Showing titles in Coming of Age

Death. Tragedy. Circumstances. World events. All of these impact everyone in the world, and one often thinks that adults remain on the receiving end. However, it is the middle schoolers and high schoolers who are impacted the most. These are the years and the events that shape everyone into being the person that they become. This is how the human brain, heart, and the entire system works. Within this system are middle-schoolers Jake, Steven, Evan, Justin, Kev, Stacey, and Ellie at Castle Rock Middle School, who have a journey that changed them for good.

Jessica Ann Stark, known as Jess, has lost the love of their life. A non-binary 20-something with a soft spot for girly girls, Jess has finally found the one: Emma Lee. The only problem is that she is dating their best bud, Rick. Watching Rick take Emma Lee from 19-year-old innocent high school dropout to a girl who needs to work "the program" takes its toll on Jess, who, when all is said and done, is left grieving and questioning everything.

Lizzy is your average teenager, not able to take a break from life's bad idea of a joke. Her life is hell, and her parents are the demons of her prison. One bad choice after another leads her to her ultimate demise: uncovering a secret that was hidden from her since birth.

At a time when coming out of the closet is chic, it is certainly not that way for Brad Archer. After a traumatic sexual encounter in high school, Brad, now in college, is having trouble with romantic relationships. He has dates with girls that fail miserably and continues to have horrific nightmares about both his past and the fears for his future.

""Delightful! This novel will open your heart and preach to your funny bone.""--Jill Conner Browne, New York Times bestselling author of the Sweet Potato Queen's Book of Love The debut of a dynamite new voice from the South, Love and Hot Chicken is a spicy and hilarious Tennessee story about...

Growing up in the Black Country under Mrs Thatcher's iron grip, Jamie dreams of a life in a magical metropolis, rubbing shoulders with the mythical creatures from Smash Hits. Despite the quirky characters in his hometown and his mother's witty one-liners, Jamie's heart is set on something greater. Follow him through secondary school, teenage turmoil, and art school, where he falls in love with Billy and the allure of the big city.

Tucker, with the help of his new assertive friend Kiara, must learn to balance his newfound freedom with school and a job, and if he meets a cute boy on the way, then that's just an added bonus. Paint is a story of self-discovery, of queerness outside the family-friendly safety net of a high school drama, and of drag queens when you need them the most.

It’s the final years of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, and Bríd and her sister, Ina, try to maintain a stable life in a divided country. Pushed by her mother’s fanaticism and a family tragedy, Bríd joins the IRA and makes a devastating choice. Frightened and guilt ridden, she flees, leaving behind Ireland and her family for America. Years later, her guilt and tragic history still buried, Bríd is an overprotective mother raising her sensitive daughter, Bernie, in Southern California.

Genocide. Jellyfish smack. Unrequited love. This is a tale of thirteen mermaid sisters, the last of their kind.

A sus quince años, Mungo, un adolescente con una sensibilidad diferente al resto de los chicos del vecindario, vive en un barrio obrero del Glasgow de la era post-Thatcher, en el seno de una familia protestante: sin padre, con una madre alcohólica y un hermano que representa todo lo que él odia. En un ambiente masculinizado, rodeado de paro y peleas callejeras, solo cuenta con el apoyo y el cuidado de su hermana, Jodie. Tras un altercado familiar, su madre decide enviar a Mungo de pesca con dos desconocidos de Alcohólicos Anónimos para que hagan de él un hombre de provecho.

Young flippert zwischen Bude, Hörsaal und den Betten seiner letzten Tinder-Matches hin und her. Er studiert in Seoul, zusammen mit Jaehee, seiner BFF und Mitbewohnerin, zieht er durch die glitzernden Bars und queeren Clubs der Stadt. Mit noch einem Glas Soju in der Hand und eisgekühlten Marlboro Reds zwischen den Lippen beschwören sie die Euphorie, jede Nacht. Gegen die Ängste, gegen die Liebe, gegen die Ansprüche der Familie und die Not mit dem Geld. Doch als auch Jaehee endlich ankommen will, bleibt Young allein zurück im Partymodus.

Jade Brown, a twenty-four-year-old first-generation Jamaican woman living in Toronto, must find a way to pick up the pieces and discover who she is following the mysterious death of her twin sister. Grappling with her grief, Jade seeks solace in lovers and friends during an array of hilarious and heartbreaking adventures. As she investigates some of life's most frustrating paradoxes, she holds tight to old friends and her ex-girlfriend, lifelines between past and present.

Eve has a carefully curated online life, works occasionally, and texts constantly with her best friend, Ezra. Basically, she is an archetypal LA millennial. She has also been carrying on a year-long conversation with her deceased friend Miggy over text. But when Ezra goes missing on the anniversary weekend of Miggy's death, Eve feels like her world is shattering. Over a frantic weekend Eve investigates Ezra's disappearance, scouring social media for clues, while drowning her anger and anxiety in drinks, drugs, and spiritual cleansing.

Isaiah and Ezra have been friends since they were little boys. They have a special connection neither of them could figure out until now. They're in love. However, in their society, loving someone of the same gender is forbidden. When the community reverend catches them in a compromising position, he decides to out them to their parents and community. What the reverend doesn't count on is that love is stronger than hate.

Josh Moore lives with his family on the "wrong side" of Hamilton, a gritty industrial city in Southwestern Ontario. As a young boy, Josh plots an escape for a better life far from the steel mills that lined the bay. But fate has other plans and Josh discovers his adult life in Toronto is just as fraught with as many insecurities and missteps as his youth, and he soon learns that no matter how far away he might run, he will never be able to leave his hometown behind.

Fueled by tomato sandwiches and green milkshakes, and obsessed with cars, Philbet struggles with life and love as a gay boy in rural Georgia. He’s happiest when helping Grandaddy dig potatoes from the vegetable garden that connects their houses. But Philbet’s world is shattered and his resilience shaken by events that crush his innocence and sense of security; expose his misshapen chest skillfully hidden behind shirts Mama makes at home; and convince him that he’s not fit to be loved by Knox, the older boy he idolizes to distraction.

Laurie Norber, the protagonist of The Flash of Midnight, is a survivor of rape and child abuse who has managed to retain both her sense of humor and a positive outlook toward the future. Taking its inspiration from Voltaire’s Candide, The Flash of Midnight recounts the bisexual escapades of a young woman who steadfastly believes that real love is just around the corner, never imagining that in June of 1969, she will become the spark that ignites a sexual revolution at a small Greenwich Village bar called the Stonewall Inn.

A young teenager without parents or siblings, Lily Upshire takes the world on her own terms. When she finds something wrong with her favorite drink, she just wants the big company that made it to say sorry to her. But the adults in her life have other ideas, seeing everything in terms of money. As the company makes ever more extravagant overtures to avoid apologizing to her, she remains unmoved. She’s more concerned with what makes her life miserable: the school bullies, most of her teachers, and the scammers and catfish online. To gain self-confidence, she begins boxing lessons.

With sensitivity and a teenager’s ability to find humor even in disaster, Jan Blixen tells of his life growing up gay in the Midwest. An escaped mental patient living in a refrigerator box gives Jan a priceless gift. A university professor accused of a terrible crime is Jan’s best friend. Jan’s father, a drunk and a brawler, loathes his gay son as God’s practical joke. Jan’s stories are a concentration of emotional power, often heartwarming and heartbreaking in the span of a few minutes.

In this page-turning novel set in 2003 New York City, a genderqueer book conservator feels trapped by her gender presentation, her ill-fitting relationship, and her artistic block—until she discovers a decades-old hidden queer love letter and becomes obsessed with tracking down its author...