New Queer YA Books Available Through Your Local Libraries
There’s been a lot of publicity around LGBTQ+ materials in local libraries this year – and oh yes, we’ve got some!
If you’re looking for some new, relatable stories with wonderful queer representation, here are a few books now available at the East Asheville Library.
These titles (and more!) are available to readers all across western North Carolina through our shared catalog.
Follow these easy steps to pick up these books through your local library:
Visit NC Cardinal at www.nccardinal.org and click on “My Account” in the top right
Log in using your library card number and PIN.
Don’t know your PIN? Try the last 4 digits of your phone number!
Search for books by keyword, title or author.
Click “Exclude Electronic Resources” to only show physical books!
Find an item you’re interested in and click on “Place Hold.”
Review the pickup location is set to your nearest library, then click “Submit!”
Wait for a notification that your item has arrived, then pick it up at that location!
*NOTE: New items won’t be shipped between counties for 6 months.
Is there something you’d like to see happening in your local libraries? We love hearing from our community! Email eastasheville.library@buncombecounty.org with your title requests, program ideas, and other comments.
Afterlove by Tanya Byrne
When Ashana Persaud meets Poppy Morgan on a school trip, she's sure it's too good to be true. Ash has never had much luck with girls, but Poppy proves different. Coffee dates turn to museum trips until, soon, the two girls can see a future together--one that's seemingly snatched from them when a hit-and-run takes Ash's life on New Year's Eve. As the last person to die before midnight, Ash is bestowed the title of reaper, tasked with finding lost souls and helping them cross over. Only those close to death can perceive a reaper, so when Ash runs into Poppy one lonely night--and Poppy recognizes her--they can't be sure if it's the second chance they've so desperately wished for, or a tragedy lying in wait.
Bitter by Akwaeke Emezi
After a childhood in foster care, Bitter is thrilled to have been chosen to attend Eucalyptus, a special school where she can focus on her painting surrounded by other creative teens. But outside this haven, the streets are filled with protests against the deep injustices that grip the city of Lucille. Bitter's instinct is to stay safe within the walls of Eucalyptus but her friends aren't willing to settle for a world that's so far away from what they deserve. Pulled between old friendships, her artistic passion, and a new romance, Bitter isn't sure where she belongs--in the studio or in the streets. And if she does find a way to help the revolution while being true to who she is, she must also ask: at what cost?
Bone weaver by Aden Polydoros
From the author of The City Beautiful comes a haunting fantasy following Toma, adopted daughter of the benevolent undead, making her way across a civil war-torn continent to save her younger sister as she discovers she might possess magical powers herself. The Kosa empire roils in tension, on the verge of being torn apart by a proletarian revolution between magic-endowed elites and the superstitious lower class, but seventeen-year-old Toma lives blissfully disconnected from the conflict in the empire with her adoptive family of benevolent undead. When she meets Vanya, a charming commoner branded as a witch by his own neighbors, and the dethroned Tsar Mikhail himself, the unlikely trio bonds over trying to restore Mikhail's magic and protect the empire from the revolutionary leader, Koschei, whose forces have stolen the castle. Vanya has his magic, and Mikhail has his title, but if Toma can't dig deep and find her power in time, all of their lives will be at Koschei's mercy.
The first to die at the end by Adam Silvera
It's the night before Death-Cast goes live, and there's one question on everyone's mind: Can Death-Cast actually predict when someone will die, or is it just an elaborate hoax? Orion Pagan has waited years for someone to tell him that he's going to die. He has a serious heart condition, and he signed up for Death-Cast so he could know what's coming. Valentino Prince is restarting his life in New York. He has a long and promising future ahead and he only registered for Death-Cast after his twin sister nearly died in a car accident. Orion and Valentino cross paths in Times Square and immediately feel a deep connection. But when the first round of End Day calls goes out, their lives are changed forever--one of them receives a call, and the other doesn't. Though neither boy is certain how the day will end, they know they want to spend it together...even if that means their goodbye will be heartbreaking. Told with acclaimed author Adam Silvera's signature bittersweet touch, this story celebrates the lasting impact that people have on each other and proves that life is always worth living to the fullest."
A million quiet revolutions by Robin Gow
Two seventeen-year-old trans boys in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, struggling to understand themselves and their love for each other, are inspired by an online story about trans soldiers who fell in love during the American Revolution.
Self-made boys : a Great Gatsby remix by Anna-Marie McLemore
New York City, 1922. Nicolás Caraveo, a 17-year-old transgender boy from Wisconsin, has no interest in the city’s glamor. Going to New York is all about establishing himself as a young professional, which could set up his future—and his life as a man—and benefit his family. When he rents a small house from his cousin, Nick is shocked to find that he now goes by Daisy Fay, has erased all signs of her Latine heritage, and now passes seamlessly as white. Nick’s new neighbor is a mysterious young man named Jay Gatsby, whose castle-like mansion is the stage for parties so extravagant that they both dazzle and terrify Nick. At one of these parties, Nick learns that the spectacle is all meant to impress a girl from Jay’s past—Daisy. And he learns something else: Jay is also transgender. As Nick is pulled deeper into the glittery culture of decadence, he spends more time with Jay, aiming to help his new friend reconnect with his lost love. But Nick's feelings grow more complicated when he finds himself falling hard for Jay's openness, idealism, and unfounded faith in
The 99 boyfriends of Micah Summers by Adam Sass
Micah Summers runs a popular Instagram full of drawings of his numerous imaginary boyfriends (ninety-nine so far)—though he's never had a real boyfriend before. But when a meet-cute with Boy 100 goes wrong, Micah embarks on a Prince Charming-like quest throughout Chicago to find true love—for real this time.
Hell Followed With Us by Joseph Andrew White.
The manifestation of queer rage on the page.
Sixteen-year-old trans boy Benji is on the run from the cult that raised him--the fundamentalist sect that unleashed Armageddon and decimated the world's population. Desperately, he searches for a place where the cult can't get their hands on him, or more importantly, on the bioweapon they infected him with. But when cornered by monsters born from the destruction, Benji is rescued by a group of teens from the local Acheson LGBTQ+ Center, affectionately known as the ALC. The ALC's leader, Nick, is gorgeous, autistic, and a deadly shot, and he knows Benji's darkest secret: the cult's bioweapon is mutating him into a monster deadly enough to wipe humanity from the earth once and for all. Still, Nick offers Benji shelter among his ragtag group of queer teens, as long as Benji can control the monster and use its power to defend the ALC. Eager to belong, Benji accepts Nick's terms... until he discovers the ALC's mysterious leader has a hidden agenda, and more than a few secrets of his own.