Category Archives: New Releases

New Releases

New Releases: October 20, 2026

Leave a comment

Middle Grade

Juana Fanta Needs a Hero by Kyle Casey Chu

Derrick Chan is shooting for a once-in-a-lifetime high-school basketball scholarship with his childhood best friend, JJ, by his side. But Derrick’s life is about more than just free throws since embracing his queer identity and love for drag (even if he’s not ready to share either with the whole world quite yet)!

Right now, he’s just trying to take his dad’s advice: don’t sweat the small stuff. This weekend, however, Derrick’s two worlds are colliding in a big way. At a career-defining basketball tournament, where scouts from elite schools are watching his every move, Derrick secretly plans to meet his drag idol, the magnificent Juana Fanta, at the Comic Con held in the very same hotel.

As the stakes skyrocket, team tensions bubble to the surface, including Derrick’s own growing feelings for JJ. But when Juana Fanta disappears from the con, Derrick and JJ must team up to find her before she misses her show-stopping live performance.

Can Derrick find a community that celebrates slam dunks on the court and dazzling drag in the spotlight? Can he really save Juana Fanta’s future—and his own—in one weekend?

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Continue reading New Releases: October 20, 2026 →

New Releases

New Releases: October 13, 2026

Leave a comment

Today’s post is sponsored by Robert W. Adams in honor of the release of Tabitha Unleashed, a queer YA speculative novel about sisterhood, first love, identity, and surviving long enough to believe you deserve to be saved.

Tabitha Griffin is a suicide-attempt survivor hiding a secret: she can move objects with her mind.

When her twin sister’s cancer returns, Tabitha enters the country’s biggest televised talent competition for one reason: the prize money could pay for the only treatment that might save Kayla’s life.

Her act? Using her telekinetic power disguised as stage illusion.

With every round, the internet wants to learn more about this mysterious girl.

But the competition is changing Tabitha, too. She finds unexpected friendships, falls for a girl who gives her another reason to keep fighting, and discovers that being seen isn’t always something to fear.

Then a presidential candidate’s anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric puts a target on her back, turning the girl who never wanted the spotlight into an unwilling symbol of resistance.

Winning means keeping her secret. And keeping secrets is killing her.

Buy it: Author Website | Amazon US | Amazon Can

***

Middle Grade

Realmsweep by H.E. Edgmon

In a fantastical version of the United States filled to the brim with magic and dragons, the tween prince of Texas must compete in a notoriously dangerous scavenger hunt.

Rowdy Buckner, the twelve-year-old prince of Texas, has a problem. More than anything, he wants access to the transfiguration tonics that will transform him from head to toe into the prince he is, in a body that feels more his down. His parents are skeptical–not because they aren’t supportive, but because they don’t believe that self-absorbed, spoiled Rowdy is responsible enough to be trusted with such powerful magic just yet.

In order prove himself, Rowdy signs up to compete in Realmsweep, a notoriously dangerous scavenger hunt held across the Allied Lands every five years, and sends his personal guard to assemble a team. The resulting ragtag crew of preteens isn’t exactly impressive at first glance, but they’re all Rowdy has. With them, he’ll face off against everything from monstrous creatures to the monstrosity of humans, and maybe, if he’s lucky, become the person he so desperately wants to be.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Continue reading New Releases: October 13, 2026 →

New Releases

New Releases: October 6, 2026

Leave a comment

This week’s post is sponsored by Scott Alderman in honor of his new novel, Pier 45!

“Pier 45 is a powerful, moving, important novel. A blend of The Basketball Diaries, Angels in America, and Requiem for a Dream, Scott Alderman has written a brutal, honest story that is not without humor and hope. 10/10.” —Richard Thomas, Bram Stoker, Shirley Jackson, and Thriller Award finalist

“An impactful, unforgettable read” —Independent Book Review

When a drag queen rescues a brutalized teenage hustler in 1981 New York City, it ignites a decade-long saga of prostitution, heroin, AIDS, murder, and supernatural reckoning—told by a child of Holocaust survivors who carries the dead on his tattooed arm and is learning that just surviving isn’t always enough.

“Scott Alderman gives us an intimate rendering of young life in desperate times, telling his story with compassion, dark humor, and wild imagination.” —Vivian Heller, author of Analysis and Exile: Boyhood, Loss and the Lessons of Anna Freud

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

***

Young Adult

Showstopper by Tom Ramsay

Larger-than-life Olly is back at the UK’s most prestigious competition for teen performers to prove he has what it takes to be a leading man. After being sabotaged last year, he is determined to stand out ahead of his drama school auditions.

Nervous newbie Tarun was nominated after stepping in from the chorus to a leading role. This is his week to explore if his secret hobby could be something more serious. But imposter-syndrome is real, and his dad’s derisive comments threaten to derail him.

When the two boys are paired together, Olly can’t comprehend being with someone who doesn’t get his niche musical references, whilst Tarun thinks Olly is “way too much”. But they soon discover they’ve more in common than the opening number might reveal. Amidst the drama of rehearsals, could two boys be falling in love?

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Continue reading New Releases: October 6, 2026 →

New Releases

New Releases: September 2026

Leave a comment

This post is sponsored by R.R. Ferretti-Hoyle in honor of the release of Willfully, Dorothy (yes, THAT Dorothy), available now!

Buy it: Amazon

***

Family Found: A Queer Friendsgiving Celebration by Joanna McClintick and Keisha Morris (1st)

When celebrants gather for their annual Friendsgiving—Thanksgiving with their chosen family—each has a unique story to tell as a child tries to piece together how it all began.

No one remembers how it started.

The Friendsgiving gathering is moving into high gear, and for one child in the group, it’s a good time to ask some questions about the event’s history. Great-Uncle Billy, while snapping some green beans for the meal, says he was the one who started the tradition, back when people had to speak in code to keep being gay a secret. Miss Mona thinks that she was the originator, after her car broke down one year and she had to make a change of plans. Grandma Jane and Nana Rose tell their version of the tale while the smell of cinnamon and apples fills the air. As more people (and dogs) arrive and the music is turned on, it grows clearer that the details may not matter; what counts is the love they all share. With warm, jubilant artwork and a welcoming text that introduces moments from LGBTQIA+ history, Family Found celebrates one family as they come together on a day of gratitude.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Continue reading New Releases: September 2026 →

New Releases

New Releases: August 2026

Leave a comment

This post is sponsored by Dana Hawkins in honor of the release of Forced Proximity, a bi M/F Romance releasing on the 27th!

She’s hired to protect. Not to fall in love.

Buy it: Amazon

***

Ghosts That We Knew by Amity Malcolm (3rd)

While still running from the ghosts of his past, a trans man reluctantly returns to his hometown and runs straight into the arms of a ghost who is about to change his future.

Hayes Hastings never expected to go back to Broomstick Bluff. Yet with a faltering family business and parents unwilling to step up, he returns to help his beloved grandmother with the ghost tour company that put his family on the map.

He’s determined to hate the small town suspended in an eternal autumn just as much as he’s dead set to leave on the first day of winter with as little contact with the town’s residents as possible.

But before he can even start his first day of work, his carefully planned world is knocked off its axis in the form of a beautiful employee dressed as a witch with wildfire hair, a familiar cinnamon scent he can’t place, and a carefree attitude unlike anything he could ever dream of possessing

What starts as the pair being pushed together as co-workers quickly escalates to spooky late nights and steamy afternoon apple orchard make-out sessions. Yet as they grow closer, both letting down unsuspecting walls, one secret stands to tear them apart forever.

And it just might be big enough to send Hayes Hastings packing for good.

Buy it: Scribbles Bookshop | Amazon

Continue reading New Releases: August 2026 →

New Releases

New Releases: July 2026

Leave a comment
This post is sponsored by Rien Grey in honor of Sapphic Fantasy Romance Galeas the Keen!

Buy it: Amazon | Personal Shop | Other Retailers

***

War Boys: A Father and Son Memoir by Jason Prokowiew (1st)

Version 1.0.0

As a child, Jason Prokowiew lived in fear of his father, an abusive alcoholic. Lonely and full of shame and guilt, Prokowiew recounts a lonely childhood, colored by struggles with weight, self-image, and his emerging identity as a gay man.

Impelled to confront the trauma of his childhood, Prokowiew documents the stories of his father’s own trauma that began when Nazis murdered his family at the start of the war. In War Boys, Prokowiew retraces his father’s harrowing journey to understand how he survived the war and why he became the terrifying father Jason knew. In an era where generational estrangement is common, War Boys inspires with its account of this father and son, both battle-scarred survivors, and how they heal their relationship through the power of claiming and telling their own stories – and listening to one another.

What is it like to be a child under attack?

At ten, a plane tries to kill you, then you’re alone. Even when someone is kind-perhaps a woman who runs a sick house who pulls you into her orbit-they eventually set you out into the fiery world again. The world treats you as a man but you’re a child, and you see too much. An enemy employs you, demands maturity from you, and whips you when you’re not perfect.

I said to my father, “you were good at surviving, but not thriving.”

“What a privilege, to want to thrive,” he said scornfully, annoyed as I tried to name the connective tissue between our childhoods, between what each of us lost.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Continue reading New Releases: July 2026 →

New Releases

New Releases: June 30, 2026

1 Comment

Young Adult

Winners & Liars by Aleema Onotoni

Derin’s acceptance into Cambridge University is the end of an era—just not the one she expected.

When she and her ultra-competitive Uni prep group, the Kenfield Set, were first invited to Professor Darnley’s summer ball, they planned on celebrating the group’s success, surrounded by the riches of his historical Kenfield estate—not kicking off the festivities with the professor’s will reading.

But when the Darnleys’ aristocratic children are disinherited, the students are offered the opportunity of a lifetime: compete in a Victorian, literary-inspired inheritance competition to be named the new heir—winner takes all!

For Derin, it’s a chance to help her working-class family. But the remaining Darnleys won’t take losing their stately home and its multimillion-pound inheritance lying down. And added to the mix, a mysterious note is slipped under Derin’s door alluding to a dark family secret lying in wait.

Now Derin must balance the cutthroat games; scheming relatives; and a cute Kenfield intern amid her dawning realization that the history of this inheritance might be soaked in lies . . . and blood.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Continue reading New Releases: June 30, 2026 →

New Releases

New Releases: June 23, 2026

Leave a comment

Today’s post is sponsored by FlameCon!

For more information and to get tickets, check out FlameCon.org!

***

Young Adult

The Lovers, the Liars, and Me by DeAndra Davis

Jaliya Powell has never had a real adventure, a real boyfriend, or spoken up for herself. She’s never even been kissed. Despite being valedictorian of her high school class, Jaliya is used to fading into the background.

But this summer will be different.

This summer, Jaliya is visiting her uncle and his family in Jamaica. Under the guise of one last vacation before college, she plans to find out more about her estranged mother, whose absence has remained an unspoken mystery. But things have changed in the seven years since Jaliya last visited. Her cousin has his own life and is reluctant to let Jaliya in, her childhood crush has only gotten hotter and more unavailable, and her aunt and uncle aren’t everything she remembered, either. Then she meets India, who’s vibrant, gorgeous, and free-spirited. And who makes Jaliya feel something she’s never felt before.

While searching for traces of her mother across the island, Jaliya finds herself entangled in complicated relationships, tricky secrets, and a passionate new love. As she navigates this perfectly complicated summer, Jaliya must choose between who she has always been or who she hopes to become.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Continue reading New Releases: June 23, 2026 →

New Releases

New Releases: June 16, 2026

Leave a comment

Today’s post is sponsored by FlameCon!

For more information and to get tickets, check out FlameCon.org!

***

Middle Grade

Just Ask Elsie by Ari Koontz

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.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.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | B&N

Continue reading New Releases: June 16, 2026 →

New Releases

New Releases: June 9, 2026

Leave a comment

Middle Grade

Sol Goes for Goal! by Julio Anta, illus. by Gabi Mendez

Welcome back to Hillside Valley-this time it’s Game On for Sol!

Twelve-year-old Sol is a great friend, a model student, a beloved daughter and a star soccer player. At least that’s what everyone always expects of her. But when the soccer team captain Lily walks by, Sol starts to lose focus. What’s with this heart fluttering feeling she has around Lily?! And how can she stay the star player–the star everything–that people see her as if she can barely remember her name (much less how to play soccer) around Lily? Is Sol destined to let everyone down, including herself? Or can she figure out how to be the Sol she wants to be…on and off the field.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Continue reading New Releases: June 9, 2026 →