The month of love (and, more importantly, pancakes) is full of new books by queer authors, so bid a hopeful goodbye to winter with these amazing new titles coming out this February!
First of all, though, we want to shout out Katherine Blakeman's Sapphic Fiction February, where you can find new interviews with some of your favourite sapphic authors on The Summer We've Had author Katherine's blog throughout the month.
Without further ado, let's find some new books for the TBR list!
Kicking off February on the 1st is Morgan Spellman's sapphic paranormal mystery, Roses Are Red, Violet is Dead.
Romance isn’t dead—but someone is. And her spirit isn’t moving on easily.
When a series of hauntings threatens to turn romantic evenings into full-on nightmares at a charming Connecticut Bed and Breakfast, the manager turns to their cousin, Abby, for help. Eager to grow her budding paranormal investigation agency, Abby takes on the seemingly straightforward assignment: vanquish the ghost of Violet Lovelace, a young waitress who died in a 1975 fire. Abby is confident she can wrap up the hauntings in 24 hours, leaving plenty of time for her romantic plans with her girlfriend. What could go wrong?
As Abby and her bookish best friend, Lucas, investigate increasingly peculiar hauntings, they discover Violet isn’t the only oddity roaming the halls. An eccentric old man and a cynical young woman have stuck around well beyond their lifetimes, and the current staff are hiding secrets of their own. Spooky messages are appearing on mirrors and walls—including a chilling accusation of murder.
With someone threatening to repeat past tragedy, Abby and Lucas must discover who is behind the sinister messages and stop the culprit before a deadly encore.
Abby Spector returns for another heartwarming ghost mystery in this delightful and hilarious sequel to Say I Boo.
If you're looking for a cosy fantasy featuring aro, ace, and nonbinary rep, grab Claudie Arseneault's Awakenings on the 9th.
Innkeep, hunter, blacksmith, nurse—Horace has apprenticed for every clan in the domed city of Trenaze, and they've all rejected em. Too hare-brained. Too talkative. Too slow. Ever the optimist, e has joined Trenaze's guards to be mentored. Horace has high hopes to earn eir place during eir trial at the Great Market. That is, until the glowing shards haunting the world break through the city's protective dome, fused together in a single, monstrous amalgam of Fragments.
Armed with a sword, a shield, and far too little training, Horace doubts eir ability to defend the market-goers. But eir last stand is interrupted by a mysterious elven figure who can dissipate the Fragments with a single, strange sentence: your story is my story.
From the moment it is uttered, Horace knows the sentences holds true for em, too—and when the elf collapses in the middle of the market, e carries them to safety, to recover away from the panicked crowd and inevitable questions from eir fellow guards. It could cost em eir apprenticeship—eir last chance to find eir place in eir home city—but Horace cannot resist the pull of this mystery elf and the call of a new friend.
Aliyah has but one desire: to leave Trenaze's safe boundaries and find the forest that haunts their dreams. After an afternoon of board games in their quiet, sharp-witted company,
Horace is ready to follow, confronting Fragments and other dangers of the road to understand what happened that day, hear Aliyah's laugh again and finally feel like e belongs.
If you prefer your paranormal romances with vampires plus bisexual and lesbian rep, make sure to get Vertigo Peaks by Dion Anja on the 21st.
An unexpected guest. A tempestuous liaison. A marriage falling apart.
In the eclipse of her marriage, Valerie’s days are cold and lonely. As Ethan Vertigo’s new bride, she suffers from isolation and hostility from the townspeople. That is, until an unexpected traveler appears at her door to seek refuge from the snowstorm—Mircalla Karnstein.
The mysterious and charming visitor’s presence is accompanied by feverish nightmares and itching puncture marks, and Valerie’s reputation is threatened when Mircalla draws her close with passionate midnight escapades.
As rumors of a plague terrorize the town and the dark secrets of Vertigo Peaks surface, Valerie struggles to reconcile her growing desire for Mircalla and her role as Ethan Vertigo’s wife.
When every love story begins with blood, does it matter who bleeds first?
On the 24th, you can read The Survivor Stands by Aimee Donellan, an adult fantasy featuring a trans lesbian MC.
“I was worried about dragons, and here we are. No dragons. Just dickheads.”
Wren doesn’t tend to talk about herself, or what made her leave the safety of home to jump into adventures. But when she and her friends find themselves in a village under attack, the details ring too close to Wren’s painful memories.
Bandits taking everything they can, with fire and ice magic creating havoc and terror among the common folk. Wren stood against them once, and failed to stop them. Now she has the chance to face them again.
Despite being the only one who knows how the bandits operate, can she really be a hero in the present when she’s seeking vengeance for her past?
On the 26th, jump into Bethany Russo's new collection of short horror stories with Fever Dreams.
The Zoo
Billie's grandad loved to tell stories, although that was all Billie thought they were. Stories. Fairy tales. To her surprise, after her grandad's death, she finds out one of those stories was true. Her grandad owned a zoo and now that zoo is hers.
With the help of Charlie, Billie needs to decide whether she is capable of bringing the now abandoned zoo back to its former glory.
The Aquarium
After months of feeling isolated in the four walls of her house, all Connie wants is a day trip to the beach, where she can visit the aquarium with her husband and son.
It was meant to be a nice day, a well-deserved break, but little did Connie know that she'd end up murdering a person.
Fright Night at the Wild Place
Cassandra joins her friends for a Fright Night event, which includes a spooky bear trail. Assuming it is all fake, Cassandra finds her night turned upside down when the whole event is more personalised to her than she could have ever imagined.
Birdland
A trip to Birdland, the perfect place for all those bird lovers! Penguins, owls, the lot. So what would you do if it seemed like you were the only person not seeing birds behind the cages, but something, or someone, else?
Chloe Spencer returns with more horror on the 27th! Mewing features bisexual representation and is guaranteed to give you the shivers. Read our interview with Chloe here!
Vixen would sell her soul to get into the Bleach Babes and, if she isn’t careful, she might just get what she wants.
One of the most exclusive influencer co-ops in LA, the Bleach Babes live and work together in one big house where they have it all: popularity, talent, and beauty. Their leader? Supermodel Margo, a woman as sinister as she is sexy.
After Margo agrees to take Vix under her wing—and into her bed—Vixen moves in and begins hustling. Success comes hard and fast, but the glitz and glamor comes with a price that may cost her her sanity… and her life.
Also on the 27th, you can dive into S. Jean's dark M/M fantasy, Born of Scourge.
Legends say when the skies grow dark and scourge starves the land, a star will fall in order to save humanity. Only when the star is sacrificed at the end of their journey will light return. It's a cycle—one humanity refuses to break because stars are plentiful and their sacrifices easier than learning the true nature of the scourge.
When Sol finally falls, it's not because of humanity. It's because he's had enough of watching his brethren be sacrificed. He has one goal: end humanity and end the cycle.
Unfortunately, he has to pretend he cares before humans get wise. It doesn't matter how soft the princess who catches him is—Celena will be dead by the time his journey ends. Nor how kind his assigned companions are—the outgoing Mira with her ballads, the brave Nebora with her axe, and the hero Loren with his soft voice and friendly smile. For centuries, humanity has lied and their kindness is a ruse to bring about Sol's own destruction at the end of his tale. He will not be fooled.
No one cares about the cries of the stars they've destroyed over and over again and Sol will make sure this time, humanity is the one sacrificed.
At least, that's the plan until his traitorous heart begins to care for the humans he sought to eradicate.
Dani Finn's queer fantasy romance, Cloti's Song, features polyamory, bisexuality, F/F, and M/M pairings, and will release on the 28th.
There are some things that cannot be taken from you.
The humans have conquered the Maer capital, and they show no signs of leaving. Cloti and her spouses cling to each other in the hollow shell of their occupied city. Each day is a bitter gift; they may not be free, but they have each other.
When the city’s human Administrator offers to let Cloti restart her meditation practice in the temple, she jumps at the chance to spread a little hope in such dark days. Half the city followed her teachings before the occupation; maybe she can use her practice to unite them once again. She’s intrigued by the Administrator’s apparent sympathy toward her cause, and by his soft, submissive eyes. But could she ever really trust a human?
Rebellion brews among the Maer, and in Cloti’s heart. She knows what she wants, and what she must do. She has foreseen how this will end: in flames.
But visions never tell the whole story.
Cloti’s Song is a steamy F/F/M +M fantasy romance featuring a married throuple in their fifties who consider taking on a fourth. It’s set in the Time Before, a sequel of sorts to Wings so Soft, but can be read as a standalone. It is intended for an adult audience and contains explicit, consensual sex scenes and wartime violence.
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