Category Archives: Cover Reveal

Cover Reveal

Exclusive Cover Reveal: Just Ask Elsie by Ari Koontz

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Today on the site, I’m delighted to reveal the cover of the upcoming Just Ask Elsie by Ari Koontz, a contemporary Middle Grade novel releasing June 16, 2026, from Feiwel & Friends! Here’s the story:

Elsie Parker is having a totally normal fifth grade year.

Fractions and conjunctions―check.
Stressing about middle school―check.
Body-positive puberty class at church that also covers feelings and identities―check.

Okay, maybe that last one isn’t so normal. It’s a little weird (and awkward) to spend her Sundays talking periods, B.O., and pimples. But Elsie’s also learning a lot more than she’s heard in her public-school health class ― like the difference between sex and gender, and what consent is, and what it might mean that she can’t stop blushing around a certain cute girl at her school.

When her puberty lessons become the school’s latest gossip, Elsie’s totally humiliated… until she finds an anonymous note in her locker from a classmate who wants to know more, and realizes that other kids might have embarrassing questions of their own.

Starting an underground advice board wasn’t exactly in her plans, but Elsie won’t pass up a chance to turn her reputation around ― or to share words and labels that have not-so-accidentally been left off their curriculum. But when the principal tries to shut down the unauthorized puberty talk, Elsie has to decide what she’s willing to risk to tell the truth to kids who really need to hear it.

And here’s the adorable cover, designed by Julia Bianchi with art by Isabelle Duffy!

The illustrated cover of Just Ask Elsie by Ari Koontz features a young white girl with blonde hair, standing in the middle of a school hallway and holding a stack of purple magazines that read "Elsie's Puberty Zine." Around her are cut-out doodles of birds and bees, hearts and emojis, and the progress pride flag. In the background, other students stand in front of blue lockers, watching and whispering. The title words are in mismatched fonts, with "Elsie" handwritten in gold sharpie over a piece of purple duct tape. The overall art style is soft-textured but bright, with pastel colors and rounded lines.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | B&N

Ari Koontz is a queer nonbinary writer and educator with an MFA in creative writing from Northern Michigan University. They’re dedicated to telling full-hearted stories of bravery and whimsy in every possible genre, centering the beautiful complexities of queer identity and community, and supporting their local public library. A born-and-raised Midwestern UU, Ari lives close to where the water meets the woods and loves to take long walks when they should be writing. Just Ask Elsie is their debut novel.

Cover Reveal

Exclusive Cover Reveal: Song of Spores by Bogi Takács

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Today on the site I’m delighted to reveal the cover of Song of Spores by Bogi Takács, a nonbinary/genderfluid Space Opera releasing November 4, 2025 from Broken Eye Books! Here’s the story:

Hugo Award winner Bogi Takács spins a tale of adventure, mystery, and political intrigue in space. Plus sentient fungus!

Three experienced counterintelligence operatives from Alliance Treaty Enforcement are on a mission to find the source of shapeshifting infiltrators within Alliance space. Will the gruff Ereni commander, the Chasidic Jewish shapeshifter, and the cynical insectoid grandma be able to work together? Or will their differences drive them apart before they can reach their goal?

Not to mention dealing with the sentient spaceship and symbiotic pilot, who only signed on to provide transportation, not to be eaten by giant space fungus. Are they even on the right side of history when everything comes crashing down?

Can the galaxy possibly survive? This is weird space opera at its finest!

And here’s the intriguing cover, illustrated by Galen Dara and designed by Scott Gable!

Buy it: Broken Eye Books

Bogi Takács is a Hungarian Jewish agender trans person (e/em/eir/emself or they pronouns) and an immigrant to the US. Bogi lives in Lawrence, Kansas, with eir family and a congregation of books. Bogi writes, edits, and reviews speculative fiction and poetry. E is a winner of the Lambda Literary award for editing Transcendent 2: The Year’s Best Transgender Speculative Fiction, the Hugo award for Best Fan Writer, and a finalist for the Ignyte award, the Locus award, and the Hexa award for advocates of Hungarian SFF. Bogi talks about books at www.bogireadstheworld.com, and you can also find em as @bogiperson on various social media websites.

Cover Reveal

Exclusive Cover Reveal: The Unruly Heart of Miss Darcy by Erin Edwards

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Today on the site, I’m delighted to help reveal the cover of The Unruly Heart of Miss Darcy by Erin Edwards, a debut Sapphic YA Historical Romance releasing from ‎ Little, Brown Books for Young Readers on April 7, 2026! Here’s the story:

Mr. Darcy got his happily ever after in Pride and Prejudice, and now it’s his sister’s turn in this swoony queer romance, perfect for fans of Bridgerton.

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.

Here’s the swoontastic cover illustrated by Bijou Karman!

Two teenage girls in regency attire are cuddling together on a chaise lounge. One is blonde with a blue dress; the other is dark haired and is wearing a slip and a dark green men’s coat.

Buy it: Amazon US | B&N | Amazon UK

Erin Edwards is a lesbian with a love for all things literary, historical, and theatrical. By day, she can be found in an archive, attempting to decipher old handwriting and digging through boxes of hidden histories. By night, she’s probably in a theatre, waiting for the lights to go down and the magic to start. There is a fair chance she’s already seen the show before. Erin grew up struggling to find enough queer fiction to fill a single shelf and now she’s committed to the cause of helping to fill endless bookcases with queer stories. She lives in London with a cat that is at least 85% fluff. The Unruly Heart of Miss Darcy is her debut novel.

Cover Reveal

Exclusive Cover Reveal We Could Be Anyone by Anna-Marie McLemore

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Today on the site, I am so delighted to welcome back Anna-Marie McLemore to reveal the cover of their brand-new YA historical thriller, We Could Be Anyone, releasing May 26, 2026 from Feiwel & Friends! Here’s the story:

Lola and Lisandro are actors during Hollywood’s Golden Age, but you won’t see them on any silver screen. Instead, these siblings use their talents to scam the rich and famous out of their ill-begotten cash. They have their act down to a science: Lola plays the tragic ghost who haunts the mansions of the wealthy, and Lisandro plays the brave spiritualist who will help her soul find peace. For a small fee, of course.

The siblings have their sights set on their next target: The Coterie, the opulent estate of newspaper tycoon Bixby Fairfax and his famous mistress Blythe Bell. A score this big will allow them to move… well, anywhere but here. But this job requires them to do something they’ve never done before: switch roles. And as strange things keep happening at The Coterie… things that even Lola and Lisandro can’t explain.

As they are drawn deeper into The Coterie’s gleaming façade and tensions rise between brother and sister, one question looms over them. Will they be able to pull off their act? Or will this be their last performance?

And here’s the gorgeous cover, designed by L. Whitt with art by Andreea Dumuta!

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | B&N

(c) Elliott McLemore

Anna-Marie McLemore (they/them) grew up hearing la llorona in the Santa Ana winds and now writes books as queer, Latine, and nonbinary as they are. They are the author of William C. Morris YA Debut Award finalist The Weight of Feathers; Wild Beauty; Blanca & Roja, one of Time magazine’s 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time; Dark and Deepest Red; Lambda Literary Award Finalist Lakelore; Flawless Girls; and National Book Award longlist selections When the Moon Was Ours, The Mirror Season, and Self-Made Boys: A Great Gatsby Remix. Find them online at annamariemclemore.com.

Cover Reveal

Exclusive Cover Reveal: Load Game by Emilie Nantel

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Today on the site I’m delighted to welcome Emilie Nantel to reveal the cover of her upcoming speculative bi f/f YA, Load Game, releasing September 18, 2025! Here’s the story:

Vera Young can time travel through her selfies.

For a disaster bi with a huge crush on her bestie Soph and an affinity for trouble, that new power is a cheat code for life. Consequences are a thing of the past.

Punched the sleazy quarterback and got suspended? Save game. Load game. Get out scot-free.

Want the satisfaction of getting revenge on the mean girls bullying you, but still want to be a good person? Humiliate them in front of everyone, rewind, and enjoy! It doesn’t count if it didn’t happen!

Whatever life throws at her, Vera’s got this.

But some things you can’t control, not even with all the time travel in the world: Riverview High’s rumor mill; a death that’s a fixed point in time; and the crumbling integrity of the space-time continuum, to name a few.

Turns out, there’s a lot of consequences to a no-consequences life.

For teen readers at an age of firsts of all kinds, where mistakes, what-ifs, grief and guilt are so challenging to cope with. Load Game deals with the hardships of youth in an honest, yet optimistic and lighthearted way.

And here’s the cool cover, designed by Rorrim Designs!

Buy it!

Emilie Nantel is the author of OPEN: A Tale of Love, Mermaids, Bassists, & Creepy Dudes, a queer polyamorous romcom for adults.

She honed her casual, witty voice through years writing fanfiction, and now brings her friends-to-lovers expertise to original stories of queer joy.

When she’s not writing, you can usually find her at home in Montreal, trying every art medium she can get her hands on, playing The Sims 4, or bringing various hot mess characters to life in tabletop roleplaying games.

Load Game is her first foray into Young Adult fiction.

Cover Reveal

Exclusive Cover Reveal: Clock Hands by Marieke Nijkamp and Sylvia Bi

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Today on the site I am utterly delighted to be revealing the cover of Clock Hands by Marieke Nijkamp and Sylvia Bi, a middle grade graphic novel with a nonbinary protagonist releasing April 21, 2026 from Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins! Clock Hands is a companion to Ink Girls, but can be read entirely on its own. Here’s the story:

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.

And here’s the fabulous cover, illustrated by Sylvia Bi and designed by Sylvie Le Floc’h!

Illustrated cover of CLOCK HANDS, featuring three tweens on the edge of a brightly lit clockface over a darkened Renaissance-like town. The tweens all wear practical, medieval looking clothes. The boy on the left--Caliste--has brown hair, brown skin, and wearing a laced up shirt. He's sitting down with one knee pulled up. Vale, in the middle, has black hair and brown skin. They're standing, dreamily looking out over the city. They're wearing a blue tunic, patched up pants, and a necklace. They have a slight scar on their chin. And to the right is Stella, who wears her red hair in a braid with a headband. She has freckled white skin, and she's wearing a pink and green dress. She's standing next to Vale and has her hand on their shoulder. She's smiling.

Buy it: B&N | Amazon

Marieke Nijkamp (she/they) is the author of Splinter & Ash; Ink Girls, a middle grade graphic novel illustrated by Sylvia Bi; as well as several books for young adults, which include #1 New York Times bestsellers, a critically acclaimed anthology, graphic novels, and comics. She studied philosophy and medieval history, and when she isn’t writing, she loves to garden, roll dice, and daydream. Marieke Nijkamp lives and writes in Small Town, the Netherlands.

Sylvia Bi is the illustrator of the graphic novel Ink Girls, written by Marieke Nijkamp, and loves drawing stories with expansive, vibrant worlds, an undercurrent of chaos, and girls running on rooftops. A graduate of Rhode Island School of Design, she explores and shares diverse stories and experiences through the power of a (digital) pen. She is also a book designer, a frog enthusiast, and an avid earring collector. Sylvia Bi lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Cover Reveal

Exclusive Cover Reveal: When You’re Brave Enough by Rebecca Bendheim

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Today on the site I’m delighted to welcome Rebecca Bendheim, author of the upcoming lesbian Middle Grade When You’re Brave Enough, which releases April 7, 2026 from Viking Books for Young Readers! Here’s the story:

A heartfelt, gorgeously written debut middle grade novel about best friends, first crushes, and coming out—perfect for fans of Kyle Lukoff and Jake Maia Arlow.

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.

And here’s the lovely cover, designed by Anabeth Bostrup and illustrated by Chantal Horeis!

Two white tween girls stand back to back in a field of greenery, one with dirty-blonde hair almost to her shoulders and glasses, wearing knee-length black shorts and a boxy green tank top, the other in a yellow-striped shirt with a long brown braid, who is looking back at the first girl. The background is split: an orange cityscape on the left, behind the first girl, and a light blue seascape with a lighthouse and sailboats on the right. The title, When You're Brave Enough, is written in bold white and pink letters down the right side.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | Black Pearl Books | Book People | Barnes & Noble

Credit: Syd Fuller

Rebecca Bendheim is a middle school teacher, poet, and graduate of Vanderbilt and VCFA’s MFA program in writing for children and young adults, where she wrote her critical thesis on queer middle grade. She has performed her poetry on NPR, at Lambda Litfest, and as a member of Austin’s Typewriter Rodeo poetry troupe. Rebecca lives in Austin with her fianceé, a corgi-chihuahua mix puppy, and an orange cat and can be found on social media @RebeccaBendheim.

Cover Reveal

Exclusive Cover Reveal: Hold Me Like a Grudge by Celine Ong

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Today on the site, I’m thrilled to be revealing the cover for Hold Me Like a Grudge by Celine Ong, a bi m/m sports romance releasing March 31, 2026 from Berkley! Here’s the story:

When a fierce rivalry between two professional wrestlers grows increasingly heated, neither man can fight the attraction burning between them, in this dazzling debut romance.

From dramatic character gimmicks to death-defying stunts, everything in the world of professional wrestling is an act. Asher Ross’s hatred for Caleb Knight, however, is not. When Asher gets drafted to Global Elite Wrestling’s main roster, playing the role of Caleb’s worst enemy—the face to his heel—should be easy. Stripping him of his World Championship title should be even easier. But as the two men trade barbs and blows across arenas, they’re each surprised to find their chemistry is so sizzling, it can’t just be for the cameras.

Through training sessions, rehearsals, and injuries, Caleb’s icy demeanor melts away, and Asher begins to see the real man behind the cruel persona GEW has molded Caleb into. An unlikely truce evolves into feelings neither want to deny, but the company won’t let them be seen as anything other than bitter rivals, both in and out of the ring.

As Asher and Caleb grapple with what they truly want in an industry with a history of denying queerness, their forbidden romance comes crashing down on them, and both men are forced to decide if their relationship is real enough to last, and just how much they’re willing to fight for it.

And here’s the beautifully bisexual cover, designed by Steve Meditz with art by Sarah Maxwell!

The cover art of HOLD ME LIKE A GRUDGE, a novel by Celine Ong, where two male wrestlers (to the left is an Asian man in his 20s with long-ish black hair tied up in a man bun and a red fringe cascading down his face, dressed in a pair of black wrestling tights designed to look like flames; to the right is a white man in his 20s with short blond hair with slight curls at the top, dressed in white tights with blue lines coming up the side) square up in the middle of a ring. They stare at each other with a mix of fierceness and affection, and have an arm on each other. They are illuminated by pinkish, purplish, and blueish stage lights above. In the background, a faceless crowd watches them.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | B&N

A photo of the author, an Asian person with shoulder-length pink windswept hair and tattoos coming up their left arm, smiling into the camera in front of some foliage, wearing a black choker with a tiny silver heart in the middle and a detailed black dress.Born in sweltering Singapore, Celine Ong (she/they) was raised in mosh pits, and writes queer romance novels about chaos gremlins with bad manners, weird feelings, and big hearts. With a B.A. in Psychology, by day, she works with her local queer community. By night, she’s just a little court jester. Hold Me Like a Grudge is their debut novel.

You can find Celine trying to be cool and mysterious (but failing miserably for they were born to yap about their many fixations) at writewithcel.com or on Instagram at @readwithcel.

Cover Reveal

Exclusive Cover Reveal: The Ex Effect by Dana Hawkins

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Today on the site I’m delighted to welcome Dana Hawkins to reveal the cover of the first book in the new Meet Cute in Minnesota series, The Ex Effect, releasing August 19th from Storm Publishing! Here’s the story:

Morgan Rose has always been the girl with the plan. Color-coded calendars, backup plans for her backup plans, and a wedding business that’s her entire world. Only one woman ever managed to derail Morgan’s organized life and shatter her heart in the process. But Morgan doesn’t think about Frankie Lee anymore.

Until Morgan meets the photographer hand-picked by her latest clients and discovers that Frankie is not miles away in New York like she thought. She’s back in Spring Harbors, looking infuriatingly good, and Morgan’s carefully ordered world descends into chaos.

Morgan has just 87 days to pull off the wedding of her career and she’s not going to let Frankie derail this opportunity. She will not be distracted by Frankie’s new haircut or the shadowy dips between her shoulders and biceps. And she won’t care about Frankie’s unfairly salty attitude when she left Morgan.

But some sparks never die, and as the wedding approaches and the tension between Morgan and Frankie grows, can they face up to the mistakes that pulled them apart, or risk it happening all over again?

A perfectly spiced romance about learning that the best love stories are worth fighting for… twice. The next unputdownable read for fans of Ashley Herring Blake, Alexandria Bellefleur and Haley Cass.

And here’s the lovely cover, designed by Rachel Lawston!

Buy it: Amazon

Dana Hawkins is a caffeine-fueled writer of contemporary romance stories, including NOT IN THE PLAN, IN WALKED TROUBLE, and SO NOT MY TYPE. Her new series, “Meet Cute in Minnesota” first book, THE EX EFFECT, releases on August 19th, 2025. After living for twenty years in Seattle, she recently trekked back to her hometown in Minnesota. She is a huge romance-genre book nerd and borderline obsessed with happy-ever-afters. As a mom of three humans and one Saint Bernard, she spends her days chasing after kids and various animals, neglecting her last remaining bamboo plant, and searching for the perfect coffee mug. Find her on Instagram @d.hawkinsauthor

Cover Reveal

Exclusive Cover Reveal: One Morning Sun by Avi Silver

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Today on the site, I’m delighted to welcome back Avi Silver to reveal the cover of One Morning Sun, the final book in the polyamorous and aroace YA fantasy Sãoni Cycle trilogy, releasing September 23, 2025! Here’s the story:

Sohmeng Parminhal is ready to face the unknown.

The mountain community of Ateng is safe at last, but Sohmeng and her partners have a new challenge ahead: defending Gãepongwei from the invading Qiao Sidhur Empire. While Soh is convinced that open conversation can turn her adversaries into allies, Prince Ahnschen isn’t so sure. His older sister, the charming and ruthless General Ólawen, has never been one to concede defeat.

With the future of the rainforest at stake, the hmun are uniting for the first time in living memory—and the animal kingdom has its part to play. But as self-appointed guardian of Eiji, Hei questions if the relationship between humans and sãoni is indeed symbiotic as they walk the line between skin and scales.

The dark of Minhal is coming. Inside that darkness, infinite possibility. In the final heartfelt chapter of the Sãoni Cycle, Hei, Ahn, and Sohmeng must decide their place in the perfect system, and become who the world needs each of them to be.

And here’s the gorgeous cover by Haley Rose!

Framed in curtains of purple leaves and jade vines, a calm ocean sunrise is rendered in vibrant, lineless illustration. The water seems to reflect the sun so that it forms a perfect circle out on the horizon. In the foreground, three silhouetted figures stand by the shore and watch the dawn emerge. In white text in the top third of the image, the title is written, “One Morning Sun”, while in the bottom quarter of the image, also in white, reads the author name, “Avi Silver”.

Buy the book!

In celebration of the Sãoni Cycle’s conclusion, The Shale Project is holding a giveaway on The StoryGraph! Enter to win one of 50 digital copies of Two Dark Moons, the first volume in the trilogy. Giveaway closes July 18, 2025.
New to the series? Recommended to anyone who needs a little more hope in their storytelling. Set in a queernormative, gender-diverse world (and with a fantasy astrology system to match!), Two Dark Moons is about environmental stewardship, unconventional relationships, and capable teens changing their world. Plus, giant lizards.

Avi Silver is a speculative author, poet, editor, and co-founder of The Shale Project. One Morning Sun, the finale of their Sãoni Cycle trilogy is forthcoming September 2025. They are also author of  the 2023 Aurora Award-nominated novella, Pluralities. Their poetry has been published in Strange Horizons and Uncanny Magazine, and received an honorable mention in the 2022 Rhysling Awards. Find their short fiction in Common Bonds: An Aromantic Speculative Anthology and Nothing Without Us Too. Avi currently lives in St. Thomas, ON with creative and life partner Sienna Tristen.