Books with a disabled author or MC

Quiet Writers 2025 Reading Challenge, prompt 4: A book with a disabled author or main character

May 10, 2025

The fourth prompt on the QW 2025 reading challenge is “A book with a disabled author or main character”. Despite there being so many books out there to fit this prompt, we always have trouble getting response when we do callouts for it.
Any other prompt gets flooded, but this one we usually have to post three or four times to even get a single response. It’s quite concerning, if I’m being totally honest. I know those books are out there, I know those authors are out there, but whenever we’re looking they seem to hide.

Nevertheless, we’ve managed to compile a list with a few books to help give you some ideas!

Before I get to the book recs, here’s a reminder of the full list of challenge prompts!
1. A debut book
The first book this author has published.
2. A local author
"Local" in this instance could be narrowed down to the same state. If you're in a smaller country, try for someone in your country. Whatever the closest is that works for you.
3. Something outside your usual genres
A genre that you don't often read. Not your go-to genre.
4. A book with a disabled author or main character
A book featuring a disabled main character, or written by a disabled author. Any kind of disability.
5. A seasonal book
This could be a book specific to an event or holiday (Valentine's Day, Halloween, Christmas etc), or an actual season (summer, autumn, winter, spring).
6. A book with an LGBTQIA+ MC
A book featuring an LGBTQIA+ main character.
7. A book with a BIPOC author or MC
A book featuring a BIPOC main character, or written by a BIPOC author.
8. An author you haven't read before
This is the first book you've read by this author.
9. A collection of short stories or poetry
A book containing short stories or poetry, by a single author, or by multiple authors. (If you get stuck, try an edition of Quiet Writers)
10. An #OwnVoices book
A book written by someone with the shared experiences of their character, such as an autistic character written by an autistic author or a trans character written by a trans author.
11. A non-fiction or children's book
A non-fiction book, or a children's book. Whichever suits you best.
12. free space :)
There are thousands of indie & self-pub books out there. Go pick one that takes your fancy!

If you’d like to join in, the challenge is listed on Storygraph.

Athena's Revenge by M Bonneau
Genres: regency romance
Age category: adult
Rep: autistic FMC
Notes: duels, villain redemption, opposites attract, enemies to lovers with an autistic heroine, written for all the angry justice-focused low support needs autistic ladies who never quite fit in can’t stand that the world is unfair, second in a series
Catherine Hunt enjoys her independence. She no longer needs to marry a man she doesn’t love to save her family from the poorhouse and is planning a life of happy spinsterhood. But then the man she hates most in the world, the man who nearly destroyed her sister, is left for dead practically on her doorstep, and she finds herself saving him. A swift death is too good for him, after all. He has to live so he can make amends.
Oliver Reid, Viscount Grenville, didn’t realize until he almost died how empty and pointless his life was. Then, a vengeful angel saves him and he finally has a purpose. He will make right his wrongs and prove to Catherine that his jaded heart is capable of love. But it’s a more difficult task than he anticipated. It turns out he’s never been the hero of his own story. He’s been the villain, and Catherine may never forgive him. He may never forgive himself.
How can he be worthy of Catherine, how can he expect her to love him, when he represents everything she hates?
And then there’s the reason he was shot in the first the woman he duelled over, whose reputation can only be saved by marriage... to him.
This book is available on Amazon.

Goodreads • Storygraph • store page (Amazon) • author site

How to Bite Your Neighbor and Win a Wager by D.N. Bryn
Genres: fantasy, romance
Age category: adult
Notes: LGBTQIA+, vampires, medium spice, slow burn, MM romance, paranormal, first in a series
Vincent Barnes has suffered four years as a vampire, and they’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 can’t help returning for seconds.
Wesley Garcia has been waking up with fang marks. Lucky for him, he needs a vampire—to use as bait. He’s certain Vitalis-Barron Pharmaceutical killed his mother, but to gain access to their covert research labs, he has to bring them a bloodsucker for their experiments.
Step one, a dramatic offer: Stay, and you can bite me.
Vincent leaps at the chance to gobble Wesley up.
Wes’s plan is perfect. He’ll befriend the vampire, then trick him into coming to the lab. No fighting, no fuss. But Vincent is more than Wesley has bargained for: sweet and shy, with intoxicating fangs that awaken new desires in Wes. As the two bond, Vincent believes he might have finally found someone worth putting his trust in... and Wes fears neither of them will survive the betrayal he has planned.
This book is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Goodreads • Storygraph • store page (author site) • author site

Triple Strike: Threads of Fate by G.M. Gray
Genres: action, comedy, adventure, sci-fi
Age category: adult (but teen-friendly)
Rep: Prosthetic limb and ADHD rep, dealing with PTSD
Notes: first in a series, space pirates, queer normative
Alan Beringer’s day takes an unexpected turn when he’s kidnapped by alien space pirates. In all fairness, pyrean space pirates claiming they're "privateers” has become the norm since humans became an interstellar species.
Pirates aren’t the problem. The problem is Alan's job is to curtail space piracy. The problem is Alan may be more pyrean than he lets on. The problem is the alien space pirate captain, Sven Jiordson, has a growing infatuation with Alan. The problem is Alan kind of enjoys being kidnapped.
But who has time for romance when there's a new, unknown threat to interstellar space travel? Kidnapping aside, Alan needs to do what he does use his brilliant detective skills to notice everything…except Sven flirting with him.
As the pyreans say — romance is more fun when somebody’s alive to enjoy it!
This book is available on multiple online stores.

Goodreads • Storygraph • store page (books2read) • store page (itch.io) • author linktree

On Silver Shores by V. T. Hoang
Genres: fantasy, paranormal, romance
Age category: adult
Notes: MM, LGBTQIA+
Sirens are known for their beauty and grace. Everything from their lithe figures to their perfectly symmetrical faces to the cadence of their voices is designed to charm. Pleasure of the flesh is how they sustain themselves. So, of course, Detective Carver would be the one siren lucky enough to hate sex.
Ever since his husband died, Carver has resented the defining feature of his race, but when his boss calls in someone to assist with his investigation, he finds himself confronted with a problem he never expected—attraction. Jian is supposed to be just an analyst, buttoned-up and stiff and unassuming. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sure, he can put on a nice smile and act polite enough, but there's something behind his eyes that's decidedly not professional. That hunger for carnal satisfaction Carver thought long dead starts to come back to life as they work together.
And he has to wonder if he's just starving or if this is a craving.
This book is available on Amazon.

Goodreads • Storygraph • store page (Amazon) • author linktree

Against the Grain by Jay Hogan
Genres: romance
Age category: adult
Notes: book four in a series, sports romance, MM romance
I don’t like labels and I’m happy that way, but it’s taken a long time to get here. A jerk of a father, too many bullies to name, and a string of dipshit boyfriends whose interest in me rarely made it past the skirts I sometimes wear. Suffice to say, my faith in men runs a little thin.
The last thing I need is a gruff, opinionated, fiery, closeted, Paralympian jock messing with my hard-won peace. Miller Harrison is a wrinkle in my life I could definitely do without. I have a job that I love at Auckland Med., a boss who understands me, and a group of friends who accept me as I am.
I should walk away.
But Miller knows a thing or two about living life against the grain, and that hope I thought I’d buried a long time ago, is threatening to surface.
This book is available from the author’s site.

Goodreads • Storygraph • store page (author site) • author site

Rainsquall by Penny Moss
Genres: romance, historical, low fantasy
Age category: adult
Rep: blindness, neurodirvergence
Notes: achillean polyam, high steam, slice-of-life, sheepcore, why choose (there is no choice), hurt/comfort, first time, dragons
Lone shepherd Folke is content to drift through life without the hassle of others. Yet his quiet days come to a thunderous end when a storm forces three enigmatic men to seek refuge in his secluded cottage.
Suddenly, Folke’s world is crowded with all the things he worked to avoid, while opening up to many alluring possibilities. Warm skin, shared breaths, and the caress of lips beguile him into what he knows will lead to heartbreak. Each day he grows closer to the men is another day until their inevitable departure—and to secrets that could change all he knows.
This book is available on Kindle.

Goodreads • Storygraph • store page (books2read) • author site

Hurricane Ryan by Katya Summer
Genres: romance
Age category: adult
Notes: low hear/high tension, forbidden feelings, touch her and you know what, fiesty FMC, Baywatch vibes
Becoming a lifeguard at Sea Side Cove was never in Carly’s plans, but it’s the one thing in her life that’s going right. At least, until the new guy shows up and knocks her off her game in the middle of a rescue. Ryan Harris might be the most amazing man she’s ever met.
There’s just one problem. She’s not available.
Her relationship is, at best, complicated. She hasn’t been happy in a long time, but she can’t just walk out either. And if Ryan knew the truth about Carly, he wouldn’t want her, anyway.
Now she just needs to convince him of that. Then Sea Side Cove finds itself in the path of a Category 5 hurricane, and suddenly they have much bigger things to worry about.
This book is available on multiple online stores.

Goodreads • Storygraph • store page (author site) • author site

Aftermath by L.A. Witt
Genres: romance
Age category: adult
Disability: MC shattered his hip and pelvis
Notes: MM romance, dual P.O.V., hurt/comfort
Brent Weyland was the life of the party until an injury ended his hockey career. Now he’s retreated alone to a lakefront house, trying to make sense of a life and body that don’t feel like his anymore.
Jon Norquist was happily married right up until he wasn’t. Now a single father in his forties, he’s trying to figure out what comes next. In the meantime, he pours his heartache and regret into the lyrics he sings for the wine bar crowd a couple of nights a week.
When a friend coaxes Brent out for a night of wine and music, he puts Brent and Jon on a collision course. Their chemistry is instantaneous. Jon gives Brent’s battered body a much-needed remedial lesson in pleasure. And Brent gives Jon a reason to smile again.
Multiple reasons, actually. Neither man wants anything serious, but love has a habit of showing up whether it’s welcome or not. No matter how hard they try, the two can’t help having feelings for each other, even as life continues to throw them curveballs.
But they’ve both got baggage to unpack and hurt to move past, and if they can’t leave their pasts in the past, they might just miss out on an amazing future.
This book is available on Amazon.