Happy Thursday, bibliophiles!
I meant to post this earlier in the month, but, alas, school. But hey – March isn’t over yet, is it? And here in the U.S., March is Women’s History Month! So for the occasion, I’ve compiled a list of some of my favorite YA novels with feminist themes not just for March, but for all year round, because we should all be uplifting the voices of women every day of every year.
Let’s begin, shall we?
FEMINIST YA BOOKS FOR WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH
Once & Future, A.R. Capetta and Cori McCarthy
GENRES: Sci-fi, romance, LGBTQ+, retellings
MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I mean, how could the premise of an Arthurian retelling where the reincarnation of King Arthur is a POC, pansexual woman not hook you? Plus, lots of dismantling imperialism, sword fights, and an almost entirely queer cast.
GENRES: Contemporary, fiction, romance
MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Can I rant for a minute? I loved this book to death, but the Netflix adaptation of it looks AWFUL. I watched the trailer, and it looks like it COMPLETELY misconstrued the message of the book. The movie makes feminism look like a joke; in the book, Viv was already conscious of the toxic environment of her high school, but in the movie, they (unintentionally?) painted feminism as something that was “trendy” or “what the kids are into.” (In the beginning of the trailer, Viv magically has this feminist awakening from seeing her mom’s old Riot Grrl pictures…) Also in the trailer, she only starts to notice the rampant sexism in her high school AFTER SOMEBODY TELLS HER…
[fumes] okay I’ll stop now but Y I K E S
just stick to the book, okay?
How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse, K. Eason
GENRES: Sci-fi, fantasy
MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Okay, I know this has been shelved as both adult and YA, but…hey, Rory’s 15 for most of the book, so I think I can slip it in this post. Plus, what’s not to love about disobedient, patriarchy-smashing princesses in space?
GENRES: Horror, paranormal, fantasy, LGBTQ+
MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Claire Legrand was a hit-or-miss author for me up until I read this one, but Sawkill Girls is such a powerful novel, both in its paranormal intensity and its resonant themes of sisterhood.
Girls of Paper and Fire, Natasha Ngan
GENRES: High fantasy, romance, LGBTQ+
MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
As disappointing as the sequel was, Girls of Paper and Fire still remains a book that stunned me like no other. A powerful tale of rebelling against oppression and corruption – and some lovely forbidden romance!
The Black Coats, Colleen Oakes
GENRES: Contemporary, fiction, mystery, romance
MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25
A super twisty and inventive novel with plenty of morally grey characters and secret societies. Plus, it raises some great points about vigilante justice. And there’s nothing better than getting back at misogynists and rapists, right?
The Sound of Stars, Alechia Dow
GENRES: Sci-fi, dystopian, LGBTQ+, romance
MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.75, rounded up to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Every time I look back at this book, I think something along the lines of “man, I’m so glad I bought this.” Secret libraries, alien invasion, quality music references, cross-country road trips, and more than a little bit of resistance. Very nearly flawless!
Music from Another World, Robin Talley
GENRES: Historical fiction, romance, LGBTQ+
MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A beautiful romance set against the backdrop of protest and resisting homophobia in 1977 San Francisco. There’s lovely representation for both lesbian and bisexual characters, and it’s such a tender and resonant read!
TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK! Have you read any of these novels, and if so, did you like them? What are your favorite feminist YA reads?
And while I’m at it, might I direct you all to the Women’s History Book Tag? It was created by Margaret @ Weird Zeal, and I had such a blast doing it last March, and I figured I should direct it to your attention. 🙂
Today’s song:
That’s it for this post! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!
The Bookish Mutant 
Darnit I wrote a whole comment but my internet went out and then it vanished.
Either that or the comment is gone because you have ‘comment moderating’ on and in that case you can ignore this one.
But anyways uh yeah I’ve heard of Once and Future before but for some reason never checked it out??? And I have no idea why but it sounds AMAZING and I can’t wait to read it.
Ugh so I haven’t watched the movie Moxie either but I have a friend who says it’s very good. Granted, she hasn’t read the book. Also…I saw that it’s labeled as comedy in netflix???? And what????? Just that is making me NOT wanna watch it because that doesn’t sound like the book at all. But…I’ll try it out, see how it goes.
But this is an AWESOME selection of choices, I’ve read LOTS of them and really enjoy them! Awesome post!
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O O F so sorry at least I can see this one
But yeah I think you’d love Once & Future! I just re-read it bc I managed to get it on my school book club’s roster and it’s so much fun!
WAIT NOOOOOO THEY CAN’T DO THAT
THE TRAILER WAS ALREADY A CRIME HOW COULD THEY POSSIBLY MAKE IT M O R E OF A CRIME OH MY GOD –
Anyway thank you so much! Glad to hear it ! 🙂 💗
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Haha it’s okay.
Yeah, it looks awesome! I looked through the reviews and ouch there’s some not-very-good reviews but I’ll give it a try…eventually…when I have time hahha.
I KNOW. WHY IS IT IN C O M E D Y ???? I asked my friend and she’s like ‘all movies have to be a little funny, it adds to the character, otherwise you don’t care about them.’ But you also DONT SEE ALL MOVIES LISTED AS COMEDY. AND THIS ONE SHOULDNT BE THERE.
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YEAH NO EVERYTHING SHOULDN’T HAVE TO BE FUNNY AND MOXIE DEFINITELY ISN’T A COMEDY
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I AGREE 100%
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ew netflix why
i’m simultaneously glad and sad I don’t have netflix anymore. their originals are so bad most of the time (but I really wanna see anne with an e and the six of crows tv show) ahsgbfdjjknksdbjk netflix pls learn to adapt thanks
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Yeah no Netflix needs to step it up, we almost deleted it but it was making it really difficult so we didn’t
At least the Shadow & Bone show looks great, Stranger Things is always good too
And I think they have Monty Python so skdjhfskjdhf
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Ahh I love this list of recommendations! (And thanks for mentioning my book tag!) I haven’t read Moxie, but I watched the trailer and thought it didn’t look great….so I’m glad to hear that the book is much better. And YES I loved the sisterhood themes in Sawkill Girls!
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Thank you so much! And of course, I loved doing it so I had to spread it around!
Gahhh I’m not the only one who was put off by the Moxie trailer phew
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