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T10T: Diverse 2018 Releases I Loved

January 15, 2019

TTT-Big2

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly blog meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week’s topic was supposed to be about new-to-me authors I read in 2018, but I’ve done so many posts about authors lately that I wanted to focus on something different, so I’m highlighting ten of my favorite diverse reads published in 2018.

I couldn’t narrow it down to ten, so you’re getting a Top Eighteen Tuesday this week! ?

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1. Sawkill Girls — Claire Legrand
YA dark fantasy/mystery
rep: queer (f/f), ace, Black, fat

2. Sadie — Courtney Summers
YA mystery
rep: 
speech impediment, queer (f/f)

 3. Blanca & Roja — Anna-Marie McLemore
YA fantasy/magical realism
rep: Latinx, trans, queer, disability (vision impairment)

4. Next Year in Havana — Chanel Cleeton
adult contemporary/historical fiction crossover
rep: Cuban

5. Toil & Trouble — anthology edited by Jessica Spotswood & Tess Sharpe
YA anthology: fantasy, contemporary
rep: queer, multiple POC reps, fat

6. Over and Over Again — Cole McCade
new adult romance/contemporary
rep: Romani, queer (m/m), demisexual

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7. When My Heart Joins the Thousand — A. J. Steiger
YA contemporary
rep: autism, disability (osteogenesis imperfecta)

8. Mirage — Somaiya Daud
YA sci-fi/fantasy
rep: Moroccan

9. A Thousand Beginnings and Endings — anthology edited by Ellen Oh & Elsie Chapman
YA anthology: contemporary, sci-fi, fantasy, paranormal
rep: multiple Asian reps, queer

10. The Astonishing Color of After — Emily X. R. Pan
YA contemporary/fantasy
rep: Chinese, biracial, depression

11. A Girl Like Her — Talia Hibbert
adult romance/contemporary
rep: Black, autism, fat, PTSD

12. The Way You Make Me Feel — Maurene Goo
YA contemporary
rep: South Korean, Brazilian, Chinese

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13. Reign of the Fallen — Sarah Glenn Marsh
YA fantasy
rep: queer, POC side characters, (Black, Asian, possibly more), addiction

14. Undead Girl Gang — Lily Anderson
YA mystery/contemporary/horror (light)
rep: Afro-Latinx, Black, fat

15. A Very Large Expanse of Sea — Tahereh Mafi
YA contemporary
rep: Muslim

16. Summer Bird Blue — Akemi Dawn Bowman
YA contemporary
rep: Asian (Hawaiian, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Samoan, Black), asexual, aromantic, depression

17. Beneath the Sugar Sky — Seanan McGuire
adult fantasy
rep: fat, queer, trans, asexual, Latinx, Japanese—it’s been a while and I know I’m missing some here!

18. The Kiss Quotient — Helen Hoang
adult romance/contemporary
rep: autism, Vietnamese, biracial

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What were some of your favorite diverse 2018 releases?

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No Comments

  • Reply Kay Wisteria January 15, 2019 at 12:08 am

    I loved Astonishing Color of After ❤️ happy reading!

  • Reply ChrissiReads January 15, 2019 at 12:26 am

    Wow! Such an amazing list of diverse reads. The Astonishing Color of After was incredibly unique!

    • Reply Destiny @ Howling Libraries January 19, 2019 at 1:06 am

      Thank you, Chrissi! Oh man, it really was. It was one of those books that I wasn’t sure what to make of it until after I finished it and thought on it for a few days.

  • Reply Sofii @ A Book. A Thought. January 15, 2019 at 12:39 am

    So many incredibles books!, I’ll be adding some to my TBR and I LOVE Sadie, it’s such an intense but great book. And I need to read Blanca & Roja! ??

  • Reply Greg January 15, 2019 at 12:39 am

    Ooh there’s a bunch of books on here that I want to read. Sawkill Girls, Sadie, and A Thousand Beginnings and Endings for sure. Undead Girl Gang sounds fun too. 🙂

  • Reply Ellyn January 15, 2019 at 1:34 am

    *adds everything to tbr shelf*

  • Reply Tiffany @ String of Pages January 15, 2019 at 2:22 am

    i haven’t read any of these, but most of them are already on my TBR! hopefully i’ll pick them sometimes this year. great list! <3

  • Reply Brooke Lorren January 15, 2019 at 2:25 am

    The Kiss Quotient was great!
    I don’t particularly pay attention to whether a book is diverse or not… I just want to read a good story… but a quick look at the top 10 books I read in 2018, and more than half of them had some sort of diversity to them. I’m glad that publishers are offering all sorts of books to us.

  • Reply everythingalyce January 15, 2019 at 5:07 am

    I’m embarrassed to say that I haven’t read any of these books yet, although I’ve had my eye on a few of them for a while. This list has made me think I need to prioritise a few of them, though – I had no idea that Sadie included a character with a speech impediment, and I didn’t know that Summer Bird Blue had aromantic/asexual rep either. Great list.

    • Reply Destiny @ Howling Libraries January 19, 2019 at 1:22 am

      Thank you! Yes, Sadie’s speech impediment is a big part of her character arc, but it’s done so well and I really loved it. And SBB has such good aro/ace rep! I hope you like the ones you pick up 🙂

  • Reply lilisblissfulpages January 15, 2019 at 7:22 am

    I need to read these books… They were in my 2018 TBR and I don’t what happened. Typical of me. hehe…

  • Reply esmoogle January 15, 2019 at 7:31 am

    18!! You’re spoiling us! Undead Girl Gang and Sawkill Girls were already on my tbr, but now I’ve added a bunch more. Thanks for helping me read more diversely 🙂

  • Reply lydiaschoch January 15, 2019 at 7:33 am

    I’ve been on the wait list for Sadie at my local library for ages. So glad to hear you liked it!
    This is my Top Ten Tuesday post.

  • Reply iloveheartlandx January 15, 2019 at 7:48 am

    I haven’t read any of these! Reign of The Fallen & Toil and Trouble are on my TBR though. Fave diverse books of 2018? Children of Blood and Bone & For A Muse of Fire are definitely up there, both amazing books.
    My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2019/01/15/top-ten-tuesday-194/

    • Reply Destiny @ Howling Libraries January 19, 2019 at 10:34 pm

      I hope you enjoy them! I haven’t read A Muse of Fire, but I’ve heard good things. Sadly I wasn’t a big CoBaB fan! 🙁 I might check out the sequel if it gets rave reviews, though!

  • Reply tasya @ the literary huntress January 15, 2019 at 8:02 am

    A Thousand Beginnings and Endings is my favorite read of 2018 too! I’m so sad that I didn’t get to Toil and Trouble last year, but it’s a priority this year! 🙂

  • Reply Jolien @ The Fictional Reader January 15, 2019 at 8:36 am

    I absolutely adored Sadie as well! I really need to read Sawkill Girls and Next Year in Havana. I’ll need to remind myself to buy copies of those soon. Also, I’m really excited to read A Girl Like Her! I bought it after seeing you mention it in one of your posts, and I really feel like I’m in the mood to pick it up soon.

  • Reply journeyintobooks January 15, 2019 at 8:58 am

    Great list, I love Mirage and can’t wait to read Next Year in Havana and Blanca & Roja 🙂

  • Reply Victoria @ The Contented Reader January 15, 2019 at 10:05 am

    I loved Sadie and The Kiss Quotient! I still need to read Blanca & Roja! Happy reading!

  • Reply Abby @ AJ's Pages January 15, 2019 at 10:11 am

    Mirage and Sadie have my heart ❣

    • Reply Destiny @ Howling Libraries January 19, 2019 at 1:30 am

      They were so good. Both of those were books I just couldn’t force myself to put down!

  • Reply Aymee (@asphaltcowgrrl) January 15, 2019 at 10:49 am

    This is an excellent list! So many of these are already on my TBR, but I have about five more I’m adding today.
    Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you!

  • Reply Arin January 15, 2019 at 11:36 am

    Oh my gosh I loved Sadie and A Very Large Expanse of Sea!

  • Reply Marie January 15, 2019 at 1:14 pm

    This is a great list! I LOVED The Astonishing Color so much. I can’t wait to read Blanca & Roja, as well as Toil & Trouble, both sound so good 🙂

  • Reply malanielovesfiction January 15, 2019 at 1:39 pm

    I am freaking out bc I didn’t even realize Sadie ft. a queer character???? sldkfj I need to reread, I read the audiobook and it was my very first audiobook so that explains my detail-missing,,,,,,but HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN
    also i’m so excited for sawkill girls!

    • Reply Destiny @ Howling Libraries January 19, 2019 at 1:34 am

      It’s kinda subtle but yes!! She’s attracted to the girl she meets and there are some minor references she makes. When it first came out I saw some reviewers say they thought she was just starved for attention and I think the author actually confirmed that she is attracted to girls! <3
      I hope you love Sawkill Girls!!

  • Reply ich lese January 15, 2019 at 1:42 pm

    Really great list and I love your focus this week!

  • Reply Literary Lion January 15, 2019 at 6:58 pm

    I’ll have to add some of these to my TBR!!

  • Reply Cheryl Malandrinos January 15, 2019 at 8:13 pm

    I don’t think I’ve read many of these. Next Year in Havana is on my list.
    http://thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com/2019/01/top-ten-tuesday-new-to-me-authors-i.html

  • Reply Lauren @ Always Me January 15, 2019 at 8:32 pm

    I’m actually reading Mirage right now and I’m loving it. 🙂
    Lauren @ Always Me

  • Reply Tiffany G. January 16, 2019 at 7:16 am

    I’ve only read Sadie in this list. I didn’t really enjoy the book, although the audio book was fun. Just didn’t like the story. I’ve been wanting to pick up Mirage (THAT COVER!). I’m constantly looking to your blog for recs!
    tiffanysbookblog.com

    • Reply Destiny @ Howling Libraries January 19, 2019 at 11:24 pm

      I’m sorry you weren’t a big fan of Sadie! But thank you for the kind words about my blog! ♥♥ That makes me so happy to hear!!

  • Reply Jessica at Booked J January 16, 2019 at 7:04 pm

    SO MANY GOOD BOOKS ON HERE. I still have a few on my TBR I need to get to (starting, ironically, with the first book on your list: Sawkill Girls) and ughhh I’m READY.

  • Reply Jenna @ Falling Letters January 16, 2019 at 7:36 pm

    The Astonishing Color of After is on my priority list for this year! I love Anna-Marie McLemore and devoured Blanca & Roja and will continue to devour everything she writes but… as a person who is not a romance fan, I feel after four books I’m starting to tire of the same general arcs to the romantic plots ? This is just a personal preference though – there’s so much more going on in each of her books that makes them well worth reading!

    • Reply Destiny @ Howling Libraries January 19, 2019 at 11:35 pm

      TACOA was so beautiful but SO heavy at times, so make sure to have tissues on standby. I remember just being stunned by how spot-on some of the commentary on depression and suicide was. And that’s actually really understandable, how you’re feeling about the romance in AMM’s books! I’ve only read 2 novels and a few short stories from her, and I loved them all, but I find that I have to be in just the right “mood” for her romances because they do feel a bit similar! So I can definitely see how it would bug you if you’re not a big romance fan in general!

  • Reply Annemieke January 17, 2019 at 5:16 am

    Hoping to read Beneath the Sugar Sky and A Thousand Beginings soon. I’ve only read Toil and Trouble and Reign of the Fallen but both were great reads yes. 🙂

  • Reply January Wrap: What a weird month? – howling libraries January 31, 2019 at 9:06 am

    […] Diverse 2018 Releases I Loved […]

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