Best Hex Ever by Nadia El-Fassi (bi m/f)
Caroline’s Heart by Austin Chant (t4t m/f)
Payback’s a Witch by Lana Harper (f/f)
The Entanglement of Rival Wizards by Sara Raasch (m/m)
Spellfire by Agatha Willow (f/f)
Fave Five: Paranormal Middle Grade
A Touch of Ruckus by Ash Van Otterloo
A Little Too Haunted by Justine Pucella Winans
First Kiss With Fangs by Marker Snyder
Benji Zeb is a Ravenous Werewolf by Deke Moulton
Artie and the Wolf Moon by Olivia Stephens
Excerpt: Exquisite Things by Abdi Nazemian
It’s Banned Books Week, and in honor of those titles, we’re digging into a recent release to highlight it and share some poignant passages. Today we’re looking at Exquisite Things by Abdi Nazemian:
Shahriar believes he was born in the wrong time. All he’s ever wanted is to love and be loved, but 1895 London doesn’t offer him the freedom to be his true self, and Oscar Wilde’s trial for gross indecency has only reaffirmed that. But one night—and one writer—will grant Shahriar what he’s always wished for: the opportunity to live in a time and place where he can love freely. Rechristened as Shams and then as Bram, he finds what feels like eternal happiness. But can anything truly be eternal?
Oliver doesn’t feel that 1920s Boston gives him a lot of options to be his full self. He knows he could only ever love another boy, but that would break his beloved mother’s heart. Oliver finds freedom and acceptance in the secret queer community at Harvard that his cousin introduces him to. When he meets a mysterious boy with eyes as warm as a flame, his life is irrevocably changed, forever.
Spanning one hundred and thirty years of love and longing, this tale of immortal beloveds searching for their perfect place and time is a vibrant hymn to the beauty of being alive, a celebration of queer love and community, and a reminder that behind every tragic thing that ever existed, there is something exquisite.
BRAM. LONDON. APRIL. 2025.
Fave Five: YA for fans of Yellowjackets
Wilder Girls by Rory Power
What the Woods Took by Courtney Gould
The Darkness Greeted Her by Christina Ferko
If We Survive This by Racquel Marie
Lost Girls of Hollow Lake by Rebekah Faubion
New Releases: October 7, 2025
Middle Grade
Splinter & Ash 2: City of Secrets by Marieke Nijkamp
The second book in New York Times bestselling author Marieke Nijkamp’s immersive medieval fantasy trilogy! A shadowy conspiracy threatens the city, and two determined misfits must uncover the secret plot—and reveal their own secrets—in order to save everyone.Â
It’s only been a few months since Princess Adelisa, who goes by Ash, returned to the city of Kestrel’s Haven after her abduction by the treasonous group of nobles called the Larks. Ash’s best friend, Splinter, is slowly advancing in her squire training and feeling more protective of Ash than ever.
But Splinter and Ash’s work is not nearly done. Anyone could be a Lark, and it seems that everyone is hiding a secret. When the queen’s spies learn that the Larks plan to disrupt the city’s Harvest Festival, Splinter and Ash are determined to do their part to stop it. They’ll face traitors, assassins, and a ticking clock to prevent everything from going up in flames.
Fave Five: Queer Fiction Featuring Fall Holidays
Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker and Wendy Xu (YA GN, Mid-Autumn Festival and Sukkot)
Higher by Roz Alexander (Rosh HaShanah)
Take Me Home by Lorelei Brown (Thanksgiving)
The Lone Wolf Cafe by Sydney Wilder (Halloween)
Hating a Witch by Brigid Hunt (Samhain)
Fave Five: New Queer Adult Horror, 2025 Edition, Part I
The Faceless Thing We Adore by Hester Steel
We Are Always Tender With Our Dead by Eric LaRocca
Moonflow by Bitter Karella
You Weren’t Meant to Be Human by Andrew Joseph White
Blood on Her Tongue by Johanna van Veen
Bonus: These are all novels, but for short stories, check out Teenage Girls Can Be Demons by Hailey Piper
Fave Five: Queer Fiction Set in the 1960s
Shoot the Moon by Isa Arsén
A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood
The Salvage by Anbara Salam
These Heathens by Mia McKenzie
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
Bonus: Coming in 2026, Heap Earth Upon It by Chloe Michelle Howarth
Happy LGBTQ History Month 2025!
Happy LGBT History Month! We are, of course, celebrating as we celebrate everything over here – with books! Specifically, with both fiction and nonfiction that pay tribute to LGBT history.
Fiction
Middle Grade
Alice Austen Lived Here by Alex Gino
Sam is very in touch with their own queer identity. They’re nonbinary, and their best friend, TJ, is nonbinary as well. Sam’s family is very cool with it… as long as Sam remembers that nonbinary kids are also required to clean their rooms, do their homework, and try not to antagonize their teachers too much.
The teacher-respect thing is hard when it comes to Sam’s history class, because their teacher seems to believe that only Dead Straight Cis White Men are responsible for history. When Sam’s home borough of Staten Island opens up a contest for a new statue, Sam finds the perfect non-DSCWM subject: photographer Alice Austen, whose house has been turned into a museum, and who lived with a female partner for decades.
Soon, Sam’s project isn’t just about winning the contest. It’s about discovering a rich queer history that Sam’s a part of — a queer history that no longer needs to be quiet, as long as there are kids like Sam and TJ to stand up for it.
September 2025 Deal Announcements
Adult Fiction
Author of MY SHARE OF THE BODY ‘s RUGGERS, following a women’s college rugby team in New England through the eyes of a single player who is facing a crossroads as a battered shoulder threatens to keep her out for the season and pushes her to begin searching for a life off the field; a portrait of a brutal sport that explores queer friendship, desire, social identity, community, and athleticism, to Pilar Garcia-Brown at Dutton, at auction, by Ayla Zuraw-Friedland at Frances Goldin Literary Agency (world).