New Releases: February 2025

This post is sponsored by Dana Hawkins and So Not My Type! Click on the graphic for more info!

Scrappy determination clashes with polished privilege. Let the games begin.

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A World Worth Saving by Kyle Lukoff (4th)

Covid lockdown is over, but A’s world feels smaller than ever. Coming out as trans didn’t exactly go well, and most days, he barely leaves his bedroom, let alone the house. But the low point of A’s life isn’t online school, missing his bar mitzvah, or the fact that his parents monitor his phone like hawks—it’s the weekly Save Our Sons and Daughters meetings his parents all but drag him to.

At SOSAD, A and his friends Sal and Yarrow sit by while their parents deadname them and wring their hands over a nonexistent “transgender craze.” After all, sitting in suffocating silence has to be better than getting sent away for “advanced treatment,” never to be heard from again.

When Yarrow vanishes after a particularly confrontational meeting, A discovers that SOSAD doesn’t just feel soul-sucking…it’s run by an actual demon who feeds off the pain and misery of kids like him. And it’s not just SOSAD—the entire world is beset by demons dining on what seems like an endless buffet of pain and bigotry.

But how is one trans kid who hasn’t even chosen a name supposed to save his friend, let alone the world? And is a world that seems hellbent on rejecting him even worth saving at all?

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Continue reading New Releases: February 2025

Happy Black History Month 2025!

Happy Black History Month! Like the other eleven months, it’s an excellent time to buy queer books by Black authors! For even more recs, check out previous years’ posts!

Middle Grade

Camp Twisted Pine by Ciera Burch

Eleven-year-old Naomi loves all things outdoors—birds and beetles, bats and bunnies—in theory. She explores nature in the best possible way: the cold, hard facts in books. So when her parents’ announcement of their impending divorce comes hand in hand with sending Naomi and her younger twin brothers to summer camp while they figure things out, it’s salt in the wound for Naomi and her avoidance of hands-on experience.

Camp Twisted Pine could be worse. The counselors are nice, and Naomi likes her cabinmates, especially Jackie, whose blunt personality and frank dislike of the camp draws Naomi in quickly. Jackie is also hard of hearing and uses a hearing aid, and the girls quickly develop a routine of sign language lessons in their free time, which Naomi sees as a welcome break when all the s’mores-making and nature walks get to be a bit much.

But the campers aren’t the only ones who roam the grounds of Camp Twisted Pine. When people start to go missing, including Jackie, Naomi has to find a way to save everyone—and herself. Her practical knowledge of the outdoors may still be rudimentary at best, but she has years of studying and the scientific method to fall back on. Can Naomi identify and stop the dangerous predator before it’s too late?

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Continue reading Happy Black History Month 2025!

Exclusive Cover Reveal: Learning Curves by Alison Cochrun

Today on the site I’m delighted to welcome Alison Cochrun, author ofsome of my personal favorite queer Romances, to reveal the cover of Learning Curves , her next f/f Romance, which releases September 2, 2025 from Atria Books! Here’s the story:

Thirty-five-year-old Seattleite Sadie Wells needs an escape. She’s desperate to escape her monotonous routines, the family business that has consumed her entire life, and the unexpected gay panic that has her questioning everything she thought she knew about herself. So when her injured sister offers Sadie her place on a tour along Portugal’s Camino de Santiago, she decides this is the perfect chance to get away from it all.

After three glasses of wine on the plane and some turbulence convince Sadie she won’t even survive the flight, she confesses all her secrets to her seatmate, Mal. The problem: the plane doesn’t crash, and it turns out Mal is on her Camino tour. Worst of all, Sadie learns that she is on a tour specifically for queer women, and that her two-hundred-mile trek will be a journey of self-discovery, whether she wants it to be or not.

Fascinated by the woman who drunkenly came out to her on the plane, Mal offers to help Sadie relive the queer adolescence she missed out on as they walk the Camino. As Sadie develops her newfound confidence, Mal grapples with a complicated loss and unexpected inheritance. But as their relationship blurs the lines between reality and practice, they both must decide if they will forever part at the end of the tour or chart a new course together.

And here’s the gorgeous cover, designed and illustrated by Sarah Horgan!

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

(c) Ben & Katie Wire!

Alison Cochrun is a former high school English teacher and a current writer of queer love stories, including The Charm OffensiveHere We Go AgainKiss Her Once for Me, and Learning Curves. She lives outside of Portland, Oregon, with her wife, her son, and two very needy dogs. You can find her online at AlisonCochrun.com or on Instagram as @AlisonCochrun.

January 2025 Deal Announcements

Adult Fiction

Candas Jane Dorsey‘s (AT THE) FREAK SHOW, a literary speculative novel exploring the fluidity of gender identity by telling the life story of a non-binary rock star who was the lone survivor of an operation to separate conjoined twins at birth, to University of Calgary Press (world English).

Continue reading January 2025 Deal Announcements

Fave Five: Historical Romance with Trans Men

The Doctor’s Discretion by EE Ottoman (m/m)

A Shore Thing by Joanna Lowell (m/f)

A Gentleman’s Gentleman by TJ Alexander (m/m)

The Companion by EE Ottoman (t4t4t f/f/m)

A Bloomy Head by J. Winifred Butterworth (m/f)

Fave Five: Queer YA About Immigration

Indivisible by Daniel Aleman 

Ander and Santi Were Here by Jonny Garza Villa 

We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia

Kween by Vichet Chum

The Grief Keeper by Alexandra Villasante

Bonus: These are all YA, but for a New Adult Romance, check out The Broposal by Sonora Reyes 

Inside an Anthology: Dudes Rock ed. by Jay Kang Romanus

Today on the site I’m delighted to share in giving readers a peek into Dudes Rock, a recently released adult anthology edited by Jay Kang Romanus “celebrating queer masculinity in speculative fiction.” Here’s the story:

What does masculinity mean to you?

Whether the answer is “toxic” or something more aspirational, speculative fiction can help you find the language to talk about it. The stories in this anthology visualize all the different ways masculinity might look in a world different than our own, for better or worse.
Imagine living in a universe where you’d feel safe telling your best friend you’ve always loved him, or where smoking hot demons exist to indulge all your worst impulses. From buff aliens to gender-affirming werewolf bites, Dudes Rock is about celebrating everything that queer masculinity can become beyond the confines of a single world, and we want you to rock with us.

Featuring stories by Chase Anderson, Johannes T. Evans, Oliver Fosten, Jonathan Freeman, Rick Hollon, Sam Inverts, S. C. Mills, Franklyn S. Newton, Jay Kang Romanus, Aubrey Shaw, Simo Srinivas, Candy Tan, and Scott Vaughn.

“Pick up this anthology for a satisfying and imaginative journey through universes of magic and super-science, with queer masculinity—in all its glorious complexity—as your guiding star.” — Trip Galey, author of A Market of Dreams and Destiny

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

And here’s a look at some of the individual contributions, thanks to their authors!

Continue reading Inside an Anthology: Dudes Rock ed. by Jay Kang Romanus

Fave Five: Queer Adult Fiction Set in Los Angeles

We Play Ourselves by Jen Silverman

Yerba Buena by Nina LaCour

Broken People by Sam Lansky

Just By Looking at Him by Ryan O’Connell

Milk Fed by Melissa Broder

Bonus: These are all Contemporary, but for Historical, check out Southland by Nina Revoyr and Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen by Sarah James

The Colorful Catalog of… H.L. Moore!

Today on the site I’m delighted to welcome H.L. Moore to walk us through her Colorful Catalog!

Hi! I’m H. L. Moore, a writer of science fiction and fantasy stories for about as long as I can remember, and my stories just get queerer and queerer by the year. I tend to write in two flavours – deeply serious fantasy, and dark comedy science-fiction, and always with a queer angle. Without further ado, I would be thrilled to introduce you to my works…

Continue reading The Colorful Catalog of… H.L. Moore!

Exclusive Cover Reveal: Love and Video Games by Zachary Sergi

Today on the site I’m thrilled to welcome back Zachary Sergi to reveal the cover of his next YA, Love and Video Games, releasing September 16th from Running Press Kids! Here’s the story:

Ready Player One meets Heartstopper in which a myth-loving video game player discovers there isn’t a cheat code to life–or love–while competing in a tournament with his handsome crush and gamer friends.

In the real world, Keegan Thomas is a gay, eighteen-year-old mythology nerd with undiagnosed chronic pain. But in the myth-inspired, online video game world of Pantheonic, he is the glorious and powerful K.Odyssia, slaying legions of enemies and completing quests for honor and glory along with his team, the Epic Hearts. Despite his closeness to his gamer friends–and the secret crush he has on his teammate, Alix–no one knows that he is struggling with the sudden onset of chronic pain in his lower back and fears it will hinder his ability to move to NYU in the fall.

When a quest in Pantheonic turns out to be a secret invitation to an in-person tournament in New York City, Keegan has to battle his fears of concealing and managing his pain so that his team can attend this once-in-a-lifetime event. Competing against six other teams, members of the Epic Hearts must work together to outwit and outplay the others to win the tournament and the hefty cash prize. But can Keegan as K.Odyssia be one of the heroes that Pantheonic needs while he’s laser-focused on his own epic battle? Will he be able to level up his relationship with Alix and lead his team to victory? It’s time for the games to begin!

And here’s the action-packed cover, illustrated by Yoshi Yoshitani and designed by Mary Boyer!

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Zachary Sergi is the queer author of Major Detours and nearly a dozen works of Interactive Fiction, including the Heroes Rise and Versus series. Zachary was raised in Manhattan, studied Creative Writing at Regis High School and the University of Pennsylvania, and now lives in Los Angeles with his husband, where he also writes for television. Learn more at zacharysergi.com or by following @zacharysergi (TikTok/Twitter) or @zacharysergiwriter (Instagram).

Queering up your shelf, one rec at a time!