Tag Archives: Chelsea Cameron

14 Romance eBooks Under $5!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Her Royal Highness by Rachel Hawkins (bi/lesbian f/f YA, $1.99)

Caroline’s Heart by Austin Chant (trans m/f paranormal, $1.99)

The Craft of Love by EE Ottoman (trans m/f historical, $1.99)

Mangos and Mistletoe by Adriana Herrera (f/f, $2.99)

How to Make a Wish by Ashley Herring Blake (bi/lesbian f/f YA, $2.99)

Out on Good Behavior by Dahlia Adler (pan/lesbian f/f NA, $3.99)

Work for It by Talia Hibbert (m/m, $3.99)

Heart and Hand by Rebel Carter (m/m/f historical, $3.99)

Proper English by KJ Charles (f/f historical, $3.99)

Xeni by Rebekah Weatherspoon (bi/bi m/f, $4.99)

Alex in Wonderland by Simon James Green (m/m YA, $4.99)

Lord of the Last Heartbeat by May Peterson (m/nb fantasy, $4.99)

Daddy by Jack Harbon (m/m, $4.99)

Christmas Inn Maine by Chelsea M. Cameron, (f/nb, $4.99)

Links are Amazon affiliate, earning a percentage of income for the site.

December Book Deal Announcements

Adult Fiction

Columbia MFA Joss Lake’s FUTURE FEELING, set in alt-future Brooklyn and L.A., following three young trans men—a professional dog walker, a self-absorbed social media influencer, and a jaded TV writer—who must work together to remedy the disastrous effects of an ill-conceived hex at the behest of the Rhiz, the quasi-benevolent network responsible for the collective well-being of the global transgender community, to Yuka Igarashi at Soft Skull, by Chris Clemans at Janklow & Nesbit (world English).

NYT-bestselling author of PLEASE LOOK AFTER MOM and winner of the International Man Booker Prize Kyung-Sook Shin’s VIOLET, about a young woman who works in a flower shop and has been shunned by her female high school lover, which sets her apart from society and the world of Seoul, to Jisu Kim at Feminist Press, in an exclusive submission, for publication in 2021, by Barbara Zitwer at Barbara Zitwer Agency (world English).

NYT bestselling author of RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE Casey McQuiston‘s ONE LAST STOP, pitched as a queer Kate & Leopold, in which a 23-year-old realizes her subway crush is displaced from 1970’s Brooklyn, and she must do everything in her power to help her – and try not to fall in love with the girl lost in time – before it’s too late, to Vicki Lame at Griffin, in an exclusive submission, for publication in summer 2021, by Sara Megibow at kt literary (world English).

Sara Codair’s EARTH RECLAIMED, in which a 17-year-old non-binary mage must stop a budding war between mages and scientists before Mother Earth reclaims the world, to Zelda Knight at Aurelia Leo, in a nice deal, for publication in January 2021 (world English).

Lambda Literary Fellow and diaCRITICS.org contributor Eric Nguyen‘s A HISTORY OF LOST THINGS, set in the New Orleans housing project of Versailles and following a Vietnamese refugee mother and her two sons, one tempted by gangs and the other embracing his gay identity, as they reckon with their past losses and grapple with creating a new home, to Caitlin Landuyt at Knopf, in a very nice deal, at auction, by Julie Stevenson at Massie & McQuilkin (NA).

Author of the second installment of VERA KELLY series Rosalie Knecht‘s VERA KELLY IS NOT A MYSTERY, picking up with an ex-CIA agent after she loses her job and her girlfriend in a single day and reluctantly goes into business as a private detective, taking a case chasing a lost child through foster care and following a trail of Dominican exiles to the Caribbean, dredging up dark memories and dangerous characters from across the Cold War landscape, to Masie Cochran at Tin House Books, for publication in June 2020, by Soumeya Bendimerad Roberts at HG Literary (NA).

NYT- and USA Today-bestselling author Chelsea Cameron‘s THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, in which one woman’s plans for escaping her parents’ house and the confines of small town life are waylaid by the lobsterwoman next door, to Kerri Buckley at Carina Press Adores, for publication in June 2020 (world).

Morgan Rogers‘s HONEY GIRL, pitched for fans of RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE, an #OwnVoices debut that follows a young black woman just finishing her PhD in astronomy who impulsively gets married in Vegas and decides to leave her perfectly ordered life for a summer in New York with the wife she barely knows, to Laura Brown at Park Row Books, by Holly Root at Root Literary (NA).

Children’s Fiction

Sunmi’s FIREBIRD, a debut graphic novel that follows a girl as she crushes on an older girl she tutors, and their friendship through their varied experiences as queer children of Asian-American immigrants, to Clarissa Wong at Harper Alley, at auction, in a two-book deal, for publication in 2022, by Susan Graham at Einstein Literary Management (world).

Miel Moreland’s IT GOES LIKE THIS, an #OwnVoices story about a former queer pop band, the (messy) fallout of their globally mourned breakup, and the devastating hometown storm that brings the teens back together, leaving each member to wonder if they can rebuild more than just the town, to Rachel Diebel at Feiwel and Friends, for publication in spring 2021, by Jessica Errera at Jane Rotrosen Agency (NA).

Author of ONLY MOSTLY DEVASTATED Sophie Gonzales‘s THE EX-GIRLFRIEND GETTER-BACKER EXPERIMENT, in which a bisexual girl who gives out anonymous love advice at her high school is blackmailed by the hot guy in her class into helping him get his ex-girlfriend back, and the unintended consequences of her advice end up affecting everyone, including herself, pitched as THE DUFF meets TO ALL THE BOYS I’VE LOVED BEFORE, to Sylvan Creekmore at Wednesday Books, in an exclusive submission, for publication in 2021, by Moe Ferrara at BookEnds (world).

Kate Prosswimmer at S&S/McElderry has acquired IN DEEPER WATERS by F.T. Lukens. Pitched as A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice & Virtue meets Pirates of the Caribbean, this high seas fantasy features a prince with secret magic who is kidnapped during his coming-of-age tour and must rely on a mysterious young man to save him. Publication is slated for spring 2021; Eva Scalzo at Speilburg Literary Agency did the deal.

STRANGE GRACE author Tessa Gratton‘s NIGHT SHINE, pitched as a dark, queer Howl’s Moving Castle, in which the crown prince is kidnapped, and only an orphan knows enough of his secrets to seek him in a demon-haunted fortress, to Karen Wojtyla at Margaret K. McElderry Books, in an exclusive submission, for publication in fall 2020, by Laura Rennert at Andrea Brown Literary Agency (world English).

Maya MacGregor‘s THE MANY HALF-LIVED LIVES OF SAM SYLVESTER, about an autistic genderqueer protagonist who leaves an intolerant school for a new high school with the support of their loving father, finding a Rainbow Club and accepting friends, all of whom must come together to solve the decades-old mystery of the murder of a teenage boy and confront the child’s own fears of early death, to Jes Negron at Boyds Mills Press, for publication in fall 2020, by Sara Megibow at kt literary (world English).

Jake Maia Arlow‘s ALMOST FLYING, in which a 13-year-old takes part in a summer road trip to several amusement parks and celebrates found family, first queer crushes, and the singular delight of roller coasters, to Ellen Cormier at Dial, in a good deal, at auction, in a two-book deal, for publication in summer 2021, by Jim McCarthy at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret (world).

Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award-winning actor, singer, dancer, writer, and advocate Billy Porter‘s untitled picture book, to Courtney Code at Abrams Children’s, by Jim McCarthy at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret (world).

Non-Fiction

Contributor to Tin House and Granta Krys Malcolm Belc’s THE NATURAL MOTHER OF THE CHILD, about bodily autonomy and parenthood, from a transmasculine parent who identifies as neither mother nor father to his gestational son and the two children his partner carried, to Dan Smetanka at Counterpoint, with Jennifer Alton editing, by Ashley Lopez at Waxman Literary Agency (NA).

Trans activist, storyteller, and Director of Family Formation at Family Equality Trystan Angel Reese‘s TENDER MOMENTS AND TOUGH LESSONS: THE JOURNEY THROUGH ADOPTION, TRANS PREGNANCY, AND LGBTQ PARENTHOOD, a memoir of Trystan and his partner Biff’s route to parenthood, from adopting two kids in need to becoming pregnant as a man and candid reflections on it all, interwoven with universal lessons for those facing obstacles to parenthood, to Batya Rosenblum at The Experiment, for publication in spring 2021, by Myrsini Stephanides at Carol Mann Agency (world).

Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award-winning actor, singer, dancer, writer, and advocate Billy Porter‘s UNPROTECTED, a memoir of childhood trauma, creative struggle, public courage, and triumph, to Jamison Stoltz at Abrams Press, in a pre-empt; also, an untitled picture book, to Courtney Code at Abrams Children’s, by Jim McCarthy at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret (world).

Fave Five: F/F Romance Set in College

Out On Good Behavior by Dahlia Adler

Learning Curves by Ceilie Simkiss

Take Them By Storm by Marie Landry

Treasure by Rebekah Weatherspoon

Chord by Chelsea M. Cameron

Bonus: Those are all contemporary titles, but for paranormal, check out Better off Red by Rebekah Weatherspoon!

New Releases: March 2019

The Fever King by Victoria Lee (1st)

In the former United States, sixteen-year-old Noam Álvaro wakes up in a hospital bed, the sole survivor of the viral magic that killed his family and made him a technopath. His ability to control technology attracts the attention of the minister of defense and thrusts him into the magical elite of the nation of Carolinia.

The son of undocumented immigrants, Noam has spent his life fighting for the rights of refugees fleeing magical outbreaks—refugees Carolinia routinely deports with vicious efficiency. Sensing a way to make change, Noam accepts the minister’s offer to teach him the science behind his magic, secretly planning to use it against the government. But then he meets the minister’s son—cruel, dangerous, and achingly beautiful—and the way forward becomes less clear.

Caught between his purpose and his heart, Noam must decide who he can trust and how far he’s willing to go in pursuit of the greater good.

Buy it: B&N | Amazon

The Last 8 by Laura Pohl (5th)

A high-stakes survival story about eight teenagers who outlive an alien attack—perfect for fans of The 5th Wave 

Clover Martinez has always been a survivor, which is the only reason she isn’t among the dead when aliens invade and destroy Earth as she knows it.

When Clover hears an inexplicable radio message, she’s shocked to learn there are other survivors—and that they’re all at the former Area 51. When she arrives, she’s greeted by a band of misfits who call themselves The Last Teenagers on Earth.

Only they aren’t the ragtag group of heroes Clover was expecting. The group seems more interested in hiding than fighting back, and Clover starts to wonder if she was better off alone. But then she finds a hidden spaceship, and she doesn’t know what to believe…or who to trust.

Buy it: B&N | Amazon

After the Eclipse by Fran Dorricott (5th)

A stunning psychological thriller about loss, sisterhood, and the evil that men do, for readers of Ruth Ware and S.K. Tremeyne

Two solar eclipses. Two missing girls.

Sixteen years ago a little girl was abducted during the darkness of a solar eclipse while her older sister Cassie was supposed to be watching her. She was never seen again. When a local girl goes missing just before the next big eclipse, Cassie – who has returned to her home town to care for her ailing grandmother – suspects the disappearance is connected to her sister: that whoever took Olive is still out there. But she needs to find a way to prove it, and time is running out.

Buy it: B&N | Amazon

Real Queer America: LGBT Stories from Red States by Samantha Allen (5th)

A transgender reporter’s narrative tour through the surprisingly vibrant queer communities sprouting up in red states, offering a vision of a stronger, more humane America.

Ten years ago, Samantha Allen was a suit-and-tie-wearing Mormon missionary. Now she’s a senior Daily Beast reporter happily married to another woman. A lot in her life has changed, but what hasn’t changed is her deep love of Red State America, and of queer people who stay in so-called “flyover country” rather than moving to the liberal coasts.

In Real Queer America, Allen takes us on a cross-country road-trip stretching all the way from Provo, Utah to the Rio Grande Valley to the Bible Belt to the Deep South. Her motto for the trip: “Something gay every day.” Making pit stops at drag shows, political rallies, and hubs of queer life across the heartland, she introduces us to scores of extraordinary LGBT people working for change, from the first openly transgender mayor in Texas history to the manager of the only queer night club in Bloomington, Indiana, and many more.

Capturing profound cultural shifts underway in unexpected places and revealing a national network of chosen family fighting for a better world, Real Queer America is a treasure trove of uplifting stories and a much-needed source of hope and inspiration in these divided times.

Buy it: B&N | Amazon

Alice Payne Rides by Kate Heartfield (5th)

This is the second book in the Alice Payne series

After abducting Arthur of Brittany from his own time in 1203, thereby creating the mystery that partly prompted the visit in the first place, Alice and her team discover that they have inadvertently brought the smallpox virus back to 1780 with them.

Searching for a future vaccine, Prudence finds that the various factions in the future time war intend to use the crisis to their own advantage.

Can the team prevent an international pandemic across time, and put history back on its tracks? At least until the next battle in the time war…

Buy it: B&N | Amazon

The Parting Glass by Gina Marie Guadagnino (5th)


By day, Mary Ballard is lady’s maid to Charlotte Walden, wealthy and accomplished belle of New York City high society. Mary loves Charlotte with an obsessive passion that goes beyond a servant’s devotion, but Charlotte would never trust Mary again if she knew the truth about her devoted servant’s past. Because Mary’s fate is linked to that of her mistress, one of the most sought-after debutantes in New York, Mary’s future seems secure—if she can keep her own secrets…

But on her nights off, Mary sheds her persona as prim and proper lady’s maid to reveal her true self—Irish exile Maire O’Farren—and finds release from her frustration in New York’s gritty underworld—in the arms of a prostitute and as drinking companion to a decidedly motley crew consisting of a barkeeper and members of a dangerous secret society.

Meanwhile, Charlotte has a secret of her own—she’s having an affair with a stable groom, unaware that her lover is actually Mary’s own brother. When the truth of both women’s double lives begins to unravel, Mary is left to face the consequences. Forced to choose between loyalty to her brother and loyalty to Charlotte, between society’s respect and true freedom, Mary finally learns that her fate lies in her hands alone.

Buy it: Amazon | B&N | IndieBound

Proud ed. by Juno Dawson (7th)

A stirring, bold and moving anthology of stories and poetry by top LGBTQ+ YA authors and new talent, giving their unique responses to the broad theme of pride. Each story has an illustration by an artist identifying as part of the LGBTQ+ community. Compiled by Juno Dawson, author of THIS BOOK IS GAY and CLEAN.

A celebration of LGBTQ+ talent, PROUD is a thought-provoking, funny, emotional read.

Contributors: Steve Antony, Dean Atta, Kate Alizadeh, Fox Benwell, Alex Bertie, Caroline Bird, Fatti Burke, Tanya Byrne, Moïra Fowley-Doyle, Frank Duffy, Simon James Green, Leo Greenfield, Saffa Khan, Karen Lawler, David Levithan, Priyanka Meenakshi, Alice Oseman, Michael Lee Richardson, David Roberts, Cynthia So, Kay Staples, Jessica Vallance, Kristen Van Dam and Kameron White.

Buy it: Amazon UK | Waterstones | Book Depository

Besotted by Melissa Duclos (12th)

Besotted is the ballad of Sasha and Liz, American expats in Shanghai. Both have moved abroad to escape—Sasha from her father’s disapproval, Liz from the predictability of her hometown. When they move in together, Sasha falls in love, but the sudden attention from a charming architect threatens the relationship. Meanwhile, Liz struggles to be both a good girlfriend to Sasha and a good friend to Sam, her Shanghainese language partner who needs more from her than grammar lessons. For fans of Prague by Arthur Phillips and The Expatriates by Janice Y.K. Lee, Besotted is an expat novel that explores what it means to love someone while running away from yourself.

Buy it: Amazon | B&N

The Summer of Dead Birds by Ali Liebegott (12th)

In a chronicle of mourning and survival, Ali Liebegott wallows in loneliness and overassigns meaning to everyday circumstance, clinging to an aging dog and obsessing over dead birds. But these unpretentious vignettes are laced with compassion, as she learns to balance the sting of death with the tender strangeness of life.

Buy it: B&N | Amazon

 

Squad by Mariah MacCarthy (12th)

This darkly comic debut novel by an award-winning playwright is like Mean Girls meets Heathers with a splash of Bring it On.

Jenna Watson is a cheerleader. But it’s not some Hollywood crap. Cheerleaders are not every guy’s fantasy; they are not the “popular girls” or the “mean girls” of Marsen High School. They’re too busy for that. They’re literally just some human females trying to live their lives and do a perfect toe touch. But that all changed after Raejean stopped talking to Jenna and started hanging out with Meghan Finnegan. Jenna stopped getting invited out with the rest of the squad and she couldn’t tell if it was on purpose or if it was all in her head.

At times heartbreaking, at others hilarious, Squad follows Jenna through her attempts to get revenge on Raejean and invent a new post-cheer life for herself through LARPING (live action role-playing) and a relationship with a trans guy that feels like love—but isn’t. In the, end Jenna discovers that who she is is not defined by which squad she’s in.

Buy it: B&N | Amazon

Kiss Number 8 by Colleen AF Venable (12th)

Mads is pretty happy with her life. She goes to church with her family, and minor league baseball games with her dad. She goofs off with her best friend Cat, and has thus far managed to avoid getting kissed by Adam, the boy next door. It’s everything she hoped high school would be… until all of a sudden, it’s not.

Her dad is hiding something big—so big it could tear her family apart. And that’s just the beginning of her problems: Mads is starting to figure out that she doesn’t want to kiss Adam… because the only person she wants to kiss is Cat.

Kiss Number 8, a graphic novel from writer Colleen AF Venable and illustrator Ellen T. Crenshaw, is a layered, funny, sharp-edged story of teen sexuality and family secrets.

Buy it: B&N | Amazon

The Widening Gyre by Michael R. Johnston (14th)

Eight hundred years ago, the Zhen Empire discovered a broken human colony ship drifting in the fringes of their space. The Zhen gave the humans a place to live and folded them into their Empire as a client state. But it hasn’t been easy. Not all Zhen were eager to welcome another species into their Empire, and humans have faced persecution. For hundreds of years, human languages and history were outlawed subjects, as the Zhen tried to mold humans into their image. Earth and the cultures it nourished for millennia are forgotten, little more than legends.

One of the first humans to be allowed to serve in the Zhen military, Tajen Hunt became a war hero at the Battle of Elkari, the only human to be named an official Hero of the Empire. He was given command of a task force, and sent to do the Empire’s bidding in their war with the enigmatic Tabrans. But when he failed in a crucial mission, causing the deaths of millions of people, he resigned in disgrace and faded into life on the fringes as a lone independent pilot.

When Tajen discovers his brother, Daav, has been killed by agents of the Empire, he, his niece, and their newly-hired crew set out to finish his brother’s quest: to find Earth, the legendary homeworld of humanity. What they discover will shatter 800 years of peace in the Empire, and start a war that could be the end of the human race.

Buy it: Amazon | B&N | Flame Tree Publishing

The Weight of the Stars by K. Ancrum (19th)

Ryann Bird dreams of traveling across the stars. But a career in space isn’t an option for a girl who lives in a trailer park on the wrong side of town. So Ryann becomes her circumstances and settles for acting out and skipping school to hang out with her delinquent friends.

One day she meets Alexandria: a furious loner who spurns Ryann’s offer of friendship. After a horrific accident leaves Alexandria with a broken arm, the two misfits are brought together despite themselves—and Ryann learns her secret: Alexandria’s mother is an astronaut who volunteered for a one-way trip to the edge of the solar system.

Every night without fail, Alexandria waits to catch radio signals from her mother. And its up to Ryann to lift her onto the roof day after day until the silence between them grows into friendship, and eventually something more . . .

In K. Ancrum’s signature poetic style, this slow-burn romance will have you savoring every page.

Buy it: B&N | Amazon

Video Games Have Always Been Queer by Bonnie Ruberg (19th)

While popular discussions about queerness in video games often focus on big-name, mainstream games that feature LGBTQ characters, like Mass Effect or Dragon Age, Bonnie Ruberg pushes the concept of queerness in games beyond a matter of representation, exploring how video games can be played, interpreted, and designed queerly, whether or not they include overtly LGBTQ content. Video Games Have Always Been Queer argues that the medium of video games itself can—and should—be read queerly. 

In the first book dedicated to bridging game studies and queer theory, Ruberg resists the common, reductive narrative that games are only now becoming more diverse. Revealing what reading D. A. Miller can bring to the popular 2007 video game Portal, or what Eve Sedgwick offers Pong, Ruberg models the ways game worlds offer players the opportunity to explore queer experience, affect, and desire. As players attempt to ‘pass’ in Octodad or explore the pleasure of failure in Burnout: Revenge, Ruberg asserts that, even within a dominant gaming culture that has proved to be openly hostile to those perceived as different, queer people have always belonged in video games—because video games have, in fact, always been queer.

Buy it: Amazon | B&N

The Perfect Assassin by K.A. Doore (19th)

Divine justice is written in blood.

Or so Amastan has been taught. As a new assassin in the Basbowen family, he’s already having second thoughts about taking a life. A scarcity of contracts ends up being just what he needs.

Until, unexpectedly, Amastan finds the body of a very important drum chief. Until, impossibly, Basbowen’s finest start showing up dead, with their murderous jaan running wild in the dusty streets of Ghadid. Until, inevitably, Amastan is ordered to solve these murders, before the family gets blamed.

Every life has its price, but when the tables are turned, Amastan must find this perfect assassin or be their next target.

Buy it: Amazon | B&N | IndieBound

Small Town Hearts by Lillie Vale (19th)

Rule #1 – Never fall for a summer boy. 

Fresh out of high school, Babe Vogel should be thrilled to have the whole summer at her fingertips. She loves living in her lighthouse home in the sleepy Maine beach town of Oar’s Rest and being a barista at the Busy Bean, but she’s totally freaking out about how her life will change when her two best friends go to college in the fall. And when a reckless kiss causes all three of them to break up, she may lose them a lot sooner. On top of that, her ex-girlfriend is back in town, bringing with her a slew of memories, both good and bad.

And then there’s Levi Keller, the cute artist who’s spending all his free time at the coffee shop where she works. Levi’s from out of town, and even though Babe knows better than to fall for a tourist who will leave when summer ends, she can’t stop herself from wanting to know him. Can Babe keep her distance, or will she break the one rule she’s always had – to never fall for a summer boy?

Buy it: B&N | Amazon

Anyone But You by Chelsea M. Cameron (19th)

Things are going great for Sutton Kay, or at least they were. Her yoga studio is doing well, she’s living with her best friend, and she just got two kittens named Mocha and Cappuccino. Sure, she doesn’t have a girlfriend, but her life is full and busy.

Then her building is sold and the new landlord turns out to be the woman putting in a gym downstairs who doesn’t seem to understand the concepts “courtesy” and “don’t be rude to your tenants.” Sutton can’t get a read on Tuesday Grímsdóttir, but she can appreciate her muscles. Seriously, Tuesday is ripped. Not that that has anything to do with anything since she’s too surly to have a conversation with, and won’t stop pissing Sutton off.

Sutton’s life gets interesting after she dares Tuesday to make it through one yoga class, and then Tuesday gives Sutton the same dare. Soon enough they’re spending time working out together and when the sweat starts flowing, the sparks start flying. How is it possible to be so attracted to a person you can barely stand?

But when someone from Tuesday’s past shows up and Sutton sees a whole new side of Tuesday, will she change her mind about her grumpy landlord? Can she?

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Lot: Stories by Bryan Washington (19th)

In the city of Houston – a sprawling, diverse microcosm of America – the son of a black mother and a Latino father is coming of age. He’s working at his family’s restaurant, weathering his brother’s blows, resenting his older sister’s absence. And discovering he likes boys.

Around him, others live and thrive and die in Houston’s myriad neighborhoods: a young woman whose affair detonates across an apartment complex, a ragtag baseball team, a group of young hustlers, hurricane survivors, a local drug dealer who takes a Guatemalan teen under his wing, a reluctant chupacabra.

Bryan Washington’s brilliant, viscerally drawn world vibrates with energy, wit, and the infinite longing of people searching for home. With soulful insight into what makes a community, a family, and a life, Lot explores trust and love in all its unsparing and unsteady forms.

Buy it: Amazon | B&N

Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T’kira Madden (19th)

Acclaimed literary essayist T Kira Madden’s raw and redemptive debut memoir is about coming of age and reckoning with desire as a queer, biracial teenager amidst the fierce contradictions of Boca Raton, Florida, a place where she found cult-like privilege, shocking racial disparities, rampant white-collar crime, and powerfully destructive standards of beauty hiding in plain sight.

As a child, Madden lived a life of extravagance, from her exclusive private school to her equestrian trophies and designer shoe-brand name. But under the surface was a wild instability. The only child of parents continually battling drug and alcohol addictions, Madden confronted her environment alone. Facing a culture of assault and objectification, she found lifelines in the desperately loving friendships of fatherless girls.

With unflinching honesty and lyrical prose, spanning from 1960s Hawai’i to the present-day struggle of a young woman mourning the loss of a father while unearthing truths that reframe her reality, Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls is equal parts eulogy and love letter. It’s a story about trauma and forgiveness, about families of blood and affinity, both lost and found, unmade and rebuilt, crooked and beautiful.

Buy it: B&N | Amazon

Once & Future by Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy (26th)

I’ve been chased my whole life. As an illegal immigrant in the territory controlled by the tyrannical Mercer corporation, I’ve always had to hide who I am. Until I found Excalibur.

Now I’m done hiding.

My name is Ari Helix. I have a magic sword, a cranky wizard, and a revolution to start.

When Ari crash-lands on Old Earth and pulls a magic sword from its ancient resting place, she is revealed to be the newest reincarnation of King Arthur. Then she meets Merlin, who has aged backward over the centuries into a teenager, and together they must break the curse that keeps Arthur coming back. Their quest? Defeat the cruel, oppressive government and bring peace and equality to all humankind.

No pressure.

Buy it: B&N | Amazon | Books of Wonder (signed preorder)

Out of Salem by Hal Schrieve (26th)

When genderqueer fourteen-year-old Z Chilworth wakes from death after a car crash that killed their parents and sisters, they have to adjust quickly to their new status as a zombie. Always a talented witch, Z can now barely perform magic and is rapidly decaying. Faced with rejection from their remaining family members and old friends, Z moves in with Mrs. Dunnigan, an elderly witch, and befriends Aysel, a loud would-be-goth classmate who is, like Z, a loner. As Z struggles to find a way to repair the broken magical seal holding their body together, Aysel fears that her classmates will discover her status as an unregistered werewolf. When a local psychiatrist is murdered in an apparent werewolf attack, the town of Salem, Oregon, becomes even more hostile to monsters, and Z and Aysel are driven together in an attempt to survive a place where most people wish that neither of them existed.

Buy it: B&N | Amazon

Miranda in Milan by Katharine Duckett (26th)

With Miranda in Milan, debut author Katharine Duckett reimagines the consequences of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, casting Miranda into a Milanese pit of vipers and building a queer love story that lifts off the page in whirlwinds of feeling.

After the tempest, after the reunion, after her father drowned his books, Miranda was meant to enter a brave new world. Naples awaited her, and Ferdinand, and a throne. Instead she finds herself in Milan, in her father’s castle, surrounded by hostile servants who treat her like a ghost. Whispers cling to her like spiderwebs, whispers that carry her dead mother’s name. And though he promised to give away his power, Milan is once again contorting around Prospero’s dark arts.

With only Dorothea, her sole companion and confidant to aid her, Miranda must cut through the mystery and find the truth about her father, her mother, and herself.

Buy it: B&N | Amazon

Happy National Coming Out Day!

Happy National Coming Out Day! And what better way to celebrate than with featuring some Coming Out books?

Last Seen Leaving by Caleb Roehrig

Flynn’s girlfriend has disappeared. How can he uncover her secrets without revealing his own?

Flynn’s girlfriend, January, is missing. The cops are asking questions he can’t answer, and her friends are telling stories that don’t add up. All eyes are on Flynn—as January’s boyfriend, he must know something.

But Flynn has a secret of his own. And as he struggles to uncover the truth about January’s disappearance, he must also face the truth about himself.

Buy it: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository

George by Alex Gino

When people look at George, they see a boy. But George knows she’s a girl.

George thinks she’ll have to keep this a secret forever. Then her teacher announces that their class play is going to be Charlotte’s Web. George really, really, REALLY wants to play Charlotte. But the teacher says she can’t even try out for the part … because she’s a boy.

With the help of her best friend Kelly, George comes up with a plan. Not just so she can be Charlotte – but so everyone can know who she is, once and for all.

George is a candid, genuine, and heartwarming middle grade about a transgender  girl who is, to use Charlotte’s word, R-A-D-I-A-N-T!

Buy it: Laurel Bookstore * Powell’s * Books Inc * Oblong Books & Music * Indie Bound * iBooks * Google Play * Kobo * Barnes & Noble * Amazon

Under the Lights by Dahlia Adler

Josh Chester loves being a Hollywood bad boy, coasting on his good looks, his parties, his parents’ wealth, and the occasional modeling gig. But his laid-back lifestyle is about to change. To help out his best friend, Liam, he joins his hit teen TV show, Daylight Falls…opposite Vanessa Park, the one actor immune to his charms. (Not that he’s trying to charm her, of course.) Meanwhile, his drama-queen mother blackmails him into a new family reality TV show, with Josh in the starring role. Now that he’s in the spotlight—under everyone’s terms but his own—Josh has to decide whether a life as a superstar is the one he really wants.

Vanessa Park has always been certain about her path as an actor, despite her parents’ disapproval. But with all her relationships currently in upheaval, she’s painfully uncertain about everything else. When she meets her new career handler, Brianna, Van is relieved to have found someone she can rely on, now that her best friend, Ally, is at college across the country. But as feelings unexpectedly evolve beyond friendship, Van’s life reaches a whole new level of confusing. And she’ll have to choose between the one thing she’s always loved…and the person she never imagined she could.

Buy it: Amazon | B & N | The Book Depository | The Ripped Bodice

True Letters From a Fictional Life by Kenneth Logan

If you asked anyone in his small Vermont town, they’d tell you the facts: James Liddell, star athlete, decent student and sort-of boyfriend to cute, peppy Theresa, is a happy, funny, carefree guy.

But whenever James sits down at his desk to write, he tells a different story. As he fills his drawers with letters to the people in his world—letters he never intends to send—he spills the truth: he’s trying hard, but he just isn’t into Theresa. It’s a boy who lingers in his thoughts.

He feels trapped by his parents, his teammates, and the lies they’ve helped him tell, and he has no idea how to escape. Is he destined to live a life of fiction

Buy it: Amazon * B&N * IndieBound * Books-A-Million

Style by Chelsea Cameron

Kyle Blake likes plans. So far, they’re pretty simple: Finish her senior year of high school, head off to a good college, find a cute boyfriend, graduate, get a good job, get married, the whole heterosexual shebang. Nothing is going to stand in the way of that plan. Not even Stella Lewis.

Stella Lewis also has a plan: Finish her senior year as cheer captain, go to college, finally let herself flirt with (and maybe even date) a girl for the first time and go from there.

Fate has other plans for Kyle and Stella when they’re paired up in their AP English class and something between them ignites. It’s confusing and overwhelming and neither of them know what to do about it. One thing they do know is that their connection can’t be ignored. The timing just isn’t right.

But is there ever a good time for falling in love?

Buy it: Amazon

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised.

With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.

Buy it: Amazon * B&N * BAM!

One Man Guy by Michael Barakiva

Alek Khederian should have guessed something was wrong when his parents took him to a restaurant. Everyone knows that Armenians never eat out. Between bouts of interrogating the waitress and criticizing the menu, Alek’s parents announce that he’ll be attending summer school in order to bring up his grades. Alek is sure this experience will be the perfect hellish end to his hellish freshman year of high school. He never could’ve predicted that he’d meet someone like Ethan.

Ethan is everything Alek wishes he were: confident, free-spirited, and irreverent. He can’t believe a guy this cool wants to be his friend. And before long, it seems like Ethan wants to be more than friends. Alek has never thought about having a boyfriend—he’s barely ever had a girlfriend—but maybe it’s time to think again.

Buy it: Amazon

 

Fave Five: F/F YA to Read if You Loved Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit by Jaye Robin Brown

Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan

A&B by JC Lillis

Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde

The Summer of Jordi Perez (and the Best Burger in LA) by Amy Spalding

Bonus: Seemed a little obvious to include in the five, but: Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli

Double Bonus: This is literally just more recommendations; so sue me: Dating Sarah Cooper by Siera Maley, Under the Lights by Dahlia Adler, Style by Chelsea M. Cameron, and Our Own Private Universe by Robin Talley.

Exclusive Cover Reveal: Marriage of Unconvenience by Chelsea M. Cameron!

Chelsea M. Cameron’s kind of the queen of dropping f/f Romances out of nowhere, and I am personally A-OK with this. But this time, you get at least a couple of days notice, and probably no more than that! Keep an eye out over the next week for the release of Marriage of Unconvenience, and look out below for the cover! But first, the book details:

Lauren “Lo” Bowman is in a bit of a pickle. She needs money, like ASAP. She lost her job, the rent is due, and her car needs repairs. Problem is, the inheritance left to her by her old-fashioned Granny has one stipulation before she can collect: she has to be married.

Let’s just say suitors (of any gender) are not knocking down her door. And then Cara Simms, her best friend from childhood that she’s recently reconnected with, pours her heart out and confesses that she needs money to pay for grad school. Lo has a completely brilliant idea: they should get hitched.

Not married married. Like, fake married. All they have to do is play the part for the lawyers, get the money, and then get the marriage annulled. Easy as hell.

Well, it starts out that way, but being fake married feels a lot like being real married, and Lo is flipping out. She cannot be falling for her best friend. Can she?

And now, the cover!

***

Chelsea M. Cameron is a New York Times/USA Today Best Selling author from Maine who now lives and works in Boston. She’s a red velvet cake enthusiast, obsessive tea drinker, vegetarian, former cheerleader and world’s worst video gamer. When not writing, she enjoys watching infomercials, singing in the car, tweeting (this one time, she was tweeted by Neil Gaiman) and playing fetch with her cat, Sassenach. She has a degree in journalism from the University of Maine, Orono that she promptly abandoned to write about the people in her own head. More often than not, these people turn out to be just as weird as she is.

Website: http://www.chelseamcameron.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Chelsea-M-Cameron-Official-Author-Page-304422529610919/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/chel_c_cam

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chelccam/

Patreon: bit.ly/2orO2TG

Fave Five: Pansexual Main Characters

Updated September 6, 2018

Seven Ways We Lie by Riley Redgate (YA, male)

Final Draft by Riley Redgate (YA, female)

Out on Good Behavior by Dahlia Adler (NA, female)

Double Exposure by Chelsea Cameron (Adult, female)

Syncopation by Anna Zabo (Adult, male)

Bonus: It’s currently out of print, but The Melody of You and Me by Maria Hollis (NA, female)