Queer SF - March 2025
March 4, 2025
The Witch and His Crow — Ben Alderson
Genre: Fantasy
Rep: M/M
Series: Book 1 of The Witch Trials
‘Rule them. Win. Become Grand High.’
My name is Hector Briar, and I live for revenge. It’s been eighteen years since Witch Hunters murdered my parents, and still the night haunts me. A part of me died that night, when six-year-old me was forced to listen to their brutal murder. Since then, I’ve gone from prey to predator. I spend my nights stalking Oxford’s streets for those who’d see me slaughtered for being what I am. A witch. And more than that, the son of the last Grand High.
I’ve spent the last years hidden in the shadows, not only from Witch Hunters but also my own kind. But one fateful night lands me directly in the hands of the people I've been evading my entire life—the Coven. Whereas the Witch Hunters want to destroy me, the Coven want me for a darker fate. For my blood. It’s the key to starting the Witch Trials—a contest to find the next Grand High, a contest where witches battle to the death, or madness.
Thrown into the middle of the very contest my mother died trying to prevent, I must make allies with my enemies if I wish to survive the first night. Not so bad when my ally so happens to be an attractive blue-eyed, 6ft-something, tattooed from neck to navel, bloodthirsty rival—Arwyn Morgan.
But I soon discover that not is all as it seems. There are dark forces lingering in the shadows and the truth is a hard pill to swallow. The Witch Hunters seek a Champion of their own. Enemies and allies lose all meaning when a wolf invades the flock.
Surviving the Witch Trials quickly becomes the least of my worries when ancient forces reveal their true natures. Something dark stirs within me, waiting for its inevitable freedom. I’m the key to keeping it locked away, or freeing it.
Link: Goodreads
The Unworthy — Agustina Bazterrica
Genre: Literary horror, dystopian
Rep: Sapphic
The long-awaited new novel from the author of global sensation Tender Is the Flesh: a thrilling work of literary horror about a woman cloistered in a secretive, violent religious order, while outside the world has fallen into chaos.
From her cell in a mysterious convent, a woman writes the story of her life in whatever she can find—discarded ink, dirt, and even her own blood. A lower member of the Sacred Sisterhood, deemed an unworthy, she dreams of ascending to the ranks of the Enlightened at the center of the convent and of pleasing the foreboding Superior Sister. Outside, the world is plagued by catastrophe—cities are submerged underwater, electricity and the internet are nonexistent, and bands of survivors fight and forage in a cruel, barren landscape. Inside, the narrator is controlled, punished, but safe.
But when a stranger makes her way past the convent walls, joining the ranks of the unworthy, she forces the narrator to consider her long-buried past—and what she may be overlooking about the Enlightened. As the two women grow closer, the narrator is increasingly haunted by questions about her own past, the environmental future, and her present life inside the convent. How did she get to the Sacred Sisterhood? Why can’t she remember her life before? And what really happens when a woman is chosen as one of the Enlightened?
A searing, dystopian tale about climate crisis, ideological extremism, and the tidal pull of our most violent, exploitative instincts, this is another unforgettable novel from a master of feminist horror.
Link: Goodreads
Flux — Jinwoo Chong
Genre: Science fiction
Rep: Queer
A blazingly original and stylish debut novel about a young man whose reality unravels when he suspects his mysterious employers have inadvertently discovered time travel—and are using it to cover up a string of violent crimes...
Four days before Christmas, 8-year-old Bo loses his mother in a tragic accident, 28-year-old Brandon loses his job after a hostile takeover of his big-media employer, and 48-year-old Blue, a key witness in a criminal trial against an infamous now-defunct tech startup, struggles to reconnect with his family.
So begins Jinwoo Chong’s dazzling, time-bending debut that blends elements of neo-noir and speculative fiction as the lives of Bo, Brandon, and Blue begin to intersect, uncovering a vast network of secrets and an experimental technology that threatens to upend life itself. Intertwined with them is the saga of an iconic ’80s detective show, Raider, whose star actor has imploded spectacularly after revelations of long-term, concealed abuse.
Flux is a haunting and sometimes shocking exploration of the cyclical nature of grief, of moving past trauma, and of the pervasive nature of whiteness within the development of Asian identity in America.
Link: Goodreads
A Harvest of Hearts — Andrea Eames
Genre: YA fantasy
Rep: M/F, queer
In the beloved tradition of Howl’s Moving Castle, a whimsical and unforgettable story of fantastic adventure, common sense, and the power of love to overcome the greatest of obstacles...
Before Foss Butcher was Snagged, she thought no more of the magic-users than did anyone else in her tiny village. Sometimes gorgeous women in impossible carriages rolled into town and took bits of people’s hearts. Everyone knew hearts fueled their magic. But Foss, plain, clumsy, and practical as a boot, never expected anyone would want hers.
True enough, when the only sorcerer in the kingdom stepped from his glossy carriage, he didn’t intend to hook Foss. Sylvester’s riot of black curls and perfectly etched cheekbones caught her eye a moment too long, that was all. Suddenly, Foss is cursed and finds herself stomping toward the grand City to keep his enchanted House, where her only friend is a talking cat and the walls themselves have moods.
But as Foss learns the ways of magic, she realizes she’s far from its only unwilling captive. Even Sylvester is hemmed in by spells and threats. It’s said this sorcery protects king, country, and order for thousands. If Foss wants to free herself—and, perhaps, Sylvester—she’ll have to confront it all... and uncover the blight nestled in the heart of the kingdom itself.
Link: Goodreads
The River Has Roots — Amal El-Mohtar
Genre: Fantasy
Rep: Queer
Follow the river Liss to the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, and meet two sisters who cannot be separated, even in death.
“Oh what is stronger than a death? Two sisters singing with one breath.”
In the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, dwells the mysterious Hawthorn family.
There, they tend and harvest the enchanted willows and honour an ancient compact to sing to them in thanks for their magic. None more devotedly than the family’s latest daughters, Esther and Ysabel, who cherish each other as much as they cherish the ancient trees.
But when Esther rejects a forceful suitor in favor of a lover from the land of Faerie, not only the sisters’ bond but also their lives will be at risk…
Link: Goodreads
The Keys of Persephone — Kate Gray Glass
Genre: Fantasy
Rep: Sapphic
Lane didn’t know what she thought the afterlife would be, but she certainly hadn’t expected to be a student of the elite Magistrate Academy, performing death magic, chasing down ghosts, and protecting After Life against witches. All for a second chance at life.
Shepherd may be an unwitch, but she’s not going to sit idly by while her sister, Addie, is missing. Witch or not, she’s still one of the most notorious dealers at the Night Market, and she’s going to use every resource at her disposal to find her powerful sister.
When ghosts start turning into shades, their souls dying, Lane is left with all the blame... and with a curious key that seems to be made of bone. And it turns out the sarcastic, witch-affiliated Shepherd has a key too—Addie’s. Lane is forced to team up with Shepherd to clear her name, and in exchange, she’ll help find Shepherd’s sister.
But as they investigate the shades and trace Addie’s steps, the two unknowingly stumble upon a secret even bigger than their own—so big that it might be the end of Life as they know it.
In her stunning debut, Kate Gray Glass crafts a sapphic tale of life versus death, lies versus the truth, and the powerful versus the powerless that will have readers hungry for more.
Link: Goodreads
Emberclaw — L.R. Lam
Genre: Romantasy
Rep: Queer, non-binary
Series: Book 2 of Dragon Scales
The final book in a new romance epic fantasy duology, in which long-banished dragons, revered as gods, return to the mortal realm—a perfect read for your next book club!
Arcady faces their greatest heist yet: posing as a noble student at the arcane University of Vatra. When the University announces the reinstatement of archaic trials of magic, the ever-penniless Arcady seizes the chance. If they win, they not only prove their worth, but the scholarship will give them more time to unlock secrets and reveal, once and for all, that their grandsire was not the Plaguebringer. Yet grief still leaves Arcady broken, and when they close their eyes, they dream of a certain dragon.
Everen, once the hope of dragons, is now hated by his kind. When he is eventually released from his prison, the Queen is clear: while he may help protect the island from wraith attacks, he is no longer a prince of the realm. As he struggles to find his place in Vere Celene, visions of the past, the future, and tantalizing glimpses of Arcady still haunt him. If he steers the wrong path through fate’s storm, he may never be able to create a future where both humans and dragons live in harmony.
Arcady soon realizes that to survive the rising threats from both their old life and their new one, they must use every trick at their disposal—even magic stolen from a dragon they thought dead. And as time runs out before an ancient danger awakens, Everen must fight his way back to Arcady, earn their forgiveness, and learn what it truly means to be an Emberclaw.
Link: Goodreads
Blade Broken — Niranjan
Genre: Fantasy
Rep: Queer
A spy lurking in the shadows, a nation on the verge of an invasion, a man desperate to protect his home.
Lucian is the Blade of Castrial—the kingdom’s spymaster and first line of defense, lauded for his success in repelling an invasion from Garaner. But the war has left Castrial’s economy in shambles, and when the neighbouring kingdom of Sarian musters their armies and sends spies into Castrial, Lucian realises two things: they have a spy in their midst, and they can’t afford the cost of fighting off another invasion.
And if that wasn’t trouble enough, there is Alaric, the Shield of Castrial and the only man in the Echelon whose power is equal to Lucian’s. Returned from banishment like the vengeful spirit of their previous relationship, Alaric carries a deep-set grudge against Lucian, a grudge that may well be justified.
Lucian’s desire to protect his nation is nearly equal to his wish to reconcile with Alaric, but if he cannot get his act together and convince the Shield to work with him, Castrial will fall.
Blade Broken is a queer, sword-and-sorcery fantasy and the first book in The Echelon Series. If you love flawed characters, betrayals and redemption, and gritty worldbuilding with lots of political machinations, you will love this book.
Link: Goodreads
Two Truths and a Lie — Cory O’Brien
Genre: Science fiction, cyberpunk
Rep: Gay MC
From the beloved internet humorist, a debut novel that introduces an unforgettable investigator to the drowned streets of L.A. in a hugely imaginative and heartfelt blend of noir and cyberpunk.
In a mostly underwater near-future Los Angeles, aging combat-drone veteran Orr Vue now lives a simple and small life, trading snippets of what's become the most valuable information. So when the cops show up at his door looking for data on a murder he’s not even aware has happened, things get interesting for the first time in 25 years.
At first, Orr is happy to exchange whatever he knows about the demise of InfoDrip’s top exec to buy booze and pay rent on his memory storage, but that plan goes to hell when Orr’s old boyfriend, Auggie Wolf, shows up as the number one suspect. Forced to stretch his atrophied spy skills and take his illegal horde of drones out of retirement alongside his busted knees, Orr finds himself in the crosshairs of the militarized police, a family of megarich corporate heirs, a clan of emancipated AIs, and a cult. Barely avoiding getting killed with every clue he collects, Orr realizes he's uncovered not just a murder, but a conspiracy that threatens Auggie’s very existence. Ahh, the things we do for love...
But in a world where memories can be bought and sold, how can you truly know who anyone is—or what you yourself are capable of? Fast paced, funny, and shockingly romantic, Two Truths and a Lie is Raymond Chandler reinvented for the 22nd century.
Link: Goodreads
Fable for the End of the World — Ava Reid
Genre: YA dystopian romance
Rep: Sapphic
The Last of Us meets The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes in this standalone dystopian romance about survival, sacrifice, and love that risks everything.
By encouraging massive accumulations of debt from its underclass, a single corporation, Caerus, controls all aspects of society.
Inesa lives with her brother in a half-sunken town where they scrape by running a taxidermy shop. Unbeknownst to Inesa, their cruel and indolent mother has accrued an enormous debt—enough to qualify one of her children for Caerus’s livestreamed assassination spectacle: the Lamb’s Gauntlet.
Melinoë is a Caerus assassin, trained to track and kill the sacrificial Lambs. The product of neural reconditioning and physiological alteration, she is a living weapon, known for her cold brutality and deadly beauty. She has never failed to assassinate one of her marks.
When Inesa learns that her mother has offered her as a sacrifice, at first she despairs—the Gauntlet is always a bloodbath for the impoverished debtors. But she’s had years of practice surviving in the apocalyptic wastes, and with the help of her hunter brother, she might stand a chance of staying alive.
For Melinoë, this is a game she can’t afford to lose. Despite her reputation for mercilessness, she is haunted by painful flashbacks. After her last Gauntlet, where she broke down on livestream, she desperately needs redemption.
As Mel pursues Inesa across the wasteland, both girls begin to question everything: Inesa wonders if there’s more to life than survival, while Mel wonders if she’s capable of more than killing.
And both wonder if, against all odds, they might be falling in love.
Link: Goodreads
Our Infinite Fates — Laura Steven
Genre: YA romantasy
Rep: Queer
The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue meets This is How You Lose The Time War in this fantastical love story that defies death as two souls reincarnate through the centuries.
They’ve loved each other in a thousand lifetimes. They’ve killed each other in every one.
Evelyn remembers all her past lives. She also remembers that in every single one, she’s been murdered before her eighteenth birthday by Arden, a supernatural being whose soul―and survival―is tethered to hers.
The problem is that she’s quite fond of the life she’s in now, and her little sister needs her for bone marrow transplants in order to stay alive. If Evelyn wants to save her sister, she’ll have to:
- Find the centuries-old devil who hunts her through each life―before they find her first.
- Figure out why she’s being hunted and finally break their curse.
- Try not to fall in love.
Link: Goodreads
Tea You at the Altar — Rebecca Thorne
Genre: Cozy fantasy romance
Rep: F/F
Series: Book 3 of Tomes & Tea
The Princess Bride meets Bookshops and Bonedust in the third book of the Tomes & Tea series, where our favorite lesbian pirates must navigate the ultimate maelstrom—their own wedding!
Kianthe and Reyna are ready to finally walk down the aisle—in just seven days, their wedding of a wifetime will be a reality. There’s loads to do—but like all best-laid plans, everything seems to be going awry.
Between their baby dragons causing mayhem in Tawney, Kianthe’s uptight parents inviting themselves to the wedding, and Reyna becoming embroiled in a secret plot to overthrow Queen Tilaine, the world seems against them—how are they going to live long enough to say “I do”?
Link: Goodreads
They Bloom at Night — Trang Thanh Tran
Genre: YA contemporary fantasy, horror
Rep: Sapphic; non-binary MC
A red algae bloom has taken over Mercy, Louisiana. Ever since a devastating hurricane, mutated wildlife lurks in the water that rises by the day. But Mercy has always been a place where monsters walk in plain sight. Especially at its heart: The Cove, where Noon’s life was upended long before the storm at a party her older boyfriend insisted on.
Now, Noon is stuck navigating the submerged town with her mom, who believes their dead family has reincarnated as sea creatures. Alone with the pain of what happened that night at the cove, Noon buries the truth: she is not the right shape.
When Mercy’s predatory leader demands Noon and her mom capture the creature drowning residents, she reluctantly finds an ally in his deadly hunter of a daughter and friends old and new. As the next storm approaches, Noon must confront the past and decide if it’s time to answer the monster itching at her skin.
Link: Goodreads
March 7, 2025
Specimen — C. Quince
Genre: Paranormal
Rep: M/M
Series: Book 1 of Prism Agents
David Cortez, a decorated US Marine, is now on the run from his own government after escaping a top-secret CIA lab when an experimental medical procedure turned sour.
While lying low in Mexico, an assassin sent from British Intelligence tracks him down. However, Sonny from MI6, a British-Iranian with a cockney accent, offers David a choice: join his team, or be killed.
David chooses to work with Sonny, not only because he wants his life back, but because he feels a kinship with the man.
They’re also both in the unique position of being the only living test subjects with alien DNA in their blood. Could that explain the strong attraction between them?
Link: NineStar Press
The Dreaming Dead — Jay Wayward
Genre: Dark fantasy
Rep: Queer
Keno Sif is a marauder who has made her name killing, drinking, and breaking hearts across the vast continent of Atlas. Together with her mentor Buri the Giant, and the master thief Ivon, their combined bounties have an army of mercenaries dogging their every waking moment.
After a reckless escape lands them among the ruins of a lost kingdom, Sif begins to suffer from nightmares calling her to the sunken city of Agartha, said to be the resting place of both horrific tragedy and priceless treasure. Maybe enough treasure to escape arrest for good.
Decades later, Sif has retreated into the snowy mountains of her homeland, wanting only to be left in peace. But when she is forced to defend a cursed girl named Najah from a common enemy, Sif realizes that the only way to protect her solitary life is by accompanying the girl back into a world she’d hoped to forget. The closer they get to unraveling Najah’s curse, the more Sif’s memories of Agartha call to her.
It seems all roads lead back to that city at the end of the world, and the horrors Sif left there decades ago.
The Dreaming Dead is a queer dark fantasy about finding your place with the family you choose, and finding your purpose even after the world has cast you aside.
Link: Goodreads
March 10, 2025
Zero Happily Ever Afters — MN Bennet
Genre: Fantasy, paranormal
Rep: M/M
Series: Book 4 of Branches of Past and Future
Dorian’s moving into his final semester with his homeroom coven, doing his best to prepare them for their third-year internships. After the events of last semester—the life lost and the futures altered—Dorian grapples with the role his magic played in that ordeal, and he’s determined to finally master the full extent of his telepathy.
Meanwhile, Milo officially joins the ranks of the Global Guild and works with the most elite witches in the world to track the deadliest threat ever to cross his path. A witch unlike any other. A witch capable of more destruction than the countless warlocks, demons, and devils that the great Enchanter Evergreen has faced in his career. A witch determined to shatter every happy ending.
In order for Milo to ensure the happiest ever after that ever aftered, he’ll have to help the Global Guild detain this new danger while preventing former enemies at home from resurfacing. As old visions return, new potential futures form, and Dorian must do everything in his power to protect his students from the worst possible outcome.
Link: Goodreads
Servant of Fear — Bryn Suddarth
Genre: Fantasy romance
Rep: M/M
Series: Book 2 of Song of the Dark
After a life-changing showdown with Tetra to put an end to the siren plague, Thomas is now free to focus on saving magi from his parents’ cruel efforts to take away their magic. While Thomas struggles to balance his old mortal life with his new divine responsibilities, he discovers that Tetra may have something far more sinister in store for Mariana and for him. On top of duties to a higher realm, he struggles to control his newly recovered magic, and the only person who can guide him through it is the last person he wants to see—his ex-boyfriend, Charles Southworth. If he can’t learn to control his newfound power before time runs out, he will lose Mariana forever.
Meanwhile, Felix, the shapeshifter who took Thomas’s face, has been handed over to the Hambletons’ infamous magic rehabilitation camp. As he navigates life inside the bizarre new place, he finds it hard to know who to trust. He encounters an old frenemy from his hometown who approaches him with an uncertain offer of escape, orchestrated entirely by a friendly but inscrutable witch. Their efforts to find a way out become more dangerous as the camp tightens its restrictions, and Felix questions whether he can trust a stranger more than an old friend. If he chooses wrong, the price is his soul.
Link: Goodreads
March 11, 2025
The Tomb of Dragons — Katherine Addison
Genre: Fantasy, mystery
Rep: Gay MC; aromantic secondary character
Series: Book 3 of The Cemeteries of Amalo
Thara Celehar has lost his ability to speak with the dead. When that title of Witness for the Dead is gone, what defines him?
While his title may be gone, his duties are not. Celehar contends with a municipal cemetery with fifty years of secrets, the damage of a revethavar he’s terrified to remember, and a group of miners who are more than willing to trade Celehar’s life for a chance at what they feel they’re owed.
Celehar does not have to face these impossible tasks alone. Joining him are his mentee Velhiro Tomasaran, still finding her footing with the investigative nature of their job; Iäna Pel-Thenhior, his beloved opera director friend and avid supporter; and the valiant guard captain Hanu Olgarezh.
Amidst the backdrop of a murder and a brewing political uprising, Celehar must seek justice for those who cannot find it themselves under a tense political system. The repercussions of his quest are never as simple they seem, and Celehar’s own life and happiness hang in the balance.
Link: Goodreads
Idolfire — Grace Curtis
Genre: Epic fantasy
Rep: Sapphic
Idolfire is an epic sapphic fantasy inspired by the fall of Rome, from the author of the Frontier and Floating Hotel.
ON ONE SIDE OF THE WORLD, Aleya Ana-Ulai is desperate for a chance. Her family have written her off as a mistake, but she’s determined to prove every last one of them wrong.
ON THE OTHER, Kirby of Wall’s End is searching for redemption. An ancient curse tore her life apart, but to fix it, she’ll have to leave everything behind.
Fate sets them both on the path to Nivela, a city once poised to conquer the world with the power of a thousand stolen gods. Now the gates are closed and the old magic slumbers. Dead—or waiting for a spark to light it anew...
Link: Goodreads
Blood Beneath the Snow — Alexandra Kennington
Genre: Romantasy
Rep: M/F; asexual
Series: Book 1 of the Blood & Souls Duology
A heart-pounding romantasy following a rebellious princess who must compete to the death against her siblings for the crown to ensure justice, while fighting her feelings for her country’s most powerful enemy by debut author Alexandra Kennington.
Revna is no stranger to struggle. As the only member of the royal family without a magical ability, she is seen as an embarrassing mistake to her kingdom and a blight on her family tree. Luckily, Revna has found family in other outcasts in her kingdom. But when her two closest friends’ lives are put in danger, she is determined to save them by any means necessary, no matter the cost. The Bloodshed Trials—a competition where the last sibling in the royal family standing takes the throne—might just be the ultimate price.
Revna turns down her arranged marriage and commits to competing for the throne only to be kidnapped by the mysterious and terrifyingly powerful Hellbringer, the general of her country’s greatest enemy. He has the ability to rend souls with the flick of his wrist and is every inch as intimidating as the war stories say he is. But Revna wonders if there may be some humanity left in him—especially when he reveals there are other parties who want her on the throne for their own furtive reasons.
Link: Goodreads
A Single Brutal Fate — Lee Paige O’Brien
Genre: YA fantasy
Rep: Queer; non-binary MC
Series: Book 2 of The Broken Tower
A powerful spellcaster must find an ancient archive and escape a dangerous bargain to save their friend—and themself—in the second book in The Broken Tower saga, which New York Times bestselling author Andrew Joseph White called “a twisting, creeping mystery full of tenuous friendships, difficult choices, and beautiful magic.”
Rat Evans knows that they shouldn’t have made a deal with Isola, a shadowy raven knight older than the stars and more powerful than the strongest arcanists. They know Isola can’t be trusted, know that promising to go with her once all of this is over was a mistake. But they’d needed to make sure their friends were safe—that Harker was safe, even though they’re still not sure if he’s a friend or a rival or something more complicated. And even if Isola’s been keeping him locked away at the tower for almost two months.
Now, Rat needs to search Bellamy Arts for answers on how to get Isola’s heart out of the Ingrid Collection. But even with the help of Will, Jinx, and Agatha, the doors to the collection might be the one puzzle Rat can’t solve, and Evening is fast on their heels.
The more Rat tries to use their powers to unravel the secrets of Isola’s heart and the Collection, the more they realize how intertwined they may be in all of this—and that their role in Isola’s game might be an even more dangerous one than they’d imagined. Will Rat find a way to escape their deal and save the boy they care about most? And what are they willing to risk in order to make sure that the tower and Isola are razed to the ground, for good this time?
Link: Goodreads
Homegrown Magic — Jamie Pacton & Rebecca Podos
Genre: Cozy fantasy mystery
Rep: Sapphic; non-binary MC; F/X
A delightful queer romantic fantasy full of friends-to-lovers chemistry, found family, rival family drama, and cozy garden magic from two acclaimed YA authors making their debut in the adult space.
Yael Clauneck is the only scion of an obscenely wealthy banking family with its fingers in every pie in the realm. They’re on the precipice of a predetermined life when they flee their own graduation party, galloping away in search of... well, they’re not sure, but maybe the chance to feel like life can still be a grand adventure.
Margot Greenwillow—talented plant witch, tea lover, and greenhouse owner—has never felt further from adventure in her life. She’s been desperately trying to keep what remains of her family's magic remedies business afloat. So when her childhood friend and former crush, Yael, rides back into her life, she’s shocked. But perhaps this could be a good thing. After all, Margot could use an assistant in the greenhouses.
Yael has no experience or, honestly, practical skills, but they’re delighted to accept. They can lay low for a while, flirting with Margot while they figure out what to do next. Meanwhile, Margot has plans of her own—but plans are notoriously unreliable things, unlikely to survive a swiftly blooming mutual attraction, not to mention the machinations of parents determined to get their heir back... no matter the cost.
Link: Goodreads
The Sea Eternal — Emery Robin
Genre: Space opera, retelling
Rep: Sapphic
Series: Book 2 of Empire Without End
Goddess, tell me the story.
Matheus Ceirran, commander of half the known world, is dead. For the past year, his loyal captain Anita has hunted down his assassins—that is, when she can pull herself from the bed of Altagracia Caviro Patramata, queen and oracle of the client planet of Szayet. But when Anita’s quest for revenge takes her across the borders of an enigmatic neighboring empire, she uncovers a dangerous secret that could upend the fragile balance of the galaxy.
Meanwhile, Ceirran’s heir apparent Otávio Julhan grows more and more powerful in the capital that Anita has left behind. Caught between home, Szayet, and a new and greater threat, Anita finds herself at the center of a war that threatens to collapse her world.
The fate of empires dances on the tip of a knife, and history will be written by the victors in this sweeping tale of myth, imperial legacy, and the love affair of a lifetime.
Link: Goodreads
What Wakes the Bells — Elle Tesch
Genre: YA fantasy
Rep: Demi FMC; aroace brother
Inspired by an ominous Prague legend, What Wakes the Bells is a lavish gothic fantasy by debut author Elle Tesch.
Built by long-gone Saints, the city of Vaiwyn lives and breathes and bleeds. As a Keeper, Mina knows better than most what her care of Vaiwyn’s bells means for the sentient city. It’s the Strauss family’s thousand-year legacy―prevent the Vespers from ringing, or they will awake a slumbering evil.
One afternoon, to Mina’s horror, her bell peals thirteen times, shattering the city’s tenuous peace. With so much of the city’s history and lore lost in a long-ago disaster, no one knows the danger that has been unleashed―until the city begins to fight back. As the sun sets, stone gargoyles and bronze statues tear away from their buildings and plinths to hunt people through the streets. Trapped in Mina’s bell, the soul of a twisted and power-hungry Saint festered. Now free of his prison, he hides behind the face of one of Vaiwyn’s citizens, corrupting the city and turning it on itself.
Time is running out, and the only chance Mina has to stop the destruction and horrific killings is finding and destroying the Saint’s host. Everyone is a suspect, including Mina’s closest loved ones. She will have to decide how far she’ll go to save her city―and who she’s willing to kill to do it.
Link: Goodreads
March 14, 2025
Goldnight of Starfall — Beau Van Dalen
Genre: Dark erotic fantasy
Rep: Trans man MC; M/M
In a countryside still ravaged by magical war, Eris—a closeted trans man—finds a fallen angel amid a field of golden wheat. The angel, Helge, is searching for his partner, a king he loved hundreds of years ago, who was brutally assasinated by his own people.
And Helge is convinced he has just found his star-crossed lover in Eris, reincarnated.
But is Eris truly a king? Or is that merely wishful thinking on Helge’s behalf?
Regardless of the truth, Eris takes Helge as his lover to get away from the repression of his mundane life, where the two soon find themselves in a kindred symbiotic relationship. As their deepest desires merge then blend, they turn into a single wish of wanting to escape from this world that would never accept them—to carve a place for themselves, to find meaning in the meaningless, and love at the end of a rising dawn.
From award-nominated and best-selling author Beau Van Dalen, Goldnight of Starfall is a dark fantastical erotic tale, featuring a trans man protagonist, weaved with themes of existentialism and hope hidden within despair.
Link: Books2Read
March 17, 2025
Crucible — Seth Haddon
Genre: Fantasy
Rep: M/M
Series: Book 0.5 of Reforged
Prince Zavrius has spent his life in the shadow of his family’s power, fifth in line to a throne he will never claim. While his eldest brother Theo schemes and the court buzzes with whispers of war, Zavrius is tasked with proving his worth by demonstrating swordsmanship at a royal ceremony—a skill he sorely lacks.
Enter Balen, a rising star in the Paladin Order, who stumbles upon Zavrius’ struggles and offers to train him. Balen is everything Zavrius isn’t: disciplined, unflinching, and steadfastly loyal to his duty. But as the two spend stolen hours together, a bond begins to form—one that defies their stations and the chaos brewing around them.
Meanwhile, Zavrius’ mother, Queen Arasne, hides a deadly illness, determined to maintain the fragile peace she’s built. With nobles pushing for war and Theo’s simmering hatred threatening to ignite, Zavrius finds himself drawn into the court’s dangerous undercurrents. And through it all, his feelings for Balen deepen, even as he knows their love is doomed.
Set five years before the events of Reforged, Crucible is a sweeping tale of passion and heartbreak, tracing the forbidden love that would one day shape the fate of a kingdom.
Link: Goodreads
March 18, 2025
Fatal Spores & Fiery Paths — Kellie Doherty
Genre: High fantasy
Rep: Sapphic
Series: Book 4 of The Broken Chronicles
Zayla was just an infant noxling when her bitterroot offshoot was destroyed by a terrible suncreature. No one from her home survived. And from what she knows of her Nemora history, she shouldn’t be alive either. But she is. There’s a constant hum inside her, a shaking that grows more violent and painful each time she harnesses her crafting to do her bidding. Nature is clearly trying to finish the job the suncreature started.
Her only hope is to finish walking the path. When she completes this sacred rite of passage, she’ll never need to use her crafting again. She has to get to Ratnaa Grove, her final stop, and the quickest way there is through the deadly Cinder Forest. With the help of her sibling Oryn and an alluring musician named Shadre who they met along the way, Zayla fends off bloodthirsty suncreatures and discovers an invasion of evil sun goddess worshippers bent on razing the Groves.
As she struggles to survive, betrayal lurks on every side, and her crafting demands a higher price than even she expected. But the fate of the Nemora Groves, and the world as she knows it, might just lie within her.
Link: Author’s Website
Tempest, Take Me Home — Charlie Knight
Genre: Romantasy
Rep: Non-binary MC; M/X; disability
Eli has made their career and built their reputation as a treasure hunter and captain of Tempest. Now, they have the chance to secure their status as a legend on the seas... but they’re going to need help to get this job done.
Max lives a calm, orderly routine, using his magic to provide maps for his clients and securing a name for himself as the best in the business. The only excitement Max gets is when Eli and Tempest come home to visit... but the proposal Eli brings home this time is an opportunity Max has never imagined.
Tempest and crew have been recruited to track down and recover pieces of myth, priceless items said to have come to the world directly from the gods. If they pull it off, the ship will receive gold and acclaim the likes of which none of them has ever imagined... but they aren’t the only ship on the seas after this prize. When a rival crew finds out that Max is Eli’s secret weapon, the risk to the magical cartographer is higher than any of them bargained for.
Eli and Max have been best friends since they were kids and in love for longer than either of them can remember. They’ve seen one another through a lot, but now, they’ll need to hold onto the foundation they’ve built between them if they’re going to ride out the storms ahead.
Link: Books2Read
Till Death — Kellan McDaniel
Genre: YA romantic horror
Rep: Gay MCs
Two gay men—one young, one ageless—sink their teeth into reclaiming their lives and identities from those who would silence them in this insatiable romantic horror novel from Hugo and Nebula Award–nominated author Kellan McDaniel.
Howard is biding his time until he can finally leave for college, where he has been promised it gets better. The last thing he expected was to meet a boy. But George reminds Howard of the movie stars from the 1960s he’s obsessed with. Plus, George is endearingly formal and well-read, and his grandpa fashion is super authentic.
After over twenty years together, George is about to lose his life partner. He met James when they were teenagers then lost track of him until they reconnected in their early sixties. Now, James is going somewhere beyond George’s reach—because George is a vampire, forever trapped in the body of a nineteen-year-old.
As the two grow closer, George begins to see a future beyond losing his first love, and Howard stops imagining himself always being alone…even if companionship comes at the cost of his mortality. When the discrimination the men have suffered their whole lives rears its ugly head to take away their happy ending, they finally strike back at the world that’s done its best to subdue them their entire lives.
Link: Goodreads
The Hymn to Dionysus — Natasha Pulley
Genre: Mythology, historical fantasy
Rep: M/M
A timely and timeless reimagining of the story of Dionysus, Greek God of ecstasy and madness, revelry and ruin, for readers of The Song of Achilles and Elektra.
Raised in a Greek legion, Phaidros has been taught to fight for the homeland he’s never seen and to follow his commander’s orders at all costs. But when he rescues a baby from a fire at Thebes’s palace, his commander’s orders cease to make sense: Phaidros is forced to abandon the blue-eyed boy at a temple, and to keep the baby’s existence a secret.
Years later, after a strange encounter that led to the death of his battalion, Phaidros has become a training master for young soldiers. He struggles with panic attacks and flashbacks, and he is not the only one: all around him, his fellow veterans are losing their minds.
Phaidros’s risk of madness is not his only problem: his life has become entangled with Thebes’s young crown prince, who wishes to escape the marriage his mother, the Queen, has chosen for him. When the prince vanishes, Phaidros is drawn into the search for him—a search that leads him to a blue-eyed witch named Dionysus, whose guidance is as wise as the events that surround him are strange. In Dionysus’s company, Phaidros witnesses sudden outbursts of riots and unrest, and everywhere Dionysus goes, rumors follow about a new god, one sired by Zeus but lost in a fire.
In The Hymn to Dionysus, bestselling author Natasha Pulley transports us to an ancient empire on the edge of ruin to tell an utterly captivating story about a man needing a god to remind him how to be a human.
Link: Goodreads
Aunt Tigress — Emily Yu-Xuan Qin
Genre: Urban fantasy
Rep: Sapphic
Tam hasn’t eaten anyone in years.
She is now Mama’s soft-spoken, vegan daughter—everything dangerous about her is cut out, repressed. Medicated.
But when Tam’s estranged Aunt Tigress is found murdered and skinned, Tam inherits an undead fox in a shoebox and an ensemble of old enemies.
The demons, the ghosts, the gods running coffee shops by the river? Fine. The tentacled thing stalking Tam across the city? Absolutely not. And when Tam realizes the girl she’s falling in love with might be yet another loose end from her past? That’s just the brassy, beautiful cherry on top.
Because no matter how quietly she lives, Tam can’t hide from her voracious upbringing, nor the suffering she caused. As she navigates romance, redemption, and the end of the world, she can’t help but wonder...
Do monsters even deserve happy endings?
With worldbuilding inspired by Chinese folklore and the Siksiká Nation in Canada, LGBTQIA+ representation, and a sapphic romance, Aunt Tigress is at once familiar and breathtakingly innovative.
Link: Goodreads
Passing Through a Prairie Country — Dennis E. Staples
Genre: Horror, paranormal
Rep: Queer; Ojibwe MCs
A darkly humorous thriller about the ghosts that haunt the temples of excess we call casinos, and the people caught in their high-stakes, low-odds web.
For decades, a dark force has terrorized the Languille Lake reservation. Spoken of only in whispers as “the sandman,” he lurks in the Hidden Atlantis Lake Resort and Casino, the reservation’s main attraction and source of revenue, leeching its patrons’ dreams and preventing the ghosts that linger there from moving on. Fleeing a breakup, Marion Lafournier, a midtwenties Ojibwe, seeks solace in the slot machine’s siren song. Here he falls afoul of the sandman, an encounter he barely escapes through the timely intervention of his cousins Alana and Cherie, who both work at the casino and are intimately aware of the sandman’s power. Meanwhile, Glenn Nielan, recently out of the closet and an aspiring documentarian, hopes to capture the faces of the Ojibwe land while experiencing the casino’s thrills. But he will learn that all who choose to play the sandman’s games are in danger of falling into his grasp.
Marion and Alana are members of the Bullhead clan, a family with ties to a sacred past and a fierce determination to ensure their future. Alana, with her sevenfire sight, is the only person to fully understand the danger the sandman poses. Aware of Marion’s occasional ability to navigate the spirit world, she enlists his aid in defeating this wraith. But the power and reach of the sandman go far beyond Alana’s worst fears. Soon she and Marion find themselves in a battle for their lives and for the souls of the reservation’s residents, both the living and the dead.
Link: Goodreads
Murder by Memory — Olivia Waite
Genre: Science fiction, cozy mystery
Rep: Sapphic
Series: Book 1 of Dorothy Gentleman
A Memory Called Empire meets Miss Marple in this cozy, spaceborne mystery, helmed by a no-nonsense formidable auntie of a detective.
Welcome to the HMS Fairweather, Her Majesty’s most luxurious interstellar passenger liner! Room and board are included, new bodies are graciously provided upon request, and should you desire a rest between lifetimes, your mind shall be most carefully preserved in glass in the Library, shielded from every danger.
Near the topmost deck of an interstellar generation ship, Dorothy Gentleman wakes up in a body that isn’t hers—just as someone else is found murdered. As one of the ship’s detectives, Dorothy usually delights in unraveling the schemes on board the Fairweather, but when she finds that someone is not only killing bodies but purposefully deleting minds from the Library, she realizes something even more sinister is afoot.
Dorothy suspects her misfortune is partly the fault of her feckless nephew Ruthie who, despite his brilliance as a programmer, leaves chaos in his cheerful wake. Or perhaps the sultry yarn store proprietor—and ex-girlfriend of the body Dorothy is currently inhabiting—knows more than she’s letting on. Whatever it is, Dorothy intends to solve this case. Because someone has done the impossible and found a way to make murder on the Fairweather a very permanent state indeed. A mastermind may be at work—and if so, they’ve had three hundred years to perfect their schemes...
Link: Goodreads
The Prince Without Sorrow — Maithree Wijesekara
Genre: Fantasy
Rep: Queer
Series: Book 1 of Obsidian Throne
Drawing on inspiration from the Mauryan Empire of Ancient India, debut author Maithree Wijesekara plunges readers into the first amazing book of the Obsidian Throne trilogy, a new fantasy series of hunted witches, romantic angst, and political intrigue. Perfect for fans of The Hurricane Wars and The Jasmine Throne.
A prince born into violence, seeking peace.
Prince Ashoka is the youngest son of the tyrannical Emperor Adil Maurya. Considered an outcast by his father for his rejection of the emperor’s brutal onslaught against the witches of the empire, Ashoka longs for change. When the sudden and unexpected death of his father leaves the monarchy in disarray, Ashoka is sent to govern a tumultuous region annexed by Emperor Adil that is terrorized by nature spirits—a task many see as doomed to fail. Suspected by a disdainful governor and evaded by distrustful witches, Ashoka must question his rigid ideals and fight against becoming the one person he despises the most—his father.
A witch shackled by pacifism, seeking revenge.
Shakti is a a witch bound by a pacifist code. After witnessing the murder of her aunt and village at the hands of the emperor, Shakti hurtles down a path of revenge, casting a curse with unexpected consequences. Posing as a maidservant in the famed palace of the Mauryas and armed with newfound powers beyond her imagination, Shakti attempts to dismantle the monarchy from within by having the royal progeny ruin themselves and turn their father’s legacy into nothing but ash.
In a world where nature spirits roam the land, and witches are hunted to extinction, Ashoka and Shakti will be forced to grapple with the consequences of to take it for themselves or risk losing it completely.
Link: Goodreads
March 19, 2025
A Summer with the Immortal — Paris Vivian
Genre: Science fiction, fantasy
Rep: Sapphic; bi MC & lesbian LI; agender side character
Series: Book 1 of the Verdantland Trilogy
The Tachytelozoic Era is an age of constant change. New species appear every day. Advanced biotechnology, floral telecommunication and fungal computing and algal engineering, is everywhere. The country of Kenor, where it all began, is now home to the Verdantland - a brand-new rainforest full of altered plants and animals.
Taryn Viato, a biology student at Kenor's most famous university, has been entrusted with an important task over her summer break. Acacia, the city's resident celebrity-turned-recluse (who also happens to be biologically immortal), has asked her to find the reason why his radio-lilies have been wilting. As she investigates, her life starts changing faster than the organisms around her. An expedition to an ancient ruin site, a brush with the growing anti-Verdantland movement, and a spark of new romance all await.
The mystery of the wilting lilies may not be the only one Taryn solves this lively summer. Nor do the problems she has to solve remain so small-scale. As the current of transformation rushes ever onwards, sweeping her to shores beyond her imagining, she is made to reckon with the natures of change and changelessness themselves.
March 20, 2025
Point of Hearts — Melissa Scott
Genre: Fantasy
Rep: M/M
Series: Book 6 of Astreiant
Secrets and danger stalk the streets of Astreiant...
Point of Hearts, Astreiant’s pleasure district, is being disrupted by an influx of scheming nobles who have descended upon the city for an aristocratic wedding. Mysterious carts smuggling something unknown through the night time streets and civil unrest are creating suspicion and turmoil. Adjunct Point Nicolas Rathe and his lover, Philip Eslingen, captain in the City Guard, are keeping an eye on an aristocrat under self-imposed house arrest when Rathe is injured during a riot. Pursued by false accusations, Eslingen takes him on the run to Point of Knives while they try to unravel a plot against the queen and her government that could destroy the city they love. Can they count on alliances from their pasts to keep them safe long enough to solve the mystery?
Link: Books2Read
March 25, 2025
The Keeper of Lonely Spirits — E.M. Anderson
Genre: Cozy fantasy
Rep: M/M; gay MCs; bi side character
In this mesmerizing, wonderfully moving queer cozy fantasy, an immortal ghost hunter must confront his tragic past in order to embrace his found family.
Find an angry spirit. Send it on its way before it causes trouble. Leave before anyone learns his name.
After over two hundred years, Peter Shaughnessy is ready to die and end this cycle. But thanks to a youthful encounter with one o’ them folk in his native Ireland, he can’t. Instead, he’s cursed to wander eternally far from home, with the ability to see ghosts and talk to plants.
Immortality means Peter has lost everyone he’s ever loved. And so he centers his life on the dead—until his wandering brings him to Harrington, Ohio. As he searches for a vengeful spirit, Peter’s drawn into the townsfolk’s lives, homes and troubles. For the first time in over a century, he wants something other than death.
But the people of Harrington will die someday. And he won’t.
As Harrington buckles under the weight of the supernatural, the ghost hunt pits Peter’s well-being against that of his new friends and the man he’s falling for. If he stays, he risks heartbreak. If he leaves, he risks their lives.
Link: Goodreads
Lovely Dark and Deep — Elisa A. Bonnin
Genre: YA fantasy, dark academia
Rep: Bi MC
From author Elisa A. Bonnin comes Lovely Dark and Deep, a YA dark academia novel exploring magic, loneliness, and the power of found family.
Hidden off the coast of Washington, veiled in mist, there is an island that does not appear on any map. And on that island is Ellery West.
Ellery West has always been home for Faith. After an international move and a childhood spent adjusting to a new culture and a new language, the acclaimed school for magic feels like the only place she can be herself. That is, until Faith and another student walk into the forest, and only Faith walks out.
Marked with the red stripe across her uniform that designates all students deemed too dangerous to attend regular classes, Faith becomes a social pariah, an exile of Ellery West. But all she has to do is keep her head down for one more year to graduate, and she gets to keep her magic. Because when students fail out of Ellery West, they have their magic taken away. Forever. And Faith can't let that happen.
Except terrifying things are still happening to students, and the dark magic that was unleashed in the forest still seems to be at work. To stop it, Faith and the other Red Stripes will have to work together, risking expulsion from the magical world altogether.
Link: Goodreads
A King’s Trust — S.E. McPherson
Genre: Fantasy romance
Rep: Polyamory (M/M/F); bi MCs; AuDHD
Series: Book 1 of The Heart-Mage Trilogy
The spare becomes the heir and, on his path to the throne, discovers magical intrigue, a secret society pulling political strings, and not one, but two loves of his life.
A KING’S TRUST is a polyam MMF fantasy romance featuring a cinnamon roll prince with magic in him, his loyal guard who knows too much, and the brilliant duchess who despises him. If they can work together, they might be able to find lost magic relics and avert a war. If not, our prince might succumb to the same secretive forces that killed his brother. A perfect read for lovers of found family, steamy on-page spice, royal/guard, enemies to lovers, and bi and AuDHD rep.
Link: Goodreads
Every Dark Cloud — Marisca Pichette
Genre: Post-apocalyptic, cli-fi
Rep: Queer; non-binary MC
Living in a post-climate disaster world protected by a layer of artificial cloud, Mallory knows every shade of darkness, their world lit sparingly by bioluminescence. But when Rein stumbles across their path—radioactive light bleeding from their teeth, their skin twisted and burned—Mallory’s worldview implodes, and the true cost of their survival becomes all too clear.
A haunting cli-fi novella ideal for fans of Tiffany Morris and Stephanie Feldman, EVERY DARK CLOUD combines a dystopian setting and class-conscious narrative with a glimmer of hope for our shared humanity.
“Marisca Pichette’s Every Dark Cloud is a spare, unflinching, yet wonderfully compassionate window into a future that feels all too possible—but even in the darkness of late-stage capitalism taken to its (un)natural extreme, Pichette never loses sight of human connection, both to each other and to the natural world. It’s a quick, fully realized read with its fingers planted firmly in the soil, delightfully queer sensibilities, and characters I would gladly follow far beyond these pages.”
—Jaq Evans, author of What Grows in the Dark
Link: Goodreads
Flesh and Bone — Arden Powell
Genre: Historical horror romance
Rep: M/M
One month ago, Everett did something unforgivable. Now, he and his partner Marshall are paying the price. As they drive their cattle west to a ranch in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, something stalks them under the light of the full moon.
Haunted by a lifetime of shame, Everett’s guilt over what he did with Marshall is coming to eat him alive. Equally dangerous is the monster following him, which will sink its teeth into anything and anyone. After it gores Everett, he begins to feel that same awful hunger for himself. If Everett wants to survive the night, it's not only the monster he needs to fight. It's his own bloodthirsty urges that want to tear him apart. Worse, they’ll tear Marshall apart just as easily.
Marshall would do anything for Everett: his best friend, and the man he has secretly loved for years. Now, he doesn’t just have to save Everett from the creature hunting them. He has to save Everett from himself, and that might mean putting a bullet through Everett’s skull before the man he loves becomes something unrecognizably monstrous.
Flesh and Bone is a short, standalone M/M horror-romance novella set in the Canadian Wild West of 1889.
Link: Books2Read
Demimonde — Halli Starling
Genre: Historical fantasy romance
Rep: M/M
Series: Book 2 of Oracle, Tailor, Curator
In the midst of tragedy and betrayal, who can you trust?
After the tragic consequences and betrayals of Coup de Coeur, Calix, Aubrey, Ethaniel, and Lawton are now trapped in Rosehill, the ancestral home where Calix spent many summers with his mother, Lily Addington.
While the walls of Rosehill are closely protected by wards and other defenses, the house contains many memories, some of which Calix would rather forget. But Rosehill’s secrets—and his mother’s—are about to come to light. And the question of who his mother really was forces Calix to understand more about her and himself. Are Oracle powers truly destructive, as Lily claimed, or was she seeking something else?
And the demimonde, a strange realm between realms, beckons with curled finger… and it’s aimed directly at Ethaniel. The lure of that unknown place, and its power, is embedded deep in Harkness family history; a history full of death, destruction, and exile. Ethaniel was warned long ago by his father that his mother’s family would always try to claim him, but he is discovering the demimonde is a far more tempting, and frightening, siren.
While Aubrey tries to hold them all together and protect those closest to him with his own abilities, his personal demons are threatening to burst forth. Can he keep Calix and Ethaniel safe while finding a way to defeat the Golden Order? It feels impossible, and yet he must do it. Failure is not an option.
Link: Books2Read
Blood on Her Tongue — Johanna van Veen
Genre: Horror, historical fantasy
Rep: Sapphic
“I’m in your blood, and you are in mine...”
The Netherlands, 1887. Lucy’s twin sister Sarah is unwell. She refuses to eat, mumbles nonsensically, and is increasingly obsessed with a centuries-old corpse recently discovered on her husband’s grand estate. The doctor has diagnosed her with temporary insanity caused by a fever of the brain. To protect her twin from a terrible fate in a lunatic asylum, Lucy must unravel the mystery surrounding her sister’s condition, but it's clear her twin is hiding something. Then again, Lucy is harboring secrets of her own, too.
Then, the worst happens. Sarah’s behavior takes a turn for the strange. She becomes angry... and hungry.
Lucy soon comes to suspect that something is trying to possess her beloved sister. Or is it madness? As Sarah changes before her very eyes, Lucy must reckon with the dark, monstrous truth, or risk losing her forever.
Link: Goodreads
March 28, 2025
Hallowed Be Her Flesh — Emryn Bird
Genre: Cosmic horror romance
Rep: Sapphic, asexual
It had only been three days.
Three days since Trella had been accused of being wicked. Three days since her flogging and excommunication. And three days since she began searching for a mysterious village deep within the Cantabrian Mountains. When a sudden, bright star becomes something more, this pious woman finds herself face to face with an entity she can only assume is one of God’s great celestials sent down to guide her.
Terrifying yet beautiful, the creature vows to protect the woman as the pair journey together to find this promising new home. But will it be the safe haven Trella believes it to be? Or can safety only be found in this cosmic being’s embrace?
Hallowed Be Her Flesh is an illustrated cosmic horror romance set in 1570s Spain, where the ineffable horror of what lies beyond the stars meets Christian mysticism as an asexual woman questions her faith and her attraction toward a strange entity.
Link: Itch.io
March 30, 2025
Blood Tethered — I.S. Belle
Genre: YA paranormal romance
Rep: M/M
Series: Book 1 of Blood Tethered
“Just get your teeth in me already, blood boy. I have places to be.”
Theo Fairgood is the golden boy. Popular, athletic, and determined to uphold his family’s good name.
Kade Renfield is trouble. Black clothes, fast fists and a bad attitude. He’s waiting for his grand story to start, but until then he’s stuck chasing highs, crashing parties and snarling at anyone who stares.
They should only cross paths when Theo trips Kade in the halls.
But when Theo gets attacked by a horrifying creature at his own party, Kade is the only one who can drag him to safety. It turns out he shouldn’t have. Theo is fine. Bloodthirsty and, you know, dead—but otherwise fine.
Kade tries to stay away. But vampire venom is addictive, and Theo doesn’t have anyone else who knows his thirsty secret. They grudgingly strike a Theo feeds on Kade. Kade gets the best high he’s ever had and no withdrawal sweats. And since they’re trapped together, they might as well team up and find out who turned Theo, who murdered an old man the night of the party, and why Theo’s touch burns Kade but no one else.
As they unravel the mysteries of their strange hometown, the most startling discovery is that Kade is soft under all his spikes, and Theo can be gentle when he isn’t around his jock friends. They might actually enjoy each other’s company when Theo doesn’t have his fangs in Kade’s neck.
The golden boy and the town freak can’t be together. They can’t even be friends. But they’re the only ones who can protect each other as their enemy’s plans are revealed and the boys discover they’re linked in ways they could never have imagined.
Link: Goodreads
March 31, 2025
Along Torturous Paths — Vivian Moira Valentine
Genre: Historical fantasy
Rep: Trans lesbian MC
Series: Book 3 of Amelia Temple
Freedom is a complicated word. People—English-speaking people, that is—use it to mean so many different things. Sometimes they mean that they have the ability to do something, or more specifically, that no one can stop them from doing it.
Amelia Temple is locked in yet another facility. The civil veneer is slightly better in this place, but the true purpose of this organization is just as sinister as where she came from. Only this time, there are others with her, people who are residents of their own volition. She starts to bond with new friends, young people determined to learn how to harness their own psychic power. Her days are long, and her nights are spent missing her old friend, Gloria, and her girlfriend, Luci, despite the flirtatious attentions of a female scientist.
The organization in charge of this facility is running multiple experiments that could prove to be the undoing of not only those housed within its walls but all life on Earth.
Will Amelia be able to step in and stop the slaughter before it’s too late? Or will these experiments prove stronger than Amelia? This time she has another reason to want to save this finally, she has been promised answers to what she has been seeking. She just needs to take care of a few pesky experiments gone wrong first.
Link: Books2Read
Never Nix Up — Ali Williams
Genre: Paranormal, contemporary fantasy
Rep: F/F
Series: Book 2 of Godstouched
Being a Nix is bad enough, what with water pollution and the world’s aversion to river demons, but when the River Arun’s Goddess turns matchmaker, nothing will be the same again.
Hazel
Art is my passion, my escape from the future my parents carved out for me. I paint her river, and the river goddess Trisantona keeps me free of local Nix politics. I am hers to command... aside from the half hour every day that I spend in Finn’s vegan bakery, eating pastries so flaky I could swoon. How can I hide my love for a human from my family when Tristantona is so determined to force me into a Happy Ever After?
Welcome to the Godstouched Universe, where the Gods interfere in the lives of mortals, magic leaks back into our world, and love conquers all.
Link: Goodreads