Fave Five: Queer Spy Novels

The Torqued Man by Peter Mann

The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott

Vera Kelly by Rosalie Knecht

The Tuxedo Society by Paul Rudnick

The Perfume Thief by Timothy Schaffert

Exclusive Cover Reveal: In Your Starlight by Marina Baker

Today on the site I’m delighted to reveal the cover of In Your Starlight by Marina Baker, a lesbian romcom releasing December 15, 2026 from Contrarian Publishing! Here’s the story:

Engaged to the supposed love of her life and starring in a major motion picture, Regan Marshall was supposed to have it all. But her rising star falls abruptly when her fiancé’s cheating scandal breaks and his fans turn on her, crash landing her into Chester Ridge, the small hometown that she hasn’t visited properly in years. And everything is the same yet so, so different.

When her childhood best friend gets engaged, he asks Regan to be his best man. On one condition: Regan must play nice with their former best friend, Maia Fischer. Maia, who now runs her grandfather’s bakery. Maia, who she had a falling out with the night of high school graduation. Maia, who Regan has been running away from ever since.

Forced into their friend’s wedding party together, Regan and Maia slowly begin mending fences and discover there might even be something more between them. But when Hollywood begins calling Regan’s name again, she must decide whether to risk everything she’s been building in Chester Ridge or to let go of the string pulling her back toward the big screen.

And here’s the dreamy cover by Emily Nolan!

The book cover for In Your Starlight by Marina Baker, depicting a hand-painted scene of the outside of a cozy bakery at sunset, inside of which a young Latina baker and a young white actress are embracing, about to kiss. Outside the bakery paparazzi are gathered on the cobblestone sidewalk to take their photo.

Buy it: Amazon

Marina Baker has lived in Ventura, California their entire life, and they have been writing for the majority of that time. She is a lesbian interested in telling sapphic love stories, as she believes the romance genre could use more queer love stories. Queer love and queer joy are such a light in the stories that people tell, and she is honored to be a part of LGBTQ+ storytelling. Their hope is that young queer people can look to their writing as a source of comfort, just as they have.

Fave Five: M/M Standalone Romantasy

For more m/m Romantasy, click here.

The Emperor and the Endless Palace by Justinian Huang

Apparently, Sir Cameron Needs to Die by Greer Stothers

Yield Under Great Persuasion by Alexandra Rowland

Swordcrossed by Freya Marske

Bromantasy by Máire Roche

Inside an Anthology: Common Bonds 2, ed. by Claudie Arseneault

Today on the site, I’m delighted to welcome contributors to the speculative aromantic anthology Common Bonds 2 to take us inside the collection and get a glimpse of their stories! Before we get to that, I’ll take this opportunity to mention that the editors are hard at work on Common Bonds 3 (the cover of which was recently revealed on the site), and you can still support their Kickstarter here!

Now, let’s get to the collection:

 Two friends knitting a sweater within a frame of autumnal leaves. They are painted in blue, and a blue wool thread passes through the bold white title, Common Bonds 2. A subtitle at the bottom says “a speculative aromantic anthology”. The editors are Claudie Arseneault, RoAnna Sylver, and Em Ishii

Common Bonds returns in this second volume of speculative short stories and poetry featuring aromantic characters.

Housed within this anthology are a scientist who makes a terrifying discovery at the bottom of the ocean, a baker who must fulfill a prophecy, a priest and a witch who must form a family to escape a war, and a woman whose survival might just unravel time itself.

Through nineteen stories and poems, Common Bonds 2 explores the bonds that impact our lives from beginning to end: platonic relationships. From friends with benefits to mentors to life partners, this collection explores platonic relationships strong enough to overcome barriers of species, alien invasions, and the power of the gods themselves.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Continue reading Inside an Anthology: Common Bonds 2, ed. by Claudie Arseneault

Fave Five: Picture Books with Queer Dads, Part II

For Part I, click here.

The Perfect Match by Chris Taylor and Dan Becker

Harper Becomes a Big Sister by Seamus Kirst and Karen Bunting

Stella Brings the Family by Miriam B. Schiffer and Holly Clifton-Brown

Bathe the Cat by Alice B. McGinty and David Roberts

Why Do We Sing? by Sam Tsui and Casey Breves

Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Romances: July-December 2026

This post is sponsored by Dana Hawkins in honor of the August release of Forced Proximity, a bi M/F Romance coming August 27th!

She’s hired to protect. Not to fall in love.

Buy it: Amazon

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Grind by K.M. Neuhold (July 3rd)

This is the third book in the Gymbos series

Hockey star Diego Ferguson says he knows about the grind, but he’s about to learn that his new personal trainer, Callan, gives the word a whole new meaning.

Everyone in Chicago has been following the news about Diego’s injury and the last season spent on the bench. It doesn’t hurt that he’s got a major sexy brood going on in every picture I see of him these days.

The last place I expected him to show up was Sweat. But he’s looking for a personal trainer to help him get fully back in shape before the season, and I’m just the guy for the job.

It figures that he’s straight, but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the view while I help get his fine backside ready to get back out on the ice.

He’s definitely as surly as his pictures, and twice as arrogant. Turns out he’s also desperate for some bro time in between workouts, and I’m more than qualified to be the guy for that job too.

Maybe he’s not as straight as he claims. Maybe he just needs a little fun to get his confidence back up after last season. Maybe I’ll let myself indulge in a harmless fling with a cocky, bi-curious hockey player as a little treat. I work hard after all, and I deserve a little fun too.

We both know it can’t last, but puck it, a summer fling is always a good time.

Buy it: Amazon

Continue reading Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Romances: July-December 2026

New Releases: June 16, 2026

Today’s post is sponsored by FlameCon!

For more information and to get tickets, check out FlameCon.org!

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Middle Grade

Just Ask Elsie by Ari Koontz

The illustrated cover of Just Ask Elsie by Ari Koontz features a young white girl with blonde hair, standing in the middle of a school hallway and holding a stack of purple magazines that read "Elsie's Puberty Zine." Around her are cut-out doodles of birds and bees, hearts and emojis, and the progress pride flag. In the background, other students stand in front of blue lockers, watching and whispering. The title words are in mismatched fonts, with "Elsie" handwritten in gold sharpie over a piece of purple duct tape. The overall art style is soft-textured but bright, with pastel colors and rounded lines.Elsie Parker is having a totally normal fifth grade year.

Fractions and conjunctions―check.
Stressing about middle school―check.
Body-positive puberty class at church that also covers feelings and identities―check.

Okay, maybe that last one isn’t so normal. It’s a little weird (and awkward) to spend her Sundays talking periods, B.O., and pimples. But Elsie’s also learning a lot more than she’s heard in her public-school health class ― like the difference between sex and gender, and what consent is, and what it might mean that she can’t stop blushing around a certain cute girl at her school.

When her puberty lessons become the school’s latest gossip, Elsie’s totally humiliated… until she finds an anonymous note in her locker from a classmate who wants to know more, and realizes that other kids might have embarrassing questions of their own.

Starting an underground advice board wasn’t exactly in her plans, but Elsie won’t pass up a chance to turn her reputation around ― or to share words and labels that have not-so-accidentally been left off their curriculum. But when the principal tries to shut down the unauthorized puberty talk, Elsie has to decide what she’s willing to risk to tell the truth to kids who really need to hear it.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | B&N

Continue reading New Releases: June 16, 2026

Exclusive Cover Reveal: Happily Ever Afterlife by Emma R. Alban

Today on the site I’m delighted to reveal the cover of Emma R. Alban’s Happily Ever Afterlife, a Sapphic paranormal Romance releasing September 29, 2026 from Alcove Press! Here’s the story:

A struggling writer falls for the hot ghost mom she meets in the iconic Dakota Building in a romance perfect for fans of The Dead Romantics.

Frannie’s awful boss, celebrated literary novelist Henry L. Olsen, just told her that her latest manuscript is a dud—again. Frustrated and lonely, Frannie stomps around the ninth floor of the famously haunted Dakota Building in Manhattan, desperate for something to change. And then, something does.

Bridgette, the ghost of a little girl from 1889, appears out of nowhere and asks Frannie to play catch. Shocked and wildly curious, Frannie says yes to the ghostly invitation and soon meets Bridgette’s ghost brother, Michael . . . and the children’s exceedingly attractive and aloof 1960s ghost mom, Elsa.

Fascinated and more than a little flustered, Frannie starts secretly writing a book about Elsa (a.k.a. Hot Ghost Mom). And while her boss is on book tour, through a mutual affection for musicals, banter, and the ghost children, Frannie and Elsa slowly become friends, until Frannie finds herself tumbling head over heels in love with a ghost tied to a building she couldn’t afford to live in over four lifetimes.

Now Frannie has to either give up her ambitions of becoming a novelist to remain Henry’s assistant in the Dakota forever or somehow free her ghost family from their immortal home. With her career, future, and heart on the line, can Frannie find a way to write them all a happily-ever-after . . . life?

And here’s the romantic cover by Mallory Heyer!

Two women in the windows of a building, and one is a ghost. The tagline reads "Two beds, one bath, one hot ghost mom."

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | Penguin Random House

Emma R. Alban is a USA Today bestselling author and screenwriter. Raised in the Hudson Valley, she now lives in Los Angeles, enjoying the eternal sunshine, ocean, and mountains. When she isn’t writing books or screenplays, she can usually be found stress baking with the AC on full blast, skiing late into the spring, singingshowtunes at the top of her lungs on the freeway, and reading anywhere there’s somewhere to lean. She is the author of Don’t Want You Like a Best FriendYou’re the Problem, It’s You, and Like in Love with You.

Queering up your shelf, one rec at a time!