Young Adult
The Tournament by Rebecca Barrow
They Wish They Were Us meets Nothing Left to Tell in this young adult thriller about three girls with entangled pasts who compete for glory in their private school’s annual tournament, putting their survival skills and their relationships to the test.
Gardner isn’t like other boarding schools. They take in those who’ve been rejected everywhere else, they offer a survival skills class that has students killing and gutting animals, and then there’s the Tournament.
A competition available only to seven elite seniors, the Tournament is revered by the entire student body. They’d do almost anything—including completing a series of grueling physical challenges—to win the champion’s cup.
And this year, three seniors make the Tournament more cutthroat than ever.
Max, the ruthless scholarship student who can’t afford any distractions, not even her ex best friend Nora’s stupid confession of love at the end of last year that ruined everything between them.
Nora, who always put herself on the sidelines so Max could have everything she wanted, but might just be ready for center stage now that Max has brutally excised herself from Nora’s life.
And Teddy, the transfer who’s on her last chance and will chase any high that can pull her back from the gaping, dark void inside herself that’s always threatening to pull her in.
If one of them wants to win, then they can’t let anything—or anybody—get in their way.
If We Survive This by Racquel Marie
Flora Braddock Paz is not the girl who survives. A colorful creative who spends as much time fearing death as she does trying to hide that fear from her loved ones, she’s always considered herself weak. But half a year into the global outbreak of a rabies mutation that transforms people into violent, zombielike “rabids,” she and her older brother Cain are still alive. With their mom dead, their dad missing, and their LA suburb left desolate, they form a new plan to venture out to the secluded Northern California cabin they vacationed in growing up―their best chance at a safe haven and maybe even seeing their dad again.
The dangers of the world have changed, but so has Flora. Still, their journey up the state is complicated by encounters with familiar faces, new allies, hidden truths, and painful memories of the family’s final time making this trip last year. And for Flora, one thing inevitably remains: No matter how far you run, death is never far behind.
America’s Not-So-Sweetheart by Blair Hanson
Alec Braud is the most hated teen in America after winning Campfire Wars by backstabbing his showmance, Joaquin Yasuda. So when Joaquin asks Alec to join him on a road trip in order to “queerify” classic movie kisses for an art project, Alec agrees in the hopes it might make get them back together and convince the world he’s not a bad guy IRL..
Alec spends the trip reading into Joaquin’s flirty behavior and things get even more complicated when Alec is invited to return to the next season of Campfire Wars. He’s been trying to prove to everyone (and Joaquin) that he’s not actually the worst. But Alec is torn again between a second chance with Joaquin and cold hard cash.
Can he turn down the chance to return to the small screen for what only might be love?
The Other Side of the Ocean by J.B. Netto
So much of who I was had to be hidden. I wondered how it would feel to let that part of me be on full display. Maybe I’ d be given the chance to feel. To forget. Or even to breathe…
For most sixteen year olds, life is all about friends, fun, and family. But for Matt Franco, it’s different. Because Matt and his family are undocumented immigrants— like many other Brazilian emigres in his town. And that means he can’t get a job, he can’t get a driver’s license, and as for college? Get real. But Matt is also carrying a burden much closer to his own heart.
Matt is gay.
And right now, he’ s the only one who knows it. But that changes when handsome, kind-eyed, and charming transfer student James Alberte walks into class. Because James isn’ t just some queer teen crush. He’ s everything Matt could ask for— and it’ s James’ love, strength, and support that helps Matt finally come out to the world.
Unfortunately, love doesn’ t necessarily make Matt’ s situation any easier. He’ s still stranded by his immigrant status, with a future that seems headed for a dead end. And if he’ s ever going to be happy, Matt will have to decide what he wants, where he’ s headed— and who he is at heart.
It won’ t be simple. And it certainly won’ t be easy.
But when it comes to life, love, and everything in between, what is?
Bad Creek by Peyton June
Iris, Gum, and Aidan are vacationing in Bad Creek, just like every summer. Except Iris’s older sister, Glory, drowned in the lake last year, and Iris can’t seem to move on; Gum is hiding his sexuality from his family while being viciously haunted by Glory’s rotting ghost; and Aidan is distraught over a drunken argument with Glory that he fears may have led to her death. When Iris sleepwalks to the dilapidated house that Glory obsessively sketched in her final days, she and the boys begin to uncover a sinister history in the very bones of the town. The trio must reckon with the events of last summer and uncover what lurks within Bad Creek before it takes Iris’s life next.
Adult
These Heathens by Mia McKenzie
Dear Lord, please forgive me for the sins I’ve committed. And for the one I’m still planning to commit tomorrow. Amen.
Where do you get an abortion in 1960 Georgia, especially if your small town’s midwife goes to the same church as your parents? For seventeen-year-old Doris Steele, the answer is Atlanta, where her favorite teacher, Mrs. Lucas, calls upon her brash, wealthy childhood best friend, Sylvia, for help. While waiting to hear from the doctor who has agreed to do the procedure, Doris spends the weekend scandalized by, but drawn to, the people who move in and out of Sylvia’s orbit: celebrities whom Doris has seen in the pages of Jet and Ebony, civil rights leaders such as Coretta Scott King and Diane Nash, women who dance close together, boys who flirt too hard and talk too much, atheists! And even more shocking? Mrs. Lucas seems right at home.
From the guests at a queer kickback to the student activists at a SNCC conference, Doris suddenly finds herself surrounded by so many people who seem to know exactly who or what they want. Doris knows she doesn’t want a baby, but what does she want? Will this trip help her find out?
Work Nights by Erica Peplin
Jane Grabowski hauls herself to her nine to five office job at New York City’s most acclaimed newspaper to sit in stale air under severe florescent lights and mask her rage by sending emails with too many exclamation points.
Luckily, Jane has a reason to keep coming into the office: Madeline, the distractingly beautiful intern. Madeline has never dated a woman and is uncomfortable with labels but with carefully timed lunch breaks and painstakingly crafted texts, Jane works her way into her life. Meanwhile, Jane’s free-spirited artist roommate tries to keep her from falling for a straight girl by dragging Jane to gay bars and queer Shabbat dinners, where she meets the decidedly uncool and morally righteous musician, Addy.
Caught between Addy’s readiness to commit and Madeline’s alluring unpredictability, Jane is pulled down a slippery path of lies and deceit, leading to a plane ticket that threatens to take everything down in one fell swoop.
Wearing the Lion by John Wiswell
Heracles, hero of Greece, dedicates all his feats to Hera, goddess of family. Heracles’ mother raised himto revere Hera, as her attempt to avoid the goddess’ wrath. Unbeknownst to Heracles, he is yet another child Hera’s husband, Zeus, had out of wedlock.
Hera loathes every minute of Heracles’ devotion. She finally snaps and sends the Furies to make Heracles kill himself. But the moment Heracles goes mad, his children playfully ambush him, and he slays them instead. When the madness fades, Heracles’s wife, Megara, convinces him to seek revenge. Together they’ll hunt the Furies and learn which god did this.
Believing Hera is the only god he can still trust, Heracles prays to Hera, who is wracked with guilt over killing his children. To mislead Heracles, Hera sends him on monster-slaying quests, but he is too traumatized to enact more violence. Instead, Heracles cares for the Nemean lion, cures the illness of the Lernaean hydra, and bonds with Crete’s giant bull.
Hera struggles with her role in Heracles’ life as Heracles begins to heal psychologically by connecting with the monsters—while also amassing an army that could lay siege to Olympos.
Girls Girls Girls by Shoshana von Blanckensee
It’s the summer of ’96 and best friends (and secret girlfriends), Hannah and Sam are driving across the country from Long Beach, New York, to the fabled queer paradise of San Francisco, free from the harsh gazes of their neighbors and the stifling demands of Hannah’s devout Orthodox Jewish mother. In San Francisco, they will finally be together as a real couple, out in the open, around other queer people. Even if the move means leaving behind Hannah’s beloved Bubbe.
But when the financial strains of West Coast living push the girls to start stripping at The Chez Paree–yet another secret Hannah must keep from her family–Hannah feels trapped. Sam wants her at the club, but Hannah hates stripping nearly as much as she hates disappointing Sam. Then Hannah meets Chris, an older butch lesbian, who is immediately taken with Hannah. And Hannah too is intrigued by Chris–her attention, her messiness, her pain–and the chance to escape the leering men at The Chez Paree. Desperate to stay in San Francisco, but away from the club, Hannah proposes an escort arrangement with Chris.
As Hannah falls deeper into Chris’ world and Sam starts to meet new queer friends a rift forms between them. Without Sam, who is Hannah? And what becomes of San Francisco to Hannah alone–a space rich with queer possibility, or an intimidating, unfamiliar place, just as lonely as the one she’d left behind?
The Mercy Makers by Tessa Gratton
Can an empire trip and fall on a mere strand of silk?
Iriset is a prodigy and an outlaw. The daughter of a powerful criminal, she dons her alter ego Silk to create magical disguises for those in her father’s organization, but she longs to do more with her talent: to enhance what it means to be human by giving people wings, night-sight, and other abilities; to unlock the possibilities of gender and parenthood; to cure disease and even to end mortality itself.
Everything changes when her father is captured and sentenced to death. To save him, Iriset must infiltrate the palace and the empire’s fanatical ruling family. There, she realizes she has a chance—and an obligation—to bring down the entire corrupt system. She’ll have to entangle herself in the lives of the emperor and his sister, getting them to trust and even to love her. But love is a two-way street, and Iriset’s own heart holds the most mysterious and impenetrable magic of all.
This Princess Kills Monsters by Ry Herman
Someone wants to murder Princess Melilot. This is sadly normal.
Melilot is sick of being ordered to go on dangerous quests by her domineering stepmother. Especially since she always winds up needing to be rescued by her more magically talented stepsisters. And now, she’s been commanded to marry a king she’s never met.
When hideous spider-wolves attack her on the journey to meet her husband-to-be, she is once again rescued—but this time, by twelve eerily similar-looking masked huntsmen. Soon, she has to contend with near-constant attempts on her life, a talking lion that sets bewildering gender tests, and a king who can’t recognize his true love when she puts on a pair of trousers. And all the while, she has to fight her growing attraction to not only one of the huntsmen, but also her fiancé’s extremely attractive sister.
If Melilot can’t unravel the mysteries and rescue herself from peril, kingdoms will fall. Worse, she could end up married to someone she doesn’t love.
Holly Jolly July by Lindsay Maple
It’s the hottest Christmas on record…
Like naughty and nice, Mariah and Ellie are complete opposites. Small-time actress Ellie is thrilled to be back on set of a cozy holiday film, while makeup artist Mariah only views the low-budget project as a stepping stone on her way to more serious movies. The pair definitely don’t hit it off when they’re introduced, but if they want to survive the summer heat—and Mariah’s stifling Canadian hometown—they’ve got to keep it professional. Luckily, holiday cheer is Ellie’s specialty, and she’s determined to win stubborn Mariah over.
Mariah finds one bright spot in her forced second Christmas: hot hookups with an edgy local bartender. The romance even has her opening up to Ellie—who admits to crushing on her wholesome cottage-rental host. But when Ellie and Mariah realize the guys are cheating on them, they band together to get revenge. It’s fun planning their own Home Alone–inspired pranks…until Ellie and Mariah realize they’re actually falling for each other.
While the ladies grow from friends to lovers, they’re aware that the film shoot is too short to get serious. And when filming wraps and new projects pull Ellie and Mariah in totally opposite directions, they’ll have to decide: Was their romance simply a holiday fling or a real Christmas-in-July miracle?
The Ghosts of Gwendolyn Montgomery by Clarence A. Haynes
To be a client of Gwendolyn Montgomery—New York’s most powerful publicist, at Sublime Creative—is to be infused with a certain oomph, a mysterious glamour. She seems to have created the ideal life with her handsome new boyfriend, the perfect match. But Gwendolyn has a legion of long-buried secrets that could unravel everything.
After a grisly, bizarre incident at the Brooklyn Museum, Gwendolyn begins to realize that something nefarious is happening tied directly to her past, right as Fonsi Harewood comes back into her world. Fonsi is a queer Latinx psychic from the South Bronx who’s caught up in a love triangle with a ghost and his mortal ex. He’s able to communicate with the dead, and he comes with a dire warning for Gwendolyn, that the barrier between humans and spirits is weakening.
Gwendolyn would prefer not to have anything to do with ghostly drama. Yet in order to get to the bottom of the spookiness derailing her life and threatening the world, she must face the demons she’d long left behind.
The Ripple Effect by Maggie North
Burned-out former ER doc Stellar J Byrd can solve any crisis except her own life. But with her financial prospects dwindling, she’d do anything to stay in her beloved, pricey wilderness town―even take a job as a camp physician at The Love Boat, an unspeakably touchy-feely relationship therapy startup. If there are sing-alongs, she’s calling in sick.
What’s worse? Her boss is Lyle “McHuge” McHugh, the sunshiny psychologist she’s masterfully avoided since their disastrous hookup last year. Hardheaded relationship scorekeeper Stellar plans to dodge his pathological generosity from now until September, but after a scathing article puts McHuge’s romantic credibility into question, a fake engagement is the only way to salvage the camp’s crumbling public image.
It’s strictly business . . . but the more closely they work together, the more Stellar realizes her feelings for McHuge are anything but professional. With competitors hard on their heels and trade secrets at stake, they must find a way to marry his softness with her steel to build a business–and a love–that will last past summer’s end . . .
Son of the Moon by Janelle Cressida
“Don’t come crying to me if he somehow manages to actually kill you!”
Twenty-one-year-old Jesse leads a pretty ordinary life until he encounters Jamie, who, covered in soot and ash, can’t even remember where the blood on his hands came from.
Aware of the risk, Jesse offers him a place for the night, and what starts as simple act of kindness quickly deepens into a profound connection. Jamie explores the world anew, curious and with an endearing innocence, but things change rapidly when their first intimate moment nearly ends in tragedy. Even worse, Jamie begins to experience vivid nightmares; and discovering mysterious powers inside of him, the question of who he really is becomes all the more pressing. What did he do before he met Jesse? Is Jamie truly the harmless person he seems to be?
Buy it: Amazon
Last Dance Before Dawn by Katharine Schellman
This is the final book in the Nightingale Mysteries
Vivian Kelly has finally created a home and a family at the glamorous speakeasy known as The Nightingale, where no one cares who you are in the daytime. After all, in the underground world of 1920s New York City, everyone has a secret to keep, and they’re on the Nightingale’s dance floor to leave those secrets behind. But sometimes it takes more than a dance to escape your past.
When a stranger from Chicago shows up at The Nightingale looking to settle old scores, Vivian and the Nightingale’s owner, the mysterious and alluring Honor Huxley, send him packing. They soon discover, though, that the stranger was just a warning. Slowly, the people who have made The Nightingale their home realize that someone is following them. Hunting them. And that someone won’t stop until they unravel a mystery that’s been cold for years: a missing girl, a boy out for revenge, and a truck full of cash that disappeared in a job gone horribly wrong.
Vivian just wants to protect the people she loves, and she’s willing to dig into the dirt of the past to make it happen. But some questions are safer left unanswered, and now that Vivian has built a family for herself, she has more to lose than ever before.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | B&N
Non-Fiction
American Scare: Florida’s Hidden Cold War on Black and Queer Lives by Robert W. Fieseler
A vital exposé for both our history and our present day, American Scare tells the riveting story of how the Florida government destroyed the lives of Black and queer citizens in the twentieth century.
In January 1959, Art Copleston was escorted out of his college accounting class by three police officers. In a motel room, blinds drawn, he sat in front of a state senator and the legal counsel for the Florida Legislative Investigation Committee, nicknamed the “Johns Committee.” His crime? Being a suspected homosexual. And the government of Florida would use any tactic at their disposal—legal or not—to get Copleston to admit it.
Using a secret trove of primary source documents that have been decoded and de-censored for the first time in history, journalist Robert Fieseler unravels the mystery of what actually happened behind the closed doors of an inquisition that held ordinary citizens ransom to its extraordinary powers.
The state of Florida would prefer that this history remain buried. But for nearly a decade, the Florida Legislature founded, funded, and supported the Johns Committee—an organization using the cover of communism to viciously attack members of the NAACP and queer professors and students. Spearheaded by Charley Johns, a multi-term politician in a gerrymandered legislature, the Committee was determined to eliminate any threats to the state’s white, conservative regime.
Fieseler describes the heartbreaking ramifications for citizens of Florida whose lives were imperiled, profiling marginalized residents with compassion and a determination to bring their devasting experiences to light at last. A propulsive, human-centered drama, with fascinating insight into Florida politics, American Scare is a page-turning reckoning of our racist and homophobic past—and its chilling parallels to today.
