This haunting and visceral short horror story blew me away. A twisted version of the classic haunted house tale based in Japenese folklore, if you're a fan of ghost stories this is a must read!

A gorgeous collection of poetry that explores how we connect with ourselves, with lovers, with friends, and with the world around us. Also a wonderful reminder to find happiness from within, grow it, and then share it with others who will encourage you to keep expanding it. Highly recommend this book for anyone who finds themselves people pleasing often and putting their needs second to everyone else.

This is a book I have revisted many times since I first read it. An intimate story of a foster kid, Victoria, who ages out of the system and has to find her way alone in San Francisco. She's always connected more with plants than people and finds easier to communicate using flowers instead of words. This coming of age story does a beautiful job weaving together so many hard feelings: healing trauma, regrowing community, forgiving yourself, and allowing love back into your life. In addition to the gorgeous story, this book introduced me to the language of a flowers which I find absolutely fascinating. A dictionary of the language of flowers is even included at the end of the book.

This is just the sweetest book with the cutest illustrations. Made me tear up and want to give my own childhood bear a snuggle. A beautiful view of comfort and companionship and how that grows and changes as we do.

I dove into the weird wonderful world of Dirty Computer and absolutely loved it. Monáe and their contributing authors totally crushed this. Stories of people in the same world but with very different experiences, all trying to find freedom and survive in a world that's trying to erase all those who have been deemed "dirty." This collection of stories is gorgeous afrofuturism done with the finesse fans of Monáe have come to know and love. So queer, so hopeful, so rebelious; I cannot recommend this enough!

Gyasi is a stunning writer, I fell so deeply into the world of this book as soon as I started it. I was blow away by how beautifully and clearly Gyasi told a chronological story of a family through generations using a different narrator for every chapter. A honest, heartbreaking, brave story of how colonization, slavery, and war shapes a family from Ghana and pulls them in different directions.

Heartbreaking, ugly, gorgeously written retelling of Machado's relationship with her abusive ex-girlfriend. With writing that is wonderfully haunting, this book is a very honest window into what queer partner abuse can look like. I truly could not put it down. 

This book is stunning, Cottom's writing is essential reading. Incredibly articulate thoughts on Blackness and specifically Black womanhood. The writing has a bit of an academic feel to it, but definitely uses accessible enough language for all readers to learn from and enjoy.

This collection of chicano poetry hit me right in the heart. Olivarez is a force, I love how he is able to weave humor, pain, love, and generational trauma together to create a collection that resonates so deeply. A must read especially if you are chicanx, latinx, a child of immigrants, or just love amazing poetry. I will continue to come back to and cherish this collection of poetry for rest of my life.

Set in 1989 New York at the height of the AIDS epidemic this book follows three teens navigating their sexualities, political values, romance, and friendships. I fell completely in love with the three narrators (Reza, Art, and Judy) and was completely enveloped by their lives while reading this. I don't even truly know how to put into words how gorgeous the world Nazemian has created is. I laughed, I cried (a few times), and I loved along with these characters. A queer love story for the ages, about every kind of love.

Witchcraft, betrayal, forbidden love, murder, and a legacy of dark magic; I couldn't put this down! This is sort of like a magical Hunger Games told from the perspective of 4 (of 7) champions who are fighting for their lives and family's legacies. Foody and Herman have me totally hooked, I am impatiently awaiting the next book to find out what happens in Ilvernath!

This book has been one of the most formative books I've ever read, it helped me explore and reaffirmed my own journey with gender in the most wonderful way. It is such a gift to read the words of queer elders, especially one of Bornstein's generation, who was living their life out loud before most trans and gender queer people could do so safely. Their writing is so open, honest, humerous, & curious. Gender Outlaw gives so much validation, insight, and more to question for any person who is exploring their gender or relationship to gender overall.