Books to read during PRIDE month
I want to read more PRIDE books, it’s a goal of mine, and each year I’m adding more to my tbr. Which consequently leads me to finding new favorite books and authors. It’s slow going but my goal is quality over quantity. I want to read books that stay with me for a long time.
This year I started compiling all my favorite books in lists. I got you covered if you are interested in Forbidden Romance or Rom-coms. And this month I’ll be listing my favorite Pride and MM books.
Today, I’m starting with PRIDE books.
Books to read during PRIDE month
If We Were Us by K.L. Walther
Published June 2nd 2020
This book was a brand-new find earlier this year. It’s a YA romance, about 4 soon to be college bound teenagers in boarding school. I loved the relationships, the connections, and thought it was a fantastic debut novel.
SYNOPSIS
Everyone at the prestigious Bexley School believes that Sage Morgan and Charlie Carmichael are meant to be….that it’s just a matter of time until they realize that they are actually in love.
When Luke Morrissey shows up on the Bexley campus his presence immediately shakes things up. Charlie and Luke are drawn to each other the moment they meet, giving Sage the opportunity to steal away to spend time with Charlie’s twin brother, Nick.
But Charlie is afraid of what others will think if he accepts that he has much more than a friendship with Luke. And Sage fears that things with Nick are getting too serious too quickly. The duo will need to rely on each other and their lifelong friendship to figure things out with the boys they love.
Books to read during PRIDE month
Autoboyography by Christina Lauren
Published September 12th 2017
Loved this YA romance between a half jewish, half mormon bi-sexual California teenager and the son of a mormon bishop. The book was so well done! Touching, moving, just absolutely wonderful.
SYNOPSIS
Three years ago, Tanner Scott’s family relocated from California to Utah, a move that nudged the bisexual teen temporarily back into the closet. Now, with one semester of high school to go, and no obstacles between him and out-of-state college freedom, Tanner plans to coast through his remaining classes and clear out of Utah.
But when his best friend Autumn dares him to take Provo High’s prestigious Seminar—where honor roll students diligently toil to draft a book in a semester—Tanner can’t resist going against his better judgment and having a go, if only to prove to Autumn how silly the whole thing is. Writing a book in four months sounds simple. Four months is an eternity.
It turns out, Tanner is only partly right: four months is a long time. After all, it takes only one second for him to notice Sebastian Brother, the Mormon prodigy who sold his own Seminar novel the year before and who now mentors the class. And it takes less than a month for Tanner to fall completely in love with him.
Books to read during PRIDE month
Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
Published May 9th 2017
Loved this YA fantasy novel, now duet, and can’t recommend it enough. Especially if audiobooks are an option, because the narration for this series was fantastic!
But in the end it’s all bout Baz and Simon, and of course Penelope too, but it’s mostly Baz and Simon – LOVE THEM!!!
SYNOPSIS
Simon Snow is the worst Chosen One who’s ever been chosen.
That’s what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he’s probably right.
Half the time, Simon can’t even make his wand work, and the other half, he starts something on fire. His mentor’s avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there’s a magic-eating monster running around, wearing Simon’s face. Baz would be having a field day with all this, if he were here — it’s their last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and Simon’s infuriating nemesis didn’t even bother to show up.
Books to read during PRIDE month
The FoxholeTHE FOXHOLE COURT – NORA SAKAVIC / AND MY OBSESSION WITH IT Court (All for the Game Series) by Nora Sakavic
Published January 15th 2013
I fell in love with this YA fantasy sports trilogy the first time I read it, and it’s one of the few series that gave me a book hangover. And made me buy/commission fan-art. I’m a bit obsessed with all things Foxhole Court, and will be reading this trilogy many times more.
SYNOPSIS
Neil Josten is the newest addition to the Palmetto State University Exy team. He’s short, he’s fast, he’s got a ton of potential—and he’s the runaway son of the murderous crime lord known as The Butcher.
Signing a contract with the PSU Foxes is the last thing a guy like Neil should do. The team is high profile and he doesn’t need sports crews broadcasting pictures of his face around the nation. His lies will hold up only so long under this kind of scrutiny and the truth will get him killed.
But Neil’s not the only one with secrets on the team. One of Neil’s new teammates is a friend from his old life, and Neil can’t walk away from him a second time. Neil has survived the last eight years by running. Maybe he’s finally found someone and something worth fighting for.
Books to read during PRIDE month
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
Published May 22nd 2012
This adorable YA contemporary romance was one of the first I read, and the audiobook had me laughing and smiling like a crazy woman. Loved this book, can only recommend it to anyone who hasn’t read it yet.
SYNOPSIS
Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised.
With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.
Books to read during PRIDE month
Captive Prince Series by C.S. Pacat
Published May 22nd 2012
This series is probably the one on this list that isn’t for everyone, and I would suggest either to have an open mind or to read a couple reviews on Goodreads. I LOVE it, unapologetically, it’s fantasy, and it’s another of these handful series that give me the worst book hangover EVER!! I’ll always love it, and will recommend it if readers are interested in reading something different. This adult fantasy trilogy, is gripping, all consuming, but not for everyone.
SYNOPSIS
Damen is a warrior hero to his people, and the rightful heir to the throne of Akielos. But when his half brother seizes power, Damen is captured, stripped of his identity, and sent to serve the prince of an enemy nation as a pleasure slave.
Beautiful, manipulative, and deadly, his new master, Prince Laurent, epitomizes the worst of the court at Vere. But in the lethal political web of the Veretian court, nothing is as it seems, and when Damen finds himself caught up in a play for the throne, he must work together with Laurent to survive and save his country.
For Damen, there is just one rule: never, ever reveal his true identity. Because the one man Damen needs is the one man who has more reason to hate him than anyone else…
Books to read during PRIDE month
Something to Talk About by Meryl Wilsner
Published May 26th 2020
I thought this doubt was splendid. It’s a FF slow burn romance, and I mean SLOW BURN, that just spoke to me. It was romantic, and had wonderful chemistry, and a friendship that slowly developed into more. It was my first ff romance and I don’t think I could have picked a better one.
SYNOPSIS
Hollywood powerhouse Jo is photographed making her assistant Emma laugh on the red carpet, and just like that, the tabloids declare them a couple. The so-called scandal couldn’t come at a worse time–threatening Emma’s promotion and Jo’s new movie.
As the gossip spreads, it starts to affect all areas of their lives. Paparazzi are following them outside the office, coworkers are treating them differently, and a “source” is feeding information to the media. But their only comment is “no comment”.
With the launch of Jo’s film project fast approaching, the two women begin to spend even more time together, getting along famously. Emma seems to have a sixth sense forknowing what Jo needs. And Jo, known for being aloof and outwardly cold, opens up to Emma in a way neither of them expects. They begin to realize the rumor might not be so off base after all…but is acting on the spark between them worth fanning the gossip flames?
Books to read during PRIDE month
What If It’s Us (What If It’s Us #1) by Becky Albertalli, Adam Silvera
Published October 9th 2018
This book was ADORABLE and PRECIOUS and everything in between. The audiobook is a MUST LISTEN, it’s on of my most favorite audiobooks to date, and all I can say is give it a try. The story is wonderful, focused on the romance between the YA couple, and the getting to know each other.
NOTE: I just found out that there will be a sequel in 2021 which is excellent news, because the couple needed another book.
SYNOPSIS
Arthur is only in New York for the summer, but if Broadway has taught him anything, it’s that the universe can deliver a showstopping romance when you least expect it.
Ben thinks the universe needs to mind its business. If the universe had his back, he wouldn’t be on his way to the post office carrying a box of his ex-boyfriend’s things.
But when Arthur and Ben meet-cute at the post office, what exactly does the universe have in store for them?
Maybe nothing. After all, they get separated.
Maybe everything. After all, they get reunited.
But what if they can’t quite nail a first date . . . or a second first date . . . or a third?
What if Arthur tries too hard to make it work . . . and Ben doesn’t try hard enough?
What if life really isn’t like a Broadway play?
But what if it is?
Books to read during PRIDE month
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
Published May 14th 2019
I had to included this book, although it was just an ok book for me, but it’s one of the most beloved MM romances available, and it’s cute, and there is banter, and only because I wasn’t wowed by the book, doesn’t mean it’s not a book that shouldn’t be checked out by others.
SYNOPSIS
When his mother became President of the United States, Alex Claremont-Diaz was promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. Handsome, charismatic, genius—his image is pure millennial-marketing gold for the White House. There’s only one problem: Alex has a beef with an actual prince, Henry, across the pond. And when the tabloids get hold of a photo involving an Alex/Henry altercation, U.S./British relations take a turn for the worse.
Heads of the family and state and other handlers devise a plan for damage control: Stage a truce between the two rivals. What at first begins as a fake, Instagrammable friendship grows deeper, and more dangerous, than either Alex or Henry could have imagined. Soon Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret romance with a surprisingly unstuffy Henry that could derail the presidential campaign and upend two nations. It raises the question: Can love save the world after all? Where do we find the courage, and the power, to be the people we are meant to ben? And how can we learn to let our true colors shine through? , how will history remember you?
Books to read during PRIDE month
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Published June 13th 2017
I absolutely loved this book. It did take me two tries to get into the book, but as soon as I got to the interview part I was HOOKED! Incredible storytelling about the fascinating life of one amazing character. Evelyn reminded me of old school Hollywood bombshells, and the entire book FELT like 1950’s Hollywood, and my heart was forever changed afterwards.
SYNOPSIS
Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life.
When she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one in the journalism community is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now? Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband, David, has left her, and her career has stagnated. Regardless of why Evelyn has chosen her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.
Summoned to Evelyn’s Upper East Side apartment, Monique listens as Evelyn unfurls her story: from making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the late 80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way. As Evelyn’s life unfolds—revealing a ruthless ambition, an unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love—Monique begins to feel a very a real connection to the actress. But as Evelyn’s story catches up with the present, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.
Books to read during PRIDE month
Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman
Published September 21st 2017
This book!! I was obsessed with this book. I devoured it, carried it in my purse with me, watched the movie multiple times, and bawled my eyes out. It’s probably my most beloved book of 2019. So many feelings. It’s hard to describe it all, and it’s one of the ONLY books that I LOVED but haven’t written a review about. I just can’t find the words.
SYNOPSIS
Call Me by Your Name is the story of a sudden and powerful romance that blossoms between an adolescent boy and a summer guest at his parents’ cliff-side mansion on the Italian Riviera. Unprepared for the consequences of their attraction, at first each feigns indifference. But during the restless summer weeks that follow, unrelenting buried currents of obsession and fear, fascination and desire, intensify their passion as they test the charged ground between them. What grows from the depths of their spirits is a romance of scarcely six weeks’ duration and an experience that marks them for a lifetime. For what the two discover on the Riviera and during a sultry evening in Rome is the one thing both already fear they may never truly find again: total intimacy.
Books to read during PRIDE month
Wolfsong (Green Creek #1) by T.J. Klune
Published June 20th 2016
This book is powerful in its feelings. So well written, and a book that’s unforgettable. I think the feelings is the one part of this book that is the most unforgettable of it all. The story is full of them, and makes it a MUST READ for anyone loving MM romances and also shifter books. YES, it’s a shifter series, but nothing like you could imagine.
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. He 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.
Books to read during PRIDE month
Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender
Published May 5th 2020
Really loved this book. From the story to the characters to the topic, it all just worked in a wonderful endearing way. It was eye-opening, charming, funny and endearing. And it’s a book I would recommend to ANYONE.
SYNOPSIS
Felix Love has never been in love—and, yes, he’s painfully aware of the irony. He desperately wants to know what it’s like and why it seems so easy for everyone but him to find someone. What’s worse is that, even though he is proud of his identity, Felix also secretly fears that he’s one marginalization too many—Black, queer, and transgender—to ever get his own happily-ever-after.
When an anonymous student begins sending him transphobic messages—after publicly posting Felix’s deadname alongside images of him before he transitioned—Felix comes up with a plan for revenge. What he didn’t count on: his catfish scenario landing him in a quasi–love triangle….
But as he navigates his complicated feelings, Felix begins a journey of questioning and self-discovery that helps redefine his most important relationship: how he feels about himself.
Felix Ever After is an honest and layered story about identity, falling in love, and recognizing the love you deserve.
Books to read during PRIDE month
All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson
Published April 28th 2020
Another book that was incredibly eye-opening, touching, and thoughtful. Honestly this book needs to be read by teenagers as well as parents. Such an important book. One of the best memoirs I read in 2020.
SYNOPSIS
In a series of personal essays, prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia. From the memories of getting his teeth kicked out by bullies at age five, to flea marketing with his loving grandmother, to his first sexual relationships, this young-adult memoir weaves together the trials and triumphs faced by Black queer boys.
Both a primer for teens eager to be allies as well as a reassuring testimony for young queer men of color, All Boys Aren’t Bluecovers topics such as gender identity, toxic masculinity, brotherhood, family, structural marginalization, consent, and Black joy. Johnson’s emotionally frank style of writing will appeal directly to young adults.
I’ll be adding more favorite PRIDE books as I read them. And since I’m always on the lookout for more, please don’t hesitate and give me all your PRIDE recommendations below.
Books to read during PRIDE month
Great list! I only read Autoboyography from this and I enjoyed it.
Thank you!! Have you read HIM & US by Sarina Bowen yet? I’ll list those on my MM Romance list later this week.
No I haven’t Autoboyography was first m/m romance I read and I want to read more LGBTQ after that. I’ll read them when I get kindle unlimited.
They are a great way to get started, very romantic, and all in all what you want in a MM romance – and I think it’s a great idea to wait until you get KU, I’ll compile KU lists all the time, since I hop on and off KU a LOT 😀
You have some of my all-time faves – Simon Vs. Autoboyography, Evelyn Hugo, and Red, White and… But I wanna read If We Were Us because I think the element of friendship would be strong and I love that. 🙂 Great list Corina.
I think you would enjoy If We Were Us – I just loved the idea of a group of four teenagers, friends, finding their HEA. And I really enjoyed the writing, especially since it was a debut novel. Will be looking out for your review 😀
I’ll read it as soon as I get a copy. 🙂 🙂
You may enjoy The Lion Tamer Who Lost by Louise Beech
Oooh I just checked it out and love how it sounds, already put it on my reading list – thank you!!!!
The Foxhole Court has been on my TBR FOREVER! Great post!
Thank you 😊, it’s one of my ALL TIME favorite series, and it’s pretty cheap on Amazon, I think the first one is free as ebook, and the rest is only 99 cents each. Best time to get started on it 😀
A few of these are on mt TBR shelf. I think I should pick them up this month – it would be a perfect time!
It’s a great month for PRIDE books, but now with everything going on, people are switching over to BIPOC authors. I’m going to try to read both this month.
These are all great! I would also add Him & Us, Top Secret, and The Understatement of the Year. (I’m not a Bowen or Kennedy fan at all, am I? LOL).
Oh! And also the Damaged Like Us!
Haha there is no way I would forget about them – they are some of the BEST MM romance I’ve read so far
Lol, they are all on a separate MM romance list I’ll post later this week
I’ll be watching for it so that I can gush over them some more. 😉
haha, you and me 😀
This is such a great list here. I want to pick up Autoboyography especially since I am LDS. I have Red White and Blue on my list as well as well as the new Olivia Waite book too. Its always good to read more of these love stories and expand our horizons in our reading.
I would love for you to read Autoboyography and tell me if they did a good job with representation. And tell me about the new Olivia Waite. I don’t think I ever read anything by her.
Yes I am planning on it this year hopefully and *crossing fingers* they did well with the representation of it all. I read the first book by Olivia Waite last year and the writing was some of the most beautiful lyrical writing I have ever read. Highly recommend her.
I have so many of these on my TBR! I might be the last person on earth that hasn’t read Red, White & Royal Blue yet!! I am #2 in line for Something to talk about!! Glad you enjoyed it.
I can’t wait for you to read Something To Talk About, and I’m pretty sure I’m the only person on earth who wasn’t WOWED by RE&RB 😂
I know! I’ve seen some of my fellow bloggers, who I generally have the same reading style, not love it! So I’m still on the fence about it! 😂
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it, but I’ve also read many SLOW burn romances before. It wasn’t an issue for me. But for some the burn was just too slow, which I can understand.
Gotcha, sometimes I really like a good slow burn! I’m sure that I’ll get to it eventually! 🙂
Take your time, I think the right time makes a big difference too.
I still need to read the foxhole court and Red Royal Blue both look amazing and I’ve heard nothing but amazing things!! Great list 💞
Thank you 😊 I hope, that when you get to either you’ll enjoy them