenty young adult novels, including the New York Times bestselling Trylle Trilogy and Kanin Chronicles. Her love of pop culture and all things paranormal influence her writing. She spends her time in Minnesota, taking care of her menagerie of pets and working on her next book.

Buy Links:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-a-Million | IndieBound | Powells

Social Links:

Author Website: http://www.worldofamandahocking.com/

Twitter: @Amanda_Hocking

Facebook: @AmandaHockingFans

Author Blog

My Thoughts:

I received an ARC through Netgalley for an honest review

I gave this book 4 stars. It’s an incredible start to a series and I have no doubt it’ll bloom into an even better series. 

This is the only realistic love triangle I have ever read about and probably the only one I will ever read about in the future. We have a bisexual protagonist who can’t decide between her bombshell ex-girlfriend and a sweet sexy new guy in her life. It wasn’t as dramatic as you may think, I honestly had such a good time reading about it. If you’ve been following my blog then you know how much I hate love triangles. This is the first time that I haven’t absolutely detested one and that’s huge for me, therefore this book can do no wrong.

I’m loving this influx of books based on Norse Mythology. A few years ago I had maybe one series centered around Valkyrie and now there are so many and I love it. Valkyrie are something I personally have always found incredibly intriguing so any book about them is guaranteed to have me reading.

I’m slightly confused about the setting. It wasn’t exactly clear is the story was set in our world with a secret underworld, or if it was our world but everyone was open about being supernatural, or if it was complete fantasy. 

Our protagonist is a bit emotionally stunted which seems to cause quite a few problems in her life. This all ties back to her mother. I personally hated her mother, she was awful. Malin however, feels a bond towards her mother despite her mother barely being just that, a mother. It bothered me that Malin cared so much about her mother when her mother obviously didn’t care at all about her. It’s understandable since that is her mother, but it’s still really annoying.

I’ve read this author's writing before and this is so completely different from what I’ve read that I was a bit surprised that it was even the same author. This is in no way a bad thing, just an observation.

Overall, I would highly suggest this book to those who love upper YA and fantasy novels. It was in short, epic.

Giveaway:

Rules:

• This giveaway will run from January 1st to January 3rd
• The prize is one finished paperback copy of BETWEEN THE BLADE AND THE HEART
• U.S. entries only. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

City of Lost Souls Review

City of Lost Souls
by Cassandra Clare

Spoilers

Synopsis:

The New York Times bestselling Mortal Instruments continues—and so do the thrills and danger for Jace, Clary, and Simon.

What price is too high to pay, even for love? When Jace and Clary meet again, Clary is horrified to discover that the demon Lilith’s magic has bound her beloved Jace together with her evil brother Sebastian, and that Jace has become a servant of evil. The Clave is out to destroy Sebastian, but there is no way to harm one boy without destroying the other. As Alec, Magnus, Simon, and Isabelle wheedle and bargain with Seelies, demons, and the merciless Iron Sisters to try to save Jace, Clary plays a dangerous game of her own. The price of losing is not just her own life, but Jace’s soul. She’s willing to do anything for Jace, but can she still trust him? Or is he truly lost?

Love. Blood. Betrayal. Revenge. Darkness threatens to claim the Shadowhunters in the harrowing fifth book of the Mortal Instruments series.

My Thoughts:

I gave this book 5 stars. By far my favourite book in the series. Everything about this series has come so far from the start and it's 

Jordan and Maia were very ignorable the first time I read the series. I really didn't care about what happened to them, they were just unimportant. Now, reading the series again I just want these sweet characters to get back together and be happy together. They are so cute. Maia is the one character in this entire series who has never pissed me off or made me question whether or not I trusted her. She's always been very straight forward and had a good moral compass.

What I didn't even notice the first few times reading this book was that werewolves have gold rings around their irises' even when in human form!!! I completely missed that and it was only mentioned in passing, if I hadn't been reading in depth I probably would have missed it. Now I have to rethink everything, especially how I picture these werewolf characters.

Simon and Izzy are just such an amazing couple. I am constantly amused by the fact that Izzy is completely confused by her attraction to Simon. She's like "WTF??? I've dated incredibly hot guys and not gotten over attached, why am I suddenly so over attached to this nerd?" and I'm really living for it. Seeing more of their relationship in this book was refreshing. The series is usually very centred around Jace and Clary, and it still is a lot about them, but the magic of this second half of the series is that we get more of the other couples i.e. Simon and Izzy.

Alec is driving me crazy, he's completely letting his insecurities get to him and he doesn't even notice the way Magnus looks at him. Magnus is so completely in love with him and Alec doesn't even seem to want to talk to Magnus when Magnus brings up Alec's insecurities. It's driving me crazy.

I have to talk about something that really upset me for a moment here. If you haven't read the Infernal Devices Series yet, then I would highly recommend skipping over this paragraph. I wouldn't say it's exactly a spoiler, but it probably won't make any sense. Why I'm upset is because the book Will gave to Tessa expressing his love for her was blown up in Sebastian's magical floating house. This physically pains me. That's not even what upsets me the most. What upsets me the most is why did Tessa not keep that book? It is a highly sentimental object, so why wouldn't she keep it? It seems like the type of thing one would bring with them everywhere because it is a symbol of your love. I'm very upset by this. Okay onto the rest of the review.

It's constantly mentioned in the book how tall Jace is. He's like a giant, he is just so tall. That made me think he was like 6 foot 6, just towering over everyone. Turns out Jace is actually only 5 foot 11. Not, short, but a lot shorter than I expected.

So much development has happen with the story and with the characters fro the first book. They have changed so much. Cassandra Clare's writing has gotten a lot better throughout the series. She knows how to keep everyone engaged and wanting more. I love seeing how the characters have changed throughout the past few books and the change is immense.

Sebastian is manipulative, cruel, and a complete lunatic. I love him though. He's a psychopath for sure, but being a psychopath usually means you're pretty charismatic. I know it's all a silkscreen and that he's an awful human being, but I can't help but be charmed by him. He does all this awful stuff with a mischievous little grin on his face and you just want to be around him. I hate him but I love him. I think the author did a really good job with him.

I'm terribly unobservant when reading, which is why I discovered loads of new things while reading this book again. For some reason I was under the impression that Amatis become one of the dark shadowhunters of her free will. Apparently I missed the part where she was dragged out of her bed and forced to drink from the cup. I also didn't notice that Maia and Jordan slept together, but that was probably because I didn't really care about those two the other times I read it.

There was this theory I read about on Tumblr, I don't remember who thought of it, but it goes like this; Robert and Maryse both have blue eyes, Izzy has black eyes. Therefore it is genetically impossible for Izzy to be Robert's child. Who from this series has black eyes? Valentine. Therefore the theory goes, Izzy is Valentine's daughter. I think some other things that back up this theory is that in the past books Maryse would always talk about how much she and loved Valentine and we all just assumed it was like a friend or a leader, but that was only implied. There was also the fact that Valentine always called her "my Maryse". Now there are holes in this theory like, why didn't Valentine ever use this to his advantage? We all saw what he did with Jace, who wasn't even his kid. Unless, Valentine never knew that Izzy was his daughter. I could completely see this theory as being factual.

Clary and Isabelle's friendship is coming along quite nicely. Bonding over the people they both love. It's been a long time coming and I know it wasn't always smooth, but it's coming to a good place. I think the two of them need more female friends. Especially Clary who's only friend seems to be Simon.

Quick note: Jace and Clary are absolutely adorable together.

Overall, this was an amazing fifth book, it really leaves you wanting to jump right into the sixth book. I personally feel like it was the best book in the series. I would give it an A+.

Quotes:

“Basia coquum," Simon said. "Or whatever their motto is.""It's 'Descensus Averno facilis est.' 'The descent into hell is easy," said Alec. "You just said "Kiss the cook.""Dammit," said Simon. "I knew Jace was screwing with me.” 

“She turned and looked at him. "Ducks?" she said again.A smile tugged the edge of his mouth. "I hate ducks. Don't know why. I just always have.” 

“I've got the Mark of Cain," said Simon. "That means nothing can kill me, right?""You can kill yourself," Magnus said, somewhat unhelpfully. "As far as I know, inanimate objects can accidentally kill you. So if you were planning on teaching yourself the lambada on a greased platform over a pit full of knives, I wouldn't.""There goes my Saturday.” 

'My mother seems to have accepted it,' Alec said. 'But my father — no, not really. Once he asked me what I thought had turned me gay.'Simon felt Isabelle tense next to him. 'Turned you gay?' She sounded incredulous. 'Alec, you didn’t tell me that.''I hope you told him you were bitten by a gay spider,' said Simon.

“Missing, one stunningly attractive teenage boy. Answers to 'Jace' or 'Hot Stuff” 

“What have you done to my cat?" Magnus demanded... "You drank his blood, didn't you? You said you weren't hungry!"Simon was indignant. "I did not drink his blood. He's fine!" He poked the Chairman in the stomach. The cat yawned. "Second, you asked me if I was hungry when you were ordering pizza, so I said no, because I can't eat pizza. I was being polite.""That doesn't get you the right to eat my cat.""Your cat is fine!" Simon reached to pick up the tabby, who jumped indignantly to his feet and stalked off the table. "See?""Whatever.” 

Mask of Shadows Spoiler Free Review

Mask of Shadows
by Linsey Miller

Release Date: August 29th, 2017

Synopsis:

Perfect for fantasy fans of Sarah J. Maas and Leigh Bardugo, the first book in this new duology features a compelling gender fluid main character, impressive worldbuilding, and fast-paced action.

Sallot Leon is a thief, and a good one at that. But gender fluid Sal wants nothing more than to escape the drudgery of life as a highway robber and get closer to the upper-class―and the nobles who destroyed their home. 

When Sal steals a flyer for an audition to become a member of The Left Hand―the Queen's personal assassins, named after the rings she wears―Sal jumps at the chance to infiltrate the court and get revenge. 

But the audition is a fight to the death filled with clever circus acrobats, lethal apothecaries, and vicious ex-soldiers. A childhood as a common criminal hardly prepared Sal for the trials. And as Sal succeeds in the competition, and wins the heart of Elise, an intriguing scribe at court, they start to dream of a new life and a different future, but one that Sal can have only if they survive.

My Thoughts:

I received this ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

I gave this book 4.5 stars. I really didn't know what was going to happen when I started this book. Didn't really know what to expect, but from what I could gather from the synopsis, it was going to be good.

What I loved about this book was it wasn't about the character trying to be taken seriously because they were gender fluid. They just were and people didn't really question it. I mean there were some times when Sal would be identifying as a male and people would refer to him as she and he would get pissed off, but that was the extent. No one tried to demean them for being who they were. That way the story was very much centred on the plot.

Sal and Elise are really cute together. I wasn't sure how it would work out at first, but they have this cute little flirty relationship going on. Their future together really rested on whether or not Sal could pull off becoming Opal. That added this whole other forbidden love sort of dynamic. Never in the entire book was it out of reach because of the characters gender or sexual identity and I found it very refreshing.

A good fantasy novel is nothing without a protagonist with a tragic backstory. Good thing this book didn't disappoint. Sal's past added so much substance to their character, it gave all the motivation for what Sal wanted to do.

The characters in this book had so much soul. They all had their own complex pasts that made them the way they were. No one was needlessly good or needlessly evil, they had their own motivations. I loved how the Left Hand was so closely bonded, like a family, their bond made this book what it was, and what it was was worth it.

I am a huge sucker for several types of book, books set at boarding schools, books with deadly competitions, and books with complex characters. This book had the second two and they were pulled off beautifully. This book has set up an amazing story arc for the sequel and I'm excited to read it.