Middle Grade
The Pale Queen by Ethan M. Aldridge
Agatha has always dreamed of the stars. But when a chance encounter introduces her to the Lady of the Hills, Agatha is shocked to learn that a secret magical world lays hidden in the mist-shrouded land next to her village. She finds herself quickly captivated by the Lady, but is the Lady who she appears to be?
As Agatha forms a new friendship with a girl in town, she learns that the Lady is far older and more powerful than she could’ve guessed and that her plans aren’t as innocent as they appear. Will Agatha be able to protect the people she loves from the Lady’s sinister agenda?
Young Adult
Sleep Like Death by Kalynn Bayron
Princess Eve was raised with one purpose: to destroy the Knight, an evil sorcerer who terrorizes Queens Bridge with his wicked magic. Her own unique magic–the ability to conjure weapons from nature–makes her a worthy adversary. Far too many of subjects of Queens Bridge have been devastated by the Knight’s trickery.
As she approaches her seventeenth birthday, Eve is ready to battle. But her mother, Queen Regina, has been acting bizarrely, talking to a strange mirror alone every night. Then a young man claiming to be the Knight’s messenger appears and shares a shocking truth about Eve’s past. Unsure of who to trust or what to do next, Eve must find the courage to do what she’s always done: fight. But will it be enough to save her family and her queendom?
Six of Sorrow by Amanda Linsmeier
For most of her life, Isabeau and her five best friends were inseparable—amazingly enough, the six girls even shared a birthday. Then a rift caused their friendships to fracture, and Iz lost everyone except Reuel, the only one who didn’t abandon her.Until now. The night of their sixteenth birthday, Isabeau leaves Reuel sitting on her front porch and heads home—and in the morning, Reuel is missing. She’s gone for two days, and when she reappears, there’s something wrong with her. She’s sick. Really sick. And she doesn’t remember anything that happened while she was gone.
If there’s any bright side to the situation, it’s that Reuel’s peculiar disappearance brings the six girls back together. Their sisterhood feels as strong as it was years ago, but when another one of them disappears, they all agree that they must have more in common than simply their birthday. They all feel it. Something’s been waiting for them, and that something has come to claim them one by one.
Deep in their bones, they know—it’s just a matter of time until they they’re all taken. And if they don’t save themselves, no one will.
Adult
The Lion’s Den by Iris Mwanza
When young queer dancer Wilbess “Bessy” Mulenga is arrested by corrupt police, fresh-from-the-village rookie lawyer Grace Zulu takes up his cause in her first pro bono case. Presented with a freshly beaten client, Grace protests to the police and gets barred from accessing Bessy, who then disappears from the system—and the world—without a trace. As she fights for justice for Bessy, Grace must navigate a dangerous world of corrupt politicians, traditional beliefs, and deep-seated homophobia.
With the help of a former freedom fighter and the head of her law firm, who’s rallying for one last fight as AIDS takes its toll on him, Grace brings together a coalition of unions, students, and political opposition to take on the corrupt administration of President Kaunda. But will justice prevail in the face of such overwhelming odds?
Hombrecito by Santiago Jose Sanchez
In this groundbreaking novel, Santiago Jose Sanchez plunges us into the heart of one boy’s life. His mother takes him and his brother from Colombia to America, leaving their absent father behind but essentially disappearing herself once they get to Miami.
In America, his mother works as a waitress when she was once a doctor. The boy embraces his queer identity as wholeheartedly as he embraces his new home, but not without a sense of loss. As he grows, his relationship with his mother becomes fraught, tangled, a love so intense that it borders on vivid pain but is also the axis around which his every decision revolves. She may have once forgotten him, disappeared, but she is always on his mind.
He moves to New York, ducking in and out of bed with different men as he seeks out something, someone, to make him whole again. When his mother invites him to visit family in Colombia with her, he returns to the country as a young man, trying to find peace with his father, with his homeland, with who he’s become since he left, and with who his mother is: finally we come to know her and her secrets, her complex ambivalence and fierce love.
The Hunter’s Gambit by Ciel Pierlot
The city of Mavazem is plagued by aristocratic vampires who terrorise the human citizens. But Kazan Korvic refuses to cower. As an expert blacksmith with a sharp grifter’s eye, her specialty lies in crafting, and using, weapons designed to kill the vicious creatures.But, turns out, sword skills aren’t quite enough when a whole group of vampires attack her and steal her magical weapon. Kazan is captured and forced to attend the Vampire Court where she is forced to act as their ‘Queen’. For three days she will waited and doted upon, until the lavish party where her reign will end in extravagant feast… and Kazan as the main course!Kazan plans to find her sword and get out, except with no allies in the castle, Kazan can feel the walls closing in. But she soon realises that she is not just trapped with these bloodthirsty bastards, they’re trapped with her too. And they’re not prepared for just how far she’s willing to go to survive.
Hot Summer by Elle Everhart
This summer, things are about to heat up.
Cas Morgan has spent years of her life watching Hot Summer, the hit reality dating show that pairs together a bunch of sexy singles in an exotic island location. Like the rest of the TV-watching UK public, she’s captivated by the hot contestants, outrageous fights, and hilarious banter. But she never quite thought she’d be a part of it, until her company secures a partnership with the production team behind the show, and Cas is handpicked as a contestant. She won’t get any extra help making it through the eight weeks in the hot Cypriot sun, but if she does well and makes it to the finals, her long-awaited promotion will be secured.
Cas is ready to spend the summer trying to make herself more likeable to win over the voting public—and, if not likeable, then at least iconic. But just as she steps into the villa, her entire plan goes off course. She’s instantly smitten with fellow contestant, Ada, who shockingly appears to be on the show to find a genuine relationship, one Cas can’t give. Ada is gorgeous and charming, and seems to like Cas exactly as she is, sharp-edges and all. Cas isn’t used to the side of herself Ada brings out, and when their connection becomes undeniable—and Cas’s own standing in the villa precarious—she’s torn between listening to her heart or sticking to her strategy.
Saints of Storm and Sorrow by Gabriella Buba
María Lunurin has been living a double life for as long as she can remember. To the world, she is Sister María, dutiful nun and devoted servant of Aynila’s Codicían colonizers. But behind closed doors, she is a stormcaller, chosen daughter of the Aynilan goddess Anitun Tabu. In hiding not only from the Codicíans and their witch hunts, but also from the vengeful eye of her slighted goddess, Lunurin does what she can to protect her fellow Aynilans and the small family she has created in the convent: her lover Catalina, and Cat’s younger sister Inez.
Lunurin is determined to keep her head down—until one day she makes a devastating discovery, which threatens to tear her family apart. In desperation, she turns for help to Alon Dakila, heir to Aynila’s most powerful family, who has been ardently in love with her for years. But this choice sets in motion a chain of events beyond her control, awakening Anitun Tabu’s rage and putting everyone Lunurin loves in terrible danger. Torn between the call of Alon’s magic and Catalina’s jealousy, her duty to her family and to her people, Lunurin can no longer keep Anitun Tabu’s fury at bay.
The goddess of storms demands vengeance. And she will sweep aside anyone who stands in her way.
Sapphire Dawn by C. Travis Rice
Donnie Bascombe has made a lot of people’s fantasies come true in his life, first in the bedroom, then on the set of his adult entertainment studio. But his best friend Logan Murdoch has just presented him with his tallest order yet—help plan the wedding of his dreams. Desire has always been Donnie’s forte. But lavish nuptials at one of Southern California’s premier oceanfront resorts? For that job, he’ll need a partner. And a mentor.
Richard Merriweather has devoted his life to planning fairy tale weddings for celebrities and royalty—only to have his own husband shatter his heart into a million pieces. Remaking the special events office at Sapphire Cove is just the distraction he needs to get his fancy and luxurious life back on track. But the groom’s brash and undeniably sexy best friend has a powerful attraction to Richard Merriweather he can’t keep secret. Problem is, Richard doesn’t do hookups, and Donnie doesn’t do relationships. The closer Donnie gets to Richard, the more he wants something different, something he’s never had before. Something that will force both men to confront the heartbreak in their pasts as they plan Sapphire Cove’s wedding of the decade and find an unexpected future for themselves.
Please Stop Trying to Leave Me by Alana Saab
While god is sending her signs through Instagram and Spotify demanding she break up with her girlfriend, Norma meets with a new therapist for one reason: she really needs to write again. With only one chapter missing in her manuscript, Norma is desperate to know if she needs to leave her girlfriend in order to write The Last Story. The new therapist diagnoses Norma with Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder, but Norma isn’t having it. It’s just Oblivion.
Haunted by SSRI side effects and life becoming less hazily fictional by the day, Norma has never felt crazier. Does anyone else see the world’s poorly crafted plotline? Like, who even wrote this story? Norma begins sharing her manuscript with her therapist, hoping to connect the dissociative dots once and for all—or at least enough so that Google ads stop giving her panic attacks. But soon Norma is questioning everything she’s ever believed about life, writing, and love.
And then there’s Norma’s girlfriend, the one with a crack of light in her eyes. Could she be Oblivion’s antagonist, the manuscript’s savior? Or is she just a human?
Nothing But the Truth by Robyn Gigl
This is the fourth book in the Erin McCabe Legal Thrillers series
New Jersey State Trooper Jon Mazer has been charged with killing Black investigative reporter Stewart Marshall in a racially charged, headline-making murder. The evidence against criminal defense attorney Erin McCabe’s new client is overwhelming. The gun used is Mazer’s off-duty weapon. Fingerprints and carpet fibers link Mazer to the crime. And Mazer was patrolling Marshall’s neighborhood shortly before the victim took three bullets to the chest. Mazer’s argument? He’s a gay officer being set up to take the fall in an even bigger story.
Mazer swears he was a secret source for Marshall’s exposé about the Lords of Discipline. The covert gang operating within the New Jersey State Police is notorious for enforcing their own code of harassing women, framing minorities, and out-powering any troopers who don’t play their rogue and racist games. With everyone from the governor to the county prosecutor on the wrong side of justice, Erin and her partner, Duane Swisher, are prepared to do anything to make sure Mazer doesn’t become another victim.
As Erin deals with an intensely personal issue at home, and faces an uphill battle to prove her client’s innocence, both she and Duane find themselves mired in a conspiracy of corruption deeper than they imagined—and far more dangerous than they feared.
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