Books like 'Idlewild'
Readers who enjoyed Idlewild by James Frankie Thomas also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary horror urban lgbtq new-york-state coming-of-age literary-fiction wlw trans-mc dark-academia
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Carnage by Shayne Silvers
Rated: 4.74 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsThe gods never should have opened Pandora's Box...Nate Temple has been abducted by Zeus and is thrown into the middle of an Olympian family feud that could very well kick off the Omega War all by itself.There is one weapon that Zeus believes will turn the tide. Pandora's Box. But his neglect left it on earth for far too long, and Pandora has found a new master to serve. Nate Temple... -
Lost in the Moment and Found by Seanan McGuire
Rated: 4.41 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsWelcome to the Shop Where the Lost Things Go.If you ever lost a sock, you’ll find it here.If you ever wondered about favorite toy from childhood... it’s probably sitting on a shelf in the back.And the headphones that you swore that this time you’d keep safe? You guessed it….Antoinette has lost her father. Metaphorically. He’s not in the shop, and she’ll never see him again... -
Orphan Black: The Next Chapter by Malka Ann Older, Madeline Ashby
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe official continuation of Orphan Black, narrated by Emmy Award winner Tatiana Maslany. The story we never wanted to end continues... -
Of Foster Homes and Flies by Chad Lutzke, Alberto Plumed
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA neglected 12-year-old boy does nothing to report the death of his mother in order to compete in a spelling bee. A tragic coming-of-age tale of horror and drama in the setting of a hot New Orleans summer. "Original, touching coming of age." ~Jack Ketchum, author of THE GIRL NEXT DOOR "With OF FOSTER HOMES & FLIES, Lutzke is firing on all cylinders. It's a lean mean emotional machine... -
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The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA four-year-old Mi’kmaq girl goes missing from the blueberry fields of Maine, sparking a tragic mystery that haunts the survivors, unravels a community, and remains unsolved for nearly fifty years.July 1962. A Mi’kmaq family from Nova Scotia arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. Weeks later, four-year-old Ruthie, the family’s youngest child, vanishes...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction coming-of-age fiction mystery contemporary drama indigenous-mc -
Awakening The Forgotten Goddess: An Urban Fantasy, Greek Mythology Reimagining by Rebekah Sinclair
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn the Underworld, lies become truth, villains become heroes. Trust nothing, and trust no one. Especially yourself.In this sequel to the urban fantasy Greek mythology series, "The Forgotten Goddess," the stakes soar to new heights... -
Sul lato selvaggio by Tiffany McDaniel
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsSix women—mothers, daughters, sisters—gone missing. Inspired by the unsolved murders of the Chillicothe Six, this harrowing novel tells the story of two sisters, both of whom could be the next victims, from the internationally best-selling author of Betty."Capture[s] what goes horribly wrong when women don’t fit a customary victim profile..Categorized as:
coming-of-age dark historical-fiction literary-fiction adult audiobook book contemporary -
Wallflower by Chad Lutzke
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAfter an encounter with a homeless man, a high school graduate becomes obsessed with the idea of doing heroin, challenging himself to try it just once. A bleak tale of addiction, delusion, and flowers."Bleak as hell and honestly horrific."~John Boden, author of JEDI SUMMER"Using his strong narrative, he (Lutzke) conveys the everyday realistic horror and pulls the reader right into the ugliness...Categorized as:
coming-of-age dark literary-fiction horror fiction psychological substance-abuse mental-illness -
The Lamb by Lucy Rose
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsMargot and Mama have lived by the forest ever since Margot can remember. When Margot is not at school they spend quiet days together in their cottage, waiting for strangers to knock on their door—"strays," Mama calls them, people who have strayed too far from the road. Mama loves the strays. She feeds them wine, keeps them warm... -
Kill Your Darlings by MesserMoon
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsKill Your Darlings: To remove or refrain from using something in spite of one's affection for itYears after Regulus loses his brother they're reunited, and as he struggles to figure out where he fits in Sirius's life he also struggles not to get lost in the impossible feelings he has for Sirius's best friend... -
Fruiting Bodies: Stories by Kathryn Harlan
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIn stories that beckon and haunt, Fruiting Bodies ranges confidently from the fantastical to the gothic to the uncanny as it follows characters—mostly queer, mostly women—on the precipice of change. Echoes of timeless myth and folklore reverberate through urgent narratives of discovery, appetite, and coming-of-age in a time of crisis... -
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oates
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsThe sixties and seventies witnessed the emergence of Joyce Carol Oates as one of America's foremost writers of the short story. In 1962, 'The Fine White Mist of Winter, ' composed when the author was 19 years old, appeared in The Literary Review and was selected for both the O. Henry Awards and Best American Short Stories of that year...Categorized as:
coming-of-age dark literary-fiction 20th-century adult anthologies classics contemporary -
Penance by Debra Dunbar
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsUriel has awoken into a nightmare, unable to remember who or what she is. She and eight other women are captives of human traffickers, to be prettied-up and sold to the highest bidder. Besides the guards, there’s a woman, a demon, who is supposed to make each of them gorgeous, and provide a sexually charged atmosphere at the auction.They’ve got five days to escape... -
Weremage by Garrett Robinson
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsLoren searches across Underrealm for the merchant traitor Damaris, under the orders of the High King herself. But even with a party of Mystics now under her command, the search proves fruitless, for the merchant is crafty and knows her life is forfeit.But even as she tracks Damaris into the Yerrin’s homeland of Feldemar, Loren becomes aware of someone dogging her heels... -
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Mad Girl by A.A. Dark, Alaska Angelini
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratings**CAUTION-------PITCH BLACK READ** My mother was the Madison Ridge Killer … and I helped her. At nine, I was given a new start—a new life. My adoptive parents did everything they could to help me forget my past, and for a while, they succeeded. But I was never normal. I never truly forgot all I saw or did.Now, twenty years later, I work in the billing department for a small city newspaper... -
Saint, Sorrow, Sinner by Freydís Moon
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsAn exploration of religious mythos, Brujería, and spiritual ascension… Sophia De’voreaux never expected to escape Haven, but after a bloody confrontation in the Gideon Preserve, she finds herself under the protection of a rogue witch, her menacing guard, and their cautious friends... -
Fractures by M. Damon Baker
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA Computer-Generated Fantasy Gone Wrong… In one final attempt to salvage the wreckage of my life, I stepped into a virtual reality chamber, searching for something, anything, that might make me want to live again. But when I emerged inside the virtual world of Second Skin, I immediately discovered that things had gone wrong—terribly wrong... -
Snare by Jordan Castillo Price
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWith summer ending and temperatures dipping low at night, Michael's eager to get his leather jacket back, and although Wild Bill could easily vamp any sales clerk into giving Michael some new duds, it wouldn't be quite the same as the jacket he left at his parents' house. Not unless the malls have begun selling clothing with Rohypnol and ketamine sewn into the seams... -
The Shards by Bret Easton Ellis
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA sensational new novel from the best-selling author of Less Than Zero and Imperial Bedrooms that tracks a group of privileged Los Angeles high school friends as a serial killer strikes across the city...Categorized as:
coming-of-age dark dark-academia historical-fiction lgbtq literary-fiction 21st-century adult -
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The Essential Clive Barker: Selected Fiction by Clive Barker, Armistead Maupin
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratings"I wonder if the reverse is not also in some way true. That the artist is constantly working on anelaborate and fantasticated self-portrait, but at the end has drawn, unbeknownst, a picture of the world... -
Small Beauty by jia qing wilson-yang
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSmall Beauty tells the story of Mei, who in coping with the death of her cousin abandons her life in the city to live in his now empty house in a small town. There she connects with his history as well as her own, learns about her aunt’s long-term secret relationship, and reflects on the trans women she left behind... -
The Value of X by Poppy Z. Brite
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsGary and Rickey grew up in the Lower Ninth Ward, products of New Orleans as surely as Community Coffee or the Superdome. Friends since childhood, they become lovers at age 16 and must deal with the realities of being gay in a hardscrabble neighborhood, a traditional Catholic family, and the restaurant kitchens where they've begun to work...Categorized as:
coming-of-age lgbtq literary-fiction 21st-century book contemporary culinary female-author -
Rontel by Sam Pink
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFrom the author of 'person' and 'the ice cream man and other stories.' Follow our narrator as he attempts to make it to the end of a journey most magical... -
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LOTE by Shola von Reinhold
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSolitary Mathilda has long harbored a conflicted enchantment bordering on rapture with the "Bright Young Things," the Bloomsbury Group, and their contemporaries of the '20s and '30s, and throughout her life her attempts at reinvention have mirrored their extravagance and artfulness...Categorized as:
dark-academia historical-fiction lgbtq literary-fiction trans-mc 21st-century adult audiobook -
Where I End by Sophie White
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsMy mother.At night, my mother creaks. The house creaks along with her.Through our thin shared wall, I can hear the makings of my mother gurgle through her body just like the water in the walls of the house...Teenage Aoileann has never left the island. Her silent, bed-bound mother is a wreckage, the survivor of a private disaster no one will speak about... -
The Wrong Boy by Willy Russell
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe hilarious, bittersweet novel from the playwright behind EDUCATING RITA, SHIRLEY VALENTINE and award-winning musical BLOOD BROTHERS.Dear Morrissey,I'm feeling dead depressed and down. Like a streetlamp without a bulb or a goose at the onset of Christmas time.Anyroad, I thought I'd pen a few lines to someone who'd understand...It's 1991...Categorized as:
coming-of-age literary-fiction action-adventure audiobook book contemporary fiction horror -
Dreamland by Rosa Rankin-Gee
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratings'You said that you would come back. You looked me in the eye and said that. Well, if you had, this is what you would have seen: soft wood, black cracks, fridges in the road. The broken spines of old rides at Dreamland.'In the coastal resort of Margate, hotels lie empty and sun-faded 'For Sale' signs line the streets. The sea is higher - it's higher everywhere - and those who can are moving inland... -
These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever, Michael Crouch
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratings'The Secret History' meets 'Call Me by Your Name' in Micah Nemerever's compulsively enjoyable debut novel - a feverishly taut Hitchcockian story about two college students, each with his own troubled past, whose escalating obsession with one another leads to an act of unspeakable violence...Categorized as:
coming-of-age dark dark-academia historical-fiction lgbtq literary-fiction angst audiobook -
The Unforgotten Flame by Rebekah Sinclair
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratings"We should have seen this coming.I should have seen this coming."Calypso, a resilient Wind Siren, grapples with the aftermath of a devastating battle that thrusts her best friend, Rhea, into the clutches of their greatest enemy, Ares, the God of War... -
Margaret and the Mystery of the Missing Body by Megan Milks
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsMeet 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...Categorized as:
lgbtq trans-mc coming-of-age historical-fiction wlw literary-fiction dark romantic-love -
Night of the Living Queers: 13 Tales of Terror & Delight by Ryan Douglass, Kalynn Bayron
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsNight of the Living Queers is a YA horror anthology that explores a night when anything is possible, exclusively featuring queer authors of color putting fresh spins on classic horror tropes and tales.No matter its name or occasion, Halloween is more than a Hallmark holiday, it’s a symbol of transformation... -
Guide by Dennis Cooper
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsChris is a young porn star who wants to experience death at someone else's hand; Mason has lurid fantasies about members of British pop bands; Sniffles is a teenage runaway whose need for love outweighs his attachment to life... -
Love and Hydrogen: New and Selected Stories by Jim Shepard
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsI’ve been a problem baby, a lousy son, a distant brother, an off-putting neighbor, a piss-poor student, a worrisome seatmate, an unreliable employee, a bewildering lover, a frustrating confidante and a crappy husband. Among the things I do pretty well at this point I’d have to list darts, re-closing Stay-Fresh boxes, and staying out of the way...Categorized as:
historical-fiction literary-fiction adult anthologies contemporary fiction horror humor -
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The Girl Who Couldn't Come by Joey Comeau
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThis is a book of dirty stories. They are weird and fun and often bewildering, like sex itself... -
Girl Island by Kate Castle
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsTEENAGE GIRLS CAN BE SAVAGE.Six teenage girls. One deserted island. Removed from civilised society, can they challenge class, identity and toxic femininity to pull together and survive? Or will they descend into savagery?This thrilling must-read adventure novel is perfect for fans of The Hunger Games and Divergent... -
Please Stop Trying to Leave Me by Alana Saab
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA debut novel about love, family, queerness, and losing your mind in the modern world marks the arrival of a truly original, haunting voice in fiction who will make you laugh, cry, and scream, all in the same breath... -
Unwieldy Creatures by Addie Brook Tsai
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsA tale of doom and ambition, loss and revenge, love and murder... -
Sodom Road Exit by Amber Dawn, Deborah Burgess
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIt's the summer of 1990, and Crystal Beach has lost its beloved, long-running amusement park, leaving the lakeside village a virtual ghost town. It is back to this fallen community Starla Mia Martin must return to live with her overbearing mother after dropping out of university and racking up significant debt... -
Quicksilver & Shadow, Volume 2: Collected Early Stories: Contemporary, Dark Fantasy, and Science Fiction Stories by Charles de Lint
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsQuicksilver & Shadow is the second volume (of a projected three) of Charles de Lint's Collected Early Stories. At nearly 150,000 words it's even larger than volume one, A Handful of Coppers, and includes the very obscure 20,000 word novella, "Berlin," and its over 30,000 word counterpart "Death Leaves an Echo... -
Antediluvian Tales by Poppy Z. Brite
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe work of almost every New Orleans writer has been irrevocably split into two periods: pre-Katrina and post-Katrina. As Poppy Z. Brite writes in the foreword to this new mini-collection, "After the events of 2005, I couldn't see pairing stories I'd written before the flood with those I'd written after; for better or worse, my life, my outlook, and, necessarily, my work has changed forever .. -
Season of the Witch: A Novel by James Leo Herlihy
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBy the author of Midnight Cowboy: A teenage girl runs away to the East Village in “one of the best and most convincing novels . . . of the Woodstock generation” (Publishers Weekly). As she explains in her diary, seventeen-year-old Gloria Random is running away from her Midwest childhood home. It’s the fall of 1969, and her best friend John has been called up for the draft...Categorized as:
coming-of-age historical-fiction lgbtq literary-fiction book contemporary female-mc fiction -
Weathercock by Glen Duncan
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe confession of Dominic Francis Hood - Roman Catholic, sadist, conspirator to murder, witness to a miracle. His childhood had the usual benefits, but after watching a miracle performed by Father Malone, Dominic realises a part of him is skewed, and that mere fantasy will never be enough... -
Sticky Fingers 2 by J.T. Lawrence
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsDiverse, dark-humoured, and deliciously bite-sized, this compelling collection of 12 short stories by JT Lawrence include:GATSBY'S DOUBLEAn artist's Pomeranian has been replaced by an imposter.COURT, MARRY, KILLWhose body ends up being unzipped by fish on the ocean floor?ROCKABYE BABYA female-only cult has a very dark side... -
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Verdigris by Michele Mari
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAt the tail end of the 1960s, the thirteen-year-old Michelino spends his summers at his grandparents’ modest estate in Nasca, near Lake Maggiore, losing himself in the tales of horror, adventure, and mystery shelved in his grandfather’s library... -
Deliver Me by Elle Nash
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratings“To read the work of Elle Nash is to be restored to faith in the wildness, wetness, and visceral power of contemporary American fiction. Deliver Me is a barbed liturgy of bugs, babies, meat, the gospel, women lusting women, women lusting men, and the human body. Get saved.” — MELISSA BRODER, author of Milk Fed , The Pisces , and Death Valley “.. -
Fallen Thorns by Harvey Oliver Baxter
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratings‘A great death is in the air.’Arlo is lost. He thought he had everything figured out. Go to university, fall in love, get a job.But life doesn’t always work like that, and before he has a chance to figure it out, he dies.In the space of a night, Arlo is plunged into a world of blood and immortality and finds a group of people who swear to always have his back...Categorized as:
lgbtq dark-academia literary-fiction romantic-love coming-of-age fantasy vampires horror -
Lockjaw by Matteo L. Cerilli
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratings"Cerilli delivers a stunning debut in this gripping paranormal horror novel about queer teens growing up in a community that doesn’t accept them and the insidious danger of apathy... -
Stag Dance by Torrey Peters
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn this collection of one novel and three novellas, the bestselling author of Detransition, Baby pushes trans-genre to its limits to explore who gets included—and excluded—from the possibilities of gender...Categorized as:
lgbtq literary-fiction trans-mc fiction contemporary horror anthologies 21st-century -
Salt Slow by Julia Armfield
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsThis collection of stories is about women and their experiences in society, about bodies and the bodily, mapping the skin and bones of its characters through their experiences of isolation, obsession and love. Throughout the collection, women become insects, men turn to stone, a city becomes insomniac and bodies are picked apart to make up better ones...
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