Top Three Thursdays #14 – Diverse Books TBR

Hello and welcome! This is my weekly series, Top Three Thursdays, or, for convenience, TTT. Every week I discuss my top three in any bookish topic. If you’d like to participate, write up a post on your blog and leave a link to it in the comments below.

The topic for today (01/06/17) is: Sexually Diverse Books I Want to Read

Here’s the thought behind this week’s topic. In India, sex with persons of the same gender is punishable by law. There’s rampant homophobia and a general tendency to not publicly discuss LGBT+ issues or rights. As someone who’s read a lot of books, it feels like a silly notion to me. So far, however, I have only read books where LGBT characters are not the main characters (consciously or unconsciously, I’m not sure). I want to rectify that and these three books are on the top of my ‘Sexually Diverse TBR’.

1. Simon vs. the Home Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

A movie is in the works already for this hugely adored YA contemporary. I’ve only heard good things about it from book bloggers and Booktubers, so this skyrocketed to the top of my list. This also seems like a perfect ‘introduction’ to the genre, as Simon isn’t openly gay in the beginning and there’s a blossoming romance as the book progresses, from what I know.

2. Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst

Diversity in fantasy is usually relegated to the ‘side characters’, so to speak. This breaks all convention and features a lesbian romance amid political intrigue. Denna, who had been betrothed to a prince when she was young, finds herself falling for his sister instead. That itself hooked me, but if that didn’t do anything for you, look at that gorgeous cover and decide for yourself.

3. Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy

Julie Murphy, of Dumplin’ fame, is back with a book where the main character is questioning her sexual identity. In the beginning, she was positive she liked girls, but when a childhood friend is back in her life, she’s forced to introspect on her feelings for him as well as wonder where she falls in the sexuality spectrum. I’ve never read anything quite like this and I’m excited to see where the author takes the story.

---

Do you have any sexually diverse books to recommend to me? Have you read any of the books I’ve mentioned? If so, what did you think? Let me know in the comments below.