13 Diverse Books I’m Afraid I’ll Have to Read This Year

Haha, afraid. Because, you know… Happy Friday the 13th!

Friday the 13th has always seemed like a mini-Halloween to me. I mean, sure, you don’t dress up and go trick-or-treating, but it does have that spooky aspect to it.

In honor of today, I’m talking about 13 diverse books that I totally need to get my hands on this year. And, despite the title that was created to celebrate this “holiday”, I’m not afraid of any of these. On the contrary, I’m freaking pumped to read them. Some have already been released, some have yet to be published, but either way, I’ve got to read these books before the year is up.

1. Labyrinth Lost

I feel like I keep seeing this one everywhere! It’s a fantasy book that stems from Latinx culture. Plus the main character is also bisexual. Everyone seemed to read this last year for #DiversityDecBingo, but I didn’t get to it, so it’s definitely on this list!

2. The Hate U Give

This is probably my most anticipated book of the year. It releases on February 28th but I’ve had it preordered for months. Not only does it feature a black girl as the protagonist, is inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, and is an #ownvoices, it also already has a movie deal.

3. History is All You Left Me

Adam Silvera just about broke my heart in More Happy Than Not. His writing, his characters, his plot, all of it was so addictive. I expect nothing less from his next book History is All You Left Me. Including tears.

4. Soulmated

This one is a little bit underrated. I haven’t seen it around all that much but man am I glad I stumbled upon it! The last time I read a book with an Irish love interest, I was swooning to no end. Add in an Indian-American main character and an #ownvoices author and I am sold!

5. Not Your Sidekick

It seems like everyone was reading this one last year! I have to admit that when I first read the blurb I wasn’t all that interested. It sounded good, but nothing spectacular. BUT after reading so many sparkling reviews and getting so many recommendations, I’ve decided I’m actually pretty excited to see what this has in store for me! This book features a F/F romance, and a bisexual, half-Chinese, half-Vietnamese main character!

6. When Dimple Met Rishi

Go ahead and try to point out a blogger that isn’t incredibly excited for this book’s release? EXACTLY. THERE ARE NONE. Cute premise, Indian-American main characters, brown girl on the cover, the list goes on. I can hardly wait for May 30th!

7. Timekeeper

I haven’t read a lot of fantasy books with an LGBT+ main character. I think this one will be one of my first! The synopsis is incredibly intriguing, because who doesn’t love reading about the Victorian era?

8. The Love Interest

I love my tropes. Golden boy with a sad backstory, bad boy with a heart of gold, love-hate relationships… sometimes I wish I could just have all of them! Well, it seems my prayers have been answered because The Love Interest is going to make fun of all the tropes, while simultaneously making me swoon! I normally despise love triangles. But two guys competing for each other, but end up falling for each other… ABSOLUTELY.

9. Crooked Kingdom

Everyone loves this duology. I adored Six of Crows. The plot, the characters, the action, the romance, the EVERYTHIING. Crooked Kingdom here we come!

10. A Quiet Kind of Thunder

This book is giving me so many Switched at Birth vibes, which, if you don’t know, is a TV show about two girls that were switched at birth and meet each other, one being deaf. Yes, the premise is completely different, but I can’t help thinking about Emmett, who is the SWEETEST BOY TO HAVE EVER LIVED. This love interest better live up.

MY. HEART. HAS. STOPPED. FUNCTIONING. LOOK. AT. HIS. FACE.

11. Of Fire and Stars

Lately, I’ve been hearing some mixed reviews about this one. However, they haven’t deterred me from wanting to read it! Again, my lack of reading LGBT+ characters in fantasy has intrigued me further to pick this one up!

12. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

I feel like the last book blogger on Earth to read this one. I downloaded the audio book from the library a couple of months ago, but it has since expired due to me reading all over the place. I plan to get it again though, because it was really good and is narrated by the king Lin-Manuel Miranda!

13. The Sun is Also a Star

For those of you that don’t know this, I’m actually half-Jamaican! I don’t have the accent or anything, but I’ve visited the island multiple times to visit family, and my mother cooks some fantastic cuisine from there, so I’m excited to read from the point of view of a main character that shares the culture! PLUS, the hype is unbelievable.

There are so many fantastic diverse reads coming out this year that couldn’t make the list, and I can’t wait to read them!

What diverse reads are you crazy excited to get to this year? Have you read any on this list that you’d highly recommend? Are there any in this list that you can’t wait for either? Tell me in the comments! 🙂

Stay bookish,

Jordyn

Find me elsewhere: Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

P.S. Sorry this post is a day late! If you don’t know, The Sims 4 released a new update that has toddlers, so I’ve been playing that… for hours on end. On the other hand, you made it through Friday the 13th, and, hopefully, bad-luck free!