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| Top 10 Most-Wished-For Sequels |
Clearly, I enjoy a good sequel, so let's ignore the 20 or so books in my to-be-read pile and the 10 in my I've-read-but-still-need-to-review pile and talk about the books that need sequels. Sometimes, I am just so in love with the characters, universe, and/or plot that I need MORE.
I need to know what happens next for these beloved people whose lives I've shared through the pages of their stories. I would camp outside of a bookstore to buy these sequels, like us older people had to do for concert tickets in the pre-Internet dark ages.
In fact, most of these books had me have immediately visiting Archive of Our Own to see if there are any fanfictions about these books, and if there are, I will link to the pages.
Uma said it best.
In alphabetical order, here are my top 10 most-wished-for sequels:
1. Title: At the Edge of the Universe
What it’s about (in 75 words or fewer): Weird things are happening in Ozzie's world. First, Tommy, Ozzie's best friend and boyfriend, has disappeared--from the world and from everyone's memories but Ozzie's. Ozzie then makes a startling discovery: the universe is shrinking, and he's the only one who realizes it. Meanwhile, Ozzie's parents are divorcing, and Ozzie begins to have feelings for his new physics lab partner, Calvin, who is keeping a dangerous secret.
Read my full review here.
Why I want a sequel: I loved the characters so much in this book: Dustin, the stoner valedictorian; Lua, the gender-fluid musician; Trent, the closeted bully; Tommy, the mysteriously-disappeared friend. To quote myself from my review, "I LOVE the characters so much, I would read an entire book about them eating shawarma together." The plot was not my favorite, but I would pre-order a book from Lua's point-of-view in any universe in any time.
I couldn't find Archive of Our Own fanfiction for At the Edge of the Universe, but here are some for Hutchinson's We are the Ants.
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2. Title: Autoboyography
What it’s about (in 75 words or fewer): Tanner is bisexual, and he was out and proud when he lived in California, but now that he and his family have moved to Utah, Tanner is back in the closet. When Tanner joins a writing seminar class at school, he and the cute TA, Sebastian, fall for each other. But Sebastian is a strict Mormon whose whole life revolves around church and family, and if he admits he is gay, he will lose everything.
Read my full review here.
Why I want a sequel: Poor Sebastian. He probably lost his whole family when he left to be with Tanner. But what happens next? Is he okay? I am worried about him; can he make it on his own in college? We need a sequel from Sebastian's point of view so I know he's going to be okay.
Archive of Our Own fanfiction for Autoboyography.
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3. Title: Death Prefers Blondes
What it’s about (in 75 words or fewer): Teenage socialite Margo Manning and her four friends have nighttime secret identities: jewel-heisting drag queens. Margo donates her proceeds to various charities, while her friends pay off their own tuition help their families. But then Margo catches the attention of a more powerful villain, putting her own family and friends at risk. Do they have the skills to survive their most dangerous job yet?
Read my full review here.
Why I want a sequel: I was apprehensive about this book because heist and adventure plots are not usually my thing, but I loved this book and cared so much about all the characters. I want to them to be happy and wealthy and not have any problems--eventually. But before that, they need to take their drag-queen-robbery-acrobatic-ninja-ballet skillz to London to solve another mystery. Margo announces the London trip . . . and then the book ENDS. Gah! Roehrig needs to write the sequel posthaste. Like, TODAY.
I couldn't find Archive of Our Own fanfiction for Death Prefers Blondes, but here is one for Roehrig's Last Seen Leaving.
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4. Title: Debbie Harry Sings in French
What it’s about (in 75 words or fewer): Johnny's life has not been easy, but he has persevered and does not want to leave Florida to live in South Carolina. However, Johnny finds that living with Uncle Sam is better than he thought it would be, especially when he discovers and falls in love with Debbie Harry and Blondie's music at the local music store. Together with his girlfriend, Maria, Johnny learns that he also enjoys dressing up as and *being* Debbie Harry.
Read my full review here.
Why I want a sequel: Again, I shall quote myself from my review, "I could totally read a whole spin-off or sequel novel about Johnny's adventures as Debbie. In fact, Johnny's Adventures as Debbie should be the title. Hint, hint, Meagan Brothers. 😉." Even a series of short stories or novellas about Johnny's good and bad experiences as Debbie or the drag scene in general would be great to read. Johnny is an amazingly strong character and I was not ready to stop reading about him at the end of the book.
No Archive of Our Own fanfiction that I could find.
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5. Titles: Dumplin' and Puddin'
What each book is about (in 75 words or fewer):
Dumplin'--Willowdean has always felt confident in her plus-size body but experiences some insecurity when the cute private school jock, Bo, becomes attracted to her. Will can't understand why Bo likes her. In order to regain her confidence, Will (and a group of other girls) decides to enter the Miss Clover City beauty pageant, which is run by her former-beauty-queen mother. Will is determined to prove that beauty comes in all sizes.
Puddin'--In order to please her parents, Millie goes to fat camp every summer. But this summer, she is determined to stick up for herself and attend journalism camp instead. Meanwhile, Callie is the mean-girl dance team member, next in line for captain, with the hot boyfriend. When Millie and Callie end up having to work together at Millie's uncle's gym, they form a surprising friendship.
Read my full review here.
Why I want a third book: I really liked Dumplin', but I LOVED Puddin,' and by that metric, I believe that a third book would be the best of the three. Murphy is really good at characterization; I thought I understood Will and Callie's characters in Dumplin,' but you get completely different points-of-view in Puddin.' Readers are sympathetic to the mean girl character, but not too unrealistically: she's still the mean girl. And some of the negative aspects of Will's character she points out? Totally agree. Plus, I love Millie and I want to know how she does in college and broadcasting camp but only as a background character because she's had her moment. I would like the third book to be in the alternating points-of-view of Hannah and Amanda.
Archive of Our Own fanfiction for Dumplin' (based on the 2018 Netflix movie version).
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6. Title: Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts)
What it’s about (in 75 words or fewer): Jack is an openly gay high school student who is not ashamed of his active sex life. He agrees to write an "anonymous" (technically--most students know he's the writer) teen sex advice column for his friend. Jack enjoys giving advice until someone begins leaving notes in his locker that start out admiring but become threatening. Can Jack figure out who his stalker is before his friends and family are in danger?
Read my full review here.
Why I want a sequel: Well now, it looks like past Jennifer has once again talked about that in her review, so I'm gonna quote a bunch this time:
I've typed the word sex so many times in this post that this song is going through my head now. So, L.C. Rosen: Let's talk about sequels, baby!
--What happens after the stalker is revealed? What's the reaction at school?Rosen actually addressed this on Twitter which was super exciting for past me and is still very exciting for present me:
--What happens with Ben and Other Ben?
--I want a book from Jeremy Diaz's point-of-view.
--Or Jenna's point-of-view. Maybe her news letter can cause a big controversy.
--Finally: what is Jack's advice about bisexuality? Or trans/gender nonbinary?
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| Text of tweet: "Ha. Well, sequels miiiight be planned, but they depend on sales. And Jack's whole mentality is be who you are, do what you want, so I imagine his advice on being bi/pan/trans/nb is to be who you are and do what makes you happy, and never ever care what the patriarchy tells you." |
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7. Title: Just Between Us
Author: J.H. Trumble
What it’s about (in 75 words or fewer): Curtis is home from his freshman year of college, working as a band tech for his old high school band, when he meets band member Luke, and the two are instantly attracted to each other. But just when Curtis decides to act on his feelings for Luke, Curtis takes an HIV test: and it's positive. Depressed and ashamed, Curtis tries to push Luke away, but Luke is determined to be a part of Curtis's life.
What it’s about (in 75 words or fewer): Curtis is home from his freshman year of college, working as a band tech for his old high school band, when he meets band member Luke, and the two are instantly attracted to each other. But just when Curtis decides to act on his feelings for Luke, Curtis takes an HIV test: and it's positive. Depressed and ashamed, Curtis tries to push Luke away, but Luke is determined to be a part of Curtis's life.
Read my full review here.
Why I want a sequel: This is one of three books written in the same "world." Luke is an immature sophomore in Don't Let Me Go and a mature, confident senior Where You Are. Just Between Us is a great story that explains how Luke's character grows and changes throughout those couple of years, and another book's epilogue informs readers where Luke and Curtis are in their relationship years later. But I would love to read another book about Luke and Curtis, one that explains what happened in the ten or so years before the epilogue of Don't Let Me Go. All three of these J.H. Trumble books are worth reading.
No Archive of Our Own fanfiction that I could find.
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8. Title: The Love Interest
What it’s about: Caden and Dylan are Love Interests: teenage spies designed to be the perfect boys (Caden is a Nice; Dylan Bad) to win the hearts of teenage girls. The secret, centuries-old government organization pairs Love Interests with important people so that they can spy and relay secrets and information back to the LIC. The boy who doesn't win the heart of fair Juliet dies: but what happens if the Love Interests fall for each other instead?
Read my full review here.
Why I want a sequel: The bad guys in this book are SUPER bad. And although characters managed to kill the main baddie, the LIC organization that is in charge in the book is pretty terrifying instead of easy to destroy like other organizations run by adults in YA novels (I'm looking at you, Harry Potter and Mortal Instruments). Dylan and Caden are shown living "happily ever after" in an epilogue, but there is no way the government would let them live with the knowledge that they have and with what they did. There have got to be other stories coming out of that universe, and today's weird political climate would make almost any unrealistic-sounding government corruption story totally believable.
Archive of Our Own fanfiction for The Love Interest.
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9. Title: Honestly, Ben
What it’s about (in 75 words or fewer): Ben is moving on after last semester. He's excelling at schoolwork, acting as the captain of the baseball team, and starting a relationship with Hannah, a cool quirky girl he met in the library. He is even awarded a prestigious scholarship (if he can keep his grade up in calculus!). But Ben is not sure that he has all the answers, and cannot stop thinking about and missing the close friendship he had with Rafe.
Read my full review here.
Why I want a third book: I agree that Ben and Rafe's stories are complete. I mean, it'd be nice to check in on them occasionally, but they don't need additional books. However, serious Albie and gender-fluid, free-spirited Toby definitely need their own stories. In fact, I think a collection of short stories of Toby and Albie, solving mysteries and crimes based on their listening of the police radio, would be an excellent thing to read. So Konigsberg: The Adventures of Toby and Albie. Make it so.
Archive of Our Own fanfiction for Openly Straight/Honestly, Ben.
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10. Title: Willful Machines
What it’s about (in 75 words or fewer): Lee's mother was killed by Charlotte, a super realistic human-like robot called a 2B who uploaded her consciousness to the Internet and is now terrorizing the American people. Lee's politician father then started the conservative Human Values party, was elected president of the USA, and vowed to destroy all 2Bs. Meanwhile, Lee is a closeted teenager who has a crush on his new classmate, Nico, but is Nico too good to be true?
Read my full review here.
Why I want a sequel: Past Jennifer thoroughly addressed this one:
Was Nico successful in uploading himself? WE READERS DON'T KNOW. Remember the last scene of Monsters Inc in which you cried like a huge baby (well, I did, anyway . . . )? THAT'S HOW THIS BOOK ENDS. Did the consciousness of Nico survive? In order to preserve my sanity, I have to believe that he did!
Dear Mr. Floreen, write me a sequel of Lee and Nico frolicking through fields of daisies on their way to happily-ever-after. Please.
And later, I told readers directly:
Read the book and email Tim Floreen to ask him to write a sequel.
Also, this review, combining discussions of the book with episodes of The Twilight Zone, is one of my favorite things I've written.
Archive of Our Own fanfiction for Willful Machines.
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One last thing
Darius the Great is Not Okay is getting a sequel, which thrills me beyond belief. For posterity, I would like to share what I wrote on February 2, 2019:
"I want more Darius; this book absolutely needs a sequel. Adib Korrham: Make it so."
Feel free to tell me on Twitter which books you wish had sequels!
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| Most of these books are available here: https://library.greensboro-nc.gov/ |
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| Learn more about the Rainbow Book List here: http://www.ala.org/rt/glbtrt |
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