Tag Archives: Kate Cochrane

Fave Five: Queer Hockey Romance Series

For more m/m hockey titles, click here.

Puck Struck by Kate Cochrane (f/f)

Game Changers by Rachel Reid (m/m)

The Comebacks by A.J. Truman (m/m)

Out on the Ice by Kelly Farmer (f/f)

Breakaway by E.L. Massey (m/m and m/f)

Bonus: These are all Adult, but for YA, check out Check, Please! by Ngozi Ukazu (m/m)

Fave Five: New Christmas Romances, 2025 Edition

For 2024 titles, click here.

I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm by Mariama J. Lockington (YA, f/f)

Christmas With Her by Fiona Zedde (f/f)

A Mannequin for Christmas by Timothy Janovsky (m/m)

Yours for the Season by Kate Cochrane (f/f)

Any Girl But You by Dana Hawkins (f/f)

Bonus: For a Christmas in July romance, check out Holly Jolly July by Lindsay Maple (f/f)

Happy National Girls and Women in Sports Day 2025!

Happy National Girls and Women in Sports Day! In celebration, here are a whole bunch of books that center queer girls and women in sports! (For even more recs, check out these past posts!)

Middle Grade

It’s All or Nothing, Vale by Andrea Beatriz Arango

All these months of staring at the wall?
All these months of feeling weak?
It’s ending—
I’m going back to fencing.
And then it’ll be
like nothing ever happened.

No one knows hard work and dedication like Valentina Camacho. And Vale’s thing is fencing. She’s the top athlete at her fencing gym. Or she was . . . until the accident.

After months away, Vale is finally cleared to fence again, but it’s much harder than before. Her body doesn’t move the way it used to, and worst of all is the new number one: Myrka. When she sweeps Vale aside with her perfect form and easy smile, Vale just can’t accept that. But the harder Vale fights to catch up, the more she realizes her injury isn’t the only thing holding her back. If she can’t leave her accident in the past, then what does she have to look forward to?

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Continue reading Happy National Girls and Women in Sports Day 2025!

New Releases: November 2024

Conceivable: A Guide to Making 2SLGBTQ+ Family by Laine Halpern Zisman (4th)

Version 1.0.0

You are creating your family. You may not know how (or with whom) quite yet, but you are on your way.

Conceivable: A Guide to Making 2SLGBTQ+ Family moves beyond the birds and the bees to consider the politics, challenges, choices and opportunities for agency and joy involved in 2SLGBTQ+ fertility, conception and family building in Canada. With contributions from healthcare workers, mental health professionals and support people in the field of reproductive health and 2SLGBTQ+ sexual care, this book is an honest and thorough look at growing your family.

Conceivable is for birthing parents, non-gestational parents, families seeking a surrogate or donor, and those who do not yet know what they need. With illustrations, worksheets and activities to help you think about the intimate questions of communication, relationship building and community, this guide will prepare you with the knowledge you need to navigate advocacy, rights and regulations.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Continue reading New Releases: November 2024

Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Adult Fiction: July-December 2024

Peregrine Seas by R.C. Ballad (July 1st)

Prince Peregrine couldn’t be happier to be kidnapped by pirates.

Peregrine wasn’t cut out for the restrictive life of a nobleman – he’s hungry for adventure, prone to duelling, and his family refuse to believe he’s any kind of man at all. Despite his royal origins, he has more in common with the outcasts and rebels aboard the Cygnus that anyone onshore.

He just needs to convince the captain of that before his ransom’s paid.

Captain Alastar Macdara knows better than to trust an English prince. He has his hands full keeping his ragged crew together, and the last thing he needs is to be burdened with some foppish dandy—however charming. This particular hostage is more trouble than Alastar planned for: used to getting his own way, as stubborn as Alastar and not afraid to tell him when he’s wrong. But Alastar knows a thing or two about being an outcast, and his honourable streak refuses to let him send Peregrine back to a life of misery.

The ransom might be off, but that doesn’t mean Peregrine is part of the crew. Now he must prove he’s courageous and quick-witted enough to earn his place on the Cygnus before Alastar dumps him at the next safe harbour.

It won’t be easy for Peregrine to prove himself amidst the many dangers of life at sea: navy patrols, sea serpents—and the grim, handsome Alastar. The more time they spend together the more he fears he’s falling for his captain, and honourable or not … a pirate is a pirate.

Can they chart a course to being together, or will Alastar’s secrets and Peregrine’s reckless drive to prove himself steer the Cygnus into perilous waters?

Buy it: Amazon

Continue reading Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Adult Fiction: July-December 2024

Happy National Girls and Women in Sports Day 2024!

Happy National Girls and Women in Sports Day! In celebration of this day, here are a whole bunch of books that center queer girls and women in sports! (For even more recs, check out 2022‘s post!)

Fiction

You Don’t Have a Shot by Racquel Marie

Valentina “Vale” Castillo-Green’s life revolves around soccer. Her friends, her future, and her father’s intense expectations are all wrapped up in the beautiful game. But after she incites a fight during playoffs with her long-time rival, Leticia Ortiz, everything she’s been working toward seems to disappear.

Embarrassed and desperate to be anywhere but home, Vale escapes to her beloved childhood soccer camp for a summer of relaxation and redemption…only to find out that she and the endlessly aggravating Leticia will be co-captaining a team that could play in front of college scouts. But the competition might be stiffer than expected, so unless they can get their rookie team’s act together, this second chance―and any hope of playing college soccer―will slip through Vale’s fingers. When the growing pressure, friendship friction, and her overbearing father push Vale to turn to Leticia for help, what starts off as a shaky alliance of necessity begins to blossom into something more through a shared love of soccer…and maybe each other.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

Continue reading Happy National Girls and Women in Sports Day 2024!

May 2023 Deal Announcements

Adult Fiction

NYT staff writer Elizabeth Harris‘s HOW TO SLEEP AT NIGHT, about two gay siblings whose lives are upended when one decides to run for office—as a Republican, to Rachel Kahan at William Morrow, in a pre-empt, for publication in 2025, by Brettne Bloom at The Book Group (world).

Rose Black‘s TIL DEATH DO US BARD, a queer light fantasy pitched for fans of LEGENDS & LATTES and Our Flag Means Death, about a grumpy ex-adventurer who must come out of retirement to save the kingdom and his sunshiny bard husband, with the “help” of a flirty necromancer grandmother and the ghost of his ex-wife, to Natasha Qureshi at Hodderscape, in a two-book deal, for publication in fall 2023, by Rebecca Podos at Rees Literary Agency (world English).

Kate Cochrane‘s debut WAKE UP, NAT & DARCY, a sapphic romance in which two former hockey teammates turned rivals with unresolved feelings for one another are paired to host a popular morning show’s Olympic coverage and must remain professional amid a nation of fans closely scrutinizing their incredible chemistry, to Errin Toma at Carina Adores, for publication in 2024, by Paige Terlip at Andrea Brown Literary Agency (world English).

Dana Hawkins‘s LOVE AND RAINBOW LATTES, an opposites-attract queer romance, to Emily Gowers at Storm Publishing, in a two-book deal, for publication in January 2024 (world).

Author of ZEUS GRANTS STUPID WISHES Cory O’Brien‘s TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE, a literary science fiction mystery set in a half-drowned future Los Angeles where knowledge is literally currency, following an aging combat veteran who is dragged into investigating a murder that brings his ex-boyfriend back into his life decades after they parted ways, in a humorous, heartfelt blend of noir and cyberpunk, to Anna Kaufman at Anchor, by Jessica Felleman at Jennifer Lyons Literary Agency (NA).

McSweeney’s contributor and one of Electric Literature’s emerging voices of Nigerian fiction Chukwuebuka Ibeh’s BLESSINGS, a coming-of-age story following a young gay man in Nigeria longing for love, acceptance, and queer joy, culminating in the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act of 2014, interrogating how politics can impact ordinary lives, to Cara Reilly at Doubleday, for publication in 2024, by Emma Leong at Janklow & Nesbit (US).

Republic of Consciousness finalist Nate Lippens’s RIPCORD, which follows the narrator of MY DEAD BOOK as he navigates sex, intimacy, class, and queer aging in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Hedi El Kholti at Semiotext(e), in a nice deal, in an exclusive submission, in a two-book deal, for publication in 2024, by Chris Fischbach at Fischbach Creative (NA).

Children’s and Middle Grade Books

Author of JUDE SAVES THE WORLD Ronnie Riley‘s ASKING FOR A FRIEND, in which a socially anxious, nonbinary 12-year-old lies to their mother about having friends at their new school—and has to make them fast when Mom wants to throw them a 13th birthday party, to Erin Haggett and Amanda Sun at Scholastic, with Emily Seife editing, in an exclusive submission, for publication in 2024, by Jennifer Azantian at Azantian Literary Agency (world).

Emmy-winning journalist and poet Dr. Seema Yasmin, MD’s picture book THE ABCS OF QUEER HISTORY, a journey through key individuals, movements, and moments across a range of identities and experiences, illustrated by Lucy Kirk, to Pamela Bobowicz at Workman Kids, in an exclusive submission, for publication in spring 2024, by Lilly Ghahremani at Full Circle Literary for the author (world).

Author-illustrator Jayme Brodie’s debut graphic novel STICK TOGETHER, which follows a 12-year-old who is excited to become fast friends with her new neighbor and join her school’s field hockey team, but her burgeoning friendship with (and crush on) one of the prettiest and coolest girls that she’s ever seen threatens to come between them, and she must reconcile their differences, and her feelings for the pretty one, before they tear the team and each other apart, to Rachel Diebel at Feiwel and Friends, in a very nice deal, at auction, for publication in spring 2026, by Jennifer Azantian at Azantian Literary Agency (world).

Young Adult Fiction

Author of BIANCA TORRE IS AFRAID OF EVERYTHING Justine Pucella Winans‘s ONE KILLER PROBLEM, a humorous mystery following a bisexual teen with IBS and an attitude, who convinces her murder-mystery obsessed, bookish best friends to investigate the suspicious death of their favorite teacher, to Lily Kessinger at Harper Teen, with Alice Jerman editing, for publication in summer 2024, by Jordan Hamessley at New Leaf Literary & Media (world English).

Jessica Lewis‘s NAV’S FOOLPROOF GUIDE TO FALLING IN LOVE, a queer rom-com in which an expert at flirting who is allergic to love agrees to give the painfully shy new girl lessons in romance to win over her best friend, only to fall for the new girl herself, to Olivia Valcarce at Inkyard Press, in a pre-empt, in a two-book deal, for publication in summer 2024, by Holly Root at Root Literary (world English).

Author of ZOMBABE and BABYLOVE I. S. Belle’s GIRLS NIGHT, a sapphic YA in which four unlikely friends at an all-girls school start an underground fight club, but what starts out as a way to let off steam quickly snowballs into something larger until the girls are forced to choose between the friendships they’ve made or the club that brought them together, to Joshua Dean Perry at Tiny Ghost Press, in a nice deal, for publication in summer 2024 (world English).

Non-Fiction

Fashion Fair commentator and founder of The Ground Crew Audrey Smaltz‘s EVERY INCH A LADY: A MEMOIR, highlighting the author’s life from a model, Wall Street mutual funds broker, department store dynamo, Ebony fashion coordinator and commentator, Vogue editor, and successful businesswoman; taking readers behind-the-scenes with her work with fashion royalty including Michael Kors, Donna Karan, and Ralph Lauren, and candidly discussing her “coming out” after marrying her wife, former WNBA and Olympic silver medalist Gail Marquis in 2011, to Patrik Henry Bass at Amistad, in a good deal, in a pre-empt, for publication in fall 2025, by Alina Mitchell at MacGregor & Luedeke (world).

Long-term survivor of AIDS, prominent advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, and former Metropolitan Community Church pastor Rev. Dr. Steve Pieters‘s DANCING WITH JOY: COMING OUT, SURVIVING AIDS, AND EMBRACING GOD’S GRACE, the story of the man whose 1985 interview with Tammy Faye Baker changed how religious America perceived AIDS and the gay community, to Richard Brown at Rowman & Littlefield, in a nice deal, in an exclusive submission, for publication in March 2024, by George Greenfield at CreativeWell (NA).

Author of IN THE MARGINS Shannon T. L. Kearns‘s NO ONE TAUGHT ME HOW TO BE A MAN: A TRANSGENDER PERSPECTIVE ON NON-TOXIC MASCULINITY, in the author, a transgender man, examines how we got to this moment of a crisis of masculinity in modern culture and illustrates how transgender men provide unique insights on how readers can become better men, better feminists, and work more in solidarity with people of all genders, to Lil Copan at Broadleaf, for publication in spring 2025, by Trinity McFadden at The Bindery (world).

Justice, equity, and transformation post-doctoral fellow at the University of Calgary Lucas Wilson ed.’s SHAME-SEX ATTRACTION: SURVIVORS’ STORIES OF CONVERSION THERAPY, an anthology that collects the stories of those who have been harmed by anti-gay conversion therapy, offering hope in community and overcoming their shame, to Alex DiFrancesco at Jessica Kingsley, for publication in January 2025 (world).