Halli Starling Recommendations for RCR’s 2022 LGBTQ+ Summer Book Bingo

Halli Starling (she/they) writes fantasy worlds, vampires, and romance, focusing on stories with deep emotional investment. And the occasional bloody bit of violence.

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Queer Memoir

Punch Me Up to the Gods by Brian Broome
A Wild and Precious Life by Edie Windsor (Edie helped set up the legalization of same-sex marriage in the US)
I Was Better Last Night by Harvey Fierstein (definitely get the audio!)
Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe
All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson

Reviewed on Roar Cat Reads

Spinning by Tillie Walden
Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
Over the Top by Jonathan Van Ness

African-Influenced Culture

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
The Deep by Rivers Solomon
Vagabonds! By Eloghosa Osunde (Nigeria)

BINGO RULES

Red Cover

Flung Out of Space by Grace Ellis and Hannah Templer
Another Appalachia by Neema Avashia
The Circus Rose by Betsy Cornwell

Trans Protagonist

Nevada by Imogen Binnie
A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall
The Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar
Summer Fun by Jeanne Thornton

2022 Release

Bad Girls by Camila Villada
M Is For Monster by Talia Dutton
Scout’s Honor by Lily Anderson
America, Goddam by Treva B. Lindsey
Spear by Nicola Griffith
Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake

Fairy Tale Retelling

Ruinsong by Julia Ember (okay, it’s Phantom of the Opera but STILL)
Travelers Along The Way by Aminah Mae Safi
Wrath Goddess Sing by Maya Deane
Ash by Malinda Lo
Peter Darling by Austin Chant
Sometime After Midnight by L. Philips

Audiobook

How To Find A Princess by Alyssa Cole
IRL by Tommy Pico
Right Where I Left You by Julian Winters
With Teeth by Kristen Arnett

Orange Cover

The Kings of B’more by R. Eric Thomas
And Then The Gray Heaven by Re Katz
What We Do In The Dark by Michelle Hart
Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender

Mystery/Thriller

A Line in the Dark by Malinda Lo
The Girls I’ve Been by Tess Sharpe
Firewatching by Russ Thomas
Bath Haus by P.J. Vernon
Dead Dead Girls by Nekesa Afia

Asian-Influenced Culture

Kaikeyi by Vasihnavi Patel
Blue-Skinned Gods by SJ Sindu
Nuclear Family by Joseph Han
She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

Award Winning

Shadow Life by Hiromi Goto (2022 Asian/Pacific American Literature Award Winner for Adult Fiction; 2022 L.A. Times Book Prize Finalist)
The Wrong End of the Telescope by Rabih Alameddine (2022 Pen/Faulkner Award for Fiction)
Swearing Off Stars by Danielle Wong (2018 Reader’s Favorites Book Awards Gold Medal in Fiction; Historical 2018 International Book Awares Winner in Fiction; and many more!)

Yellow Cover

Juliet Takes A Breath by Gabby Rivera
The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri
Life As A Unicorn by Amrou Al-Kadhi
Burning Roses by S.L. Huang
Yellow Jessamine by Caitlin Starling

European-Influenced Culture

The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave (Norway)
Behind These Doors by Jude Lucens (Victorian England)
We Are Made of Diamond Stuff by Isabel Waidner (NB German author, influenced by German culture)
Girls Lost by Jessica Schiefauer (Swiss author/culture)

Nonfiction

How To Write An Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee
When They Call You A Terrorist by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele
And The Category Is… by Ricky Tucker
Queer Love in Color by Jamal Jordan
Butch by Kanithea Powell
American Boys by Soraya Zaman

Released Before 2000

Affinity by Sarah Waters
Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown
Desert of the Heart by Jane Rule
Olivia by Dorothy Strachey

Disabled Protagonist

Panpocalypse by Carley Moore
The Extraordinaires by TJ Klune (ADHD)
Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers (anxiety, depression)
An Unseen Attraction by KJ Charles (autistic MC)
Weekend by Jane Eaton Hamilton (queer disabled author, MC with a heart condition)