Kenzie Kickstarts a Team by Kit Rosewater (MG)
Blood City Rollers by V.P. Anderson and Tatiana Hill (MG GN)
Mighty Millie Novak by Elizabeth Holden (YA)
Bruised by Tanya Boteju (YA)
Roller Girl by Vanessa North (F/F Romance)
Kenzie Kickstarts a Team by Kit Rosewater (MG)
Blood City Rollers by V.P. Anderson and Tatiana Hill (MG GN)
Mighty Millie Novak by Elizabeth Holden (YA)
Bruised by Tanya Boteju (YA)
Roller Girl by Vanessa North (F/F Romance)
Fake It by Lily Seabrooke (Contemporary)
Pack of Her Own by Elena Abbott (Paranormal)
Cinder Ella by ST Lynn (Fantasy)
The Weight of Living by M.A. Hinkle (Contemporary)
Roller Girl by Vanessa North (Contemporary)
Bonus: These are all Adult, but in YA, check out contemporary graphic novel Cheer Up! by Crystal Frazier, Val Wise, and Oscar O. Jupiter
Today on the site we welcome Vanessa North to share the cover of her upcoming gay romance (and first in over two years), The Reality of Us, which releases on August 10, 2021! Here’s the story:
The reality of Alden…
Arrogant. Aloof. Argumentative. Antagonistic. Angry. Alden Kaufman is many things, and none of them are nice. Trauma has left him deeply scarred and incapable of easy friendships. He doesn’t know how to let anyone past his walls, and he doesn’t think it’s worth the trouble.
The reality of Kit…
Everybody’s best friend, nobody’s boyfriend. In spite of a lifestyle that doesn’t invite attachments, Kit Taylor gets along with everyone he meets—except Alden. He can’t entice his prickly co-worker out of his shell, and has given up on trying.
The Reality of Us…
Two men at odds with themselves and each other embark on what should be a simple team-building exercise, but nothing goes as planned. Unexpected intimacy and a freak accident leave Kit and Alden dependent on each other long after they leave the mountain behind. Now they have a choice—to continue as they’ve been, or trust a shaky new reality together.
And here’s the oh-so-romantic cover, illustrated by Vic Gray/Bloodwrit!
Preorder: Books2Read | Amazon | Apple | B&N | Kobo
The man to whom Manuel was married for fifteen years was not the unassuming man he knew.
Álvaro’s trail leads Manuel deep into one of Spain’s most powerful and guarded families. Behind the walls of their forbidding estate, Manuel is nothing but an unwelcome and dangerous intruder. Then he finds two allies: a stubbornly suspicious police lieutenant and Álvaro’s old friend—and private confessor—from seminary school. Together they’re collecting the pieces of Álvaro’s past, his double life, and his mysterious death.
But in the shadows of nobility and privilege, Manuel is about to unravel a web of corruption and deception that could be as fatal a trap for him as it was for the man he loved.
Buy it: B&N * Amazon * IndieBound * Book Depository
Cover to be revealed on the site on September 5th!
June Bana might post nearly daily makeup looks that gain thousands of likes but Real Life June has built a wall behind which she exists with her two cats.
But with messy feelings getting in a way of an early hermit life, June begins to realize that she wants more. She wants model/actress, Sunshine Reincarnated Selena Clarke. It doesn’t hurt that Selena is amazing with cats and quiets down June’s anxiety to bearable levels.
June is given the choice of facing her anxieties about relationships to gain not only a girlfriend but also a better understanding of how far she’d go for love.
But would she take it? Would she leave her comfort zone for something softer?
Contemporary fluffy piece where one homebody and one extrovert make one hell of a love story.
Then Lea dies in a car accident, and her mother sends her away to live with her aunt in Hawaii while she deals with her own grief. Now thousands of miles from home, Rumi struggles to navigate the loss of her sister, being abandoned by her mother, and the absence of music in her life. With the help of the “boys next door”—a teenage surfer named Kai, who smiles too much and doesn’t take anything seriously, and an eighty-year-old named George Watanabe, who succumbed to his own grief years ago—Rumi attempts to find her way back to her music, to write the song she and Lea never had the chance to finish.
Buy it: Amazon * Book Depository * Barnes & Noble * Books-a-Million * IndieBound
The book is edited by three women in Nigeria. Azeenarh Mohammed is a trained lawyer and a queer, feminist, holistic security trainer. She is active in the Nigerian queer women’s movement and has written on queerness and technology for publications such as This is Africa and Premium TimesNG. Chitra Nagarajan is an activist, researcher and writer. She has spent the last 15 years working on human rights and peace building and is involved in feminist, anti-racist, anti-fundamentalist and queer movements. She currently lives and works in Maiduguri. Rafeeat Aliyu has a BA in Marketing and works in communication and research. She is particularly interested in sex and sexuality in both modern and historical Nigeria.
Buy it: Amazon * B&N * Book Depository * IndieBound
Only this year, the Slaughter Moon has risen early.
Bound by duty, secrets, and the love they share for one another, Mairwen, a spirited witch; Rhun, the expected saint; and Arthur, a restless outcast, will each have a role to play as the devil demands a body to fill the bargain. But the devil these friends find is not the one they expect, and the lies they uncover will turn their town—and their hearts—inside out.
Buy it: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound
Sunny, striking, and satisfied with her life in paradise, Theodosia Sullivan sees no need for marriage. She does, however, relish serving as matchmaker for everyone who crosses her path. As the manager of her family’s surf shop in Hanalei Bay, that includes locals and tourists alike.
One person she won’t be playing Cupid for is the equally happy bachelorette down the street. Baker Kini ʻŌpūnui has been the owner of Queen’s Sweet Shop since her parents passed away and her younger brother married Theo’s older sister and moved to Oahu. Kini’s ready smile, haupia shortbread, and lilikoi malasadas are staples of Hanalei’s main street.
However, Theo’s matchmaking machinations and social scheming soon become less charming—even hazardous—to everyone involved. And when she fails to heed Kini’s warnings about her meddling, she may be more successful than she ever intended. Theo has to face the prospect of Kini ending up with someone else, just as she realizes she’s loved Kini all along.
A modern retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma.
Rebecca Horvath isn’t used to asking twice—for anything. As the scion of one of Hollywood’s most powerful film dynasties, she’s waited on, pampered, fawned over—spoiled. So when she asks the cute front person of her favorite queer punk band to be her date to a charity auction, she isn’t expecting the whispered “no,” or for the singer to disappear without even thanking her for the martini.
For Natalie, two worlds colliding spells professional catastrophe–her on-stage antics definitely violate the club employees’ standards clause. For it to be Bex Horvath—a perennial gossip-pages feature—who discovers her secret is terrifying.
When the focus of a criminal investigation at work brings Nat’s double life to the attention of her employer, everything spins out of control. Bex is there to prove there’s more to this party girl than meets the eye. Nat might have to trust her with her secrets, but her heart? That’s off limits.
Buy it:
When computer programmer Adrian Doran meets Dominic, he’s drawn to the other man’s quiet voice and shy smile. But after a few dirty, demanding nights exploring Dominic’s need to be dominated, Adrian wants more than a casual distraction. He has no idea he’s fallen for Domino Grinder—the outlandish, larger-than-life rock god.
Dominic is reluctant to trust Adrian with his true identity. But when the truth is revealed prematurely, Dominic is forced to reevaluate both his need for Adrian and everything he believes about himself.
Buy it: Amazon / B&N / iBooks / Google Play
Brysen strives to be a great
falconer–while his twin sister, Kylee, rejects her ancient gifts for the sport and wishes to be free of falconry. She’s nearly made it out, too, but a war is rolling toward their home in the Six Villages, and no bird or falconer will be safe.
Together the twins must journey into the treacherous mountains to trap the Ghost Eagle, the greatest of the Uztari birds and a solitary killer. Brysen goes for the boy he loves and the glory he’s long craved, and Kylee to atone for her past and to protect her brother’s future. But both are hunted by those who seek one thing: power.
Jetta’s family is famed as the most talented troupe of shadow players in the land. With Jetta behind the scrim, their puppets seem to move without string or stick—a trade secret, they say. In truth, Jetta can see the souls of the recently departed and bind them to the puppets with her blood. But the old ways are forbidden ever since the colonial army conquered their country, so Jetta must never show, never tell. Her skill and fame are her family’s way to earn a spot aboard the royal ship to Aquitan, where shadow plays are the latest rage, and where rumor has it the Mad King has a spring that cures his ills. Because seeing spirits is not the only thing that plagues Jetta. But as rebellion seethes and as Jetta meets a young smuggler, she will face truths and decisions that she never imagined—and safety will never seem so far away.
Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit by Jaye Robin Brown (f/f YA)
How to Repair a Mechanical Heart by JC Lillis (m/m YA)
Her Name in the Sky by Kelly Quindlen (f/f YA)
Blueberry Boys by Vanessa North (m/m)
Covet Thy Neighbor by LA Witt (m/m)
Bonus: Coming up in September, Autoboyography by Christina Lauren is m/m YA romance with a Mormon LI
Match Point by R.L. Burgess (tennis)
Roller Girl by Vanessa North (roller derby)
Interference by Zoe Reed (hockey)
Crash Into You by Diana Morland (roller derby)
Break Point (Historical) and Lucky Loser (Contemporary) by Yolanda Wallace (tennis)
Bonus: Tumbling by Caela Carter has a lesbian POV (YA, Olympic gymnastics), although there is no romance, and the You Know Who Girls series by Annameekee Hesik (basketball) has f/f romance and a lesbian protag but is not a Romance by definition
Continuing on with the theme of helping you find solid LGBTQIAP+ lit on a budget, check out these ten books with trans MCs that are under five bucks:
Endless Forever by E.M. Lindsey ($0.99)
Eitan’s Chord by Shira Glassman ($0.99)
Portside by Elyan Smith ($0.99)
Long Macchiatos and Monsters by Alison Evans ($1.99)
A Matter of Disagreement by E.E. Ottoman ($2.99)
Defying Convention by Cecil Wilde ($2.99)
Roller Girl by Vanessa North ($3.99)
Coffee Boy by Austin Chant ($3.99)*
Bumbling into Body Hair: Tales of an Accident-Prone Transsexual by Everett Maroon ($4.00)
Documenting Light by E.E. Ottoman ($4.99)
The Queer and the Restless by Kris Ripper ($4.99)*
Finding Your Feet by Cass Lennox ($4.99)*
The Unintentional Time Traveler by Everett Maroon ($5.00)
Bonus (Trans LI): The City War by Sam Starbuck ($2.99)
Bonus (LGBT and Two-Spirit Anthology): Love Beyond, Body, Space, and Time ed. by Hope Nicholson ($5.00)
*Priced for preorder; links are to publisher’s site
If you shop for f/f Romance a decent amount, you’ve probably noticed that it tends to be waaaay pricier than m/m or m/f, so, in yet another round of helping you queer up your shelves (or your Kindle) on a budget, here are ten f/f Romances (NA and up; you can find YA here) that are all under five bucks (with thanks to Vanessa North for the help and the inspiration!):
The Belle vs. the BDOC by Amy Jo Cousins ($2.99)
Roller Girl by Vanessa North ($3.99)
The Final Rose by Eliza Lentzki ($3.99)
Out on Good Behavior by Dahlia Adler ($3.99)
The Gravity Between Us by Kristen Zimmer ($3.99)
Something True by Karelia Stetz-Waters ($3.99)
Treasure by Rebekah Weatherspoon ($4.99)
The Butch and the Beautiful by Kris Ripper ($4.99)
Such a Pretty Face by Gabrielle Goldsby ($4.99)
Top to Bottom by Delphine Dryden ($4.99)
I have to open this post with my utter shame that Roller Girl (releasing July 25, 2016) is my first Vanessa North novel, but it definitely won’t be my last. (Though that should confirm for you that despite being the third in a series, this book can totally be read on its own.) I just simply could not resist the lure of f/f centered around roller derby and featuring a trans protag. I mean, hi, I’m only human. Anyway, the book turned out to be super cute and also feature some quality dirty talk, which is approximately my favorite thing in Romance, and I’m dying to have more trans books follow in its fluffy footsteps. (And, PS, it also happens to have a starred review from Publishers Weekly.)
Instead, she calls a plumbing service, and Joanne “Joe Mama”
Delario comes to the rescue. Joe is sweet, funny, and good at fixing things. She also sees something special in Tina and invites her to try out for the roller derby team she coaches.
Derby offers Tina an outlet for her frustrations, a chance to excel, and the female friendships she’s never had before. And as Tina starts to thrive at derby, the tension between her and Joe cranks up. Despite their player/coach relationship, they give in to their mutual attraction. Sex in secret is hot, but Tina can’t help but want more.
With work still on the rocks and her relationship in the closet, Tina is forced to reevaluate her life. Can she be content with a secret lover? Or with being dependent on someone else again? It’s time for Tina to tackle her fears, both on and off the track.