Just Shy of Ordinary

Book

Just Shy of Ordinary

A. J. Sass
Published Date: 2024
ISBN: 0316506176
Page Count: 368

A thirteen-year-old nonbinary kid discovers that life doesn't always go according to plan, especially when they start public school for the first time, in this heartfelt middle grade novel about family, friendship, LGBTQIA+ identity, and Jewish heritage, perfect for fans of The List of Things That Will Not Change and Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World.
 
Thirteen-year-old Shai is an expert problem-solver. There’s never been something they couldn’t research and figure out on their own. But there’s one thing Shai hasn’t been able to logic their way through: picking at the hair on their arms.    
 
Ever since their mom lost her job, the two had to move in with family friends, and the world went into pandemic lockdown, Shai’s been unable to control their picking. Now, as the difficult times recede and everyone begins to discover their “new normal,” Shai’s hoping the stress that caused their picking will end, too.
 
After reading that a routine can reduce anxiety, Shai makes a plan to create a brand new normal for themself that includes going to public school. But when their academic evaluation places them into 9th grade instead of 8th, it sets off a chain of events that veer off the path Shai had prepared for, encouraging Shai to learn how to accept life's twists and turns, especially when you can't plan for them.

Language

English

Representation

Genre

Middle Grade, Contemporary

Other Info

None

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My Heart to Find

Book

My Heart to Find

Elin Annalise
Published Date: 2021-03-31
ISBN: 1912369303
Page Count: 253

Cara Tate is twenty-five years old, shy, asexual, and desperate to find love. But there’s a problem: Cara’s chronic Lyme disease has caused brain inflammation and OCD that makes her afraid of anyone touching her. Plus, finding other aces isn't easy—especially when there's no guarantee of a connection.

But there is one man Cara knows who is ace and whom she feels something for. One man who she might just be able to hug…or more. If she can summon the courage to defy the control of her OCD.

Three years ago, when Cara was healthy, she and her ace best friend Jana went on a retreat for those on the asexual spectrum. There, she met professional dog-walker Damien Noelle--the only man she's ever felt a connection with. But she was too nervous to exchange contact information and has spent the last three years strongly regretting it.

So when Fate has her path cross with Damien once more, Cara's determined to overcome her shyness and OCD and let him know she's more than interested. The only problem is Damien seems interested in Jana now, and the last thing Cara wants to do is ruin her friend's happiness. For the last few months, Jana’s been dealing with the boss from hell, and Cara knows Damien could be the best thing Jana’s had all year. She can’t take that away from her best friend… can she?

My Heart to Find is an #ownvoices story for asexuality and chronic illness representation (Lyme Disease and Encephalitis-induced OCD, also known as PANS).

Language

English

Representation

Genre

Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Mystery

Other Info

Aces in Love Series: Book #2

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The Art of Starving

Book

The Art of Starving

Sam J. Miller
Published Date: 2017-07-11
ISBN: 0062456717
Page Count: 384

More Happy Than Not meets Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future in this gritty, contemporary YA debut about a bullied gay teen boy with an eating disorder who believes he’s developed super powers via starvation.

Matt hasn’t eaten in days.

His stomach stabs and twists inside, pleading for a meal. But Matt won’t give in. The hunger clears his mind, keeps him sharp—and he needs to be as sharp as possible if he’s going to find out just how Tariq and his band of high school bullies drove his sister, Maya, away.

Matt’s hardworking mom keeps the kitchen crammed with food, but Matt can resist the siren call of casseroles and cookies because he has discovered something: the less he eats the more he seems to have . . . powers. The ability to see things he shouldn’t be able to see. The knack of tuning in to thoughts right out of people’s heads. Maybe even the authority to bend time and space.

So what is lunch, really, compared to the secrets of the universe?

Matt decides to infiltrate Tariq’s life, then use his powers to uncover what happened to Maya. All he needs to do is keep the hunger and longing at bay. No problem. But Matt doesn’t realize there are many kinds of hunger… and he isn’t in control of all of them.

A darkly funny, moving story of body image, addiction, friendship, and love, Sam J. Miller’s debut novel will resonate with any reader who’s ever craved the power that comes with self-acceptance.

Language

English

Representation

Genre

Young Adult, Contemporary, Fantasy

Other Info

None

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Margaret and the Mystery of the Missing Body

Book

Margaret and the Mystery of the Missing Body

Megan Milks
Published Date: 2021
ISBN: 1952177812
Page Count: 277

Meet Margaret. At age twelve, she was head detective of the mystery club Girls Can Solve Anything. Margaret and her three best friends led exciting lives solving crimes, having adventures, and laughing a lot. But now that she's entered high school, the club has disbanded, and Margaret is unmoored—she doesn't want to grow up, and she wishes her friends wouldn't either. Instead, she opts out, developing an eating disorder that quickly takes over her life. When she lands in a treatment center, Margaret finds her path to recovery twisting sideways as she pursues a string of new mysteries involving a ghost, a hidden passage, disturbing desires, and her own vexed relationship with herself.

Margaret and the Mystery of the Missing Body reimagines nineties adolescence—mashing up girl group series, choose-your-own-adventures, and chronicles of anorexia—in a queer and trans coming-of-age tale like no other. An interrogation of girlhood and nostalgia, dysmorphia and dysphoria, this debut novel puzzles through the weird, ever-evasive questions of growing up.

Language

English

Representation

Genre

Young Adult, Contemporary, Mystery, Horror

Other Info

None

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Paperweight

Book

Paperweight

Meg Haston
Published Date: 2015
ISBN: 0062335766
Page Count: 296

This emotionally haunting and beautifully written young adult debut delves into the devastating impact of trauma and loss, in the vein of Laurie Halse Anderson’s Wintergirls.

Seventeen-year-old Stevie is trapped. In her life. In her body. And now in an eating-disorder treatment center on the dusty outskirts of the New Mexico desert.

Life in the center is regimented and intrusive, a nightmare come true. Nurses and therapists watch Stevie at meal time, accompany her to the bathroom, and challenge her to eat the foods she’s worked so hard to avoid.

Her dad has signed her up for sixty days of treatment. But what no one knows is that Stevie doesn’t plan to stay that long. There are only twenty-seven days until the anniversary of her brother Josh’s death—the death she caused. And if Stevie gets her way, there are only twenty-seven days until she, too, will end her life.

Paperweight follows seventeen-year-old Stevie’s journey as she struggles not only with a life-threatening eating disorder, but with the question of whether she can ever find absolution for the mistakes of her past…and whether she truly deserves to.

Language

English

Representation

Genre

Young Adult, Contemporary

Other Info

None

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Love & Other Carnivorous Plants

Book

Love & Other Carnivorous Plants

Florence Gonsalves
Published Date: 2018-05-15
ISBN: 0316436720
Page Count: 352

This acclaimed, darkly funny debut for fans of Jesse Andrews and Robyn Schneider about a teen who's consumed by love, grief, and self-destructive behavior is now in paperback.

Freshman year at college was the most anticlimactic year of Danny's life. She's failing pre-med and drifting apart from her best friend. One by one, Danny is losing all the underpinnings of her identity. When she finds herself attracted to an older, edgy girl who she met in rehab for an eating disorder, she finally feels like she might be finding a new sense of self. But when tragedy strikes, her self-destructive tendencies come back to haunt her as she struggles to discover who that self really is. With a starkly memorable voice that's at turns hilarious and heartbreaking, Love and Other Carnivorous Plants brilliantly captures the painful turning point between an adolescence that's slipping away and the overwhelming uncertainty of the future.

Language

English

Representation

Genre

Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Other Info

None

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Far from Home

Book

Far From Home

Lorelie Brown
Published Date: 2016
ISBN: 1626494517
Page Count: 184

My name is Rachel. I’m straight . . . I think. I also have a mountain of student loans and a smart mouth. I wasn’t serious when I told Pari Sadashiv I’d marry her. It was only party banter! Except Pari needs a green card, and she’s willing to give me a breather from drowning in debt.

My off-the-cuff idea might not be so terrible. We get along as friends. She’s really romantically cautious, which I find heartbreaking. She deserves someone to laugh with. She’s kind. And calm. And gorgeous. A couple of years with her actually sounds pretty good. If some of Pari’s kindness and calmness rubs off on me, that’d be a bonus, because I’m a mess -- anorexia is not a pretty word -- and my little ways of keeping control of myself, of the world, aren’t working anymore.

And, if I slip up, Pari will see my cracks. Then I’ll crack. Which means I gotta get out, quick, before I fall in love with my wife.

Language

English

Representation

Genre

Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Other Info

Belladonna Ink Series: Book #1

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Der Boden unter den Füßen (The Ground Beneath My Feet)

Movie
The Ground Beneath My Feet | 108min | July 26, 2019 (United States) 6.5
Summary: Not yet 30, Lola controls her personal life with the same ruthless efficiency she uses to optimize profits in her job as a high-powered business consultant. No one knows about her older sister Conny or her family's history of mental illness. But when a tragic event forces Conny back into Lola's life and her secrets begin to unravel, Lola's grip on reality slips away.

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Age Rating

Not Rated

Representation

Country and Language

Germany (German)

Main, Supporting, or Side

Main

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The Loudest Silence

Book

The Loudest Silence

Sydney Langford
Published Date: 2024-07-30
ISBN: 0823459314
Page Count: 400

Two disabled, queer teens find belonging in this poignant platonic love story about singing, signing, and solidarity.

Sixteen-year-old Casey Kowalski dreamed of becoming a professional singer. Then the universe threw her a life-altering curveball—sudden, permanent, and profound hearing loss—mere months before her family’s cross-country move from Portland to Miami. Now, faced with the dual challenges of starting over at a new high school and learning to navigate the world as a Deaf-Hard of Hearing person, Casey is mourning the loss of her music while trying to conceal her hearing loss from her new schoolmates.

Soccer captain Hayden González-Rossi is facing his own challenges. Three generations of González men have risen to stardom on the soccer field, including Hayden’s older brother. Hayden knows his family expects him to follow in their footsteps, but he has a secret: he wants to quit soccer and pursue a career on Broadway. If only his Generalized Anxiety Disorder didn’t send him into a debilitating spiral over the thought of telling them the truth.

Casey and Hayden are determined to hide who they really are. But when they meet at school, they bond over their shared love of music and feeling like they don’t belong, and the secrets spill. Their intimate friendship is the beating heart of this dual-POV story featuring thoughtful disability representation, nuanced queer identities, and a lovably quirky supporting cast.

Language

English

Representation

Genre

Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Other Info

None

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A Tiny Piece of Something Greater

Book

A Tiny Piece of Something Greater

Jude Sierra
Published Date: 2018-05-01
ISBN: 1945053607
Page Count: 264

Reid Watsford has a lot of secrets and a past he can’t quite escape. While staying at his grandmother’s condo in Key Largo, he signs up for introductory dive classes, where he meets Joaquim Oliveira, a Brazilian dive instructor with wanderlust. Driven by an instant, magnetic pull, what could have been just a hookup quickly deepens. As their relationship evolves, they must learn to navigate the challenges of Reid’s mental illness—on their own and with each other.

Language

English

Representation

Genre

Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Other Info

None

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