Young Adult
Don’t Forget to Breathe by Brianna R. Shrum and Sara Waxelbaum
Zoe’s always had a plan. Ballet has been her past, present, and future for so long that she’s never even considered otherwise. It’s been the escape she’s always needed. Yet when senior year arrives, it arrives with a feeling of uncertainty she never expected—and a paralyzing fear about choosing the wrong future.
Hanna’s rarely stayed in a place longer than a year. The greatest consistency she has is her piano playing, and her dad diving back into his Jewish faith every time her mom leaves on assignment. So when her senior year begins with yet another move to a new school, she’s not planning on putting down roots—she’s learned that hard way how that ends.
But when the girls’ paths collide, everything they thought they knew is turned upside down. Their relationship could change them each forever—if they have the courage to let their worlds fall apart.
Most Valuable Player by A.M. Woody
Sometimes it takes a few fumbles to score the right guy . . .
Cameron Morelli is hot sh*t. Worse, he knows it. With a godlike physique and a position as his varsity football team’s star quarterback, there’s nobody he can’t charm. So one might imagine his mortification when he’s rejected by Mason Gray, the team’s snarky water boy. To make matters worse, this disgrace is followed by Cam’s coach benching him until he can get his grades up. Luckily, a reliable tutor steps forward to help Cam reclaim his dignity—the boy who just humiliated him.
For Mason, tutoring an airheaded jock is nothing but a distraction from a past he can’t escape. What he doesn’t expect is to find something worthwhile in their conversations—something softening in the ice between them. Nor does Cam expect that Mason’s calm smile hides a harrowing story. As they slowly nudge through each other’s steel gates, the dangerous realities beyond high school threaten their deepening bond.
But really, it’s about football.
Our Vicious Descent by Hayley Dennings
This is the sequel to Our Ravenous Fate.
It’s 1927, and shocking upheavals have rocked Harlem’s most powerful factions and left Elise Saint estranged from the reaper she loves, Layla Quinn. The Saint family empire is in decline, the neighborhood’s notorious reaper lair has lost their ancient matriarch, and gangster-run blood houses are peddling debauchery to humans and reapers alike. Elise is desperate to find her beloved little sister, Josi, who has been poisoned with the reaper affliction—bitten, but not quite turned vampire. Layla must contend with unrest in the Harlem clan while trying to control the violent impulses that a so-called “cure” for reapers awakened in her.
With shifting alliances and new players in the city’s underworld, Elise and Layla can’t trust anyone, let alone one another. Yet both suspect sinister forces behind the mysterious reaper-venom drug that’s all the rage with thrill-seeking blood house patrons. When the drug’s effects have deadly consequences, the two are joined in purpose as they trace the origins of the elixir. They will risk everything to unearth the secrets of reaperhood, where the shadowy boundaries between the dead and the living are even more treacherous than they imagined.
Adult Fiction
The Devil She Knows by Alexandria Bellefleur
Samantha Cooper is having a day from hell.
In less than 24 hours, her life has unraveled, leaving her single and with nowhere to live. Adding insult to injury, she’s trapped in an elevator with a gorgeous woman claiming to be a demon.
Daphne is not at all what Samantha expected from someone claiming to be an evil supernatural entity. She’s pretty, witty, dressed in pink, and smells nice. And she’s here to offer Samantha a deal she can’t refuse. Six wishes in exchange for one tiny trade—Samantha’s soul. There’s a glaring loophole in their contract, one Samantha fully intends to exploit so she doesn’t fork over her soul. After all, she only needs one wish to win her ex back.
Hell-bent to gather the last of the one thousand souls she needs so that she can be free of her own devilish deal, Daphne grants each of Samantha’s wishes . . . with a twist, so that Samantha is forced to make another.
As Samantha’s wishes dwindle and Daphne offers her glimpses into the life she thought she wanted, the unlikely pair grows close. Perhaps the girl of Samantha’s dreams is actually the stuff of nightmares, but Samantha and Daphne will have to outsmart the Devil himself if they want a chance at happily ever after.
Red Star Hustle/Apprehension by Sam J. Miller and Mary Robinette Kowal
Two expertly crafted crime stories set in a far-future science fiction universe, from two award-winning authors known for their gripping plots and unforgettable characters—a short novel and a long novella that will thrill fans of space adventures, mystery, and intergalactic intrigue in this Saga Double
Red Star Hustle
Aran, a happy-go-lucky high-class escort, is on the run after he’s framed for the assassination of his famous filmmaker client. The last thing he needs is to fall for the studly and noble clone of a murderous puppet monarch while he’s trying to stay one step ahead of an ace bounty hunter, who is trying to keep a fatal secret from her toxic boss/mom, which means she can’t stop to worry about a little thing like whether her target might actually be innocent. Set within a universe of epic mech battles, and billions of human-made wormholes that make traveling to a distant star as easy as walking through a door or scheduling car service. This science fiction thriller by Nebula Award–winning author Sam J. Miller is a crisscross of heartbreak, addiction struggles, queer messiness, and resisting evil empires, coming together in a space-hopping fight with the whole damn galaxy.
Apprehension
A family vacation arranged by Bonnyjean, a grieving mother, her son-in-law Jax, and her six-year-old grandson Tristan, quickly becomes disastrous as Tristan is kidnapped by a terrorist operation that is hoping to affect the planet’s upcoming elections between rival parties. They believe Bonnyjean was given a secret by the double agent who died in her arms. However, not only is this a deadly misunderstanding, but it’s also a dangerous one as Bonnyjean was last on Nahatanau when she was a special forces operative. Unfortunately, that was over thirty years ago, but she won’t let the years nor her bad hip get in the way of rescuing her grandson. Beloved Hugo Award–winning author Mary Robinette Kowal has crafted an intricate mystery of mistaken identity on an alien planet.
Isn’t It Obvious? by Rachel Runya Katz
After a meet-disaster, a podcaster and her producer fall in love over email without realizing they know (and hate) each other in real life.
When high school librarian Yael’s secret podcast starts to take off, she decides to hire Kevin, a remote freelance editor/producer so she can manage juggling her mental health, day job, and the queer teen book club she’s been hosting at school after hours. To maintain her anonymity, they communicate strictly via email and Kevin only knows her by her podcast persona, Elle.
Little does Yael know that Kevin, who in real life goes by his middle name, Ravi, is the same man she tore apart for climbing out of her bedroom window after a one night stand with her roommate, Charlie. And she certainly never expects him to show up to volunteer at her book club.
In person, Yael and Ravi clash until their sparks turn into something more. Over email, Elle and Kevin are starting to fall hard when they decide to keep things strictly professional. But when Ravi discovers the truth, will keeping it a secret mean the end of everything he’s built with Yael/Elle? And what happens when she finds out? Will they fall twice as hard, or cut ties in more ways than one?
Play You For It by Samantha Saldivar
When Jordan D’Amato becomes the first woman named head coach of a top-level men’s college basketball team, journalist Caroline Beck is determined to get the story. After years of scraping her way into the world of sports reporting, Beck knows that snagging the first one-on-one interview with the elusive head coach could be her big break. But Jordan is wary of the media and the attention her historic new appointment attracts, especially as her boss makes it clear that it’s a temporary assignment—and if she doesn’t lead the team to victory, it won’t become permanent.
Beck’s persistence, however, charms Jordan, and she agrees to sit down for an interview. The two women have undeniable chemistry—but journalists definitely can’t fall for sources, and Jordan certainly can’t fully trust the ambitious reporter who has every reason to use her team secrets for the next big scoop. Though they both know it will ruin their reputations and likely also cost them their jobs if anyone finds out they are romantically involved, they can’t seem to stay away from each other.
With the national tournament in sight and both of their careers on the line, they must decide whether to take the shot on their budding love story—or walk away from the risky game they’ve been playing for good.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | B&N
When They Burned the Butterfly by Wen-Yi Lee
Loner schoolgirl Adeline Siow has never needed more company than the flame she can summon at her fingertips. But when her mother dies in a house fire with a butterfly seared onto her skin and Adeline hunts down a girl she saw in a back-alley barfight―a girl with a butterfly tattoo―she discovers she’s far from alone.
Ang Tian is a Red Butterfly: one of a gang of girls who came from nothing, sworn to a fire goddess and empowered to wreak vengeance on the men that abuse and underestimate them. Adeline’s mother led a double life as their elusive patron, Madam Butterfly. Now that she’s dead, Adeline’s bloodline is the sole thing sustaining the goddess. Between her search for her mother’s killer and the gang’s succession crisis, Adeline becomes quickly entangled with the girls’ dangerous world, and even more so with the charismatic Tian.
But no home lasts long around here. Ambitious and paranoid neighbor gangs hunt at the edges of Butterfly territory, and bodies are turning up in the red light district suffused with a strange new magic. Adeline may have found her place for once, but with the streets changing by the day, it may take everything she is to keep it.
This is the Only Kingdom by Jaquira Diaz
From the Whiting Award-winning author Jaquira Díaz, an epic novel of a mother and daughter wrestling with the aftermath of a murder, set against the backdrop of a tightknit, working-class barrio in Puerto Rico.
When Maricarmen meets Rey el Cantante, beloved small-time Robin Hood and local musician on the rise, she begins to envision a life beyond the tight-knit community of el Caserío, Puerto Rico – beyond cleaning houses, beyond waiting tables, beyond the constant tug of war between the street hustlers and los camarones. But breaking free proves more difficult than she imagined, and she soon finds herself struggling to make a home for herself, for Rey, his young brother Tito, and eventually, their daughter Nena. Until one fateful day changes everything.
Fifteen years later, Maricarmen and Nena find themselves in the middle of a murder investigation as the community that once rallied to support Rey turns against them. Now Nena, a teenager haunted by loss and betrayal and exploring her sexual identity, must learn to fight for herself and her family in a world not always welcoming.
The Isle in the Silver Sea by Tasha Suri
In an England fuelled by stories, the knight and the witch are fated to fall in love and doom each other over and over, the same tale retold over hundreds of lifetimes.
Simran is a witch of the woods. Vina is a knight of the Queen’s court. When the two women begin to fall for each other, how can they surrender to their desires, when to give in is to destroy each other?
As they seek a way to break the cycle, a mysterious assassin begins targeting tales like theirs. To survive, the two will need to write a story stronger than the one that fate has given to them.
But what tale is stronger than The Knight and the Witch?
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | East City Bookshop
Witches of Honeysuckle House by Liz Parker
Florence and Evie Caldwell have long disagreed on how to break their family’s curse, and tension has been high since their mother’s death thirteen years ago. Honeysuckle House, the family estate where every Caldwell has lived, now only houses one of the sisters. Evie has crafted it into an enchanted bed and breakfast while Florence runs a magical bookstore in town, refusing to even set foot inside Honeysuckle House.
But when the house starts behaving dangerously and catches fire, Florence and Evie must set aside their differences and dig into past generations of their family and the town’s history before the curse claims someone they love.
Spellfire by Agatha Willow
This is the ebook. The paperback is slated to publish in August.
Bryn swore she would never go back to Grimoire Academy. But when her beloved former Professor passes away and leaves her prize spellbook library to Bryn, she’s forced to return.
Bryn isn’t planning on staying long, but then she runs into former queen of Grimoire Academy, Amelia Hexford, now headmistress. When Amelia begs Bryn to stay and teach the former professor’s classes, Bryn’s so flustered by the beautiful witch, that she accidentally agrees to stay for the semester.
Amelia was always too cool for Bryn at school, but now, the staffroom is too small a place to hide in. As the unlikely pair spend more time together, Bryn and Amelia might just find themselves spellbound by something other than magic…
Buy it: Amazon
Crawl: Stories by Max Delsohn
A darkly comic, introspective debut collection that looks beneath the surface of trans life in 2010s Seattle
People called it paradise, but baby, it wasn’t.
What to do when starting testosterone unlocks a newfound desire for men? How to respond when your boss’s boss asks if you’ve had “the surgery” and then requests you talk her niece out of transitioning? What obligation do you have to intervene in the faltering mental health of the baby trans drug dealer you’ve met only once while tripping on the acid he sold you?
The young transmasculine characters in Crawl navigate these and other questions in the dive bars, bathhouses, parks, workplaces, music venues, beaches, and college campuses of 2010s Seattle. Max Delsohn’s stories―by turns exuberant, heartfelt, tragic, and wry―portray the pleasures and pains of sex and romance, the possibilities and ambivalences of gender expression, and the joys and failures of community in a city and a time that has branded itself a radical queer utopia but proves much more complicated in reality.
You Gone Gurl by Greg Herren
This is the second book in the Killer Queen mystery series
The follow-up to “Death Drop,” the second book in our drag queen “Killer Queen” mystery series. Having graduated now from drag school, Jem is thrilled when he’s hired to help out Miss Queer Mississippi at the Miss Queer America pageant. The only problem? The pageant is being held in Florida, the “don’t say gay” state, as an act of political defiance! But once Jem—accompanied by friends Kyle and Ellis—arrives in St. Petersburg, it’s soon apparent a lot of the chaos surrounding the pageant is more than just the usual backstage backstabbing and politics, but part of a bigger plan . . . and when a contestant disappears and is presumed dead, Jem and company have to put on their sleuthing caps, find the missing contestant and save the pageant!
Non-Fiction
sorry i keep crying during sex by Jesse James Rose
In the before, Jesse James Rose is happy. She has a beautiful boyfriend with melty glacier eyes, she’s on a euphoric journey of gender exploration, and New York City is perfect.
In the after, she’s single, making dinner for her grandfather, and wondering if he’s going to forget her name today. Except, in the before, her first-grade music teacher led her into a dark room to show her something he shouldn’t have. And in the after, she’s finding healing and comfort in coming into her own, even as her grandfather declines.
In the before, she was fine, more or less. But in the after, she has to reckon with whatever the hell restorative justice really, truly means.
Following the aftermath of an assault, and the heartache of caring for a grandfather with Alzheimer’s, sorry i keep crying during sex tells a captivating story of identity, recovery, grief, survivorship, and transness. Through lists, theatrical scripts, flashbacks, and Grindr DMs, Jesse James Rose’s genre-defying memoir is raw and hysterically funny, and takes readers on the wild ride of overcoming the struggles of a trans twentysomething.
Kim Chi Eats the World by Kim Chi
Drawing inspiration from the many countries she has traveled to on tour, in her debut cookbook, the superstar brings you along on a trip around the world. Starting off in North America, you’ll find good ol’ Canadian Classic Poutine and tempting Birria Tortas from Mexico. The next stop is South America for the most delectable Brazilian Brigadeiro Cake. Then on to Europe for French Lemon Sole, Swiss Roasted Flour Soup, and Italian Warm Lemon Ricotta Dip. And finally, you’ll find yourself in Asia, where you can enjoy a mouthwatering Bossam that rivals the best Korean restaurants, and an Indian Dal Tadka that will leave your kitchen smelling divine. Along the way, Kim spills the tea with personal stories of her favorite memories, expeditions, and every perfect bite.
Kim Chi Eats the World highlights a curated list of her favorite dishes and provides her own tried-and-true, easy-to-follow recipes for each, all with a unique Kim Chi twist. Plus, vibrant, bold photography captures Kim’s humongous personality on the page—she’s a delicious diva. After you cook your way through these recipes, you’ll be giving international realness without ever having to leave your house. Werk.
DILF: Did I Leave Feminism? by Jude Doyle
When Jude Doyle began his transition in the summer of 2020, he had a very public career as a feminist—winning awards from women’s organizations, writing for women’s magazines, publishing books on “women’s issues.” Then, after a decade in the movement, he had to walk out in front of the public and tell them he had never been a woman at all.
Doyle offers a seldom-heard and much-needed transmasculine perspective on feminist subjects, drawing together strands of intersectional feminist theory and queer and trans politics to show that all their struggles are the same struggle: The fight for gender-marginalized people to maintain autonomy and full selfhood in a patriarchy that is always eager to hollow us out and use us to further its own agenda.
DILF offers a strong rebuke to trans-exclusionary feminisms that seek to drive a wedge between gender-marginalized communities. Using interviews, critical analysis, and Doyle’s own personal experience, DILF proves that feminism is a vital and necessary tool for breaking free of patriarchal control, whoever you are.
