Tag Archives: Lyla Lee

Fave Five: New M/F Bi4Bi Romances, 2025-26 Edition

If you see six, no you don’t. For older titles, click here.

The Fall Fix-Up by Karmen Lee

For the Love of K-Dramas by Lyla Lee

Damned if I Do by Alexandria Bellefleur

Love at First Fright by Nadia El-Fassi

Sparks Fly by Zakiya N. Jamal

Isn’t it Obviousby Rachel Runya Katz

Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Romances: July-December 2026

This post is sponsored by Dana Hawkins in honor of the August release of Forced Proximity, a bi M/F Romance coming August 27th!

She’s hired to protect. Not to fall in love.

Buy it: Amazon

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Grind by K.M. Neuhold (July 3rd)

This is the third book in the Gymbos series

Hockey star Diego Ferguson says he knows about the grind, but he’s about to learn that his new personal trainer, Callan, gives the word a whole new meaning.

Everyone in Chicago has been following the news about Diego’s injury and the last season spent on the bench. It doesn’t hurt that he’s got a major sexy brood going on in every picture I see of him these days.

The last place I expected him to show up was Sweat. But he’s looking for a personal trainer to help him get fully back in shape before the season, and I’m just the guy for the job.

It figures that he’s straight, but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the view while I help get his fine backside ready to get back out on the ice.

He’s definitely as surly as his pictures, and twice as arrogant. Turns out he’s also desperate for some bro time in between workouts, and I’m more than qualified to be the guy for that job too.

Maybe he’s not as straight as he claims. Maybe he just needs a little fun to get his confidence back up after last season. Maybe I’ll let myself indulge in a harmless fling with a cocky, bi-curious hockey player as a little treat. I work hard after all, and I deserve a little fun too.

We both know it can’t last, but puck it, a summer fling is always a good time.

Buy it: Amazon

Continue reading Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Romances: July-December 2026

Happy AAPI Heritage Month 2026!

Happy AAPI Heritage Month 2026! We’re celebrating as we do with books by authors of Asian and Pacific Islander descent, mostly starring AAPI characters! For even more recs, check out past posts.

Middle Grade

Juana Fanta Needs a Hero by Kyle Casey Chu (October 20, 2026)

Derrick Chan is shooting for a once-in-a-lifetime high-school basketball scholarship with his childhood best friend, JJ, by his side. But Derrick’s life is about more than just free throws since embracing his queer identity and love for drag (even if he’s not ready to share either with the whole world quite yet)!

Right now, he’s just trying to take his dad’s advice: don’t sweat the small stuff. This weekend, however, Derrick’s two worlds are colliding in a big way. At a career-defining basketball tournament, where scouts from elite schools are watching his every move, Derrick secretly plans to meet his drag idol, the magnificent Juana Fanta, at the Comic Con held in the very same hotel.

As the stakes skyrocket, team tensions bubble to the surface, including Derrick’s own growing feelings for JJ. But when Juana Fanta disappears from the con, Derrick and JJ must team up to find her before she misses her show-stopping live performance.

Can Derrick find a community that celebrates slam dunks on the court and dazzling drag in the spotlight? Can he really save Juana Fanta’s future—and his own—in one weekend?

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Continue reading Happy AAPI Heritage Month 2026!

Fave Five: Reality TV Romances, Part II

For Part I, click here.

The Cuffing Game by Lyla Lee (m/f YA)

Winging it With You by Chip Pons (m/m)

Winner Bakes All by Alexis Hall (mixed pairing series)

Love at 350 by Lisa Peers (f/f)

Hot Summer by Elle Everhart (f/f)

Bonus: Coming this spring/summer, check out Marooned by Ben Chalfin (m/m) and Good Luck, Babe! by Erin Baldwin (YA, f/f)

Fave Five: Novels with Korean American Protags, Part II

For Part II, click here.

Emma and the Love Spell by Meredith Ireland (MG)

The Cuffing Game (YA) and Love in Focus (F/F Romance) by Lyla Lee

Beating Heart Baby by Lio Min (YA)

I Leave it Up To You by Jinwoo Chong (Litfic)

Something Close to Nothing by Tom Pyun (Litfic)

Happy 250th Birthday, Jane Austen!

RIP, Jane – you would’ve really loved how much queer literature is explicitly gaying up your work.

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For generally Austen-inspired work, check out:

I Shall Never Fall in Love by Hari Conner

George has major problems: They’ve just inherited the failing family estate, and the feelings for their best friend, Eleanor, have become more complicated than ever. Not to mention, if anyone found out they were secretly dressing in men’s clothes, George is sure it would be ruination for the family name.

Eleanor has always wanted to do everything “right,” including falling in love—but she’s never met a boy she was interested in. She’d much rather spend time with her best friend, George, and beloved cousin Charlotte. However, when a new suitor comes to town, she finds her closest friendships threatened, forcing her to rethink what “right” means and confront feelings she never knew she had.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Continue reading Happy 250th Birthday, Jane Austen!

Gift Guide: Gifts for TV Lovers

Find the perfect book for the TV lover in your life based on their faves! 

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For students of TV Culture, check out:

Hi Honey, I’m Homo!: Sitcoms, Specials, and the Queering of American Culture by Matt Baume

Hi Honey, I"m Homo! A new book about LGBTQ+ sitcom history.From flamboyant relatives on Bewitched to closely-guarded secrets on All in the Family, from network-censor fights over Soap to behind-the-scenes activism on the set of The Golden Girls, from Ellen’s culture clash to Modern Family’s primetime power-couple, Hi Honey, I’m Homo! is the story not only of how subversive queer comedy transformed the American sitcom from its inception through today, but how our favorite sitcoms transformed, and continue to transform, America.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Continue reading Gift Guide: Gifts for TV Lovers

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?

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Continue reading New Releases: November 2025

Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Young Adult Fiction: July-December 2025

After We Burned by Marieke Nijkamp (July 1st)

A terrible accident. A horrible loss. A regrettable tragedy. That’s all anyone in Fenix can talk about when a fire consumes the local high school, taking the life of a student. The town mourns, except who really knew―let alone cared about―Eden when she was alive? And why was she in the building that night?

Five teens each hold a piece of the truth about what happened. They also have their own secrets, secrets they will fight to protect with the same fury as the blaze that killed Eden. But silence is meant to be broken, and this story can’t be extinguished…

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Continue reading Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Young Adult Fiction: July-December 2025

New Releases: May 27, 2025

Middle Grade

The Glade by Naseem Jamnia

Pina’s first trip to summer camp is a chance to escape her overbearing parents and finally go on an adventure with her best friend, Jo. But Camp Clear Skies hides a secret: a clearing in the deep woods the older kids call “the Glade.” After falling asleep here, Pina and Jo are able to enter one another’s dreams, transforming into superheroes and knights in shining armor, fighting back their nightmares in epic adventures.

At first, the friends think they’ve discovered a secret more exciting than any video game—until Pina’s nightmares start leaking out into waking life. Worse, something seems to have followed them back from those dreams…and whatever it is, it’s taking over Jo. Jo has always been the superhero in their friendship, but Pina can’t just abandon them to their fate.

To save her friend, Pina journeys deeper into the Glade than she ever has before, facing the worst of her own fears and Jo’s. There, she must confront the consciousness trying to steal her friend’s body and learn what happened twenty years ago that shut down Camp Clear Skies and changed the Glade forever.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Continue reading New Releases: May 27, 2025