Books like 'Tell Me How to Be'
Readers who enjoyed Tell Me How to Be by Neel Patel also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary romance lgbtq literary-fiction poc-mc realistic family coming-of-age historical-fiction
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All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir
Rated: 4.64 of 5 stars · 14 ratings"Contains the following content: drug and alcohol addiction, physical abuse, Islamophobia, mentions of repressed sexual assault, tense exchange with law enforcement, death."--Preliminaries...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family historical-fiction literary-fiction poc-mc realistic abuse asian-mc -
In the Company of Strangers by Awais Khan
Rated: 4.75 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsLahore – a city of secretive glamour, whispering elites, and sordid affairs. A city brought to its knees by terrorism. Forty one-year old Mona has almost everything: money, friends, social status… everything except for freedom in the repressed Pakistani society. Languishing in her golden cage, she craves a sense of belonging… of love...Categorized as:
poc-mc family literary-fiction historical-fiction coming-of-age romance suspense fiction -
Bronxwood by Coe Booth
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe acclaimed author of TYRELL and KENDRA returns to PUSH to continue Tyrell's astonishing story. Tyrell's father is just out of jail, and Tyrell doesn't know how to deal with that. It's bad enough that his brother Troy is in foster care and that his mother is no help whatsoever. Now there's another thing up in his face, just when he's trying to settle down... -
Champagne Widows: First Woman of Champagne, Veuve Clicquot by Rebecca Rosenberg
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsChampagne, France, 1800. Twenty-year-old Barbe-Nicole inherited Le Nez (an uncanny sense of smell) from her great-grandfather, a renowned champagne maker. She is determined to use Le Nez to make great champagne, but the Napoleon Code prohibits women from owning a business...Categorized as:
historical-fiction family coming-of-age literary-fiction romance drama contemporary fiction -
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Today. Tomorrow. Always by Raven St. Pierre
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsEvents and decisions of the past almost cost her everything, but she was given a second chance. He marvels at the beautiful life he almost missed out on, vowing never to let anything come between them again. The memory of being apart lingers with both Sam and AJ, but those days are long gone... -
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... -
Hotlanta by Denene Millner, Mitzi Miller
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsDesigner clothes. Gorgeous boys. Family secrets. Major drama. Welcome to Atlanta and the lives of the Duke twins, Sydney and Lauren. They don't call it Hotlanta for nothing! The Duke twins, Sydney and Lauren, live the life: They attend the fanciest school in Atlanta, they live in Buckhead, the most exclusive neighborhood, and they only date the hottest guys... -
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... -
Indivisible by Daniel Aleman
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 15 ratingsThis timely, moving debut novel follows a teen's efforts to keep his family together as his parents face deportation.Mateo Garcia and his younger sister, Sophie, have been taught to fear one word for as long as they can remember: deportation. Over the past few years, however, the fear that their undocumented immigrant parents could be sent back to Mexico started to fade... -
Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K. Reilly
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFor fans of Schitt’s Creek and Sally Rooney’s Normal People, an irresistible and bighearted international bestseller that follows a brother and sister as they navigate queerness, multiracial identity, and the dramas big and small of their entangled, unconventional family, all while flailing their way to love... -
Denim Diaries 1: 16 Going on 21 by Darrien Lee
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAnother great book in the Denim Dairies... -
What Happened After... by Nicole Pyland
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsDo you ever read a story, fall in love with the characters and wonder what happens to them after the book ends? Epilogues are nice, but they’re a snapshot in time. Maybe it’s a year after the end of the book or even just six months. Maybe there’s a proposal or a wedding. Maybe a character announces she’s pregnant. Maybe a character just got their dream job... -
Die Sonne, so strahlend und Schwarz by Chantal-Fleur Sandjon
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsEin sprachgewaltiger und überraschender Coming-of-Age-Roman für Jugendliche, voller Tiefgang und Gefühl, neu und aufregend.Seit ihrer ersten Begegnung ist Nova völlig fasziniert von Akoua. Ihre Gedanken kreisen nur noch um dieses Mädchen, das mit ihrem Strahlen Novas Welt zum Leuchten bringt. Es ist Liebe auf den ersten Blick und der Beginn einer aufregenden Zeit voller erster Male... -
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The Heart Asks Pleasure First by Karuna Ezara Parikh
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAn extraordinary tale of love in a world being torn asunder.It is 2001 and Daya and Aaftab have just met in a park in Cardiff. She is studying ballet and he is practising in a law firm. She falls madly in love. He does, but he also cannot, because he is Muslim and there are certain rules...Categorized as:
lgbtq historical-fiction literary-fiction romance fiction contemporary feminism friendship -
The Cinnamon Peeler: Selected Poems by Michael Ondaatje
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsMichael Ondaatje’s new selected poems, The Cinnamon Peeler, brings together poems written between 1963 and 1990, including work from his most recent collection, Secular Love. These poems bear witness to the extraordinary gifts that have won high praise for this truly original poet and novelist... -
This Is Our Place by Vitor Martins
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThree teens -- in three different decades -- navigate life, love, and family in Vitor Martins's heartfelt new novel that spans generations. Perfect for fans of Tales from the City and Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda.If the walls of Number 8 Sunflower Street could talk ..Categorized as:
lgbtq coming-of-age realistic historical-fiction family south-america brazil romance -
Pioneer Summer: A Novel by Elena Malisova, Katerina Silvanova
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThis star-crossed gay romance is a #1 bestselling TikTok sensation that took listeners by storm, made international news, and catalyzed one of Russia’s largest-ever crackdowns on LGBTQ representation The year is 1986, and Yurka Konev, 16, has been sent off for another summer at Pioneer Camp...Categorized as:
lgbtq historical-fiction coming-of-age literary-fiction romance fiction young-adult contemporary -
the truth about fragile things by Regina Sirois
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBryon died fifty years before his time. Charlotte grew up angry. I grew up scared. And Phillip- well, he never grew up. And now we are all bound together into one painful heap of humanity. Broken, but bound. And maybe it is only the fact that we are tangled in one terrible knot that will hold us together until we heal. This is unfortunately, and miraculously, my story...Categorized as:
coming-of-age literary-fiction realistic book contemporary female-author fiction young-adult -
A Boy Like Me by Jennie Wood
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBorn a girl, Peyton Honeycutt meets Tara Parks in the eighth grade bathroom shortly after he gets his first period. It is the best and worst day of his life. Determined to impress Tara, Peyton sets out to win her love by mastering the drums and basketball. He takes on Tara’s small-minded mother, the bully at school, and the prejudices within his conservative hometown... -
Falling for Korea by Piper Jean
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAmerica meets K-drama in this rollercoaster plot with a fresh take on romance and what it means to be family.When Sydney is sent to Seoul to live with a family she’s never met, she encounters unexpected chemistry with their son, but must fight to unravel the mystery of why she was sent away... -
Fake Dates and Mooncakes by Sher Lee
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsHeartstopper meets Crazy Rich Asians in this heartfelt, joyful paperback original rom-com that follows an aspiring chef who discovers the recipe for love is more complicated than it seems when he starts fake-dating a handsome new customer... -
Mrs. Quinn's Rise to Fame by Olivia Ford
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratings“One of those books you just want to hug to your chest. I loved it so much... -
Queerceañera by Alex Crespo
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThis irresistible and hilarious rom-com from acclaimed author Alex Crespo is a whirlwind of telenovela-level drama and hijinks when Joaquin Zoido finds himself fake-dating his childhood crush and newly minted date to his queerceañera.Joaquin Zoido is out and proud of it... -
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The Impossibility of Us by Katy Upperman
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe last thing Elise wants is to start her senior year in a new town. But after her brother’s death in Afghanistan, she and her mother move from San Francisco to a sleepy coastal village.When Elise meets Mati, they quickly discover how much they have in common. Mati is new to town too, visiting the U.S. with his family... -
The Blue-Haired Boy by Courtney C. Stevens
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSet before the events of Courtney C. Stevens's debut novel, Faking Normal, this digital short story focuses on Bodee Lennox, otherwise known as the Kool-Aid Kid.Bodee Lennox has secrets. About where he got the four-inch scar on his leg. About the bruises on his back. About what it's really like to live in the Lennox household. These are things he doesn't share with anyone . . -
Boy Queen by George Lester
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsLife's a drag until you try . . .Robin Cooper’s life is falling apart.While his friends prepare to head off to university, Robin is looking at a pile of rejection letters from drama schools up and down the country, and facing a future without the people he loves the most. Everything seems like it’s ending, and Robin is scrabbling to find his feet... -
Arthur and Teddy Are Coming Out by Ryan Love
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWhen 79-year-old Arthur Edwards gathers his family together to share some important news, no one is prepared for the bombshell he drops: he's gay, and after a lifetime in the closet, he's finally ready to come out. Arthur's 21-year-old grandson, Teddy, has a secret of his own: he's also gay, and developing serious feelings for his colleague Ben... -
Farrell Covington and the Limits of Style by Paul Rudnick
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFrom the acclaimed writer Paul Rudnick, a riotously funny, perceptive, and life-affirming novel following the decades-long, rule-breaking romance between the son of one of American’s wealthiest families and a middle-class aspiring author.Devastatingly handsome and insanely rich, Farrell Covington is capable of anything and impossible to resist...Categorized as:
lgbtq historical-fiction literary-fiction realistic family romance fiction contemporary -
The Temptation to Be Happy by Lorenzo Marone, Shaun Whiteside
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsCesare is a seventy-seven-year-old widower and cynical troublemaker, a man who has always struggled to care for others and has given up trying. Aside from an intermittent fling with a nurse called Rossana, he avoids contact with his neighbours and even his own children. One day, the enigmatic Emma moves into the neighbouring flat with her strange and sinister husband... -
Troubled Waters by AnnaLisa Grant
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsCollege life for Layla Weston isn’t starting the way she’d intended. She’s revisiting the plans she once had to be the reclusive girl she wanted to be at Heyward Prep, and Layla is more than confident in her ability to succeed this time. After all, she’s got a whole new bag of secrets to keep. Still reeling from Will’s disappearance, Layla is doing her best to adjust to life back in Florida... -
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...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family historical-fiction lgbtq literary-fiction realistic anthologies bildungsroman -
Down to the Bone by Mayra Lazara Dole
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsWhat if you don't follow the rules and it radically alters the course of your life?What if you get kicked out of the house and lose all your friends and everyone you love? Will you turn the corner into a world filled with unusual friends and create a new kind of family... -
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... -
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No Land to Light On by Yara Zgheib
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsExit West meets An American Marriage in this breathtaking and evocative novel about a young Syrian couple in the throes of new love, on the cusp of their bright future…when a travel ban rips them apart on the eve of their son’s birth—from the author of The Girls at 17 Swann Street...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction family poc-mc realistic romance fiction contemporary -
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... -
Meant to Be by Jude Deveraux
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsNew York Times bestselling author Jude Deveraux has crafted an inspiring family saga that spans generations as she tells the story of two headstrong sisters who are bound by tradition but long to forge their own path.It’s 1972 and times are changing. In the small farming community of Mason, Kansas, Vera and Kelly Exton are known for their ambitions... -
One on One by Tabitha King, Stephen King
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA high school basketball star and a defiant outcast discover a profound love that sustains them through a triumphant but painful year... -
How to Be Remy Cameron by Julian Winters
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsEveryone on campus knows Remy Cameron. He's the out-and-proud, super-likable guy who friends, faculty, and fellow students alike admire for his cheerful confidence. The only person who isn't entirely sure about Remy Cameron is Remy himself... -
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... -
Loving Donovan by Bernice L. McFadden
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe first section of this unconventional love story belongs to Campbell. Despite being born to a broken-hearted mother and a faithless father, Campbell still believes in the power of love...if she can ever find it...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family historical-fiction literary-fiction poc-mc realistic adult audiobook -
Libellensommer by Antje Babendererde
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsDie 15 jährige Jodie ist zutiefst frustriert: Weil ein Indianerstamm gegen die Abholzung der Wälder protestiert, verliert ihr Vater seinen Job in einer Pappfabrik. Die Eltern streiten nur noch und eines Tages kommt der Vater nicht mehr nach Hause. Als die Mutter dann auch noch Jodies Laptop verkauft, beschließt sie, ihren Eltern einen Denkzettel zu verpassen und abzuhauen...Categorized as:
realistic literary-fiction poc-mc romance young-adult contemporary fiction audiobook -
The Life List by Chrissy Anderson
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsWhen she was just sixteen, Chrissy Anderson made a life list… …The outcome is a dream husband, a career to envy, and the kind of best friends every girl wants. Then out of nowhere…an affair. What would you do if you realized the life you created wasn’t right for you? You think you know the answer? Think again... -
Postcards from Summer by Cynthia Platt
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe Notebook meets Love & Gelato in this heart-wrenching novel about a teen girl who travels to her late mother’s majestic summertime home to learn of the romance—and the tragedy—that changed her life forever.Seventeen-year-old Lexi has always wanted to know more about the mother who passed away when she was only a child. But her dad will barely talk about her...Categorized as:
historical-fiction realistic family coming-of-age romance young-adult contemporary fiction -
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Don't Forget Me by Victoria Stevens
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsSeventeen-year-old Hazel Clarke is no stranger to heartbreaks, and being sent to live with a father she’s never met is the latest in a string of them. Even the beauty of eastern Australia isn’t enough to take her mind off her mother and the life she had to leave behind in England... -
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... -
Outrunning The Darkness by Anne Schraff
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThemes: Hi-Lo, High school, neighborhoods, family, loyalty, friendship, urban teen fiction, self esteem, teen relationships, unrequited love. Written for young adults, the Urban Underground series confronts issues that are of great importance to teens, such as friendship, loyalty, drugs, gangs, abuse, urban blight, bullies, and self-esteem to name a few... -
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...Categorized as:
coming-of-age family lgbtq literary-fiction book cheating contemporary domestic-drama -
Rose by Diane Schwemm
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThis is me and my three younger sisters. Being the oldest has never been easy, but it was especially hard the year I turned sixteen. That was the year that the things I thought would always be the same changed forever. After Dad died, Mom needed me to pitch in more--get a job and help take care of my sisters. I was working so hard to care for my family, I forgot to look out for myself... -
Teenie by Christopher Grant
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsHigh school freshman Martine (Teenie for short) is a good student, with a bright future ahead of her. She's desperate to be accepted into a prestigious study abroad program in Spain so that she can see what life is like beyond the streets of Brooklyn. She wouldn't mind escaping from her strict (though lovable) parents for awhile either...
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