Two Truths and a Lie by Cory O’Brien (Sci-Fi)
There’s Only One Sin in Hollywood by Rasheed Newsom (Historical)
Battle Scars by Meghan O’Brien (Contemporary Romance)
Regeneration by Pat Barker (Historical)
The Charioteer by Mary Renault (Historical)
Fave Five: New Sapphic Sports Romance, 2025 Edition
For 2024, click here.
Backhanded Compliments by Katie Chandler (Tennis)
Play You For It by Samantha Saldivar (Basketball)
Overtime by Tracey Richardson (Hockey)
Ready to Score by Jodie Slaughter (Basketball)
Hard to Beat by Lexi Greene (Rugby)
Bonus: These are all Adult; for YA, check out It’s a Love/Skate Relationship by Carli J. Corson and All’s Fair in Love and Field Hockey by Kit Rosewater
Fave Five: Queer Fiction Set in the 1930s
These are Adult titles. For YA, click here.
White Houses by Amy Bloom
Dublin Bay by John Patrick
While England Sleeps by David Leavitt
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Anaïs Flogny (Graphic Novel)
New Release Spotlight: 10th Anniversary Edition of This is Where it Ends by Marieke Nijkamp
Today on the site I’m delighted to welcome back Marieke Nijkamp, Dutch author of so many books but most notably, today, of This is Where it Ends, an uber-bestselling YA thriller whose 10th anniversary edition just released yesterday. As it happens, Marieke is one of my best friends dating back to before either of us were published, so it’s been a particular joy to be on board for this journey! Before we get to our chat, here’s the gist of This is Where it Ends: 10th Anniversary Edition:
The tenth anniversary edition of the #1 New York Times bestseller about a high school held hostage, and four teens―each with their own reason to fear the boy with the gun. Featuring printed edges, updated author’s note, and exclusive material.
10:00am: The principal of Opportunity, Alabama’s High School finishes her speech, welcoming the entire student body to a new semester and encouraging them to excel and achieve.
10:02am: The students get up to leave the auditorium for their next class.
10:03am: The auditorium doors won’t open.
10:05am: Someone starts shooting.
Told over the span of 54 harrowing minutes, terror reigns as one student’s calculated revenge turns into the ultimate game of survival.
Now read on for my chat with the author, Marieke Nijkamp!
New Releases: November 2025
Chris Makes a Friend by Alex Gino (4th)
This is not the summer Chris has planned…
Chris does not want to be spending the summer with her grandparents and her little sister. Her grandparents aren’t bad — they just don’t let Chris do what she wants to do, which is sit around and read all day. And her sister, Becca, is the opposite, never sitting still and never being quiet.
The good part is that Chris’s grandparents are always telling her to go outside and “get some air” — so she can escape into the woods with a book and get some alone time. Or at least it’s alone time until Mia comes along. Mia is also in town for the summer, and she understands Chris in a way that Chris’s family just can’t.
Soon Chris is sneaking off to spend as much time with her friend as possible. But is there more to Mia than Mia is saying?
Happy Native American Heritage Month 2025!
Happy Native American Heritage and Indigenous History Month! We’re celebrating, as we do, with books by Indigenous authors, starring Indigenous characters. (Note: Despite the title of the post, these books include indigenous characters from all over.) While the usual affiliate links are included, you’re strongly encouraged to order from the Native-owned Birchbark Books where available!
Picture Books
Phoenix Ani’ Gichichi-I’ / Phoenix Gets Greater by Marty Wilson-Trudeau with
Phoenix loves to play with dolls and marvel at pretty fabrics. Most of all, he loves to dance―ballet, Pow Wow dancing, or just swirling and twirling around his house. Sometimes Phoenix gets picked on and he struggles with feeling different, but his mom and brother are proud of him. With their help, Phoenix learns about Two Spirit/Niizh Manidoowag people in Anishinaabe culture and just how special he is.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | Birchbark Books
October 2025 Deal Announcements
Adult Fiction
‘s Flicker City Phantoms series, pitched as a queer and cozy combination of the plucky mystery-solving of Pushing Daisies, the death-defying romance of Hadestown, and the technological world-building of THE MINISTRY OF TIME, in which an underemployed ghost at a boarding house for the holographically resurrected dead must team up with her eccentric spectral housemates to stop a mysterious headless kidnapper, to Chelsea Villareal at Podium Publishing, in a two-book deal, by Lucienne Diver at The Knight Agency (world English).
Fave Five: Queer Dystopian YA, Part II
For part I, click here.
Fable for the End of the World by Ava Reid
Climate of Chaos by Cassandra Newbould
The Fever King by Victoria Lee
Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron
These Vengeful Gods by Gabe Cole Novoa
Bonus: Coming in 2026, check out You Pierce My Soul by Jessica Mary Best
New Releases: October 28, 2025
Young Adult
Stars in the Daylight Sky by Maya MacGregor
Eighteen-year-old Cam bounces between houses in Texas and Scotland and has always thought that’s why they don’t feel at home in either place. A recent Autism diagnosis followed by a fight with their Mothers add an extra layer of real-life stress, only amplifying their struggle to belong. However, things take an unexpected turn when they cross paths with members of the fae deep in a Scottish forest. With the Gaelic wisdom from their Granaidh (Grandma), Cam understands that they have been noticed by the fae, and that this means that their life is suddenly in grave danger.
Cam must make a choice: face the danger or join the fae and never see their family again. With their human ties fraying even further, the allure of the fae’s acceptance tugs at Cam’s heart, but are they ready to say goodbye to their family forever?
Fave Five: New Queer Adult Romantasy, 2025 Edition
As Many Souls as Stars by Natasha Siegel
The Isle in the Silver Sea by Tasha Suri
When the Tides Held the Moon by Venessa Vida Kelley
Son of the Morning by Akwaeke Emezi
Warrior Princess Assassin by Bridgid Kemmerer
