Calendar Girl is a monthly meme now hosted by Katie @nevernotreding and Adrienne @darquedreamer

but created by Melanie at MNBernard Books, and Flavia at Flavia the Bibliophile.

Each month we get a new theme and choose our favorite book for the theme. The participants get to vote for their favorite. There is also a Twitter chat spanning as last month on several days!

Hi dear friends,

This month’s topic is all about LGBTQ and books!

I have read some books with main characters being gay or lesbian and plenty with side characters having homosexual preferences!

Of course I have my favorites, the ones I think many should read but if I will present you my contenders, my winner this month is an “underdog”.

But that’s also why I decided to blog: to promote and push books I think should be loved by many more!

Without further ado, let’s begin with my contenders!

In Young Adult, you have:

Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand

Synopsis

Beware of the woods and the dark, dank deep.

He’ll follow you home, and he won’t let you sleep.

Who are the Sawkill Girls?

Marion: the new girl. Awkward and plain, steady and dependable. Weighed down by tragedy and hungry for love she’s sure she’ll never find.

Zoey: the pariah. Luckless and lonely, hurting but hiding it. Aching with grief and dreaming of vanished girls. Maybe she’s broken—or maybe everyone else is.

Val: the queen bee. Gorgeous and privileged, ruthless and regal. Words like silk and eyes like knives, a heart made of secrets and a mouth full of lies.

Their stories come together on the island of Sawkill Rock, where gleaming horses graze in rolling pastures and cold waves crash against black cliffs. Where kids whisper the legend of an insidious monster at parties and around campfires.

Where girls have been disappearing for decades, stolen away by a ravenous evil no one has dared to fight… until now.

Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake

Some of what I wrote about it: ” More than simply crying and hurting for Hannah and Mara I’ve been overwhelmed by many thoughts about right and wrong, about circumstances pushing someone to commit something unforgivable.

This story is captivating, sad, real, unputdownable.

The author did a fantastic job showcasing every aspect of a rape and its aftermath not only for the victim and her family but for the rapist as well.”

In Adult you have three favorites of mine:

Wolfsong by TJ Klune (it also was my first MM)

Here is an excerpt of what I wrote after having read that splendid story: “

I hesitated for a very long time before reading Wolfsong. I had never read M/M romance and did not feel drawn to it. But the reviews from my friends kept coming and coming. All more enthusiastic than the others. So I put my big girl panties on and…fell in love head over heel with this gorgeous story.

This book is about love in all its complexities and variations. The love of a mother for his child, the love of a young Ox for his mom wanting to care for her because he was the man now that his Daddy left them.

It was the love of non-blood related brothers with Rico, Chris, Tanner and Gordo at Gordo’s garage. A love and connection between hard working guys so deep they had each other’s back when things went south. They helped a slower Ox with schoolwork.

It was the love of an adopted family: The Bennets. So tight with each other, needing to touch the members of their “pack”. Ready to do anything to ease the suffering of one of them. Ready to move to help little Joe recover after the horror that happened to him.

It was the love of friendship, the love of lovers…

If love could have a name it would be Ox.”

The Silver Cage by Anonymous

I will simply say that it took me months to recover from that heart wrenching story!!!

A Charm of Finches by Suanne Laqueur

This book was like being hit by an enormous emotional wave!

The story began on a huge “bang!” and I was panting, heart galloping like a wild horse inside my rib cage. I was having a panic attack. I WAS Geronimo and I wanted someone anyone to come save me. It was the worse betrayal you could ever imagine. One hitting you in the flesh. Earth shattering aftermaths.

That’s how talented Suanne is: immediately sucking you in her story barely releasing you from her clutches from time to time just to let you breathe a little and give you a false security feeling before the next blow.

Seriously this book should come with a warning. Suanne tells a terrible and powerful story. One where you’ll call for your mom to come rescue you because the fox is in the den and you’re the panicked little chick.

I love her and I sometimes hate her equally as she loves destroying her heroes before rebuilding them. They are real Phoenixes reborn from their ashes and throughout this long, painful but glorious process we suffer right alongside them. It’s raw, flesh against flesh will against will, it’s messy, painful and cathartic. It’s life in all its glory.

You end up shaken, overwhelmed, emotional with a gigantic book hangover because it was so exceptional that you want more. Always more.

So read at your own risk!

All complaints have to be sent to Suanne Laqueur author extraordinaire and living in sunny California.

But if all these books are so worth reading, my winner is an underdog.

It is more than LGBTQ. It was beautiful but dramatic. It should honestly be better known!

I won’t explain the plot as it would give away the big secret here so I will leave you with the synopsis and my request for you to JUST READ IT!

Stop! by Alison G. Bailey

Synopsis

Every life has a different path full of sharp turns, smooth curves, and steep drop offs.

Hollis Murphy has a plan—college, career, boyfriend, love, marriage, family. A predictable, normal life. She’s on track until an outside force causes her to crash and burn. They call it an accident, because that’s the only word they know to explain what happens to her. It helps everyone move on with their lives, except for Hollis. She holds on to the belief that she’s been targeted for a reason.

Risher Stevenson is intelligent, caring, sweet, and the hottest boy Hollis has ever laid eyes on. He fits perfectly into her original plan for a normal life. Everyone loves him.

Benton Daniels is intelligent, caring, sweet, and the bravest boy Hollis has ever met. He doesn’t fit into her life but gives it purpose and makes it extraordinary. Everyone hates him.

One is bullied. One is tormented. All are judged. How will it STOP?

Now do tell me: do we share some favorites? What are your preferred LGBTQ books?

Thanks for reading!

Sophie