Queer SF - January 2026
January 1, 2026
Lambent — T.D. Cloud
Genre: Fantasy
Rep: M/M
Komiren, Fox God of the Forest Shrine, has been alone for centuries. Duty is no longer enough, but with eternity staring him down, his options for companionship are limited.
Cerdei the Lantern Spirit hasn’t been wandering this nebulous world just long enough to know he wants nothing to do with the lazy Fox God who spends more time sleeping than answering prayers. He’s content to walk his path alone, even if it does mean walking straight towards oblivion.
In this world, Fate always has a plan; whether or not you want to fall in with it, though, is something much less certain.
Link: Goodreads
January 6, 2026
Through Gates of Garnet and Gold — Seanan McGuire
Genre: Fantasy
Rep: Queer
Series: Book 11 of Wayward Children
A fan-favorite character returns in this action-packed instalment of the Hugo Award-winning Wayward Children series.
After Nancy was cast out of the Halls of the Dead and forced to enroll at Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children, she never believed she’d find her door again, and when she did, she didn’t look back. She disappeared from the school to resume her place in the Halls, never intending to return.
Years have passed. A darkness has descended on the Halls, and the living statues who populate them are dying at the hands of the already dead. The Lord and Lady who rule the land are helpless to stop the slaughter, forcing Nancy to leave the Halls again, this time on purpose, as she attempts to seek much-needed help from her former schoolmates.
But who would volunteer to quest in a world where the dead roam freely?
And why are the dead so intent on adding to their number?
Link: Goodreads
January 9, 2026
A Reckless Indulgence — Aveda Vice
Genre: Fantasy, mythology
Rep: Sapphic; F/X
Sirens can’t fall in love.
It’s a truth Lyx has always believed, even when a dying pirate washed up in her grotto. She should have killed Cav, the infuriatingly charming dragon, but despite her better judgment, she let him live.
That’s a mistake she came to regret.
Two years later, Lyx is trapped in the service of a cruel captain named Tidus. He makes her an help him infiltrate the pleasure ship, Indulgence, and he will finally return her siren song and grant her freedom.
And who has ties to the Indulgence but Cav? It’s a perfect opportunity for Lyx to enact her revenge, but all Cav wants is a chance to make things right. While he bargains to secure her spot on the ship, she agrees to aid him in a series of carnal exploration.
There’s no denying the tension between them. With every entanglement, Cav and Lyx delve deeper into each other until she begins to question what she’s always known.
She needs to remember why she’s to destroy Cav and reunite with her song. Everything else is meaningless…
Isn’t it?
Link: Goodreads
January 11, 2026
Forrest House — E.M. Hamill
Genre: Contemporary fantasy
Rep: M/M
Ander Forrest renounced blood magic to become a nurse-healer in his rural hometown, far from the drama of wizardry and espionage his sister Kate craved. When Kate goes missing in action, Ander finds himself the legal guardian of her gifted twins and receives a cryptic warning from Kate’s husband to protect them before he, too, disappears.
Six months later, his former lover crash lands in the kids’ bedroom via a spell only Ander’s sister could have cast. Druid Cai Piper doesn’t remember how he got there, but he knows he never stopped loving Ander, and that he was sent to protect him and the twins. Cai is strangely drawn to Forrest House and the land it stands upon.
With the secrets of a clandestine wizards’ order hanging between them, Cai and Ander must remember how to trust each other as sinister forces move against the Forrest family—magical terrorists who want to exploit their rare sorcery and bring the world to its knees.
Link: Books2Read
A Dance of Bow & Blade — Ellie Lieberman
Genre: Fairy tale retelling
Rep: Sapphic
A magical, sapphic, all-women fairy tale retelling combining the legends of King Arthur and Robin Hood (and some other Celtic myths sprinkled throughout). Robyn, notorious leader of the band of thieves, and Art, the new queen, become unlikely allies to heal the land.
Link: Goodreads
January 13, 2026
I, in the Shadows — Tori Bovalino
Genre: YA horror
Rep: Sapphic
Maybe this is possession; maybe this is truly what it is to be haunted.
There’s a ghost haunting Drew Tarpin’s new room. Liam Orville has been dead for ten months and has no idea how to move on. But the longer he stays, the more likely it is he’ll degrade into an energy consuming husk—which Drew is more concerned about than her grades or her inability to make meaningful connections with other students.
Drew is everything Liam never was when he was alive, but they do share some common ground: Drew finds herself hopelessly attracted to—and completely tongue-tied around—Hannah Sullivan, who happens to be Liam’s former best friend.
After a run-in with a ghost-eating monster leaves Drew and Liam desperate for answers, they strike up a deal: In return for Drew investigating why Liam is still around, he’ll help her talk to Hannah. But Liam’s time is running out, and if Drew doesn’t help him move on, he risks becoming a monster himself.
Link: Goodreads
Witch in the Wall — Quinn Hogshead
Genre: Fantasy
Rep: Gay
Series: Book 1 of Squall
The wicked witch below Everwatch has been imprisoned longer than even the faerie lords can remember. Her name is a curse, and her sins haunt nightmares.
Gavriel Hall, bastard son of a dead king, wants nothing more than to escape the underground prison-city he calls home. But he’s a pathological liar who avoids conflict at all costs, and he doesn’t dare brave the boundary stones.
On bad days, he records the names of those sacrificed as part of the soul tithe. On good days, he lets himself pine for his best friend Aziz, a mysterious outcast with the twin swords of a forgotten hero.
When his half-siblings’ war for the throne turns Everwatch into a battlefield—and a spectacularly ill-timed kiss drives Aziz away—Gavriel thinks his hopes of a new life are destroyed. That is, until the witch locked below offers him enough dark magic to fix everything. For a price.
As bloodshed engulfs the city, Gavriel must decide what he’s willing to pay for new horizons—and whether he’s truly the coward everyone believes him to be.
Link: Goodreads
Into the Midnight Wood — Alexandra McCollum
Genre: Fantasy romance
Rep: M/M
A whimsical fantasy romance about two mismatched roommates whose fragile—and definitely not romantic at all—balance is upended by an impending family wedding and an otherworldly danger in the nearby enchanted wood.
There are at least 100 things wrong with Meredith Schwarzwelder. In fact, keeping track of these things is the only way David Carew has managed to remain living with him for as long as he has. Meredith is an irredeemable eccentric who flirts with everyone in his path (#3 on the list), cries at anything (#35), makes the worst coffee in the world (#70), and talks to mice, or imagines he does (#50).
It’s bad enough living with such a person on the edge of the Midnight Wood, but when magic starts to seep from the wood and a dark being emerges with a sinister plan involving Meredith, David decides that it’s time to leave the cottage, and his roommate, behind. Then Meredith’s brother gets engaged to the daughter of David’s boss, and David sees an If he can insert himself into the festivities, maybe he can advance his career and get himself out of a personal rut.
With wedding bells sounding and the dangers of the Midnight Wood encroaching, David realizes there’s much more hiding beneath the surface of his roommate’s seemingly carefree charm, and that perhaps his own exasperation carries more fondness than he’d like to admit.
Cozy, sharp, steamy, and poignant, Into the Midnight Wood is a contemporary queer fairy tale about the masks we wear, the stories we tell, and the powerful need for true, honest connection to heal old wounds and new.
Link: Goodreads
City of Others — Jared Poon
Genre: Urban fantasy
Rep: Gay
In the sunny city of Singapore, the government takes care of everything – even the weird stuff. Benjamin Toh is a middle manager in the Department for Engagement of Unusual Stakeholders (DEUS), tasked with taking care of the supernatural occurrences and people no one else wants to deal with, from restless ghosts to immortal gods to conniving jinn. Overworked and under-resourced, he has to juggle the demands of senior management, an elderly father, and a new boyfriend, all while trying to keep his team out of trouble.
When an entire block of flats goes missing in the town of Clementi, drowned in an otherworldly wave, the information he needs to prevent another catastrophe lies in the pasar bayang – the shadow markets. But the demigod protector of the markets has neither forgotten nor forgiven their humiliation by the Singapore authorities decades ago. Ben will need to wrestle with the legacy of his government and the whispers of his own insecurities, navigating landscapes both urban and fantastical, both inside the soul and outside the real world, all so he can just do his goddamn job.
Link: Goodreads
The Book of Blood and Roses — Annie Summerlee
Genre: Paranormal
Rep: Sapphic
Series: Book 1 of The Callisto Chronicles
A vampire hunter goes undercover at a mysterious university—and finds herself falling in love with her roommate, an alluring vampire, in book one of a seductive sapphic paranormal fantasy.
In the mists of the Scottish Highlands is a university where vampires study alongside humans.
Rebecca Charity is a vampire hunter undercover at the university, searching for the mysterious Book of Blood and Roses, a lost compendium of ways to kill vampires. If she finds it, she’ll be one step closer to avenging her parents, who were slain by those creatures of the night.
But when Rebecca arrives, she finds something unexpected: a coffin. Her new roommate is Aliz Astra, scion of one of the most powerful vampire families... and the most beautiful woman Rebecca has ever met.
The maddeningly gorgeous Aliz is everything that Rebecca has always hated but also everything she’s ever wanted, and now Rebecca doesn’t know if she wants to kiss or kill her.
When one moonlit night Aliz rescues her from a vampire attack, she accidentally makes Rebecca her Familiar. Now they must work together to break the curse—but as they get closer to solving the mystery, Rebecca and Aliz get closer, too.
Can a vampire hunter ever fall in love with a vampire?
Link: Goodreads
Red and the Wolves — Cherry Zong
Genre: Apocalyptic fantasy, graphic novel
Rep: Sapphic
For lovers of Through the Woods, Blackwater, and Squad, comes a dark, sapphic retelling of a classic tale.
Red, a fiercely loyal hunter, has dedicated her life to protecting her witch Grand Mother. Monsters have been roaming the forest that they call home, bringing forth a mysterious illness that has devastated the land and chased every living soul away. Until Red stumbles upon an injured wolf-girl named Sil.
Red is cautiously optimistic to befriend someone new, but the more their relationship deepens, the more she begins to uncover the sinister truths behind everything she’s ever known.
Red must make the difficult decision of who to defend, before catastrophe consumes them all. This graphic novel that’s an apocalyptic fantasy meets queer love story turns the classic Little Red Riding Hood fairytale on its head.
Link: Goodreads
January 15, 2026
The Shapes of Our Screams — TT Madden
Genre: Horror, supernatural rock opera
Rep: Genderfluid
The music is alive...
Indie rock band Darrow Foroi is on their way to play an illegal show in Florida to protest their recent anti-drag laws.
It gets inside you…
Lead singer Lo is genderfluid, and this upcoming show at a local renaissance festival is intended to mark their first big, public step into exploring their identity.
When the faire is attacked by sentient neofascist music, Darrow Foroi and the rest of the faire have to fight for their very existence.
What will you become?
The Shapes of Our Screams is a bloody rock opera that’s Green Room with a supernatural twist.
Link: Goodreads
January 17, 2026
God Tokens — Emily Bellman
Genre: Dark fantasy romance
Rep: Queer
Series: Book 1 of Phelen the Cycle
A lost prince, a rising tyranny, and the return of ancient magic will test three heroes bound by fate.
With the king of Talacharn succumbing to sickness, the Three Patriarchs have seized both religious and profane power. They will stop at nothing to cement their rule—even if it means killing innocents.
Danial wants nothing to do with destiny. But when the young merchant Reydon arrives in the mountain hamlet of Elm, claiming Danial is the lost twin of Talacharn’s crown prince, everything changes. As Danial’s God Token erupts with an impossible power, refusing the call becomes far more dangerous than answering it.
Alongside Reydon, who is fleeing the massacre of his family, and Erin the Herbwise, whose own God Token has begun to stir, Danial is pulled into a world of rival Patriarchs, mass disappearances, and forbidden lore.
Every step towards the truth draws Danial and Reydon closer together… and deeper into a struggle that will demand impossible choices.
The Patriarchs blame the mysterious disappearances—now pushing the kingdom to the brink of collapse—on ‘heathen influence’. The Old Gods whisper cryptic warnings. And deep beneath it all, the truths engraved on Danial’s and Erin’s Tokens begin to awaken.
But in the shadows of power, a far more dangerous force is watching… and the strange magic growing inside Danial may be the key to toppling the kingdom’s most ruthless enemy.
Link: Goodreads
January 20, 2026
George Falls Through Time — Ryan Collett
Genre: Time travel, romance
Rep: Queer; gay MC
A brilliant, genre-exploding love story about a man who, in a moment of extreme stress, time travels to the year 1300... where his modern problems are replaced by medieval brutalities—blending the powerful lyricism of Madeline Miller with the sharp wit of Andrew Sean Greer, and perfect for fans ofThe Ministry of Time.
Newly laid off George’s internet bill is in his ex-boyfriend’s name. He’s got a spider-infested apartment, and two of the six dogs he’s walking in London have just escaped. It’s pure undiluted stress that sends him into a spiral—all the way to the year 1300.
When he comes to, George recognizes the same rolling hills of Greenwich Park. But the luxuries and phone service of modernity are nowhere. In their place are locals with a bizarre, slanted speech in awe of his foreign clothes, who swiftly toss him in a dungeon. Despite the barbarity of a medieval world, a servant named Simon helps George acclimate to a simpler, easier existence. But rumors of a dragon haunting the countryside and a summons from the King threaten to send his life up in flames—this time, literally.
A confessional queer romance, a swords-and-sorcery soap opera, a literary, paradox-embracing reimagining of the legend of St. George and the Dragon, George Falls Through Time is a profound meditation on the nature of desire that pits modern sensibilities against a raw and alien backdrop. It asks whether we can love each other without destroying one another, even when life feels like a pile of bills.
Link: Goodreads
Hemlock — Melissa Faliveno
Genre: Gothic horror
Rep: Sapphic
A woman haunted by a dark inheritance returns to the woods where her mother vanished, in this queer Gothic novel—a butch Black Swan.
Sam, finally sober and stable with a cat and a long-term boyfriend in Brooklyn, returns alone to Hemlock, her family’s deteriorating cabin deep in the Wisconsin Northwoods, where her mother disappeared years before and never returned. But a quick, practical trip takes a turn for the worse when the rot and creak of the forest starts to creep in around the edges of Sam’s mind. It starts, as it always does, with a beer.
As Sam dips back into the murky waters of dependency, the inexplicable begins to arrive at her door in the forms of a neighbor who leaves no trace, a talking doe who sounds just like Sam’s missing mother, and a series of mysterious gifts that might be a welcome or a warning. And as Sam’s stay extends—as the town’s grip on her tightens and her body takes on a strange new shape—the borders of reality begin to blur, and she senses she is battling something sinister—whether nested in the woods or within herself.
Hemlock is a carnal coming-of-addiction, a dark sparkler about rapture, desire, transformation, and transcendence in many forms. What lives at the heart of fear—animal, monster, or man? How do we contain a threat that may come from within? And how can we reject our own inheritance, the psychic storm that’s been coming for generations, and rebuild a new home for ourselves? In the tradition of Han Kang’s The Vegetarian, Hemlock is a novel of singular style, with all the edginess of a survival story and a simmering menace that glints from the very periphery of the page.
Link: Goodreads
Soul of a Gentleman Witch — David Ferraro
Genre: YA fantasy
Rep: M/M
To win back his soul from the Devil, a cynical witch must decide if his own freedom is worth delivering a selfless boy to damnation.
Perpetually seventeen, Callum the green witch is indebted to the Devil until he fulfills 666 tasks. When Lucifer offers Callum an unusual job that will end Callum’s contract early and return his soul, Callum readily agrees. All Callum must do is ensure Augustus “Auggie” Sanderson makes it from London to New York by the next blood moon.
This proves more difficult than Callum could’ve predicted as power-hungry witch kings and queens, blood witches, and even necromancers are also out to capture Auggie. To deliver Auggie on time and win back his soul, Callum will need the help of his black cat familiar, his human assistant (whom he accidentally turned into a frog), a four-armed, tally undead witch, and Auggie himself—who seems too good to have made a deal with the Devil.
But if Auggie didn’t make a deal with the Devil, what awaits him in New York? And if Auggie doesn’t deserve his fate, is Callum willing to give up his own chance at freedom to save him?
Link: Goodreads
The Twice-Wanted Witch — Katie Hallahan
Genre: Fantasy romance
Rep: Bi MC; pan genderfluid deuteragonist
Series: Book 2 of McKenna Ellerbeck
When secrets are what protect you, can the truth really set you free?
It’s been six months since McKenna Ellerbeck killed her second Archdemon, saved Arcadia Commons, and earned a spot on the Witches Council. Things should be good, right? Instead she’s overworked, underpaid, and disrespected by her fellow Council members, all while fighting demons on a regular basis and suffering through having her mother as a roommate. At least she has her friends—minus Bastien, her ex who told her to get the hell out of his life months ago.
When her friend Brooke is put on trial with the Council and may lose her magic, with Bastien reappearing to lead the charge, McKenna readily volunteers to represent Brooke. Then just when McKenna has hope there’s more to Bastien's involvement and that they might reconcile, he goes missing, leaving a trail of clues and mystifying secrets: a strange new spell he’s working on with an unknown partner, a secret demon research project, a ring filled with corrupted magic, and a literal demon hiding in his closet.
With an epidemic of demon-induced blunt honesty sweeping the town, hints of another Archdemon making plans to invade, and her mom’s mysterious and possibly criminal old flame showing up, time is running out for McKenna to find Bastien, figure out who’s keeping which secrets, how dangerous they are, and decide whose side she’s on: the powerless or the powerful.
Link: Goodreads
Ivywood Hollow — A.E. Kelly
Genre: Paranormal romance
Rep: Bi MC
Series: Book 1 of the Whispers of Ivywood Duology
When her husband dies, Tallie Frost packs up her grief and moves to a town where no one knows her. But when a chance encounter sparks something she thought she’d never have again, she discovers she’s not the only one carrying the ghosts of their past.
Can love conquer the darkness? Or will history drag them all back into its depths?
Ivywood Hollow is a paranormal romance novella and is book 1 in the Whispers of Ivywood Duology. This book does end on a cliffhanger.
Link: Goodreads
A Wild Radiance — Maria Ingrande Mora
Genre: YA dystopian fantasy
Rep: Queer
A searing YA dystopian fantasy for fans of Arcane and Iron Widow! When a girl with the ability to conduct electricity discovers that the powerful House of Industry is not the benevolent organization they present to be, she teams up with two boys—former lovers—who are standing against the harm the House has caused in the name of progress.
Josephine Haven’s outbursts are infamous at the House of Industry, the secretive school for children who can wield Radiance, an electricity-like magic. She’s tried to follow the rules, but her fiery nature is at odds with the core tenant of the House: never form attachments to others. How is she meant to feel nothing when her classmates are maddening?
No one is surprised when upon graduation, Josephine is banished to the Mission farthest from Sterling City. In Frostbrook, she must work under the authority of standoffish Julian, the former golden boy of the House of Industry. Rather than being helpful, he seems determined to watch her fail. And then there’s Ezra, the flirtatious stranger who’s a little too curious about how the Mission operates.
But there are bigger problems than two frustrating, secretive boys. A deadly disease is spreading across the countryside. When Josephine pulls on threads she shouldn’t, she discovers that the Wasting is a consequence of the powerful magic she’s been spreading across the land.
Horrified, Josephine resolves to expose the corruption at the heart of everything she’s ever known. With no remaining allegiance to the House, she gives in to intoxicating feelings and discovers that relationships are even messier than she imagined. Alongside unexpected allies Julian and Ezra, Josephine must return to Sterling City and take down the House of Industry before the damage caused by Radiance becomes irreversible.
Link: Goodreads
If All the Stars Go Dark — S.G. Prince
Genre: YA science fiction romance
Rep: M/M
When eighteen-year-old Keller Hartman is recruited into the Legion’s most prestigious galactic unit, it’s a dream come true. He's worked hard for this. He’s ready to prove himself. The problem? His new partner—the beautiful, no-nonsense pilot Lament Bringer—wants nothing to do with him.
Forced to work together under Legion orders, Keller and Lament team up with a motley crew of specialists to investigate a mysterious visionary who can predict catastrophes. As they begin to peel back layers, however, they realize there's more to the story than meets the eye. With threats mounting and secrets unfolding, Keller and Lament will need to trust one another in order to stop the dangers at play. But with trust comes other feelings—ones neither of them is prepared for.
With the fate of the universe hanging in the balance, the only thing worse than failing their mission might just be losing each other.
Link: Goodreads
How to Lose a Goblin in Ten Days — Jessie Sylva
Genre: Cozy fantasy romance
Rep: Queer
How to Lose a Goblin in Ten Days is a comfort read fantasy romance between a halfling and a goblin: imagine a classic opposites-attract romcom taking place in those cosy scenes in the hobbits’ Shire from The Lord of the Rings. Expect magical forests, interfering wizards, lots of home cooking, and maybe even a kiss at the Harvest dance...
When a halfling, Pansy, and a goblin, Ren, each think they’ve inherited the same cottage, they make a bargain: they’ll live in the house together, and whoever is driven out first forfeits their ownership. Amidst forced proximity and cultural misunderstandings, the two begin to fall in love.
But when the cottage—and their communities—are threatened by a common enemy, the duo must learn to trust each other, and convince goblins and halflings to band together to oust the tall intruder.
Link: Goodreads
January 27, 2026
To Ride a Rising Storm — Moniquill Blackgoose
Genre: YA fantasy
Rep: Bi FMC; lesbian LI; polyamory
Anequs has not only survived her first year at Kuiper’s Academy but exceeded all of her professors’ admittedly low expectations—and passed all her courses with honors. Now, she and her dragon, Kasaqua, are headed home for the summer, along with Theod, the only other Native student at the Academy.
But what should have been a relaxing break takes a darker turn. Thanks to Anequs’s notoriety, there is an Anglish presence on Masquapaug for the first time ever: a presence which Anequs hates. Anequs will always fight for what she believes in, however, and what she believes in is her people’s right to self-govern and live as they have for generations, without the restrictive yoke of Anglish rules and social customs. And fight she will—even if it means lighting a spark which may flare into civil war.
Link: Goodreads
Persona — Aoife Josie Clements
Genre: Horror
Rep: Trans woman MC
A feral shut-in discovers a disturbing internet porn video of what seems to be herself. A seance of coked-up artists summons unearthly forces in a studio apartment. The staircase of an exurban marketing company descends endlessly beneath the earth.
In Aoife Josie Clements’ electric, nightmarish, intricately layered novel, the impossibility of goodness crowds in upon two young trans women barely surviving on sex work and zero-hours contracts. Below the familiar evils of capitalism and the bottomless depths of internet culture, a darker horror awaits. What curse follows these women? What are they escaping? What are they running towards?
Link: Goodreads
The Demon of Beausoleil — Mari Costa
Genre: Fantasy romance, graphic novel
Rep: M/M
A world of half-demons and the boys who love them await in this epic queer romance by creator Mari Costa (Belle of the Ball)!
A half-demon socialite-turned-exorcist and his disgruntled bodyguard have no trouble facing down the hordes of darkness—but facing their feelings for each other? Well now, that’s a whole different story...
Helianthes is a Cambion—a child born touched by demons. Horned, clawed, and tailed, Helianthes—Hell for short—is a devil-may-care exorcist whose devil-may-care attitude has succeeded in alienating those closest to him—all save for his long-suffering bodyguard, Elias, who sees him as less a strange, mythical being and more just a... nuisance.
Together, the two venture into the streets of a psuedo-remix Victorian London to exorcise demons (and maybe cause a little mischief along the way). But as Hell becomes increasingly drawn to his enigmatic bodyguard—and as Elias becomes increasingly aware of his feelings for his trouble of a charge—they find themselves faced with a growing, chaotic dark that might threaten everything they’ve been working toward...
Link: Goodreads
Way of the Walker — Salinee Goldenberg
Genre: Fantasy
Rep: Bi FMC
Series: Standalone in established universe
Return to the Thai-inspired world of Suyoram in this vicious follow up to 2024’s The Last Phi Hunter, exploring mythology, colonialism, and feminine rage. A perfect read for fans of Iron Widow and The Sword of Kaigen.
With her constant connection to the Everpresent—the mystical plane where hunters draw their powers—Isaree’s a natural Phi Hunter, with a future predetermined by tradition: to stalk the Kingdom of Suyoram’s haunted lands and slay troublesome ghosts.
But the more Ree learns about the Phi Hunter Guild’s legacy, the more she questions their rigid doctrine. And as colonizing forces from Grisland tighten their grip across the region, Ree begins to wonder if the hunter’s path is her true calling.
Elsewhere, the famed Storm Prince Tanung has one desire: death or glory. Grappling with a fading legacy and a mysterious illness, his ambition drives him on a mission to capture a brutal rebel leader known for leaving horrific massacres in their wake. But the further he goes, the further he’s drawn into a war rumbling beyond his reality, and out of anyone’s control.
Their paths were never meant to cross. But unmoored by their legacies, the shadows they cast decide whether they’ll be remembered as heroes—or villains.
Link: Goodreads
Saber-Tooth — Robin Gow
Genre: MG fantasy
Rep: Trans boy MC
From Robin Gow, the award-winning author of Dear Mothman, comes a gripping middle-grade novel in verse about a boy who digs up and loses control of a saber-toothed tiger.
Jasper’s favorite person is his older brother, Callan. They go on fossil-finding missions and stay up late while their parents work nights. Callan even helped Jasper pick out his new name when he came out as trans.
But Callan starts to grow distant and leaves for college without taking Jasper on a promised fossil dig. Jasper feels abandoned—and angry. Who needs Callan? He will dig by himself, in his backyard. As he digs, he hears a the bones of a saber-toothed tiger. He’s buried deep, and he wants Jasper to DIG.
Jasper is sure a discovery like this could change the world, or at least get Callan to text him back. But as the saber-toothed tiger finds freedom, Jasper realizes he may have unleashed a monster that no one was ready for, and that anger can empower you—or destroy you.
Link: Goodreads
Sparking Fire Out of Fate — Brigid Kemmerer
Genre: YA romantasy
Rep: M/M
Series: Book 3 of Forging Silver Into Stars
Broken loyalties. Uncertain fates. Two kingdoms hanging in the balance. The exhilarating finale in bestselling author Brigid Kemmerer’s Forging Silver series will leave readers breathless!
Callyn has grown closer to Queen Lia Mara in Syhl Shallow, bonded by the secret magic they share. But their magic can stay hidden only so long, especially when a dangerous plot on the Queen’s life forces Callyn to work with the man who betrayed her.
In Emberfall, Tycho and Jax are struggling to rebuild their connection after months apart, complicated when they learn of Truthbringers causing trouble at the borders. Sent to investigate together, Jax and Tycho soon discover that the rebellious faction has formed a devil’s bargain with the magical scravers to destroy human magic once and for all.
When their missions bring them together, Tycho, Jax, and Callyn find themselves facing threats from all sides. With one last chance to save their magic and their kingdoms, they must work together, or lose everything.
War has erupted. Love is tested. And without sacrifice, magic could destroy everyone...
Link: Goodreads
Passage to Tokyo — Poppy Kuroki
Genre: Historical fantasy
Rep: F/F
Series: Book 2 of Ancestor Memories
In the second book in the Ancestor Memories historical fantasy series, a young woman finds herself back in 1920s Tokyo as Japan enters a new and dangerous era—and a deadly tragedy awaits her city.
Yui Sanada struggles to raise her twelve-year-old brother, Hiro, while contending with the antics of their neglectful, alcoholic mother. During a trip to Ueno Park, Hiro runs away from his sister into a strange passage beneath a samurai statue. Yui chases after him and soon finds herself in a Tokyo far removed from the familiar world of 1995.
When Yui emerges from the tunnel, she cannot find Hiro but meets a young woman named Chiyo and her family and learns she has traveled back through time to 1923. As feelings between the two women develop, Yui realizes it’s just weeks before the devastating Great Kanto Earthquake will happen, killing tens of thousands and leveling the city. Will Yui be able to find her brother and save her new family from the coming disaster?
Link: Goodreads
Funeral Song — Carly Racklin
Genre: Horror
Rep: Queer
No one mourns the living dead.
In the remote town of Cairney, a gift from the Angel of Death allows the dead to miraculously return to life—after a fashion. For Friede Inkerman, pianist to Cairney’s sacred funerals, Death’s gift is a curse, not a blessing. All she wants after being murdered by her wife and resurrected against her will is to finally rest in peace, free from the grief that ostracizes her from the rest of her death-worshipping town.
On Allhallowsmas, Friede’s hope of passing on to eternal rest is dashed when Death’s gift is stolen and the acolyte who guards it murdered, putting all the dead souls in Cairney at risk of fading into oblivion at sunset. Friede also can’t ignore how much the murder resembles her own.
Clinging to her last happiness, her oldest friend Bastian, Friede races to set things right and see her last wish granted. But Cairney is a town where nothing stays buried, and Friede’s search for answers unearths new horrors that threaten everything she holds dear to her dead heart.
A wrenching, elegant work of supernatural horror about a devout small town’s reckoning with death and the love that transcends it. Perfect for fans of Mike Flanagan and Caitlin Starling.
Link: Goodreads
On Sundays She Picked Flowers — Yah-Yah Scholfield
Genre: Southern gothic, horror
Rep: Sapphic
Lone Women meets Sorrowland in this surreal Southern Gothic debut in which a woman escapes into the uncanny woods of northern Georgia and is forced to contend with ghosts, haints, and most dangerous of all, the truth about herself.
When Judith Rice fled her childhood home, she thought she’d severed her abusive mother’s hold on her. She didn’t have a plan or destination, just a desperate need to escape. Drawn to the forests of northern Georgia, Jude finds shelter in a house as haunted by its violent history as she is by her own.
Jude embraces the eccentricities of the dilapidated house, soothing its ghosts and haints, honoring its blood-soaked land. And over the next thirteen years, Jude blossoms from her bitter beginnings into a wisewoman, a healer.
But her hard-won peace is threatened when an enigmatic woman shows up on her doorstep. The woman is beautiful but unsettling, captivating but uncanny. Ensnared by her desire for this stranger, Jude is caught off guard by brutal urges suddenly simmering beneath her skin. As the woman stirs up memories of her escape years ago, Jude must confront the calls of violence rooted in her bloodline.
Haunting and thought-provoking, On Sunday She Picked Flowers explores retribution, family trauma, and the power of building oneself back up after breaking down.
Link: Goodreads
January 28, 2026
First Tilt — Lucien Burr
Genre: Medieval fantasy romance
Rep: M/M/M
Series: Book 0.5 of Broken Lances
A NAMELESS KNIGHT. A CHAMPION’S FALL. A SQUIRE CAUGHT BETWEEN.
When the mysterious Alaric challenges Ser Halden, an undefeated tournament champion who clawed his way up from nothing, their confrontation sparks more than rivalry. Halden's humiliating defeat leaves him keenly aware of the distance between noble and commoner and drives him toward a dangerous fixation on the man who unseated him.
Caught in their orbit is Perrin, Halden’s loyal squire, who has spent years anticipating his knight’s every need. As tensions between the two men escalate, Perrin is torn between his loyalty and desires he can no longer ignore.
First Tilt is a medieval fantasy romance where pride, power, and desire collide on and off the tournament field, and three men discover that some rivalries burn hottest when the armour comes off.
Perfect for readers who love intense rivals-to-lovers romance and medieval-inspired spectacle.
Link: Goodreads
January 29, 2026
The Reanimator’s Fate — Kara Jorgensen
Genre: Historical fantasy mystery
Rep: M/M; autistic MC
Series: Book 4 of The Reanimator Mysteries
An autistic necromancer, his undead love, and a future in peril.
The Paranormal Society has been Oliver’s home for over a decade, yet he still isn’t sure where he fits. At Gwen’s suggestion, Oliver joins the mutual aid committee, but between misunderstandings, sabotage, and a life-changing proposition, Oliver once again fears he is out of his depth. At least there’s one thing he can count on: Felipe and the cases they solve together.
Felipe has always been the one everyone can depend on, but after years of bloodshed, fighting, and death, the cracks are beginning to show. The gruesome cases that once sustained him, now fill him with dread to the point that he questions how long he can keep going before he breaks. But if he isn’t a weapon, then what good is he to anyone?
A sinister plot against magical folks is unfolding, one that threatens to destroy the Paranormal Society from the inside. Can Oliver and Felipe grow into the men they were always meant to be, or will their doubt spell their doom?
Link: Books2Read
January 31, 2026
This Deadly Touch — Aimee Donnellan
Genre: Cozy fantasy romance
Rep: F/F
A cozy sapphic fantasy romance about the magic of possibility, new horizons, and fresh perspectives.
At age three, Tia almost killed her mother. Born with a rare, recessive condition where her very touch inflicts deadly necrosis magic on other people, Tia has spent the last twenty years in a hidden convent in the Shilheim forest, with others sharing her affliction.
Asha chases horizons. Wants to be known for doing the impossible. So when she learns of a centuries-old blood curse being hidden by the elven authorities, and her even more mysterious patron claims to know how to cure it when no one else has come close… she cannot resist.
With a letter from Asha and a token from a sister she barely remembers, Tia’s life is forever changed when she risks everything to escape the convent and become Asha’s assistant and test subject. But the convent has always had contingency plans for escaped residents, and a single misstep could result in Tia committing manslaughter. To make matters worse, Asha can’t quite keep her thoughts professional when it comes to Tia, and the phrase ‘untouchable’ has never been quite so accurate…
Link: Goodreads