Books like 'After the Parade'
Readers who enjoyed After the Parade by Lori Ostlund also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary lgbtq literary-fiction mlm coming-of-age realistic family romantic-love
-
Crank Trilogy by Ellen Hopkins
Rated: 4.64 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe heart-wrenching bestselling Crank trilogy shows that addiction is never just one person’s problem. Crank Kristina is the perfect daughter: gifted high school junior, quiet, never any trouble. Then she meets the monster: crank. And what begins as a wild ride turns into a struggle for her mind, her soul—her life. Glass Crank. Glass. Ice. Crystal... -
In the End, It Was All About Love by Musa Okwonga
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe narrator arrives in Berlin, a place famed for its hedonism, to find peace and maybe love; only to discover that the problems which have long haunted him have arrived there too, and are more present than ever...Categorized as:
literary-fiction lgbtq family romantic-love fiction contemporary social-commentary book -
Letters Book One by Michael Robert
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsNew York City financier, thirty-nine-year-old Perry Jackson, discovers a letter from his deceased husband, Jack. Jack’s recent death leaves Perry reeling and alone. After eighteen years together, Perry has no idea how he can move forward.Lucas Jenson, a nineteen-year-old residing in Beaufort, South Carolina, has lost both his mother and the man he dreamed of sharing his life with... -
The Chance to Fly by Ali Stroker, Stacy Davidowitz
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsA heartfelt middle-grade novel about a theater-loving girl who uses a wheelchair for mobility and her quest to defy expectations—and gravity—from Tony award–winning actress Ali Stroker and Stacy DavidowitzThirteen-year-old Nat Beacon loves a lot of things: her dog Warbucks, her best friend Chloe, and competing on her wheelchair racing team, the Zoomers, to name a few... -
-
Something Like Stories: Volume Three by Jay Bell
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsEmbark on a final trip through the Something Like… universe with this special collection of stories that promises heartwarming reunions and gut-wrenching closure.Something Like Stars playfully explores what would happen if a movie was made about Ben’s love for Tim and Jace... -
Hurricane Season by Nicole Melleby
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThis debut novel—about taking risks and facing danger, about love and art, and about growing up and coming out—will make its way straight into your heart.Fig, a sixth grader, wants more than anything to see the world as her father does. The once-renowned pianist, who hasn’t composed a song in years and has unpredictable good and bad days, is something of a mystery to Fig... -
True Biz by Sara Nović
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsTRUE BIZ (adj./exclamation; American Sign Language): really, seriously, definitely, real-talkTrue biz? The students at the River Valley School for the Deaf just want to hook up, pass their history finals, and have politicians, doctors, and their parents stop telling them what to do with their bodies...Categorized as:
lgbtq literary-fiction coming-of-age realistic family fiction contemporary disability -
Rri po te mundesh. Shko nese duhet. by Helga Flatland
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsRomanen tar utgangspunkt i tre unge barndomsvenner - Tarjei, Trygve og Kristian - og deres beslutning om å verve seg til de norske styrkene i Afghanistan. Ingen av de tre kommer tilbake... -
The Boy from the Mish by Gary Lonesborough
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA funny and heart-warming queer Indigenous YA novel, set in a rural Australian community, about seventeen-year-old Jackson finding the courage to explore who he is, even if it scares him.'I don't paint so much anymore,' I say, looking to my feet.'Oh. Well, I got a boy who needs to do some art... -
Ready When You Are by Gary Lonesborough
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA remarkable YA love story between two Aboriginal boys -- one who doesn’t want to accept he’s gay, and the boy who comes to live in his house who makes him realize who he is.It's a hot summer, and life's going all right for Jackson and his family on the Mish. It's almost Christmas, school's out, and he's hanging with his mates, teasing the visiting tourists, avoiding the racist boys in town... -
Frankie by Graham Norton
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsFrankie Howe has lived a long life, her small flat is crammed full of art, furniture - and memories. Damian, her young carer, listens as she gradually tells him parts of her story - a story that takes us into a progressive, daring world of New York artists on the brink of fame, aspiring writers and larger-than-life characters...Categorized as:
literary-fiction lgbtq romantic-love realistic coming-of-age fiction historical-fiction audiobook -
3 stepbrothers by Animallover55
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsTori lived with her dad and little sister. She never expected to have a stepmother, much less a stepbrother. But whats worse is not only one stepbrother, not two either. No three stepbrothers. But it gets worse, the three boys just happen to be the three triplet sport stars of the school. The same three boys that have gone out with nearly all those girls that wear short short skirts... -
Once Burned by Alexa Land
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsCameron Doyle is an arson investigator who’s learned he can’t trust anyone. Ignacio Mondelvano is an artist with a secret that could tear them apart. A year ago, shy, quiet Cameron had his trust shattered by a sociopath who used him to gain information on an arson case... -
The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWhere would I start, and how would it even make sense? How could you understand the year in Shandon Street unless you were there, with us, living it?Rachel Murray is twenty-one years old, platonically infatuated with her housemate James, and less-than-platonically infatuated with her enigmatic, married English professor Dr Byrne... -
-
I Loved You More by Tom Spanbauer
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsTom Spanbauer’s first novel in seven years is a love story triangle akin to The Marriage Plot and Freedom , only with a gay main character who charms gays and straights alike. I Loved You More is a rich, expansive tale of love, sex, and heartbreak, covering twenty-five years in the life of a striving, emotionally wounded writer... -
Dear Mona Lisa... by Claire Davis, Al Stewart
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsTom, shy office clerk by day and drawer of foxes by night wakes up one Monday knowing the most extraordinary week of his life is about to begin. In five days time a lifelong ‘secret’ will be made gloriously public—but will it mean losing the person he loves most? Getting married… It seems like only yesterday Tom changed nappies and sang nursery rhymes to a laughing baby... -
The Road to Amazing by Brent Hartinger, Josh Hurley
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratings"I think gay guys like weddings more than anyone. And it's not because we want to destroy marriage, like some people say. It's because we really, really want to get married!"Russel Middlebrook is gettin' hitched! The wedding is taking place in a remote lodge on an island in Puget Sound... -
Tutus and Tinsel by Rhys Ford
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsZig Reid-Harris has everything an eleven-year-old girl could ever want: a great home, two fantastic fathers named Deacon Reid and Lang Harris, and all the books she could possibly read. When a school assignment about holiday traditions unexpectedly broadsides her, she discovers burying the past isn’t as easy as it looks, and the stark reality of her life before her adoption sinks in... -
Hair Balls by Tara Lain
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhat happens when a blue-collar dude who hides behind his Sasquatch hair gets sheared by a toppy femme in pink lace bikini panties?Contractor, Rick Ronconi can’t admit what he really wants because it’ll lose him his job, his father, his few friends, and maybe even the one thing he really cares about—his sister, Alice... -
Drive Me Crazy by Beth Bolden
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhen Tony Blake walks into what might be a blind date, he’s surprisingly intrigued despite his irritation with his meddling brother. But when Lucas turns out to be a new employee for their food truck, Tony’s usual charm deserts him.Lucas might be fantastically creative in the kitchen, but to Tony’s disappointment, he’s not interested in more than a casual hookup... -
The Celebrants by Steven Rowley
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA Big Chill for our times, celebrating decades-long friendships and promises--especially to ourselves--by the bestselling and beloved author of The Guncle. It's been a minute--or five years--since Jordan Vargas last saw his college friends, and twenty-eight years since their graduation when their adult lives officially began... -
Afterglow by Phil Stamper
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAfter a summer of life-changing, these four friends are finally ready for senior year.Gabriel is thrilled to create his school's first LGBTQ+ advocacy group, but his long-distance relationship is fading from summer love to something else... Heath feels secure for the first time in years, but with his future riding on a baseball scholarship, each pitch triggers his anxiety.. -
Undercurrent by Pandora Pine
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsTWO LOST MEN, ONE SAFE HARBOR…Internationally best-selling author, Landon Fairchild struck gold with his first novel, but can’t seem to string two words together now... -
Fem by Seth King
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsPeter Martin is living two lives inside one body. Although he is openly gay, a lifetime of taunting from his family and community for being “too feminine” has still left him clad in false armor, portraying a character that is entirely fake, but keeps him safe from ridicule all the same. Stand tall, speak deeply, keep a strong handshake, never draw attention, never be “too gay... -
-
Friction by Kindle Alexander, Jae Ashley
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBeau Brooks The guy of my dreams sweeps me off my feet and over my handlebars, quite literally. But our budding relationship takes a turn when my troubled past resurfaces, shattering any hope for a future. Now, I feel like a hollowed-out version of myself. Memories of piercing blue eyes and sweeping blond hair are all that remain to get me through a day... -
Something Like Rain by Jay Bell
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsNice guys finish last, but that doesn’t mean they give up the fight. Sometimes it’s necessary to keep trudging through the rain in the hopes of finding a break in the clouds. William Townson is a good person. He’s kind, considerate, and the last thing he ever wanted was to hurt anyone. Accidents happen though, and when they do, all that can be done is to pick up the pieces... -
Honeybees and Distant Thunder by Riku Onda
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsTender and intense, Honeybees and Distant Thunder is the unflinching story of love, courage and rivalry as three young people come to understand what it means to truly be a friend.In a small coastal town just a stone's throw from Tokyo, a prestigious piano competition is underway...Categorized as:
literary-fiction realistic coming-of-age fiction contemporary 21st-century book adult -
The Language of Love and Loss by Bart Yates
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsReaders of Mad Honey will adore this clever, deeply touching, buoyant new novel from an award-winning author. When his difficult mother is diagnosed with ALS, a sharp-witted yet sensitive artist reluctantly returns to his New Hampshire hometown – and all the ghosts he left behind.As it turns out, you can go home again. But sometimes, you really, really don’t want to . . -
Last Things by Betta Ferrendelli
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsBridgette Connor is a woman on the edge. Her career is in tatters, her relationship is doomed, and after an ill-fated pregnancy and subsequent abortion, she does the one thing she’s always done best. She runs. Her car careens off the road leaving her battered, bruised and beaten. It is then that she meets the woman who will change her life. Alexis Parker is a woman in control...Categorized as:
romantic-love family coming-of-age literary-fiction fiction contemporary dark female-mc -
The Days of Anna Madrigal by Armistead Maupin
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsSuspenseful, comic, and touching, the ninth and final novel in Armistead Maupin's bestselling Tales of the City series follows one of modern literature's most unforgettable and enduring characters—Anna Madrigal, the legendary transgender landlady of 28 Barbary Lane—on a road trip that will take her deep in her past... -
Дни нашей жизни by Mikita Franko, Микита Франко
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsВ детстве маленького Мики было всё, как у обычных детей: любимые герои, каши по утрам, дни рождения, скучные линейки в школе и сочинения на заданные темы. В юности взрослеющего Мики было всё, как у обычных подростков: первая драка, первое разочарование, первая любовь и первая нелюбовь. Но у Мики была одна тайна: его семья, которую никому нельзя показывать. Книга содержит нецензурную брань... -
Misophonia by Dana Vowinckel
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsPart coming-of-age tale, part family saga, an extraordinary debut novel set between Berlin, Chicago, and Jerusalem “about being Jewish and German, and all the awkwardness that entails” (The Guardian).It’s the hottest of summers in Chicago, and fifteen-year-old Margarita is spending her vacation as usual, under the not-so-watchful eyes of her aging maternal grandparents... -
Pride High : Book 3 - Yellow by Jay Bell
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAnother year is winding down for the students of Pride High, but the drama is just ramping up!Ricky is finally dating dangerous Diego Gomez, but when they keep getting into trouble, he wonders if he’s bitten off more than he can chew. Anthony has decided to come out to his school in a big way and faces backlash, not just from his fellow students, but the principal as well... -
We Could Be Rats by Emily R. Austin
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsA moving story about two very different sisters, and a love letter to childhood, growing up, and the power of imagination—from the bestselling author of Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead and Interesting Facts About Space... -
-
The World of Normal Boys by K.M. Soehnlein
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn his stunning debut novel, The World Of Normal Boys, K.M. Soehnlein captures the spirit of a generation and an era, embodied in the haunting, unstoppable voice of thirteen-year-old Robin MacKenzie, a modern-day Holden Caulfield, whose struggle for a place in the world is as ferocious as it is real.The time is the late 1970s--an age of gas shortages, head shops, and Saturday Night Fever... -
Anything But Fine by Tobias Madden
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAll it takes is one missed step for your life to change forever.Luca Mason knows exactly who he is and what he In six months, he’s going to be accepted into the Australian Ballet School, leave his fancy private high school, and live his life as a star of the stage―at least that’s the plan until he falls down a flight of stairs and breaks his foot in a way he can never recover from... -
Comfort and Joy by Jim Grimsley
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFord McKinney leads a charmed life: he's a young doctor possessing good looks, good breeding, and money. He comes from an old Savannah family where his parents, attentive to his future, focus their energies on finding their son--their golden boy--a girl to marry... -
The Town of Babylon by Alejandro Varela
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn this contemporary debut novel—an intimate portrait of queer, racial, and class identity —Andrés, a gay Latinx professor, returns to his suburban hometown in the wake of his husband’s infidelity. There he finds himself with no excuse not to attend his twenty-year high school reunion, and hesitantly begins to reconnect with people he used to call friends... -
Desert Sons by Mark Kendrick
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA coming-of-age novel for gay males ages 15-30. Scott Faraday is 16, gregarious, talented, never been in a relationship, and is out to only a select few. Ryan St. Charles is 17, hot-tempered, has already has been in a long relationship, yet is barely out to himself. Behind Ryan's carefully fashioned façade is emotional scarring from a past he's never been able to reconcile... -
Secret Lives of Mothers & Daughters by Anita Kushwaha
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFor readers of Shilpi Somaya Gowda’s "Secret Daughter" and Nancy Richler’s "The Imposter Bride", a breathtaking novel from Anita Kushwaha about the ties that bind mothers and daughters together and the secrets that tear them apartVeena, Mala and Nandini are three very different women with something in common...Categorized as:
literary-fiction realistic family coming-of-age fiction contemporary audiobook psychological -
I Will Greet the Sun Again by Khashayar J. Khabushani
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA searing, heartbreaking debut about the powerful bonds that make and break an Iranian-American family Three young brothers leave Los Angeles in the dead of night for Iran, taken by their father from their mother to a country and an ancestral home they barely recognize. They return to the Valley months later, spit back into American life and changed in awful and inexorable ways...Categorized as:
lgbtq literary-fiction coming-of-age realistic family fiction contemporary audiobook -
Into This World We're Thrown by Mark Kendrick
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratings“While Desert Sons deftly handles the difficult and sometimes dangerous coming out process of young lovers Ryan and Scott, the sequel finds that lingering tensions remain, while new challenges continue to surface. Infidelity, jealousy, town gossip, and buried feelings threaten to destroy their relationship. Worse yet, the threat of violence looms constantly in their lives... -
Barefoot in the City of Broken Dreams by Brent Hartinger
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratings“There was no way moving to Los Angeles was going to make me give up my soul. After all, I’d already seen all the movies about Hollywood. I knew how things worked.” Twenty-four year-old Russel Middebrook and his boyfriend have moved to Los Angeles so Russel can try to make it as a screenwriter... -
First Time for Everything: A Novel by Henry Fry
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsDanny Scudd is absolutely fine. At twenty-seven years old he's finally moved to London and escaped his parents' tiny fish and chip shop, his beloved collection of house plants are thriving and every Monday evening he has a date night with his boyfriend, Tobbs.But Danny's life is thrown into chaos when he discovers at an STI clinic that Tobbs might be cheating on him... -
-
Midnight Hour Encores by Bruce Brooks
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsOn the RoadSibilance T. Spooner thinks she's one of the world's more promising cellists. The world thinks so too. Given up by her mother on the day she was born, she believes she has almost raised herself--with just a bit of guidance from her unconventional father, Taxi... -
Here's to You, Zeb Pike by Johanna Parkhurst
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFact: When Zebulon Pike attempted to climb what is now known as Pikes Peak, he got stuck in waist-deep snow and had to turn back.That's the last thing Dusty Porter learns in his Colorado history class before appendicitis ruins his life... -
War Against the Animals by Paul Russell
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsCameron Barnes, formerly of New York City, lives in a small town in upstate New York. After having nearly succumbed to AIDS, he's recently regained a measure of his health but his long-term lover has moved away, and Cameron faces the daunting prospect of learning how to live with the idea of a future in mind again... -
Sea of Tranquillity by Paul Russell
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsPaul Russell's delicately layered, richly textured novels have won him widespread acclaim as one of the finest contemporary American novelists... -
Adam by Anthony McDonald
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAdam is a delightful sixteen-year-old who does well in school and spends his spare time practising the cello. Or that's what his parents think. But there is another side to him, which comes to the fore when he falls for a labourer called Sylvain and realises that friendships have the potential to be more than platonic... -
Stumble by Becca Seymour
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsTrey has a problem he’s worked hard to manage. It involves not turning into a bumbling mess while around a gorgeous brown-haired man who’s way out of his league. Eight months’ practice from being part of the same LGBTQI+ adventure group, Outback Boys, means he’s perfected the skill.That’s until an epic stumble makes his head spin and he throws all caution to the wind...
Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.