Young Adult
Shapes of Love by L.V. Peñalba
When nineteen-year-old Sasha’s first album throws her into stardom, her fans become obsessed with discovering who inspired her love songs. Except, Sasha is aroace-spec (aromantic, asexual), and she’s not interested in romance (unless it comes in the shape of a slowburn enemies-to-lovers book or a star-crossed-lovers manga). Her music is all about her favorite love stories, not her own.
After running into Kai, her estranged best friend who she hasn’t seen in two years, pictures of them together leak, and everyone assumes he’s Sasha’s muse, the “boyfriend” who broke her heart. Pressured by her label and fearing fan backlash, Sasha agrees to a PR relationship with Kai for six months – but her sense of self is put to the ultimate test. Where does she fit in a society that equates happiness with romantic love? One where even her closest friends prioritize their partners over her?
Under the guise of their faux romance, Sasha and Kai get a chance to rebuild their platonic bond and heal the wounds of their past. But when actor Asher Grish enters the scene, threatening to shake the foundation of Sasha’s PR relationship, she finds herself at a crossroads. Either she loses herself, or her career.
Time-Tripping Over You by Brennon Lane
College freshman Silas Turner is a scientific anomaly. Thrown back in time uncontrollably, he’s forced into his pre-transition body for hours to days at a time, reliving random events in his past. Why? Every cell in his astrophysics major brain is straining to figure it out. But the “time trips” just keep on coming, disrupting Silas’s life, and he’s certain he’s a one-of-a-kind phenomenon—until brash, guitar-playing Jude Forrester barges into his life, exhibiting the same symptoms.
He claims a future version of Silas visited him, and that, according to future-Silas, they’re meant to help each other stop the time trips. If working together can really lead to finding a cure, Silas can handle Jude’s tortured-artist attitude; Jude can humor Silas’s nerdy obsession with the stars.
As they get closer to a solution, they grow closer to each other. But Jude is still grieving an old connection that broke his heart, and he can’t help but wonder if changing the past might save himself and Silas a lot of heartache. Amidst cataclysmic consequences, Silas and Jude must face the cosmic circumstances that brought them together if they hope to protect their timeline—and the future they seem destined to share.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | B&N
All the Scattered Stars by Via Luino
The glitter of Venice’s lights hides a dark truth: when the floodwaters rise, no one is safe.
Koru knows better than to trust anyone but her own. Hidden deep in the winding twists of Venice’s narrow alleys, Koru and her found family must disguise themselves to survive. They are Rhunlokni, an ethnic minority gifted with the ability to channel the power of the Earth, their Goddess. They have long been vilified and prosecuted for their strange abilities—and Koru’s gift is the strongest of her generation.
So when the police arrive in St. Mark’s Square to arrest Koru for a crime she didn’t commit, she does the only thing she can—she runs. Though Koru manages to escape the police, a larger threat is drawing near. Koru must figure out what the Goddess is trying to tell her, protect those she loves, and uncover the truth of her past before it’s too late—because Venice is sinking. Tonight.
The Hanging Bones by Elle Tesch
Some monsters are born. Some are made. All can be killed.
Once every few years, the Scavenge Moon rises. From beyond its pale glow steps the Breimar Stag, an otherworldly creature with eyes of burning gold. Any reckless adventurer who chooses to join the hunt for the stag only has until the Scavenge Moon sets to claim their prize―if they catch it, they are granted the death of any person of their choice. And if no one catches it, the stag will claim one of the hunters’ souls instead.
Katrin has lived on the border of the forest her whole life, raised on tales of the Folk that dwell within. As a gamekeeper for the baron who rules over the region, she is saddled with the onerous task of escorting the entitled nobles who descend upon her home for the Breimar Hunt. None of them respect the forest or its legends, and Katrin is only too happy to let them risk their foolish necks for what they see as a cheap thrill.
When her beloved cousin becomes the latest target of the baron’s lecherous appetites, Katrin knows only his death will keep her family safe, and the only way she can claim his life is to win the hunt herself. But something hungry has begun to stir in the woods, something even older and more powerful than the stag. As the horrifying, mutilated bodies pile up, Katrin begins to question where the true danger lies.
Being Aro ed. by Madeline Dyer and Rosiee Thor
Explore expansive aromantic love and connection in stories across genres
These twelve stories showcase aromantic people breaking generational curses, finding acceptance, and protecting the vulnerable while highlighting the infinite ways people find connection and love without romance.
A high school matchmaker learns a lesson about love. A rebellious spaceship pilot defies his culture’s compulsory coupling. A boy magically transforms banned romance novels into living dragons. A teen immune to romance, and the zombie virus, fights to survive the apocalypse. Being Aro is full of stories throughout real and imagined worlds that cross genres and disrupt the status quo.
Girls Walking With Wolves by Jenna Baner (November 10, 2026)
Arden Hood, blind since birth, is not afraid of witches.
Every day Arden walks alone, deep into the woods, to care for her beloved, ailing grandmother, and she’s yet to come across a single witch.
Arden believes her life may be this small forever―quiet evenings with her father and days spent at her grandmother’s bedside―until two encounters alter the course of her life. One day at the market she chances upon the Queen’s hunter, who develops an interest in her yet won’t say what he’s hunting; and that same evening, she’s rescued from a wolf attack by a mysterious young woman named Myra, the last witch still living in the woods.
Myra is nothing like the witches in the villagers’ stories―she is good and kind and soon she becomes the best friend Arden has ever had. The girls hide their friendship, but they cannot hide forever. The hunter was sent to these woods for a reason, and he won’t leave until he’s captured a witch…
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | B&N
Not Your Typical Love Story by C.R. Averett (April 20, 2027)
Loveless meets You’ve Got Mail in a charming YA romance centering two aspec (asexual and aromantic) teens at the heart of their own kind of love story.
Analeigh Tate has a plan: convince her parents that a musical theater degree is a serious career path and not a childish fantasy. Unfortunately, this means begging her perfect older sister Natasha for help, which, as expected, comes with strings: Analeigh has to prove she can get and keep a boyfriend for the next four months. She’s never cared about dating, partly because she fears no one will be interested in an asexual girl, but how hard could it be? She’s already guaranteed valedictorian since her academic nemesis Drew Eberstark left school the year before, so a boyfriend should be easy.
Drew is not keen on returning to school after his very public breakdown last year. But his grand comeback becomes ten times worse when he learns that his anonymous online best friend—who he just asked to meet in person—is none other than Analeigh Tate, a girl who hates his guts. Desperate not to lose his only friend, with whom he’s shared his uncertainty about identifying as asexual and aromantic, he comes up with a solution: offer to be her (fake) boyfriend. He already knows about Analeigh’s deal with her sister, so all he’s got to do is prove he’s worth her friendship—while keeping his true identity under wraps. So that’s not stressful or anything.
While Analeigh struggles with the fact that her once-mortal enemy is kind of amazing, the weight of family expectations, and the difficult feelings about her asexuality, Drew struggles with his growing web of lies and the grief he won’t talk about. When the truth finally comes to light, Analeigh and Drew will have to decide if their friendship is worth fighting for, and if there’s a happily ever after to their (not so typical) love story.
Adult Fiction
Robbie McNeil’s Hit List by Brianna Heath
For this hitwoman, curiosity may be killer.
Contract killer Robbie McNeil never asks questions. Her mission is simple. Do the job. Get paid. Get back to running the karaoke bar she co-owns with her queerplatonic partner and fellow contract killer, Dee. And it works… Until their ambitious new theatrical venture breaks the bank.
When a mysterious new client hires Robbie for a hit, she takes the job, even though it’s sketchy as hell he won’t tell her anything but the target’s name. But hey, she didn’t build her reputation by being curious, and she desperately needs the cash.
Except something about this new target doesn’t add up. When he disappears with no record he ever existed, she chucks her no-questions-asked policy out the window, determined to figure out who this target really is. But the price for asking questions is high and might just cost Robbie everything she holds dear.
The Dragon Has Some Complaints by John Wiswell (July 14, 2026)
Garrodigh was once a four-headed dragon, among the most powerful in Kardoša. After an unfortunate incident, he now has three heads, one stump, and a daily whirlwind of internal bickering. Centerhead wants to rain death upon all humanity, Bottomhead is like a feral cat, and Upperhead is under the delicate delusion that he is, in fact, human.
When a nearby battle goes awry, Garrodigh sneaks into an elite dragon rider academy, pretending to be tame to get free food and a warm bed. Lucky for him, rider Rania Charvátová is desperate enough for a dragon of her own that she overlooks his eccentricities.
As Garrodigh recovers under Rania’s care, all three heads start to turn, for the first time, in the same direction. Each wants to protect her from the invaders who killed their fourth head—the same invaders who seek to conquer Kardoša. When the academy comes under attack, can this wild dragon and his wilder rider save their homeland together?
Common Bonds 3 ed. by Claudie Arseneault, Em Ishii, and RoAnna Sylver
At the heart of this collection are the bonds that impact our lives from beginning to end: platonic relationships. Whether with family, mentors, friends, colleagues, or found family, these links pepper our lives and their importance is often overlooked. We seek to explore the powerful impact of these bonds on aromantic people through the lens of science-fiction and fantasy.
In Common Bonds 3, you will find 18 gorgeous short stories and poems that span science-fiction, fantasy, and horror from writers all around the world, all of which are led by an aromantic character and centre platonic bonds.
