YA LGBT Books discussion

I'll start...

My name is Lori. I have a 20 year old gay son and I work with LGBTQ youth at a teen drop in center. I love working with the kids and am always looking for good books for them to read. Every other Saturday we watch a gay themed movie with a positive message and then discuss it. I'd love to start a book club if I could get enough kids interested. Looking forward to getting some good recommendations from this group.

I just got a black lab puppy that I'm raising for a guide dog school. I'll have to give her back in a year but I know she is destined to change someones life so I try not to worry about how hard it's going to be to give her up. She is so cute and sooooo much fun!

I'm a moderator of the M/M Romance Group which is a private group for adults only. I've always hated having to turn away teens who wanted to join so I'm very glad to have an alternative for them.

Hey Everyone, I'm John! :) I'm 18 years old and in my second year of uni :P (the degree is 8 years long... FML!) haha I come from Australia, but realllly want to move to Europe when I graduate - get out and explore the world! I'm gay and with the help and support of everyone on goodreads, am just starting to come out to a few of my friends... :D I really wish there was something like LGBTQ youth here when I was growing up Lori, it would have made things so much easier! Love your work! ;) haha

Anyways... so yeah... I love mm romances, talking incessantly and coffee... but yeah.... mostly coffee. <3 haha

Hope to talk soon :)

everyone here is so cool and doing nice things :)

Hi, I'm Stefannie (nevermind the weird spelling; it's a long story)~ I'm 23 years old and also in my second year of university for my second undergraduate. I just graduated from my first degree 2 years ago, worked for a year, then went back to school. I am currently teaching part-time Japanese somewhere near the university. I'm rather sheltered, but I'm hoping to be able to get a job in another country after I graduate. I desperately want to be on my own for a change and get away from home ;)

@john: I want to move to Sweden xD one of those impossible dreams ;)

I'd love to get to know everyone better :)

Hi Boys and girls!
My name is Camila, I'm Brazilian but I live in Italy. I'm married and don't have kids.
I'm 33 years old, and I'm a university researcher (medical school).
I read some M/M YA and would love to discuss more YA books with you all.
Hugs to all

hey - i'm Dee! 29 and working on my PhD. Also in the military - so I tend to come and go quite a bit with how much i'm on line. I haven't read a lot of LGBT YA, but I did just review one that was published for featherweight, which intrigued me, so i'll be checking out more in the future

Hi everyone! I'm Wendy. I'm married, but no kids. By day, I'm a Technology Director (aka geek). I like my job - I especially like that it supports my M/M reading addiction;)

I adore animals. Currently, I have a 6 yr. old Black Lab and she's the love of my life (besides the hubby, of course)! I do some volunteer work for a local no-kill animal shelter. I dabble in all kinds of craft work (for sale and for gifts). We like to travel and usually take a couple of extended road trips each year to explore the good old USA - hubs drives and I read:)

I'm happy to be part of this group and hope to get to know everyone better!

*WAVES* Hello everyone! I am Summer Michaels. I love M/M stories so much, I started to write my own. I would love to be published one day. I have a few works in progress, so we shall see, what is to come.

I can't wait to learn more about YA M/M.

*Waves to everyone and blows kisses at Lori*

Greetings and salutations. Vixenne, Lady Victorienne here(aka The Vixenne). Avid bibliophile who is the proud new owner of a Nook and who is always looking for more books to buy. I love M/M romance and would love to see more YA M/M romance featuring characters of color and more diverse plots. Coming out stories are great, but there's way more to the community than that. I'm all about accentuating the positive. I'd love a YA M/M space opera or Lord of the Rings-type epic. Wouldn't you, LOL?

Welcome to the group everyone. Things are a little slow around here but hopefully they will pick up soon.

Hey guys and gals! I've already admitted in another post that I'm pretty much a lurker so here's another attempt at breaking that cycle. :)

My name's Robert and I live in California. At 43, I'm probably one of the oldest members of this group buy I won't hold that against all you youngin's. My husband and I have been together over 15 years and we live with our two (furry) kids.

So what am I doing here? Well, when I was growing up as a young gay man, I didn't have the opportunity to read about other GLBT youth. Reading and promoting YA M/M romance (and other YA gay fiction) gives me hope that others will not feel alone or isolated like I did back in the day.

And kudos to Lori for her participation not only here on GR but with her local GLBT community! Sounds to me like her son is very lucky to have her as a mom. :)

@Robert: No sweetie. I'm 45, so that makes me the elder stateswoman, LOL!

Vixenne wrote: "@Robert: No sweetie. I'm 45, so that makes me the elder stateswoman, LOL!"

Whew! (wipes brow)

I gladly hand over my septure and tiara to you dear lady. It was fun while it lasted! :)

LOL! Having said that, I'm looking forward to the younger generation teaching and sharing their experiences with me! I'm never too old to learn.

I'll be 50 in a few weeks so I think that makes me the oldest :)

@Vixenne: That's one of the things I'm hoping to get out if this group too. Being out today is vastly different than even 15-20 years ago. You don't usually see that much societal change in such a short amount of time.

@Lori: I know it's not polite to ask a woman her age. I hope you don't think I was on a fishing expedition here. :P

@Robert: So true. It's wonderful in a big way, but I just worry about all the bullying that happens or the intolerancce from adults who are supposed to know better. Still, it's more important to live authentically and be happy.

LOL Robert. No, I didn't think that. My age is in my profile so it's no secret :) It's just a number and in no way a reflection of who I am unless you consider that with age comes wisdom...at least that's the way it's supposed to work!

Moderatrix Lori wrote: "with age comes wisdom......"

I'm 18, so if that's the case then i'm screwed ;) hahaha :P

@ Robert... yeah, even when i was growing up YA LGBT books would have made a massive difference... I only really found mm books towards the end of last year... more promotion would be good to get the word out and help some really emotionally isolated kids feel more normal... don't ya think...? :P

Ya know John, I'm also a believer in some people being born an "old soul". I've met many kids who are "wise beyond their years". My son is one of them and I'll bet you are too. Still, some things you need to experience to understand and that only happens when you have a few years on you.

I think books are a great way to help kids, and parents of gay kids, work through their emotions during an often very stressful and painful coming our process. Just getting kids to read is the first challenge, getting the right books in their hands is the second one. Post a link to Goodreads and this group everywhere you can. You never know who may come across it and have a whole new world opened up to them.

Moderatrix Lori wrote: "Ya know John, I'm also a believer in some people being born an "old soul". I've met many kids who are "wise beyond their years". My son is one of them and I'll bet you are too. Still, some thing..."

sometimes, you just have to grow up a little sooner than everyone else... :)

I've already encouraged a few of my friends to join goodreads and sent them the links to a few publicly available books because I owe alot to this site... I'd still be living a lie, spending all of my time in the closet if I hadn't plucked up the courage to sign up and say hi :) I just hope it help others as much as it's helped me :D...

p.s i don't know why people don't read... so much better than T.V... and study. ;) haha

Awww John...sounds like you've had a few challenges. I'm glad you've found some support here. I totally agree about reading vs. TV.

Hey all, I'm Lissa, 33 and from Minnesota. I would love to find more YA books with m/m themes. I've been toying around the idea of doing a m/m series, but we will see how that develops.

I hope everyone finds the strength though this and other groups to be who they are and understand how beautiful they are.

Hello! My name is Jambrea Jo Jones, I turn 36 on Wed. lol. I have a 6 year old son and I'm trying to let him know the importance of love being love, no matter what. :) I'm also an m/m writer. I haven't tried my hand at YA yet, but I do have one started that I need to work into my schedule.

My son loves to read and I hope he continues to love it and I want to have a wide variety for him to choose from. I'm very open with him and let him know he can talk to me always. :)

Jambrea wrote: "Hello! My name is Jambrea Jo Jones"

Forgot to say, I'm from Indiana. :)

Hi everyone, I'm Debbie, 41 and from Texas. I'm married and have two kids. I love to read romance, y/a and m/m romance. I feel a little old to be here, but hope to offer support, encouragement and some good book recommendations - our local library has a really great LGBT young adult section :).

YAY Lissa!!

Welcome Jambrea, Vixenne, and the no longer lurking Robert.

Sending you hugs John!

Hello everyone!! Name's Sean C. Norris. I live in Arizona but I was an army brat since I've lived in several states and twice lived in Germany when I was little. I'm working on becoming a successful Deaf author and I have a pen name that is Zach Sweets, which is strictly for Adult only. Under my real name (which is Sean), I want to write YA M/M but before I can do that...I need to read more YA M/M books. :D

Oh, I'm 24 years old and live with my wonderful partner of almost 2 years. We're engaged as of right now. He asked me to marry him last April. Until then, we're waiting till California finally go back to legal gay marriage so we can get marry on the beach with our feet in the water. Ah, romance isn't it? ;)

Anyway, I'm looking forward to learn more out of this group and to everyone of you. I'm excite!

SWEETS!!

SUMMER! :D

Welcome to the group Lissa, Jambrea and Sean!

Geez, I look over the intros and I feel ancient, but I joined to support the gay youths/teens and have a few of them as friends myself among this group that I'll stand by. I'm not going to reveal my age cause it's blasphemous to do so, but most know me as Sid and I thank Thorny for the suggestion of coming here.

I guess you could say I'm Gay, Bi... whatever. Like most in my situation I'm transgendered and to this day struggle with my identity and what my preferences should be or where they lay, but that means squat. And I promise since this group is PG13 I can bring it amongst me to be clean in my chatting :snickers: That's quite a feat for me, so with that :salutes the room: Laterz.

Hey, I'm Mark...I think that's it ;p

I think that is the cleanest I have ever seen Mark.

Summer wrote: "I think that is the cleanest I have ever seen Mark."

I know...very rare. I was told to behave in here :-)

Hello, all! I'm Harper. I do write M/M (as Piper Vaughn), but nothing YA-friendly so far. I hope to eventually release some stuff, since I love YA as a genre and think there needs to me more of it!

Let's see. I'm 29, married, have a 2.5 y/o son. I'm bisexual and genderqueer. Live in the suburbs of Chicago. And that's me in a nutshell. :)

Mark wrote: "Summer wrote: "I think that is the cleanest I have ever seen Mark."

I know...very rare. I was told to behave in here :-)"

Haha, Mark! When have you ever behaved when told!? LOL :D

Welcome Sid, Mark and Harper! Thank you all for joining our little group...and keeping it PG. That's a struggle for me too :)

Hello! My name is Kerry, and I write M/M. I have a YA book in the planning stages, and a short story I'm working on will be YA-appropriate. My other stuff? Not so much :)

I'm 42, female, and I live in Alabama with my husband. I love YA, and my favorite YA books are the Caster Chronicles. While not M/M, they are told from a male POV.

Welcome Kerry & L.C. Thanks for joining us!

Hi y'all! My name is Lacey, 23, and I'm from Mississippi. I just graduated from college so I'm in that in between period of trying to figure out what to do next - hopefully I'll find something soon :)

I came over from the M/M group for adults so I'm glad to see some familiar faces and look forward to meeting new people as well. I haven't read too many YA M/M books yet so I'm hoping to get some great recs as well!

Hello all! I'm KC Burn. I write m/m romance and although some of my characters are inexperienced, the books aren't clean at all :) I'm here mostly as support, since I don't often read YA & probably couldn't write a YA if someone held a gun to my head! I do think this group is a great idea, though.

As with most of my groups, I'll likely lurk, but I love reading what other people are up to!

What else? I'm 38, Canadian, although I now live in Florida (omg total culture shock moving from Toronto to Orlando), married with one cat.

Hello, my name is Stephanie and I'm an author of this genre! It's my absolute favorite one. :)

I'm in my late 30's, married, mom of two adorable cats, and a grad student as well as work full-time. I love to write and plan on publishing many more books!

Welcome KC and Stephanie!

Stephanie, please feel free to add your YA books to our bookshelf.

Hi people, my name is Ami, female, from Indonesia, early 30's, and still single. I don't write M/M stories, I don't have the talent, but I AM an avid M/M reader.

Interestingly, my foray to the M/M romance pretty much starts with YA. I read and , which left such a strong impression in me, I decided to look for more. Not just YA of course, but also adult MM

Welcome to the group Ami!

Hi, MJ. :D

Welcome MJ!

Hey everyone, I'm HC! I'm 29 and a nurse...not a writer, but I love to read.

Oh, I live in Louisiana

Hey ya'll, I'm Laddie or Lad or just plain 'ol Lea.
I'm 28 and I live in South Jersey with my 70 year old ferret.

I'm writing my first non YA M/M story and my goal is to, hopefully, be published by the time I turn thirty.I haven't read any YA M/M but I would love to.

I love to make people smile and laugh. I think that's my biggest goal in life. I draw, paint and sculpt. I'm a mod for the GSA on GR.

It's good to be here. :)

Welcome Heather & Laddie!