2025 Releases | LGBTQ Reads

Today on the site I am so thrilled to be sharing the cover for the long-awaited Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe by C.B. Lee, a cozy Sapphic YA fantasy releasing June 10, 2025 from Feiwel & Friends/Macmillan! Here’s the story:

A geeky overachiever determined to save the world through science and a troublemaking chosen one lashing out against her destiny meet and fall in love in a magical coffeeshop as their two very different universes begin to collide in Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe, C.B. Lee’s fun, sapphic, cozy fantasy YA romance.

When Brenda’s internet goes out right before an important scholarship deadline, she stumbles right into Kat’s family’s coffeeshop. Brenda is swept away by cool, confident Kat, who actually cares about Brenda’s 19-step plan to save the world through science. Meanwhile, Kat can’t stop thinking about Brenda, who is smart, passionate, and doesn’t seem to care that Kat is the prophesized Chosen One.

The only problem? Kat and Brenda are from different universes. Like need-to-find-a-portal-to-go-on-a-second-date different universes.

As their universes collide and things spiral out of control, can a girl who is determined to save the world find love with a girl determined to outrun her destiny?

And here’s the gorgeous cozy cover, illustrated by Lisa Villella and designed by Meg Sayre!

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | B&N | BAM

C.B. Lee is an author of young adult and middle grade fiction including the NYT Bestseller Minecraft: The Shipwreck. Their works also include the Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selected A Clash of Steel: A Treasure Island Remix, the Lambda Literary Award nominated Sidekick Squad series, Ben 10 graphic novels, Out Now: Queer We Go Again, and From A Certain Point Of View: The Empire Strikes Back. Lee’s work has been featured in NPR, Teen Vogue, Wired Magazine, Hypable, Tor’s Best of Fantasy and Sci Fi and the American Library Association’s Rainbow List.

Today on the site, I’m delighted to reveal the cover of Natalie C. Parker’s The Assassin’s Guide to Babysitting – a YA adventure billed as John Wick meets Adventures in Babysitting with superpowers, found family, and enemies-to-lovers sapphic romance – releasing January 7, 2025 from Candlewick! (Fun fact: Adventures in Babysitting is the first movie I ever saw in theaters, and Natalie C. Parker wrote one of my favorite books from my author debut class, so this is extra fun on multiple levels!) Here’s the story:

Tru has been hiding all her life. Her parents taught her to conceal her bastion Talent: indestructible skin, muscles, and bones. In a world where Talents are common and varied, no one trusts a bastion—they’re too powerful. Hiding failed to keep Tru’s parents alive, but moments before their murder, Tru’s mom pointed her to Logan Dire, a famed recluse assassin who adopted and trained orphaned Tru. At seventeen, she’s still hiding. Not even her closest friends know her true name or Talent, or that she’s balancing high school with knife and stealth training (while crushing on her BFF’s older sister). When assassins interrupt a mundane babysitting job booked through BountyApp—where lethal hunters find work and babysitters for their kids—Tru flees with a one-year-old strapped to her chest and spiraling questions: Who killed her parents? Whom can she trust? What does it mean to be a bastion? And is it ever OK to kiss a girl who’s trying to hunt you down?

From an award-winning author comes a masterfully plotted thriller that holds character and relationship on a par with action and nail-biting suspense.

And here’s the electric cover, designed by Maria Middleton with art by Jonathan Bartlett!

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | B&N | Books-A-Million | PRH

Natalie C. Parker is the author and editor of several books for young adults, among them the acclaimed Seafire trilogy. Her work has been included on the NPR Best Books list, the Indie Next List, the TAYSHAS Reading List, and Junior Library Guild selections. Natalie grew up in a Navy family, finding home in coastal cities from Virginia to Japan. Now she lives with her wife on the Kansas prairie. Find her at nataliecparker.com.

Queering up your shelf, one rec at a time!