Here are 62 books that Love Wins fans have personally recommended if you like Love Wins. Book DNA is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of A Fever In The Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them

Michael Leppert Author Of Flipping the Circle

From my list on lobbying, political influence, and corruption.

Why am I passionate about this?

Currently, I am a lecturer at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, teaching speech and writing at a perennial top ten business school in America. I also teach speech to business students as an adjunct professor at Butler University in Indianapolis. Before teaching became my calling and my fulltime vocation, I spent thirteen years working for the State of Indiana, and twenty years as a contract lobbyist in the Indiana Statehouse. 

Michael's book list on lobbying, political influence, and corruption

Michael Leppert Why Michael loves this book

I love this book because it is a classic example of how movements based on hate and evil can quickly take hold and spread. The parallels from 1920s Indiana to modern-day America jump out of this story about the rise of the Ku Klux Klan.

Egan’s meticulous research and storytelling paints a vivid picture of the moment and the surroundings of one of our nation’s darkest periods. It explains so many shortcomings about modern-day middle America that the eerily true account almost seems made up. 

By Timothy Egan ,

Why should I read it?

12 authors picked A Fever In The Heartland as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

"With narrative elan, Egan gives us a riveting saga of how a predatory con man became one of the most powerful people in 1920s America, Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan, with a plan to rule the country—and how a grisly murder of a woman brought him down. Compelling and chillingly resonant with our own time." —Erik Larson, author of The Splendid and the Vile

“Riveting…Egan is a brilliant researcher and lucid writer.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune

A historical thriller by the Pulitzer and National Book Award-winning author that tells the riveting story of…


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Book cover of Aggressor

Aggressor by FX Holden,

It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.

The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…

Book cover of Gideon's Trumpet: How One Man, a Poor Prisoner, Took His Case to the Supreme Court-and Changed the Law of the United States

Marianne Wesson Author Of A Death at Crooked Creek: The Case of the Cowboy, the Cigarmaker, and the Love Letter

From my list on characters behind famous legal proceedings.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a law professor, I always regretted one aspect of the severely edited case reports in the textbooks that I taught from. Eager to get to the main point— analyzing the law that would govern the decision—they seemed to give only the most cursory account of the interesting parts of the story: what happened, who made it happen, and whom did it happen to? I worried that students would take on board the implicit message that the people whose lives were entangled in the law didn’t matter much compared to the law’s lofty majesty. This list and my own book represent my protest against this mistaken idea.

Marianne's book list on characters behind famous legal proceedings

Marianne Wesson Why Marianne loves this book

I have a hunger for the human stories that hide behind the technical language, historical excursions, and occasionally baffling reasoning of Supreme Court decisions. There are a few legal journalists who excel at showing us these hidden lives; Anthony Lewis of the New York Times was one of these.

This book was his masterpiece, an account of the relationships among impoverished four-time convicted felon Clarence Gideon, his lawyer Abe Fortas (later to be named to the Court), the members of the Warren Court, and the law of American criminal justice. The 1963 decision in Gideon v. Wainwright, which established that persons facing serious criminal charges must be provided with lawyers, is inspiring reading, but the larger story that Lewis tells us is both more intricate and more moving.

By Anthony Lewis ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Gideon's Trumpet as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The classic bestseller from a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist that tells the compelling true story of one man's fight for the right to legal counsel for every defendent. 

A history of the landmark case of Clarence Earl Gideon's fight for the right to legal counsel. Notes, table of cases, index. The classic backlist bestseller. More than 800,000 sold since its first pub date of 1964.


Book cover of Messages from Frank's Landing: A Story of Salmon, Treaties, and the Indian Way

Marianne Wesson Author Of A Death at Crooked Creek: The Case of the Cowboy, the Cigarmaker, and the Love Letter

From my list on characters behind famous legal proceedings.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a law professor, I always regretted one aspect of the severely edited case reports in the textbooks that I taught from. Eager to get to the main point— analyzing the law that would govern the decision—they seemed to give only the most cursory account of the interesting parts of the story: what happened, who made it happen, and whom did it happen to? I worried that students would take on board the implicit message that the people whose lives were entangled in the law didn’t matter much compared to the law’s lofty majesty. This list and my own book represent my protest against this mistaken idea.

Marianne's book list on characters behind famous legal proceedings

Marianne Wesson Why Marianne loves this book

Fifty years ago, a federal judge in Washington State issued a decision that upended the fishing economy and culture of the Pacific Northwest. United States v. Washington, which was eventually upheld by the Supreme Court, held that treaties between the government and the tribal peoples of that region must be respected and ruled that the tribes had a right to 50% of the annual catch. 

Wilkinson, one of the lawyers who advised and represented the tribal peoples, imbues his account of the lawsuit and its aftermath with Indian values and culture. Importantly, this form of storytelling includes numerous oral histories. They could serve the right reader as a sort of spiritual guide to how to behave when you, a peaceful person, find that your rights are being violated with apparent impunity.

By Charles Wilkinson ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Messages from Frank's Landing as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Billy Frank, Jr., has been celebrated as a visionary, but if we go deeper and truer, we learn that he is best understood as a plainspoken bearer of traditions, a messenger, passing along messages from his father, from his grandfather, from those further back, from all Indian people, really. They are messages about the natural world, about societies past, about this society, and about societies to come. When examined rigorously - not out of any romanticism but only out of our own enlightened self-interest - these messages can be of great practical use to us in this and future years'…


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Book cover of Trusting Her Duke

Trusting Her Duke by Arietta Richmond,

A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.

Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother had…

Book cover of Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats

James Patrick Thomas Author Of Atomic Pilgrim: How Walking Thousands of Miles for Peace Led to Uncovering Some of America's Darkest Nuclear Secrets

From my list on hope in ridding the world of nuclear weapons.

Why am I passionate about this?

Nuclear weapons pose an existential threat to human society. Their huge cost robs people in poverty of essential services and support. Since 1981 when I joined a 6700-mile walk across the U.S. and nine other countries to Bethlehem, I have campaigned for disarmament, uncovered extensive deception about their production, and advocated for the millions of people harmed by the radiation released from the production and testing of nuclear weapons. I long for the day when we will not have to live in fear of a nuclear Armageddon.

James' book list on hope in ridding the world of nuclear weapons

James Patrick Thomas Why James loves this book

Iverson’s memoir mirrors my own experience of growing up near nuclear weapons sites, only to find out later the dangers we were exposed to as children.

Iverson grew up near the Rocky Flats plant outside of Denver. It machined plutonium produced at Hanford into the cores of U.S. nuclear weapons. As she dug into the secret history of Rocky Flats, she uncovers family secretseerily like my own memoir. 

By Kristen Iversen ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Full Body Burden as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“An intimate and deeply human memoir that shows why we should all be concerned about nuclear safety, and the dangers of ignoring science in the name of national security.”—Rebecca Skloot, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
 
A shocking account of the government’s attempt to conceal the effects of the toxic waste released by a secret nuclear weapons plant in Colorado and a community’s vain search for justice—soon to be a feature documentary

Kristen Iversen grew up in a small Colorado town close to Rocky Flats, a secret nuclear weapons plant once designated "the…


Book cover of Blue Heaven

Kevin Klehr Author Of Winter Masquerade

From my list on gay themed not about romance.

Why am I passionate about this?

I usually write queer fiction with an urban fantasy or magic realism bent, although I’ve dabbled in dystopian novels and a couple of romance novellas. I have an interest in bringing to light modern queer works that aren’t rooted in erotica or romance because I know firsthand the misconceptions that are placed on writers of gay fiction. And too often I’ve had to find tactful ways to explain what I write when people assume I’m limited by genre.

Kevin's book list on gay themed not about romance

Kevin Klehr Why Kevin loves this book

This is the first of a trilogy of which any book in the series is worth reading. In this farce written long before marriage equality, a gay man hatches an outlandish scheme to throw a wedding, just for the expensive gifts. What follows is a comedy that incorporates blackmail and the mafia. You read this novel for pure pleasure, enjoying the clever one-liners while the plot spirals out of control. Flamboyant, camp, and ridiculously funny.

By Joe Keenan ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Blue Heaven as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Set in contemporary New York, this book revolves around four characters, all either unemployed or barely employed. The calamities begin when Gilbert, who is gay, and Moira, an arch bitch, devise a seemingly brilliant plan to swindle their respective monied families - by getting married.


Book cover of Two Grooms on a Cake: The Story of America's First Gay Wedding

Mark Ceilley Author Of Cinderelliot: A Scrumptious Fairytale

From my list on GLBTQ+ love story picture books.

Why am I passionate about this?

I identify as a member of the GLBTQ+ community. My husband and I had a church wedding. I have written several stories that have GLBTQ+ representation and are love stories. I have also read and familiarized myself with many GLBTQ+ children’s books. 

Mark's book list on GLBTQ+ love story picture books

Mark Ceilley Why Mark loves this book

I highly recommend this book because it is a great history lesson about the first gay marriage in 1971 when Jack Baker and Michael McConnell struggled to get a marriage license in Minnesota. They appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the case was dismissed. It wasn’t until 2013, when Minnesota made it legal for gay marriage that Jack and Michael’s marriage was finally publicly acknowledged. Two years later, in 2015, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage equality.

This story resonates with me personally because my husband and I live in Minnesota, where we were married in 2014. 

By Rob Sanders , Robbie Cathro (illustrator) ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Two Grooms on a Cake as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 5, 6, 7, and 8.

What is this book about?

As seen on The TODAY Show!

"Sanders tells the tale in easy-to-understand language, sweet as the frosting on the cake. . . . As beautiful as it is informative about this little-known battle in the fight for equality." -Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW

"Their heartwarming story-accessible to young readers-demonstrates that the essential ingredient in a cake and a marriage is love. Cathro's affectionate illustrations-with vintage 1970s' colors and vibes-not only expand the text but also capture its sweet spirit exactly." -Booklist

This is the story of Jack Baker and Michael McConnell and their inspiring story becoming the first married gay couple…


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Book cover of The Duke's Christmas Redemption

The Duke's Christmas Redemption by Arietta Richmond,

A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.

Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man she…

Book cover of Katy Has Two Grampas

Thomas Tracy Author Of Scoochie & Skiddles: Scoochie's Adoption Story

From my list on about LGBTQ+ families.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a gay father of two transracially adopted daughters, I am constantly searching for books that feature families like mine. It is important for children to see families that look like theirs represented in their storybooks. Unfortunately, there is a limited number of children’s books spotlighting adoption and even less featuring LGBTQ+ families. I am happy to share this list of some of my favorites that represent diverse/LGBTQ+ families.   

Thomas' book list on about LGBTQ+ families

Thomas Tracy Why Thomas loves this book

This is the first book to feature gay grandfathers, an overlooked and under-represented population in the literature. It is based on the author’s actual family experience, which allows the reader to experience the real emotions experienced by the characters. The author carefully takes the reader on a journey that will be relatable to anyone with an LGBTQ+ family member. This is a story that needs to be told and Schanke and Schanke do it beautifully.

By Julie Schanke Lyford , Robert A. Schanke , Mariia Luzina (illustrator)

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Katy Has Two Grampas as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 4, 5, 6, and 7.

What is this book about?

Katy's world is so much brighter because of her gay grampas! She is SO excited to bring them to school for Grandparent's Day. However, Katy discovers that she has to introduce them to the class.  Katy has a lisp and is terrified everyone will make fun of her, usually choosing to remain silent. Discover how the help of her big sister and support of her grampas gives Katy the confidence to speak in front of the class and introduce the class to two of her favorite people.

Katy Has Two Grampas is based on a true story, featuring dynamic and…


Book cover of Charity and Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America

Rebecca L. Davis Author Of Fierce Desires: A New History of Sex and Sexuality in America

From my list on history of queer love.

Why am I passionate about this?

If society considered your desires illegal, would you save records of it? As a historian of sexuality in the US and as a queer person, I’m drawn to stories about convention-defying love. We know much more about straight people’s passions because these were the socially approved ones. Learning about queer people’s desires is more challenging—and the result feels even more precious. 

Rebecca's book list on history of queer love

Rebecca L. Davis Why Rebecca loves this book

I love this book because it is both totally surprising and, at the same time, familiar. Sylvia and Charity lived together for more than 40 years in the early 1800s in New England, and their neighbors acknowledged their status as devoted partners.

Cleves is a masterful storyteller. Reading the book, I was captivated by these two remarkable women. When I finished the book, I realized I had a completely different understanding of queer relationships in early America.

By Rachel Hope Cleves ,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Charity and Sylvia as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Charity and Sylvia is the intimate history of two ordinary women who lived in an extraordinary same-sex marriage during the early nineteenth century. Based on diaries, letters, and poetry, among other original documents, the research traces the women's lives in sharp detail. Charity Bryant was born in 1777 to a consumptive mother who died a month later. Raised in Massachusetts, Charity developed into a brilliant and strong-willed woman with a passion for her
own sex. After being banished from her family home by her father at age twenty, she traveled throughout Massachusetts, working as a teacher, making intimate female friends,…


Book cover of Prince & Knight: Tale of the Shadow King

Mark Ceilley Author Of Cinderelliot: A Scrumptious Fairytale

From my list on GLBTQ+ love story picture books.

Why am I passionate about this?

I identify as a member of the GLBTQ+ community. My husband and I had a church wedding. I have written several stories that have GLBTQ+ representation and are love stories. I have also read and familiarized myself with many GLBTQ+ children’s books. 

Mark's book list on GLBTQ+ love story picture books

Mark Ceilley Why Mark loves this book

In this follow-up to Prince and Knight by Daniel Haack, our two heroes fight a dark shadow spread over the kingdom. Their love is tested when the prince saves the knight’s life from beasts and monsters. When they reach the Shadow King, the cause of the darkness,  he sees the love between the prince and knight, which gives him hope for the future. He realizes that it’s okay to love someone of the same gender.

The book has beautiful messages of acceptance, forgiveness, and being proud of your own authentic self. The illustrations are charming, like an animated film.

By Daniel Haack , Stevie Lewis (illustrator) ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Prince & Knight as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 4, 5, 6, and 7.

What is this book about?

This follow-up to Prince & Knight is an inclusive, modern fairy tale for young readers!

Praise for Prince & Knight:
"Victorious . . . the premier queer-friendly fairy tale." -Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"An illuminating fairy tale for young readers to be able to see that not every prince would like to marry a princess." -School Library Journal

"A colorful and entertaining tale exploring sexuality, acceptance, and young love." -Booklist

Have you heard the thrilling tale
of the prince and his dear knight?
Their love for one another
inspired everyone in sight.

Our brave and dashing heroes, the prince and…


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Book cover of Old Man Country

Old Man Country by Thomas R. Cole,

This book follows the journey of a writer in search of wisdom as he narrates encounters with 12 distinguished American men over 80, including Paul Volcker, the former head of the Federal Reserve, and Denton Cooley, the world’s most famous heart surgeon.

In these and other intimate conversations, the book…

Book cover of Our Wives Under the Sea

Ephiny Gale Author Of Pick Your Potion

From my list on speculative books with sapphic main characters.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have always been eager to read weird, speculative, sapphic stories, but they were difficult to find throughout my early life. As a teenager, I started to write them, creating what I hoped to see in the world, and I haven’t stopped since. I’m thrilled to see that this niche is becoming more common and celebrated, particularly in the more experimental short fiction space. As an adult, I’ve had many weird, speculative, sapphic short stories and novelettes published, including one that won the Best of the Net award and two that were shortlisted for Brave New Weird: The Best New Weird Horror.

Ephiny's book list on speculative books with sapphic main characters

Ephiny Gale Why Ephiny loves this book

I view this book as an equal mix of cosmic deep-sea horror, exploration of loneliness, and marital devotion.

I really appreciate that this book follows two flawed women across multiple periods of time, on land and in the deep sea, and across the full length of their relationship. The weight of one of them disappearing beneath the ocean for months profoundly affects both of them–mentally, emotionally, and physically–in different and weird ways, but underneath everything is an enduring love.

I particularly enjoyed the slow-moving body horror in this one, plus the escalating creep of being stuck at the bottom of the ocean for months and the overarching terror of losing the one you love.

By Julia Armfield ,

Why should I read it?

8 authors picked Our Wives Under the Sea as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Named as book to look out for in 2022 by Guardian, i-D, Autostraddle, Bustle, Good Housekeeping, Stylist and DAZED.

Miri thinks she has got her wife back, when Leah finally returns after a deep sea mission that ended in catastrophe. It soon becomes clear, though, that Leah may have come back wrong. Whatever happened in that vessel, whatever it was they were supposed to be studying before they were stranded on the ocean floor, Leah has carried part of it with her, onto dry land and into their home.

To have the woman she loves back should mean a return…


Book cover of A Fever In The Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them
Book cover of Gideon's Trumpet: How One Man, a Poor Prisoner, Took His Case to the Supreme Court-and Changed the Law of the United States
Book cover of Messages from Frank's Landing: A Story of Salmon, Treaties, and the Indian Way

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