Category: Europe

Poet, Prophet, Fox: The Tale of Sinnach the Seer

By MZ McDonnell

Long before history began, when Ireland was ruled by poets and tribal chieftains, the prophet Sinnach was the most powerful druid in the ancient province of Mumu. But before he was a prophet, before he was a poet, he was a just boy… a boy believed to be a girl.

Unable to suppress his true nature, Sinnach fled persecution and sought refuge in the wilderness. By his nature, his talents, and his oath to the goddess Ériu, Sinnach came to find his place in a world shaped by poetry, magic, and combat.

Yet the attainment of great power is not without consequence. Sinnach is inadvertently entangled in the dangerous affairs of both men and Síd, the Faerie Folk. His perilous travels into the Otherworld, the conflicting passions of love, and the return of an old enemy threaten to endanger his identity, peace between the tribes, and peace between the worlds.

Representation: trans MC.

The Falling in Love Montage

By Ciara Smyth

Saoirse doesn’t believe in love at first sight or happy endings. If they were real, her mother would still be able to remember her name and not in a care home with early onset dementia. A condition that Saoirse may one day turn out to have inherited. So she’s not looking for a relationship. She doesn’t see the point in igniting any romantic sparks if she’s bound to burn out.

But after a chance encounter at an end-of-term house party, Saoirse is about to break her own rules. For a girl with one blue freckle, an irresistible sense of mischief, and a passion for rom-coms.

Unbothered by Saoirse’s no-relationships rulebook, Ruby proposes a loophole: They don’t need true love to have one summer of fun, complete with every cliché, rom-com montage-worthy date they can dream up—and a binding agreement to end their romance come fall. It would be the perfect plan, if they weren’t forgetting one thing about the Falling in Love Montage: when it’s over, the characters actually fall in love… for real.

Representation: lesbian MC and love interest.

The Henna Wars

By Adiba Jaigirdar

When Nishat comes out to her parents, they say she can be anyone she wants—as long as she isn’t herself. Because Muslim girls aren’t lesbians. Nishat doesn’t want to hide who she is, but she also doesn’t want to lose her relationship with her family. And her life only gets harder once a childhood friend walks back into her life.

Flávia is beautiful and charismatic and Nishat falls for her instantly. But when a school competition invites students to create their own businesses, both Flávia and Nishat choose to do henna, even though Flávia is appropriating Nishat’s culture. Amidst sabotage and school stress, their lives get more tangled—but Nishat can’t quite get rid of her crush on Flávia, and realizes there might be more to her than she realized.

Representation: Bengali Bangladeshi Muslim lesbian MC; Afro-Brazilian Irish bisexual love interest; side Bengali characters, side Korean character.

Ownvoices: queer, Bangladeshi, and Muslim representation.

How It All Blew Up

By Arvin Ahmadi

Eighteen-year-old Amir Azadi always knew coming out to his Muslim family would be messy–he just didn’t think it would end in an airport interrogation room. But when faced with a failed relationship, bullies, and blackmail, running away to Rome is his only option. Right?

Soon, late nights with new friends and dates in the Sistine Chapel start to feel like second nature… until his old life comes knocking on his door. Now, Amir has to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth to a U.S. Customs officer, or risk losing his hard-won freedom.

Representation: Muslim Iranian-American gay MC; gay side characters, bisexual side character.

Ownvoices: author is Muslim Iranian-American and gay.

The Camino Club

By Kevin Craig

After getting in trouble with the law, six wayward teens are given an ultimatum: serve time in juvenile detention for their crimes, or walk the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route across Spain over the summer holidays with a pair of court appointed counselor/guides. When it becomes clear the long walk isn’t really all that much of an option, they set out on a journey that will either make or break who they are and who they are to become.

Representation: one MC is gay.

The Contradictions

By Sophie Yanow

The author’s fictionalized coming-of-age story.

Sophie is young and queer and into feminist theory. She decides to study abroad, choosing Paris for no firm reason beyond liking French comics. Feeling a bit lonely and out of place, she’s desperate for community and a sense of belonging. She stumbles into what/who she’s looking for when she meets Zena. An anarchist student-activist committed to veganism and shoplifting, Zena offers Sophie a whole new political ideology that feels electric. Enamored—of Zena, of the idea of living more righteously—Sophie finds herself swept up in a whirlwind friendship that blows her even further from her rural California roots as they embark on a disastrous hitchhiking trip to Amsterdam and Berlin, full of couch surfing, drug tripping, and radical book fairs.

Representation: lesbian MC.

Ownvoices: lesbian author, this is a fictionalized memoir.

Other Words for Smoke

By Sarah Maria Griffin

When the house at the end of the lane burned down, none of the townspeople knew what happened. A tragedy, they called it. Poor Rita Frost and her ward, Bevan, lost to the flames. Only Mae and Rossa, Rita’s niece and nephew, know what happened that fateful summer.

Only they know about the owl in the wall, the uncanny cat, the dark powers that devour love and fear. Only they know about the trials of loving someone who longs for power, for freedom, for magic. Only they know what brought the house tumbling down around them. And they’ll never, ever breathe a word.

Representation: multiple queer girl characters.

All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens throughout the Ages

By Saundra Mitchell

Anthology edited by Saundra Mitchell with seventeen contributors.

Publisher’s Description

Take a journey through time and genres and discover a past where queer figures live, love and shape the world around them. Seventeen of the best young adult authors across the queer spectrum have come together to create a collection of beautifully written diverse historical fiction for teens.

From a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood set in war-torn 1870s Mexico featuring a transgender soldier, to two girls falling in love while mourning the death of Kurt Cobain, forbidden love in a sixteenth-century Spanish convent or an asexual girl discovering her identity amid the 1970s roller-disco scene, All Out tells a diverse range of stories across cultures, time periods and identities, shedding light on an area of history often ignored or forgotten.

Features stories from:
Malinda Lo
Mackenzi Lee
Robin Talley
Kody Keplinger
Elliot Wake
Anna-Marie McLemore
Shaun David Hutchinson
Dahlia Adler
Tess Sharpe
Kate Scelsa
Natalie C. Parker
Sara Farizan
Nilah Magruder
Tessa Gratton
Tehlor Kay Mejia
Alex Sanchez
Scott Tracey

Ownvoices: Queer representation.

Bombshells Volume 2: Allies

By Marguerite Bennett

Darkness is encompassing the world and it is up to the Bombshells to set things straight. The Tenebrae soldiers are rising in London and all of the bombshells must converge to fight them, but not all will survive. Also the young girls of Gotham city are taking up the “Bat” in Batwoman’s absence and keeping their city safe from crime.

Publisher’s Description:

The shadow of WWII looms ever larger as the Bombshells battle the Axis Powers across the globe.

But the paths of these superheroines will converge as they face their greatest challenge yet. To defeat the undead tenebrae soldiers overtaking London, they’ll have to form a Justice League of their own!

Genre: Superhero

Representation:
Gender:
Cis girls: Kate, Mera, Zatanna, Maggie, Harley, Ivy, Kora, Kortni, Amanda, Diana, Selina, Helena, Harper, Kathy, Betty
Cis boys: Constantine, Steve
Trans Girl: Alysia

Sexuality:
Lesbian: Kate, Maggie
Bisexual: Diana, Mera, Zatanna, Constantine,
Heterosexual: Steve

Romantic Orientation:
Not mentioned in the book.

Race/Ethnicity:
White: Kate, Mera, Zatanna, Constantine, Maggie, Harley, Ivy, Selina, Steve, Harper, Betty
Black: Amanda, Kathy, Nell
Russian: Kora, Kortni
Greek: Diana
German: Helena
Singaporean: Alysia

Religion:
Judaism: Kate, Zatanna, Selina

Location: WWII Era United States and Europe

Trigger Warnings: Supernatural violence, mild gore, some scary imagery, antisemitism, violence, death, smoking, drinking.

Additional Notes: No DC comic background knowledge needed to enjoy this. Harley works in a mental health facility and possibly suffers from PTSD or brainwashing.

Wonderful (French)

By Carmine Sanden

Carmine is but an ordinary teenager. He doesn’t have any powers, isn’t the heir to a magical kingdom, and isn’t usually paid attention to. He’s not even at ease in his own body, and his family is far from ideal.  And yet he is going to live a great adventure.

When Carmine is unwillingly taken along into shenanigans that have been going on for a millennia, when real life and dreams mix up and when his favorite character comes to life, he will need to face frightening dangers and journey through many fantasy worlds in the depths of his imagination. To free themselves from the hold of the cruel and dangerous Jabberwocky, Carmine and Starlight Blade will fight a battle that will change their lives, and maybe meet their end…unless Kanzer, a strange persona stuck between worlds, is able to help them.

Will they save Wonderland from destruction?

Genre: Fantasy, Contemporary

Representation:
Gender:
Trans boys: Carmine
Genderqueer/Non-binary: Starlight Blade
Cis boys: Kanzer

Sexual Orientation:
Pansexual: Carmine, Starlight Blade
Asexual: Kanzer

Romantic Orientation:
Panromantic: Carmine, Starlight Blade

Race/Ethnicity:
Not explicitly addressed

Location: Europe (France), Fantasy World based on a Western country

Disability:
Carmine has depression and PTSD. He’s likely autistic (though this isn’t addressed). Starlight Blade has PTSD.

Trigger Warnings:
Transphobia: Carmine’s familial environment doesn’t recognize his gender identity. Jabberwocky misgenders him on purpose, several times throughout.  Abuse: Emotional and physical. Violence: Swordfights, abuse beatings, blood. Some exaggerated violence.

Other notes:  This book is only available in French.

Ownvoices: Transgender representation, mental illness.