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Jump to: MM & Gay Romance | Sapphic & Lesbian Romance | Queer
MM & Gay Romance
Sept. 2nd: It Had to Be Him
Heartstopper meets Eat Pray Love in this swoony, spicy, second-chance romance from USA Today bestselling author Adib Khorram about two former classmates unexpectedly reuniting in Italy.
Ramin Yazdani’s marriage proposal has just gone bottoms up: his ex dumped him in public for being boring. Bent on proving him wrong, Ramin books a spontaneous solo trip to Italy. When he runs into his high school crush while in a gelateria, however, his resolve to reinvent himself is put to the test.
Noah Bartlett’s in a rut. Since his divorce, he’s become a bit of a homebody. So when his ex-wife insists he join her and their son on an Italian holiday, Noah reluctantly agrees. But his reticence turns to excitement when he sees his former classmate, who’s aged just like a fine wine. As a teenager, Ramin fascinated him—and since Noah now knows that fascination was code for crush—all those feelings are quick to come rushing back.
Soon Ramin and Noah are tumbling headfirst into a relationship. Only Ramin fears Noah’s feelings won’t last without Ramin’s adventurous new persona—and Noah’s not sure he can be the supportive partner Ramin deserves. With the days counting down to the end of their trip, can their love last without the magic of Italy?
Sept. 2nd: See You at the Finish Line
Heartthrob George wants to prove he’s smart enough to graduate. Nerdy Lucas wants to finally ask his crush out. They strike a deal to get what they want . . . but they may accidentally splash into a row-mance together in this queer, sports rom-com.
George and Lucas can’t stand each other—which makes it very awkward being on the same Cambridge University rowing team. The uber-charming, all-American George got accepted at Cambridge for his sporting prowess, not his subpar grades. Economics whizz and sarcasm expert Lucas, meanwhile, works hard for everything he’s got, which sadly does not include a boyfriend.
When the news leaks that George receives academic preferential treatment—Cambridge couldn’t lose their star athlete, after all—he’s told he must actually study this year to pass his exams. That’s when he zeroes in on Lucas for help. Lucas agrees, but on one condition: George will teach Lucas his lothario ways so he can finally seduce his long-time crush, Amir.
But soon they’re in way over their heads, seducing and cheating their way to what they want. As they face rivals within their own squad and cutthroat competitors at Oxford, they find themselves unexpectedly becoming closer. What happens when your worst enemy may just be who you needed all along?
Tropes: Enemies to Lovers / Forced Proximity / Grumpy/Sunshine / Fish out of Water / Virgin/Experienced
Sept. 16th: For the Fans: Deluxe Limited Edition
They never even wanted to be stepbrothers―but now, in front of the camera, they’re getting much closer―in this edgy, emotional story of forbidden passion.
Avi’s into old-school emo bands, true crime, and cryptids. And if not many others share his interests, he’s cool with that, as long as he doesn’t run out of weed. But then he moves from Brooklyn to Boston with his mom, which isn’t a big deal . . . until she announces she’s seeing someone and he happens to have a son Avi’s age.
As his mom’s relationship gets more serious, they all move in together, and under the same roof as his future stepbrother, Avi’s never felt more out of place. Kyran’s everything Avi isn’t: athletic, popular, supremely confident―and undeniably hot. The only thing the two have in common is their opposition to officially becoming related. Oh, and they’re both entering their freshman year at the same college.
At first, they’re hopeful their very different social circles will minimize any on-campus encounters. But the more they try to avoid each other, the more a sizzling tension blazes up between the quirky artist and the control-freak quarterback with a traumatic past. Then, just when they think things can’t get any worse, a family financial collapse leads the desperate pair to collab on a little content creation.
Behind closed doors, Avi and Kyran start making illicit videos that quickly bring in a steady stream of money―and wildly thirsty comments. But it’s strictly a business partnership to pay for school . . . Isn’t it? With their deepest secrets and desires stirring as they begin to rely on each other both on and off camera, they’ll be forced to ask themselves: Are they really only doing it for the fans?
This edition includes a signed letter from the author and a bonus scene.
For the Fans is a full-length, standalone MM forbidden romance with an HEA. It contains sensitive subject matter that could make some readers uncomfortable and is intended for adults.
Sept. 16th: Mistletoe and Mishigas (paperback edition)
Now with bonuses! A new epilogue and artwork of the characters.
This spicy and swoony romance follows two men with opposite personalities as they pretend to date during the holiday season—from an author whose “stories are sweetness and spice wrapped into a big, warm hug” (Alice Oseman, bestselling author of Heartstopper).
Sheldon Soleskin should be having a horrible day. Even though he’s been unexpectedly transferred to a new school right before the holidays, has only one day to set up his new classroom, and just discovered his twin sister’s been hiding an invitation to his ex-boyfriend’s Christmas Eve wedding, he’s still ready to take on the world with a smile on his face and a skip in his step.
Theo Berenson just wants to be left alone to his custodial duties. But when the chipper new first-grade teacher needs help moving furniture the Sunday after Thanksgiving, he’s forced to do something he detests…help. To make matters worse, Theo’s overbearing parents are coming for Hanukah in a few weeks, and he’s told them he has a boyfriend. Except he doesn’t. Because who would want to date an oaf like Theo?
Working together, these opposites discover they might be able to help each other out. Agreeing to be each other’s dates, they become friends as they practice for their upcoming events. But when all the rehearsing starts feeling a little too real, and both men’s pasts come roaring back to haunt them, will they be able to pull off the ultimate holiday masquerade?
Sept. 22nd: Where the Current Takes Him
A rebellious nepo baby and an amphibious alien alpha end up becoming mates in this sexy romcom omegaverse where aliens have taken over Earth.
Beau Montgomery is an Omega stain on his father’s political career. Loriun Kolhn is a wealthy Alpha Mer in need of a mate. Ashford Montgomery is the swine who sold his son to the highest bidder.
When Beau’s father ships him off to the Mermade Islands, he expects to find himself in yet another gilded prison. He could have never predicted he might find love instead.
Where the Current Takes Him is a high heat MM alien mpreg romance. It errs on the side of romcom, but also deals with tougher issues with a dash of hurt/comfort and a guaranteed HEA.
Sept. 30th: A Mannequin for Christmas: A Novel
A Christmas romance for Barbie fans who wished Ken and Allan got their own love story.
Henry Aster swears he is unlucky when it comes to love. He thought he’d finally found The One, but a sudden break-up has left him hopeless right before the holiday season.
Facing another family Christmas alone, Henry makes a wish for “The Perfect Man.” The next morning, when he arrives at the Jersey Shore vintage shop he manages, he finds one of the male display mannequins has sprung to life and entirely wrecked the place.
The magicked man is gorgeous, of course, but he comes with a Cinderella-style caveat: If he doesn’t experience true, human love before the midnight chime on New Year’s Eve, he will turn back into a mannequin for good.
Now Henry doesn’t have to show up to family Christmas alone. The catch? This new man―self-named Aidan Smith―knows nothing about being a human. Henry has one month to teach Aidan how to be a functioning person in the modern world and the swoony boyfriend that will win over his family. It’s an arduous task that draws them close together… but can human love ever really be true?
Sapphic & Lesbian Romance
Sept. 2nd: Every Step She Takes: A Novel
A swoon-worthy sapphic romance following two women who are thrown together on a European adventure, from the Lambda Literary Award–winning author of the “sexy, insightful, and utterly charming” (BuzzFeed) Kiss Her Once for Me.
Thirty-five-year-old Seattleite Sadie Wells needs an escape. She’s desperate to escape her monotonous routines, the family business that has consumed her entire life, and the unexpected gay panic that has her questioning everything she thought she knew about herself. So when her injured sister offers Sadie her place on a tour along Portugal’s Camino de Santiago, she decides this is the perfect chance to get away from it all.
After three glasses of wine on the plane and some turbulence convince Sadie she won’t even survive the flight, she confesses all her secrets to her seatmate, Mal. The problem: the plane doesn’t crash, and it turns out Mal is on her Camino tour. Worst of all, Sadie learns that she is on a tour specifically for queer women, and that her two-hundred-mile trek will be a journey of self-discovery, whether she wants it to be or not.
Fascinated by the woman who drunkenly came out to her on the plane, Mal offers to help Sadie relive the queer adolescence she missed out on as they walk the Camino. As Sadie develops her newfound confidence, Mal grapples with a complicated loss and unexpected inheritance. But as their relationship blurs the lines between reality and practice, they both must decide if they will forever part at the end of the tour or chart a new course together.
Sept. 4th: For My Finale
Lights, Camera… Catastrophe.
When Oscar-winning actress Lilah Paxton torpedoes her career in spectacular fashion, she escapes to the sleepy English village of Bankton to lie low. But country life isn’t quite the cozy retreat she imagined. There’s mud, terrifying sheep, and absolutely no room service.
Blossom Baker, cheerful café owner and lifelong Lilah fangirl, always dreamed of meeting her idol. She just didn’t expect her to be such a grump. Or completely incapable of basic adulting.
Determined to help Lilah find a new purpose (and keep her from starving), Blossom ropes her into small-town life, complete with community theater chaos, an overly friendly bull, and a whole lot of unexpected feelings.
But love isn’t a script Lilah can memorize, and happily-ever-afters aren’t as simple as Hollywood makes them seem. Can she prove she’s finally ready for something real? And can a small-town barista really capture the heart of her teenage film-star crush?
For My Finale is a laugh-out-loud, opposites-attract sapphic romcom about finding yourself, falling in love, and the unexpected magic of second acts frombestselling Sapphic writer Sienna Waters, author of The Wrong Date, Crossing the Pond, and Teaching Hope.
Sept. 9th: A Hexcellent Chance to Fall in Love
In this slightly spooky paranormal romance, will two women finally break their curse and get the happily ever after they’ve fought for?
Each year, when no one is paying attention, The Dead of Night Halloween store appears in a new location with its giant sign and great low prices. No one sees them setting up or tearing down—one day it’s just there and then, two days after Halloween, it’s gone.
Pepper White knows exactly how this works. For five years, ever since the last Keeper of the Store tricked her, she has been cursed—appearing when the store does, and disappearing when it goes away. People will remember The Dead of Night, but they’ll completely forget Pepper. That is, until Christina Loring walks in the door. Their chemistry is instantaneous and, for the first time in five years, Pepper finds herself wishing for more time.
But how do you tell the girl you’re falling for that you’re cursed and that you only have ten weeks together before Christina forgets . . . everything? To have a chance at happily ever after, Pepper has to do the one thing she swore she wouldn’t—find the right treat to trick someone else into taking on the curse. But all’s fair in love and spells, and this spooky season, Pepper and Christina are ready to stir up trouble in the name of love.
Sept. 9th: Lady Like: A Novel
wo women set their sights on marrying the same duke, but instead of becoming enemies, they find themselves falling in love—though not with him.
Harriet Lockhart never planned to marry. She has spent her life defying expectations, playing male roles on London’s seediest stages, and doing whatever she pleases. When Harry is contacted by her hitherto anonymous father, she finds herself at risk of losing the trust fund that’s subsidized her lifestyle—unless she begins to lead a more respectable life, starting with finding a husband.
Emily Sergeant, the picture of modesty, has only ever wanted to marry. And were it not for one mistake in her youth that rendered her a social pariah, she would be appropriately betrothed. Instead, she’s due to wed the only willing—and most abominable—man in her small town. Desperate for an alternative, Emily flees to London to snag a less lecherous fiancé.
Worlds collide, dramatically and hilariously, when both women decide on the very same duke as their best possible chance at a tolerable husband and a secure future. A tongue-in-cheek romp through London’s summer season, from balls to brothels, horseraces to duels, Harry and Emily compete for the duke’s favor, only to find their true hearts’ desires may be more compatible than they could have ever predicted.
Sept. 9th: The Lone Wolf Café
When a runaway werewolf gets a job at a reclusive witch’s cafe, more than just tea ends up brewing in this cozy, sapphic Halloween romance.
Nettie Clarke has never known the world beyond Hollenboro, her tiny home island off the coast of Maine. So when she abruptly flees with few belongings, no money, and no idea where to go, things get complicated.
Mainly because she’s a werewolf.
After arriving on the mainland, she comes across Wisteria Grove, a witch village hidden deep in the forest, and seeks shelter in a local cafe. There, she is confronted the owner, Rowena Hawthorne, the town’s surly and introverted herbalist. Impressed by Nettie’s baking skills, Rowena makes her an offer: work as the cafe’s resident baker and pretend to be a witch, and she’ll be paid enough to make it worth her time.
At first it seems like a great deal, and Nettie only plans to stay for a few weeks before taking off to see the rest of the world. But as the days pass, her baking skills grow, she befriends the local elementals, and she (reluctantly) finds Rowena attractive. All of which makes it harder for her to leave.
Sept. 16th: With Stars in Her Eyes: A Novel
A sapphic bookstore romance about fresh starts and finding that one person who feels like home.
Seconds from a meteoric career launch, cellist Courtney Starling suffers a frightening migraine attack during a key performance. While harmful rumors fly, she escapes to her happy place―her best friend’s Kansas bookshop. Courtney’s working incognito when a scream sends her leaping off a shelving ladder to find the woman who screamed cowering near the register.
When Thea Quinn dropped in for a misdelivered package, she did not expect a mortifying encounter with a bearded dragon in front of an inconveniently attractive bookseller. Clutching an upcoming book club flyer and the tattered shreds of her dignity, she heads back to her new piercing job at the tattoo shop next door. She moved to this quirky place for a fresh start. But maybe the meet-disaster was a sign? Maybe Thea needs to branch out beyond her photography hobby and connect with new people…like at a historical romance book club run by a particularly mysterious and sexy bookseller with a pixie cut?
Friendly lunches become stolen moments between the bookshelves. Courtney and Thea’s old problems feel ages away. But just as their chemistry heats to a combustion point, consequences from Courtney’s past arrive literally on her doorstep at exactly the wrong moment. New revelations and surprising connections take the pair from feeling joyfully lovestruck to confusingly star-crossed. Both women must decide what they’re willing to give up for happily ever after.
Sept. 23rd: Ladies in Hating
A pair of Gothic novelists trade rivalry for love in this swoony, steamy, sapphic Regency by USA Today bestselling author Alexandra Vasti.
Celebrated authoress Lady Georgiana Cleeve has achieved fame and fortune. Unfortunately, she’s also acquired an enemy: the enigmatic Lady Darling, whose spine-tingling plots appear to be pulled straight from Georgiana’s own manuscripts. What’s a stubborn, steely writer to do? Unmask her rival, of course.
But unmasking doesn’t go according to plan―because Lady Darling is actually Cat Lacey, the butler’s daughter and object of Georgiana’s very secret, very embarrassing teenage infatuation.
Cat Lacey has spent a decade clawing her family out of poverty. The last thing she needs is to be distracted by the stunning(ly pretentious) Lady Georgiana Cleeve. But Cat can’t seem to escape her infuriatingly beautiful rival―including at the eerie manor where they both plan to set their next books. The plot unexpectedly thickens, however, when the novelists find themselves trapped in the manor together. In between ghostly moans and spectral staff, Cat and Georgiana come face-to-face with real danger: the scorching passion that’s been haunting their rivalry all along.
Queer
Sept. 9th: The Most Unusual Haunting of Edgar Lovejoy
A COZY, GHOSTLY LGBTQIA+ ROMANCE
Jamie Wendon-Dale (transmasc they/them) creates haunted houses for a living. Haunting is their life―but nobody working New Orleans’ spooky circuit actually believes in ghosts.
Edgar Lovejoy (cis he/him) is 100% haunted. No, really. Ghosts have tormented him since childhood and he’s organized his life around attempts to avoid them.
Opposites? Get ready to attract. But while Jamie’s biggest concern is that Edgar sometimes seems a bit distracted, Edgar’s fears are much greater. Not only is he scared of encountering the dearly departed whenever he leaves the house, but he’s terrified of making himself vulnerable to Jamie. After all, how do you tell someone who believes ghosts only exist as smoke and mirrors that you see them everywhere you go? And how can you trust in a happy future when you can’t even believe in yourself?
A little spooky, a little magical, and a whole lot cozy: The (Most Unusual) Haunting of Edgar Lovejoy will leave you feeling like you’ve found a brand new bookish family of your own.
Sept. 16th: Runs in the Blood
A dark and funny short story collection that reveals poignant truths about queer chosen family
A lesbian mother feels out of place taking her daughter to a princess party; a gay couple turns to unconventional means to create their baby; a grieving man winds up on a date with a centaur; an agoraphobic must make an impossible choice before time runs out. This is the unnerving world of Runs in the Blood, Matthew J. Trafford’s sophomore story collection, and it pulses with humour, anxiety, and profound disquiet.
Darkly satirical and unflinchingly human, the stories of Runs in the Blood unsettle our notions of family, whether biological or chosen. Careening through the space beyond nature versus nurture, its characters—betrayed, wounded, unequipped—wrangle with their own worst instincts and the grotesqueries of the modern world, attempting to create families worth holding on to and to protect the children they love.
Delightful and disarming, odd and audacious, Runs in the Blood announces the return of a bold and fearless writer.
Sept. 18th: There Will Be Other Summers
Perfect for fans of Alice Oseman’s conversational prose and the heart-wrenching coming-of-age stories of Nina LaCour, Tegan Anderson’s There Will Be Other Summers is a queer YA contemporary about the complexities of disability, discovering the wrong ways to be not okay, and how platonic soulmates can change your world overnight.
Ryn is morbidly fascinated by the ocean, and he constantly thinks of ways he might let it consume his life. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him from drowning. He might see past his sadness if he could still…well, see.
Asher lives for the future, counting the days until she turns eighteen when she’ll be old enough to move out of her mother’s house and feel some control over how she spends her time. She tries to see the good in everyone, probably for the best since she blocks out what they say about her. Not by choice, but she does it.
When Asher and Ryn meet in a group therapy exercise where they have to exchange letters, it’s unclear who saves whose life overnight. And when they make a pact to trade their lives for the remainder of the summer, it’s evident that they’ve both found the person who truly understands them: it’s only with Asher that Ryn can be himself-a lonely blind boy who might not be so alone after all. And it’s only with Ryn that Asher stops feeling so self-conscious about her deafness that she can forget to count down the days and start living them. They spend their summer trading letters and the brightest days of their lives, but when Asher finds a tearstained letter from a mysterious writer, it becomes clear that she’ll have to choose between whom she cares more about saving.
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