Woodbridge Public Library: This and that : WPL-Selected Reads Read the Rainbow

RED

The Antidote for Everything
by Kimmery Martin

Urologist Georgia Brown's sense of self-preservation is kicked into high gear after she's sexually harassed by a male surgeon at her medical clinic, but her outrage grows when her best doctor friend, Jonah, is dismissed for treating transgender patients. After traveling to Amsterdam to attend a medical conference, Georgia concocts a plan to persuade the board to reverse their decision about Jonah. But when her scheme to teach the hospital administration an important lesson begins to spiral out of control, Georgia worries she's caused more harm than good. After a medical crisis involving one of her friends, she learns that love and friendship are the antidotes for all the ills in her life.-- Provided by publisher.

Cemetery Boys
by Aiden Thomas

Yadriel has summoned a ghost, and now he can't get rid of him.
When his traditional Latinx family has problems accepting his true gender, Yadriel becomes determined to prove himself a real brujo. With the help of his cousin and best friend Maritza, he performs the ritual himself, and then sets out to find the ghost of his murdered cousin and set it free.
However, the ghost he summons is actually Julian Diaz, the school's resident bad boy, and Julian is not about to go quietly into death. He's determined to find out what happened and tie off some loose ends before he leaves. Left with no choice, Yadriel agrees to help Julian, so that they can both get what they want. But the longer Yadriel spends with Julian, the less he wants to let him leave. -- Adapted from jacket.

The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics
by Olivia Waite

As Lucy Muchelney watches her ex-lover's sham of a wedding, she wishes herself anywhere else. It isn't until she finds a letter from the Countess of Moth, looking for someone to translate a groundbreaking French astronomy text, that she knows where to go. Showing up at the Countess' London home, she hoped to find a challenge, not a woman who takes her breath away. Catherine St Day looks forward to a quiet widowhood once her late husband's scientific legacy is fulfilled. She expected to hand off the translation and wash her hands of the project--instead, she is intrigued by the young woman who turns up at her door, begging to be allowed to do the work, and she agrees to let Lucy stay. But as Catherine finds herself longing for Lucy, everything she believes about herself and her life is tested. While Lucy spends her days interpreting the complicated French text, she spends her nights falling in love with the alluring Catherine. But sabotage and old wounds threaten to sever the threads that bind them. Can Lucy and Catherine find the strength to stay together or are they doomed to be star-crossed lovers?
-- Provided by publisher.

ORANGE

The Secret of You and Me
by Melissa Lenhardt

Nora hasn't looked back. Not since she fled Texas to start a new life. Away from her father's volatile temper and the ever-watchful gaze of her claustrophobically conservative small town, Nora has freed herself. She can live - and love - however she wants. The only problem is that she also left behind the one woman she can't forget. Now tragedy calls her back home to confront her past - and reconcile her future. Sophie seems to have everything - a wonderful daughter, a successful husband and a rewarding career. Yet underneath that perfection lies an explosive secret. She still yearns for Nora - her best friend and first love - despite all the years between them. Keeping her true self hidden hasn't been easy, but it's been necessary. So when Sophie finds out that Nora has returned, she hopes Nora's stay is short. The life she has built depends on it. But they both find that first love doesn't fade easily. Memories come to light, passion ignites and old feelings resurface. As the forces of family and intolerance that once tore them apart begin to reemerge, they realize some things may never change - unless they demand it. -- Provided by publisher.

Firewatching
by Russ Thomas

When financier Gerald Cartwright disappeared from his home six years ago, it was assumed he'd gone on the run from his creditors. Then a skeleton is found bricked up in the cellar of Cartwright's burned-out mansion, and it becomes clear Gerald never left alive. The sole representative of South Yorkshire's Cold Case Review Unit, Detective Sergeant Adam Tyler is not expected to get results, but this case might finally kick start his floundering career. He has a suspect: Cartwright's son, the man Tyler slept with the night before. Keeping his possible conflict-of-interest under wraps, Tyler digs into the case alongside Amina Rabbani, an ambitious young Muslim constable and a fellow outsider seeking to prove herself on the force. -- adapted from jacket.

YELLOW

Kept in the Dark
by Charlie Cochet

"Former Army Ranger turned government assassin Álvaro Montero and CIA Officer Caiden Cardosa crossed paths two years ago in Vienna, where their encounter ended less than amicably--despite the explosive sexual chemistry between them. Now Caiden is riding a desk at Langley after his cover is blown. And Álvaro--who was "killed"--has a new identity and purpose as Delta/D, an operative for the Locke and Keyes Agency, under the leadership of the mysterious Alpha Orion. When D and Caiden team up in a deadly black ops mission, the urge to kill each other will have to take a back seat to the desire for revenge against the man who betrayed them both. Surviving the mission won't be easy. Resisting the passion between them--that might be impossible." -- summary from Page 4 of cover.

Teddy Spenser Isn't Looking for Love : An Lgbtq Romcom
by Kim Fielding

"Some people search their whole lives to find love. He just wants to avoid it. Teddy Spenser spends his days selling design ideas to higher-ups, living or dying on each new pitch. Stodgy engineer types like Romeo Blue, his nemesis, if you can call someone who barely talks to you a nemesis, are a necessary evil. A cute necessary evil. Working together is bad enough, but when their boss puts them both on a new high-stakes project, 'working together' suddenly means: sitting uncomfortably close on the same plane; staying in the same hotel room--with only one bed; spending every waking minute together. Turns out Mr. Starched Shirt has some hidden depths, and it's getting harder to ignore the spark Teddy feels with every brush of their hands, with every knowing glance. He might not have been looking for this connection with Romeo, but will he ever be ready to let him go?"-- Provided by publisher.

Late to the Party
by Kelly Quindlen

When financier Gerald Cartwright disappeared from his home six years ago, it was assumed he'd gone on the run from his creditors. Then a skeleton is found bricked up in the cellar of Cartwright's burned-out mansion, and it becomes clear Gerald never left alive. The sole representative of South Yorkshire's Cold Case Review Unit, Detective Sergeant Adam Tyler is not expected to get results, but this case might finally kick start his floundering career. He has a suspect: Cartwright's son, the man Tyler slept with the night before. Keeping his possible conflict-of-interest under wraps, Tyler digs into the case alongside Amina Rabbani, an ambitious young Muslim constable and a fellow outsider seeking to prove herself on the force.

The Knockout Queen
by Rufi Thorpe

Bunny Lampert is the princess of North Shore--beautiful, tall, blond, with a rich real-estate-developer father and a swimming pool in her backyard. Michael--with a ponytail down his back and a septum piercing--lives with his aunt in the cramped stucco cottage next door. When Bunny catches Michael smoking in her yard, he discovers that her life is not as perfect as it seems. At six foot three, Bunny towers over their classmates. Even as she dreams of standing out and competing in the Olympics, she is desperate to fit in, to seem normal, and to get a boyfriend, all while hiding her father's escalating alcoholism. Michael has secrets of his own. At home and at school Michael pretends to be straight, but at night he tries to understand himself by meeting men online for anonymous encounters that both thrill and scare him. When Michael falls in love for the first time, a vicious strain of gossip circulates and a terrible, brutal act becomes the defining feature of both his and Bunny's futures--and of their friendship.

GREEN

Better Than People : An Lgbtq Romance
by Roan Parrish

"Simon Burke has always preferred animals to people. When the countdown to adopting his own dog is unexpectedly put on hold, Simon turns to the PetShare app to find the fluffy TLC he's been missing. Meeting a grumpy children's book illustrator who needs a dog walker isn't easy for the man whose persistent anxiety has colored his whole life, but Jack Matheson's menagerie is just what Simon needs. Four dogs, three cats and counting. Jack's pack of rescue pets is the only company he needs. But when a bad fall leaves him with a broken leg, Jack is forced to admit he needs help. That the help comes in the form of the most beautiful man he's ever seen is a complicated, glorious surprise. Being with Jack--talking, walking, making out--is a game changer for Simon. And Simon's company certainly... eases the pain of recovery for Jack. But making a real relationship work once Jack's cast comes off will mean compromise, understanding and lots of love." -- Summary from page 4 of cover.

All out : The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens Throughout the Ages
by Saundra Mitchell

"An anthology of 17 historical and diverse short stories includes contributions by such leading LGBTQ authors as Alex Sanchez, Dahlia Adler and Kody Keplinger and includes such diverse tales as a retelling of "Little Red Riding Hood" set in war-torn 1870s Mexico and a story of forbidden love in a 16th-century Spanish convent. " -- From the publisher.

Kim & Kim 2 : Love Is a Battlefield
by Magdalene Visaggio

"Perpetually down on their luck, Kim Quatro and Kim Dantzler are two best friends doing their best to get by as interdimensional bounty hunters. Working out of their flying van, the Contessa, Kim & Kim are always one bounty away from finally having their shit together. The Kims finally get a big-time bounty to pay out, but that doesn't mean anything is going to be easy. It's love, betrayal, really nasty fistfights, and awesome motorcycle action sequences when Kim D's garbage ex-girlfriend Laz shows up - and robs them blind. So now, not only do they have to get their money back, but Kim D has to confront the one person in the world who hurt her most. That's really gonna suck for her."--Back cover.

BLUE

Written in the stars : a novel
by Alexandria Bellefleur

"After a disastrous blind date, Darcy Lowell is desperate to stop her well-meaning brother from playing matchmaker ever again. Love--and the inevitable heartbreak--is the last thing she wants. So she fibs and says her latest set up was a success. Darcy doesn't expect her lie to bite her in the ass. Elle Jones, one of the astrologers behind the popular Twitter account, Oh My Stars, dreams of finding her soul mate. But she knows it is most assuredly not Darcy... a no-nonsense stick-in-the-mud, who is way too analytical, punctual, and skeptical for someone as free-spirited as Elle. When Darcy's brother--and Elle's new business partner--expresses how happy he is that they hit it off, Elle is baffled. Was Darcy on the same date? Because... awkward. When Darcy begs Elle to play along, she agrees to pretend they're dating to save face. But with a few conditions: Darcy must help Elle navigate her own overbearing family over the holidays and their arrangement expires on New Year's Eve. The last thing they expect is to develop real feelings during a fake relationship. But maybe opposites can attract when true love is written in the stars?" -- Provided by publisher.

Lone Stars
by Justin Deabler

"Lone Stars follows the arc of four generations of a Texan family in a changing America. Julian Warner, a father at last, wrestles with a question his husband posed: what will you tell our son about the people you came from, now that they're gone? Finding the answers takes Julian back in time to Eisenhower's immigration border raids, an epistolary love affair during the Vietnam War, crumbling marriages, queer migrations to Cambridge and New York, up to the disorienting polarization of Obama's second term. And in these answers lies a hope: that by uncloseting ourselves - as immigrants, smart women, gay people - we find power in empathy."--Provided by publisher.

The Thirty Names of Night : a novel
by Zeyn Joukhadar

From the author of the acclaimed and award-winning debut The Map of Salt and Stars, a remarkably moving and lyrical novel following three generations of Syrian Americans who are linked by the truths they carry close to their hearts. Five years after a suspicious fire killed his mother, a closeted Syrian American trans boy sheds his birth name and searches for a new one. He has been unable to paint since his mother's ghost has begun to visit him each evening. The only time he feels truly free is when he slips out at night to paint murals on buildings in the once-thriving Manhattan neighborhood known as Little Syria. One night, he finds the tattered journal of a Syrian American artist named Laila Z. She famously and mysteriously disappeared more than sixty years before, but her journal contains proof that Laila Z's past is intimately tied to his mother's-and his grandmother's--in ways he never could have expected. Even more surprising, Laila Z's story reveals the histories of queer and transgender people within his community that he never knew. Following his mother's ghost, he uncovers the silences kept in the name of survival by his own community, his own family, and within himself, and discovers the family that was there all along. The Thirty Names of Night is an imaginative and intimate exploration of how we all search for and ultimately embrace who we are.

Stay gold
by Tobly McSmith

"Told in two voices, Pony, who is concealing his transgender identity at his new Texas high school, and Georgia, a cisgender cheerleader counting the days until she graduates, develop a complicated relationship." -- description provided by Baker &Taylor..

The Last Place You Look
by Aurora Rey

Julia Pierce can think of nothing more humiliating than her wife of eight years leaving her for her personal trainer. Oh, wait. She can. Without a career or a place to go when that exact thing happens, she's forced to move home and take a job at her family's winery. Taylor Winslow has been in love with Julia since tenth grade. Not the desperate, pining sort, but the kind that never really went away. When Julia reappears, Taylor has a chance to finally win her heart. The only problem? Julia's hell-bent on making up for lost time by dating every eligible lesbian in town.

PURPLE

Let's Talk about Love
by Claire Kann

In this young adult novel, Alice, afraid of explaining her asexuality, has given up on finding love until love finds her.

Alice's last girlfriend, Margo, ended things when Alice confessed she's asexual. Now Alice is sure she's done with dating ... and then she meets Takumi. She can't stop thinking about him or the rom-com-grade romance feelings she did not ask for. When her blissful summer takes an unexpected turn and Takumi becomes her knight with a shiny library-employee badge, Alice has to decide if she's willing to risk their friendship for a love that might not be reciprocated-- or understood.

Winter's Orbit
by Everina Maxwell

"Summoned before the Emperor, Prince Kiem--a famously disappointing minor royal and the Emperor's least favorite grandchild-is commanded to renew the empire's bonds with its newest vassal planet. The prince must marry Count Jainan, the recent widower of another royal prince of the empire. But the Jainan suspects his late husband's death was no accident. And Prince Kiem discovers that Jainan is a suspect himself.
But broken bonds between the empire and its vassal planets leaves the entire empire vulnerable, so together they must prove that their union is strong while uncovering a possible conspiracy. In the shadows of a secret past and an insecure future, Kiem and Jainan must come together to protect both of their worlds."--Provided by publisher.