Books like Kill Game

This book is an unconventional romance, but it is a sweeping one, with language that made me swoon and a love story that gave me reason to hope again. The main character, Vin, was a mystery I needed to solve. King Perry is the first in a book series that has opened my heart in ways I didn’t even know my heart needed opening. It’s a beautiful book (and series) that has the potential to change the way you look at life. Yes, it’s that good. 

I love a good world-building tale, and this series is phenomenal. I also felt a real connection with Kai in the second book, The Soldier, but to understand him, you have to read this book first. Kai’s thrown into a situation not of his own making, but he manages to land on his own feet. Not only that, but he finds the courage to open his heart in a situation where he’d be justified in completely shutting down. His bravery is something to behold. I also loved Tam’s unwavering optimism and their Master’s heart of gold. Unconventional relationships are my jam, and this is a gem of a series.

Jordan L. Hawk took a tired kind of trope and turned it into something amazing. I love paranormal stories, but with vampires, I need to be convinced. By the end of the first chapter, Jordan had me convinced. He took an opposites-attract story, threw a cranky vampire in the middle of it, and turned it into a love story that I now cannot wait for when each new installment is published. It’s fresh, exciting, and I’m still coming back for more. Jordan’s one of my auto-buy authors, and this is one of my favorites of his series. Hands down. The characters are vivid, the adventures unique, and their love story is one for the ages. There’s nothing ordinary about this book.

It takes a lot to make me emotional, and Jenn Burke managed to get me in the feels with each book in this series, starting with Not Dead Yet. Wes Cooper is not living, but not quite dead due to a spell performed by a witch. He can travel between the living plane and the other plane. When Wes witnesses a murder by something otherworldly, he’s not sure what to do. Crossing paths with his one-time lover Hudson Rojas isn’t what Wes expected, but it does mean he has help to figure out what’s going on. He just doesn’t expect to fall in love again. And oh what a love it is. More than once, I got choked up over Wes and Hudson. Read it. You won’t regret it.

While trying to learn about gay life in the 1920s, I was delighted to find this novel, “privately” published in 1919. One soon learns that Bertram Cope, who comes to teach at an undergraduate college as he works on an advanced degree, has a relationship with another young male with whom he plans to cohabit—interesting that two men could openly set up housekeeping together, even back then. Meanwhile an older matron, an aging homosexual man, and various young women hope to attract Cope’s attention. Though seen by some as a trivial social satire, Fuller’s light touch and subtle wit mask an undertone of eroticism and homosexual associations. His anonymous, authorial, third-person narrative voice is humorous and incisive, revealing his penetrating observations of social niceties and the layers of his characters’ maneuverings. Clever and understated, the book implies much that is never declared.

In this emotional tour de force, a judge falls in love with the federal marshal who protects him during a terrorism-related trial. He’s kind, caring, and ethical; he’s intelligent, hardworking, and competent; and he knows all too well that in many people’s eyes, none of that matters. That betrayal feels painfully familiar; his spectacular vindication, cathartic.

When we first meet our protagonist, You Miao is a smug, lazy scholar hanging around studying for the Imperial examination, but when he saves the life of an enslaved warrior Li Zhifeng his life changes forever. Together the two of them revitalize a rundown estate, navigate court intrigue, and weather an invasion. A big, sweeping epic from a leader in the genre. I’d been writing in the mystery genre for quite some time and this book made me want to write fantasy novels again.

In this autobiographical sketch, the author describes being assumed by people he meets on Grindr to be either a drag queen or a trans woman.

He is neither; Princess WaWa is femme. It’s different. The passion of his life is Derek Island, his romantic obsession. But caring about someone, or even caring about the outcome, is frightening when your primary way of coping with how life treats you is to refuse to care. 

This is such a life-affirming Australian story about a transgender teen and how their unlikely friendship with an elderly man sets them on a path to self-acceptance and peace. There are some heavy themes explored in this book – from suicide to drug abuse – but it is ultimately an uplifting and deeply moving novel that is told in such a tender way. It personally opened my eyes to the struggles transgender people go through with gender dysphoria, and shows how having the right people in your life can be the difference between life and death. It’s essential reading for LGBT people and allies.

This is a book of inclusiveness about being a gay child. All children should be able to read books where they can recognize themselves in a positive light. I highly recommend all books by Little Pickle Press. They are dedicated to exactly what I believe in and why I write books. They publish picture books for little kids with meaningful stories, to help kids with awareness at a very young age. This is what we as parents and educators must do!