Books like 'Girlfriends'
Readers who enjoyed Girlfriends by Emily Zhou also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary lgbtq trans-mc wlw coming-of-age found-family literary-fiction poc-mc female-mc romantic-love
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Bad Habit by Alana S. Portero
Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsCombining the raw realism and vulnerability of Shuggie Bain and Detransition, Baby with the poignant sensibility of Pedro Almodóvar, a staggering coming-of-age novel deeply rooted in the class struggles of a trans woman growing up in Madrid in the last decades of the twentieth century."I saw a whole generation of boys fall like irredeemable angels... -
Signed, Sealed, Delivered: A Jareau Family Wedding by Kimberly Brown
Rated: 4.70 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsHeartbreak birthed a beautiful love story.When Jamison Jareau hired a nanny, he wasn't expecting to fall in love. The moment Aleviyah Sandifer entered his home, his world was forever changed. Try as he might, he just couldn't fight his attraction. Forced to finally confront his grief over losing his wife, Jamison found an unexpected happiness with Aleviyah... -
Hlomu the Wife by Dudu Busani-Dube
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsHlomu the Wife is essentially a love story that takes its cues from life in a South African township. A young woman named Mahlomu meets Mqhele Zulu and they fall in love. Even though aspects of Mqhele's personality and past make her uncomfortable, Hlomu is happy. Their love is strong and they stand by each other through good and bad... -
Next Door Nanny At The Cowboy Billionaire Ranch: A Sweet Clean Cowboy Billionaire Romance by Hanna Hart
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 10 ratings... -
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A Dream of a Woman by Casey Plett
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsCasey Plett's 2018 novel Little Fish won a Lambda Literary Award, the Firecracker Award for Fiction, and the Amazon First Novel Award (Canada). Her latest work, A Dream of a Woman, is her first book of short stories since her seminal 2014 collection A Safe Girl to Love... -
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 romantic-love fiction contemporary social-commentary family book -
Ruthless Rival by Crystal Kaswell
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSimon Pierce is the most powerful man in Manhattan. My rival since the ninth grade.And now, my enemy with benefits.Since the first day of high school, Simon and I have competed.Top grades?Simon wins.Better manners?Simon wins.Irresistible stare?Simon definitely wins.So when the bossy billionaire suggests an enemies with benefits arrangement--I dive in headfirst.No feelings. No strings... -
Little Blue Encyclopedia: by Hazel Jane Plante
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsFiction. LGBTQIA Studies. The playful and poignant novel LITTLE BLUE ENCYCLOPEDIA (FOR VIVIAN) sifts through a queer trans woman's unrequited love for her straight trans friend who died. A queer love letter steeped in desire, grief, and delight, the story is interspersed with encyclopedia entries about a fictional TV show set on an isolated island... -
The Hop by Diana Clarke
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFrom the author of Thin Girls, a page-turning feminist novel that tells the story of how a poor girl coming of age in rural New Zealand grows to be a sex icon, the face of a movement, and a mother, all at the same time.Kate Burns grows up wanting attention from her Ma, but her Ma wants only money and Kate learns how to get both...Categorized as:
lgbtq literary-fiction female-mc coming-of-age fiction contemporary feminism audiobook -
Dandelion Daughter: A Novel by Gabrielle Boulianne-Tremblay
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWinner 2022, Prix des Libraires Rights for TV adaptation purchased by Zone 3 A runaway bestseller in Québec, where it has captured the hearts of readers and pushed trans-identity into the mainstream conversation, Dandelion Daughter is an intimate, courageous portrait of what it’s like to grow up having been assigned the wrong sex at birth...Categorized as:
lgbtq trans-mc literary-fiction coming-of-age fiction contemporary female-author book -
Want, Need, Love by Niobia Bryant
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFinding Mr. Right isn't easy, but in this sexy new novel from bestselling author Niobia Bryant, one woman knows exactly how to do it--for everyone but herself…Mona Ballinger has a talent for bringing the right people together--and keeping the wrong people apart. But when Anson Tyler's fiancée ends their engagement thanks to Mona's advice, he angrily confronts her... -
Everything is Love by Aubreé Pynn
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsDakari Summers has returned home after two years of attempting to heal from an unexpected betrayal. With his new contract, new team, and reconnection with his college friends, he has made a vow to himself – to never fall in love again. But life back home has different plans for him and they’re going to shake his core... -
All The Colours In Between by Eva Jordan
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsEva Jordan's much-anticipated follow up to the bestselling 183 Times a Year It's not a life, it's an adventure! Lizzie is fast approaching 50. Her once angst ridden teenage daughters, now grown and in their twenties, have flown the nest, Cassie to London and Maisy to Australia... -
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Unplanned: A 'Snowflake' Drop-in by Nia Forrester
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA brief drop-in on the couples from 'Snowflake' and 'Courtship' ...Ibrahim Carter has a plan; to learn from his family's mistakes and make for himself and his new wife, Jada, the perfect life he never had. But she has something else entirely in mind.Kal Carter is disciplined and focused and those things have served him well while training for the Olympics... -
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... -
Idlewild by James Frankie Thomas
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsJames Frankie Thomas’s Idlewild is a darkly funny story of two adults looking back on their intense teenage friendship, in a queer, trans, and early-Internet twist on the Manhattan prep school novel.Idlewild is a tiny, artsy Quaker high school in lower Manhattan...Categorized as:
lgbtq literary-fiction coming-of-age trans-mc wlw romantic-love urban new-york-state -
Going Up by A.E. Radley
Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsA ruthless executive. A destitute woman. Both on the way up. Selina Hale is on her way to the top. She's been working towards a boardroom position on the thirteenth floor for her entire career. And no one is going to get in her way. Not her clueless boss, her soon to be ex-wife, and most certainly not the homeless person who has moved into the car park at work... -
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 coming-of-age female-mc fiction historical-fiction audiobook -
Endpapers by Jennifer Savran Kelly
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 5 ratingsAn accessible, character-driven story set in 2003 New York City about a genderqueer book conservator who feels trapped by her gender presentation, her ill-fitting relationship, and her artistic block, as she discovers a decades-old hidden queer love letter and becomes obsessed with tracking down its author. It’s 2003, and artist Dawn Levit is stuck... -
Fairytales for Lost Children by Diriye Osman, Héctor F. Santiago Pérez
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFairytales For Lost Children is narrated by people constantly on the verge of self-revelation. These characters - young, gay and lesbian Somalis - must navigate the complexities of family, identity and the immigrant experience as they tumble towards freedom... -
Mules of Love (American Poets Continuum) by Ellen Bass
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBalancing heart-intelligent intimacy and surprising humor, the poems in Ellen Bass's Mules of Love illuminate the essential dynamics of our lives: family, community, sexual love, joy, loss, religion and death. The poems also explore the darker aspects of humanity-personal, cultural, historical and environmental violence-all of which are handled with compassion and grace... -
Kisses Don't Lie by Tamika Newhouse
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsTheres Dean her first love and then theres Keith Mr. Right Now. Kyla struggles with her desires and her past when she makes a rare trip back home to Fort Worth. After leaving ten years ago Kyla comes to terms with the one who got away; Dean and their short lived romance comes into full swing... -
A Family Affair - A Free Preview of the First 7 Chapters by ReShonda Tate Billingsley
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAward-winning author ReShonda Tate Billingsley, whose bestselling fiction "tackles some of life’s toughest situations" ( The Florida Times-Union ), unravels the secrets in a mother’s past that turn her daughter’s life upside down—by revealing the family she never knew existed... -
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Kai's Aftermath by K. Elle Collier
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsKai, Todd and Alana are back in this sequel to My Man’s Best Friend, which ended with Kai's surprise pregnancy. Kai’s Aftermath picks up with Kai relocating to New York City with hopes of putting her life back together as she awaits the birth of her child... -
Fighting for Tara: a novel by Sunanda J. Chatterjee
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsHow far will a mother go to save her child? “I have no use for a baby girl. Get rid of her tonight!” He towered over her as she cringed in fear. But Hansa, a thirteen-year-old child-bride in rural India, refuses to remain a victim of the oppressive society where a female child is an unwanted burden. Instead of drowning her baby, Hansa escapes from her village with three-month-old Tara... -
Beyond the Break by Kristen Mae
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratings"It's just a fantasy, Hazel. It's harmless." Hazel Duval craves an ordinary life free of the pitying looks from those who know about her traumatic past—about what he did to her. About what she had to do to survive... -
Claiming You by Tina Martin
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA Standalone Novella At 39, Remington (Remy) Lennox married Emory McNeil. They’ve been friends for two years – married for one of those years. He told her the marriage was strictly for business reasons and that they'd keep it between themselves while remaining friends. That the rest of the Lennox family doesn't have to know. What he doesn’t tell Emory is, he’s deeply in love with her... -
The Human Line by Ellen Bass
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratings“Poetry,” writes best-selling author Ellen Bass, “is the way I pay attention, appreciate, give praise, struggle, grieve, rage, and pray. It’s the way I embody my love for the world.” The Human Line, Bass’ seventh book of poems, startles with its precise detail, intimate images, and wild metaphors... -
Lifted by Nia Forrester
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhat if your soulmate could never be your bedmate?Tessa Denison knows who she is—she never has and as far as she’s concerned, never will date men. Though she struggles with coming to terms with the loss of her parents at a young age and her very protective and overbearing brother, Trey, her sexuality and free-loving lifestyle have never given her a moment’s pause.Tyson Clark is a screw-up... -
The One True Me and You by Remi K. England
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsOne small fandom convention. One teen beauty pageant.One meet cute waiting to happen.Up and coming fanfic author Kaylee Beaumont is internally screaming at the chance to finally meet her fandom friends in real life and spend a weekend at GreatCon... -
No Honour by Awais Khan
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA young woman defies convention in a small Pakistani village, with devastating results for her and her family. A stunning, immense beautiful novel about courage, family and the meaning of love, when everything seems lost… In sixteen-year-old Abida’s small Pakistani village, there are age-old rules to live by, and her family’s honour to protect... -
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... -
Les falaises by Virginie DeChamplain
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsV. vient d’apprendre que l’on a retrouvé le corps sans vie de sa mère, rejeté par le Saint-Laurent sur une plage de la Gaspésie, l’équivalent « du bout du monde »... -
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A Language of Limbs by Dylin Hardcastle
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe first love of a teenage girl is a powerful thing, particularly when the object of that desire is her best friend, also a girl. It's the kind of power that could implode a family, a friendship, a life...Categorized as:
lgbtq wlw literary-fiction coming-of-age romantic-love fiction historical-fiction contemporary -
Cómplices by Taibo
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsJulián ha luchado contra el aburrimiento de todas las maneras posibles. Desde que le diagnosticaron hepatitis, ha recreado en su cabeza conversaciones imaginarias entre ostras que no tienen nada que hacer, ha buscado formas fantasiosas en las manchas de la pared, ha lanzado mocos al aire. Pero es feliz porque no tiene que ir a la escuela... -
All Wrapped Up by G. Benson
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWho doesn’t love a birthday party? Especially a toddler’s. There’s sugar, balloons, games—all the makings for fun; that is unless it’s the first toddler birthday party you’ve ever planned in your life.It can’t be that hard, Anna Foster decides; and when she’s decided something, that’s it... -
I Love You, Lola Bloom by Rosy Dee
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSome love stories write themselves.After a series of disastrous relationships, designer Maddison Appleby is fed up with everything love has had to offer, and can’t help but feel she’s destined to be alone forever. That is, until a chance encounter at a local book club sparks an unexpected connection with the beautiful Ruby Wilson - aka renowned lesfic author, Lola Bloom... -
Paper Is White by Hilary Zaid
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWhen oral historian Ellen Margolis and her girlfriend decide to get married, Ellen realizes that she can't go through with a wedding until she tells her grandmother. There's only one problem: her grandmother is dead...Categorized as:
lgbtq wlw literary-fiction female-mc romance fiction contemporary historical-fiction -
A Shot in the Dark by Victoria Lee
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsAn emotionally powerful romance novel about two people finding love after struggling with addiction--ultimately discovering what it means to be completely and unapologetically themselves. Elisheva Cohen has just returned to Brooklyn after almost a decade. The wounds of abandoning the Orthodox community that raised her, then shunned her because of her substance abuse, are still painful... -
The Lonely Book by Meg Grehan
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsA warm and loving story about how a non-binary person comes to understand and accept themselves by an award-winning queer author. Every morning, when Annie’s moms open up their bookshop, there’s a pile of books on the counter, waiting for the right reader to come and find them. But one day, there’s a book nobody comes for... -
Letting Loose the Hounds by Brady Udall
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsHere are eleven big-hearted tales by an inspired storyteller at the beginning of his career. Set in the small towns of Utah and Arizona, most of these stories deal with letting loose - or wanting to - in all its forms. For the family hero in "Buckeye the Elder, " this means reverting to a more raucous past...Categorized as:
coming-of-age literary-fiction poc-mc adult anthologies contemporary fiction indigenous-mc -
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 coming-of-age female-mc literary-fiction fiction contemporary family dark -
Make Room for Love by Darcy Liao
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsStarting over is hard. Falling for her gorgeous butch roommate might make it impossible.When a tall, stunning butch protects Mira from her ex-boyfriend at the club—and offers her a safe place to stay—Mira should be relieved. Not flustered. She’s not into women.Yet this tough electrician with curves for days makes Mira’s heart race like never before... -
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A Safe Girl to Love by Casey Plett
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsEleven unique short stories that stretch from a rural Canadian Mennonite town to a hipster gay bar in Brooklyn, featuring young trans women stumbling through loss, sex, harassment, and love.These stories, shiny with whiskey and prairie sunsets, rattling subways and neglected cats, show growing up as a trans girl can be charming, funny, frustrating, or sad, but never will it be predictable... -
Home of the American Circus by Allison Larkin
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe acclaimed author of the “lyrical coming-of-age novel” (Good Morning America) The People We Keep returns with a luminous new story of redemption, breaking generational curses, and the power of family in its truest form...Categorized as:
literary-fiction coming-of-age found-family female-mc fiction contemporary audiobook family -
Steppe by Oksana Vasyakina
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsA visceral, stirring novel following a queer literature student traveling across Russia with her estranged father, a long haul truck driver secretly dying of AIDS, from the acclaimed author of WoundA decade after her father walks out on her family, the narrator of Steppe, now a literature student, decides to spend some time with him on the road as he makes deliveries across the vast plains of... -
milktooth by Jaime Burnet
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSorcha is over the hook-ups and gay haunts of her twenties. At thirty-one what she wants, more than anything, is to have a baby. Then she meets Chris― with her buttoned-up plaid, 90s heartthrob hair, and grand romantic gestures― and things get serious. Fast. Though Sorcha's friends find her new partner problematic, Sorcha has an explanation for everything...Categorized as:
lgbtq wlw literary-fiction coming-of-age female-mc romantic-love fiction contemporary -
Experienced by Kate Young
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 9 ratings“A fizzing, lip-chewing, collar-bone biting, palm-sweating roller-coaster of a rom-com that is both the sexiest book you'll read all year and the most heartening... -
Crystal's Heart by B.L. Miller, Verda Foster
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsCrystal Sheridan - professional stripper, straight, alcoholic, drug user. Laura Taylor - professional writer, lesbian, obsessive tidier, control freak. Two women who have absolutely nothing in common and yet, when they become improbable housemates, are amazed to find they can actually live with each other. And not only live...
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