We’re in the middle of Latine Heritage Month, which runs from September 15th to October 15th. To celebrate, I’m highlighting seven books by Latine authors that check off tasks in the 2026 Read Harder Challenge, including YA, nonfiction about resistance, magical realism, gothic novels, and romantasy.
These recommendations are all written by Vanessa Diaz, who also writes Book Riot’s Latine Lit newsletter. Sign up to get Latine book recommendations in your inbox all year round!
Get 15% off annual All Access memberships for a limited time in celebration of Book Riot’s 15th anniversary! Savings amount to more than 3 months of free unlimited access to our entire content archive, plus features like Collections and the New Release Index. Claim your savings and start leveling up your reading life.
Task #3: Read a YA book by a Latine author
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
When trans boy Yadriel’s traditional Latine family is reluctant to accept his gender, he decides to perform a ritual over Dia de Muertos to prove he’s a brujo and summons the wrong ghost. That ghost is Julian, a very cute classmate (and human golden retriever) who needs Yadriel’s help solving a mystery before he can cross over. This romantic fantasy is a witchy, magical, and culturally rich exploration of identity and so many kinds of love, including the cousin/bestie dynamic that is so special in Latine culture. It’s the kind of book I wish I could gift to my younger self, and I’m so glad it exists. Graveyard Gays forever.
Task #5: Read a nonfiction book about resistance
So Many Stars: An Oral History of Trans, Nonbinary, Genderqueer, and Two-Spirit People of Color by Caro De Robertis
This is a collection of beautiful stories of self-discovery, activism, resistance, and survival from queer elders of color. These testimonies are a necessary record of lived experience and hard-won progress, a love letter to queer history, and a reminder of the gift it is to have living elders among us. The joy in each of these stories is what has stayed with me, a joy that persisted even in periods of profound struggle and loss. We hear all the time that joy is resistance; this is the kind of work that really drives that point home and gives me hope for a better future.
All Access members, read on for five more recommendations.
Task #6: Read a gothic novel published in the last ten years
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
This is the book that really blew up Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s career, though real ones know she was doing the thing long before. In 1950s Mexico, Noemi gets a letter from her newlywed cousin Catalina begging for her help. She makes her way to High Place, the mansion Catalina shares with her husband in the countryside, where she immediately senses that something is very, very wrong. I was uneasy for most of this book and made a lot of faces towards the end, and I’m just so glad this work of gothic horror brought more people to the SMG fan club.
You Should Have Been Nicer to My Mom by Vincent Tirado
Papi Ramon is the recently deceased patriarch of a wealthy family, and he’s sown some light chaos in his final will and testament: therein he reveals that someone in the family is a demon he made a bargain with long ago, and the rest of the family needs to suss that demon out and get rid of it or else be damned. No one takes it seriously, save for his undisputed favorite grandaughter, Xiomara. But when the rest of the family sends the lawyer away to retrieve the original will, a wild storm hits and strands the family together. Over a harrowing 12-hour time period, truths surface, scandals break, and all hell generally breaks loose, and it’s up to Xiomara to find the demon and take them out—if she can survive the night.
Task #9: Read a romantasy book with a queer and/or BIPOC main character
The Witch of Wild Things (Wild Magic #1) by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland
This plant-powered romantasy read is the first in a series about the Flores family women, who each possess a touch of magic. Sage Flores left her hometown years ago after her younger sister died, but has now returned reluctantly after losing her job. She slides back into her old gig at the Cranberry Rose Company, where her ability to speak to plants comes in handy when she’s tasked with tracking down some unusual plant specimens. Problem! Sage is paired with the last person she wants anything to do with on this botanical mission: Tennesse Reyes, the boy who broke her heart in high school. Now on top of her dead sister’s ghost bringing her coffee and her other sister’s volatile magic creating weather-related havoc, Sage has to find a way to resist the man she so desperately wants to hate. If you love plant magic, magical realism, and second-chance love stories, get into this book and series.
Cursed Ever After by Andy C. Naranjo
In this subversive romantasy debut, Risa is cursed with bad luck, the sort that makes everyone in her village blame her for anything and everything that goes wrong. But she’s approaching her 17th birthday, and soon her wish to escape will be granted—a wish that comes with conditions. Risa owes a really annoying witch a favor and has to complete a quest to see this wish granted: she must accompany Prince Javi, the youngest and least important of the king’s sons, to a wedding. Far from a cushy quest, this task involved venturing into a dark and deadly forest with peril at every turn. And because this is romantasy, we know some feelings are bound to make things even more complicated.
Task #7: Read a work of magical realism or fabulism.
The Many Mothers of Dolores Moore by Anika Fajardo
Thirty-five-year-old Dolores Moore has been laid off from her job and is going through a breakup, and now she’s grieving the loss of her mother. She’s staring down the task of sorting out her inheritance, all while a Greek chorus of dead relatives’ voices follows her around offering unsolicited advice. Those voices have big feelings about a deathbed promise Dorrie made to her mother to return to her birthplace in Colombia, but she feels like it’s the worst time to leave home. Then a minor medical emergency brings an old flame back into her life, one who offers to house sit so Dorrie can make good on her promise. With the chorus egging her on and a hand-drawn map of Cali, Colombia in her possession, she sets out on a journey she’ll never forget.
Get access to our entire content archive plus exclusive features with an All Access subscription on Book Riot. Celebrate Book Riot’s 15th anniversary with 15% off annual memberships for a limited time! Save and share your favorite Book Riot picks with Collections Get the scoop on upcoming books with our curated new book discovery tool, the New Release Index Join the conversation with community features like comments and polls.Join All Access to unlock our content archive
Already a member? Log in
This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
The comments section is moderated according to our community guidelines. Please check them out so we can maintain a safe and supportive community of readers!
English (US) · 
French (CA) · 
French (FR) ·