Tag Archives: Maggie Tokuda-Hall

Happy International Asexuality Day 2023!

Happy International Asexuality Day! Today we’re celebrating books with main characters all along the ace spectrum, so check out these titles and find your perfect next read! As usual, all links are affiliate and earn a percentage of income for the site, so please use them if you can!

Please note this roundup only features titles that were not previously featured [with covers] in past International Asexuality Day/Ace Week posts, so make sure to check those out too for even more recs!

Books to Read Now

A Furry Faux Paw by Jessica Kara

(Maeve is ace-questioning.)

Online, MauveCat (a cool, confident, glittering pixie cat) has friends and a whole supportive furry community that appreciates her art. At home, Maeve Stephens has to tiptoe around her hoarder mother’s mood and mess. When her life is at its hardest, Maeve can always slip into Mauve, her fursona, and be “the happy one,” the bubbliest, friendliest artist in her community—it’s even how she made her best friend, Jade.

With graduation around the corner, Maeve is ready to put her lonely school days behind her and move on with her life. And while her father hasn’t been home since the divorce, he does offer her a dream come true: an all-expenses paid trip to the regional furry convention.

Furlympia will have everything Maeve’s been missing—friends, art mentors, and other furries! So when her mother forbids her from going, Maeve decides to sneak out on her own.

Between hitching a ride with Jade, getting a makeover from a young furry she inspired, and connecting with an art idol who could help Her get into her dream school—the furcon is everything Maeve hoped for and more. A single weekend away shows Maeve how wonderful her life could be, but breaking free of the hoard means abandoning her mother, just like everyone else in their life. And Maeve isn’t sure if she can—even if it destroys her, too.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Scoreless Game by Anna Zabo and L.A. Witt

Scoreless Game (On the Board Book 2) by [Anna Zabo, L.A. Witt]At nearly thirty-one years old, Pittsburgh Griffins captain Elias Karlsson’s hockey years are numbered. Everything is changing around him, including his eleven-year friendship with Nikolai Sidorov. Elias would give anything for Nisha to be a permanent part of his life, but their once bedrock-strong bond has broken into a million pieces, and Elias doesn’t know why. More than anything, Elias wants his friend back, but if that isn’t an option, maybe it’s time for him to look outside of hockey for someone to be there with him when hockey isn’t an option anymore.

Nisha’s world is splintering apart. He’s been in love with his two best friends for years, but now one of them has someone. The other, Elias, is searching for everything Nisha wishes he could give him… but he’s looking for it in anyone but Nisha. The farther his friends slip away, the deeper the loneliness sinks in and the bleaker his empty future looks. What can he do but numb the pain in the only ways he knows how?

On the eve of the season opener, Nisha’s unexplained absence threatens the cohesion of the team and puts him and Elias on a collision course of strong wills, broken hearts, and shattered trust. In the end, they may lose the very thing that matters most to them both: each other.

Buy it: Amazon

Rising From Ash by Jax Meyer

Phoenix Murray has had enough. Enough of her incompetent boss. Enough of her addict father always asking for money. Enough of the struggle to survive. So when her aunt offers her a job as a cook at the South Pole, she jumps at it. Even when she’s asked to avoid casual sex to keep the peace in the tiny community.

Astrophysicist Ashley Bennett can’t wait for her year at the South Pole. Not only will it allow her to focus on her PhD research, it’s a key step in her plan to become a Mars colonist. Avoiding the complications of dating in a society that doesn’t understand asexuality is a bonus.

When Phoenix and Ash meet, they can’t help but push each other’s buttons. Phoenix doesn’t understand that her confident sexuality puts Ash on edge while Ash’s curt formality triggers Phoenix’s insecurities about her upbringing. But living at the bottom of the world means there’s nowhere to run, and as they find common ground, their differences aren’t nearly the hindrance they thought.

Buy it: Amazon

The Heartbreak Handshake by J.R. Hart

60168776. sy475 Paxton McKee, Clover Hill’s rideshare driver and handyman, is known by his customers as responsible, dependable, and loyal. On first dates, though, he’s known by another word: boring. His dates never seem to appreciate his in-depth knowledge of famous aviation disasters or his LEGO expertise. His book club buddy, Mrs. Sawyer, keeps trying to set him up. But after so many failed dates, Paxton’s given up on finding someone who can accept him, special interests, stims, and all.

Hand-crafter Remi Sawyer put Clover Hill in their rear-view mirror to sell at craft fairs across the country. But being a traveling artisan is harder than Remi thought. With mounting bills, they’ve ended up back home. Being in their old teenage bedroom is weird. Weirder, their mother keeps trying to set them up on dates, even after they’ve made it clear the homecoming is temporary.

To get Mrs. Sawyer off their backs, Paxton and Remi agree on a scheme: they’ll go on three dates. When it’s over, Paxton can pretend to be heartbroken, and Remi can get back on the road. They even shake on it. But awkward dates lead to the realization the two have a lot in common. Kissing is gross? Check. Spending quiet time doing projects together is enjoyable? Double check.

But Remi is still hell-bent on leaving Clover Hill again, and Paxton is dead-set on staying. Can they find a new vision that doesn’t involve Remi leaving their kindred spirit behind, or are they both destined to lose the person who might be their perfect companion?

Buy it: Amazon

Ace of Hearts by Lucy Mason

59444727. sy475 Hesper Stallides and Felix Morlan have been best friends for as long as they can remember, bonding over their troubled home lives. When a horrible sports injury derails Felix’s promising career and results in the loss of his scholarship, Hesper offers a proposition: a year-long marriage of convenience so he can get free tuition at the college where she works.

It isn’t supposed to be complicated…until they fall in love for real. When Hesper reveals that she’s asexual, Felix must reassess everything he thinks about love, and ask himself what he’s willing to sacrifice for a future with Hesper—before the past she’s spent her life running from can take her away from him forever.

Buy it: Amazon

Tell Me How it Ends by Quinton Li

(Marin is aroace.)

Tell Me How It Ends (Chaos in the Cards Book 1) by [Quinton Li]Iris Galacia’s tarot cards do more than entertain gamblers.

With the flip of her fingers she can predict the future and uncover a person’s secrets. Under the watchful eye of her mother, she is already on thin ice for pursuing a passion in the family business, but then cracks start to form, and eventually she falls through.

She is given an ultimatum: earn a thousand coins or leave the business, and the family.

Enter Marin Boudreau, a charming young person who can scale buildings and break off doorknobs, who comes for her help to rescue a witch who’s been falsely imprisoned in Excava Kingdom.

And Marin is willing to pay a high sum for her talents.

But saving a prisoner from royal hands isn’t easy, nor is leaving home for the first time in eighteen years.

Now Iris must learn to trust in herself, Marin, and this new magical world, while racing the clock before the royals decide the fate of the witch, and before any secrets catch up to her.

Buy it: Amazon

Refusing Compulsory Sexuality: A Black Asexual Lens on Our Sex-Obsessed Culture by Sherronda J. Brown

Refusing Compulsory Sexuality: A Black Asexual Lens on Our Sex-Obsessed Culture by [Sherronda J. Brown, Hess Love]Everything you know about sex and asexuality is (probably) wrong.

The notion that everyone wants sex–and that we all have to have it–is false. It’s intertwined with our ideas about capitalism, race, gender, and queerness. And it impacts the most marginalized among us. For asexual folks, it means that ace and A-spec identity is often defined by a queerness that’s not queer enough, seen through a lens of perceived lack: lack of pleasure, connection, joy, maturity, and even humanity.

In this exploration of what it means to be Black and asexual in America today, Sherronda J. Brown offers new perspectives on asexuality. She takes an incisive look at how anti-Blackness, white supremacy, patriarchy, heteronormativity, and capitalism enact harm against asexual people, contextualizing acephobia within a racial framework in the first book of its kind. Brown advocates for the “A” in LGBTQIA+, affirming that to be asexual is to be queer–despite the gatekeeping and denial that often says otherwise.

With chapters on desire, f*ckability, utility, refusal, and possibilities, Refusing Compulsory Sexuality discusses topics of deep relevance to ace and a-spec communities. It centers the Black asexual experience–and demands visibility in a world that pathologizes and denies asexuality, denigrates queerness, and specifically sexualizes Black people.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Books to Preorder

You Don’t Have a Shot by Racquel Marie (May , 2023)

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

Love Letters for Joy by Melissa See (June 6, 2023)

The cover of LOVE LETTERS FOR JOY, featuring Union Square and two white teenagers walking in opposite directions, holding a love letterLess than a year away from graduation, seventeen-year-old Joy is too busy overachieving to be worried about relationships. She’s determined to be Caldwell Prep’s first disabled valedictorian. And she only has one person to beat, her academic rival Nathaniel.

But it’s senior year and everyone seems to be obsessed with pairing up. One of her best friends may be developing feelings for her and the other uses Caldwell’s anonymous love-letter writer to snag the girl of her dreams. Joy starts to wonder if she has missed out on a quintessential high school experience. She is asexual, but that’s no reason she can’t experience first love, right?

She writes to Caldwell Cupid to help her sort out these new feelings and, over time, finds herself falling for the mysterious voice behind the letters. But falling in love might mean risking what she wants most, especially when the letter-writer turns out to be the last person she would ever expect.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

The Siren, The Song, and the Spy by Maggie Tokuda-Hall (September 26, 2023)

This is the companion to The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea

By sinking a fleet of Imperial Warships, the Pirate Supreme and their resistance fighters have struck a massive blow against the Emperor. Now allies from across the empire are readying themselves, hoping against hope to bring about the end of the conquerors’ rule and the rebirth of the Sea. But trust and truth are hard to come by in this complex world of mermaids, spies, warriors, and aristocrats. Who will Genevieve—lavishly dressed but washed up, half-dead, on the Wariuta island shore—turn out to be? Is warrior Koa’s kindness toward her admirable, or is his sister Kaia’s sharp suspicion wiser? And back in the capital, will pirate-spy Alfie really betray the Imperials who have shown him affection, especially when a duplicitous senator reveals xe would like nothing better?

Meanwhile, the Sea is losing more and more of herself as her daughters continue to be brutally hunted, and the Empire continues to expand through profits made from their blood.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

This Dark Descent by Kalyn Josephson (September 26, 2023)

The Rusel family is famous throughout Enderlain as breeders of enchanted horses, but their prestige is no match for their rising debts. To save her family’s ranch, Mikira Rusel is left with only one option: enter the Illinir, a cutthroat, cross-country horserace known for its high death rate as much as its flashy prize money.

To have any chance of success, she’ll have to recruit Arielle Kadar, an unlicensed enchanter who creates golems in place of enchanted animals, and Damien Adair, a lord in the midst of a succession battle. Both her accomplices have reasons of their own to help Mikira – and their own blood feuds to avenge.

In a world as dangerous as this, will hidden agendas and conflicting desires butcher their chances of winning the Illinir. . . or will another rider’s dagger?

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

Being Ace ed. by Madeline Dyer (October 10, 2023)

Discover the infinite realms of asexual love across sci-fi, fantasy, and contemporary stories

From a wheelchair user racing to save her kidnapped girlfriend and a little mermaid who loves her sisters more than suitors, to a slayer whose virgin blood keeps attracting monsters, the stories of this anthology are anything but conventional. Whether adventuring through space, outsmarting a vengeful water spirit, or surviving haunted cemeteries, no two aces are the same in these 14 unique works that highlight asexual romance, aromantic love, and identities across the asexual spectrum.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Wren Martin Ruins it All by Amanda DeWitt (November 7, 2023)

Now that Wren Martin is student council president (on a technicality, but hey, it counts) he’s going to fix Rapture High. His first order of business: abolish the school’s annual Valentine’s Day Dance, a drain on the school’s resources and general social nightmare—especially when you’re asexual.

His greatest opponent: Leo Reyes, vice president and all-around annoyingly perfect student, who has a solution to Wren’s budget problem. A sponsorship from Buddy, the anonymous “not a dating” app that’s swept the nation. The theme: 21st Century Masquerade. Suddenly, Wren’s plan for a dance-less senior year has turned into heading the biggest dance Rapture High has ever seen. He’s even secretly signed up for the app, determined to make good on his promises to improve the school, even if that means going into the belly of the beast.

When Wren accidentally starts up a conversation with one of his matches, he realizes things might be getting out of control. He never meant to like his anonymous match, and he certainly didn’t mean to develop a crush on him. Wren decided a long time ago that dating while asexual wasn’t worth the hassle. With the Valentine’s Day Dance rapidly approaching, Wren isn’t sure what will kill him first: the dance, his relationship drama, or the growing realization that Leo’s perfect life might not be so perfect after all.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

For Never & Always by Helena Greer (November 28, 2023)

(Levi is demisexual.)

Hannah Rosenstein should be happy: after a lonely childhood of traipsing all over the world, she finally has a home as the co-owner of destination inn Carrigan’s All Year. But her thoughts keep coming back to Levi “Blue” Matthews: her first love, worst heartbreak, and now, thanks to her great-aunt’s meddling will, absentee business partner.

When Levi left Carrigan’s, he had good intentions. As the queer son of the inn’s cook and groundskeeper, he never quite fit in their small town and desperately wanted to prove himself. Now that he’s a celebrity chef, he’s ready to come home and make amends. Only his return goes nothing like he planned: his family’s angry with him, his best friend is dating his nemesis, and Hannah just wants him to leave. Again.

Levi sees his chance when a VIP bride agrees to book Carrigan’s—if he’s the chef. He’ll happily cook for the wedding, and in exchange, Hannah will give him five dates to win her back. Only Hannah doesn’t trust this new Levi, and Levi’s coming to realize Hannah’s grown too. But if they find the courage to learn from the past . . . they just might discover the love of your life is worth waiting for.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Dear Wendy by Ann Zhao (April 16, 2024)

Sophie Chi is in her first year at Wellesley College (despite her parents’ wishes that she attends a “real” university) and has long accepted her aromantic and asexual identities. Despite knowing she’ll never fall in love, she enjoys learning about relationships and putting that research to use to help people. And what better way to do that than by running an Instagram account that offers advice to the students at her college, somewhere in between classes, morning runs, and extracurriculars? No one except her roommate knows that she’s behind the incredibly popular “Dear Wendy” account.

Meanwhile, Joanna “Jo” Ephron is also a first-year student at Wellesley but when they create the account “Sincerely Wanda” to show one of their roommates why she needs to dump her boyfriend, they don’t expect it to amount to anything more. After all, Jo’s account isn’t meant to be serious—not like Dear Wendy’s. But it seems more and more students appreciate her humorous answers to followers’ dilemmas, and she may end up encroaching on Wendy’s territory a little. And now the two accounts might have a rivalry of sorts? Oops. As if Jo’s not busy enough having existential crises over the fact that she’ll never truly be loved or be enough, gender, and her few friends finding The One and forgetting her!

Tensions are rising online, but Sophie and Jo start getting closer in real life, especially after they realize their shared aroace identity. As their friendship develops and they work together to start a campus organization for other a-spec students, can their growing bond survive if they learn just who’s behind the Wendy and Wanda accounts?

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Books to Add to Your TBR

Fave Five: Spooky MG/YA Graphic Novels

Beetle and the Hollowbones by Aliza Layne

Artie and the Wolf Moon by Olivia Stephens

Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker and Wendy Xu

Squad by Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Lisa Sterle

DeadEndia: The Watcher’s List by Hamish Steele

Bonus: Coming in 2022, Blackwater by Jeannette Arroyo and Ren Graham 

September 2020 Deal Announcements

Adult Fiction

Iowa Writers’ Workshop graduate and Caine Prize finalist Arinze Ifeakandu‘s GOD’S CHILDREN ARE LITTLE BROKEN THINGS, a debut story collection set in Nigeria united by the theme of queer male intimacy, to Brigid Hughes at A Public Space Books, by Jin Auh and Austin Mueller at The Wylie Agency (world English).

Author of WILLA & HESPER Amy Feltman‘s ALL THE THINGS WE DON’T TALK ABOUT, a queer family drama, following a diverse cast of characters whose lives are upended by the sudden reappearance of their self-destructive mother; grappling with betrayal and addiction alongside queer love and joy, to Maddie Caldwell at Grand Central, in an exclusive submission, by Stephanie Delman at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates (world English)

Center for Fiction First Novel Prize nominee Celia Laskey‘s THE BRIDESMAID, about two women, one gay and one straight, whose longstanding friendship spirals violently out of control over the course of one’s wedding weekend, exploring contemporary female friendship, platonic queer-straight dynamics, and the absurdity of the wedding industrial complex, to John Glynn at Hanover Square Press, at auction, by Alexa Stark at Trident Media Group (NA).

A BIG SHIP AT THE EDGE OF THE UNIVERSE and ALIEN: THE COLD FORGE author Alex White‘s STAR TREK: REVENANT, a new adventure set during the fourth season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, about a terrible secret at the heart of the Trill Symbiosis Commission that forces Jadzia Dax to reckon further with the past lives of the Dax symbiont, particularly her immediate predecessor Curzon and the psychopathic murderer Joran, in the first treatment of Star Trek’s groundbreaking genderfluid Trill species by a nonbinary or genderqueer writer, to Ed Schlesinger at Pocket, by Connor Goldsmith at Fuse Literary (world English).

PEN/Robert W Bingham Finalist and physician-writer Chaya Bhuvaneswar‘s WHITE DANCING ELEPHANTS, debut collection of short stories of the #MeToo and survival of queer women of color, to Blackstone Audio, by Lane Zachary at Aevitas Inc.

Author of THE EARTHQUAKE ROOM Davey Davis’s X, a queer noir set in a near-future New York that follows a down-and-out sadomasochist drawn from their post-breakup desolation into the pursuit of pure pleasure after a chance encounter, to Alicia Kroell at Catapult, by Julia Kardon at HG Literary (world English).

Printz Award-winning author of WE ARE OKAY and the forthcoming WATCH OVER ME Nina LaCour’s YERBA BUENA, following two women on a star-crossed journey toward one another, across the expanse of California—from a drug-soaked town in the redwoods to an elegant Los Angeles restaurant—as one finds refuge in her family’s past and the other struggles against the dark secrets she’d rather leave behind; also, an untitled multigenerational family saga inspired by the author’s grandparents, following their journey from New Orleans to Los Angeles, and what they gained and left behind, to Caroline Bleeke at Flatiron Books, in a major deal, at auction, in a two-book deal, for publication in Winter 2022, by Sara Crowe at Pippin Properties (NA).

Anita Kelly’s debut RECIPES FOR A DELICIOUS DISASTER, a romantic comedy in which the first openly nonbinary contestant on America’s favorite cooking show becomes distracted by their beautiful, clumsy competitor, but when the couple starts exploring their chemistry, they’re tested by heat outside of the kitchen, to Junessa Viloria at Forever, in a three-book deal, by Kim Lionetti at BookEnds.

Alison Cochrun‘s debut THE CHARM OFFENSIVE, a queer rom-com about a reality dating show producer tasked with helping the show’s tech wunderkind star find his true love among 30 women, but when their off-screen chemistry overshadows what happens in front of the cameras, they may have to rewrite happily ever after, pitched in the vein of RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE and ONE TO WATCH, to Kaitlin Olson at Atria, in a nice deal, for publication in fall 2021, by Bibi Lewis at Ethan Ellenberg Agency (world).

Columbia MFA graduate Khashayar Joshua Khabushani’s‘s OUR NEW NAMES, about the powerful bonds that make and break an Iranian American family, and the journey a son must make in order to find his place in the world, from San Fernando Valley to Iran and eventually to New York, examining boyhood and brotherhood, violence and tenderness, and queer identity and belonging in America, to Parisa Ebrahimi at Hogarth, at auction, by Bill Clegg at The Clegg Agency (NA).

Children’s/Middle Grade Fiction

Katherine Locke’s WHAT ARE YOUR WORDS?, introducing and celebrating gender-inclusive pronouns as a child explores both their neighborhood and which “words” fit them and their neighbors best today, illustrated by Anne Passchier, to Regan Winter at Little, Brown Children’s, for publication in summer 2021, by Lara Perkins at Andrea Brown Literary Agency for the author, and by Anne Moore Armstrong at The Bright Group for the illustrator (world).

Actor, activist, and author Nico Tortorella‘s picture book OLIVETTE IS YOU, an inclusive message about celebrating different gender identities, to Emily Easton at Crown Children’s, by Sarah Passick at Park & Fine Literary and Media.

Transgender Korean American author, athlete, and activist Schuyler Bailar‘s Middle Grade debut OBIE IS MAN ENOUGH, about a transgender tween who looks to prove he’s one of the fastest boys in the pool as he contends with new teammates, bullies, and his biggest competition: himself, to Phoebe Yeh at Crown Children’s, for publication in fall 2021, by Marietta Zacker at Gallt and Zacker Literary Agency (world English).

Young Adult Fiction

Philline Harms’s debut NEVER KISS YOUR ROOMMATE, in which a girl arrives at a boarding school, and a mysterious and alluring girl is assigned to be her roommate, but as their relationship goes from cold to red hot, the roommate’s dangerous past resurfaces and tests the strength of their budding romance, to Deanna McFadden at Wattpad, for publication in spring 2021.

NYT-bestselling author of WILDER GIRLS Rory Power‘s THE WORLD ENDS HERE, a speculative thriller following ex-girlfriends raised at a remote, icy research institute, and what happens when they uncover the nightmarish discovery their families are protecting there, to Krista Marino at Delacorte, in a six-figure deal, in a two-book deal, for publication in fall 2021, by Kim Witherspoon and Jessica Mileo at Inkwell Management (NA).

Molly Horan‘s EPICALLY EARNEST, pitched as a queer contemporary wink to Oscar Wilde’s THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, in which a high school senior must decide who she wants to be and where she fits in as graduation approaches, all the while finding the time to fall in love with the girl of her dreams, to Lily Kessinger at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s, for publication in spring 2022, by Elle Thompson and Uwe Stender at TriadaUS Literary Agency (world).

Author of the forthcoming ALMOST FLYING Jake Maia Arlow’s WINTER BREAK, a contemporary rom-com about two Jewish girls falling in love reluctantly at Christmastime, a hate-to-love romance pitched as “like a Hallmark Christmas movie—if a Hallmark Christmas movie ever starred sexually frustrated lesbian Jews,” to Stephanie Guerdan at Harper Teen, in a good deal, in a pre-empt, in a two-book deal, for publication in fall 2022, by Jim McCarthy at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret (world).

Eric Geron’s debut A TALE OF TWO PRINCES, about a closeted crown prince newly established in Canada and an out-and-proud Montana cowboy who meet by chance and turn out to be long-lost twin brothers, forced to navigate coming out, coronations, and high school together, to Rebecca Kuss at Inkyard Press, in a good deal, in a pre-empt, in a two-book deal, for publication in summer 2022, by Brent Taylor at TriadaUS Literary Agency (world English).

Maggie Tokuda-Hall‘s untitled sequel to THE MERMAID, THE WITCH, AND THE SEA, in which a number of characters from the first book reunite to destroy the Nipran Empire; with a siren, a dragon, and some familiar mermaids, this motley group may finally have what they need to end imperialism in their world once and for all, to Karen Lotz at Candlewick, in an exclusive submission, by Jennifer Laughran at Andrea Brown Literary Agency (world).

Peyton Thomas‘s debut BOTH SIDES NOW, featuring a trans protagonist taking his competitive high school debate circuit by storm, pitched as for fans of SIMON VS. THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA and RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE, to Ellen Cormier at Dial, at auction, for publication in fall 2021, by Brooks Sherman at Janklow & Nesbit (US).

Tobias Madden’s ANYTHING BUT FINE, about a teenage ballet dancer who breaks his foot and begins to question everything he once took for granted, including his relationship with the dreamy, perfect-in-every-way, and seemingly straight captain of the rowing team, to Zoe Walton at Penguin Random House Australia, at auction, for publication in 2021, by Claire Friedman at Inkwell Management (Australia and New Zealand).

Faridah Abike-Iyimide‘s ACE OF SPADES, pitched as Gossip Girl meets Get Out, in which a mysterious source spreads rumors about a prestigious private school’s only two Black students, who must fight for their reputations—and for their lives, to Foyinsi Adegbonmire at Feiwel and Friends, in a major deal, in a seven-figure deal, in a pre-empt, in a two-book deal, for publication in summer 2021, by Molly Ker Hawn at The Bent Agency, on behalf of Zoe Plant at The Bent Agency (NA).

Graphic Novels

Cartoonist Alex Combs‘s TRANS HISTORY: A GRAPHIC NOVEL, presenting an introduction to transgender identity and history in the U.S. and beyond, to Andrea Tompa at Candlewick, at auction, for publication in 2023, by Zabe Ellor at Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency (world English).

Non-Fiction

Professor of Victorian literature at Berkeley and intellectual Grace Lavery’s PLEASE MISS, a speculative memoir of gender transition and recovery from addiction, refracted through pop culture, queer theory, film, TV, literature, and (what feels like) stand-up comedy, pitched as THE ARGONAUTS caught in a hall of mirrors, with a lot more sex and humor, to Claire Potter at Seal Press, in a six-figure deal, at auction, by Alison Lewis at Zoe Pagnamenta Agency.

Podcast host, and creator of the LGBTQ+ blog TheShitneySpears David Olshanetsky’s COMING OUT ALIVE, a guide to coming out of the closet, combining personal anecdotes with how-to guides; queer history lessons you won’t get in school; and conversations with LGBTQ+ celebrities, including international pop music sensation Pabllo Vittar, activist and Broadway trailblazer Peppermint, and writer and performer Stephen Fry about their own journeys, to Sylvan Creekmore at Wednesday Books, in a good deal, for publication in June 2022, by Connor Goldsmith at Fuse Literary (world English).

Supergirl actress, transgender rights activist, and subject of the book BECOMING NICOLE Nicole Maines’s coming-of-age memoir, about learning how to be OK with not always being OK, aiming to correct some of the most insidious messaging absorbed by queer kids and all young women—from the idea that any one thing can (or should) ever really “fix” you to wondering what’s wrong with you when things don’t always feel better—by providing an intimate look at the author’s life and all the lessons she’s learned along the way, to Caitlin McKenna at Dial, in an exclusive submission, by Lauren MacLeod and Wendy Strothman at The Strothman Agency.

Writing professor and former professional dominatrix Chris Belcher’s PRETTY BABY, an examination of gender, power, violence, and intimacy, following the author’s coming-of-age as a queer woman in rural Appalachia, to adulthood in Los Angeles as a female academic and sex worker, to Carolyn Kelly at Avid Reader Press, by Jade Wong-Baxter at Massie & McQuilkin (NA).

Author of the Lambda Literary Award- and Prix JDD France Inter-winning THE FACT OF A BODY: A MURDER AND A MEMOIR Alex Marzano-Lesnevich’s BOTH AND NEITHER, a genre- and gender-bending work of memoir, history, cultural analysis, trans reimaginings, and international road trip about life beyond the binary, to Margo Shickmanter at Doubleday, at auction, by PJ Mark at Janklow & Nesbit.

Longtime birder and social activist Christian Cooper‘s BETTER LIVING THROUGH BIRDING, reflecting on a life lived at the intersections of race and queerness; equal parts memoir, travelogue, and call to action, exploring the lifetime of experience that prepared the author for his now-infamous encounter with racist white aggression in Central Park, on the very day that the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis sent the country over the edge, spurring protests in the streets and inspiring calls for change, to Chayenne Skeete at Random House, with Mark Warren editing, at auction, by Gail Ross at Ross Yoon Agency (world).

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Announcements are cribbed from Publishers Marketplace.

YA eBooks Under $5 for Pride Month!

All links are Amazon affiliate. A percentage of each purchase goes back into the site.

$1.99

Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit by Jaye Robin Brown (Contemporary F/F Romance)

It’s Kind of an Epic Love Story by Kacen Callender (Contemporary M/M Romance)

Rule by Ellen Goodlett (Fantasy w/ F/F Romance)

The Fever King by Victoria Lee (M/M SFF)

All Out ed. by Saundra Mitchell (Historical Anthology)

Jack of Hearts (and other parts) by L.C. Rosen (Gay Contemporary)

Timekeeper by Tara Sim (Historical M/M Fantasy)

It’s Not Like it’s a Secret by Misa Sugiura (Contemporary F/F Romance)

The Dangerous Art of Blending In by Angelo Surmelis (Contemporary M/M Romance)

$2.99

The Weight of the Stars by K. Ancrum (Lightly Speculative F/F Romance)

How to Make a Wish by Ashley Herring Blake (Contemporary F/F Romance)

Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake (Contemporary F/GQ)

The Lost Coast by Amy Rose Capetta (Contemporary F/F Fantasy)

Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann (Contemporary Bi Ace M/F Romance)

You Know Me Well by David Levithan and Nina LaCour (M/F Friendship)

Black Wings Beating by Alex London (Gay and Aroace Dual-POV Fantasy)

When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore (Trans M/Cis F Magical Realism Romance)

Blanca & Roja by Anna-Marie McLemore (Magical Realism)

Dark & Deepest Red by Anna-Marie McLemore (Trans M/Cis F Magical Realism Historical/Contemporary Romance)

Anger is a Gift by Mark Oshiro (Gay Contemporary)

Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera (Lesbian Contemporary)

White Rabbit by Caleb Roehrig (Gay Thriller)

If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo (Trans Girl Contemporary)

$3.99

Once & Future by Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy (F/F and M/M SFF)

Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan (F/F Fantasy)

$4.99

Under the Lights by Dahlia Adler (Contemporary F/F Romance)

Stay Cool by Tobly McSmith (Contemporary Trans M/Cis F Romance)

The Mermaid, The Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall (F/GF Fantasy)

New Releases: May 2020

New month = new books! This month’s post is sponsored by Celadon Books in honor of the newly released Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs by Jennifer Finney Boylan!

Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs by Jennifer Finney Boylan

Cover-GoodBoy-WEB

From the bestselling author of She’s Not There: A Life in Two GendersGood Boy is a memoir that explores seven crucial moments of growth and transformation in Boylan’s life, accompanied by seven unforgettable dogs.

“Boylan’s newest book is a touching look at the different identities she’s inhabited through her many furry friends—whose love has been a constant in a life marked by change.” —O, The Oprah Magazine, “44 LGBTQ Books That Are Changing the Literary Landscape in 2020”

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

 

All Amazon, Indiebound, and Bookshop links are affiliate links. Purchasing through these links brings a small percentage of income back to the site, so please do!

The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall (5th)

The pirate Florian, born Flora, has always done whatever it takes to survive—including sailing under false flag on the Dove as a marauder, thief, and worse. Lady Evelyn Hasegawa, a highborn Imperial daughter, is on board as well—accompanied by her own casket.

But Evelyn’s one-way voyage to an arranged marriage in the Floating Islands is interrupted when the captain and crew show their true colors and enslave their wealthy passengers.

Both Florian and Evelyn have lived their lives by the rules, and whims, of others. But when they fall in love, they decide to take fate into their own hands—no matter the cost.

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Meet Cute Club by Jack Harbon (5th)

Jordan Collins doesn’t need a man.

What he needs is for his favorite author to release another one of her sexy supernatural novels and more people to sign up for the romance book club that he fears is slowly and steadily losing its steam. He also needs for the new employee at his local bookstore to stop making fun of him for reading things meant for “grandmas.”

The very last thing he needs is for that same employee, Rex Bailey, to waltz into his living room and ask to join Meet Cute Club. Despite his immediate thoughts—like laughing in his face and telling him to kick rocks—Jordan decides that if he wants this club to continue thriving, he can’t turn away any new members. Not even ones like Rex, who somehow manage to be both frustratingly obnoxious and breathtakingly handsome.

As Jordan and Rex team up to bring the club back from the ashes, Jordan soon discovers that Rex might not be the arrogant troll he made himself out to be, and that, like with all things in life, maybe he was wrong to judge a book by its cover.

Buy it: Amazon

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender (5th)

Felix Love has never been in love—and, yes, he’s painfully aware of the irony. He desperately wants to know what it’s like and why it seems so easy for everyone but him to find someone. What’s worse is that, even though he is proud of his identity, Felix also secretly fears that he’s one marginalization too many—Black, queer, and transgender—to ever get his own happily-ever-after.

When an anonymous student begins sending him transphobic messages—after publicly posting Felix’s deadname alongside images of him before he transitioned—Felix comes up with a plan for revenge. What he didn’t count on: his catfish scenario landing him in a quasi–love triangle….

But as he navigates his complicated feelings, Felix begins a journey of questioning and self-discovery that helps redefine his most important relationship: how he feels about himself.

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Vanishing Monuments by John Elizabeth Stintzi (5th)


Alani Baum, a non-binary photographer and teacher, hasn’t seen their mother since they ran away with their girlfriend when they were seventeen — almost thirty years ago. But when Alani gets a call from a doctor at the assisted living facility where their mother has been for the last five years, they learn that their mother’s dementia has worsened and appears to have taken away her ability to speak. As a result, Alani suddenly find themselves running away again — only this time, they’re running back to their mother.

Staying at their mother’s empty home, Alani attempts to tie up the loose ends of their mother’s life while grappling with the painful memories that—in the face of their mother’s disease — they’re terrified to lose. Meanwhile, the memories inhabiting the house slowly grow animate, and the longer Alani is there, the longer they’re forced to confront the fact that any closure they hope to get from this homecoming will have to be manufactured.

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The Art of Drag by Jake Hall, ill. by Sofie Birkin, Helen Li, Jasjyot Singh Hans (5th)

The history of drag has been formed by many intersections: fashion, theatre, sexuality and politics–all coming together to create the show stopping entertainment millions witness today. In this extensive work, Jake Hall delves deep into the ancient beginnings of drag, to present day and beyond. Vibrant illustrations enhance the rich history from Kabuki theatre to Shakespearean, the revolutionary Stonewall riots to the still thriving New York ballroom scene. Nothing will go undocumented in this must-have documentation of all things drag.

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Figure It Out by Wayne Koestenbaum (5th)

“Toward what goal do I aspire, ever, but collision? Always accident, concussion, bodies butting together . . . By collision I also mean metaphor and metonymy: operations of slide and slip and transfuse.”

In his new nonfiction collection, poet, artist, critic, novelist, and performer Wayne Koestenbaum enacts twenty-six ecstatic collisions between his mind and the world. A subway passenger’s leather bracelet prompts musings on the German word for stranger; Montaigne leads to the memory of a fourth-grade friend’s stinky feet. Koestenbaum dreams about a hand job from John Ashbery, swims next to Nicole Kidman, reclaims Robert Rauschenberg’s squeegee, and apotheosizes Marguerite Duras as a destroyer of sentences. He directly proposes assignments to readers: “Buy a one-dollar cactus, and start anthropomorphizing it. Call it Sabrina.” “Describe an ungenerous or unkind act you have committed.” “Find in every orgasm an encyclopedic richness . . . Reimagine doing the laundry as having an orgasm, and reinterpret orgasm as not a tiny experience, temporally limited, occurring in a single human body, but as an experience that somehow touches on all of human history.” Figure It Out is both a guidebook for, and the embodiment of, the practices of pleasure, attentiveness, art, and play.

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The Summer of Impossibilities by Rachael Allen (12th)

Skyler, Ellie, Scarlett and Amelia Grace are forced to spend the summer at the lake house where their moms became best friends.

One can’t wait. One would rather gnaw off her own arm than hang out with a bunch of strangers just so their moms can drink too much wine and sing Journey two o’clock in the morning. Two are sisters. Three are currently feuding with their mothers.

One almost sets her crush on fire with a flaming marshmallow. Two steal the boat for a midnight joyride that goes horribly, awkwardly wrong. All of them are hiding something.

One falls in love with a boy she thought she despised. Two fall in love with each other. None of them are the same at the end of the summer.

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We Had No Rules by Corinne Manning (12th)


A young teenager stays a step ahead of her parents’ sexuality-based restrictions by running away and learns a very different set of rules. A woman grieves the loss of a sister, a “gay divorce,” and the pain of unacknowledged abuse with the help of a lone wallaby on a farm in Washington State. A professor of women’s and gender studies revels in academic and sexual power but risks losing custody of the family dog.

In Corinne Manning’s stunning debut story collection, a cast of queer characters explore the choice of assimilation over rebellion. In this historical moment that’s hyperaware of and desperate to define even the slowest of continental shifts, when commitment succumbs to the logic of capitalism and nobody knows what to call each other or themselves—Gay? Lesbian? Queer? Partners? Dad?—who are we? And if we don’t know who we are, what exactly can we offer each other?

Spanning the years 1992 to 2019, and moving from New York to North Carolina to Seattle, the eleven first-person stories in We Had No Rules feature characters who feel the promise of a radically reimagined world but face complicity instead.

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Waiting For You by Elle Spencer (12th)

Have you ever met someone and felt like you’ve known them in a thousand different lifetimes?

Lindsay Hall was a high school senior when she and her friend Patty discovered peach schnapps, listened to a past-life hypnosis CD, and got an up-close look at who she once was. And who she used to love. The knowledge of her past life has always haunted Lindsay. As her ex-husband is happy to point out, it’s made her a pretty crappy partner, too. Even her teenage daughter has politely suggested that she “get the eff over it.” Except she didn’t say eff.

Ren Christopher just wants a quick break before she starts a new job in London. She’s just extracted herself from a not-brief-enough, drama-filled relationship. A few weeks relaxing, drinking too much wine, and hanging with her old college friend Patty is just what the doctor ordered. No pressure, no expectations, and absolutely no drama.

Everything is perfect until Lindsay faints at the sight of Ren.

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Rules for Being Dead by Kim Powers (12th)

It’s the late 1960s in McKinney, Texas. At the downtown theater and the local drive-in, movies—James Bond, My Fair Lady, Alfie, and Dr. Zhivago—feed the dreams and obsessions of a ten-year-old Clarke who loves Audrey, Elvis, his family, and the handsome boy in the projector booth. Then Clarke loses his beloved mother, and no one will tell him how she died. No one will tell her either. She is floating above the trees and movie screens of McKinney, trapped between life and death, searching for a glimpse of her final moments on this earth. Clarke must find the shattering truth, which haunts this darkly humorous and incredibly moving novel.

Preorder: Amazon | B&N | IndieBound

The Fascinators by Andrew Eliopulos (12th)

Living in a small town where magic is frowned upon, Sam needs his friends James and Delia—and their time together in their school’s magic club—to see him through to graduation.

But as soon as senior year starts, little cracks in their group begin to show. Sam may or may not be in love with James. Delia is growing more frustrated with their amateur magic club. And James reveals that he got mixed up with some sketchy magickers over the summer, putting a target on all their backs.

With so many fault lines threatening to derail his hopes for the year, Sam is forced to face the fact that the very love of magic that brought his group together is now tearing them apart—and there are some problems that no amount of magic can fix.

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The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar (12th)

Nishat doesn’t want to lose her family, but she also doesn’t want to hide who she is, and it only gets harder once a childhood friend walks back into her life. Flávia is beautiful and charismatic, and Nishat falls for her instantly. But when a school competition invites students to create their own businesses, both Flávia and Nishat decide to showcase their talent as henna artists. In a fight to prove who is the best, their lives become more tangled―but Nishat can’t quite get rid of her crush, especially since Flávia seems to like her back.

As the competition heats up, Nishat has a decision to make: stay in the closet for her family, or put aside her differences with Flávia and give their relationship a chance.

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The Pink Line: Journeys Across the World’s Queer Frontiers by Mark Gevisser (12th)

More than five years in the making, Mark Gevisser’s The Pink Line: The World’s Queer Frontiers is a globetrotting exploration of how the human rights frontier around sexual orientation and gender identity has come to divide—and describe—the world in an entirely new way over the first two decades of the twenty-first century. No social movement has brought change so quickly and with such dramatically mixed results. While same-sex marriage and gender transition is celebrated in some parts of the world, laws are being strengthened to criminalize homosexuality and gender nonconformity in others. A new Pink Line, Gevisser argues, has been drawn across the world, and he takes readers to its frontiers.

In between sharp analytical chapters about culture wars, folklore, gender ideology, and geopolitics, Gevisser provides sensitive and sometimes startling profiles of the queer folk he’s encountered on the Pink Line’s front lines across nine countries. They include a trans Malawian refugee granted asylum in South Africa and a gay Ugandan refugee stuck in Nairobi; a lesbian couple who started a gay café in Cairo after the Arab Spring, a trans woman fighting for custody of her child in Moscow, and a community of kothis—“women’s hearts in men’s bodies”who run a temple in an Indian fishing village.

Eye-opening, moving, and crafted with expert research, compelling narrative, and unprecedented scope, The Pink Line is a monumental—and vital—journey through the border posts of the world’s new LGBTQ+ frontiers.

Buy it: Amazon | B&NIndiebound

The Boy in the Red Dress by Kristin Lambert (12th)

New Year’s Eve, 1929. Millie is the emcee of the Cloak & Dagger, an LGTQ-friendly speakeasy deep in the heart of the French Quarter, full of bootleg booze, cabaret acts, and where the New Orleans elite comes out to play. Her best friend, Marion, is the star of the show–his diehard fans wouldn’t miss a performance from the boy in the red dress. And together they rule the underground scene.

Then a young socialite draped in furs starts asking questions, wielding a photograph of a boy who looks a lot like Marion. When the socialite’s body is found slumped in the back alley, all signs point to Marion as the murderer. Millie is determined to prove her best friend’s innocence, even if that means risking her own life. As she chases clues that lead to cemeteries and dead ends, Millie’s attention is divided between the wry and beautiful Olive, a waitress at the Cloak & Dagger, and Bennie, the charming bootlegger who’s offered to help her find the murderer. The clock is ticking for the fugitive Marion, but the truth of who the killer is might be closer than Millie thinks.

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Night Owls and Summer Skies by Rebecca Sullivan (12th)

Emma Lane’s forced to face her fears when her mother unceremoniously dumps her on the doorstep of Camp Mapplewood, abandoning her for the summer while she heads off on a cruise with her latest husband. It’s the last place Emma wants to be with no shortage of creepy creatures, keen campers, and mandatory activities that she fears will hinder managing her anxiety and depression. When Emma breaks into the tool shed on her first day there, the fall out from her escapades leads her right into the path of her counsellor Vivian Black, and nothing is ever the same.

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Starcrossed by Allie Therin (18th)

This is the second book in the Magic in Manhattan seriesNew York, 1925

Psychometric Rory Brodigan’s life hasn’t been the same since the day he met Arthur Kenzie. Arthur’s continued quest to contain supernatural relics that pose a threat to the world has captured Rory’s imagination—and his heart. But Arthur’s upper-class upbringing still leaves Rory worried that he’ll never measure up, especially when Arthur’s aristocratic ex arrives in New York.

For Arthur, there’s only Rory. But keeping the man he’s fallen for safe is another matter altogether. When a group of ruthless paranormals throws the city into chaos, the two men’s strained relationship leaves Rory vulnerable to a monster from Arthur’s past.

With dark forces determined to tear them apart, Rory and Arthur will have to draw on every last bit of magic up their sleeves. And in the end, it’s the connection they’ve formed without magic that will be tested like never before.

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This Coven Won’t Break by Isabel Sterling (19th)

Hannah Walsh just wants a normal life. It’s her senior year, so she should be focusing on classes, hanging out with her best friend, and flirting with her new girlfriend, Morgan. But it turns out surviving a murderous Witch Hunter doesn’t exactly qualify as a summer vacation, and now the rest of the Hunters seem more intent on destroying her magic than ever.

When Hannah learns the Hunters have gone nationwide, armed with a serum capable of taking out entire covens at once, she’s desperate to help. Now, with witches across the country losing the most important thing they have—their power—Hannah could be their best shot at finally defeating the Hunters. After all, she’s one of the only witches to escape a Hunter with her magic intact.

Or so everyone believes. Because as good as she is at faking it, doing even the smallest bit of magic leaves her in agony. The only person who can bring her comfort, who can make her power flourish, is Morgan. But Morgan’s magic is on the line, too, and if Hannah can’t figure out how to save her—and the rest of the Witches—she’ll lose everything she’s ever known. And as the Hunters get dangerously close to their final target, will all the Witches in Salem be enough to stop an enemy determined to destroy magic for good?

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Date Me, Bryson Keller! by Kevin Van Whye (19th)

Everyone knows about the dare: Each week, Bryson Keller must date someone new–the first person to ask him out on Monday morning. Few think Bryson can do it. He may be the king of Fairvale Academy, but he’s never really dated before.

Until a boy asks him out, and everything changes.

Kai Sheridan didn’t expect Bryson to say yes. So when Bryson agrees to secretly go out with him, Kai is thrown for a loop. But as the days go by, he discovers there’s more to Bryson beneath the surface, and dating him begins to feel less like an act and more like the real thing. Kai knows how the story of a gay boy liking someone straight ends. With his heart on the line, he’s awkwardly trying to navigate senior year at school, at home, and in the closet, all while grappling with the fact that this “relationship” will last only five days. After all, Bryson Keller is popular, good-looking, and straight…right?

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Fence: Rivals by C.S. Pacat (19th)

The team at King’s Row must face the school that defeated them in the fencing state championships last year, but first Nicholas and Seiji must learn to work together as a team…and maybe something more!

FOILED AGAIN?

Just as Nicholas, Seiji and the fencing team at the prodigious Kings Row private school seem to be coming together, a deadly rival from their past stands in their way once more. MacRobertson is the school that knocked Kings Row out of the State Championships last year – but unless Nicholas and Seiji can learn to work together as a team, their school is doomed once again! And maybe those two can learn to be something more than teammates too…

For the first time, best-selling novelist C.S. Pacat (Captive Prince) and popular online sensation Johanna The Mad present the next all-new thrilling chapter in the story of Nicholas Cox’s entry into the world of competitive fencing where scoring points is the name of the game—but finding out who you really are is the only way to truly win!

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Boys of Alabama by Genevieve Hudson (19th)


In this bewitching first novel, a sensitive teen, newly arrived in Alabama, falls in love, questions his faith, and navigates a strange power. While his German parents don’t know what to make of a South pining for the past, shy Max thrives in the thick heat. Taken in by rowdy football players, he learns how to catch a spiraling ball, point a gun, and hide his innermost secrets. When Max meets fishnet-wearing Pan in physics class, they embark on an all-consuming relationship: Max tells Pan about his supernatural powers, and Pan tells Max about the snake poison initiations of a local church. The boys, however, aren’t sure what is more frightening—embracing their true selves, or masking their true selves. Evoking Dorothy Allison, Lambda Award finalist Genevieve Hudson offers a nuanced portrait of masculinity, immigration, and the adolescent pressures that require total conformity—in short, a twenty-first-century South that would have been unimaginable to the late Harper Lee.

Buy it: Amazon | B&N | IndieBound

My Maddy by Gayle E. Pitman and Anne Passchier (25th)

My Maddy has hazel eyes which are not brown or green. And my Maddy likes sporks because they are not quite a spoon or a fork.

Some of the best things in the world are not one thing or the other. They are something in between and entirely their own.

Randall Ehrbar, PsyD, offers an insightful note with more information about parents who are members of gender minority communities, including transgender, gender non-binary, or otherwise gender diverse people.

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Trans and Autistic: Stories of Lives at the Intersection ed. by Noah Adams and Bridget Liang (26th)

The first book to foreground the voices and experiences of autistic trans people, this collection of interviews explores questions of identity and gender from a neurodiverse perspective and examines how this impacts family, work, healthcare and religion.

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Camp by L.C. Rosen (26th)

Sixteen-year-old Randy Kapplehoff loves spending the summer at Camp Outland, a camp for queer teens. It’s where he met his best friends. It’s where he takes to the stage in the big musical. And it’s where he fell for Hudson Aaronson-Lim – who’s only into straight-acting guys and barely knows not-at-all-straight-acting Randy even exists.

This year, though, it’s going to be different. Randy has reinvented himself as ‘Del’ – buff, masculine, and on the market. Even if it means giving up show tunes, nail polish, and his unicorn bedsheets, he’s determined to get Hudson to fall for him.

But as he and Hudson grow closer, Randy has to ask himself how much is he willing to change for love. And is it really love anyway, if Hudson doesn’t know who he truly is?

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

All My Mother’s Lovers by Ilana Masad (26th)

Intimacy has always eluded twenty-seven-year-old Maggie Krause—despite being brought up by married parents, models of domestic bliss—until, that is, Lucia came into her life. But when Maggie’s mom, Iris, dies in a car crash, Maggie returns home only to discover a withdrawn dad, an angry brother, and, along with Iris’s will, five sealed envelopes, each addressed to a mysterious man she’s never heard of.

In an effort to run from her own grief and discover the truth about Iris—who made no secret of her discomfort with her daughter’s sexuality—Maggie embarks on a road trip, determined to hand-deliver the letters and find out what these men meant to her mother. Maggie quickly discovers Iris’s second, hidden life, which shatters everything Maggie thought she knew about her parents’ perfect relationship. What is she supposed to tell her father and brother? And how can she deal with her own relationship when her whole world is in freefall?

Told over the course of a funeral and shiva, and written with enormous wit and warmth, All My Mother’s Lovers is the exciting debut novel from fiction writer and book critic Ilana Masad. A unique meditation on the universality and particularity of family ties and grief, and a tender and biting portrait of sex, gender, and identity, All My Mother’s Lovers challenges us to question the nature of fulfilling relationships.

Preorder: Amazon | B&N | IndieBound

Something to Talk About by Meryl Wilsner (26th)

Hollywood powerhouse Jo is photographed making her assistant Emma laugh on the red carpet, and just like that, the tabloids declare them a couple. The so-called scandal couldn’t come at a worse time—threatening Emma’s promotion and Jo’s new movie.

As the gossip spreads, it starts to affect all areas of their lives. Paparazzi are following them outside the office, coworkers are treating them differently, and a “source” is feeding information to the media. But their only comment is “no comment”.

With the launch of Jo’s film project fast approaching, the two women begin to spend even more time together, getting along famously. Emma seems to have a sixth sense for knowing what Jo needs. And Jo, known for being aloof and outwardly cold, opens up to Emma in a way neither of them expects. They begin to realize the rumor might not be so off base after all…but is acting on the spark between them worth fanning the gossip flames?

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

Fairest by Meredith Talusan (26th)

Fairest is a memoir about a precocious boy with albinism, a “sun child” from a rural Philippine village, who would grow up to become a woman in America. Coping with the strain of parental neglect and the elusive promise of U.S. citizenship, Talusan found childhood comfort from her devoted grandmother, a grounding force as she was treated by others with special preference or public curiosity. As an immigrant to the United States, Talusan came to be perceived as white. An academic scholarship to Harvard provided access to elite circles of privilege but required Talusan to navigate through the complex spheres of race, class, sexuality, and her place within the gay community. She emerged as an artist and an activist questioning the boundaries of gender. Talusan realized she did not want to be confined to a prescribed role as a man, and transitioned to become a woman, despite the risk of losing a man she deeply loved.

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

Out Now: Queer We Go Again! ed. by Saundra Mitchell (26th)

A follow-up to the critically acclaimed All Out anthology, Out Now features seventeen new short stories from amazing queer YA authors. Vampires crash prom, aliens run from the government, a president’s daughter comes into her own, a true romantic tries to soften the heart of a cynical social media influencer, a selkie and the sea call out to a lost soul. Teapots and barbershops, skateboards and VW vans, Street Fighter and Ares’s sword: Out Now has a story for every reader and surprises with each turn of the page!

Buy it: Amazon | B&N | IndieBound

Stay Gold by Tobly McSmith (26th)

Pony just wants to fly under the radar during senior year. Tired from all the attention he got at his old school after coming out as transgender, he’s looking for a fresh start at Hillcrest High. But it’s hard to live your best life when the threat of exposure lurks down every hallway and in every bathroom.

Georgia is beginning to think there’s more to life than cheerleading. She plans on keeping a low profile until graduation…which is why she promised herself that dating was officially a no-go this year.

Then, on the very first day of school, the new guy and the cheerleader lock eyes. How is Pony supposed to stay stealth when he wants to get close to a girl like Georgia? How is Georgia supposed to keep her promise when sparks start flying with a boy like Pony?

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The Ship We Built by Lexie Bean (26th)

Rowan has too many secrets to write down in the pages of a diary. And if he did, he wouldn’t want anyone he knows to discover them. He understands who he is and what he likes, but it’s not safe for others to know. Now, the kids at school say he’s too different to spend time with. He’s not the “right kind” of girl, and he’s not the “right kind” of boy. His mom ignores him. And at night, his dad hurts him in ways he’s not ready to talk about yet.

But Rowan discovers another way to share his secrets: letters. Letters he attaches to balloons and releases into the universe, hoping someone new will read them and understand. But when he befriends a classmate who knows what it’s like to be lonely and scared, even at home, Rowan realizes that there might already be a person he can trust right by his side.

Buy it: Amazon | B&N | IndieBound

The Girl Next Door by Chelsea M. Cameron (26th)

Iris Turner hightailed it out of Salty Cove, Maine, without so much as a backward glance. Which is why finding herself back in her hometown—in her childhood bedroom, no less—has the normally upbeat Iris feeling a bit down and out. Her spirits get a much-needed lift, though, at the sight of the sexy girl next door.

No one knows why Jude Wicks is back in Salty Cove, and that’s just how she likes it. Jude never imagined she’d be once again living in her parents’ house, never mind hauling lobster like a local. But the solitude is just what she needs—until Iris tempts her to open up.

A no-strings summer fling seems like the perfect distraction for both women. Jude rides a motorcycle, kisses hard and gives Iris the perfect distraction from her tangled mess of a life. But come September, Iris is still determined to get out of this zero-stoplight town.

That is, unless Jude can give her a reason to stay…

Buy it: Amazon | B&N 

Wonderland by Juno Dawson (28th)

Alice lives in a world of stifling privilege and luxury – but none of it means anything when your own head plays tricks on your reality. When her troubled friend Bunny goes missing, Alice becomes obsessed with finding her. On the trail of her last movements, Alice discovers a mysterious invitation to ‘Wonderland’: the party to end all parties – three days of hedonistic excess to which only the elite are welcome.

Will she find Bunny there? Or is this really a case of finding herself? Because Alice has secrets of her own, and ruthless socialite queen Paisley Hart is determined to uncover them, whatever it takes.

Alice is all alone, miles from home and without her essential medication. She can trust no-one, least of all herself, and now she has a new enemy who wants her head…

Buy it: The Book Depository

The Magnificent Sons by Justin Myers (28th)

Jake D’Arcy has spent most of his twenty-nine years trying to get his life just right. He’s nearly there: great girlfriend, great friends, stable job. A distant relationship with his boisterous family – which is exactly the way he wants it. So why does everything feel so wrong?

When his popular, irritatingly confident teenage brother Trick comes out as gay to a rapturous response, Jake realises he has questions about his own repressed bisexuality, and that he can’t wait any longer to find his answers.

As Trick begins to struggle with navigating the murky waters of adult relationships, Jake begins a journey that will destroy his relationship with girlfriend Amelia, challenge his closest friendships, and force him to face up to the distance between him and his family – but offers new friends, fewer inhibitions, and a glimpse of the magnificent life he never thought could be his.

Buy it: The Book Depository

Fave Five: New and Upcoming Witches in YA

For even more YA witches, click here. And yes, this post has seven 2019-20s, not just five. What can I say? We’ve been blessed.

The Lost Coast by A.R. Capetta

These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling (sequel coming in 2020)

Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker and Wendy Xu

Witches of Ash and Ruin by E. Latimer (Upcoming in 2020)

When We Were Magic by Sarah Gailey (Upcoming in 2020)

The Mermaid, The Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall (Upcoming in 2020)

The Scapegracers by H.A. Clarke (Upcoming in 2020)

Bonus: It doesn’t yet have a title, and it isn’t out until 2021, but it’s never too early to get Adrienne Tooley’s debut on your TBR! And though they’re yet not on Goodreads to add, The Contemporary Witches of Salem by Sol Santana and The Witches of Silverlake by Simon Curtis will be arriving then as well!

Double Bonus: You can also catch a sorceress in Reverie by Ryan La Sala, a wizard in I’m a Gay Wizard by V.S. Santoni, and a strega in The Storm of Life by Amy Rose Capetta, sequel to The Brilliant Death!

Fave Five: LGBTQ Witchy YAs

Witch Eyes by Scott Tracey

Hocus Pocus & the All-New Sequel by A.W. Jantha

Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova

Strange Grace by Tessa Gratton

The Brilliant Death by Amy Rose Capetta

Bonus: Many of the stories in the Toil & Trouble anthology edited by Jessica Spotswood and Tess Sharpe are queer! And for Middle Grade, try The Witch Boy by Molly Ostertag.

Double Bonus: Check out how many amazing ones are coming in 2019, including The Lost Coast by Amy Rose Capetta, The Mermaid, The Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall, and These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling. Yes, I’ll probably post these again next year.