Picture Books
The Rainbow Parade by Shane Jordan & Rick Hendrix (text) and Jieting Chen (illustration)
Continue reading New Releases: May 21, 2024
Continue reading New Releases: May 21, 2024
Happy Pi Day!
The Heartbreak BakeryĀ by A.R. Capetta (Speculative Agender/Transmasc YA Romance)
Magic, Lies, and Deadly PiesĀ by Misha Popp (Bi Cozy Mystery)
In the Case of HeartbreakĀ by Courtney Kae (M/M Romance)
The Dos and Donuts of LoveĀ by Adiba Jaigirdar (Contemporary F/F YA Romance)
Rosaline Palmer Takes the CakeĀ by Alexis Hall (Bi M/F Romance)

The last couple of years have been a dream for fans of queer cozy mystery like yours truly, and this lightly speculative series about a bisexual baker who feeds vengeance to men whoĀ deserve it is a personal fave for sure. The sequel just came out in February, so pick it up from the beginning withĀ Magic, Lies, and Deadly PiesĀ by Misha Popp (Crooked Lane Books) and fall in love with Daisy Ellery and her flaky crusts! By which I mean murderous tendencies. Obviously.
The first time Daisy Ellery killed a man with a pie, it was an accident. Now, itās her calling. Daisy bakes sweet vengeance into her pastries, which she and her dog Zoe deliver to the men whoāve done dirty deeds to the townās women. But if she canāt solve the one crime thatās not of her own baking, sheāll be out of the pie pan and into the oven.
Parking her Pies Before Guys mobile bakery van outside the local diner, Daisy is informed by Frank, the crusty diner owner, that someoneās been prowling around the vanāand not just to inhale the delectable aroma. Already on thin icing with Frank, she finds a letter on her door, threatening to reveal her unsavory secret sideline of pie a la murder.
Blackmail? But who whipped up this half-baked plot to cut a slice out of Daisyās business? Purple-haired campus do-gooder Melly? Noel, the tenderāif flakyāfarm boy? Or one of the abusive men who prefer their pie without a deadly scoop of payback?
The upcoming statewide pie contest could be Daisyās big chance to help wronged women everywhereā¦if she doesnāt meet a sticky end first. Because Daisy knows the blackmailer wonāt stop until her business is in crumbles.
Buy it:Ā BookshopĀ |Ā AmazonĀ |Ā IndieBound
If you asked seventeen-year-old Cass Williams to describe herself, sheād happily tell you sheās fat, queer, and obsessed with the Tide Wars books. What she wonāt tell youāor anyone in her lifeāis that sheās part of an online Tide Wars roleplay community. Sure, itās nerdy as hell, but when sheās behind the screen writing scenes as Captain Aresha, she doesnāt have to think about her mother who walked out or how unexpectedly stressful it is dating resident cool girl Taylor Cooper.
But secretly retreating to her online life is starting to catch up with Cass. For one, no one in her real life knows her secret roleplay addiction is the reason her grades have taken a big hit. Also? Cass has started catching feelings for Rowan Davies, her internet bestieā¦and Taylor might be catching on.
As Cassās lies continue to build, so does her anxiety. Roleplaying used to be the one place she could escape to, but this double life and offline-online love triangle have only made things worse. Cass must decide what to doābe honest and risk losing her safe space or keep it a secret and put everything else on the line.
Buy it:Ā BookshopĀ |Ā AmazonĀ |Ā IndieBound
This post contains titles published by HarperCollins. Please note that the HarperCollins Union has been on strike since 11/10/22 to get a fair contract for their workers, and this site very much supports that effort. Visit the HarperCollins Union linktree to learn how you can support their fight for a fair contract: linktr.ee/hcpunion.
In the summer of 1894, John Addington and Henry Ellis begin writing a book arguing that what they call āinversion,ā or homosexuality, is a natural, harmless variation of human sexuality. Though they have never met, John and Henry both live in London with their wives, Catherine and Edith, and in each marriage there is a third party: John has a lover, a working class man named Frank, and Edith spends almost as much time with her friend Angelica as she does with Henry. John and Catherine have three grown daughters and a long, settled marriage, over the course of which Catherine has tried to accept her husbandās sexuality and her own role in life; Henry and Edithās marriage is intended to be a revolution in itself, an intellectual partnership that dismantles the traditional understanding of what matrimony means.
Shortly before the book is to be published, Oscar Wilde is arrested. John and Henry must decide whether to go on, risking social ostracism and imprisonment, or to give up the project for their own safety and the safety of the people they love. Is this the right moment to advance their cause? Is publishing bravery or foolishness? And what price is too high to pay for a new way of living?
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
Continue reading Most Anticipated Adult Fiction: January-June 2023
Please note that this post only includes titles etc. not included in earlier Bi Visibility Day posts. (Exception made for books posted without a cover last year or whose pub dates significantly changed since last posting.) For even more bi goodness, make sure to check earlier Bi Visibility Day posts!Ā
Eighth-graders Evelyn and Allie are in trouble. Evelynās constant need for perfection has blown some fuses among her robotics teammates, and sheās worried nobodyās taking the upcoming competition seriously. Allie is new to school, and sheās had a history of short-circuiting on teachers and other kids.
So when Allie is assigned to the robotics team as a last resort, all Evelyn can see is just another wrench in the works! But as Allie confronts a past stricken with grief and learns to open up, the gears click into place as she discovers that Evelynās teammates have a lot to offerāif only Evelyn allowed them to participate in a role that plays to their strengths.
Can Evelyn learn to let go and listen to what Allie has to say? Or will their spot in the competition go up in smoke along with their schoolās robotics program and Allieās only chance at redemption?
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
Twenty one-year-old Max Monroe has it all: beauty, friends, and a glittering life filled with adventure. With tons of followers on Instagram, her picture-perfect existence seems eminently enviable.
Except itās all fake.
Max is actually 16-year-old Kat Sanchez, a quiet and sarcastic teenager living in drab Bakersfield, California. Nothing glamorous inĀ herĀ existenceājust sprawl, bad house parties, a crap school year, and the awkwardness of dealing with her best friend Hariās unrequited love. But while Katās life is far from perfect, she thrives as Max: doling out advice, sharing beautiful photos, networking with famous influencers, even making a real friend in a follower named Elena. The closer Elena and āMaxā getātexting, Snapping, and even callingāthe more Kat feels she has to keep up the faƧade.
But when one of Maxās posts goes ultra-viral and gets back to the very person sheās been stealing photos from, her entire world ā realĀ andĀ fake ā comes crashing down around her. She has to figure out a way to get herself out of the huge web of lies sheās created without hurting the people she loves.
But it might already be too late.
Buy it:Ā BookshopĀ |Ā AmazonĀ |Ā IndieBound
When Harleen Quinzel scores an internship in a psych lab at Gotham University, sheās more than ecstatic; sheāsĀ desperateĀ to make a Big Scientific Discovery that will land her a full-ride college scholarship and get her away from her abusive father.Ā But when Harleen witnesses the way women are treated across STEM departmentsāand experiences harassment herselfāshe decides that revenge and justice are more important than her own dreams.
Harleen finds her place in an intoxicating vigilante girl gang called the Reckoning, who creates chaos to inspire change. And when Harleen falls for another girl in the gang, it finally seems like sheās found her true passions. But what starts off as pranks and mischief quickly turns deadly as one of the gang members is found murderedāand a terrifying conspiracy is uncovered that puts the life Harleen has worked so hard for at stake. Will she choose her futureāor will she choose revenge?
Buy it:Ā BookshopĀ |Ā AmazonĀ |Ā IndieBound
Enrique āQuiqueā Luna has one goal this summerāget over his crush on Saleem Kanazi by pursuing his other romantic prospects. Never mind that heās only out to his best friend, Fabiola. Never mind that he has absolutely zero game. And definitely forget the fact that good and kind and, not to mention, beautiful Saleem is leaving LA for the summer to meet a girl his parents are trying to set him up with.
Luckily, Quiqueās prospects are each intriguing in their own ways. Thereās stoner-jock Tyler Montana, who might be just as interested in Fabiola as he is in Quique; straitlaced senior class president, Ziggy Jackson; and Manny Zuniga, who keeps looking at Quique like heās carne asada fresh off the grill. With all these choices, Quique is sure to forget about Saleem in no time.
But as the summer heats up and his deep-seated fears and anxieties boil over, Quique soon realizes that getting over one guy by getting under a bunch of others may not have been the best laid plan and living his truth can come at a high cost.
Buy it: Amazon | IndieBound
Fallon and Chloe used to be best friends. But last summer, the girls hooked up right before Chloe left for college, and after a series of misunderstandings, they arenāt even speaking to one another. Now, a year later, Chloeās back home from school, and Fallon is doing everything in her power to avoid her. Which is especially difficult because their moms own a business togetherāa gourmet ice cream truck where both girls work.
But when their moms have the opportunity to make a presentation to some venture capitalists in Texasāsomething that could seriously expand their business and solve all their money problems to bootāitās up to Fallon to work a series of food truck festivals across the country. But she canāt do it alone, and Chloe is the only one available to help. As tensions heat up again between the two girls, will Fallon be able to keep her cool?
Buy it:Ā AmazonĀ |Ā IndieBound
Growing up in Texasās Rio Grande Valley, Maggie Gonzalez has always been a little messy, but sheās okay with that. After all, she has a great family, a goofy group of friends, a rocky romantic history, and dreams of being a music photographer. Tasked with picking an escort for her little sisterās quinceaƱera, Maggie has to face the truth: that her feelings about her friendsāand her futureāarenāt as simple as sheād once believed.
As Maggieās search for the perfect escort continues, sheās forced to confront new (and old) feelings for three of her friends: Amanda, her best friend and first-ever crush; Matthew, her ex-boyfriend twice-over who refuses to stop flirting with her, and Dani, the new girl who has romantic baggage of her own. On top of this romantic disaster, she canāt stop thinking about the uncertainty of her own plans for the future and what that means for the people she loves.
As the weeks wind down and the boundaries between friendship and love become hazy, Maggie finds herself more and more confused with each photo. When her tried-and-true medium causes more chaos than calm, Maggie needs to figure out how to avoid certain disasterāor be brave enough to dive right into it.
Buy it:Ā AmazonĀ |Ā B&NĀ |Ā IndieBound
As an avid watcher of K-dramas, Hana knows all the tropes to avoid when she finally lands a starring role in a buzzy new drama. And she can totally handle her fake co-star boyfriend who might be falling in love with her. After all, she promised the producers a contract romance, and thatāsĀ allĀ theyāre going to get from her.
But when showrunners bring on a new girl to challenge Hanaās roleĀ as main love interestāand worse, itās someone Hana knows all too wellācan Ā Hana fight for her position on the show while falling for her on-screenĀ rival in real life?
Buy it:Ā BookshopĀ |Ā AmazonĀ |Ā Ā IndieBound
I Know What You Did Last SummerāÆmeetsāÆThe Haunting of Hill HouseāÆin this atmospheric, eerie teen thriller following an estranged group of friends being haunted by their friend who died last summer.Ā
Emily Joiner was once part of an inseparable groupāshe was a sister, a best friend, a lover, and a rival. Summers without Emily were unthinkable.āÆUntil the fire burned the lake house to ashes with her inside.
A year later, itās in Emilyās honor that Chelsea and her four friends decide to return. The house awaits them, meticulously rebuilt. Only, Chelsea is haunted by ghostly visions. Loner Ryan stirs up old hurts and forces golden boy Chase to play peacemaker. Which has perfect hostess Kennedy on edge as eerie events culminate in a stunning accusation: Emilyās death wasnāt an accident. And all the clues needed to find the person responsible are right here.
As old betrayals rise to the surface, Chelsea and her friends have one night to unravel a mystery spanning three summers before a killer among them exacts their revenge.Ā
Buy it:Ā BookshopĀ |Ā AmazonĀ |Ā IndieBound
Flight 133 disappeared over the ocean. No wreckage. No distress signal. Just gone.
Suddenly, everyone on the news and social media is talking about whether the pilot intentionally crashed itāeveryone but me. Because I know her. The pilot was my mom, and thereās no way she would hurt anyone. No one else knows that before she left, she wrote me a note. Trust me, it said.
Now it feels like someone split my worldāand meāin two, and the only person who believes me is Landon. I want to trust him, to let him see who I really am, but I canāt. I have my secrets, the same way Mom has hers. All I know is falling for him will only make things more complicated.
Just as I start to open up, the answer to what really happened to Flight 133 could rip my world apart all over againāfor good this time.
Buy it: Amazon | IndieBound
In a contemporary re-telling of Shakespeareās Hamlet, TRAGIC follows the 17 year-old Harper Hayes as she unravels the mystery and grief surrounding her fatherās death.
After her father Hamilton Hayes dies a mysterious and tragic death, Harper Hayes is convinced that he was murdered and her first suspect is her uncle Clayton, who has been sleeping with her mother, Greta. With the help of her ex-girlfriend Talia and her best friend (sometimes with benefits) Holden, Harper is determined to find her fatherās killer. But when Caius, Taliaās father and Hamiltonās business partner, is found dead, Harper realizes the answer to Hamiltonās murder is more complicated than she had initially realized. And when Harper starts seeing his ghost in the form of a teenage Hamlet everywhere and slipping into hallucinations of his murder that end with blood on her hands, one thing becomes clearāin order to uncover the truth about what happened to her father, Harper has to confront her own demons and ones that haunt the Hayes family.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
Holly Liddell has been stuck with crimped hair since 1987 when she agreed to let her boyfriend, Elton, turn her into a vampire. But when he ditches her at a gas station a few decades into their eternity together, she realizes that being young forever actually means working graveyard shifts at Taco Bell, sleeping in seedy motels, and being supernaturally compelled to follow your ex from town to townāat least until Holly meets Eltonās other exes.
It seems that Holly isnāt the only girl Elton seduced into this wretched existence. He turned Ida in 1921, then Rose in 1954, and he abandoned them both before Holly was even born. Now Rose and Ida want to kill him before he can trick another girl into eternal adolescence, and theyāll need Hollyās help to do it. And once Holly starts falling for Eltonās vulnerable new conquest, Parker, sheāll do anything to save her.
To kill Elton for good, Holly and her friends will have to dig up their pasts, rob a bank, and reconcile with the people theyāve hurt in their search for eternal love. And to win the girl, Holly will have to convince Parker that sheās more than just Eltonās crazy exāeven though she is trying to kill him.
Buy it:Ā BookshopĀ |Ā AmazonĀ |Ā IndieBound
Seventeen-year-old Carter Harper may have created an award-winning iPhone app and have a 3.93 GPA, but her successes are overshadowed by brutal bullying, debilitating depression, and biting loneliness. Tired of being treated as the popular girlsā plaything, Carter hatches a plan to gain their respect, and maybe even gain a bit of popularity of her own. When that doesnāt work, she thinks her only choice is to die by suicide.
Abby Wallace is a member of āthe POPSā (the Petty, Oppressive, and Popular Shitbags, according to Carter)āsubordinate only to Kelsey, her best friend with benefits. The ambitious poet destroys reputations without careāespecially Carterāsāto prove how cool, cruel, and strong she is, all while pushing down her past trauma and secret guilt. But she faces an unexpected adversary when Kelsey tries to make Carter her new pet project. Angry and betrayed, Abby pushes Carter to the edgeāfacing consequences she never could have imagined.
Carter and Abbyās tumultuous relationship comes to a boiling point when Abby stops Carter from attempting suicide. But what happens when their shared enemy tries to come for them both again, and they end up in the unfortunate position of trying to protect one another? If Carter and Abby can stand each other for more than three minutes, they can stop Kelseyās court of misrule from harming more girls.
Buy it:Ā BookshopĀ |Ā AmazonĀ |Ā IndieBound
(This is the UK edition. It will be published in the US on May 23, 2023 and can be preordered via Bookshop.)
Elsie has a crush on Ada, the only person in the world who truly understands her. Unfortunately, theyāve never met in real life and Ada lives an ocean away. But Elsie has decided itās now or never to tell Ada how she feels. That is, until her long-lost best friend Joan walks back into her life.
In a summer of repairing broken connections and building surprising new ones, Elsie realises that she isnāt nearly as alone as she thought. But now she has a choice to makeā¦
Buy it:Ā WaterstonesĀ | Book Depository
When her siblings start to go missing, a girl must confront the dark thing that lives in the forest ā and the growing darkness in herself ā in this debut YA contemporary fantasy for fans of Wilder Girls.
Derry and her eight siblings live in an isolated house by the lake, separated from the rest of the world by an eerie and menacing forest. Frank, the man who raised them after their families abandoned them, says itās for their own good. After all, the world isnāt safe for people with magic. And Derry feels safe ā most of the time.
Until the night her eldest sister disappears. Jane and Derry swore to each other that theyād never go into the forest, not after their last trip ended in blood, but Derry is sure she saw Jane walk into the trees. When another sibling goes missing and Frankās true colors start to show, feeling safe is no longer an option. Derry will risk anything to protect the family she has left. Even if that means returning to the forest that has started calling to Derry in her missing siblingsā voices.
As Derry spends more time amidst the trees, her magic grows more powerfulā¦and so does the darkness inside her, the viciousness she wants to pretend doesnāt exist. But saving her siblings from the forest and from Frank might mean embracing the darkness. And that just might be the most dangerous thing of all.
Buy it:Ā BookshopĀ |Ā IndieBoundĀ |Ā B&N
Itās 2011: America is in a deep recession and Occupy Wall Street is escalating. But at the elite Wrynn College of Art, students paint and sculpt in a rarified bubble. Louisa Arceneaux is a thoughtful, observant nineteen-year-old when she transfers to Wrynn as a scholarship student, but she soon finds herself adrift in an environment that prizes novelty over beauty. Complicating matters is Louisaās unexpected attraction to her charismatic roommate, Karina Piontek, the preternaturally gifted but mercurial daughter of wealthy art collectors. Gradually, Louisa and Karina are drawn into an intense sensual and artistic relationship, one that forces them to confront their deepest desires and fears. But Karina also canāt shake her fascination with Preston Utley, a senior and anti-capitalist Internet provocateur, who is publicly feuding with visiting professor and political painter Robert Bergerāa once-controversial figurehead seeking to regain relevance.
When Preston concocts an explosive hoax, the fates of all four artists are upended as each is unexpectedly thrust into the cutthroat New York art world. Now, all must struggle to find new identities in art, in society, and amongst each other. In the process, they must either find their most authentic terms of lifeāof success, failure, and joyāor risk losing themselves altogether.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
With her career as a Los Angeles event planner imploding after a tabloid blowup, Morgan Ross isnāt headed home for the holidays so much as in strategic retreat. Breathtaking mountain vistas, quirky townsfolk, and charming small businesses aside, her hometown of Fern Falls is built of one heartbreak on top of another . . .
Take her one-time best friend turned crush, Rachel Reed. The memory of their perfect, doomed first kiss is still fresh as new-fallen snow. Way fresher than the freezing mud Morgan ends up sprawled in on her very first day back, only to be hauled out via Rachelās sexy new lumberjane muscles acquired from running her family tree farm.
When Morgan discovers that the Reedsā struggling tree farm is the only thing standing between Fern Falls and corporate greed destroying the whole townās livelihood, she decides she can put heartbreak aside to save the farm by planning her best fundraiser yet. She has all the inspiration for a spectacular event: delicious vanilla lattes, acoustic guitars under majestic pines, a cozy barn surrounded by brilliant stars. But she and Rachel will ABSOLUTELY NOT have a heartwarming holiday happy ending. That would be as unprofessional as it is unlikely. Right?
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
No dating. Thatās longtime divorcĆ©e Gina Kerseyās rule, and sheās sticking to it. Comfortably settled in her hometown of Clover Hill, sheād rather play board games than risk getting played herself. For company, she has her beloved if slightly meddlesome Great Aunt⦠whoās somehow made Gina promise to break her rule. She has to ask someone out. On a date. Maybe she could skip town instead?
Outgoing video game translator Marek Haas flew across the country to pick up the sports car of his teenage dreamsāto celebrate getting over a breakup from the absolute worst boyfriend, not because heās having a midlife crisis at thirty-five. In his automotive fantasies, though, the car didnāt break down in the middle of small-town nowhere.
Marekās not a damsel in distress, but when Gina comes to his rescue on the side of the road, she canāt believe her luck. Heās handsome, charming, and most importantly, just passing through. Promise, meet loophole! When he turns out to be adorably nerdy as well, they skip drinks at the pub for a fun-filled night in Ginaās bed.
The problem? Marekās vintage car needs parts the garage doesnāt have, so heās stuck until theyāre found. Meaning every time Gina turns around, her hot one night stand is still in her town, being all cute and friendly and sometimes taking his shirt off. Even worse, he seems to be falling for Clover Hill⦠and Gina might be falling for him.
Can Gina overcome her fears and take a chance on a geeky sweetheart who makes her weak at the knees, or will their unforgettable one night stand end up as nothing more than a memory?
Buy it: Amazon
Feyi Adekola wants to learn how to be alive again.
Itās been five years since the accident that killed the love of her life and sheās almost a new person nowāan artist with her own studio, and sharing a brownstone apartment with her ride-or-die best friend, Joy, who insists itās time for Feyi to ease back into the dating scene. Feyi isnāt ready for anything serious, but a steamy encounter at a rooftop party cascades into a whirlwind summer she could have never imagined: a luxury trip to a tropical island, decadent meals in the glamorous home of a celebrity chef, and a major curator who wants to launch her art career.
Sheās even started dating the perfect guy, but their new relationship might be sabotaged before it has a chance by the dangerous thrill Feyi feels every time she locks eyes with the one person in the house who is most definitely off-limits. This new life she asked for just got a lot more complicated, and Feyi must begin her search for real answers. Who is she ready to become? Can she release her past and honor her grief while still embracing her future? And, of course, thereās the biggest question of allāhow far is she willing to go for a second chance at love? ā
Buy it:Ā BookshopĀ |Ā AmazonĀ |Ā IndieBound
Not too long ago, Cass was a promising young playwright in New York, hailed as āa fierce new voiceā and āqueer, feminist, and ready to spill the tea.ā But at the height of all this attention, Cass finds herself at the center of a searing public shaming, and flees to Los Angeles to escape ā and reinvent herself. There she meets her next-door neighbor Caroline, a magnetic filmmaker on the rise, as well as the pack of teenage girls who hang around her house. They are the subjects of Carolineās next semi-documentary movie, which follows the girlsā violent fight club, a real-life feminist re-purposing of the classic.
As Cass is drawn into the filmās orbit, she is awed by Carolineās ambition and confidence. But over time, she becomes increasingly troubled by how deeply Caroline is manipulating the teens in the name of art. When a girl goes missing, Cass must reckon with her own ambitions and ask herself: in the pursuit of fame, how do you know when youāve gone too far?
Buy it:Ā BookshopĀ |Ā AmazonĀ |Ā B&NĀ |Ā IndieBound
Thanks to her thriving art career, Miriam Blum finally has her decoupaged glitter ducks in a rowāuntil devastating news forces her to a very unwanted family reunion. Her beloved great-aunt Cass has passed and left Miriam part-owner of Carriganās, her (ironically) Jewish-run Christmas tree farm.
But Miriamās plans to sit shiva, avoid her parents, then put Carriganās in her rearview mirror are spoiled when she learns the business is at risk of going under. To have any chance at turning things around, sheāll need to work with the farmās grumpy managerāas long as the attraction sparking between them doesnāt set all their trees on fire first.
Noelle Northwood wants Miriam BlumĀ goneāeven if her ingenious ideas and sensitive soul keep showing Noelle thereās more to Cassās niece than meets the eye. But saving Carriganās requires trust, love, and risking it allāfor the chance to make their wildest dreams come true.
Buy it:Ā AmazonĀ |Ā IndieBound
When Cassie Klein goes to an off-campus bar to escape her schoolās Family Weekend, she isnāt looking for a hookupāit just happens. Buying a drink for a stranger turns into what should be an uncomplicated, amazing one-night stand. But then the next morning rolls around and her friend drags her along to meet her momāthe hot, older woman Cassie slept with.
Erin Bennett came to Family Weekend to get closer to her daughter, not have a one-night stand with a college senior. In her defense, she hadnāt known Cassie was a student when theyād met. To make things worse, Erinās daughter brings Cassie to breakfast the next morning. And despite Erinās better judgementāhow could sleeping with your daughterās friend be anything but bad?āshe and Cassie get along in the day just as well as they did last night.
What should have been a one-time fling quickly proves impossible to ignore, and soon Cassie and Erin are sneaking around. Worst of all, they start to realize they have something real. But is being honest about the love between them worth the cost?
Buy it:Ā BookshopĀ |Ā AmazonĀ |Ā IndieBound
For Astrid Parker, failure is unacceptable. Ever since she broke up with her fiancĆ© a year ago, sheās been focused on her careerāher friends might say sheās obsessed, but sheās just driven. When Pru Everwood asks her to be the designer for the Everwood Innās renovation that will be broadcasted on a popular home improvement show, Innside America, Astrid knows this is the answer to everything that is wrong with her life. Itāll be the perfect distraction from her failed love life, and her perpetually displeased mother might finally give her nod of approval.
However, Astrid never planned on Jordan Everwood, Pruās granddaughter and lead carpenter for the innās renovation, who despises every modern design decision Astrid makes. Jordan is determined to preserve the history of her familyās inn, particularly as the rest of her life is in shambles. When that determination turns into a little light sabotage, ruffling Astridās perfect little feathers, the showrunners ask them to play up the tension. But somewhere along the way, their dislike for each other turns into something quite different, and Astrid must decide what success truly means. Is she going to pursue the life that sheās expected to lead, or the one she wants?
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
Whatās more important? Knowing the truth or keeping the peace?
The summer of her senior year, seventeen-year-old Avery Anderson finds herself uprooted from her life in DC and moved into the hostile home of her terminally ill grandmother, Mama Letty. The tension between her mom and Mama Letty makes for an unwelcoming arrival and unearths some family drama they refuse to talk about. Everytime Avery tries to look deeper, they turn her away, leaving her desperate to learn the secrets that split her family in two.
Where Mama Letty is cantankerous and closed off, Avery finds friendship in some unexpected places: in Simone, her captivating next-door neighbor, and Jade Oliver, daughter of the townās most prominent familyā whose motherās murder remains unsolved.
But as the three girls grow closerāAvery and Simoneās friendship blossoming into something moreāthe sharp-edged opinions of their small southern town start to hint at something more insidious underneath. Turning to Mama Letty for answers only result in more questions, uncovering decades-old secrets that have been brewing for generations, exposing the towns racist history and threatening to topple the new life Averyās built in Bardell County, Georgia.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | B&N | IndieBound
Itās been two years since Maya dumped her cheating ex-boyfriend Jordy, and she still canāt escape him: his sister married the crown prince of a minor European country, and in the lead up to the wedding he captured hearts globally as the eligible younger brother. So, when Maya receives an invitation to be a contestant on Second Chance Romance, a new reality show in which the now-famous Jordy will re-date his ex-girlfriends in an effort to find āthe one that got away,ā she isnāt interestedā¦that is, until she realizes she can use this opportunity to exact her revenge. If she can make it to the finale, she can reject Jordy and publicly break his heart. As far as Mayaās concerned, itās payback with interest: just what a guy like Jordy deserves.
But when she gets to the set, sheās confronted with the one person she hasnāt accounted for: Skye, the beautiful, charismatic girl Jordy cheated on Maya with. How is she supposed to live with this girl for six weeks? Sharing bunkbeds, for crying out loud?
Except, of course, thereās more to Skye than she lets most people see. Skye has her own reasons for being careful with her heart, and might be more willing to take Mayaās side than it initially seems. If they can sustain their reluctant allianceāand keep their unexpected chemistry from interferingāthey might just have a chance to take Jordy down.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
Xavier Reynolds is doing less than stellar. He just got dumped, was passed over for a prestigious fellowship, and to top it all off he’s right back home in Harper’s Cove, Maine (population: 9,000). The last thing he wants to do is to work as a prep chef in the kitchen of the hip new restaurant in town, The Wharf. Especially since the hot, single-father chef who owns it canāt delegate to save his life.
Logan OāHare doesnāt understand Xavier or why every word out of his mouth is dipped in sarcasm. Unfortunately, he has no choice but to hire himāhe needs more help in the kitchen and his tween daughter, Anne, can only mince so many onions. It might be a recipe for disaster, but Logan doesnāt have many options besides Xavier.
Stuck between a stove and a hot place, Logan and Xavier discover an unexpected connection. But when the heat between them threatens to top the Scoville scale, theyāll have to decide if they can make their relationship work or if life has seasoned them too differently.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
When Nareh Bedrossianās non-Armenian boyfriend gets down on one knee and proposes to her in front of a room full of drunk San Francisco tech boys, she realizes itās time to find someone who shares her idea of romance.
Enter her mother: armed with plenty of mom-guilt and a spreadsheet of Facebook-stalked Armenian men, she convinces Nar to attend Explore Armenia, a month-long series of events in the city. But itās not the mom-approved playboy doctor or the wealthy engineer who catch Narās eyeāitās Erebuni, a woman as immersed in the witchy arts as she is in preserving Armenian identity. Suddenly, with Erebuni as her wingwoman, the events feel like far less of a chore, and much more of an adventure. Who knew cooking up kuftes together could be so . . . sexy?
Erebuni helps Nar see the beauty of their shared culture and makes her feel understood in a way she never has before. But thereās one teeny problem: Narās not exactly out as bisexual. The clock is ticking on her double lifeāthe Explore Armenia closing banquet is coming up, and her entire extended family will be there, along with Erebuni. Her worlds will inevitably collide, but Nar is determined to be brave and to claim her happiness: proudly Armenian, proudly bisexual, and proudly herself for the first time in her life.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
This is the second book in the Pies Before Guys mystery series.
Daisy bakes a little murder into every pie she creates, and she and her dog, Zoe, deliver them to the townās worst cads. Now, Daisyās entered a televised, elimination-style competition and has a shot at $100k in prize moneyābut she still has a murder pie to deliver between filming.
In a completely unexpected turn of events, she discovers that her intended victim is one of the competition judges, and he turns up dead before the pie even arrives. Now, Daisy has to solve the murderāeven if it means working a bit of magicābefore someone calls foul play and exposes her murderous secret.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
How do you face your fears when everything is terrifying?
Fifteen-year-old Brynn canāt stop thinking about death. Her intrusive thoughts and severe anxiety leave her feeling helplessāand hopeless. So after her mom interprets one of Brynnās blog posts as a suicide note, she takes extreme measures, confiscating Brynnās phone, blocking her Internet access, and banishing her to stay with her father, who lives āoff the gridā on a houseboat in the Florida mangroves. Isolated from her online friendsāher only friendsāBrynn resigns herself to a summer of mind-numbing boredom and loneliness . . . until Skylar appears.
Skylar is everything Brynn isnātāsultry, athletic, and confident. Yet Brynn feels at home around this fearless girl who pushes her to try new things and makes her belly flutter with nerves that have nothing to do with anxiety. When Brynn discovers that Skylar is trapped in the bayou and canāt tell her why, she resolves to free her new crush from the dark waters, even if it means confronting all of her worst fears.
Buy it: Amazon | IndieBound
A contemporary YA debut from award-winning playwright Gina Femia,Ā AlondraĀ is a coming-of-age story of friendship and romance, about a bisexual teen girl and her friends wrestling their way through the summer–sometimes on the playgrounds of Coney Island, sometimes with their feelings and at home.
Sixteen-year-old AlondaĀ lovesĀ professional wrestling. So when she meets a group of teens with aspirations of wrestling fame in her Coney Island neighborhood, she couldnāt be happier. So as the ragtag team works to put on a show to remember, Alonda sheds her old self behind and becomesĀ Alondraāthe Fearless One. But with her conflicting feelings for King, the handsome leader of their group, and Lexi, the girl with the beautiful smile, Alonda has to ask herself: can she be as fearless outside of the ring as she is inside it?
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
For aspiring cinematographer Luna Roth, coming out as bisexual at twenty-four is proving more difficult than she anticipated. Sure, her best friend and fellow queer Romy is thrilled for herābut she has no interest in coming out to her backwards parents, she wouldn’t know how to flirt with a girl if one fell at her feet, and she has no sexual history to build off. Not to mention she really needs to focus her energy on escaping her emotionally-abusive-but-thatās-Hollywood talent manager boss and actually get working under a real director of photography anyway.
When she meets twenty-eight-year-old A-list actress Valeria Sullivan around the office, Luna thinks sheās found her solution. She’ll use Valeria’s interest in her cinematography to get a PA job on the set of Valeria’s directorial debutāand if Valeria is as gay as Luna suspects, and she happens to be Luna’s route to losing her virginity, too . . . well, that’s just an added bonus. Enlisting Romyās help, Luna starts the juggling act of her lifeāimpress Valeriaās DP to get another job after this one, get as close to Valeria as possible, and help Romy with her own career moves.
But when Valeria begins to reciprocate romantic interest in Luna, the act begins to crumbleāstraining her relationship with Romy and leaving her job prospects precarious. Now Luna has to figure out if she can she fulfill her dreams as a filmmaker, keep her best friend, and get the girl. . . or if sheās destined to end up on the cutting room floor.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
Lydia Jones and her younger sister Penny have had it with boy drama. Last year was marred by relationship disasters for both of them, threatening Lydiaās standing with her schoolās theater tech club and Pennyās perfect GPA. Penny has, naturally, diagnosed the problem and prescribed a drastic solution: a summer off from boys.
Lydia and Penny decide to stay with their Aunt Grace and her boyfriend Oscar in Los Angeles while their parents are off on a European cruise. Penny follows her future-business-school dreams with an internship at Oscarās office, and Lydia gets a part-time job at Graceās neighborhood coffeeshop, Grounds Control.
Even when they spent hours, days, weeks dissecting their various boy drama, Lydiaās never felt this connected to her sister before, and it makes her wonder what else in her life could be different. She finds herself drawn to a group of friends she meets through her Grounds Control coworker, Margaret, as well as an intriguing customer, Fran, an aspiring filmmaker andāwhile not the first girl Lydia finds herself attracted toāthe first girl who has mutual feelings for her. But sheās not breaking her pledge to Penny, right? That was just about boys. Even though in her heart Lydia knows sheās bending the rules, she hasnāt had a connection with anyone as strong as her connection with Fran, so she thinks it canāt be wrong. And Penny wonāt mind as long as sheās happy . . . Right?
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
All I know about this book comes from Becky’s graphic here, but it is definitely bi!
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
I’m safe here.
That’s how Sadie feels, on a perfect summer day, wrapped in her girlfriend’s arms. School is out, and even though sheās been struggling to manage her chronic anxiety, Sadie is hopeful better times are ahead. Or at least, she thought she was safe. When her girlfriend reveals some unexpected news and the two witness a violent incident of police brutality unfold before them, Sadieās whole world is upended in an instant.
I’m not safe anywhere.
That’s how Sadie feels every day afterāvulnerable, uprooted. She retreats inside as the weeks slip by and relies on her phone to stay connected to the outside world. When Sadieās therapist gives her a diagnosis for her debilitating panicāagoraphobiaāshe starts on a path of acceptance and healing. Meanwhile, Sadie’s best friend, Evan, updates her on the protests taking place in their city. Sadie wants to be a part of it, to use her voice and affect change. But how do you show up for your community when you canāt even leave your house?
I can build a safe place inside myself.
Thatās what Sadie learns over the course of one life-changing summer, with some help from her family, her best friend, an online platform for activists, and a magnetic crush she develops for the new boy next door.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
On the worst day of her life, Madison is dumped by her girlfriend, then fired as said (ex)girlfriendās campaign manager… plus she accidentally rear-ends the student government advisorāthe one person whose good word might help her win a spot at a prestigious youth politics summer camp.
But Madison is nothing if not a girl with a plan, and she isnāt going to let a little thing like heartbreak (or a slightly dented bumper) get in her way. Soon, she has a new junior class president candidate to backāalthough the two of them might be getting a little too close on the campaign trail. Between navigating her growing crush and corralling a less than enthusiastic election team, Madison has had it with unexpected changes to her carefully laid plans. But when she and a group of queer classmates discover a pattern of harassment within the student government, Madison’s forced to shift gears once again.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
Thereās a little monster in all of us.
After her parentsā divorce, 16 year old Riley Grishin is forced to move from Portland, Oregon all the way to Little Brook, Maine, a small town that serves as the headquarters for Titan Technologies, an international tech laboratory. Having left her friends and father behind, Riley spends most of her days running through the woods with her dog Tigger, and eavesdropping on her classmatesāin particular, the gorgeous, but very strange, Aspen Montehugh.
On the night of the homecoming game, Riley wakes up to find her town on fire, terrorized by an unseen monster. With flames spreading rapidly, Riley and Tigger have no choice but to pile into her beat-up pickup truck and flee. Speeding out of town, they come across the only other survivor: Aspen.
When Riley and Aspen finally reach safety, they realize something far more sinister is afoot. According to the news, all other Titan Tech laboratories on the East Coast have been attacked. And even worse, theyāre being followed by an SUV with blacked out windows. With all air travel grounded, Riley has no way to fly back to her dad, so she and Aspen embark on a cross country road trip, all the while pursued by men with guns, mad scientists, and the monstrous truth. Slowly, Riley realizes somethingās not quite right with Aspen, which puts her feelings for herāand her own humanityāto the ultimate test.
Buy it:Ā AmazonĀ |Ā B&NĀ |Ā Book Depository
(No official copy yet, but per the deal announcement, it’s a YA fake-dating rom-com; you can read said announcement on the author’s website here.)
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
Ten years ago, the Scar Squad promised each other nothing would tear them apart. They stuck together through thick and thin, late-night surf sessions and after school spodies. Even when Casey Jones Caruso lost her twin brother Sammy to an overdose, and their foursome became a threesome, the squad picked each other up. But when Caseyās feeling for the remaining membersāFrancesca and Benjaminādevelop into romantic attraction, she worries the truth will dissolve them and vows to ignore her heart.
Then Ben kisses Casey at a summer party, and Frankie kisses another girl. Now Casey must confront all the complicated feelings sheās buriedāfor her friends and for her brother who sheās totally pissed at for dying. Since Sammyās death, Casey has spilled all the things she can no longer say to him in journals, and now more than ever, she wishes he were here to help her decide whether she should guard her heart or bet it on love, before someone else makes the decision for her.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
Savannah “Sav” Henry is almost the person she wants to be, or at least she’s getting closer. Itās the second semester of her sophomore year. Sheās finally come out as bisexual, is making friends with the other queers in her dorm, and has just about recovered from her disastrous first queer āsituationship.ā She is cautiously optimistic that her life is about to begin.
But when she learns that Izzie, her best friend from childhood, has gotten engaged, Sav faces a crisis of confidence. Things with Izzie havenāt been the same since what happened between Sav and Izzieās older brother when they were sixteen. Now, with the wedding around the corner, Sav is forced to reckon with trauma she thought she could put behind her.
On top of it all, Sav canāt stop thinking about Wes from her Gender Studies classāsweet, funny Wes, with their long eyelashes and green backpack. Thereās something different hereāwith Wes and with her new friends (who delight in teasing her about this face-burning crush); it feels, terrifyingly, like they might truly see her in a way no one has before.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
Natalya Fox has twenty-hours to make the biggest choice of her life: stay home in NYC for the summer with her dad (and finally screw up the courage to talk to the girl she’s been crushing on), or spend it with her basically estranged mom in LA (knowing this is the best chance she has to fix their relationship, if she even wants to.) (Does she want to?)
How’s a girl supposed to choose?
She can’t, and so both summers play out in alternating timelines – one in which Natalya explores the city, tries to repair things with her mom, works on figuring out her future, and goes for the girl she’s always wanted. And one in which Natalya explores the city, tries to repair things with her mom, works on figuring out her future, and goes for the guy she never saw coming.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
Itās a few months before senior year and Claire Kemp, a closeted bisexual, is finally starting to admit she might be falling in love with her best friend, Sophia, who sheās known since they were four.
Trying to pay off the fine from the crash that totals Lars, her beloved car, Claire takes a job at the local nursing home up the street from her house. There she meets Lena, an eighty-eight-year-old lesbian woman who tells her stories about what it was like growing up gay in the 1950s and ā60s.
As Claire spends more time with Lena and grows more confident of her identity, another girl, Pen, comes into the picture, and Claire is caught between two lovesāone familiar and well-worn, the other new and untested.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
Devil’s Chew Toy by Rob Osler
Dead in the Garden by Dahlia Donovan
Death Before DessertĀ by A.E. Radley
Magic, Lies, and Deadly Pies by Misha Popp
Renovated to Death by Frank Anthony Polito

Bonus: Coming August 9th,Ā A Killing in Costumes by Zac Bissonette
Double Bonus: These are all standalones or short series, but for a much more extensive collection, check out Ellen Hart’s Jane Lawless series
Please note that this post only includes titles etc. not included in earlier Bi Visibility Day posts. For even more bi goodness, make sure to check here, here, and here!
Laraās had eyes for exactly one person throughout her three years of high school: Chase Harding. Heās tall, strong, sweet, a football star, and frankly, stupid hot. Oh, and heās talking to her now. On purpose and everything. Maybeā¦flirting, even? No, wait, heās definitely flirting, which is pretty much the sum of everything Laraās wanted out of life.
Except sheās haunted by a memory. A memory of a confusing, romantic, strangely perfect summer spent with a girl named Jasmine. A memory that becomes a confusing, disorienting present when Jasmine herself walks through the front doors of the school to see Lara and Chase chatting it up in front of the lockers.
Lara has everything she ever wanted: a tight-knit group of friends, a job that borders on cool, and Chase, the boy of her literal dreams. But if sheās finally got the guy, why canāt she stop thinking about the girl?
Cool for the Summer is a story of self-discovery and new love. Itās about the things we want and the things we need. And itās about the people who will let us be who we are.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | B&N | IndieBound
Eva, Celeste, Gina, and Steph used to think their friendship was unbreakable. After all, theyāve been though a lot together, including the astronomical rise of Moonlight Overthrow, the world-famous queer pop band they formed in middle school, never expecting to headline anything bigger than the county fair.
But after a sudden falling out leads to the dissolution of the teensā band, their friendship, and Eva and Celesteās starry-eyed romance, nothing is the same. Gina and Celeste step further into the spotlight, Steph disappears completely, and Eva, heartbroken, takes refuge as a songwriter and secret online fangirlā¦of her own band. That is, until a storm devastates their hometown, bringing the four ex-best-friends back together. As they prepare for one last show, theyāll discover whether growing up always means growing apart.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
Ever since seventeen-year-old Josie Wright can remember, writing has been her identity, the thing that grounds her when everything else is a garbage fire. So when she wins a contest to write a celebrity profile for Deep Focus magazine, sheās equal parts excited and scared, but also ready. Sheās got this.
Soon Josie is jetting off on a multi-city tour, rubbing elbows with sparkly celebrities, frenetic handlers, stone-faced producers, and eccentric stylists. She even finds herself catching feelings for the subject of her profile, dazzling young newcomer Marius Canet. Josieās world is expanding so rapidly, she doesnāt know whether sheās flying or falling. But when a young actress lets her in on a terrible secret, the answer is clear: sheās in over her head.
One womanās account leads to another and another. Josie wants to expose the man responsible, but sheās reluctant to speak up, unsure if this is her story to tell. What if she lets down the women who have entrusted her with their stories? What if this ends her writing career before it even begins? There are so many reasons not to go ahead, but if Josie doesnāt step up, who will?
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
Morgan, an elite track athlete, is forced to transfer high schools late in her senior year after it turns out being queer is against her private Catholic schoolās code of conduct. There, she meets Ruby, who has two hobbies: tinkering with her baby blue 1970 Ford Torino and competing in local beauty pageants, the latter to live out the dreams of her overbearing mother. The two are drawn to each other and canāt deny their growing feelings. But while Morganāout and proud, and determined to have a fresh startādoesnāt want to have to keep their budding relationship a secret, Ruby isnāt ready to come out yet. With each girl on a different path toward living her truth, can they go the distance together?Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
Seventeen-year-old bisexual boy Asher remembers nothing from the night in 1968 that the police found him covered in his girlfriendās blood. He knows heād never hurt anyone, least of all her. But the only person who believes him is his twin sister. Heās sentenced to five years at the Dozier Reform School. And like Asherās memory, Dozier hides violent secrets of its own.
Juvenile boys serving time for everything from truancy to murder are hidden away in the sinister School for Boys. Those who manage to escape its bounds with broken bones and scars are the lucky ones. Asherās afraid he may end up like many of the other students buried beneath unmarked graves. Worse, his fellow inmates may become his next victims.
In hopes of recovering the events from the night of the murder, Asher visits the schoolās psychiatrist. But when the memories return, he finds many arenāt his own. Thoughts, feelings, and visions from another life, and another time, slip into his mind. And each new memory brings consequences. First days disappear, then weeks. As the weeks slip away, students follow. He starts seeing his murdered girlfriend Olivia in the woods around the school. One morning, after following her ghost into the forest the night before, he wakes up outside covered in blood with no memory, and fears heās killed someone else. On top of that, he learns that his sisterāwho had feared she was being stalked by a boy from their schoolāhas disappeared. Could Asher himself somehow be responsible?
As Asherās possible body count grows, he knows the answers he needs are trapped within his own mind, and in ghosts from the past. He needs to find out who he is and prove the murders arenāt connected to him or risk losing his sanity and freedom forever.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | B&N | IndieBound
A hilarious and vulnerable coming-of-age story about the thrilling new experiencesāāand misstepsāāof a girlās freshman year of college
Some students enter their freshman year of college knowing exactly what they want to do with their lives. Elliot McHugh is not one of those people. But picking a major is the last thing on Elliotās mind when sheās too busy experiencing all that college has to offerāfrom dancing all night at off-campus parties, to testing her RA Roseās patience, to making new friends, to having the best sex one can have on a twin-sized dorm room bed. But she may not be ready for the fallout when reality hits. When the sex sheās having isnāt that great. When finals creep up and smack her right in the face. Or when her roommateās boyfriend turns out to be the biggest a-hole. Elliot may make epic mistakes, but if sheās honest with herself (and with you, dear reader), she may just find the person she wants to be. And maybe even fall in love in the process . . . Well, maybe.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
The winter of 1997 is a tragedy waiting to happen. Small-town life isnāt easy for seventeen-year-old, bisexual and closeted Paulina, especially when her best friend Mia becomes pregnant and doesnāt want to tell the babyās father, Paulinaās other best friend, Tesla. Meanwhile, Paulinaās secret relationship with volleyball star Ani is about to go public. One fateful night, everything changes forever.
In the winter of 2014, Perdita, bi and proud in Chicago, is weeks away from turning seventeen. She loves her two moms, but why wonāt they talk about her adoption? When Perdita meets improv performer Fenton, she discovers both a kindred soul and a willing accomplice in her search for the truth. Will Perdita find what sheās looking for?
Two Winters is a contemporary YA retelling of Shakespeareās The Winterās Tale about birth, death, Catholic school, improv comedy and the healing nature of time.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | B&N | IndieBound
Thereās always been a hole in Gioās life. Not because heās into both guys and girls. Not because his father has some drinking issues. Not because his friends are always bringing him their drama. No, the hole in Gioās life takes the shape of his birth mom, who left Gio, his brother, and his father when Gio was nine years old. For eight years, he never heard a word from her ⦠and now, just as heās started to get his life together, sheās back.
Itās hard for Gio to know what to do. Can he forgive her like she wants to be forgiven? Or should he tell her she lost her chance to be in his life? Complicating things further, Gioās started to hang out with David, a new guy on the basketball team. Are they friends? More than friends? At first, Gioās not sure ⦠especially because heās not sure what he wants from anyone right now.
There are no easy answers to love ā whether itās family love or friend love or romantic love. In Things We Couldnāt Say, Jay Coles shows us a guy trying to navigate love in all its ambiguity ā hoping at the other end heāll be able to figure out who is and who he should be.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
For as long as she could remember, all Emry wanted was to be a great magician like her father, the magnificent Merlin. As a kid, she fought to be included in his magic lessons for her twin brother, Emmet, and easily outshone him with each spell she cast. But after her fatherās disappearance several years ago, Emry has been feeling a little lost. Fate soon appears in the form of a royal messenger, summoning Emmet to court to serve as Prince Arthurās right-hand wizard. With Emmett indisposed thanks to a bad spell, Emry has to disguise herself as a teen boy and pretend to be her brother at the castle until theyāre able to switch.
Training as a wizard is everything Emry hoped it would be, except working so closely with the unbearably hot Arthur is a growing danger. They soon share adventures and a connection that canāt be denied, but Emryās secret is a crime punishable by death. When royal scandals involving Lancelot, Guinevere, and Gawain threaten to reveal her truth, Emry must decide whether to stay and risk everything for a love borne out of deceit, or leave and never fulfill her potential to be Camelotās greatest magician.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
William Anson is done with relationships, thanks. Heās starting the second year of his medicine degree single, focused, and ready to mingle with purely platonic intentions.
Meeting Daniel, a barely recovered drug addict ready to start living life on his own terms, might just change that.
There are two problems.
One: William isnāt out.
Whatās the point in telling your friends youāre bisexual when you arenāt going to date anyone?
Two: Danielās abusive ex-boyfriend still roams the university campus, searching for cracks in Danielās recovery.
No matter how quickly William falls for Daniel, their friendship is too important to risk ruining over a crush.
William is fine with beingĀ just friendsĀ for the rest of forever.
Well, not quite.
Content warningĀ āĀ This book includes references to abortion, PTSD, drug addiction, abusive relationships, and self-harm.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | B&N | IndieBound
Owen Turner is a boy of too many words. For years, they all stayed inside his head and he barely spokeāuntil he met Lily. Lily, the girl who gave him his voice, helped him come out as bi, and settle into his ASD diagnosis. But everything unravels when someone reports Owenās biggest secret to the school: that he was sexually assaulted at a class event.
As officials begin interviewing students to get to the bottom of things, rumors about an assault flood the school hallways. No one knows it happened to Owen, and heās afraid of what will happen if his name gets out. Heās afraid that his classmates will call him a word he canāt standāāvictim.ā Heās afraid his father, a tough-as-nails military vet, will resort to extreme methods to hunt down the name of who did it. And heās afraid that when Lily finds out, sheāll take their relationship to a dark, dangerous place to keep Owen quiet. Then, one day, Owenās fears all come true. And it will take everything heās got to escape the explosion intact.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
Hi, my nameās Annie Clark, and Iāve managed to flip my quiet, nerdy, single life completely upside down.
First, I recently figured out that Iām bisexual.
Second, Eve Frederick, star softball player and my ultimate crush, asked me out on a date.
Third, she rocked my world, and now I canāt stop thinking I want more⦠even though Eve is not into relationships.
And to top it all off, someone took a private video of us and is threatening to make it public.
Itās enough to make me want to go back to hiding out in my dorm roomābut only if I can take Eve with me.
As darkness closes in on the city of shattered light, an heiress and an outlaw must decide whether to fend for themselves or fight for each other.
As heiress to a powerful tech empire, seventeen-year-old Asa Almeida strives to prove she’s more than her manipulative father’s shadow. But when he uploads her rebellious sisterās mind to an experimental brain, Asa will do anything to save her sister from reprogrammingāincluding fleeing her predetermined future with her sisterās digitized mind in tow. With a bounty on her head and a rogue A.I. hunting her, Asaās getaway ship crash-lands in the worst possible place: the neon-drenched outlaw paradise, Requiem.
Gun-slinging smuggler Riven Hawthorne is determined to claw her way up Requiemās underworld hierarchy. A runaway rich girl is exactly the bounty Riven needsāuntil a nasty computer virus spreads in Asaās wake, causing a citywide blackout and tech quarantine. To get the payout for Asa and save Requiem from the monster in its circuits, Riven must team up with her captive.
Riven breaks skulls the way Asa breaks circuits, but their opponent is unlike anything theyāve ever seen. The A.I. exploits the girlsā darkest memories and deepest secrets, threatening to shatter the fragile alliance theyāre both depending on. As one of Requiemās 154-hour nights grows darker, the girls must decide whether to fend for themselves or fight for each other before Rivenās city and Asaās sister are snuffed out forever.
Buy it: Amazon
Eighteen-year-olds Ruben Montez and Zach Knight are two members of the boy-band Saturday, one of the biggest acts in America. Along with their bandmates, Angel Phan and Jon Braxton, the four are teen heartbreakers in front of the cameras and best friends backstage. But privately, cracks are starting to form: their once-easy rapport is straining under the pressures of fame, and Ruben confides in Zach that heās feeling smothered by managementās pressure to stay in the closet.
On a whirlwind tour through Europe, with both an unrelenting schedule and minimal supervision, Ruben and Zach come to rely on each other more and more, and their already close friendship evolves into a romance. But when they decide theyāre ready to tell their fans and live freely, Zach and Ruben start to truly realize that they will never have the support of their management. How can they hold tight to each other when the whole world seems to want to come between them?
Buy it:Ā Amazon
Sam Dickson is a charismatic actress, ambitious and popular with big plans for her future. Ros Shew is one of the smartest people in school–but she’s a loner, and prefers to keep it that way. Then there’s Christian Powell, the darling of the high school soccer team. He’s not the best with communication, which is why he and Sam broke up after dating for six months; but he makes up for it by being genuine, effusive, and kind, which is why they’re still best friends.
When Christian falls for Ros on first sight, their first interaction is a disaster, so he enlists Sam’s help to get through to her. Sam, with motives of her own, agrees to coach Christian from the sidelines on how to soften Ros’s notorious walls. But as Ros starts to suspect Christian is acting differently, and Sam starts to realize the complexity of her own feelings, their fragile relationships threaten to fall apart.
Buy it: Amazon | IndieBound
Twenty one-year-old Max Monroe has it all: beauty, friends, and a glittering life filled with adventure. With tons of followers on Instagram, her picture-perfect existence seems eminently enviable.
Except itās all fake.
Max is actually 16-year-old Kat Sanchez, a quiet and sarcastic teenager living in drab Bakersfield, California. Nothing glamorous in her existenceājust sprawl, bad house parties, a crap school year, and the awkwardness of dealing with her best friend Hariās unrequited love. But while Katās life is far from perfect, she thrives as Max: doling out advice, sharing beautiful photos, networking with famous influencers, even making a real friend in a follower named Elena. The closer Elena and āMaxā getātexting, Snapping, and even callingāthe more Kat feels she has to keep up the faļæ½ade.
But when one of Maxās posts goes ultra-viral and gets back to the very person sheās been stealing photos from, her entire world ā real and fake ā comes crashing down around her. She has to figure out a way to get herself out of the huge web of lies sheās created without hurting the people she loves.
But it might already be too late.
Buy it: Amazon | IndieBound
Enrique āQuiqueā Luna has one goal this summerāget over his crush on Saleem Kanazi by pursuing his other romantic prospects. Never mind that heās only out to his best friend, Fabiola. Never mind that he has absolutely zero game. And definitely forget the fact that good and kind and, not to mention, beautiful Saleem is leaving LA for the summer to meet a girl his parents are trying to set him up with.
Luckily, Quiqueās prospects are each intriguing in their own ways. Thereās stoner-jock Tyler Montana, who might be just as interested in Fabiola as he is in Quique; straitlaced senior class president, Ziggy Jackson; and Manny Zuniga, who keeps looking at Quique like heās carne asada fresh off the grill. With all these choices, Quique is sure to forget about Saleem in no time.
But as the summer heats up and his deep-seated fears and anxieties boil over, Quique soon realizes that getting over one guy by getting under a bunch of others may not have been the best laid plan and living his truth can come at a high cost.
Buy it: Amazon | IndieBound
Fallon and Chloe used to be best friends. But last summer, the girls hooked up right before Chloe left for college, and after a series of misunderstandings, they arenāt even speaking to one another. Now, a year later, Chloeās back home from school, and Fallon is doing everything in her power to avoid her. Which is especially difficult because their moms own a business togetherāa gourmet ice cream truck where both girls work.
But when their moms have the opportunity to make a presentation to some venture capitalists in Texasāsomething that could seriously expand their business and solve all their money problems to bootāitās up to Fallon to work a series of food truck festivals across the country. But she canāt do it alone, and Chloe is the only one available to help. As tensions heat up again between the two girls, will Fallon be able to keep her cool?
Buy it:Ā Amazon | IndieBound
Growing up in Texasās Rio Grande Valley, Maggie Gonzalez has always been a little messy, but sheās okay with that. After all, she has a great family, a goofy group of friends, a rocky romantic history, and dreams of being a music photographer. Tasked with picking an escort for her little sisterās quinceaƱera, Maggie has to face the truth: that her feelings about her friendsāand her futureāarenāt as simple as sheād once believed.
As Maggieās search for the perfect escort continues, sheās forced to confront new (and old) feelings for three of her friends: Amanda, her best friend and first-ever crush; Matthew, her ex-boyfriend twice-over who refuses to stop flirting with her, and Dani, the new girl who has romantic baggage of her own. On top of this romantic disaster, she canāt stop thinking about the uncertainty of her own plans for the future and what that means for the people she loves.
As the weeks wind down and the boundaries between friendship and love become hazy, Maggie finds herself more and more confused with each photo. When her tried-and-true medium causes more chaos than calm, Maggie needs to figure out how to avoid certain disasterāor be brave enough to dive right into it.
Buy it: Amazon | B&N | IndieBound
Naomi Grant has built her life around going against the grain. After the sex-positive start-up she cofounded becomes an international sensation, she wants to extend her educational platform to live lecturing. Unfortunately, despite her long list of qualifications, higher ed wonāt hire her.
Ethan Cohen has recently received two honors: LA Mag named him one of the cityās hottest bachelors and he became rabbi of his own synagogue. Taking a gamble in an effort to attract more millennials to the faith, the executive board hired Ethan because of his nontraditional background. Unfortunately, his shul is low on both funds and congregants. The board gives him three months to turn things around or else theyāll close the doors of his synagogue for good.
Naomi and Ethan join forces to host a buzzy seminar series on Modern Intimacy, the perfect solution to their problemsāuntil they discover a new oneātheir growing attraction to each other. Theyāve built the syllabus for loveās latest experiment, but neither of them expected theyād be the ones putting it to the test.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
Following the recipe is the key to a successful bake. Rosaline Palmer has always lived by those rulesāwell, except for when she dropped out of college to raise her daughter, Amelie. Now, with a paycheck as useful as greaseproof paper and a house crumbling faster than biscuits in tea, sheās teetering on the edge of financial disaster. But where thereās a whisk thereās a way . . . and Rosaline has just landed a spot on the nationās most beloved baking show.
Winning the prize money would give her daughter the life she deservesāand Rosaline is determined to stick to the instructions. However, more than collapsing trifles stand between Rosaline and sweet, sweet victory.Ā Suave, well-educated, and parent-approved Alain Pope knows all the right moves to sweep her off her feet, but itās shy electrician Harry Dobson who makes Rosaline question her long-held beliefsāabout herself, her family, and her desires.
Rosaline fears falling for Harry is a guaranteed recipe for disaster. Yet as the competitionāand the ovensāheat up, Rosaline starts to realize the most delicious bakes come from the heart.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | B&N | IndieBound
Cynical twenty-three-year old August doesnāt believe in much. She doesnāt believe in psychics, or easily forged friendships, or finding the kind of love they make movies about. And she certainly doesnāt believe her ragtag band of new roommates, her night shifts at a 24-hour pancake diner, or her daily subway commute full of electrical outages are going to change that.
But then, thereās Jane. Beautiful, impossible Jane.
All hard edges with a soft smile and swoopy hair and saving Augustās day when she needed it most. The person August looks forward to seeing on the train every day. The one who makes her forget about the cities she lived in that never seemed to fit, and her fear of what happens when she finally graduates, and even her cold-case obsessed mother who wonāt quite let her go. And when August realizes her subway crush is impossible in more ways than oneānamely, displaced in time from the 1970sāshe thinks maybe itās time to start believing.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
Danica Waterhouse is a fully modern witchādaughter, granddaughter, cousin, and co-owner of the Fix-It Witches, a magical tech repair shop. After a messy breakup that included way too much family āfeedback,ā Danica made a pact with her cousin: theyāll keep their hearts protected and have fun, without involving any of the overly opinionated Waterhouse matriarchs. Danica is more than a little exhausted navigating a long-standing family feud where Gram thinks the only good mundane is a dead one and Danicaās mother weaves floral crowns for anyone who crosses her path.
Three blocks down from the Fix-It Witches, Titus Winnaker, owner of Sugar Daddyās bakery, has family trouble of his own. After a tragic loss, all heās got left is his sister, the bakery, and a lifetime of terrible luck in love. Sure, business is sweet, but he canāt seem to shake the romantic curse thatās left him past thirty and still a virgin. Heās decided heās doomed to be forever alone.
Until he meets Danica Waterhouse. The sparks are instant, their attraction irresistible. For him, sheās the one. To her, heās a firebomb thrown in the middle of a family war. Can a modern witch find love with an old-fashioned mundane who refuses to settle for anything less than forever?
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
Graphic designer Michelle Amato, after burning out in her corporate marketing career, has now built a thriving freelance business.Ā So what if her love life is nonexistent? Sheās perfectly fine being the black sheep of her marriage-obsessed Puerto Rican-Italian family. Besides, the only guy who ever made her want happily-ever-after disappeared thirteen years ago.
Gabriel Aguilar left the Bronx at eighteen to escape his parentsā demanding expectations, but it also meant saying goodbye to Michelle, his best friend and longtime crush. Now, heās the successful co-owner of LAās hottest celebrity gym, with an investor who insists on opening a New York City location. Itās the last place Gabe wants to go, but when Michelle is unexpectedly brought on board to spearhead the new marketing campaign, everything Gabeās been running from catches up with him.
Michelle is torn between holding Gabe at armās length or picking up right where they left offāin her bed. As they work on the campaign, old feelings resurface, and their reunion takes a sexy turn. Facing mounting pressure from their familiesāwho think theyāre datingāand growing uncertainty about their futures, can they resolve their past mistakes, or is it only a matter of time before Gabe says adiós again?
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
Margot Cooper doesnāt do relationships. She tried and it blew up in her face, so sheāll stick with casual hookups, thank you very much. But now her entire crew has foundĀ “the one” and sheās beginning to feel like a fifth wheel. And then fate (the heartless bitch) intervenes. While touring a wedding venue with her engaged friends, Margot comes face-to-face with Olivia Grantāher childhood friend, her first love, her first⦠well, everything. Itās been ten years, but the moment they lock eyes, Margotās cold, dead heart thumps in her chest.
Olivia must be hallucinating. In the decade since she last saw Margot, her life hasnāt gone exactly as planned. At almost thirty, sheās been married… and divorced. However, a wedding planner job in Seattle means a fresh start and a chance to follow her dreams. Never in a million years did she expect her important new clientās Best Woman would be the one that got away.
When a series of unfortunate events leaves Olivia without a place to stay, Margot offers up her spare room because sheās a Very Good Person. Obviously. It has nothing to do with the fact that Olivia is as beautiful as ever and the sparks between them still make Margot tingle. As they spend time in close quarters, Margot starts to question her no-strings stance. Olivia is everything sheās ever wanted, but Margot let her in once and it ended in disaster. Will history repeat itself or should she count her lucky stars that she gets a second chance with her first love?
Buy it: Amazon
Delilah Green swore she would never go back to Bright Fallsānothing is there for her but memories of a lonely childhood where she was little more than a burden to her cold and distant stepfamily. Her life is in New York, with her photography career finally gaining steam and her bed never empty. Sure, itās a different woman every night, but thatās just fine with her.
When Delilahās estranged stepsister, Astrid, pressures her into photographing her wedding with a guilt trip and a five-figure check, Delilah finds herself back in the godforsaken town that she used to call home. She plans to breeze in and out, but then she sees Claire Sutherland, one of Astridās stuck-up besties, and decides that maybe thereās some fun (and a little retribution) to be had in Bright Falls, after all.
Having raised her eleven-year-old daughter mostly on her own while dealing with her unreliable ex and running a bookstore, Claire Sutherland depends upon a life without surprises. And Delilah Green is an unwelcome surpriseā¦at first. Though theyāve known each other for years, they donāt reallyĀ knowĀ each otherāso Claire is unsettled when Delilah figures out exactly what buttons to push. When theyāre forced together during a gauntlet of wedding preparationsāincluding a plot to save Astrid from her horrible fiancĆ©āClaire isnāt sure she has the strength to resist Delilahās charms. Even worse, sheās starting to think she doesnāt want toā¦
Buy it: Amazon | B&N | Hudson Booksellers | Parnassus Books | IndieBound
The first time Daisy Ellery killed a man with a pie, it was an accident. Now, itās her calling. Daisy bakes sweet vengeance into her pastries, which she and her dog Zoe deliver to the men whoāve done dirty deeds to the townās women. But if she canāt solve the one crime thatās not of her own baking, sheāll be out of the pie pan and into the oven.
Parking her Pies Before Guys mobile bakery van outside the local diner, Daisy is informed by Frank, the crusty diner owner, that someoneās been prowling around the vanāand not just to inhale the delectable aroma. Already on thin icing with Frank, she finds a letter on her door, threatening to reveal her unsavory secret sideline of pie a la murder.
Blackmail? But who whipped up this half-baked plot to cut a slice out of Daisyās business? Purple-haired campus do-gooder Melly? Noel, the tenderāif flakyāfarm boy? Or one of the abusive men who prefer their pie without a deadly scoop of payback?
The upcoming statewide pie contest could be Daisyās big chance to help wronged women everywhereā¦if she doesnāt meet a sticky end first. Because Daisy knows the blackmailer wonāt stop until her business is in crumbles.
Buy it: Amazon
If Jen Winston knows one thing for sure, itās that sheās bisexual. Or waitāmaybe she isnāt? Actually, she definitely is. Unlessā¦sheās not?
Jenās provocative, laugh-out-loud debut takes us inside her journey of self-discovery, leading us through stories of a childhood āgirl crush,ā an onerous quest to have a threesome, and an enduring fear of being bad at sex. Greedy follows Jenās attempts to make sense of herself as she explores the role of the male gaze, what it means to be āqueer enough,ā and how to overcome bi stereotypes when youāre the posterchild for all of them: greedy, slutty, and constantly confused.
With her clever voice and clear-eyed insight, Jen draws on personal experiences with sexism and biphobia to understand how we all can and must do better. She sheds light on the reasons women, queer people, and other marginalized groups tend to make ourselves smaller, provoking the question: What would happen if we suddenly stopped?āā
Greedy shows us that being bisexual is about so much more than who youāre sleeping withāitās about finding stability in a state of flux and defining yourself on your own terms. This book inspires us to rethink the world as we know it, reminding us that Greedy was a superpower all along.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound
Dark tourismāvisiting sites of war, violence, and other traumas experienced by othersātakes different forms in Hasanthika Sirisenaās stunning excavation of the unexpected places (and ways) in which personal identity and the riptides of history meet. The 1961 plane crash that left a nuclear warhead buried near her North Carolina hometown, juxtaposed with reflections on her fatherās stroke. A visit to Jaffna in Sri Lankaāthe country of her birth, yet where she is unmistakably a foreignerāto view sites from the recent civil war, already layered over with the narratives of the victors. A fraught memory of her time as a young art student in Chicago that is uneasily foundational to her bisexual, queer identity today. The ways that life-changing impairments following a severe eye injury have shaped her thinking about disability and self-worth.
Deftly blending reportage, cultural criticism, and memoir, Sirisena pieces together facets of her own sometimes-fractured self to find wider resonances with the human universals of love, sex, family, and artāand with languageās ability to both fail and save us.Ā Dark TouristĀ becomes then about finding a home, if not in the world, at least within the limitless expanse of the page.
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound