There's nothing better than preparing for hibernation with a stack of brilliant books. This November, there are dozens of new queer stories to be read, so get cosy and have your wish list at the ready!
Begin November with a MM romantic suspense from Lucas Delrose. With gay, trans, and non-binary rep, Judgement releases on the 1st!
“Don’t overthink it”, is a phrase that is easier said than done.
For Felix Storm, Flick to his friends, not that he really had many, overthinking is something he does constantly. Overthinking and anxiety really do just go hand in hand, and certain activity can really make these spike for Flick, especially being around new people Friday night's after-work drinks. After being persuaded to join his co-workers one Friday night, Flick met friendly bartender Anton. Somehow sexy bartender Anton makes fearful Flick feel that maybe new experiences and getting to know someone new isn’t too bad after all.
The more Flick sees Anton, he starts to believe they are being targeted by the tarot card serial killer terrorizing Eldoor. With the growing body count and signs pointing to Flick and Anton being next on the hit list, it sends Flick into panic mode, determined to track down this killer before they get to him and his new love interest.
To solve the mystery, Flick has to confront his inner demons, exposing him to both new situations and people, making him very uncomfortable.
Who is behind the tarot card killings? Is the killer someone Flick knows? Do his fears and anxieties get the better of him?
Also on the 1st comes Anna Denisch's new gay erotic sports romance, Strike Three: You're in Love. Read Anna's take on love triangles and poly romance here.
Cody never wanted to play Baseball in the first place, but when his coworker keeps pestering, he agrees to join his company's league team. El only started playing for his company's team to get ahead in his career, and now he's stuck still playing a few years later. When the two meet for the first time on the field, it's an instant connection. Dealing with a low-stakes league taken way to seriously by the rest of their teams, Cody and El must work to build a safe bubble for themselves both in the games and in their personal lives.
Strike Three: You're in Love, is a cozy sports romance about two guys who don't like Baseball. This low-stakes book is all about romantic vibes, silly dates, steamy nights, and people getting way too invested in a game without any actual prize to win.
Ready to get festive? We can't wait to read sapphic romance The Christmas Pact by the lovely Hayley Anderton, out on the 1st.
There's no place like home...until your world is turned upside down and you're left alone.
Liv usually loves Christmas, but now her boyfriend has left her and it just won't be the same. With her parents away for the festive season, it looks like she'll be on her own.
Enter Natalie, her best friend and the master of making the best of a bad situation. She comes up with the Christmas Pact - an agreement that forces the pair of them to cram their days with fun and festivity together. But with Liv's emotions on a rollercoaster ride and Natalie hiding secrets of her own, can they keep to their promises?
A festive tale about mending broken hearts and the power of female friendship.
Dahlia Donovan returns with another cosy paranormal mystery on the 7th! A Fatal Autumnal Stew is the second book in The Skeleton Crew series and features a gender-fluid vampire and a lesbian witch.
Welcome back to the Skeleton Crew. Keep your knitting needles sharp and have a strong brew in hand for their next adventure.
Life for gender-fluid, autistic vampire Hyde Snodgrass has never been better. Her cosy village bookshop is thriving as is their new relationship with witch and taco bus owner, Teresa Vega. Autumn is in full magical tilt in their corner of the Scottish Highlands.
Everything is beautifully perfect right up until a tainted meal ends with Hyde sick and someone dead.
The police immediately suspect the restaurant owners. Hyde and Teresa find themselves drawn into yet another investigation, trying to save their friends from arrest and themselves from a murderer. The situation becomes even more complex when family feuds become tangled in the midst.
Can they find the killer?
On the 12th, grab Rani Choudhury Must Die by Adiba Jaigirdar for a sapphic YA romance!
In this sapphic dual POV Young Adult romance by Adiba Jaigirdar, Meghna and Rani (ex-best-friends-turned-rivals) realize they're dating the same guy, so they team up to beat and expose him at a big science competition!
Meghna Rahman is tired of constantly being compared to her infuriatingly perfect ex best friend now rival. Everyone, except, at least, her boyfriend Zak, seems to think that Rani Choudhury can do no wrong—even her own parents! It doesn’t help that Rani is always accepted into the Young Scientist Exhibition, while Meghna’s projects never make it. But this year, she finally has a chance at defeating Rani in something.
Rani Choudhury is tired of feeling like she doesn’t have much say in her life—not when it comes to how her mom wants her to look and act or how her parents encourage her to date incredibly charming close family friend Zak. She would much rather focus on her coding, especially once she places high enough at the Young Scientist Exhibition to go on to the European Young Scientist Exhibition
When Meghna and Rani figure out that Zak has been playing them both, they decide to do something no one would see coming: they team up. They’ll compete in the EYSE as partners, creating an app that exposes cheaters and a project that exposes Zak. But with years of silence and pressure between them, working together will prove difficult. Especially once each girl starts to realize that the feelings they had for the other may have been more than platonic...
Hey, no one ever said science was easy!
If you prefer graphic novels, why not read sapphic coming-of-age story Leap by Simina Popescu, out on the 12th?
A coming-of-age graphic novel following two dancers at a conservative performing arts school―exploring friendship, first love, and what it means to fall out of step with your own dreams.
Ana has been studying contemporary dance since she was little, but her heart isn’t in it anymore. Instead her focus is on Carina―a beautiful, ambitious ballerina whose fear of being outed keeps Ana in the closet and their fragile relationship from seeing the light of day. Risking her own career, Ana gives up more and more in order to fit into the shadows of Carina’s life.
Sara, on the other hand, is fielding whispers she may be the best dancer their school has produced in years. Much of that is thanks to her mentor and instructor, Marlena, who plucked Sara from the classical track and encouraged her to blossom as a contemporary dancer. Sara has always been in awe of Marlena, but recently, that admiration has sparked into something more, and Sara’s not sure what to do about it.
As junior year at their performing arts school begins, Ana and Sara are assigned as roommates. What starts off as a tentative friendship soon becomes a much-needed anchor.
Return to Tasha Suri's The Burning Kingdoms Trilogy on the 12th with The Lotus Empire.
The Lotus Empire brings Tasha Suri’s acclaimed Burning Kingdoms trilogy to a heart–stopping close. As an ancient magic returns to Ahiranya and threatens its very foundations, Empress Malini and priestess Priya will stop at nothing to save their kingdoms—even if it means they must destroy each other.
Malini has claimed her rightful throne as the empress of Parijatdvipa, just as the nameless gods prophesied. Now, in order to gain the support of the priesthood who remain loyal to the fallen emperor, she must consider a terrible Claim her throne and burn in order to seal her legacy—or find another willing to take her place on the pyre.
Priya has survived the deathless waters and now their magic runs in her veins. But a mysterious yaksa with flowering eyes and a mouth of thorns lies beneath the waters. The yaksa promises protection for Ahiranya. But in exchange, she needs a sacrifice. And she's chosen Priya as the one to offer it.
Two women once entwined by fate now stand against each other. But when an ancient enemy rises to threaten their world, Priya and Malini will find themselves fighting together once more – to prevent their kingdoms, and their futures, from burning to ash.
Also on the 12th comes sapphic sports romance Wake Up, Nat & Darcy by Kate Cochrane.
Ex-lovers. Ex-rivals. New cohosts. Oh, puck.
Cut from the US women’s hockey team right before her third chance at gold, Natalie Carpenter is scrambling for a plan that’ll help her avoid moving back home. The answer: a guest-hosting gig on Wake Up, USA’s winter games coverage. Her cohost: Darcy LaCroix, Nat’s ex-girlfriend, one-time college teammate turned adversary.
Since leaving Team Canada, Darcy has worked hard to make a name in broadcasting. If her big break requires sharing screen time with the former cocky freshman who turned her world upside down, so be it. At this point, there’s nothing between them except history.
But audiences disagree. #PuckingHotties is trending hard, and Nat and Darcy agree to lean into it—for ratings, obviously. It’s not like Nat can forget the way Darcy broke her heart or their bitter team rivalry.
Between working, traveling together and that irresistible spark, it’s getting hard to separate what’s real and what’s for the camera. Because somewhere underneath everything that went wrong is the sneaking suspicion that nothing will ever feel quite this right again.
Kiss of Death by Bryony Rosehurst releases in ebook on the 17th and features a sapphic Norse mythology romance with the goddess Hel, fantasy elements, and most importantly, swords.
Maeve thought she would have more time...
A seemingly unremarkable woman from the north of England struggling to make ends meet, she attends York’s Viking Festival every year to participate in a battle reenactment. But when she wakes up wounded and bloody in the middle of the empty battlefield, she finds the world to be a much darker place than she realised.
Hel has many names. The Goddess of Death is just one of them. Cast out by Odin, her duty is to take souls back to her kingdom of Helheim, where they can live out their afterlife peacefully. But when she sets out to claim a shield-maiden, it quickly becomes clear that something is wrong. Jorvik has changed drastically since the last time she was here, and Maeve is no ordinary warrior.
As the storm rages, they find themselves unable to get back to the gates of Hel and must question if the universe has other plans for them — plans that might have something to do with the volcanic eruption happening not far from Hel’s home. With the world crumbling and Maeve filled with grief, the strength of Maeve’s unclaimed spirit is dwindling quickly, but their relationship only develops as they battle through tempests and face the Norns, confronted by some harrowing truths and monsters along the way. Will the Fates allow them to reach Helheim in time, or will Hel lose the woman she is quickly falling in love with?
Kiss of Death is a medium-heat paranormal fantasy romance novella featuring a bloody battle and reimagined Norse figures.
On the 19th, dive into YA horror Hall of Shadows by Mariah Stillbrook, which includes pansexual rep. Read our interview with Mariah here!
In the quiet life of Tess Moreau lies a remarkable power—her touch revives ashes,
defying nature’s laws. When she uncovers a mysterious book linked to her grandmother
and a witch’s coven, her journey begins. Guided by a cursed deck of oracle cards, Tess
delves into the Hall of Shadows, a realm crafted by her ancestors. With each
dimension traversed, she uncovers her true lineage—a descendant of mythical beings.
As Tess’s humanity wanes, her destiny beckons. She embraces her heritage, becoming
the mistress of shadows and the bringer of life from death. At journey’s end, she faces a
choice: preserve or destroy the hall. But Tess knows confronting one’s demons is the
path to mastery. In a tale of magic and identity, Tess’s odyssey may end, but her legacy
is just beginning—a testament to the power within us all.
Felicia Davin is also back on the 19th with more historical romance. The Anonymous Letters of C Forestier includes bigender and bisexual characters as well as fantasy. Find out more about the French Letters series with our interview here!
Paris, 1825. Isabelle de Tourzin cannot afford to fall in love with a mortal. Not again. Ageless and nearly invulnerable, she spends her days in private grief and plots to end Malbosc, the powerful, secretive man who seduced her only to leech her magic for more than a century.
She was rescued before she had the chance to kill him, and he’s eluded her ever since. At last, Isabelle has in her hands a magic compass that will point her toward her quarry. Infuriatingly, a cunning stranger keeps disrupting her search. The interloper claims to be hunting Malbosc as well. Trust is impossible, but the stranger proves to have useful information. Isabelle reluctantly agrees to an alliance.
The stranger—a shameless liar who appears to be a man named Forestier—accompanies Isabelle across France. He’s charming and unexpectedly kind. It’s been a lifetime since she enjoyed anyone’s company so much, which makes Forestier an even greater danger than Malbosc. Forever is too long to live with a broken heart.
And if you're looking for a lesbian fantasy, you might love The Last Hour Between Worlds by Melissa Caruso, also out on the 19th.
Follow a star investigator and her rival as they journey through layers of reality to save the world as they know it in this whip-smart adventure fantasy about rival guilds, reality-bending magic and unexpected mystery.
Kembral Thorne is spending a few hours away from her newborn, and she's determined to enjoy the party no matter what. But when the guests start dropping dead, Kem has no choice but to get to work. She's a member of the Guild of Hounds, after all, and she can't help picking up the scent of trouble.
She's not the only one. Her professional and personal nemesis, notorious burglar Rika Nonesuch, is on the prowl. They quickly identify what's causing the mayhem: a mysterious grandfather clock that sends them down an Echo every time it chimes. In each strange new layer of reality, time resets and a sinister figure appears to perform a blood-soaked ritual.
As Kem and Rika fall into increasingly macabre versions of their city, they'll need to rely on their wits - and each other - to unravel the secret of the clock and save their city.
Finally, enjoy a new fantasy romance on the 29th with Apolline Lucy's The Hollows, which features sapphic rep!
With its eerie, unfading fog, enchanting shops selling cures in the forms of pastries and flowers, and its crystal market, Misttown is the perfect witchy haven. But when the fog vanishes, replaced by a strange green smoke, and ghosts begin to roam the streets, everything changes.
For Brume, a witch whose modest talents include being haunted by ghost cats, baking heartbreak-soothing treats, and uprooting moss and weeds, her uneventful life takes a dramatic turn. Not only is she the only one able to see the ghosts, but when she loses someone to the smoke, she has no choice but to investigate.
Accompanied by a half-demon, a bone witch, a seer, a necromancer, and a herd of ghosts, Brume embarks on a journey that might do more than solve the curse; she might find herself and the magic she has always been too afraid to embrace.
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