Love Unbreakable? Readers share 100 books like Unbreakable...

By Cari Hunter,

Here are 100 books that Unbreakable fans have personally recommended if you like Unbreakable. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Xeni

'Nathan Burgoine Author Of Faux Ho Ho

From my list on queer audiobooks to walk your dog by.

Why am I passionate about this?

As someone whoā€™s never been allowed to drive, but gets motion-sick reading in a bus or car, Iā€™ve been a lover of audiobooks since I had my Walkman and a backpack full of audiobook cassettes. As a queer man, Iā€™m always looking for more immersive stories about people like me. Finding queer voices and queer narratives is so important to me as a way to offset how queer people donā€™t have an inherited continuance of our culture as most marginalized people do; books are a way to fill that gap. I do own a rescued husky, and thereā€™s nothing like an engrossing audiobook to get me through those minus-forty Canadian winter walks with a dog.

'Nathan's book list on queer audiobooks to walk your dog by

'Nathan Burgoine Why did 'Nathan love this book?

You canā€™t go wrong with any Rebekah Weatherspoon book frankly, but Xeni has a special place in my heart because of the leads: Xeni, a witchy bi lead with a very complicated family bumping into a favourite romantic trope: the marriage of convenience (only, itā€™s very much not convenient, thank you); and Mason, a burly, bearded, bi bear who, I cannot express this clearly enough, is so instantly cuddle-worthy. That these bisexual characters are thrown into this marriage by someone they both loved as part of her will just adds to the trope joy. Beyond that, thereā€™s so much steamy sex-positivity in this book, alongside Weatherspoonā€™s always brilliant supportive friend groups and mix of chosen and biological family that I found myself taking the dog for extra walks just to keep listening. 

By Rebekah Weatherspoon,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Xeni as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

FROM NEW YORK TIMES ACCLAIMED AUTHOR REBEKAH WEATHERSPOON, COMES THE SECOND INSTALLMENT IN A NEW SERIES THAT BRINGS TRUE HAPPILY EVER AFTERS TO SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE SUPPORTING CHARACTERS.

She just wanted to claim her inheritance. What she got was a husbandā€¦

Xeni Everly-Wilkins has ten days to clean out her recently departed auntā€™s massive colonial in Upstate New York. With the feud between her mom and her sisters still raging even in death, she knows this will be no easy task, but when the will is read Xeni quickly discovers the decades old drama between the former R&B singersā€¦


Book cover of Twice Shy

'Nathan Burgoine Author Of Faux Ho Ho

From my list on queer audiobooks to walk your dog by.

Why am I passionate about this?

As someone whoā€™s never been allowed to drive, but gets motion-sick reading in a bus or car, Iā€™ve been a lover of audiobooks since I had my Walkman and a backpack full of audiobook cassettes. As a queer man, Iā€™m always looking for more immersive stories about people like me. Finding queer voices and queer narratives is so important to me as a way to offset how queer people donā€™t have an inherited continuance of our culture as most marginalized people do; books are a way to fill that gap. I do own a rescued husky, and thereā€™s nothing like an engrossing audiobook to get me through those minus-forty Canadian winter walks with a dog.

'Nathan's book list on queer audiobooks to walk your dog by

'Nathan Burgoine Why did 'Nathan love this book?

The way Rey handles butch-femme relationships never fail to impress me, and I think so much of it comes down to how expertly she manages to make her butch characters so non-toxic in their masculinity. They support without taking over, lead without diminishing, and her characters are so often imperfectly doing their best that you root for them even when you know theyā€™re about to do something theyā€™ll regret. Twice Shy puts two women together whoā€™ve both divorced their exes, and listening to Kiera Grace perform Quinn and Amanda tentatively finding their way to each other was as sweet as Amandaā€™s bakeryā€™s cupcakes. Oh, I should warn you, though: any Rey book will make you hungry. Bring snacks.

By Aurora Rey,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Twice Shy as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Sometimes, you get a second chance at love. Sometimes, you hook up with your ex and remember why you broke up in the first place.

Amanda Russo knows better than to give her failed marriage another try, but the brief fling reminds her thereā€™s more to life than work and parenting. When the architect she hires to remodel her bakery turns out to be as charming as she is talented, Amanda finds herself ready to take a chance on new love. The only problem? Her ex-wife didnā€™t get the memo.

For Quinn Sullivan, the sting of divorce is still fresh.ā€¦


Book cover of The Affair of the Porcelain Dog

'Nathan Burgoine Author Of Faux Ho Ho

From my list on queer audiobooks to walk your dog by.

Why am I passionate about this?

As someone whoā€™s never been allowed to drive, but gets motion-sick reading in a bus or car, Iā€™ve been a lover of audiobooks since I had my Walkman and a backpack full of audiobook cassettes. As a queer man, Iā€™m always looking for more immersive stories about people like me. Finding queer voices and queer narratives is so important to me as a way to offset how queer people donā€™t have an inherited continuance of our culture as most marginalized people do; books are a way to fill that gap. I do own a rescued husky, and thereā€™s nothing like an engrossing audiobook to get me through those minus-forty Canadian winter walks with a dog.

'Nathan's book list on queer audiobooks to walk your dog by

'Nathan Burgoine Why did 'Nathan love this book?

Visiting London at its most coal-caked and financially stratified, The Affair of the Porcelain Dog was Holmes-like in its execution, and pulled me into its mystery from the opening so steeped in the time and place and culture, and then never let go. Ira Adler is so charming a character that even when he was being selfish or spoiled I was smitten. An orphan, street thief, pickpocket, and former rent boy now living in luxury at the beck and call of a crime lord, Ira ends up tasked to recover the titular ā€œdogā€ statue, which contains a secret that could ruin everything, and bring Ira's comfortable new life to an end. Philip Battleyā€™s narration was so completely immersive, and had me there with Ira, hoping heā€™d somehow pull it off.

By Jess Faraday,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Affair of the Porcelain Dog as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

London 1889.

For Ira Adler, former rent-boy and present plaything of crime lord Cain Goddard, stealing back the statue from Goddard's blackmailer should have been a doddle. But inside the statue is evidence that could put Goddard away for a long time under the sodomy laws, and everyone's after it, including Ira's bitter ex, Dr. Timothy Lazarus. No sooner does Ira have the porcelain dog in his hot little hands, than he loses it to a nimble-fingered prostitute.

As Iraā€™s search for the dog drags him back to the mean East End streets where he grew up, he discovers secretsā€¦


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Book cover of The Ballad of Falling Rock

The Ballad of Falling Rock by Jordan Dotson,

Truth told, folks still ask if Saul Crabtree sold his soul for the perfect voice. If he sold it to angels or devils. A Bristol newspaper once asked: ā€œAre his love songs closer to heaven than dying?ā€ Others wonder how he wrote a song so sad, everyone who heard itā€¦

Book cover of That Could Be Enough

'Nathan Burgoine Author Of Faux Ho Ho

From my list on queer audiobooks to walk your dog by.

Why am I passionate about this?

As someone whoā€™s never been allowed to drive, but gets motion-sick reading in a bus or car, Iā€™ve been a lover of audiobooks since I had my Walkman and a backpack full of audiobook cassettes. As a queer man, Iā€™m always looking for more immersive stories about people like me. Finding queer voices and queer narratives is so important to me as a way to offset how queer people donā€™t have an inherited continuance of our culture as most marginalized people do; books are a way to fill that gap. I do own a rescued husky, and thereā€™s nothing like an engrossing audiobook to get me through those minus-forty Canadian winter walks with a dog.

'Nathan's book list on queer audiobooks to walk your dog by

'Nathan Burgoine Why did 'Nathan love this book?

You can actually get this novella as part of a four-pack of audio novellas by Cole, which Iā€™d also recommend, but this sapphic historical novella is set against the backdrop of American Historyā€”any fans of Hamilton reading this should take noteā€”and manages to be both hopeful and unblinking in the face of reality of what Black queer women face in the time and place in this perfect balance I cannot praise enough. These two women couldnā€™t be more different: one is a maid to Eliza Hamilton and devoted to as simple a life as possible, the other is a dressmaker who refuses to be anything but audacious, and the result is brilliant. Also, Karen Chiltonā€™s performance is just fantastic.

By Alyssa Cole,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked That Could Be Enough as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Mercy Alston knows the best thing to do with pesky feelings like "love" and "hope": avoid them at all cost. Serving as a maid to Eliza Hamilton, and an assistant in the woman's stubborn desire to preserve her late husband's legacy, has driven that point home for Mercyā€”as have her own previous heartbreaks. When Andromeda Stiel shows up at Hamilton Grange for an interview in her grandfather's stead, Mercy's resolution to live a quiet, pain-free life is tested by the beautiful, flirtatious, and entirely overwhelming dressmaker.

Andromeda is a woman who knows what she wants and resolutely overcomes anything thatā€¦


Book cover of The Sibyl in Her Grave

Rachel Cochran Author Of The Gulf

From my list on queer mystery and crime books.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a queer writer who lovers to read and write mystery and crime fiction. The history of these genres is often full of homophobic stereotypes and scapegoating of queer characters. While I think itā€™s important to show queer characters as flawed, I also want to make sure to celebrate the contributions of queer writers to these messy, wonderful genres.

Rachel's book list on queer mystery and crime books

Rachel Cochran Why did Rachel love this book?

In this book, barrister-turned-novelist Sarah Caudwell strikes a perfect balance of intricate, cozy mystery and zany British humor.

While I adored all of the books by this author, I particularly loved the Gothic threads that run through this last one, as well as the satisfying queer aspects of the storyline. If I could live inside any mystery series, it would be this one: the characters are so much fun, especially the narrator, Oxford professor Hilary Tamar.

Interestingly, Professor Tamarā€™s gender is never disclosedā€”a pretty radical concept for a series that started in the 1980sā€”which manages to avoid ever feeling gimmicky and which helped me to reflect as I read on my own expectations and assumptions about gender in mystery stories.

By Sarah Caudwell,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Sibyl in Her Grave as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Is money really the root of all evil? Julia Larwood's aunt Regina needs help. It seems she and two friends pooled their modest resources and on the advice of another friend, invested in equities - big risk, but big return. And now the tax man is demanding his cut. The only problem is that Aunt Regina and her friends have already spent the money. The real question, however, is how did three amateur investors make a thousand percent profit in record time? That's a question which could be answered by psychic counsellor isabella del Comino, unpopular neighbour to Aunt Regina,ā€¦


Book cover of Christmas Mouse

'Nathan Burgoine Author Of Upon the Midnight Queer

From my list on queer books to help make the yuletide gay.

Why am I passionate about this?

As someone who struggles with the relentless ā€œFamily is everything!ā€ of the holidaysā€”a reality I share in common with a lot of queer peopleā€”Iā€™ve been a lover of queer holiday stories that work to counterbalance and center the chosen families so many of us queer people create. As a queer reader, Iā€™m always looking for more immersive stories about people like me, and during the holidays, Iā€™m all the more ready for happy stories of queer holiday joy. I also own a rescued husky, and queer holiday audiobooks help get me through those frosty Canadian winter walks.

'Nathan's book list on queer books to help make the yuletide gay

'Nathan Burgoine Why did 'Nathan love this book?

The realistic queer characters facing the reality of a long-distance romance made me love this. Itā€™s Country Mouse/City Mouse, with an argument over which place has the better Christmas, resulting in each spending time on the other's turf to decide. But unlike the usual Hallmark trope, no grinches exist here, quite the opposite.

Bex the doctor loves her life in the city, she's warm and welcoming, goes to the Nutcracker, and enjoys fine dining for the holidays. Similarly, Eva has friends, family, community, and major roots in Vermontā€”everything but love, really. Their careers and settled relationships matter, and permanent relocation is never really up for negotiation. If they're going to find a solution to their situation, it's going to involve compromiseā€”and I loved that.

By Rachel Spangler,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Christmas Mouse as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

What makes for the perfect Christmas? Where or how you spend it, or perhaps, who you share it with?

Small-town woodworker Ava Collins and big city doctor Bex Leone both love Christmas. Some might go so far as to call them obsessed. They love Christmas music, Christmas food, Christmas carols, and Christmas movies. When the two women meet over a Thanksgiving dinner, it seems for a second they might have finally found their mistletoe match, but their initial connection goes wildly awry when they realize their versions of what constitutes an ideal Christmas differ as drastically as the places theyā€¦


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Book cover of Death on a Shetland Longship: The Shetland Sailing Mysteries

Death on a Shetland Longship by Marsali Taylor,

Liveaboard sailor Cass Lynch thinks her big break has finally arrived when she blags her way into skippering a Viking longship for a Hollywood film. However, this means returning to the Shetland Islands, the place she fled as a teenager. When a corpse unexpectedly appears onboard the longship, she canā€¦

Book cover of Briarley

Kathleen Jowitt Author Of Speak Its Name

From my list on showing itā€™s possible to be queer and Christian.

Why am I passionate about this?

Growing up in an eccentric, liberal family, as a member of the Church of England, under the shadow of the British Governmentā€™s homophobic Section 28, the messages I received were distinctly mixed. If Iā€™d heard the word ā€˜bisexualā€™ before the age of twenty my life might have been very different. And to this day, the most common assumption is that one canā€™t be simultaneously queer and Christian. As Iā€™ve discovered, and as these books show, that isnā€™t true ā€“ and moving beyond that assumption reveals new and fascinating horizons.

Kathleen's book list on showing itā€™s possible to be queer and Christian

Kathleen Jowitt Why did Kathleen love this book?

A Beauty and the Beast retelling, set amid the upheaval of the Second World War, in which the Beast is a dragon and the protagonist is a person who doesnā€™t see why his daughter should take the rap for her fatherā€™s misdemeanour. Humane and compassionate, this story isnā€™t afraid of exploring the theology of sexuality, but it never gets bogged down in details, and it maintains its fairy-tale atmosphere while remaining grounded in time and place. I loved it.

By Aster Glenn Gray,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Briarley as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An m/m World War II-era retelling of Beauty and the Beast.During a chance summer shower, an English country parson takes refuge in a country house. The house seems deserted, yet the table is laid with a sumptuous banquet such as the parson has not seen since before war rationing. Unnerved by the uncanny house, he flees, but stops to pluck a single perfect rose from the garden for his daughter - only for the master of the house to appear, breathing fire with rage. Literally. At first, the parson can't stand this dragon-man. But slowly, he begins to feel theā€¦


Book cover of How to Bite Your Neighbor and Win a Wager

MN Bennet Author Of The Misfit Mage and His Dashing Devil

From my list on queer indie fantasy books.

Why am I passionate about this?

I donā€™t know if I have an expertise in queer indie fantasy (quite the opposite, in fact). I just know as a queer person who loves magical worlds, I want to help elevate as many of them as possible. Over the past few years, Iā€™ve aimed to read almost exclusively queer books with a focus on indie books (well, any indie books really). My hope is for other people to find and uplift indie books. There are so many beautiful hidden gems that just need a little more exposure to find their reader homes.

MN's book list on queer indie fantasy books

MN Bennet Why did MN love this book?

This book has so many tropes that I despise, such as miscommunication, deceit/manipulation, and third-act breakups. Yet somehow, Bryn managed to execute them all with such finesse that I fell in love.

Both main characters are adorable in completely different ways. Wes is such a confident goof, while Vincent is so sad and adorable that I just want to hug him. The romance is cute but fades to black. However, there are apparently some spicy short stories that follow up with the lives of Wes and Vincent. I need to get my next dose of these cute boys.

By D. N. Bryn,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked How to Bite Your Neighbor and Win a Wager as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Vincent Barnes has suffered four years as a vampire, and theyā€™ve been the most miserable years of his pathetic life. Too poor for black market blood, he feeds from sleeping humans to survive. He tries to never intrude on the same prey twice, but after a single delicious taste of a long-lost childhood neighbor, he canā€™t help returning for seconds.

Wesley Garcia has been waking up with fang marks. Lucky for him, he needs a vampireā€”to use as bait. Heā€™s certain Vitalis-Barron Pharmaceutical killed his mother, but to gain access to their covert research labs, he has to bring themā€¦


Book cover of Four

Megan Derr Author Of The High King's Golden Tongue

From my list on queer SFF to get you through winter.

Why am I passionate about this?

Megan is a long-time resident of queer fantasy romance and keeps herself busy reading and writing it. She has been doing so for nearly twenty years, and hopes to do it at least another twenty. She is asexual, biromantic, and married to a wonderful woman. When sheā€™s not busy writing, she likes to cook, harass her wife and cats, or watch movies and play video games.

Megan's book list on queer SFF to get you through winter

Megan Derr Why did Megan love this book?

This is one of the best books of redemption I've ever read, about a man who did some truly horrible, some would say unforgivable things, and has been working hard the past several years to make amends for his wrongs, a journey he continues even as he meets the man who just might be the love of his life. All this in a beautifully built fantasy world, and while it is book two in the series it stands on its own just fine. When it comes to tales of redemption and forgiveness, though, of facing a sordid past and working to overcome it, this book continues to set the bar for me.

By Archer Kay Leah,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Four as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

On the outside, Mayr seems to have it all: a successful career as Head of the Guard for a prominent politician, family and friends who rely on him, and the attention of beautiful lovers. But appearances are a good way to bury secrets, including mistakes he can never fix and a broken heart that never seems to heal, forever searching for the one person to share his life with.When his last girlfriend takes him back and suggests an intimate night together with Tash, one of her lovers, Mayr reluctantly agrees. The last thing he expects is to fall hard forā€¦


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Book cover of The Child Riddler

The Child Riddler by Angela Greenman,

Zoe Lorel, an elite operative in an international spy agency, is sent to abduct a nine-year-old girl. The girl is the only one who knows the riddle that holds the code to unleash the most lethal weapon on earthā€”the first ever ā€œinvisibilityā€ nano weapon, a cloaking spider bot. But whenā€¦

Book cover of Cut to Care: A Collection of Little Hurts

Matthew R. Davis Author Of Bites Eyes: 13 Macabre Morsels

From my list on Australian short story collections with real bite.

Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™m a horror writer to the core, always have been, so few things get me as interested as a great collection of short stories. I can remember a few corkers that really put the wind up me as a kid, and it seems Iā€™ve been chasing that feeling ever since! Australia is my home, and it has a broad and diverse genre scene that deserves a lot more attention ā€“ Iā€™ve befriended a great many authors of horror, fantasy, SF, and all points in between, and to a person they are lovely, generous, and talented. Iā€™m doing my part to draw attention to the proliferation of vital voices down here.

Matthew's book list on Australian short story collections with real bite

Matthew R. Davis Why did Matthew love this book?

Much extreme horror presents us with cardboard characters who are ripped and torn with no real consequence ā€“ but Aaron gives us deeply felt people who pulse on the page, which means it really hurts me as a reader when he subjects them to brutal and unforgiving fates.

His fiction aches like unacknowledged truth, displaying an empathy that doesnā€™t gloss over the horrors of this world and the next, and feels intimately personal whether he's delving into family dramas, failed relationships, queer themes, or sophisticated splatter.

While his work mostly details the horrors we inflict upon each other, even with the best of intentions, itā€™s too broad to be kept in one box ā€“ and if it was, it would surely cut its way out and come for your heart next. 

By Aaron Dries,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Cut to Care as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An agency that sends social workers into the homes of grieving families to impersonate dead loved ones... The kind old woman who saved a teenager's life but now finds herself haunted by the weight of a cheated suicide... And the daughter of a candlestick maker as she tries to survive a painful existence after her father's execution for making human chandeliers of drunken cowboys... These stories and more-ranging from supernatural to the frighteningly domestic, Splatterpunk to the weird and cosmic-stain the pages of Cut to Care: A Collection of Little Hurts by Aaron Dries. They serve as a timely reminderā€¦


Book cover of Xeni
Book cover of Twice Shy
Book cover of The Affair of the Porcelain Dog

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Interested in Northern England, sergeants, and dogs?

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