The books Southern indie booksellers are recommending to readers everywhere!

LGBTQ+

Women! In! Peril! by Jessie Ren Marshall

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Women! In! Peril! by Jessie Ren Marshall
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I’m happy to report that Women! In! Peril! lives up to its obsession-worthy title and cover. This short story debut is full of smart, fresh fiction that I wanted to savor. Marshall brings a hilarious voice to inventive literary stories about women whose struggles range from divorce to the destruction of the human race. Singular characters like a former ballerina with memory loss and a lesbian whose girlfriend thinks she’s carrying the baby Jesus make up this exciting and unabashedly queer collection!

Women! In! Peril! by Jessie Ren Marshall, (List Price: $17.99, Bloomsbury Publishing, 9781639732272, April 2024)

Reviewed by Julia Lewis, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia

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Most Ardently: A Pride & Prejudice Remix by Gabe Cole Novoa

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by Gabe Cole Novoa
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As someone who adores Pride and Prejudice, I am very protective of its main characters, and I am happy to report that Gabe Cole Novoa gave them brilliant new lives in this retelling. My little queer heart was bursting at the seams!

Most Ardently: A Pride & Prejudice Remix by Gabe Cole Novoa, (List Price: $19.99, Feiwel & Friends, 9781250869807, January 2024)

Reviewed by Rachel Randolph, Parnassus Books in , Tennessee

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Spotlight On: Like Happiness by Ursula Villarreal-Moura

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Ursula Villarreal-Moura, photo credit Levi Travieso

I wanted to tell the story of a woman who sometimes wasn’t even the main character of her own life. I think it’s an idea that might resonate with other women of color: We live in a society that values men over women, children over mothers, and white people over people of color. Through fiction, I wanted to explore how that sort of hierarchy devalues women of color and how that shapes a life.
― Ursula Villarreal-Moura, Interview

Like Happiness by Ursula Villarreal-Moura

What booksellers are saying about Like Happiness

  • A searing debut that deftly explores the effects of an unhealthy relationship between a predatory male writer and a young woman on the cusp of adulthood – I couldn’t stop reading it! The characters in this story are all too real, and post #MeToo we see Tatum grappling to understand her story and the abuse she suffered from the toxic man she viewed as her superior for far too long.
      ― Maggie Robe, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina | BUY

  • Like Happiness grabbed me from the beginning and didn’t let go. It’s an intimate exploration of power dynamics and the weight of words, but its fine-tuned attention to perspective and devotion is where it shines. Villarreal-Moura’s debut is a quiet stunner.
      ― Sarah Arnold, Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee | BUY

  • Like Happiness is an incisive and blistering coming of age novel that emanates a quiet and methodical rage. Through Tatum, Ursula Villarreal-Moura explores power imbalance, hero worship, and emotional exploitation in a way that keeps the pages turning, while also grappling deftly with sexuality and race. A searing portrait of a young woman trying to understand herself and the older man who irrefutably tangles her identity with his.
      ― Gaby Iori, Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina | BUY

About Ursula Villarreal-Moura

Ursula Villarreal-Moura was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. She is the author of Math for the Self-Crippling, a flash fiction collection. Like Happiness is her first novel.

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We Are Okay by Nina LaCour

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We Are Okay by Nina LaCour
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In We Are Okay Nina LaCour carefully reveals Marin’s grief and coming of age with depth and clarity. LaCour’s work is striking and memorable, with a singular attention to detail and arresting emotional honesty. This novel is beautifully executed and will resonate with every one of its readers.

We Are Okay by Nina LaCour, (List Price: $17.99, Dutton Books for Young Readers, 9780525425892, February 2017)

Reviewed by Johanna Albrecht, McIntyre’s Books in Pittsboro, North Carolina

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Like Happiness by Ursula Villarreal-Moura

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Like Happiness by Ursula Villarreal-Moura
buy this book

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Get the audiobook

A searing debut that deftly explores the effects of an unhealthy relationship between a predatory male writer and a young woman on the cusp of adulthood – I couldn’t stop reading it! The characters in this story are all too real, and post #MeToo we see Tatum grappling to understand her story and the abuse she suffered from the toxic man she viewed as her superior for far too long.

Like Happiness by Ursula Villarreal-Moura, (List Price: $28, Celadon Books, 9781250882837, March 2024)

Reviewed by Maggie Robe, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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Like Happiness by Ursula Villarreal-Moura

, , , , , ,
Like Happiness by Ursula Villarreal-Moura
buy this book

Buy from your local indie.
Get the audiobook

Like Happiness is an incisive and blistering coming of age novel that emanates a quiet and methodical rage. Through Tatum, Ursula Villarreal-Moura explores power imbalance, hero worship, and emotional exploitation in a way that keeps the pages turning, while also grappling deftly with sexuality and race. A searing portrait of a young woman trying to understand herself and the older man who irrefutably tangles her identity with his.

Like Happiness by Ursula Villarreal-Moura, (List Price: 28, Celadon Books, 9781250882837, March 2024)

Reviewed by Gaby Iori, Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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Skater Boy by Anthony Nerada

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Skater Boy by Anthony Nerada
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Perfectly tailored for the reader lingering weirdly between Gen-Z and millennial in title, this book kicks butt and takes names. Deftly navigating (justified) teen angst with a humorous voice and unmatched compassion, Nerada has taken up residence on my list of authors to watch. A book that commits to the bit, Skater Boy destroys labels and points directly at systemic failings we’ve had a propensity to overlook. Nerada’s debut cheekily plays with how the intersections of those two issues create divisive and dismissive behavior. Wesley’s confinement to “punk” and “failure” parallel Tristan’s shining “poise” and “success” as the two boys fall into their predetermined roles, but Nerada’s characters compel the story forward, pushing against the oppressive, frustrating isolation of their respective archetypes and finding themselves wholly realized. Do yourself a favor, get to know the skater boy.

Skater Boy by Anthony Nerada, (List Price: $18.99, Soho Teen, 9781641295345, February 2024)

Reviewed by Shae Jordan, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

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Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
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Alex is the son of the first woman POTUS. Henry is a prince of England. Alex has considered Henry to be his archenemy pretty much since they met, and he’s convinced that Henry feels the same. Until one night at a party when Henry kisses Alex, and Alex has to reconsider all of his feelings. But as the children of powerful world leaders, they have to consider their image and decide what damage they could cause and whether it’s worth it to them to pursue a relationship. This is such a fun book, and I found myself laughing out loud in so many places. The world can be hurtful to people who are “other”, but this book is the hope that counters that.

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, (List Price: $16.99, St. Martin’s Griffin, 9781250316776, May 2019)

Reviewed by Melissa Oates, Fiction Addiction in Greenville, South Carolina

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The Girl from the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag

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The Girl from the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag
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This adorable graphic novel about a shape-shifting selkie and a teen lesbian who hasn’t fully accepted her queerness is heartwarming and heartbreaking all at the same time. This is a great book for young queer people with a diverse cast of characters and a lovely sapphic romance that you can easily devour in one sitting. Can’t wait to get this into the hands of young readers!

The Girl from the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag, (List Price: $24.99, Graphix, 9781338540574, June 2021)

Reviewed by Candice Huber, Tubby & Coo’s Traveling Book Shop in New Orleans, Louisiana

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How the Boogeyman Became a Poet by Tony Keith, Jr.

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How the Boogeyman Became a Poet by Tony Keith, Jr.
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A truer than most story written in verse like it should be. Tony relates how he became the first person in his family to become openly gay and a university graduate. It is a moving story of his trials and tribulations.

How the Boogeyman Became a Poet by Tony Keith, Jr., (List Price: $19.99, Katherine Tegen Books, 9780063296008, February 2024)

Reviewed by Judith Lafitte, Octavia Books in New Orleans, Louisiana

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We Got the Beat by Jenna Miller

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We Got the Beat by Jenna Miller
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Jordan is positive that she’s about to land the editor position for her school newspaper, despite the fact that she’s just a junior. But when assignments come out, she’s disappointed to see that not only has she not nabbed editor, but she’s been assigned to covery volleyball. Jordan is not sporty and her nemesis has just been named captain of the volleyball team. Could it get any worse? This fun, sweet YA romcom was a delight to read!

We Got the Beat by Jenna Miller, (List Price: $19.99, Quill Tree Books, 9780063243385, February 2024)

Reviewed by Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia

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Beyond Magenta : Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin

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Beyond Magenta : Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin
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The title’s topic immediately sets this book apart, but it’s the 6 first-person narratives and the stunning photography that will bring you and your teen(s) together in your understanding of individuality and humanity. One of the most important books published this year.

Beyond Magenta : Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin, (List Price: $14.99, Candlewick, 9780763673680, March 2015)

Reviewed by Jenesse Evertson, Bbgb in Richmond, Virginia

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Spotlight On: Blackouts by Justin Torres

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Justin Torres, photo by JJ Geiger

I’m 43, about to be 44. The generation right above me is kind of a lost generation, wiped out by the pandemic, but not entirely wiped out, right? There are a lot of people from that generation that I’m friends with. And then, the generation above that is leaving the Earth all the time right now. But one thing that works as a through line down to my generation, is this idea that you laugh at yourself. It’s something in the queer sensibility, something about camp, a part of the lesson: Don’t take it too seriously. The world’s going to give you fucking shit. You’ve got to be able to laugh at yourself.
― Justin Torres, Interview, Interview Magazine

Blackouts by Justin Torres

What booksellers are saying about Blackouts

  • A beguiling collage of intimate conversations, lost histories, censored documents, imagined movies, regrets, and passions bound together with utmost care and a disarming tenderness. With Blackouts Torres has struck a perfect balance between generosity and restraint that will invite conversation, curiosity, and a hope for the future. Truly fine art.
      ― Luis Correa from Avid Bookshop in Athens, GA | Buy from Avid Bookshop

  • Blackouts is the first novel from Justin Torres in over a decade (if you haven’t read We the Animals, it’s beautiful!) and, trust me, it’s well worth the wait. Part ghost story, part personal narrative, part archival study, Blackouts is an incredible examination of cultural memory and what we lose when we erase queer histories. Blackouts is a beautiful testament to storytelling as an act of preservation.
      ― Lindsay Lynch from Parnassus Books in Nashville, TN | Buy from Parnassus Books

  • This book wrecked me in ways I can’t find words for and can’t stop talking about anyway. At its core, this is a story of two queer men sharing memories and talking about their lives, both of them knowingly hazy on the details and emotionally honest, but it’s also an intimate collage of factual records, fictional accounts, lived reality, erasure, and oral history. The result is a gift: a tender, challenging, loving retelling of queer experience that is nothing short of exquisite. Structurally inventive and emotionally expansive, this is a book to spend time with, to read what isn’t there as well as what’s left on the page, the redactions—and the act of redacting—inseparable from the story.
      ― Miranda Sanchez, Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews, Raleigh, North Carolina | Buy from Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews

About Justin Torres

Justin Torres is the author of We the Animals, which won the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, was translated into fifteen languages, and was adapted into a feature film. He was named one of the National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35, a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, and a fellow at the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center. His short fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, Granta, Tin House, and The Washington Post. He lives in Los Angeles and is an associate professor of English at UCLA.

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On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

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On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
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This bestseller sat on my shelf for two years before I had the courage to read it. I knew it would wreck me, and wreck me it did. Through a son’s letter to his mother, we learn the story of Little Dog and the meaning of love, loss, family, and belonging. Ocean Vuong creates a surreal experience of the senses, redefining the meaning of narrative — each page more breathtaking than the last. As someone who rarely keeps fiction past the first read, this one has a permanent place on my bookshelf.

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong, (List Price: $18, Penguin Books, 9780525562047, June 2021)

Reviewed by RC Collman, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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Spotlight On: A Power Unbound by Freya Marske

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Freya Marske, photo credit Kris Arnold

I am writing romance; all of my characters end up happily in love. I am writing fantasy with intrigue; frankly, the characters don’t have time for too much agonizing. They have conspiracies to unravel, and— to veer abruptly sideways into musical theatre (I am queer, after all) and quote Pippin—magic to do.

I made the very conscious decision to scrap crises of faith, uncertainty of one’s sexuality, and self-hatred entirely. I used the need for secrecy to add to the ‘us against the world’ situation that serves a romance plot so well, and also to emphasize the exquisite surprise and delight when a kindred spirit is recognized.
― Freya Marske, Interview, FyneTime

A Power Unbound by Freya Marske

What booksellers are saying about A Power Unbound

  • *Chef’s Kiss* I was really looking forward to Hawthorn’s story and it didn’t disappoint. Marske is such an exquisite writer, deft with her succinct and evocative descriptions! It was great also getting to see the moments with the other two couples as well.
      ― Angela Trigg, The Haunted Bookshop in Mobile, AL | Buy from The Haunted Bookshop

  • An absolutely delightful and riveting end to the trilogy, one that made me overcome my general aversion to e-books so that I could read this immediately. It was everything I could have hoped for and more, providing us with the much-needed perspectives of Jack and Alan. They race against time, their powerful enemies, and the rising sexual tension as the Last Contract comes closer to its end. Both deliciously queer and wholly enthralling, I’ll never not recommend this trilogy.
      ― Jordan April, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, NC | Buy from Flyleaf Books

  • This was the perfect ending to a fabulous trilogy. More of Lord Hawthorne is exactly what I needed in my life.
      ― Melissa Taylor from E. Shaver, bookseller in Savannah, GA | Buy from E. Shaver

  • A satisfying conclusion to Marske’s Last Binding trilogy. I thoroughly enjoyed these stories that have a little something for everyone (historical, mystery, fantasy, romance).
      ― Melissa Oates from Fiction Addiction in Greenville, SC | Buy from Fiction Addiction

About Freya Marske

Freya Marske is the author of A Power Unbound, A Restless Truth, and A Marvellous Light, which was an international bestseller and won the Romantic Novel Award for Fantasy. Her work has appeared in Analog and has been shortlisted for three Aurealis Awards. She is also a Hugo-nominated podcaster and won the Ditmar Award for Best New Talent. She lives in Australia.

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