YA LGBT Books discussion

I'm trying opening these at the beginning of the month:

What YA LGBTQ book would you like to read, or do you think members who haven't read it should try, (and those who have read it can discuss), as our BotM for Aug 2024?

What book made a difference to you, and might to other readers? What sounds interesting, appealing or different that you want to read?

If possible, link the book page on GR and tell us a little about it or why you picked it, or post the blurb.

The titles of past books of the month that we have read are on all the threads in this "Book of the Month" folder, and you can also check with a search of the group's book-of-the-month Bookshelf at - https://www.goodreads.com/group/books... Please do not repeat a book we have read - either as a past Book of the Month or as a Buddy Read (check the Buddy Read folder) - and please only nominate the first book in a series, unless a later book stands alone as a solo read.

Up to two nominations per member. Nominations will be open through Midnight July 31 or sooner if we get 12 nominations - the max for voting. Feel free to renominate a book that did not win in a past vote, if it fits this category. (You can find previous nominations in either the old polls (under the "polls" link) or in the "Old BOM Nominations" folder well down the group page.)

Authors please do not nominate your own books - but readers can definitely nominate a member author's work

Amy wrote: "Guess I'm the first one! I would pick this book:


I've been having a really hard time finding a job and this book took my mind off of..."

Thanks - will consider putting it on the list but with the note of explicit sex - tell me if this actually fits the YA category?

I'm going to nominate Half-Drawn Boy by Suki Fleet
This is a wonderful portrait of an autistic teen finding his other half.

Gregor is neurodivergent and doesn’t speak. He’s also pretty sure he has synaesthesia, given the unpleasant physical sensations he experiences when writing words. He interacts with the world through his drawings and pictures. This makes school hard. A lot of the time he feels more like a half-drawn boy than a real human being.

He lives with his much older nonbinary/ace/panromantic brother and their boyfriend. He knows he’s also probably a letter in LGBTQIA. But thinking about which one makes him want to run away and hide.
He has two best friends and an adorable cat called Ginger, and even though, a lot of the time, he feels half-drawn and not-real, he’s happy.

But then Noah, with his pastel galaxy rainbow hair and his bruises, tears through the neatly drawn pages of Gregor’s life, and Gregor isn’t sure how he feels anymore, except really, really confused. Plus a few other feelings he’s too scared to identify.

He talks to Noah via text for months and it feels safe, even if he is worried about Noah’s bruises. Being near Noah in real life is intense and terrifying and something Gregor avoids. But as the months pass, texting starts to feel not enough, and Gregor realises he has to try to work out if he wants something real and not just half-drawn with Noah. And if he does, he’s going to have to figure out exactly what it is that’s making him so scared about being close.