#5OnMyTBR — Disabled MC

Hosted by E. @ Local Bee Hunter’s Nook, #5OnMyTBR is a bookish meme where we talk about 5 books on our TBR on Mondays. You can learn more about it in E.’s original announcement or #5OnMyTBR page.

This week’s prompt: Disabled MC.

A lot of books with disabled main character(s) are written by non-disabled authors. But I want to amplify #ownvoices works only in this week’s #5OnMyTBR.

Below are 5 fictional works featuring disabled MCs by authors who share the same disabilities as their characters.

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Click on the book cover for more info on Goodreads.

All the Love Songs (Celebrities #2) by Nicole Pyland

• Publisher: Pyland Publishing, November 17th 2019
• Genre: Romance, LGBTQ+ (sapphic)
• Page Count: 374 pages

It is not a secret that I love Pyland’s works. Her characters are always so fully fleshed out I feel like having friends whenever I read her stories. I haven’t even read the first book in the series and already, I’m eyeing this one. From what I read in the transcript of the Lesfic Book Club meeting in May 2020, the main character Kenzie is autistic and so is Pyland. This one is going to be awesome.

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On the Edge of Gone by Corinne Duyvis

• Publisher: Amulet Books, March 8th 2016
• Genre: Sci-Fi, Young Adult, LGBTQ+
• Page Count: 456 pages

This is another work featuring an autistic main character. From what I know, Corinne Duyvis is the author who started the #ownvoices hashtag, and what better place to start than to read her works?

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Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children #1) by Seanan McGuire

• Publisher: Tor.com, April 5th 2016
• Genre: Fantasy, LGBTQ+
• Page Count: 173 pages

I’ve never read anything by McGuire, but recently, I’ve been hearing so much about her works and I know I had to try. Plus, this series has pretty covers. Every Heart a Doorway was one of the four LGBTQ+ novellas in Tor.com’s Pride month free ebook this year. McGuire has OCD, chronic pain, and is neuroatypical. Jack in this novella also has OCD, though a different form.

Another of McGuire’s series October Daye features mermaid side character Dianda in a wheelchair and McGuire herself sometimes uses motorized scooters. I read this breathtakingly beautiful essay by Cara Liebowitz on how McGuire incorporated disabilities into her fantasy works, and that mermaids are fundamentally disabled on land. I listed Wayward Children because it is on my TBR and October Daye was not, but Liebowitz’s essay has convinced me it’s something I have to read.

Dianda is disabled because she’s a mermaid, and on land, she’s navigating a world not made for her, just like all disabled people do.

Cara Liebowitz

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Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde

• Publisher: Swoon Reads, March 14th 2017
• Genre: Romance, Young Adult, LGBTQ+ (sapphic)
• Page Count: 262 pages

Oh, the third novel featuring an autistic character. It’s sapphic and YA as well.

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Cursed by Karol Ruth Silverstein

• Publisher: Charlesbridge, June 25th 2019
• Genre: Young Adult
• Page Count: 336 pages

This is the only one that is not also LGBTQ+. Silverstein was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis at 13 and the main character Erica at 14. Cursed has been on my TBR for a few months now and I hope to get to it very soon.

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Compiling this list was so difficult and I desperately wanted to include books with a variety of disabled characters, but I ended up with mostly autistic mains. Please drop me recs. Please.

A bonus book: El Deafo by Cece Bell, who has hearing loss. It is an MG graphic novel featuring a Deaf/HOH girl.

Have you read any of these books? What are other #ownvoices books with disabled main characters on your TBR? Comment what you think!

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