LGBTQ+ Books Coming in April 2o25
- Swords & Sapphics team
- 2 days ago
- 24 min read
April is due to shower us with books as well as rain! Have a look at some of the queer releases out this month, and treat yourself to a few new novels.

Begin April with The Break of Dawn by Eule Grey, a contemporary lesbian romance perfect for spring.
Cora ‘I am all that I need’ Richards has a prison reputation for being an ice queen. She exists via a strict code of survival: people equal pain—the end. Surprises lead to disappointment; therefore, Cora won’t tolerate the unexpected. Friends? No. Lovers? Never. A hollow nighttime ache in her chest is bothersome, true, but the issue certainly isn’t caused by loneliness. Cora knows who she is and what she isn’t. She gladly accepts a placement at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, not to meet the elusive artist, Sky Sunday, but to finish her prison sentence early. It’s work, nothing more.
But the breathtaking landscape, woolly lambs, fluffy ducklings, and friendly artists challenge a woman trying not to feel. Life at the Sculpture Park is vibrant, messy, and warm. Still, it would take someone extraordinary to melt an ice queen such as Cora—the end.
Sky Sunday wears dungarees and muddy yellow boots, talks in riddles, listens to Cora’s suggestions, and never belittles her. From the first awkward meeting, attraction sizzles between them. But Sky is rubbish at talking. So is Cora. How can two impenetrable women ever get close?
From dawn to dusk, the workers toil on a mysterious, humming sculpture, and nobody knows what it’s supposed to be. If they trust their instincts, Sky insists that something unique will happen on Easter Sunday. Cora abandons the last of her ice armour as dawn breaks, but is it too late to be vulnerable and take a second chance?
What happens when an ice queen and a fluffy chick kiss? Can Cora and Sky forget their past and begin a new life together? This story is not the end.
And if you fancy a steamy achillean Greek mythology retelling, dive into Katee Robert's Sweet Obsession, also out on the 1st.
Icarus may not have flown particularly close to the sun, but he has fallen…right into the rough hands of Olympus’s own Poseidon. Being held captive by the gentle giant wouldn’t be so bad if Olympus wasn’t on the eve of destruction…or if Poseidon stopped looking at him with those irresistibly stormy eyes.
Poseidon doesn’t have time to babysit his increasingly bratty prisoner, but he has no choice: Olympus is officially at war, and someone has to keep their best bargaining chip out of harm’s way. The thing is, the longer Poseidon is with Icarus, the more he starts to care for his sworn enemy…and the more he realizes that Icarus isn’t the villain he’s been made out to be. There’s a warmth to him, a vulnerability, that Poseidon finds difficult to ignore or deny.
Now with Circe and the Aeaens at the gate and Olympus a hair’s breadth away from falling, Poseidon will have to make a difficult choice: about himself, about his allegiances, and about the man who woke his heart from its long slumber only to threaten to break it for good…
Realistic Fiction by trans author Anton Solomonik also releases on the 1st.
Finally, a book for men!
Have you ever engaged in totally normal male behaviour like:
Stealing porn magazines?
Hooking up with guys on Grindr?
Attempting to work in an open-pit mine despite having no relevant job experience?
Crossdressing as a woman?
Attending Gnostic Mass?
Running for government office?
Then this is a book for you! It is definitely not a deeply felt collection of transsexual short stories, engaged in dissident metaphysical investigation of the normative tenets of gender in our society! Bro, how could you say that? It is very dramatic and exciting, yes, but it is not metaphysical at all. In fact, it is Realistic Fiction.

The horrors persist thanks to Jane Fett's Freakslaw, rolling up with a cast of queer characters on the 1st.
It’s the summer of ’97 and the repressed Scottish town of Pitlaw is itching for change. Enter the Freakslaw – a travelling funfair populated by deviant queers, a contortionist witch, the most powerful fortune teller, and other architects of mayhem. It doesn’t take long for the Freakslaw folk to infiltrate Pitlaw’s grey world, where the town’s teenagers – none more so than Ruth and Derek – are seduced by neon charms and the possibility of escape. But beneath it all, these newcomers are harbouring a darker revenge. And as tensions reach fever pitch between the stoic locals and the dazzling intruders, a violence that’s been simmering for centuries is about to be unleashed…
If southern gothic horror is more your style, Elizabeth Broadbent releases Blood Cypress on the 3rd! We chatted all about the bisexual and disability representation in our interview last month.
No one cares when Lila Carson’s ten-year-old brother Beau disappears. He can’t speak. He throws tantrums. He’s a useless Carson, one of those kids in a broken-shuttered house that lost its glory when his father died. When the sheriff and his good ol’ boy deputies show up to investigate, they eye up Lila and call her twin brother, Quentin, names. A closeted bisexual girl in the South, she’s terrified.
Lower Congaree recites it like an eleventh commandment: Don’t go in that swamp. But as the long night drags on, it’s clear Beau disappeared behind those ancient trees. The sheriff’s deputies won’t risk going back there.
Lila might not have a choice.
“With echoes of Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Eliza Broadbent’s southern gothic, Blood Cypress, seethes with swamp-rot and small-town prejudice. Dark and lush and deeply, deeply disturbing, it’s an exquisite tale of grief and trauma, solidifying Broadbent’s place as a champion for the outsider. A revelation.”
—Lee Murray, five-time Bram Stoker Award®-winning author of Grotesque: Monster Stories
Dive into soft sci-fi with Blood Orange by Rae Sengele, out on the 4th and promising a lesbian romance plus a queer cast!
A sentient android who has recently been made aware, Echo is grappling with what she is, as well as, the disconnect between reality and the memories she's now learning never happened. But first, she must travel across the country with her found family of other sentient androids to find their creator before she hard launches the update that will make all androids like them.

Can't get enough of sapphic romance? Only Hope by Ruby Landers releases on the 4th.
Alison Hartmann is a woman with secrets no one wants her to keep. Gold Hill, with its idyllic setting is the perfect place to hide.
Light-hearted Hope Sullivan doesn’t see it that way. What else is a small town for if it isn’t about strong bonds and close community?
On a gloomy day by the lake, their lives collide, leading both women to wonder: is Gold Hill a haven or a bolthole? Can you ever really be safe?
An age gap, ice queen, small town contemporary sapphic romance from the author of Falls From Grace and Ribbonwood.
Or get lost in more queer fantasy with Call Forth the Moonlight: A Magíqon's Guide to Gryphon Liberation by Z.M. Celestaire.
Deubrise is a land blessed by the breath of the slumbering gods. Magíq lives within nature, powerful and beautiful. Few else can harness it besides the gryphons that reside in the mountains near Nico De Falco’s home, and the rare magíqon like Nico’s little sister. But magíqon are shunned and feared by modern society.
To protect himself from such treatment, Dr. Ackerleigh Sebring keeps his magíq a secret. Yet his “radical” teachings of magíqal history gets him fired from Ravensbourne University. Desperate, he finds a gamekeeper job caring for an imprisoned gryphon. Finally, he can be his whole self.
That is, until Nico follows a misguided impulse and frees the gryphon, injuring Ackerleigh accidentally.
Their fates—and feelings—become entangled in their determination to protect the sacred magíq of the gryphon. Ackerleigh and Nico will stop at nothing for the sake of liberation.
On the 5th, expect Aunt Georgia Lee's contemporary romance, My Day One Roxanna: Do 4 Luv, which centres a sapphic romance between two femme women of colour, with mental illness and addiction representation.
Roxanna, the new queen of R&B, has set the world on fire with her soulful music that touches the hearts of young and old fans. Although only 25 years old, Roxanna has a voice and spirit of a much older woman. The challenges she's already endured in her young life are responsible for the mature spirit and lyrics in her songs.
Gifted at a young age with a beautiful voice and natural flair for songwriting, she was destined for stardom. Whether she was truly ready to step into the spotlight was never considered by her demanding momanger, who pushed young Roxanna at the age of five into the spotlight. Her mother's failed attempt at retaining a successful singing career of her own became a burden for Roxanna to carry.
When the co-dependent relationship with her mother and the heavy load of being the perfect performer destroys her sanity, Roxanna finds herself in rehab and trying to put the pieces back together. As if an answer from God is presented to her in the voice of an angel by the name of Naomi Right, her counselor in rehab, Roxanna finds unconditional love.
But is the love that Roxanna and Naomi share enough to heal both of their broken spirits? Find out as their story unfolds in Book Two of the My Day One series.

We can't wait for another sapphic romance from Ami Spencer. Secure Attachment is out on the 8th, with lesbian and pansexual MCs.
Attraction, not attachment, worked perfectly until now…
Sienna Daly has a heart of gold, but she’s always struggled to value herself. Now with a new job under her belt and finally going back to university, she might just have found her path in life. Until Debs—the successful, confident and way out of her league woman that Sienna had never factored into her plans—arrives. Love was never on her cards. Attraction she can do, but attachment is one step too far.
Debs Brannigan’s life is good. A thriving business, two beautiful children, a found family she loves; everything she has she’s built for herself. Even after her divorce she thinks she has it all figured out. But when she does a simple, selfless good deed to help one stunning woman, Debs gets more than she bargained for. And Sienna might just be the one thing she can’t fix.
As the two work together on a fundraiser, Sienna finds herself not only buying into Debs’ belief of her, but also in the chance of a happy ever after. But Sienna can never have anything good, and when that constant voice of disappointment gets louder, pushing away Debs is the only way Sienna can think of protecting herself—and Debs—from getting hurt.
But Debs isn’t one for running, leading to Sienna to tell the painful truth which has haunted her every choice.
Will Sienna allow herself to be loved, and find a place in a life which already seems too perfect for her to fit into?
Roll for Love with a YA sapphic romance by M.K. England, also out on the 8th!
Ashley Poston meets Becky Albertalli in this Sapphic, second-chance romance about a teen returning to her grandfather's farm and how joining her childhood best friend's Dungeons & Dragons game gives her the confidence to follow her dreams and get a second-chance at love with her first crush.
Dungeons & Dragons loving Harper Reid's summer is off to a rough start. First, she and her mom moved across the country to Clintville, Virginia (population: tiny) to live on her Poppy's farm, which means saying goodbye to her friends and finding a new D&D group to play with. The only thing keeping her going is getting to polish her carpentry skills in the farm's woodshop so she can get an apprenticeship after graduation. That is if she can tell her mom that she doesn't want to go to college, which is kind of hard when mom keeps asking about applications and if she has picked out the perfect school yet. What Harper really needs is to channel the confidence and bravery of her awesome D&D character, and then maybe she could find a new D&D group and tell her mom that her passion is woodworking, not a four-year university. And, hey, maybe she could find a cool girlfriend, too.
The one encounter Harper wasn't expecting was running into Ollie Shifflet: neighbor, childhood best friend, and, oh yeah, first crush. Unlike Harper, Ollie seems to have everything figured out. She plans on spending the summer digging around in her garden and hanging out with her best friends and trying D&D with them for the first time. Then after graduation it is community college, then opening a small nature-based daycare center and living her best bisexual life . . . well, as long as that last bit stays private. But when beautiful, bold, Harper Reid comes waltzing back into her life and joins her D&D group, suddenly Ollie's plan seems to have a Harper-shaped hole in it.
So when feelings start to develop in their Dungeons & Dragons game between Harper's brash Barbarian character and Ollie's proud Paladin, Harper and Ollie begin wondering if they are falling for each in real life or if it is all just apart of the game. As the school year draws to a close and the final boss looms on the horizon, Harper and Ollie must decide if the relationship that they have been roleplaying in the game could be as real for them.
Flirting Lessons by Jasmine Guillory is also out on the 8th, featuring a sapphic romance.
Avery Jensen is almost thirty, fresh off a breakup, and she’s tired of always being so uptight and well-behaved. She wants to get a hobby, date around (especially women), flirt with everyone she sees, wear something not from the business casual section of her closet—all the fun stuff normal people do in their twenties. One problem: Avery doesn’t know where to start. She doesn’t have a lot of dating experience, with men or women, and despite being self-assured at work, she doesn’t have a lot of confidence when it comes to romance.
Enter Taylor Cameron, Napa Valley’s biggest flirt and champion heartbreaker. Taylor just broke up with her most recent girlfriend, and her best friend bet her that she can’t make it until Labor Day without sleeping with someone. (Two whole months? Without sex? Taylor?!?!) So, she offers to give Avery flirting lessons. It should keep her busy and stop her from texting people she shouldn’t. And it might take her mind off how inadequate she feels compared to her friends, who all seem much more settled and adult than Taylor.
At first, Avery is stiff and nervous, but Taylor is patient and encouraging, and soon, Avery looks forward to their weekly lessons. With Taylor’s help, Avery finally has the life she always wanted. The only issue is: now she wants Taylor. Their attraction becomes impossible to ignore, despite them both insisting to themselves and everyone else that it isn’t serious. When Taylor is forced to confront her feelings for Avery, she doesn’t know what to do—and most importantly, if she’s already ruined the best thing she’s ever had.

Indulge in a dark lesbian romance on the 11th with aurora light's Her Lips to God's Hands.
Olympia is always in control. From her job to her perception of pain to every life she’s taken, Olympia exerts absolute control over every portion of her life.
Then Abriya appears at her doorstep, begging to be her servant.
The FBI may not have any idea who Olympia is, but Abriya sure does, and she’s enamored with Olympia. So, why not take Abriya on as a helping hand? There are plenty of ways Olympia can use a servant: as a crew member, as a scapegoat—even as a pseudo-girlfriend to get her mom off her back.
And Abriya is different. It’s not just that she likes the way Olympia kills. It’s the fact that she sees Olympia as capable, as knowledgeable, as a real person in a way no one ever has.
But as a secondary threat suddenly rears its head, Olympia needs to come to terms with her own feelings, including feelings she’s never grappled with before—maybe even ones she never thought she had.
What does “control” really mean? What does it mean to give it up?
Is Olympia willing to find out?
N.R.G. Selove's The Assassin and the Sorceress, releasing on the 14th, features autistic bisexual and lesbian MCs, with a queer cast of side characters.
A ruthless assassin. A wisecracking sorceress. A perilous journey that will reshape the Kingdom.
Driven by money and hatred, Jessara is the greatest of the King’s royal assassins. An autistic elf born in the forests of Anwood, Jessara was trained from childhood to become the perfect weapon against the Compact of the elves. When it comes to a special capture or kill contract, she’s the obvious choice when the King needs a delicate touch.
Her target: a mysterious fugitive human sorceress named Asha Weaver. A specialist in fire magic, Asha narrowly manages to escape execution in the capital city of the Kingdom. Her impulsive and reckless nature prove to be a challenge when a series of misadventures forces the assassin and the sorceress to work together.
Loyalties will be questioned as the reluctant partners battle monsters, hide secrets, overcome betrayal, and face the inconvenient feelings growing between them.
On the 15th, grab Kathryne Lentes' The Night Menagerie, a fantasy featuring a lesbian relationship with a cis and trans woman.
Sah Williams is used to navigating the fantastical worlds of her own creation, but when her sister disappears, she is thrust into a world of magic and shapeshifters beyond anything she would have put to page. The only things she might be able to count on are a mysterious detective who she suspects has their own agenda and her novel’s main character’s voice whispering her advice.

Also on the 15th comes a comedic queer YA mystery by C.L. Montblanc titled Pride or Die.
In this delightful dark comedy debut, when the members of an LGBTQ+ club find themselves accidentally framed for attempted murder, it's up to them to clear their names before it's too late.
It’s kind of hard to graduate high school when you’re the prime suspect in an attempted murder.
Seventeen-year-old Eleanora Finkel just wants to finish her senior year and get the hell out of Texas. But when her club meeting inconveniently coincides with an attack on the school’s head cheerleader, she and her friends find themselves in the hot seat.
In order to clear their names and ensure the survival of their club for future queer teens, they’ll have to track down the real culprit themselves. But Eleanora is far from a professional detective; she’s riddled with anxiety, annoyingly attracted to the case’s cute victim, and her trusty crochet hook feels insufficient for fighting off a murderer. Can this ragtag group of unlikely sleuths find their way out of an entire freaking murder mystery before one of them is next?
Or take a bite of Georgia Beers's Whisk Me Away, a sapphic cookery romance out on the 15th.
Whisk Me Away is must-see TV. When the famous host arranges a retreat for up-and-coming pastry chefs, Regan Callahan applies. Everything she’s been working for is served up hot and delicious right under her nose: recognition of her self-taught skills, learning from a master, there’s even been a secret prize hinted at that just might give her the means to buy her boss’s bakery when he retires. It’s not supposed to be a competition, but if it is, she’ll do anything to win. Ava Prescott has no intention of allowing that to happen. Not that she’s worried. Regan doesn’t have what it takes. Just like she couldn’t excel with Ava as her boss when they worked together at the high-end restaurant in New York City. Their rivalry sharp as a lemon tart, Ava’s going to win, then she’ll ditch the high-pressure kitchen and open a small restaurant where she’ll have the creative freedom to follow her instincts, and her unique desserts will blossom.
Their styles are different. Their personalities are miles apart. Regan’s a gorgeous flake. Ava, a beautiful untouchable ice queen. Let the competition, and the ovens, heat up. Everyone knows the best recipes come straight from the heart.
If, like us, you're here for swords and sapphics, read A Ballad for Slayers & Monsters by Rita A. Rubin on the 15th.
Kas of Veldenier is a Slayer, a travelling monster hunter for hire.
Claudia of Trulio is half-human, half-vampyric. Half monster.
They should be nothing more than enemies. But when the long-lost remnant of the dragon Ombral turns up, and with it the possibility of unleashing the dragons to wreak havoc on Vil Tresar as they did long ago, Kas and Claudia’s paths converge. Through a shared desire to keep the dragons from returning, they embark on a quest to see the remnant destroyed. Along the way, they will encounter fearsome monsters as well as a burgeoning desire for each other. Can a monster and a monster slayer truly find love together?
Pursuing them from the shadows is Serisa, a vampyric who wishes to see the world burn. And she will need the remnant to make that wish a reality…

More sapphic romance, this time from Katie Trapp, releases on the 15th. Where Trust Leads Us features plus-size and butch rep, with characters over forty!
Two guarded hearts. One chance to heal.
Bette Cooper’s life went from upper-class comfort to rock bottom overnight. After twenty years of marriage, her wife left her for someone half her age, pushed her out of the business they built together, and, to add insult to injury, she had to move back in with her mother. Forced to rebuild her life, Bette takes the first steps toward starting over by accepting a job that she once would have thought was beneath her, causing her pride to take a hit. It doesn’t help that her new coworker is a woman made completely out of ice and unwelcoming.
Addiction counselor Kerry Matthews is no stranger to burying her emotions. Maintaining her long-term sobriety and control is how she copes—keeping everything tightly managed so nothing spirals out of reach. When her twin brother with special needs faces a health setback, it frightens her into tightening her hold on things she can control around her. She channels all her energy into caring for him and immersing herself in her work, convinced that relying on others is a risk she can't afford. So when her boss assigns a new assistant to help, Kerry meets the offer with guarded skepticism rather than gratitude, unwilling to trust someone else with the things she believes only she can handle, even at risk to her own health.
As these two women face new beginnings, one question can the unexpected connection between them help them heal, or will their past struggles and fears make it too difficult to trust again?
Travel back to 1901 with Milo Allan's Murray Hall on the 17th.
He kept his secret for a lifetime. Now the truth will rock New York.
It is 1901, and Dr Gallagher has just pronounced Murray Hall dead. New York politico, gambler, womaniser - Hall is all these things, but when the press break the news of his death to the world, they reveal a side to his identity he never wanted known, a secret no one could have guessed.
One journalist is determined to uncover the truth of Hall's past, but his search leads him down winding alleys of fact and fiction. From humble beginnings in Glasgow's tenements to a life spent rubbing up against New York's political elite, Murray Hall is the definition of a self-made man. But the higher his status rises, the higher the stakes become.
Inspired by a true story, Murray Hall unearths a queer past erased by history, finally bringing all the puzzle pieces together to discover the secret of this extraordinary, ordinary man, which shocked New York, America and the world.
Jeevansaathi by Talia Bhatt is out on the 21st, featuring a Desi lesbian romance.
Madhuri has lived her life in a haze of numbness, passing through each day with the taste of alcohol perpetually on her lips. She is the dispossessed, dissatisfied and borderline-disowned daughter of a wealthy warlord, one whose influence stretches from the back-alley gambling dens to the smoky backrooms of state politics. Lacking an interest in anything wordly, let alone the political intrigue of her father’s criminal empire, Madhuri had only ever cared about one thing—or rather, one person—and became a husk of a human being on the day she was lost.
Love, however, is not a feeling but a force that transcends life and can even transcend death. So when Madhuri is brought face to face with a firebrand named Suleikha, one whose zeal and voice and face so invokes the memory of her dearly departed love, Madhuri isn’t sure whether she has been twice-blessed or has simply finally succumbed to her building insanity. Suleikha’s vendetta is quite real, however, as is her systematic dismantling of everything Madhuri’s father holds dear.
Will Suleikha’s single-minded pursuit of revenge, fueled by a blazing rage from a lifetime past, destroy them both? Or will Madhuri find the strength to finally free herself from her father’s clutches and accept the hand of she who defied death itself to be her jeevansathi?

The Lost Selkie, also by Eule Grey, releases on the 22nd, with a contemporary lesbian fantasy romance.
Esther is excited to start a new job on a beach TV shoot. Sure, maybe it is strange how the ocean seeps in overnight with weird sea snails everywhere, but the technical issues are down to science, not myths. As an electrician, Esther understands facts. If only women were so simple.
In her daydreams, Esther’s a passionate woman. Who cares if she lacks the courage for the real thing? And, yeah, maybe a girlfriend is better than a fantasy, but who’d put up with Esther? Her shyness keeps her from socialising, so it’s a shock when she ends up sharing a bed with the star of the show.
Beautiful, gentle Layla becomes fascinated by a mythical selkie who guides lesbians to physical love. If only! Layla craves a real woman who will wait for sex until they’re ready for intimacy…a strong, kind woman exactly like Esther.
Midsummer magic, faulty wiring, sexual awakenings, an ancient diary. Everyone knows about the lost selkie with a broken heart: she may only return to the sea once she finds her missing fur. Can Esther fix the set’s electrical issues and reunite the selkie with her lost love? Will the TV show ever be ready to broadcast? And, most importantly, can Esther and Layla come together on the beach and discover what matters most?
On the same day, enjoy Anywhere You Go by Bridget Morrissey, a sapphic house swap romance.
A small-town waitress and a big-city Broadway press agent swap homes to escape the messiness of their personal lives, only to find new purpose—and new love.
Tatum Ward and Eleanor Chapman lead totally opposite lives. Tatum’s never left her Midwestern hometown. She resides in a quaint guest cottage on her parents’ property while working part-time as a waitress, where she spends most shifts ignoring her feelings for a beautiful regular named June. Eleanor dedicates every waking hour to her high-profile press career, sacrificing personal relationships for professional success, save for the occasional hookup to fight off her loneliness. When both women’s lives unexpectedly blow up at the exact same time, they each need an escape, and fast.
In Tatum’s hometown, Eleanor expects a quiet hideaway where she can recharge. Instead she gets wrapped up in the family drama that Tatum left town to avoid, pulled in by Tatum’s charismatic older sibling, Carson, who charms Eleanor at every turn. Tatum ends up in Eleanor’s New York high-rise apartment with June. One week together in the big city might make it impossible for Tatum to avoid not just her true feelings for June, but her real dreams for her life.
Amid a friendship with a reclusive Hollywood actress and a complicated family reunion, Tatum and Eleanor each discover much more than they bargained for away from home. Their house swap won’t last forever, but it might be just long enough for both women to surrender their defenses and finally fight for the life—and love—they deserve.
Swap genres instead of houses with Bone Dresser by Nico Vincenty, a sci-fi heist/horror featuring bisexual rep.
Chase Alspeth only wanted to create beautiful science. That’s why she joined the Research & Development team to begin with. Unfortunately, her narcissistic boss hands her a super shady project, and instead of the standard muscle making, she’s now crafting (very illegal) brainless, super-strong biological weapons shaped like normal humans.
While contending with the request to commit crimes against nature, she also has to deal with her rival colleague trying to steal her new job. Or at least, that’s what it seems at first. Now, she’s not so sure if they’re rivals or teammates--or maybe, something more.
Just when she’s at her limit, the supposedly inert shell of a body she’s working starts slowly (but definitely) gaining consciousness. Now, Chase’s priority is figuring out a way to get the body out of the lab, which is way outside her scope of practice. After all, it’s not like she can just steal it…right?
Maybe she’s been watching too many shows, because the next thing she knows, Chase is joining a heist crew--and her rival--hellbent on robbing the corrupt corporation. If Chase and her crew steal the bodies, they can save them from a future of pain and war. They might even be able to shut the whole operation down, once and for all--as long as they can escape the lab first.

Try Mira's Story by Nikki Ali, featuring disabled and polyamorous characters, also out on the 22nd!
Imagine a story that oozes sensuality, immerses you in sound, taste, touch and sight, that delves into sexuality. A story that's an incisive and urgent challenge to ablism and racism, that explores spirituality and embodiment. A story that expands your empathy, thinking, your heart. Meet Mira. Hispanic-American, married to Andre and in polyamorous relationships with Paloma and Araceli, living with Cystic Fibrosis against the backdrop of an impoverished childhood with an unstable, drug-dependent mother who goes on throwing challenges. She's here to live life in all it's glorious, messy, joyous, sensual, heart-breaking fullness. Mira's Story — a story for us all.
The second instalment of Mariah Stillbrook's The Erwain Trilogy, The Pool of Aeslin is a YA fantasy featuring a pansexual MC out on the 22nd.
Unleash the magic within, and join Makayla Wood on a journey through a world on the brink of collapse. Garlandia is burning, its throne poisoned by a corrupt king, and seventeen-year-old Makayla knows the fight for her kingdom is only beginning. With her newfound powers and a connection to her elfin lover, Toby, she sets out to uncover the truth, only to discover that the past she's been chasing may have darker roots than she ever imagined. As she delves deeper, she must confront betrayal, forbidden love, and a threat that will take her to the very heart of Garlandia's magic - and beyond.
The highly anticipated Lacey Lassiter Is Not a Lesbian by Mable Ballard is due on the 29th, a sapphic celebrity romance.
Corey Emmons is a rising star. With an appearance in a hit TV show sealing her status as a new queer icon, suddenly, opportunities are flying her way. One of these, however, seems slightly out of place.
Lacey Lassiter is a pop sensation. Every aspect of her public image is carefully curated, from her body to her boyfriend to her signature white boots. But when she arrives on the set of her steamy new music video, she’s met with an unexpected surprise: thanks to a last-minute mix-up, Corey has been cast to appear as Lacey’s love interest, and with no time to find a replacement, they have no choice but to go through with the unexpectedly sapphic shoot.
The video’s release sends shockwaves through Lacey’s fanbase, and soon enough the two find themselves at the center of heated discourse and speculation. Amidst all of this, the two young stars are growing ever closer – but with the world watching and both their careers on the line, how can they hope to figure out what’s really between them?
While the world debates what happened on camera, can Corey and Lacey take their romance behind the scenes?

Also on the 29th comes Nav's Foolproof Guide to Falling in Love by Jessica Lewis, a sapphic YA romance.
Giving the new girl lessons in romance so she can woo your best friend couldn’t possibly go wrong…right? Perfect for fans of Becky Albertalli and Casey McQuiston, this romantic comedy from Jessica Lewis is packed with heart.
Nav knows how to flirt, but she also knows love is a messy, losing proposition. She doesn’t need her best friend, Hallie, the serial monogamist, to demonstrate it to her over and over. So when shy new girl Gia asks Nav for help getting Hallie’s attention, Nav makes sure she seems genuine—she doesn't want to add another heartbreak to Hallie's never-ending list. They strike a bargain, and Nav agrees to give Gia lessons in romance. If it works, maybe Hallie can date someone decent for a change.
Except…Gia’s not just bad at flirting, she’s terrible. She’s too anxious to even speak to Hallie, never mind date her. But somehow, every awkward joke and catastrophic practice date makes Nav like Gia a little bit more. And not in a friend way. As the three girls’ feelings get spun around, Nav will have to question if she’s as much of an expert as she thought…or if love might be worth every bit of trouble after all.
Fans of achillean romance will adore Once Upon You & Me by Timothy Janovsky, out on the 29th.
When Taylor Frost’s boss, Amy, flies him across the country to prep for her daughter’s sweet sixteen at the Storybook Endings Resort in the Catskills, the solo mission is well within his wheelhouse. Taylor is excellent at his job—except, he’s probably not supposed to flirt with the resort’s mountain man of a manager, Ethan Golding. Because the rugged older man is also the birthday girl’s father, aka Amy’s ex-husband. Oops.
For Ethan, his divorce seemed like the bad ending to his romantic story. And now, making his daughter’s sweet sixteen dreams come true is the closest he’ll get to the kind of magic happiness in fairy tales. Until adorable Taylor has him wondering if maybe this is just the beginning of a more erotic kind of bedtime story…
The only problem is Amy. And how very not okay she’d be with the chemistry between her assistant and her ex.
If only forbidden flings ever led to happily-ever-afters…
M.K. England returns with yet another sapphic rom-com on the 29th with All Fired Up.
Nicole Wells left Seattle two years ago for graduate school to study fire dynamics…and to get away from her best friend and unrequited love, Skylar Clark. Now she’s back home with a new job, ready to hit reset on her life and reconnect with her friends.
And maybe finally get together with Skylar.
Nic’s plans go up in flames when Skylar announces she’s moving to Fiji for a new business venture, in what will likely be another catastrophe for the ambitious but seldom successful BFF. That, and there’s a newcomer to Nic’s group of friends: Kira McKinney, a firefighter Nicole can’t keep her eyes off.
Worried about their friend making a huge mistake, Nicole and Kira work together to stop Skylar from leaving. When talking to her doesn’t work, there’s only one option left—shenanigans. But as all their efforts go up in smoke, one thing becomes wildly clear.
Sparks are starting to fly between Nic and Kira…
In this sapphic rom-com, a fire starter (a chemist who studies fire) and a firefighter team up to save their best friend from making an epic mistake, sparks fly (literally) and shenanigans ensue; a celebration of queer joy for fans of Casey McQuiston and Ashley Herring Blake.

And it's not the only romance releasing today! My Best Friend’s Honeymoon by Meryl Wilsner will whisk you away to the Caribbean with a f/nb pairing.
Elsie Hoffman has been engaged to her college boyfriend for a year and a half. Ginny Holtz has been in love with Elsie for almost a decade and a half.
When Elsie discovers her fiancé already planned their wedding and honeymoon as a surprise and she’s expected to be in a white dress in seven days, she swiftly realizes she’s let herself become too comfortable with a future she never wanted. She breaks things off, and a week later is on a plane to the Caribbean for her non-refundable honeymoon with her best friend Ginny instead.
Ginny thinks it’s high time Elise learned how to speak up for herself. So, they make a deal with her. For the next week, Elsie can have whatever she wants, wherever, however, and whenever she wants it, as long as she asks. They never expected Elsie to want them.
What starts as choosing activities and taking selfies soon turns to toe-curling kisses and much, much more. But what happens when the honeymoon is over?
Reimagine the beloved characters of Pride and Prejudice with sapphic regency romance The Unlikely Pursuit of Mary Bennet by Lindz McLeod, out on the 29th.
Jane Austen meets Bridgerton in this sapphic romance between Charlotte Lucas and Mary Bennet that begins four years after the end of Pride and Prejudice.
When Mr. Collins dies after just four years of marriage, Charlotte is lost. While not exactly heartbroken, she will soon have to quit the parsonage that has become her home. In desperate need of support, she writes to her best friend, Lizzie. Unable to leave Pemberly, Lizzie sends her sister, Mary Bennet, in her stead.
To Charlotte’s surprise, Mary Bennet is nothing like she remembers. Mary’s discovery of academia and her interest in botany (as well as getting out from under her mother’s thumb) have caused her to flourish. Before long, Charlotte is enraptured—with Mary, and with the possibilities that lie beyond their societal confines. With each stolen glance and whispered secret, their friendship quickly blossoms into something achingly real.
But when her time at the parsonage begins to dwindle and a potential suitor appears, Charlotte must make a choice—the safety and security of another husband, or a passionate life with Mary outside the confines of the ton’s expectations.
Want to tell us about an upcoming release to be featured in our monthly lists? Fill out our form here.
Comments