Girls Like Girls: Celebrating Lesbian Narratives (2024)

"At Niveus Private Academy, Devon and Chiamaka are the only students chosen to be Senior Prefects who are also black, which makes them targets for a series of anonymous texts revealing their secrets to the entire student body. Both students were on track toward valedictorian and bright college futures, but this prank quickly turns into a very dangerous game and they are at more than one disadvantage as it looks like things could turn deadly." (Library catalog)

"It starts when Claudia offers Immy a yellow rose. Immy has been in love before- many times, across many lifetimes. But never as deeply, as intensely as this. Claudia has never been in love this before either. But then, this is her first time with a vampire. The forbidden thirst for blood runs deep in Immy. And within her mind clamor the voices, of all the others she has been, their desires, and their wrongs." (Book jacket)

"Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people... In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal's office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash. Separated by distance--and Papi's secrets--the two girls are forced to face a new reality in which their father is dead and their lives are forever altered. And then, when it seems like they've lost everything of their father, they learn of each other." (Provided by publisher.)

"Mahalia Harris wants a big Sweet Sixteen like her best friend Naomi. She wants the cute new girl Siobhan to like her back. She wants a break from worrying about money, snide remarks from white classmates, and pitying looks from church ladies. It's too late for a Sweet Sixteen-- but what about a Coming Out Party? A singing, dancing, rainbow-cake-eating celebration of queerness! Mahalia starts saving, taking on extra hours at her afterschool job-- and awkwardly flirting with Siobhan. But with all the responsibility on her shoulders, will the party be over before it's even begun?" (adapted from jacket)

"Sixteen-year-old Dylan tries to understand her feelings for her girlfriend Joq at the same time she is dating her boyfriend Cam."

"Nishat doesn't want to lose her family, but she also doesn't want to hide who she is, and it only gets harder once a childhood friend walks back into her life. Flavia is beautiful and charismatic, and Nishat falls for her instantly. But when a school competition invites students to create their own businesses, both Flavia and Nishat decide to showcase their talent as henna artists. In a fight to prove who is the best, their lives become more tangled..."

"It all starts when Shani runs into May. Like, literally. With her mom’s Subaru.
Attempted vehicular manslaughter was not part of Shani’s plan. She was supposed to be focusing on her monthlong paleoichthyology internship. She was going to spend all her time thinking about dead fish and not at all about how she was unceremoniously dumped days before winter break.
It could be going better. But when a dog-walking gig puts her back in May’s path, the fossils she’s meant to be diligently studying are pushed to the side—along with the breakup." (Publisher)

"After seventeen-year-olds Chloe and Shara - Chloe's rival for valedictorian - kiss, Shara vanishes leaving Chloe and two boys, who are also enamored with Shara, to follow the trail of clues she left behind. But during the search, Chloe starts to suspect there might be more to Shara and her small Alabama town than she thought" (Library Catalog).

"As her little sister's quinceañera approaches, Maggie Gonzalez has a brilliant plan to solve the dilemma of which crush she will choose to be her official escort: bff, ex-bf, or new girl. When it causes chaos instead of calm, however, she has to consider that diving right into the disaster may be the best way out."

"After a bewildering encounter at her small town's annual summer festival, seventeen-year-old biracial, queer Nima plunges into the world of drag, where she has the chance to explore questions of identity, acceptance, self-expression, and love."

"With the threat of deportation looming over her father--in spite of his hard-won citizenship and disavowal of Communism--seventeen-year-old American-born Chinese Lily Hu pursues a relationship with her Caucasian classmate Kath" (Library Catalog).

"Laura Dean, the most popular girl in high school, was Frederica Riley's dream girl, but Freddy is learning she is not the best girlfriend, so she seeks help from a mysterious medium and advice columnists to help her through being a teenager in love." (Library catalog)

"Sixteen-year-old Yamilet Flores prefers to be known for her killer eyeliner, not for being one of the only Mexican kids at her new, mostly white, very rich Catholic school. But at least here no one knows she's gay, and Yami intends to keep it that way. After being outed by her crush and ex-best friend before transferring to Slayton Catholic, Yami has new priorities: keep her brother out of trouble, make her mom proud, and, most importantly, don't fall in love. Granted, she's never been great at any of those things, but that's a problem for Future Yami. The thing is, it's hard to fake being straight when Bo, the only openly queer girl at school, is so annoyingly perfect. And smart. And talented. And cute. So cute. Either way, Yami isn't going to make the same mistake again. If word got back to her mom, she could face a lot worse than rejection. So she'll have to start asking, WWSGD: What would a straight girl do?"

"In the early 1990s, when gay teenager Cameron Post rebels against her conservative Montana ranch town and her family decides she needs to change her ways, she is sent to a gay conversion therapy center." (Library catalog)

"Cynical twenty-three-year old August doesn't believe in much. She doesn't believe in psychics, or easily forged friendships, or finding the kind of love they make movies about. And she certainly doesn't believe her ragtag band of new roommates, her night shifts at a 24-hour pancake diner, or her daily subway commute full of electrical outages are going to change that. But then, there's Jane. Beautiful, impossible Jane."

"Seventeen-year-old Ophelia Rojas, well known for her rose garden and her dramatic crushes on every boy in sight, begins to question her sexuality and sense of self when she starts to fall for cute, quiet Talia Sanchez in the weeks leading up to their high school prom and graduation."

"When seventeen-year-old Veronica's photograph of her introverted girlfriend goes viral, they are sent into a spiral of fame and lethal danger as they navigate the turbulent waters of their relationship, secrets, acclaim, and the underground San Diego art scene." (Library catalog)

"Trinidad. Audre is being sent to live in America with her father because her strictly religious mother caught her with her secret girlfriend, the pastor's daughter. Her grandmother Queenie tries to reassure her granddaughter that she won't lose her roots. Minneapolis. Mabel is trying to figure out why she feels the way she feels-- about her ex Terrell, about her girl Jada and that moment they had in the woods. When Audre and her father come for dinner, Mabel falls hard for Audre and is determined to take care of her as she tries to navigate an American high school. But when test results reveal why Mabel has been feeling low-key sick all summer, it's Audre who is caring for Mabel as they face a deeply uncertain future. (adapted from jacket)

"When seventeen-year-old Avery moves to rural Georgia to live with her ailing grandmother, she encounters decade-old family secrets and a mystery surrounding the town's racist past. Desperate to learn the secrets that split her family in two, Avery finds friendship in unexpected places: in Simone Cole, her next-door neighbor, and Jade Oliver, daughter of the town's most prominent family-- whose mother's murder remains unsolved. As the three girls grow closer, the sharp-edged opinions of their small southern town begin to hint at something insidious underneath. The racist history of Bardell is rooted in Avery's family, and she must decide if digging for the truth is worth toppling the relationships she's built" (Library Catalog).

'In this nail-biting sequel to Tehlor Kay Mejia's critically acclaimed fantasy novel We Set the Dark on Fire, La Voz operative Carmen is forced to choose between the girl she loves and the success of the rebellion she's devoted her life to. Perfect for fans of The Handmaid's Tale and Anna-Marie McLemore. Being a part of the resistance group La Voz is an act of devotion and desperation. On the other side of Medio's border wall, the oppressed class fights for freedom and liberty, sacrificing what little they have to become defenders of the cause. Carmen Santos is one of La Voz's best soldiers. She spent years undercover, but now, with her identity exposed and the island on the brink of a civil war, Carmen returns to the only real home she's ever known: La Voz's headquarters. There she must reckon with her beloved leader, who is under the influence of an aggressive new recruit, and with the devastating news that her true love might be the target of an assassination plot. Will Carmen break with her community and save the girl who stole her heart--or fully embrace the ruthless rebel she was always meant to be?"

"At the Medio School for Girls, distinguished young women are trained for one of two roles in their polarized society. Depending on her specialization, a graduate will one day run a husband's household or raise his children, but both wives are promised a live of comfort and luxury, far from the frequent political uprisings of the lower class. Daniela Vargas is the school's top student, but her bright future depends upon no one discovering her darkest secret - that her pedigree is a lie. Her parents sacrificed everything to obtain forged identification papers so Dani could rise above her station. Now that her marriage to an important politico's son is fast approaching, she must keep the truth hidden or be sent back to the fringes of society, where famine and poverty rule supreme. On her graduation night, Dani seems to be in the clear, despite the suprises that unfold. But nothing prepares her for all the difficult choices she must make, especially when she is asked to spy for a resistance group desperately fighting to bring equality to Medio. Will Dani give up everything she's strived for in pursuit of a free Media - and a chance at a forbidden love? The first in a sizzling fantasy duology from debut author Tehlor Kay Mejia, We Set the Dark on Fire is a boldy feminist look at freedom, family, and fighting for power." (From dust jacket.)

"On a hot day in Bethlehem, a twelve-year-old Palestinian-American girl is yelled at by a group of men outside the Church of the Nativity. She has exposed her legs in a biblical city, an act they deem forbidden, and their judgement will echo on through her adolescence. When our narrator finally admits to her mother that she is queer, her mother's response only intensifies a sense of shame: 'You exist too much, ' she tells her daughter. Told in vignettes that flash between the U.S. and the Middle East--from New York to Jordan, Lebanon, and Palestine--Zaina Arafat's debut novel traces her protagonist's progress from blushing teen to sought-after DJ and aspiring writer" (Book jacket)

"Whether contemplating the value of adobe as both vernacular architecture and commodified art object, highlighting the feminist wounding and transphobic apparitions haunting the multi-generational lesbian social fabric, or recalling a failed romance, Gutiérrez traverses complex questions of gender, class, identity, and citizenship with curiosity and nuance." (publisher)

"Part memoir, part guide, Burning My Roti is essential reading for a new generation of South Asian women. With chapters covering sexual and cultural identity, body hair, colourism and mental health, and a particular focus on the suffocating beauty standards South Asian women are expected to adhere to, Sharan Dhaliwal speaks openly about her journey towards loving herself, offering advice, support and comfort to people that are encountering the same issues. This provocative book celebrates the strides South Asian women have made, whilst also providing powerful advice through personal stories by Sharan and other South Asian women from all over the world." (Library catalog)

"A professor of English literature presents a memoir of family, identity, and acceptance that examines the messiness and complexity of adoption and parenthood from a black, queer, and feminist perspective." (Library catalog)

"When Casey Parks came out as a lesbian in college back in 2002, she assumed her life in the rural South was over. Her mother shunned her, and her pastor asked God to kill her. But then Parks' grandmother, a stern conservative who grew up picking cotton, shared a story about her childhood friend, Roy Hudgins, a musician who was allegedly kidnapped as a baby and was "a woman who lived as a man...As Parks traces Roy's story, Parks is forced to reckon with long-buried memories and emotions surrounding her own sexuality, her fraught Southern identity, her tortured yet loving relationship with her mother, and the complicated role of faith in her life."

Winner of the American Library Association Stonewall Book Awards, 2007.

"The acclaimed literary essayist T Kira Madden's raw and redemptive debut is a memoir about coming of age as a queer, biracial teenager within the fierce contradictions of Boca Raton, Florida, a place where cult-like privilege, shocking social and racial disparities, rampant white-collar crime, and powerfully destructive standards of beauty hide in plain sight."

"The memoir of a woman caught between her identity as a gay woman and the love and life debt she owes her mother" (publisher)

"Myriam Gurba's debut is the bold and hilarious tale of her coming of age as a queer, mixed-race Chicana. Blending radical formal fluidity and caustic humor, Mean turns what might be tragic into piercing, revealing comedy. "

"Rita, an overreaching, makeup-addicted, narcissistic Manhattan singer couldn't be more different from Elissa, her gay, taciturn New England writer daughter. Stuck in an outrageous maelstrom of codependency, mother and daughter cannot seem to extricate themselves from the center of each other's lives. This is their story, built on the ferocity of mother-daughter love, moral obligation, and the possibility and promise of healing." (Library catalog)

" My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness is an honest and heartfelt look at one young woman's exploration of her sexuality, mental well-being, and growing up in our modern age. Told using expressive artwork that invokes both laughter and tears, this moving and highly entertaining single volume depicts not only the artist's burgeoning sexuality, but many other personal aspects of her life that will resonate with readers." (Publisher)

"Jaquira Díaz writes an unflinching account of growing up as a queer biracial girl searching for home as her family splits apart and her mother struggles with mental illness and addiction. From her own struggles with depression and drug abuse to her experiences of violence to Puerto Rico's history of colonialism, every page vibrates with music and lyricism." (Provided by publisher.)

"A Part of the Heart Can't Be Eaten, a memoir from writer, speaker, sex educator, feminist pornographer, and activist Tristan Taormino, is a meditation on family, coming of age, identity, and activism. Brutally honest and sexually charged, the book explores themes of LGBTQ identity, gender, family, grief and loss, AIDS, depression, and queer subcultures of the 1990s" (Library Catalog).

"Bornstein shares her story: from a nice Jewish boy growing up in New Jersey to a strappingly handsome lieutenant of the Church of Scientology's Sea Organization flagship vessel, and later to 1990s Seattle, where she becomes a rising star in the lesbian community. In between there are wives and lovers, heartbreak and triumph, bridges mended and broken, and a journey of self-discovery that will mesmerize readers." (Book Jacket)

"A lyrical memoir -- part prose, part verse -- about coming-of-age, uncovering the cruelty and the beauty of the wider world, and redemption through self-discovery and the bonds of family" (publisher)

"A Two-Spirit Journey is Ma-Nee Chacaby's extraordinary account of her life as an Ojibwa-Cree lesbian. From her early, often harrowing memories of life and abuse in a remote Ojibwa community riven by poverty and alcoholism, Chacaby's story is one of enduring and ultimately overcoming the social, economic, and health legacies of colonialism... Her memoir provides unprecedented insights into the challenges still faced by many Indigenous people" (Library Catalog).

"In this candid memoir, Laura Kate Dale recounts what life is like growing up as a gay trans woman on the autism spectrum. From struggling with sensory processing and learning social cues and feminine presentation, through to coming out as trans during an autistic meltdown, Laura draws on her personal experiences from life prior to transition and diagnosis, through to the years of self-discovery, to give a unique insight into the nuances of sexuality, gender, and autism, and how they intersect." (Library catalog)

"In 'Why Karen Carpenter Matters', Karen Tongson (whose Filipino musician parents named her after the pop icon) interweaves the story of the singer's rise to fame with her own trans-Pacific journey between the Philippines-where imitations of American pop styles flourished-and Karen Carpenter's home ground of Southern California" (Library Catalog).

"Zami is a fast-moving chronicle. From the author's vivid childhood memories in Harlem to her coming of age in the late 50's, the nature of Audre Lorde's work is cyclical. It especially relates the linkage of women who have shaped her ... Lorde brings into play her craft of lush description and characterization. It keeps unfolding page after page" (Off Our Backs).

"Recounting her experiences with sexist discrimination, sexual harassment, and sexual violence-- beginning in childhood, through the present-- Woods lays out clear and unflinching personal vignettes that build in intensity as the number of times grows. Her personal stories-- some only one page long-- amount to powerful proof that sexual violence and discrimination are never just one-time occurrences, but part of a constant battle all women face every day." (adapted from back cover.)