Books We’ve Read and Loved

The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli

Representation: MC is plus side and there is a pansexual side character who plays an important role in the story. There are also gay side characters and a mlm relationship.

Trigger Warnings (TW): allonormativity + amatonormativity (some readers felt that this book promoted discrimination against asexual people because it exists under the assumption that everyone wants to be in sexual and romantic realtionships), anxiety, bullying, vomit, fatphobia, homophobia (mentioned), panic attacks, queerphobia, racism, slut shaming.

Here is the official synopsis as provided by Goodreads:

Seventeen-year-old Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love—she’s lived through it twenty-six times. She crushes hard and crushes often, but always in secret. Because no matter how many times her twin sister, Cassie, tells her to woman up, Molly can’t stomach the idea of rejection. So she’s careful. Fat girls always have to be careful.

Then a cute new girl enters Cassie’s orbit, and for the first time ever, Molly’s cynical twin is a lovesick mess. Meanwhile, Molly’s totally not dying of loneliness—except for the part where she is. Luckily, Cassie’s new girlfriend comes with a cute hipster-boy sidekick. Will is funny and flirtatious and just might be perfect crush material. Maybe more than crush material. And if Molly can win him over, she’ll get her first kiss and she’ll get her twin back.

There’s only one problem: Molly’s coworker Reid. He’s an awkward Tolkien superfan with a season pass to the Ren Faire, and there’s absolutely no way Molly could fall for him. Right?

Books Still On Our TBR

A Dark and Hollow Star by Ashely Shuttleworth

Representation: There are multiple queer identities in this book, including pan/questioning, lesbian, bisexual, genderfluid, and gay characters.

Trigger Warnings (TW): blood/gore, body horror, death of a child, depression, human trafficking, stalking, suicide (past, off page), suicide ideation, toxic relationships, manipulation, PTSD, racism, violence (including gun violence)

Here is the official synopsis as provided by Goodreads:

The “ironborn” half-fae outcast of her royal fae family.
A tempestuous Fury, exiled to earth from the Immortal Realm and hellbent on revenge.
A dutiful fae prince, determined to earn his place on the throne.
The prince’s brooding guardian, burdened with a terrible secret.

For centuries, the Eight Courts of Folk have lived among us, concealed by magic and bound by law to do no harm to humans. This arrangement has long kept peace in the Courts—until a series of gruesome and ritualistic murders rocks the city of Toronto and threatens to expose faeries to the human world.

Four queer teens, each who hold a key piece of the truth behind these murders, must form a tenuous alliance in their effort to track down the mysterious killer behind these crimes. If they fail, they risk the destruction of the faerie and human worlds alike. If that’s not bad enough, there’s a war brewing between the Mortal and Immortal Realms, and one of these teens is destined to tip the scales. The only question is: which way?

Wish them luck. They’re going to need it. 

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In The Ravenous Dark by A.M. Strickland

Representation: MC is pansexual with a lesbian love interest. There is also a nonbinary + asexual side character who uses they/them pronouns and multiple f/f relationships including 1 m/f/f relationship.

Trigger Warnings (TW) as provided by the author: death (minor and major character deaths, including death of queer characters), death of a parent (off and on page), suicide (of sibling, off page), fratricide, blood/gore, mild body horror, mild substance addiction, enforced gender roles, forced marriage and pregnancy (including rape, although this is off page and not involving main characters), threat of rape + sexual abuse for the main character.

Here is the official synopsis as provided by Goodreads:

A pansexual bloodmage reluctantly teams up with an undead spirit to start a rebellion among the living and the dead.

In Thanopolis, those gifted with magic are assigned undead spirits to guard them—and control them. Ever since Rovan’s father died trying to keep her from this fate, she’s hidden her magic. But when she accidentally reveals her powers, she’s bound to a spirit and thrust into a world of palace intrigue and deception.

Desperate to escape, Rovan finds herself falling for two people she can’t fully trust: Lydea, a beguiling, rebellious princess; and Ivrilos, the handsome spirit with the ability to control Rovan, body and soul.

Together, they uncover a secret that will destroy Thanopolis. To save them all, Rovan will have to start a rebellion in both the mortal world and the underworld, and find a way to trust the princess and spirit battling for her heart—if she doesn’t betray them first.

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Verona Comics by Jennifer Dugan

Representation: MC is questioning her sexuality and is between bisexual and pansexual. Both labels appear on the page to describe herself.

Trigger Warnings (TW): anxiety, attempted suicide (past but discussed), broken bones, car accident, cheating (mentioned), depression, drug use, homophobia, hospitalization, panic attacks, parental abuse (including verbal and emotional, almost turns into physical), suicide ideation

Here is the official synopsis as provided by Goodreads:

Jubilee has it all together. She’s an elite cellist, and when she’s not working in her stepmom’s indie comic shop, she’s prepping for the biggest audition of her life.

Ridley is barely holding it together. His parents own the biggest comic-store chain in the country, and Ridley can’t stop disappointing them—that is, when they’re even paying attention.

They meet one fateful night at a comic convention prom, and the two can’t help falling for each other. Too bad their parents are at each other’s throats every chance they get, making a relationship between them nearly impossible…unless they manage to keep it a secret.

Then again, the feud between their families may be the least of their problems. As Ridley’s anxiety spirals, Jubilee tries to help but finds her focus torn between her fast-approaching audition and their intensifying relationship. What if love can’t conquer all? What if each of them needs more than the other can give?

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Miss Meteor by Tehlor Kay Mejia and Anna-Marie McLemore

Representation: MC is plus sized and Latinx. There are pansexual characters and a transgender character

Trigger Warnings (TW): bullying, fatphobia, homophobia, parental abandonment, racism (including slurs), transphobia, xenophobia

Here is the official synopsis as provided by Goodreads:

There hasn’t been a winner of the Miss Meteor beauty pageant who looks like Lita Perez or Chicky Quintanilla in all its history. But that’s not the only reason Lita wants to enter the contest, or why her ex-best friend Chicky wants to help her. The road to becoming Miss Meteor isn’t about being perfect; it’s about sharing who you are with the world—and loving the parts of yourself no one else understands. So to pull off the unlikeliest underdog story in pageant history, Lita and Chicky are going to have to forget the past and imagine a future where girls like them are more than enough—they are everything.

Witty and heartfelt with characters that leap off the page, Miss Meteor is acclaimed authors Anna-Marie McLemore and Tehlor Kay Mejia’s first book together.

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Final Draft by Riley Redgate

Representation: MC is pansexual + biracial Ecuadorian and there is a f/f relationship. The love interest in a Korean lesbian.

Trigger Warnings (TW): depression, grief, death of a minor, alcohol, anxiety, internalized ableism

Here is the official synopsis provided by Goodreads:

The only sort of risk 18-year-old Laila Piedra enjoys is the peril she writes for the characters in her stories: epic sci-fi worlds full of quests, forbidden love, and robots. Her creative writing teacher has always told her she has a special talent. But three months before her graduation, he’s suddenly replaced—by Nadiya Nazarenko, a Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist who is sadistically critical and perpetually unimpressed.
 
At first, Nazarenko’s eccentric assignments seem absurd. But before long, Laila grows obsessed with gaining the woman’s approval. Soon Laila is pushing herself far from her comfort zone, discovering the psychedelic highs and perilous lows of nightlife, temporary flings, and instability. Dr. Nazarenko has led Laila to believe that she must choose between perfection and sanity—but rejecting her all-powerful mentor may be the only way for Laila to thrive.

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Once And Future by A.R. Capetta and Cory McCarthy

Representation: MC is pansexual. There are also gay, genderfluid, and asexual side characters.

Trigger Warnings (TW): animal cruelty, animal death, attempted suicide, blood, corpses, claustrophobia, death of loved ones, genocide, grief, homophobia, incarceration, mental torture, misgendering (accidental), misogyny, needles, plague, racism, rape (briefly mentioned and not described), transphobia, violence

Here is the official synopsis provided by Goodreads:

I‘ve been chased my whole life. As a fugitive refugee in the territory controlled by the tyrannical Mercer corporation, I’ve always had to hide who I am. Until I found Excalibur.

Now I’m done hiding.

My name is Ari Helix. I have a magic sword, a cranky wizard, and a revolution to start.

When Ari crash-lands on Old Earth and pulls a magic sword from its ancient resting place, she is revealed to be the newest reincarnation of King Arthur. Then she meets Merlin, who has aged backward over the centuries into a teenager, and together they must break the curse that keeps Arthur coming back. Their quest? Defeat the cruel, oppressive government and bring peace and equality to all humankind.

No pressure.