The Pride Show, Or 13 Year Old David Rose Goes to Fairyland

Jenn Northington Jun 18, 2020

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Amanda and Jenn give queer reading recommendations in honor of Pride month in this week’s episode of Get Booked.

This episode is sponsored by Hey YA, Book Riot’s own podcast about all things young adult lit, TBR: Tailored Book Recommendations, Book Riot’s personalized reading recommendation service, which now has gifting! and Book Riot Insiders.

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Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (rec’d by Elizabeth)

Questions

1. Hello ladies,

I am looking for a lighthearted queer romance story with mermaids. It can be mermaid/mermaid or human/mermaid, both are fine. I’d prefer a wlw romance but anything queer would be great.

Thank you!

-Sam

2. Hello, I am looking for some books for my 11 year old niece. She is confused about her sexuality and gender right now and doesn’t live in a very forgiving household. She loves fantasy novels and real life situations as well. She loves comics and manga. I’m looking for something that could be reassuring for her and make sure she knows she is normal.

-Chloe

3. Hello! I’m looking for a book to fulfill the 2020 read harder task to read a romance novel starring a single parent. I have a hard time getting into straight romance novels, but I enjoy LGBTQ romance novels, particularly wlw (women who love women) romance. Any suggestions for wlw (or other LGBTQ+ identities) romance novels featuring a single parent would be much appreciated as I have not had any success in finding one myself. Thank you!! Love the show!!

P.S. – Hey from RVA!

-Kathleen

4. Hi Amanda and Jenn,

First, I LOVE the show. My bank account not so much, but it’s worth it. 🙂

I actually have two recommendation requests. They don’t need to be answered soon, nor do they need to be answered at the same time.

Request #1

In the past few years I have fallen back in love (hur hur) with romance novels. While I do enjoy contemporary (Julie James, Jennifer Crusie, some Nora Roberts, Kristin Higgins), I absolutely love the historicals of Sarah MacLean and Courtney Milan.

Courtney Milan’s The Suffragette Scandal (I think it was this one) made me realise that I’d like to read some historical lesbian romance. I’ve been able to find plenty of contemporary, but I’m struggling to find any historicals other than Sarah Waters, who I like, but don’t love. I’m also not particularly interested in erotica.

Request #2

I would love to read some books set in New Orleans or Savannah. I love the Garden District of Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches books, and I’m also a fan of John Berendt’s Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and I’d like to expand out from these.

Historical, contemporary, or non-fiction, I’m open to anything for this. Mardi Gras and Bourbon Street would be great, but aren’t essential.

Thank you for putting out an excellent podcast, and for running such a fantastic website and community! Keep up the fantastic work.

-Michelle

5. Hello there,

I just read My Real Children by Jo Walton and fell in love with the romance between the two female characters, Pat and Bee. I’ve never explored LGBTQIA+ romance before and was hoping you had some suggestions for more lesbian romance books with the same tone: not tragic but light-hearted, cute, and cozy with the emphasis on the relationship rather than the bedroom. Actually, are there any cozy mysteries featuring lesbian MCs? I’m so here for that if there is!

Thank you in advance,

-T.L.

6. I love your podcast! It has made my TBR list grown to a ridiculous level. Here is my question. I love stories about amazing people, especially women or LGBT, that are doing amazing things and changing the world. I try to read biographies or memoirs but I always get bored. I love page-turning fiction books of all genres (sci-fi, mystery, thriller, dystopia, etc.) Can you recommend any non-fiction books about people doing amazing things that reads like fiction?

-Jessica

7. Hello! I am suffering from major *character* hangover and need some help.

I recently flew through The Raven Cycle trilogy (aha! puns..) and couldn’t get over it. Since then I’ve tumbled into YA books with cliche brooding anti-heroes who secretly have a soft spot (as in Ronan Lynch, Kaz Brekker, etc.) and can’t get enough of the overdone trope.

Are there any other books you can recommend, in a series or standalone, where there is a character who hates everyone and everything until they find someone/something they don’t? I’m a huge fan of YA (fantasy or contemporary) and don’t mind how cheesy and cliche the books are. I just think this will be the easiest way to get out of this bizarre funk. Bonus points for LGBTQ and POC rep!

Love the show, thanks so much!

-Bianca