Hi nerds,

Last night we held our recurring event, Sunny's Salon. This month the prompt was to come prepared to talk about your favorite queer read for Pride month. Below you will find 20ish book recommendations gathered from the Yuma community.

• The Song of Achilles: A thrilling, profoundly moving, and utterly unique retelling of the legend of Achilles and the Trojan War from the bestselling author of Circe.

• Homosexual Intifada: A groundbreaking anthology amplifying queer Palestinian voices through art and storytelling that reclaim identity, resist erasure, and challenge stereotypes.

• Muñeca: A vivid, surreal Gothic about a queer, Latine, working class witch who sets out to rescue a bespelled heiress and loses control of her powers and her heart in the process.

• Cleat Cute: A sapphic rivals to lovers rom com for fans of Ted Lasso and A League of Their Own, where two soccer teammates are at odds before falling in love as their team gears up for the World Cup.

• Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe: The award-winning, internationally renowned book that is a “tender, honest exploration of identity” (Publishers Weekly) and distills lyrical truths about family and friendship through the unlikely connection between two teens.

• Dogs of Summer: My Brilliant Friend meets Blue is the Warmest Color in this lyrical debut novel set in a working-class neighborhood of the Canary Islands—a story about two girls coming of age in the early aughts and a friendship that simmers into erotic desire over the course of one hot summer.

• I'll Give You the Sun: The radiant, award-winning story of first love, family, loss, and betrayal for fans of John Green, Becky Albertalli, and Adam Silvera.

• What Move the Dead: A gripping and atmospheric reimagining of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” from Hugo, Locus, & Nebula award-winning author T. Kingfisher.

• Cemetery Boys: A trans boy determined to prove his gender to his traditional Latinx family summons a ghost who refuses to leave in Aiden Thomas's paranormal YA debut.

• The Black Flamingo: A fierce coming-of-age verse novel about identity and the power of drag, from acclaimed poet and performer Dean Atta. Perfect for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo, Jason Reynolds, and Kacen Callender.

• The Spirit Bares Its Teeth: Featuring an autistic trans protagonist in a historical setting, Andrew Joseph White’s much-anticipated sophomore novel does not back down from exposing the violence of the patriarchy and the harm inflicted on trans youth who are forced into conformity.

Open Throat: A lonely, lovable, queer mountain lion narrates this star-making fever dream of a novel.

• Pumpkin: Return to the beloved world of Julie Murphy’s #1 New York Times bestselling Dumplin’—now a popular Netflix feature film starring Jennifer Aniston—in this fabulously joyful, final companion novel about drag, prom, and embracing your inner Queen.

• Herculine: A “witty, often-chilling, compulsively readable” (Vogue) horror debut following a woman who seeks refuge at an all-trans girl commune only to discover that demons haunt her fellow comrades—and she’s their next prey!

• Stag Dance: In this collection of one novel and three stories, bestselling author Torrey Peters’s keen eye for the rough edges of community and desire push the limits of trans writing.

• D'Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding: D'Vaughn and Kris have six weeks to plan their dream wedding. Their whole relationship is fake.

• Wife Shaped Bodies: Sorrowland meets Manhunt in this literary horror debut in which an isolated newlywed, covered in fungal fruiting bodies, strikes a precarious balance between following her husband's strict rules and pursuing an intense connection with a woman who makes her question everything.

• Astrid Parker Doesn't Fall: An interior designer who is never without the perfect plan learns to renovate her love life without one in this new romantic comedy by Ashley Herring Blake, author of Delilah Green Doesn’t Care.

• Cackle: A darkly funny, frightening novel about a young woman learning how to take what she wants from a witch who may be too good to be true, from the author of The Return.

• Giovanni's Room: James Baldwin’s groundbreaking novel whose frank exploration of sexuality and self-acceptance was decades ahead of its time—named one of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the past 100 years.

• Strange Beasts: In this fresh-yet-familiar gothic tale—part historical fantasy, part puzzle-box mystery—the worlds of Dracula and Sherlock Holmes collide in a thrilling exploration of feminine power.

• Looking for a Sign: A newly single queer woman moves to New Orleans and sets off on a mission to find her most compatible match by going on a date with someone of each astrological sign in this rom-com from the Lambda Literary Award–nominated author of Queerly Beloved.

• Saturn Returning: A smoldering, soul-splitting debut that tracks three friends through the celestial chaos of adulthood, love, and queer identity.

• Legends & Lattes: The much-beloved BookTok sensation, Travis Baldree's novel of high fantasy and low stakes.

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