Track Four is Not About You by L.M. Bennett (4th)
Bishop left without a word. Shiloh never knew why. Four years later, neither of them has recovered.
Now Bishop’s album is falling apart, and the only producer who understands her sound is the ex she ghosted. Shiloh doesn’t do chaos, second chances, or Bishop. But when she hears that dying demo, something cracks. Because the raw honesty on that track? That’s theirs. That’s what they used to make together. Before the fame. Before the silence.
Four months. One studio. Two people who used to be everything to each other, now barely able to share air.
The music is pulling them closer. The past is daring them to run.
And if track four isn’t about her…why does it sound like an apology?
Buy it: Amazon
When You’re Brave Enough by Rebecca Bendheim (7th)
Before she moved from Austin to Rhode Island, everybody knew Lacey as one half of an inseparable duo: Lacey-and-Grace, best friends since they were toddlers. Grace and her moms were practically family. But at school, being lumped together with overeager, worm-obsessed, crushes-on-everyone Grace meant Lacey never quite fit in—and that’s why at her new middle school, Lacey plans to reinvent herself. This time, she’s going to be cool. She’s going to be normal.
At first, everything seems to go as planned. Lacey makes new friends right away, she finds a rabbi to help her prepare for the bat mitzvah that got deprioritized by her parents in the chaos of the move, and she even gets cast in the lead role of the eighth-grade musical. Which is when things start to get stressful, because it turns out the students at her new school have a long-standing, unofficial tradition: No matter what the show is, in the final performance, the leads always kiss for real.
Lacey’s never kissed anyone before—she’s not even sure she’s ever had a crush. And in Bye, Bye, Birdie, there are a few different co-lead kiss possibilities for Lacey to choose from. There’s confident, cocky Andre. There’s sweet, friendly Jaden. And then there’s the other new girl at school: dryly funny, impossibly cool Violet.
But while her new friends and older sister create whiteboard wall charts and botched field trip schemes to help her decide, suddenly Lacey can’t stop thinking about Grace, who she was so sure she wanted to leave behind. When Grace comes back into her life, Lacey needs to decide if she’s brave enough to be who she really is, in front of the person who matters most.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | Black Pearl Books | Book People | Barnes & Noble
The Unruly Heart of Miss Darcy by Erin Edwards (7th)
Georgiana Darcy has only ever kissed one girl before, and the resulting blackmail almost ruined her reputation. Since then, she’s carefully calibrated her life to be as quiet as possible, focusing on books and music. She certainly isn’t planning on falling in love with another girl. But then she meets Kitty Bennet, and everything is thrown off kilter.
After a moonlit kiss shifts their newfound friendship into something more, Georgiana follows Kitty to the Bennets’ home. The visit proves ill-timed when she encounters the one man who knows her secret and threatened her with it before. Terrified of testing the limits of her family’s love and of putting Kitty in danger, Georgiana doesn’t know if there’s any chance of a happy ending.
Every etiquette guide she’s ever read makes it clear that if she wants to protect her family name, Georgiana must pretend her heart follows society’s accepted rhythm. Unless, with a little help from those who understand how it feels, she can compose the future she and Kitty both deserve.
The Bloody and the Damned by Becca Coffindaffer (7th)
Mercy has no place here.
On Trinity, a metal world where the privileged live in the skies and the rest fight for water below, you do what you can to survive.
18-year-old Val knows this better than anyone. They’ve sacrificed everything to provide for their younger sisters. Using their outlawed teleportation powers, they’ve become the most infamous assassin-for-hire on Trinity, known as the Butcher.
No one should be able to trace the Butcher to Val. But when a gang retaliates by kidnapping Val’s sisters and killing Dani, Val’s only friend, it means that someone has to know the truth.
Desperate and completely alone, Val has no one to turn to but their ex-childhood best friend turned vigilante thief. He broke their heart, but he owes them.
But as Val fights for the return of their sisters, they start to realize there might be something much bigger at play… something that could upend everything they’ve ever known about Trinity.
Val’s journey will take them from a maximum security prison transport to the headquarters of the most powerful gang on Trinity, and all the way to the Gate of Heaven. Each more heavily guarded than the last.
Good thing the Butcher has never blinked at an extra casualty.
Something to Be Proud Of by Anna Zoe Quirke (7th)
Imogen Quinn is pissed off. She’s having a sensory-overload panic attack at her first Pride parade, and her friends ditched her. Fabulous.
But Imogen isn’t the kind of girl to stay knocked down, so she ditches her bad friends and decides to start an activist club to fight for a school where everyone can feel welcome–and that includes putting on a Pride celebration that’s accessible for autistic people like her. The problem? She has no friends, no support, and no money, and her small-minded principal hates her guts.
Enter Ollie Armstrong. The openly gay, unexpectedly kind captain of the football team is everything Imogen is not. He’s popular, he’s respected . . . but he’s also completely miserable. His parents’ divorce is secretly eating him alive, and he has no real friends to talk to. So when Imogen ambushes him with a plan to fight against everyone who is pissing her off and a plea for his help, Ollie is too in his own head to think of an excuse.
With Ollie on board, it doesn’t take long before they are joined by the infuriatingly perfect head girl and a delightful crew of classmates who have their own axes to grind. But it’s Ollie and Imogen leading the charge and opening up to each other in ways they never imagined possible.
Inspired by this unlikely friendship, Ollie is on the hunt for answers about his parents’ divorce and his own feelings about gender. And Imogen is empowered to stand up for herself and stop taking anyone’s shit.
Between protests at city hall, confrontations at an open mic, a suspension, and the best drag football charity game ever played, it’s clear Imogen and Ollie aren’t ones to back away from a fight. Especially not when it’s for the people they love or the world they want to live in.
The Beast You Let In by Dana Mele (7th)
There is no one Hazel trusts less than her self-centered twin, Beth. So when Beth abandons her at a party she didn’t want to attend in the first place, Hazel decides not to let it ruin her night. She throws herself into flirting and telling ghost stories over a Ouija board. Hazel might not be the popular twin, but she is going to have fun if it kills her.
Except Beth doesn’t come home that night, and Hazel’s anger morphs into anxiety. It only sharpens when Beth reappears a day later, disoriented and claiming to be Veronica Green, a teen who was murdered in their small town years before. If it isn’t a possession, Beth is really good at faking it. Did they accidentally release a vengeful horror during the party?
Hazel must uncover what happened to Veronica all those years ago if she’s going to save Beth. But the truth may destroy them both―if they don’t destroy each other first.
Maybe Tomorrow I’ll Know by Alex Ritany (7th)
Laurie wakes up in a girl’s body with no memories, driving down an unknown highway, and promptly crashes the car. Thankfully, a handsome stranger named Gideon comes to his rescue. It’s awkward for Laurie to pretend that he’s a girl, but at least this is the scariest thing he’ll ever have to deal with.
Except the next morning―and every morning after―Laurie wakes up barreling down that same highway. He re-meets Gideon every day, with no idea who this girl whose body he’s inhabiting even is. Only one thing is clear: he’s on a countdown. Laurie has been given only one hundred days to get back in the right body, break the time loop, and not fall for Gideon while he does it.
Fruitcake by Rex Ogle and Dave Valeza (7th)
This graphic memoir is the third book in the Four Eyes series.
Eighth grade isn’t off to a great start. Everyone but Rex seems to be coupling up, and he’s starting to feel like an outsider… until he meets Charlotte. She’s fearless, smart, pretty, and she likes him back. But as great as Charlotte is, there’s someone Rex can’t stop thinking about.
Drew is Rex’s childhood best friend, so when he kisses Rex, all kinds of new feelings begin to stir. Though at school, Drew acts like he doesn’t even know Rex, making those feelings turn really confusing really fast. And with all the strong opinions Rex hears at home and at church, he questions his own worth and what his affections actually mean. Rex wants to be more like his new friend, Nina, and not care what others think, but being himself seems impossible. When did middle school get so confusing?!
We Call Them Witches by India-Rose Bower (7th)
Nearly everyone died the first night they came…
Two years ago, monstrous beings tore through Britain, leaving few survivors. Now Sara and her family live on the run, relying on scraps of folklore and fading pagan rituals to stay safe from the eldritch creatures they call “witches”.
While her mother grows increasingly paranoid, Sara longs for something more than fear.
Then a strange girl appears in the garden of their current camp. Her name is Parsley, and she cannot remember where she came from or why she’s there. Despite her family’s suspicions, Sara feels drawn to her.
But when Sara’s younger brother is taken by the Witches, she and Parsley must cross desolate moors full of merciless terrors to get him back. As their bond deepens, so do the dangers they face―and Sara begins to question whether anything is truly as it seems.
In a world ruled by terror and myth, trust is the only thing more dangerous than the Witches themselves.
Work to Do by Jules Wernersbach (7th)
When Eleanor founded Guadalupe Street Co-op in the early 1980s, she was in her mid-twenties and madly in love with her girlfriend, Meg. Together, they envisioned an idyllic grocery store owned by its workers and customers.
Forty years later, Guadalupe Street Co-op is an iconic Austin business with a loyal customer base, an antiquated business model, and a disgruntled staff. Roz, one of the store’s senior managers, is too caught up stalking her ex-wife online to notice that her girlfriend, Molly, is plotting with her coworkers to unionize. Roz also doesn’t see that Molly is not-so-secretly in a situationship with Randy, the dairy manager leading their collective.
Unfolding over the course of a single week during Texas hurricane season, Work to Do pings between the co-op’s first year and present day, as the unionization bid reaches fever pitch. The wind howls, the power goes out, and water creeps through the front door as questions of who owns the grocery store and who has a right to its future are posed. And will the workers ever be paid enough to buy the organic groceries they shelve?
More Like Enemigas by Stephanie Hope (7th)
One wedding, two rivals and a whole lot of secrets…
As the daughter of Cuban immigrants, Isabella Valdes knows three things for certain:
- her late father’s restaurant is thriving
- she owns lots of designer things
- both of those statements are absolute lies to make her mother happy
Isabella would do anything to keep her father’s legacy alive, including attending her estranged cousin’s weeklong wedding extravaganza. Because once Sofia’s wealthy fiancé tastes the recipes Isa prepares from her father’s cherished journal, he’s sure to invest.
To Isa’s annoyance, she’ll be sharing a cabin with Valentina, the former friend turned rival who ruined her quinceañera. But Val is offering an unexpected deal—she’ll help Isa unravel an old family secret found in her father’s journal in return for help sabotaging the wedding and winning the heart of the bride.
Saying yes is a bad idea. Isa’s perfectionism meets its match in Val’s carefree demeanor, but as they work together, the usually responsible Isa can’t seem to say no to Val’s shenanigans. There’s no hiding from Val, no ignoring this complicated but undeniable connection that’s changing Isa’s beliefs about love, loyalty and just how much she owes to her family—and to herself…
Year of the Mer by L.D. Lewis (7th)
The fairy tale mermaid Arielle might have gotten her happily-ever-after, but her granddaughter Yemi is having a much harder time. Her father, the king of Ixia, was assassinated years ago, her mother is slowly dying of a poisoned wound, and she faces whispers and slights from her own people. Yemi has been raised as the shield of the kingdom and is soon to inherit the throne, but she cannot shake her fury at how Ixia has treated her family after all they’ve sacrificed. Only her patient mother and steadfast personal bodyguard (and fiancée), Nova, help Yemi rein in that fury…most of the time.
When the kingdom’s discontented rumblings reach a fever pitch, a coup erupts and Yemi’s throne is usurped, stripping her of her family and forcing her into exile. Now, only one being has the power to help her: Ursla.
Like her grandmother before her, Yemi is tempted by a deal with the sea-witch. With powerful and ancient magic behind her, Yemi could avenge her family, take back her throne, and protect the love of her life. But she should know more than anyone that there is always a price. As much as Yemi wants vengeance, Ursla has been waiting a very, very long time for her own—and it may take more fortune than Yemi possesses to keep her from losing everything all over again.
Set Point by Meg Jones (7th)
Nothing fades faster than a former prodigy—and Inés Costa is dangerously close to disappearing.
Once queen of the court, Inés is limping through qualifiers. And after losing her biggest sponsor to Chloe Murphy, the sport’s fiery new favorite, she and her bank account are running on fumes.
Chloe, known as much for her talent as her temper, is a top seed for the upcoming US Open. But thanks to broken rackets, code violations, and the inability to play well with others, her “favorite” status is slipping away.
However, when they are forced to share the same side of the court, and the world surprisingly doesn’t implode, Chloe makes an offer: she’ll fund Inés’s journey to the US Open, but only if Inés agrees to be her hitting partner and teach her to keep a level head.
It’s strictly business, but somewhere between practice drills and tour stops, the line between rival and something more begins to blur.
As the summer burns toward Flushing Meadows, their sizzling tension catches fire. With a trophy in sight and emotions running high, will their romance double fault at set point?
The Impossible Garden of Clara Thorne by Summer N. England (7th)
Most stories end with a happily ever after. But mine? Well, it begins with one . . .
After a lonely childhood, Clara Thorne is living out her happy ending as the magically gifted gardener for the town of Moss. Sure, her closest companion is a surly hedgehog, and she’s forever stuck on the first line of her novel, but she has a home. That is, until The Goddess chooses Clara for an important quest—travel to the cursed town of Dwindle and grow them a garden. In less than a month.
Only Clara’s hiding a terrible secret: her magic doesn’t work outside Moss. Worse, The Goddess has assigned the absurdly sexy, annoyingly cheerful Hesper Altanfall to keep her safe. Clara would rather eat thorns than accept help—especially since Hesper insists that Clara’s magic is bound to her heart, not her home.
Nevertheless, the two can’t help growing closer as they traverse enchanted woods and share tavern beds. But with an ancient evil threatening from the shadows, saving Dwindle will require more than enchanted crops. Clara will need to unearth a magic she’s always believed impossible.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | B&N
Never After by Alexis Hall (7th)
On the grim streets of London, a young man succumbs to his demons. Discarded by his lover and left penniless and alone, Michael “Micha” Dashwood uses sex to pay the bills and opium to numb the pain.
When a sudden illness strikes, all seems lost. But hope finds Micha in the shape of the Reverend Thomas Mandeville. Haunted by grief of his own, Thomas cannot bear to ignore another man’s plight. He brings the ailing Micha home to heal in his parish at Nettlefield.
As Micha recovers under Thomas’s care, he begins to realize that some people in this world are worthy of trust. Thomas, in turn, learns the truth of his own needs and desires. Between the secrets of the past and the burdens of the present, their future together seems impossible. Questions of faith and the shadow of opium continue to haunt them both.
Yet possibilities, like miracles, can be found wherever you look for them.
What We Are Seeking by Cameron Reed (7th)
On the planet Scythia, plants give birth to insects and trees can drag you to your death. Artificial monsters stalk the desert, and alien basket-men have wandered into town.
John Maraintha has been abandoned here, light-years from the peaceful forests that he loves.
The desert is harsh and the people in thrall to a barbaric custom called marriage.
He must find some way to make a life here.
But on Scythia, survival means transformation―and not everyone is willing to change.
Pitiful by Brandi Bird (7th)
“This poem begins where Bulimia ends
or maybe, just maybe, when it started. Where
the differential diagnosis is confused
by decades of self-made violence. Poverty,
colonialism, god, all prisms that will shatter
one day, if not now…”
Part self-interrogation, part confession, part hospital diary, the intense, heartbreakingly frank poems in Brandi Bird’s second collection detail the author’s ongoing struggles with eating disorders and depression, conditions that disproportionately afflict Indigenous girls, women, and two-spirited persons. These challenging poems investigate the relationship between sexuality and eating disorders as well as how the voyeurism of religion (the idea of being eternally watched) intersects with both of those spheres. They also raise questions about body shaming and body sovereignty—a failed sovereignty in this case, as “sovereignty” itself is a communal concept. In the tradition of poets like Amy Berkowitz (Tender Points) and Hannah Green (Xanax Cowboy), the poems in Pitiful also lay bare the way patriarchy, medical sexism, and bigotry have not only sabotaged the treatment of such conditions but often make them worse.
Reality Check by Lizzie Huxley-Jones (9th)
They were meant to be looking for their perfect man, but they can’t ignore the sparks flying on and off screen.
Wedded Bliss is everyone’s favourite reality TV show where couples match, marry and compete for a grand prize.
Dolly is in it for money. She doesn’t want a husband, but a partnership launched on international TV could definitely help her influencer career. Model Warren might just be her man.
Carys is in it for love. It’s not like she’s had much luck in the romance department, so why not trust the show’s matchmakers with her heart? Could handsome veterinarian Patrick be the one?
The tension building between them is as hot as the competition and the two women can’t deny their chemistry. For Carys, it’s an awakening, but any change of plan could ruin everything for Dolly.
Will they find reality TV fame or the reality of love?
Burned from Both Ends by Lily Seabrooke (9th)
Falling for your best friend’s crush really ruins your matchmaking.
When Alyssa’s life in Boston falls apart, her long-distance friend Daniela’s house in Vermont is supposed to be just a quick stay while she escapes her ex and gets her life together. But an encounter with the gorgeous, rugged, and not-too-approachable Jade on the way only gets more interesting when Alyssa finds out Jade is the crush Daniela’s been talking to her about—until an incident split Jade off from the local community.
Eager to repay her friend, Alyssa teams up with Jade’s best friend Cat to get Jade and Daniela together. But Alyssa wasn’t planning to get jealous about it working.
Jade is done with Vermont. After small-town drama drove her friend Cat out of the community, she’s seen enough, and is planning her move in secret. But the arrival of a bright-eyed new girl in town with an amount of enthusiasm Jade cannot comprehend might be an opportunity to get Cat her friendships back before she goes.
Only problem is that Alyssa is hard to shake once Jade starts talking to her. And so are the feelings she really, really doesn’t want to catch.
Buy it: Amazon
Summer Official by Rebekah Weatherspoon (14th)
Saylor Ford and Heaven Goo-Campbell could not be more different. Saylor is bubbly, popular, athletic, and always coupled up. Meanwhile, Heaven is grumpy and artistic, prefers her skateboard to people, and is perpetually single. So obviously, sparks fly when they must spend the entire summer together.
When Saylor, distracted by her mom’s viral video about Saylor’s coming out, breaks her arm at basketball camp, she becomes determined not to spend the summer stuck at home with the social media star. Her best escape is the girl she’s pretty sure can’t stand her but whom she finds absolutely irresistible, Heaven. Thankfully, Heaven is willing to let Saylor in on her summer plans, but for a price. Saylor has to help Heaven establish her social media presence, showcasing her art for her future career as a tattoo artist.
They didn’t anticipate the intimacy of spending each day together and the deepening feelings that followed. And their bingo scavenger hunt is now less a shared project and more a skate ramp to romance. But do the girls have a future together if Saylor is wary of bringing a relationship out into the open—too afraid that her mom’s influencer status will attract more attention than Saylor and timid Heaven can handle?
Forgive-Me-Not by Mari Costa (14th)
Aisling is many things to many people: princess, heir to the throne, teenage daughter of two loving parents… She’s also about to learn a lot more about herself: changeling. Fey creature. Hunted. Feared. Loved?
Forgive-Me-Not is the name given to the true princess ― the lost teenage biological daughter to the king and queen, who’s grown up in the chaotic and untrustworthy realm of Faerie. When Forgive-Me-Not breaks into Aisling’s room the night before their 18th birthday looking for revenge, the two embark on a long and arduous journey. And what starts as a confrontational and adversarial pairing grows into a bond of mutual understanding, friendship, and maybe something more…
Flawless Girls by Anna-Marie McLemore (14th)
This is the paperback rerelease.
The Soler sisters are infamous in polite society―brazen, rebellious, and raised by their fashionable grandmother who couldn’t care less about which fork goes where. But their grandmother also knows the standards that two Latina young ladies will be held to, so she secures them two coveted places at the Alarie House, a prominent finishing school that turns out first ladies, princesses, and socialites.
Younger sister Isla is back home within a day. She refuses to become one of the eerily sweet Alarie girls in their prim white dresses. Older sister Renata stays. When she returns months later, she’s unfailingly pleasant, unnervingly polite, and, Isla discovers, possibly murderous. And the same night she returns home, she vanishes.
As their grandmother uses every connection she has to find Renata, Isla re-enrolls, intent on finding out what happened to her sister. But the Alarie House is as exacting as it is opulent. It won’t give up its secrets easily, and neither will a mysterious, conniving girl who’s either controlling the house, or carrying out its deadly orders.
Surrender by Jennifer Acker (14th)
Lucy Richard has enjoyed a two-decade-long, successful career in public relations in New York City when she feels compelled to move back to rural Massachusetts to try to save her father’s farm. Returning to her childhood home at age 47 is hard enough, but the difficulties multiply once she’s settled in: her determination to raise dairy goats and make cheese is hampered at first by her total inexperience, and then by the sudden loss of her farming mentor. To make matters worse, her husband, Michael, who followed her to the farm reluctantly and who has made a disastrous financial decision, is suddenly in severely declining health.
Lucy finds solace in Sandy, a girlhood companion who quickly becomes more than a friend, but their new intimacy places the Richard farm in the crosshairs of Sandy’s employer, a solar energy company. How Lucy contends with the precariousness—at once financial, physical and emotional— of her new life, and with the competing passions and obligations that grow within and around her, is at the heart of this intimate drama of love and loss, of desire and friendship, and of the alluring possibilities of second acts.
American Spirits by Anna Dorn (14th)
Thirty-eight-year-old Blue Velour has finally achieved the critical acclaim she’s long been chasing. Over the last decade, she’s released six studio albums to mixed reviews, landing her somewhere between performance artist and niche legend. But her latest album, Blue’s Beard—a cheeky reference to the subreddit fanatically dedicated to her suspected secret relationship with longtime producer Sasha Harlow—has rocket-launched her reputation. Blue hires nerdy superfan Rose Lutz as her assistant to handle the pressures of the upcoming tour.
When the pandemic shuts down the tour, however, Blue decides to hole up in the redwoods with Sasha to make another album. An aspiring singer herself, Rose is frothing at the mouth to be isolated in a cabin with these two legends, but what begins as a creative retreat spirals into a flurry of chaos and betrayal—culminating in a tragic act that changes their lives forever.
The Girl Next Door by Georgia Beers (14th)
Everyone deserves a happily ever after, that’s why Jenna Murphy is fiercely proud of her romance-only bookstore, BookLove. With her pets by her side, she’s content in her neat life, convinced that one day she’ll find her person. Jenna helps Grandma with her groceries, runs the library’s used book sale, and hands out water to the runners in the local 5K race. What’s not to love?
Sawyer Hall, a sharp-witted book blogger, has gained a reputation for her brutally honest takes. Fresh from a messy breakup, her posts have grown…snarkier than usual, and when she stumbles into Jenna’s charming bookstore filled with “sappy fluff,” she doesn’t exactly hold back.
Sawyer’s suggestion that romance novels peddle unattainable dreams to the sad and lonely makes Jenna absolutely livid. But fate has a twisted sense of humor because a new neighbor is moving into the other half of Jenna’s duplex and it’s Sawyer Hall, because, of course it is. And Sawyer is gorgeous. And funny. And sort of makes Jenna swoon. So annoying.
An Elixir for Wanderlust by Alistair Reeves (14th)
This is the third book in the Rune Tithe series
Having once escaped the dark waters that cursed him, a young witch returns home to face the evil targeting his loved ones—whatever the consequences.
After almost a decade away, Taliesin Ashborne has come home to attend his grandfather’s funeral. While past tensions still linger between him and his family, a stiff drink and a steamy encounter with Kessian, the gorgeous man who approaches him at the wake, really takes the edge off.
But the old magic of Shearwater Spring has left more scars on Tal than he realized. Nine years ago, twenty-four townspeople, including Tal and his father, mysteriously walked into a deep river one night—and only Tal returned.
To this day, something dangerous lurks in Shearwater’s black waters. It’s hunting down everyone Tal loves, and after it got his twin, he couldn’t stand to lose anyone else. Hoping to rid him of this curse once and for all, his sibling Fae urges him to see the town’s new healer . . . who just so happens to be Kessian.
Trying to keep his emotions in check—for not only his own benefit but also Kessian’s safety—will be anything but easy for Tal after nine years of isolation. Now, with a wraith hot on his trail, he must uncover what corrupted the ancient magic of the river so he can finally come home for good.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | B&N
Firewild by Milena McKay (18th)
This is the second book in the Crow’s Coven series
Fire herself, Deryn Crowhart, is back on Dragons. With the world at her feet, the swaggering celebrity pastry chef is not accustomed to being tied down nor is the small town interesting enough to hold her attention for too long. Until a blaze brings Paloma Allende in her life.
The renowned cutthroat businesswoman has fire to spare and doesn’t need distractions. Paloma is running for office in a town that distrusts her. She especially doesn’t need distractions that come in the form of arrogant, brash and devastatingly handsome baker.
Buy it: Amazon
Clock Hands by Marieke Nijkamp and Sylvia Bi (21st)
Raising your voice can change everything.Vale has always dreamed of being a metalworker’s apprentice. But in Siannerra, the guilds rule with an iron fist, and their apprenticeship fees are impossibly high. So Vale and their guildless family must make do with the pennies and scraps they’re able to cobble together from work on the docks or in the market.
Until Maestro Giuseppi arrives from abroad, determined to build the city’s first astronomical clock. He doesn’t care for fees or exclusionary practices—and he sees Vale’s talent. He invites Vale into his workshop, and for a while Vale believes all their dreams are coming true. But everything in Siannerra belongs to the guilds, and if anyone tries to break free, there are consequences. Sometimes the gravest of consequences. Still, Vale refuses to stop dreaming. Or fighting. With the help of their friends, they plan to take on the might of the guilds. And together, they may just be strong enough to bend iron to their will.
A stand-alone companion to the acclaimed Ink Girls.
Buy it: Bookshop | B&N | Amazon
The Labyrinth of Waking Dreams by Michelle Kulwicki (21st)
Barren’s Peak, West Virginia, is not a place anyone would call magical, but Thea LaGuerre calls it home. A high school drop-out whose mother died in an accident, Thea is stuck working part-time jobs just to make ends meet. The most she has to look forward to are barn parties where she can make out with Callum, the one interesting boy who moved to town six months ago.
Thea doesn’t know it yet, but Callum was sent to Barren’s Peak to watch her. He was raised within the magicians’ order, a shadowy organization meant to keep humanity safe from an underworld of monsters. Callum would sacrifice anyone, including himself, to help their cause, but he still can’t help falling into Thea’s orbit. She’s the first person he’s felt seen by since his childhood sweetheart, Oliver―who he hasn’t seen since Oliver’s banishment from the order.
But Oliver hasn’t given up on Callum or on magic. Following a magical creature’s trail to Barren’s Peak, Oliver happens upon Callum and Thea at a barn party that turns into a monster-overrun massacre. To save Callum and the girl he’s protecting from a wave of deadly fairies, Oliver opens a portal for the three of them to flee into the Labyrinth.
To get home again, Thea, Oliver, and Callum will have to work together to survive the Labyrinth’s trials and discover the threads that brought them there.
The Fight of Our Lives: AIDS in America by David Levithan and Gabriel Duckels (21st)
A thoughtful, poignant look at the AIDS crisis in the United States that includes primary source interviews, history, medical research, and cultural touchpoints.
The AIDS crisis in America is complex and composed of countless individual stories of grief, love, and advocacy. Its history shows the power of youth activism, how creativity and community can be vehicles for social change, and how bigotry and misinformation led to inequality in care.
The early days of the AIDS crisis saw LGBTQ+ and other marginalized communities making strides in the fight for equality. As many people in positions of power were slow to act or actively didn’t pay attention until their own communities were affected, the fight for equality turned into a fight for their lives. Grassroots efforts filled in gaps where mainstream medicine and politics failed, and over time, a cultural shift of awareness emerged, which led to more research and more treatments. And while the disease has transitioned from a death sentence to one that people can live full lives with, there are still people dying of HIV/AIDS today because they can’t access the care they need. The fight may have begun decades ago, but is not yet over.
Award-winning author David Levithan and University of Cambridge PhD Gabriel Duckels detail a brief history of the epidemic, touching on key moments and figures, such as Ryan White, ACT UP, Larry Kramer and Anthony Fauci, Pedro Zamora from MTV’s The Real World, and the Names Quilt. Threaded throughout are poems, essays, and other creative works, in addition to first-person interviews and narratives. The most important takeaway is that we must remember. We need to know what happened and why. Our voices are powerful, and they can make a difference.
Love Galaxy by Sierra Branham (21st)
Temmi, a young trash collector stuck in a dead-end job on a garbage planet, finds herself with a golden ticket she never expected: an opportunity to compete in an intergalactic dating show starring the brother and sister heirs to the galactic empire. Twenty-four women will compete on a televised program to marry the prince and princess—and future emperors—and to win the dynasty’s favor for their home planet.
Temmi may have been hand-picked to date the quiet, bookish prince, who is immediately taken by her brash personality and their shared passion for the sciences. But she can’t seem to keep away from the princess—and even though it couldn’t be a worse idea, their chemistry is undeniable.
But when contestants start turning up dead, and conspiracies begin to swirl around anti-imperial motivations of several contestants, Temmi among them, so much more than feelings are at stake.
In fact, very few of the participants of Love Galaxy have come on the show to find love. Sexy, snarky, and revolutionary, this fast-paced thrill ride will hook lovers of reality TV, fans of thoughtful sci-fi, and anyone who lives for drama.
Princeweaver by Elian J. Morgan (21st)
Their marriage is to save a warring kingdom. But in the process, it might destroy them both.
Born with forbidden, nature-infused magic in an occupied land, anxious apothecary Meilyr survives by keeping his head down. Until he ends up engaged to invading prince Osian in order to save his brother’s life. Now, he is in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse to hide his true self.
When nobles in Osian’s court are gruesomely murdered by the same magic that flows through his veins, Meilyr realises someone is seeking revenge for his homeland. As suspicion towards him grows, he and the prince work together to uncover the killer or risk losing the crown – or their lives.
Between court politics, unwieldy magic and a murderer on the loose, Meilyr must keep his wits about him. Especially as his feelings for Osian grow deeper with every passing day…
What I Want by Frances M. Thompson (21st)
Spring, 1979
All eyes are on the two biggest rock bands in the world, Evergreene and Femme Fatale. Or more specifically the world’s spotlight is fixed on Cassie Everard and Pia Lindberg, the two bands’ leading ladies and the most photographed, talked about and lusted after women in the music industry.
Cassie is folk rock’s golden girl and English rose, an innocent songbird whose on-off relationship with her bandmate Stephan Greene sells almost as many albums as her song-writing skills. The problem is those albums aren’t turning into the awards she craves.
Pia is punk rock’s bad girl, black cat and rebel with a cause. Rumoured to be involved with all four of her male bandmates, it seems nobody can pin her down, not least her management who she constantly clashes with, even though she sells them plenty of records. Just, apparently, not enough tour tickets…
The media love talking about Cassie and Pia’s rivalry so when they’re forced to record a song together, fans go wild. Pia and Cassie, on the other hand, are less than enthusiastic… until they end up locked in a hotel room together, each determined to make the label’s song something they actually want to sing.
Twenty-four hours later and Cassie and Pia are not just rockstar rivals; they’re lovers. And equally as terrified about the world finding out as they are being forced to hide what is fast-becoming their favourite love song…
Buy it: Amazon
Honor & Heresy by Max Francis (21st)
Roy Dawnseve, the prospective heir to Dawnseve Manor, cares more for philosophy than battle. However, in a society that shuns literature and promotes violence, his fate is compromised. But Roy is given a choice: he can either brave the front lines and fight the Old Ones, the mysterious, black-armored soldiers invading Northgard—or he can investigate their identity in the Orphic Basilica, an ancient, abandoned library.
When Roy chooses to unravel the mystery, it soon becomes clear that the Orphic Basilica isn’t without its own horrors. Strange voices echo down the halls, ghosts with burning red eyes roam the bookshelves, and those who stepped foot in the library have either emerged insane or were driven to their own demise.
Roy’s only companion—and his partner in the investigation—is Percival Atherton, a manipulative, enigmatic and distractingly charming scholar who has no qualms about belittling Roy. As a fierce snowstorm sinks its claws into the city, isolating them from civilization, Roy and Percival must grapple with their tormented pasts, an unexpected romance, and an age-old conspiracy whose secrets are certain to wipe Northgard from history.
Temporary Palaces by Jeff Miller (21st)
In the fevered summer of 2001, charismatic activist Rob and his collective set up a squat in an abandoned house. His bandmate and lover, Ben, watches anxiously as his own plans are threatened by Rob’s choice of radical politics over music. Meanwhile, photographer Alex finds herself torn between documenting the chaos of the scene and saving the friendship that binds them together. When the police break up the squat, Rob vanishes, and the dream dies.
Ten years later, Alex and Ben find each other again―she’s conquering Montreal’s contemporary art world, he’s running a thriving restaurant in Ottawa. But their success feels hollow. As they excavate their shared past, they must confront the ghost of Rob’s disappearance and the trauma that pushed them apart.
Afternoon Hours of a Hermit by Patrick Cottrell (21st)
And who did I think I was, trying to teach the troubled youth how to write?…
I would say I was Dan Moran, a Korean adoptee, single, approaching forty, once plain-in-appearance as a woman, now ugly as a man, that’s who or what I thought I was.
Most importantly, I was no longer useless, I was a writer.
Five years after the death of his youngest brother, Dan Moran is now the published trans author of the autofictional novel Sorry to Disrupt the Peace. He is teaching fiction in Brooklyn and working on his next book–a psychological thriller–when a mysterious envelope arrives for him in the mail. Addressed to the wrong name, it includes a childhood photo of his deceased brother. But who would send such a thing, and why?
Against his better judgment, Dan returns to his childhood home on the eve of his brother’s memorial dinner. His estranged family is surprised to see him, but he ignores them. He drives around in his brother’s Honda Accord, believing he is a detective. He searches for a constellation of unidentified women who may have been involved with his brother, all while being mistaken for another man. He hopes his investigation will reveal exactly who he was to his brother, but in a series of unsettling and destabilizing encounters, what he discovers is the irrevocable distance between who we are and how we are perceived.
What Wakes Within Us by Brian Steppenwolf (21st)
They’re trying to save a show. Can they save each other too?
Theater director Tyler Terlecki has always trusted his work, not people. At thirty-eight, his world is controlled, carefully contained—until a rehearsal blowup forces him into an uneasy partnership with Nicholas, a younger intimacy coordinator whose job is to center consent and rebuild trust. Otherwise, the show does not go on.
Tyler is accustomed to shaping performances, not relinquishing control. But as rehearsals restart and professional boundaries blur, he finds himself confronting something more destabilizing than creative conflict: the quiet risk of being known beyond the role he plays. As their partnership deepens into something neither expected, both men must decide what they are willing to put on the line—for the production and for each other. The future of the show may not be the only thing at stake.
Magdalena is Brighter Than You Think by Grace Spulak (21st)
Grace Spulak’s debut story collection explores the complexities of gender, queerness, trauma, and resilience through characters who live in the margins and imagine new ways to survive there.
Pushing the boundaries of traditional narratives and forms, these stories suggest paths for picking up our pieces—and for transforming and escaping the realities that constrain us. A social worker becomes entangled in the life of a woman she’s meant to investigate, blurring the line between empathy and obsession. A veterinary student communes with a yak that seems to speak to her—if only she could understand its message. And a separating couple embarks on one last errand together to unburden themselves of an unsettling memento.
Set in rural New Mexico—a place of isolation, strange beauty, and potential transformation—this collection offers unexpected flashes of grace and hope.
Adulting for Amateurs by Jess H. Gutierrez (21st)
In Adulting for Amateurs, Jess H. Gutierrez marvels at how—we can’t avoid the fact anymore—her cohort, the millennials, are approaching middle age. While 1998 seems like just yesterday, we are now grown-ups who feel like we’re still growing up. And at forty-two, Jess has quite a trove of stories to tell.
Jess is leaning into her geriatric millennial years and reflects on how growing up does not necessarily bestow one with maturity. When the dinner covers were lifted to reveal vertically posed sausages, hundreds of the fanciest wedding guests, including the mayor, were treated to a demure and refined Jess’s explosive guffaws. While Jess’s brothers now have wholesome families and responsible jobs, she can’t stop one-upping them, even if it gets her brother nearly fired by a potty-brained prank right before he scrubs into surgery. When Jess and her wife booked their first grown-up vacation, they discovered too late that their Hawaiian trip was to a Mormon resort and therefore completely alcohol free. So Jess and her wife bravely put on their big-girl panties—and slunk off in a makeshift escape from this cheerful teetotaler paradise.
Turns out, even as a responsible homeowner with a mortgage, three kids, and a yard of chickens, Jess might not have matured much beyond her twenties. She’s still the woman who in an earlier era survived queer-dating fails and aughts-era pop culture moments—ultimately discovering that an illegal rave cannot heal a broken heart and that vampire-romance franchises are terrible dating manuals for a budding trailer park lesbian.
Make Your Move by Melissa Brayden (24th)
Reese Maddox is the kind of driver who’s relied on raw talent and unshakable confidence to get her to the top. But when that approach stops being enough, she’s recruited into Formula Next—the all-female racing academy designed to fast-track drivers to Formula 1. Reese is fearless, flashy, and knows how to put on a show. But at Formula Next, raw talent isn’t enough, and Reese is about to learn what it really means to be coached.
Sloane Foster was once the next big thing in Formula 1 until a crash ended her career and made her retreat from the spotlight. Now, she’s back—this time on the other side of the circuit, tasked with coaching the next generation of racers. She’s not looking for redemption, and she’s definitely not looking for complications. But Reese is all fire and temptation, and keeping things professional becomes harder with every stolen glance and late-night debrief.
The rules are clear. The lines are drawn. But in a world fueled by adrenaline and ambition, one bold move could change everything.
Buy it: Amazon
Alex Wise vs. the Gods of the Apocalypse by Terry J. Benton-Walker (28th)
This is the third and final book in the Alex Wise trilogy
Saving the world is one thing . . . saving the multiverse is another.
Alex may have failed to stop the Cosmic Shift, but that doesn’t mean he is giving up on saving the world. The only problem is . . . he has no idea what world he’s even in. A rip in the multiverse has stranded him and his best friend Loren in a mysterious realm—without his sister Mags, or demi-god crush Liam, or even his kinda cool, kinda annoying stepbrother Nick. Like Earth, this world is at war, and Loren and Alex will have to use all their wits and magic to escape space pirates, an underground rebellion, and advanced technology with terrifying consequences.
But even if Alex manages to find a way to return home, it will be nothing like the home he once knew. His nemesis Ezra is stronger than ever and, along with War and Famine, is turning Earth into a violent, chaotic dumpster fire. Alex never asked to be a superhero, but with the weight of not one but TWO worlds resting on his shoulders, that’s exactly who he needs to be.
They Want Us Dead by CL Montblanc (28th)
Seventeen-year-old Sam Tombs hopes to get more eyes on the videos they make to raise awareness of crimes against LGBTQ+ teens. A true crime content creator event seems like the perfect opportunity to grow their channel―until the group becomes stranded at an eerie Victorian mansion, and one of them is killed in the night.
Sam’s alibi, and the only person they can trust, happens to be their mean, dorky internet nemesis Dylan. But the two must now put aside their rivalry and use their investigative skills to figure out who among the remaining teens is the killer, before their own deaths become tomorrow’s trending content.
The Night King’s Court by Elisa A. Bonnin (28th)
Ida’s father went missing without a trace seven years ago, last seen at the court of the enigmatic Night King, which comes to life only after dark with magic and revelry.
So when a position opens up for a new court Luminaire, Ida doesn’t hesitate. She inherited her gift for enchantments from her father—and with this position, she’ll use it to find him again.
Ida is swept into the king’s collection of magical beings, those who bring light and entertainment to the Court’s midnight gatherings—and swept away by the Court, where faerie gardens edge into underwater masquerades, dreaming revels offer blissful escapes, and life is a mesmerizing euphoria.
Yet a sinister thread interrupts Ida’s nights of decadence. Memories go missing, the castle’s magic takes on a malevolence, and Ida can’t seem to leave the boundaries of the court itself.
Enlisting the help of the king’s breathtakingly beautiful daughter Lenore, Ida must unravel the castle’s secrets… before this enchanted world destroys her.
Sweet Clarity by Rhiannon Richardson (28th)
Clarity Jones has her first kiss with Hannah Fitzpatrick while away at Christian summer camp. Though it wasn’t like her to be so impulsive, realizing she’s gay slid a missing piece of her identity into place and was the most freeing experience of her life. However, Clarity’s self-discovery turns to disaster when she and Hannah are found together—and she gets a glimpse of how the truth can turn her life upside down.
Now that she’s home, Clarity vows to do whatever it takes to keep her secret from her Baptist parents and not lose any more friends. Only this goal becomes increasingly complicated as Clarity must choose between who she been pretending to be and who she really is.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | B&N
The Redwood Bargain by Markelle Grabo (28th)
To free her cousin from an indentured contract, Katrien agrees to fulfill their lord’s bargain with the fabled “Redwood Man.” Three maids before her have posed as his stepdaughter, Lady Zaviera, and met this lord of the forest as promised. But Katrien means to be the first to fool him―and live.
Impersonating a Lady is no easy feat, especially one as beautiful and aloof as Zaviera. With one month before she’s sent off, Katrien is put through endless lessons, even as the Redwood Man’s suffocating vines overtake the manor and threaten its staff.
Zaviera takes a special interest in her training, and their shared interests grow into shared affections. But the Redwood Man awaits his prize. Caught between duty and desire, her future and her past, Katrien must navigate a tricky bargain―or risk failing those she holds dearest.
This Dream Will Devour Us by Emma Clancey (28th)
Sometimes you have to kill a dream to escape a nightmare.
Nora is the opposite of lucky. She’s still wrangling her late father’s debts when a mysterious illness lands her brother in the hospital. But her fortunes take an unexpected turn when she wins the lottery to attend the Lamour family’s exclusive, magical Dream Gala.
If Nora can win over the Lamour heirs, she’ll get a coveted spot on their magical training program—and the money she needs to save her brother.
There’s just one problem: Nora never bought a lottery ticket.
Determined to discover who wants her at the gala—and why—Nora plunges headfirst into magical high society. Caught up in a decadent world of brutal billionaires and cutthroat celebrities, Nora is soon in over her head and entangled in a messy love triangle.
When her search for answers uncovers a sinister conspiracy, will Nora stay silent or risk the wrath of a family powerful enough to get away with murder?
The Boyfriend Academy by J.S. Strange (28th)
Ganymede’s is no ordinary boarding school. Behind its spiral towers and manicured lawns, boys are forged into the men society demands – strong, obedient, perfect. Graduate, and the world is yours: a home, a career, a wife. But fail… and you’re no longer useful to society.
For Dylan Cecil it should be simple: keep his head down, survive graduation, and earn his place. But when his friend, Blake, disappears, Dylan can’t silence the questions gnawing at him, even as whispers of danger shadow the school’s gilded halls.
As June’s trials close in – eight tests that will decide who is worthy of manhood – Dylan is haunted by Blake’s absence and drawn to Roman Edwards, a boy as magnetic as he is unknowable.
In a world rebuilt on order and obedience, Dylan must decide: will he become the man the academy wants – or the man he really is?
The Castle of Stories by Matt Cain (28th)
Stories don’t always unfold quite the way you expect them to, and Adam Webb has reason to be glad of that. Out of the blue, he’s inherited a farmhouse and castle in Tuscany from a great uncle he never met. It’s the catalyst for Adam to give up his HR job in Manchester and fly out to Italy for the summer to do repairs on the home he hopes to turn into a rental. The best part: he’ll be sharing this summer of adventure with his partner of two years, Theo. It’s a fairytale in the making.
But there’s a last-minute twist, in the shape of Theo’s three children. Theo’s ex-wife can’t take them for the summer after all, so Callum, Mabel, and Archie are coming to Italy too. Their open hostility to their dad’s boyfriend isn’t helped by the lack of Wi-Fi and the mounting chaos of renovation problems and bad plumbing, not to mention the resident lizards and mice.
Despite everything, Adam finds himself falling in love with the place, whether he’s watching golden sunsets from the castle ruins with Theo, sipping coffee on the patio, or driving around the neighboring medieval towns. And as they sort through Uncle Wilf’s possessions, another story begins to take shape—one that will help Adam navigate the family secrets that have marred his past and the decisions that will shape his future. What emerges isn’t a fairytale, but it’s a rich, complex narrative of love, acceptance, and second chances that could pave the way for the best kind of happy ever after.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | B&N
The Duke by Anna Cowan (28th)
Set in a world of powerful female nobles and the women who love them…
Kate, Duke of Howard, is known throughout Europe as a merciless autocrat not to be crossed. Consumed by a bitter rivalry, she avoids society and has vowed never to trap a woman into marriage with a monster like herself.
The beautiful, ambitious courtesan Celine Genet once threw herself on the mercy of the visiting Duke of Howard. She was desperate to escape the guillotine. But after a night of searing passion, the duke left her to the ravages of Revolutionary Paris and didn’t look back. Now Celine is in London and in possession of a dangerous letter that proves the Duke of Howard committed treason as a child – and possibly even murder.
Celine wants a titled husband in return for keeping the duke’s secret, leaving Kate no choice but to parade her around the most fashionable ballrooms. But as Celine takes society by storm, Kate finds herself growing fond of the woman set on destroying her. And as their attraction mounts, Kate faces an impossible choice: keep her childhood secret, or win the woman she loves.
Our Rogue Fates by Sarah Glenn Marsh (28th)
When he isn’t training as a Warden to become half the hero his father was, Griff Sayer is in the business of breaking hearts all across the town of Mayfair, although that slows down after settling in with his current boyfriend. Griff’s ex-best-friend, Mal Pryce, meanwhile, is in business with whatever or whoever puts good money in his hands. Now in their mid-20s, Griff and Mal have only exchanged scathing looks and carefully barbed jabs since the fight that sent them their separate ways years ago. But all that begins to change when an attack Mal plotted for his shady boss leaves Griff near death and their childhood friend Alys is his savior, forcing them back into each other’s orbit.
Livid at his boss, Mal makes a deal to earn his freedom and Griff’s safety. He has just four weeks to retrieve an ancient treasure from Rotrose Mire, a remote swamp known for its ghostly and beastly dangers, the same treasure Alys’s beloved father Rhun had been searching for when he disappeared for good. Armed with a map and a broken blade of Rhun’s, Mal sets off—with Alys and a reluctant and newly single Griff in tow.
Yet the explosive tension between the two men—along with the dangers of the mire pressing in around them—make for a more difficult journey than any of them could have anticipated. As Griff and Mal peel back their tough facades, and shared feelings heat up in unexpected ways as they learn to trust again, they also realize that someone—or something—seems to be following their path. Someone who doesn’t want them to succeed, no friend to their parents’ old enemies, but also no friend to would-be heroes…
How to Fake it in Society by KJ Charles (28th)
It is 1821 and Nicolas-Marc, Comte de Valois de La Motte is making a splash in London Society. The son of Jeanne de Valois de La Motte, infamous for stealing a priceless diamond necklace meant for Marie Antoinette, Nico hopes to restore his wronged mother’s reputation, if only he can raise the funds. But he must operate with great secrecy, because the Bourbon dynasty murdered his mother, and he fears for his life.
At least, that’s what he tells Titus Pilcrow. Titus was a simple shopkeeper, making and selling artists’ paints, when he found himself suddenly married to an immensely wealthy woman who wanted to disinherit her nephew on her deathbed. As word spreads of his fortune, Titus finds himself a target of every scammer and beggar in London…including one Nicolas-Marc, Comte de Valois de La Motte.
Nico is on his last legs, out of money, and on the run from some terrifying gangsters. When Titus offers Nico a space in his household, it’s the perfect chance for him to exploit London’s newest golden purse–until he falls in love with the man he needs to cheat. Still, Nico is sure they can have a happy ending together. If he can just find his way out of his own web of lies…
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | B&N
A Murder Most Camp by Nicolas DiDomizio (28th)
Rustic cabins. Lakefront bonfires. A painfully hot lifeguard. And a murder? Summer has never been this camp.
Mikey Hartford IV has coasted through his twenties in a distracted blur of yachts and sex and partying. But when his father discovers his latest million-dollar impulse buy and changes the terms of his trust, the party’s finally over. Now, unless Mikey can make a positive contribution to the world before his thirtieth birthday―one that doesn’t involve throwing cash at his problems―he’ll never see another yacht again. (Or even so much as a canoe.)
Enter: Camp Lore, a struggling summer camp in upstate New York where Mikey has to work as the oldest, least-qualified staffer to prove that he can “do good” alongside his twelve-year-old aunt. (Yes, aunt.) But Mikey isn’t sure he’ll be able to survive the camp’s ramshackle living conditions, let alone the gaggle of preteens who won’t leave his side. And when his campers become obsessed with a local legend set at an abandoned cabin on the grounds, Mikey’s chances of not making it through the summer become dangerously real―because it turns out there’s a murder hidden beneath Camp Lore. And someone there will stop at nothing to keep it that way.
Solving a decade-old cold case will surely be enough “good” for Mikey to earn his inheritance. He just has to stay alive long enough to do it…
The Moon Blessed King by Lindsey Byrd (28th)
In the daring sequel to The Sun Blessed Prince, Elician and Cat must confront the goddess of death to save their nations. But could it already be too late?
Elician is a Giver with the power to raise the dead, and though it’s forbidden for Givers to rule, he is crowned King of Soleb. Determined to end a generations-long war with the kingdom of Alelune, he is prepared to marry Cat, Alelune’s rightful heir.
But Cat is a Reaper, able to kill with a touch, and feared by even his own people. His claim to the throne is a gamble at best, but before he can challenge his tyrannical brother, Gillage, the goddess of death releases a devastating plague across the continent.
To stop it, Elician and Cat must confront Death herself, leaving Elician’s rebellious sister, Fen, to do what she can to heal the sick in their absence. But when a coup threatens to upend her brother’s reign, Fen must decide exactly what she is willing to sacrifice to help her brother succeed.
With two countries at stake, the death toll rising, and the struggle for Alelune’s throne hanging in the balance, it’s a race against time to appease the wrath of a god.
We Burned So Bright by T.J. Klune (28th)
The road stretched out before them. No other cars, just the headlights on the blacktop. Above, the cracked moon in a kaleidoscope sky….
Husbands Don and Rodney have lived a good long life. Together they’ve experienced the highest highs of love and family, and lows so low that they felt like the end of the world.
Now, the world is ending for real. A rogue black hole is coming for Earth and in a month everything and everyone they’ve ever known will be gone.
Suddenly, after 40 years together, Don and Rodney are out of time. They’re in a race against the clock to make it from Maine to Washington State to take care of some unfinished business before it’s all over.
On the road they meet those who refuse to believe death is coming and those who rush to meet it. But there are also people living their final days as best they know how―impromptu weddings, bright burning bonfires, shared meals, and new friends.
And as the black hole draws near, among ball lightning and under a cracked moon in a kaleidoscope sky, Don and Rodney will look back on their lives and ask if their best was good enough.
Is it enough to burn bright if nothing comes from the ashes?
Fat Swim by Emma Copley Eisenberg (28th)
With a brash and stylish voice that implicates and confronts the reader, Emma Copley Eisenberg wades into the contradictions, joys, and violence of a modern world shaped by looking and watching, examining how our hungers can both hijack and crack open our lives. In the title story, a young girl looks to a group of fat women at her local pool to teach her about her changing body. In “Swiffer Girl,” a woman agrees to try for a baby with her partner, only to suddenly find herself haunted by the viral sex video that made the rounds during high school—a video indelibly tied to her own sense of self. In other stories, an obscure fat makeup vlogger’s strange friendship with a middle schooler forces her to reflect on her past life at a toxic beauty startup, a boomer retiree tries to understand her nonbinary child’s gender and polyamory, and a trans librarian takes a job as assistant to a famous science fiction writer only to find himself screening hookups on his octogenarian employer’s behalf.
For better or for worse, these stories counsel, none of us can leave our bodies behind: they remind us what it is to be alive. As the characters in Fat Swim dance into and out of each other’s lives—and through and around Philadelphia—they seek connections and experiences that remind them of that fact, culminating in a reality-bending, tour de force finale, “Camp Sensation.”
Do Ask, Do Tell: Queer Life, Love and Culture Laid Bare by Lotte Jeffs, Stu Oakley (28th)
What is a black cat lesbian? Is ‘aromantic’ a sexuality or a preference? How are bisexual and pansexual different? What’s it like to be queer and religious? Does Gen Z do darkrooms? How do you navigate life as a OAQ (Old Age Queer)? What does trans euphoria feel like? Why is nightlife so central to the community? What is camp today?
As queer people themselves, authors Lotte Jeffs and Stu Oakley knew they didn’t have all the answers, because their individual experience represents a single pixel of the rainbow. Do Ask, Do Tell is an unapologetically curious journey through the dazzling spectrum of queer life that will give people – queer, straight, cis and everything in-between – the confidence to say ‘I don’t know’.
With humor, warmth, and radically open minds, Stu and Lotte tackle the questions you may have avoided asking for fear of getting it wrong. Covering everything from ageing to open relationships, darkrooms to Drag Kings, camp to carabinas, as well as the intricacies of gender and sexuality.
This insightful and provocative exploration challenges assumptions, shatters taboos, and opens up the conversation. Whether you’re seeking clarity for your cis straight self or deeper insight as a member of the community, this book is your guide to better understanding and celebrating the richness of queer life.
