Ticker

powered by Surfing Waves

Thursday, March 31, 2022


Review: ELLEN OUTSIDE THE LINES by A.J. Sass

 


Book Details

Title: Ellen Outside the Lines
Author: A.J. Sass
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: March 22, 2022
Genre(s): Middle Grade, LGBT, Neurodiversity, Contemporary
Pages: 336
Bookshop Purchase Link: https://bookshop.org/a/67041/9780759556270

Trans Day of Visibility!

 


Happy Trans Day of Visibility! On this day I want to highlight books written by trans and nonbinary authors as well as books starring trans and nonbinary main characters. Please check these books out, give these authors a follow, and help celebrate trans people today. There are many more that I didn't mention, these just happen to be the titles on my bookcases at the time. Release dates are included for those that aren't already released.

Tuesday, March 29, 2022


Blog Tour: IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD AND I'M IN MY BATHING SUIT Review & Giveaway

I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD AND I’M IN MY BATHING SUIT by Justin A. Reynolds Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!

 

About The Book:

Title: IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD AND I’M IN MY BATHING SUIT

Author: Justin A. Reynolds

Pub. Date: April 5, 2022

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Formats: Hardcover, eBook, Audiobook

Pages: 304

Find it: GoodreadsAmazon, Kindle, Audible, B&NiBooks, KoboTBD, Bookshop.org

Twelve-year-old Eddie Gordon Holloway has concocted his most genius plan ever to avoid chores... especially the dreaded L-A-U-N-D-R-Y. If he can wear all the clothes he owns, he'll only have to do the laundry once during his school break.

On the day of the highly anticipated Beach Bash, Eddie's monstrous pile of dirty laundry is found by his mom. And Eddie's day has just taken a turn for the worst. Now he's stuck at home by himself, missing the bash, and doing his whole pile of laundry. But mid-cycle, the power goes out!

With his first load of laundry wet and the rest of his stuff still filthy, he sets out to explore the seemingly empty neighborhood in his glow-in-the-dark swim trunks, flip-flops, and a beach towel. He soon meets up with other neighborhood kids: newcomer Xavier (who was mid-haircut and has half his head shaved), Eddie's former friend Sonia (who has spent her entire break trying to beat a video game and was mid-battle with the final boss), and siblings Trey and Sage (who are dealing with major sibling drama).

As they group up to cover more ground and find out what happened, they realize that their families aren't coming back anytime soon. And as night falls, the crew realizes that they aren't just the only people left in the neighborhood, they might be the only people left... anywhere.

Book Trailer:


Justin talks about IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD AND I’M IN MY BATHING SUIT



This was a really fun book once everything started to get going. I really enjoyed the writing style and thought the characters felt real. This book felt like what I would expect from a middle-grade book. The kids were kids, they weren't written as young adults or anything like that. They acted like kids, heck I still put off doing the laundry.

I did have a bit of an issue where I couldn't really get into it at first, but thankfully that ended up passing.

Now the big issue that I'm sure others have mentioned. This book ends on a cliffhanger. Personally I don't like books that do that. I don't fully enjoy the feeling of being forced into reading another book. Now sometimes the resentment isn't strong, other times it is. Right now, I'm not too sure. I didn't hate it, but I didn't really enjoy it either.

 

About Justin A. Reynolds:

JUSTIN A. REYNOLDS has always wanted to be a writer. Opposite of Always, his debut novel, was an Indies Introduce selection, a School Library Journal Best Book, has been translated in 17 languages, and is being developed for film with Paramount Players. He hangs out in northeast Ohio with his family and likes it, and is probably somewhere, right now, dancing terribly. His second novel, Early Departures, published September 2020. In spring 2021, he teamed up with Marvel and Graphix to release his debut graphic novel, Miles Morales: Shock Waves. You can find him at justinareynolds.com.

 

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads | Amazon | BookBub

 

Giveaway Details:

1 winner will receive a finished copy of IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD AND I’M IN MY BATHING SUIT, US Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

3/21/2022

Kait Plus Books

Excerpt

3/21/2022

For the Love of KidLit

Excerpt

3/22/2022

BookHounds YA

Excerpt

3/22/2022

@jael_and_jenessa_reads

Review

3/23/2022

Rajiv's Reviews

Review

3/23/2022

Lifestyle of Me

Review

3/24/2022

Nerdophiles

Review

3/24/2022

Cindy's Love of Books

Review

3/25/2022

Eye-Rolling Demigod's Book Blog

Review

3/25/2022

The Reading Wordsmith

Review

Week Two:

3/28/2022

The Bookwyrm's Den

Review

3/28/2022

Two Points of Interest

Review

3/29/2022

Nonbinary Knight Reads

Review

3/29/2022

One More Exclamation

Review

3/30/2022

@drewsim12

Review

3/30/2022

Ravenz Reviewz

Review

3/31/2022

More Books Please blog

Review

3/31/2022

@coffeesipsandreads

Review

4/1/2022

The Momma Spot

Review

4/1/2022

fictionologyst

Review


Sunday, March 27, 2022


Review: WELCOME TO THE CARDINAL by T.J. Dallas

 


Book Details

Title: Welcome to the Cardinal
Author: T.J. Dallas
Publisher: Independently Published
Publication Date: March 26, 2022
Genre(s): Adult, Erotica, LGBT, Choose-Your-Own
Pages: 181
Purchase Link: https://www.amazon.com/Welcome-Cardinal-TJ-Dallas-ebook/dp/B09TYM4XKX/

Wednesday, March 23, 2022


Book Tour: WAKE OF THE PHOENIX Spotlight & Giveaway

WakethePhoenix copy

Welcome to the book tour for Wake of the Phoenix by Chelsea Harper. This epic fantasy in now available on Audible! Read on for details!

wakeofthephoenix_ebook

Wake of the Phoenix (Artifice of Power Saga Book 1) Publication Date: September 28th, 2021 Genre: Epic Fantasy/ Gay Male MC War Hero. Thiefmaster’s apprentice. Traitors. Every title comes with a price. Arkaen is a gods-damned saint. He sacrificed his childhood innocence fighting for the beleaguered rebellion in a civil war and relinquished a comfortable life with the man he loves to reclaim his place as high lord from corrupt nobles. Now, a hidden enemy is manipulating his lower lords into talk of rebellion, including the powerful Rogue Baron who is slowly swaying the city into questioning every move Arkaen makes. With the help of his near-omniscient lover’s gift of foresight, Arkaen finds a potential ally in Niamsha, a reluctant thief trying to pay for her brother’s education. But Niamsha owes an insurmountable debt to the mysterious leader of her thieves guild and failing to pay means death—for her entire family. When her guild leader demands she join forces with the Rogue Baron himself, she finds herself caught in a political battle beyond her skills. Torn between protecting her family and following her conscience, Niamsha doesn’t know who to trust. If Arkaen can win Niamsha’s loyalty, he might just prevent a second civil war and the destruction of everything he fought to protect. Or he might get them all killed. Add to Goodreads

Excerpt

Nudging his mare forward, Arkaen rode out of the courtyard. The streets beyond his lord’s castle were quiet, only a few wealthier citizens outside. Most backed away at the sight of him, cautious gaze watching him through down-turned lashes. Arkaen kept an eye on the citizens he passed. That hint of fear hadn’t been there when he’d ridden out a few weeks before to see to Lasha’s vision. He’d deposed a baron since then, bringing the threat of war to the forefront of everyone’s mind. This felt more specific, though. Like they feared he might personally harm them.

Another corner and a crowd of young men and women bantering and flirting scattered at the sight of him. Arkaen pulled his mare to a halt. Should have brought his swords. But the image of the high lord riding through his home streets armed as for a battle could only stoke the fires of unrest. Confidence was the best image he could build.

He rode on, the few remaining people he passed seemingly prepared for his arrival now. Anyone on the street had already lined against the walls, eyes firmly stuck to the cobbles by the time he arrived, and he never again came across a group careless of his approach. As if some runner ahead warned every street before he turned on it. As if someone—or something—led him toward a certain goal. His muscles tightened, nerves strung for combat in the peaceful streets.

“I should turn back.” He muttered the words under his breath, one hand rubbing at his bare belt loop as he turned the final corner to a broad alley that led to Brayden’s home. Four men, barely older than boys, loitered in the middle of the street. Arkaen pulled his mare to a halt again, the scrape of leather on stone clearly audible behind him. “Sayli’s going to kill me.”

A deep chuckle from behind. “Nay, milor’, I ain’t think ya gotta worry ’bout that.”

Arkaen half turned in his saddle to scout the threat behind him. Only two, though one was a heavy built man with thick mats of blond hair who filled a good chunk of the street by himself. That one would be tough to push past. The other boy with him, similar in build and coloring but much slighter, looked wide-eyed and terrified. One frightened child likely facing an early initiation and the leader. The four in front would be skilled enough to hold their own without direct leadership, then. Arkaen had no weapons but his wits and what he could re-appropriate. And Lasha, who wouldn’t miss the fight if Arkaen needed him. He offered a grim smile.

“You gentlemen may want to stand down. I’ve no desire to take lives today.”

Available for Purchase

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible

About the Author

Chelsea Harper Author Photo Chelsea Harper is the author and publisher of Wake of the Phoenix, book one of the Artifice of Power Saga. She lives in Colorado with her husband, daughter, two dogs, one cat, and countless imaginary friends. When she isn’t writing she enjoys games, from World of Warcraft to Elder Scrolls to tabletop RPGs and even the occasional board game. a Rafflecopter giveaway

Musings, Mythos, and Magic

Book Tour Organized By:

R&R Button

Monday, March 21, 2022


Book Tour: REBELLION Spotlight & Giveaway

I am thrilled to be hosting a spotlight stop on the REBELLION by C.J. Listro Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. This book looks and sounds amazing!! Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!

 

About The Book:

Title: REBELLION (Rebellion Chronicles #1)

Author: C.J. Listro

Pub. Date: February 15, 2022

Publisher: C.J. Listro

Formats: Paperback, eBook

Pages: 397

Find it: GoodreadsAmazon, Kindle, B&NiBooks, Kobo

Perfect for fans of TWILIGHT, SUPERNATURAL, RIVERDALE, and Cassandra Clare.

Chloe is well aware that she’s ordinary. So, when bad-boy Tyler starts talking to her, she’s convinced he must have an ulterior motive. What she doesn’t suspect is that he’s actually a demon escaped from Hell to live out his college-age dreams of going to concerts and playing in a punk metal band. And that he actually likes her. Soon, swoons and romantic dates replace Chloe’s trepidation.

But as Chloe and her new friend Alicia are dragged deeper in Tyler’s world, they realize that many less-friendly demons roam the Earth too. And one of them is murdering girls—girls who look a lot like Chloe.

With the help of Tyler and a contingent of angels, Chloe and Alicia take the paranormal investigation into their own hands. Because if they don’t find out which demon is murdering girls soon, Chloe will be next. 

 

 

About C.J. Listro:

C.J. Listro is a writer and dreamer who spends most of her time living in other worlds. She writes young adult and adult fantasy as well as adult transgressive literary and crime fiction. She lives in Chicago with one cat, five bookshelves, and far too many skull decorations.

C.J. graduated with her B.A. in Psychology and English from the University of Notre Dame. She has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Michigan State University. When she’s not analyzing fictional humans, she can be found providing therapy to real humans.

 

Website | TwitterInstagram | TikTok | Goodreads | Amazon

 


Giveaway Details:

1 winner will receive a finished copy of REBELLION, US Only.

1 winner will receive an eBook of REBELLION, International.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

3/14/2022

Writer of Wrongs

Guest Post

3/14/2022

BookHounds YA

Guest Post

3/15/2022

Rajiv's Reviews

Review/IG Post

3/15/2022

Sadie's Spotlight

Excerpt/IG Post

3/16/2022

#BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee Blog

Excerpt/IG Post

3/16/2022

@meetcuteromancebooks

Excerpt/IG Post

3/17/2022

Fire and Ice

Review

3/17/2022

Lady Hawkeye

Excerpt/IG Post

3/18/2022

Jazzy Book Reviews

Excerpt

3/18/2022

Lifestyle of Me

Review

Week Two:

3/21/2022

Nonbinary Knight Reads

Review/IG Post

3/21/2022

@coffeesipsandreads

Review

3/22/2022

Book-Keeping

Review/IG Post

3/22/2022

Two Points of Interest

Review

3/23/2022

More Books Please blog

Review/IG Post

3/23/2022

Nagma | TakeALookAtMyBookshelf

Review/IG Post

3/24/2022

The Momma Spot

Review/IG Post

3/24/2022

A Backwards Story

Review/IG Post

3/25/2022

Lifestyle of Me

Review

3/25/2022

@jypsylynn

Review


Wednesday, March 16, 2022


Blog Tour: DR SUSAN'S REIGN Spotlight

Welcome to the book tour for Katerina Degratte's novel, Dr. Susan's Reign! Read on for more details!

Cover

Dr. Susan’s Reign (Cat Johnson Chronicles #1)

Genre: Sci-Fi/ Fantasy/ LGBTQ2+

Publication Date: August 2021

When a mad scientist swipes her chatty pet, she’ll claw her way through any danger to get her back…

Cat Johnson just wants a quiet life. Living paycheck to paycheck, the soft-spoken game-store clerk prefers to spend her nights home alone in the company of her sassy, talking kitty, Maori. But when a beautiful woman lures her out on a date, she’s devastated to discover it was a ruse to abduct her beloved feline friend.

Forcing the duplicitous dame to show her where Maori was taken, Cat races to a secret research lab to rescue her bestie. But she’s horrified when her snarky pal has been transformed into a giant killing machine.

Can Cat free Maori from a terrifying fate?

Dr. Susan’s Reign is the electrifying first book in the Cat Johnson Chronicles LGBTQ science fiction series. If you like strong female characters, sarcastic four-footed heroines, and non-stop action, then you’ll love Katerina Degratte’s meowsome tale.

Available on Amazon

drsusanIG

Katerina Degratte | Facebook | Twitter

DrSusanReign copy

Book Tour Schedule

March 14th

R&R Book Tours (Kick-Off) http://rrbooktours.com

Reads & Reels (Spotlight) http://readsandreels.com

I Smell Sheep (Spotlight) http://www.ismellsheep.com/

March 15th

B is for Book Review (Spotlight) https://bforbookreview.wordpress.com

Bunny’s Book Reviews (Review) https://bookwormbunnyreviews.blogspot.com/

Nesie’s Place (Spotlight) https://nesiesplace.wordpress.com

@fle_d (Spotlight)https://www.instagram.com/fle_d

March 16th

Nonbinary Knight Reads (Spotlight) https://nonbinaryknight-reads.blogspot.com/

@gryffindorbookishnerd (Review) https://www.instagram.com/gryffindorbookishnerd/

Jessica Belmont (Review) https://jessicabelmont.com/

March 17th

Sadie’s Spotlights (Spotlight) http://sadiesspotlight.com/

The Faerie Review (Review) http://www.thefaeriereview.com

Liliyana Shadowlyn (Spotlight) https://lshadowlynauthor.com/

Book Tour Organized By:

R&R Button

R&R Book Tours

Sunday, March 13, 2022


March Releases

DISCLAIMER: I have tried my best to make sure that release dates are accurate but sometimes they change without my notice. Some titles under Independently Published might be being published through a publisher/press but I was unable to find information/confirmation of that. My apologies if any information is incorrect.

Here are all the LGBTQ + books I found that are being published in March 2022. They are sorted by publishers in alphabetical order with books being independently published at the very bottom. NOTE: Hansen House has a book being released this month but it's at the bottom of the list. My apologies, I thought it was being released in April. If you click on the covers they will take you to a preorder link.



Angry Robot



Title: The Circus Infinite

Author: Khan Wong

Publication Date: March 8, 2022

Summary: Hunted by those who want to study his gravity powers, Jes makes his way to the best place for a mixed-species fugitive to blend in: the pleasure moon. Here, everyone just wants to be lost in the party. It doesn’t take long for him to catch the attention of the crime boss who owns the resort-casino where he lands a circus job. When the boss gets wind of the bounty on Jes’ head, he makes an offer: do anything and everything asked of him, or face vivisection.

With no other options, Jes fulfills the requests: espionage, torture, demolition. But when the boss sets the circus up to take the fall for his about-to-get-busted narcotics operation, Jes and his friends decide to bring the mobster down together. And if Jes can also avoid going back to being the prize subject of a scientist who can’t wait to dissect him? Even better.


Bella Books



Title: Artist Free Zone

Author: Annette Mori

Publication Date: March 1, 2022

Summary: Melissa just moved to a conservative part of Washington State. A move designed to set her and her longtime partner up for early retirement. But best laid plans go awry when her partner, Colette decides, out of the blue, their relationship isn’t working for her. This is strike three for Melissa. She’s out, after being dumped a third time and her 45th birthday just around the corner. The only thing left to do is sob all over her beloved kitties. She’s vowed to never get involved, ever again, with another artist. She’s in a new town surrounded by cowboys and republicans. Not a single lesbian in sight even if she were so inclined. Life sucks for her.

Colette is torn up about hurting Melissa. She hasn’t been entirely honest about her reasons for leaving and that tears her up even further. She keeps calling to make sure Melissa is okay. Life is exciting and wonderful for her because she’s met her soulmate and plans on moving to Alaska. But will Karma exact its revenge?

Will these three women be able to make it through the heartache of love lost and new love found? Find out in the tale by award-winning author, Annette Mori. A raw and honest portrayal of love lost and love found again.


Title: As You Look

Author: Veronica Gutierrez

Publication Date: March 17, 2022

Summary: Yolanda Avila, a former LAPD cop-turned private investigator, blames herself for her mother’s death in a road rage accident. It was her fault. The perpetrator was a suspect she’d pursued in an unrelated case, someone she should’ve caught by tracking down a license plate number. Any good detective would’ve done that. But she got cocky, thought she’d catch him by following clues from a stupid dream instead. The only salve against the guilt eating at her now is Yolanda’s vow to reject that juju crap.

But when her godson Joey is kidnapped, his parents are suspected of murder, and a stalker threatens her wife Sydney to warn Yolanda off the case, she must deal with more than just the facts. She must confront the juju to overcome her guilt and deal with pent-up grief—or risk losing yet another loved one.


Title: Finding Her Heart

Author: Samantha Hicks

Publication Date: March 1, 2022

Summary: Ellis Davis’s self-imposed isolation is blown apart when a new neighbour moves in next door. Having spent the last five years working from home, shutting herself away from the world she once knew. The last thing Ellis wants, or needs, is the woman next door challenging her beliefs about herself and bringing out feelings Ellis has never experienced before.

Melissa Cole moves into her new home as a recently divorced woman, raising her young son as a single parent with the help of her parents. Melissa is instantly intrigued by her mysterious neighbour next door.


Title: Silent Service

Author: Judy Kerr

Publication Date: March 1, 2022

Summary: Postal Inspector MC McCall is struggling after the murder of her partner. Despite the lead homicide detective ordering her to back away, she sneaks around investigating on her own.

Exhausted from too many nights cozied up to a vodka bottle, her professional competence is called into question. Her supervisor threatens to force her out. MC’s co-workers and close friends notice her struggles, but when they offer help, MC shuts them out, hellbent on handling every-thing alone.

Will a new case on the North Shore put MC back on track? Can she resolve the death of her partner once and for all? Or will she spiral into a personal and professional darkness from which she won’t return?


Title: Steadying the Ark

Author: Rebecca K. Jones

Publication Date: March 17, 2022

Summary: While Assistant District Attorney Mack Wilson's days are devoted to arguing sex crime cases in the courtroom, her evenings are troubled by a series of disturbing incidents in her neighborhood.As the media madness swirls around her trial, evidence that an unknown stalker is watching her just a little too closely begins to mount. Mack finds herself seeking help from the one person she never thought she would—ex-girlfriend Anna Lapin.When Mack is caught in a deadly situation, the only thing that might save the confident prosecutor is her brilliant analytical mind, her instinct for self-preservation and the uncanny instincts of the woman she once loved.


Title: The Roads Left Behind Us

Author: Kat Jackson

Publication Date: March 17, 2022

Summary: After some unexpected detours in life, Callie Lewes is determined to complete her PhD program and figure out the rest of her professional life. Her laser focus is finely tuned and she's ready for a total immersion in nothing but literature, subpar student essays, and all the joys that come with being a graduate teaching assistant. She has no time for or interest in anything else--especially not dating.

If Callie were to entertain the idea of dating, she's certain it would be with someone vibrant, open, and around her age. In other words: definitely not someone like Dr. Kate Jory, a new member of Pennbrook College's English department. She's intimidating, older, and a seemingly closed book. But she's also brilliant and fascinating, and Callie is drawn to her in ways she'd never imagined possible.

Not that Kate notices. Or does she? Callie can't tell, and though they develop an engaging, flirtatious friendship, she struggles to work up the courage to put herself directly in Kate's potentially romantic path, wary of the type of fire their sparks could ignite.


Title: Training for Love

Author: Amanda Kabak

Publication Date: March 17, 2022

Summary: Charlie Williamson is a life-long jock who’s butch enough to cause plenty of raised eyebrows in gym locker rooms. Since flaming out of college on a wave of drugs, alcohol, and depression, she’s worked the same easy, low-stress job at RRiotWear—a women’s fitness clothing startup in Chicago. Then with a promotion on the horizon, Charlie’s boss ropes her into leading a beginner’s marathon group in the RRiotWear facilities.

Elizabeth McIntyre runs a boutique tech company. Since graduating from MIT, she’s made herself into the face of women in technology. She has a beautiful apartment she never sees, a string of ex-girlfriends, and a propensity for panic attacks. When her doctor confirms what her best friend has been saying for years—that Elizabeth needs to slow down and make some radical life changes—she signs up for RRiotWear’s marathon program.

Despite everything that points to a not-so-perfect fit, the attraction between Charlie and Elizabeth grows week after week, and mile after mile. But with secrets lingering between them, they might find their relationship stumbles before it can even get to the starting line.


Bold Strokes Books



Title: Dying for You

Author: Jenny Frame

Publication Date: March 15, 2022

Summary: Victorija Dred, Principe of the Dred clan, is one of the most feared vampires to walk the earth, but since her unwanted blood bond with Daisy, she’s slowly losing herself to blood sickness. Her clan is dismayed by her reluctance to order Daisy brought to her. The old Victorija would have used her for her blood without a second thought. However no one knows of the age-old vow holding her back.

Daisy MacDougall is struggling to cope with the vampire bite that is urging her to seek out Victorija. Secrets and history bind them in unfathomable ways, and when she discovers her family’s past and a very different Victorija, she vows to find the truth even if she must force their meeting.

Victorija and Daisy travel a dark and seductive path even as Victorija fights every instinct to take Daisy’s blood, and love seems all but impossible. As if that wasn’t bad enough, neither expects the real threat to Daisy’s life to be hiding inside the Dred clan.


Title: Exclusive

Author: Melissa Brayden

Publication Date: March 15, 2022

Summary: Her new job as an on-air reporter in sunny San Diego is a big break for Skyler Ruiz. No more covering small-town softball games or vegetable growing competitions. She’ll be working at the same station as her TV mega-crush and longtime idol, anchorwoman Carolyn McNamara, and that doesn’t hurt either.

Unfortunately, people don’t always live up to expectations.

Skyler’s hopes of impressing Carolyn are dashed when she discovers Carolyn has little time for newbie reporters and is downright unwelcoming. But when Carolyn drops her guard, Skyler is left with her head happily spinning, her heart wide open, and oh-so ready to explore a romance she never saw coming.

So, of course, the network pits them against each other.

It’s only when Skyler is ready to sacrifice everything she’s ever dreamed of for Carolyn does she begin to suspect love is nothing but fake news.


Title: Her Duchess to Desire

Author: Jane Walsh

Publication Date: March 15, 2022

Summary: Anne, the Duchess of Hawthorne, is tired of her reputation as the Ice Queen of London society. She resolves to leave behind her cold-hearted marriage to the duke—and to find a woman to keep her warm at night. Perhaps the dashing designer she hires to transform her Mayfair estate can also help her to transform her life.

Letitia Barrow has big dreams of running her own interior design business. The opportunity to reinvent the Hawthorne estate is the job that will finally establish her as a leading designer among the ton. The duchess might make her weak in the knees, but giving in to temptation could risk everything she’s working so hard to build.

The designer and the duchess embark on an affair, with renovations to the house in full swing—and the renovations in their hearts well underway. Then, unexpectedly, the duke returns home and their feelings are tested. Can London’s hottest new designer melt the Ice Queen forever?


Title: Murder on Monte Vista

Author: David S. Pederson

Publication Date: March 15, 2022

Summary: It’s 1946, and on a hot spring night in Phoenix, Arizona, things are only beginning to heat up at the Monte Vista Road home of flamboyant decorator Walter Waverly Wingate.

Private detective Mason T. Adler isn’t thrilled to be turning fifty, and the party Walter throws him makes him even more uncomfortable. Walter has arranged a special birthday present for Mason: a private hour with the handsome, young Henry Bowtrickle in Walter’s upstairs bedroom. But the night turns deadly when his birthday gift turns up murdered.

The room was locked, no way in or out, and only Henry and Mason were inside. Mason Adler is on the case, but he is also a suspect, along with the other assorted party guests who were all downstairs at the time of the stabbing. Or were they?


Title: Take Her Down

Author: Lauren Emily Whalen

Publication Date: March 15, 2022

Summary: In this queer YA retelling of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, stakes at Augustus Magnet School are cutthroat, scheming is creative, and loyalty is ever-changing.

Overnight, Bronwyn St. James goes from junior class queen to daughter of an imprisoned felon, and she lands in the care of her aunt and younger cousin Cass, a competitive cheerleader who Bronwyn barely knows. Life gets worse when her ex-best friend, the always-cool Jude Cuthbert, ostracizes Bronwyn from the queer social elite for dating a boy, Porter Kendrick.

Bronwyn and Jude are both running for student body president, and that means war. But after Bronwyn, Porter, and Cass share a video of Jude in a compromising position, Jude suddenly goes missing. No one has seen her for weeks and it might be all Bronwyn’s fault. Will Jude ever be found? Or will Bronwyn finally have to reckon with what she’s won—and what she’s lost?


Title: The Game

Author: Jan Gayle

Publication Date: March 15, 2022

Summary: Ryan Gibbs was the best thing to hit the LPGA from New Mexico since Nancy Lopez, but that was two years ago when her rookie year tour made the history books. Since she left the world of professional golf to be with her sick mother, she hasn’t played outside of her home course in Los Alamos, where she now works as a coach.

Katherine Reese has the drive to be the best, but since her second season, when she landed herself in the top ten in nearly every tournament, she’s barely been able to make the cut. Unable to let go of her ghosts, Katherine is in danger of tanking her career before it even begins.

Ryan and Katherine are natural competitors thrown together by their swing coach, Maggie Hart. Both have so much to prove and so little time for the inconveniences of falling in love. But if they can figure out how to work together, they just might be a force for women’s sports and a beautiful match for each other.


Title: Whereabouts Unknown

Author: Meredith Doench

Publication Date: March 15, 2022

Summary: Theodora Madsen has everything she’s ever hoped for: a distinguished career as a homicide detective with the Dayton Police Department, a woman she loves, and a baby on the way. While Theo and Bree nest and plan for their family’s future, two sixteen-year-old Ohio girls vanish—one from Dayton and the other from Brecksville—each leaving behind a bloody handprint. Then a routine interview goes disastrously wrong, and Theo’s injured and facing a lengthy recovery.

With her professional future uncertain and the cases growing cold, Theo scrambles to piece together the links between the girls. But the clock is ticking and time is running out.


Bumbershoot Press



Title: Cakewalk

Author: Douglas Bell

Publication Date: March 4, 2022

Summary: Bryan, a Black, divorced father of two, had finally achieved the career success he had always dreamed of as the new vice president for a large multi-national energy company. Unfortunately, his teenage son, an aspiring drag queen, does not fit into his public persona. Neither does a secret relationship with his white transgender girlfriend, Nadia. Caught between his pride and PRIDE, Bryan must decide where his loyalties lie before his double life spirals and decides for him. If he isn’t willing to risk the perception of being different in a society that values conformity above all else, he will lose everything—most devastatingly, his son.


Candlewick Press



Title: Mama and Mommy and Me in the Middle

Author: Nina LaCour

Publication Date: March 29, 2022

Summary: A little girl stays home with Mama when Mommy goes off on a work trip in this tender, inviting story that will resonate with every child who has missed a parent.

For one little girl, there’s no place she’d rather be than sitting between Mama and Mommy. So when Mommy goes away on a work trip, it’s tricky to find a good place at the table. As the days go by, Mama brings her to the library, they watch movies, and all of them talk on the phone, but she still misses Mommy as deep as the ocean and as high as an astronaut up in the stars. As they pass by a beautiful garden, the girl gets an idea…but when Mommy finally comes home, it takes a minute to shake off the empty feeling she felt all week before leaning in for a kiss. Michael L. Printz Award winner Nina LaCour thoughtfully renders a familiar, touching story of a child who misses a parent, illustrated by Kaylani Juanita, whose distinctive style brings charm and playfulness to this delightful family of three.


Disney



Title: Dig Two Graves

Author: Gretchen McNeil

Publication Date: March 29, 2022

Summary: Seventeen-year-old film noir fan Neve Lanier is a girl who just wants to be seen, but doesn’t really fit in anywhere. When Neve is betrayed by her best friend, Yasmin, at the end of the school year, she heads off to a girl’s empowerment camp feeling like no one will ever love her again. So when she grabs the attention of the beautiful, charismatic Diane, she falls right under her spell, and may accidentally promise to murder Diane’s predatory step-brother, Javier, in exchange for Diane murdering Yasmin. But that was just a joke…right?

Wrong. When Yasmin turns up dead, Diane comes calling, attempting to blackmail Neve into murdering Javier. Stalling for time, Neve pretends to go along with Diane’s plan until she can find a way out that doesn't involve homicide. But as she gets to know Javier – and falls for him – she realizes that everything Diane told her is a lie. Even worse, she discovers that Yasmin probably wasn't Diane's first victim. And unless Neve can stop her, she won't be the last.


Hachette Book Group



Title: Ellen Outside the Lines

Author: A.J. Sass

Publication Date: March 22, 2022

Summary: Thirteen-year-old Ellen Katz feels most comfortable when her life is well planned out and people fit neatly into her predefined categories. She attends temple with Abba and Mom every Friday and Saturday. Ellen only gets crushes on girls, never boys, and she knows she can always rely on her best-and-only friend, Laurel, to help navigate social situations at their private Georgia middle school. Laurel has always made Ellen feel like being autistic is no big deal. But lately, Laurel has started making more friends, and cancelling more weekend plans with Ellen than she keeps. A school trip to Barcelona seems like the perfect place for Ellen to get their friendship back on track. Except it doesn't. Toss in a new nonbinary classmate whose identity has Ellen questioning her very binary way of seeing the world, homesickness, a scavenger hunt-style team project that takes the students through Barcelona to learn about Spanish culture and this trip is anything but what Ellen planned.

Making new friends and letting go of old ones is never easy, but Ellen might just find a comfortable new place for herself if she can learn to embrace the fact that life doesn't always stick to a planned itinerary.


Title: Save Yourself

Author: Cameron Esposito

Publication Date: March 22, 2022

Summary: Cameron Esposito wanted to be a priest and ended up a stand-up comic. Now she would like to tell the whole queer as hell story. Her story. Not the sidebar to a straight person's rebirth-she doesn't give a makeover or plan a wedding or get a couple back together. This isn't a queer tragedy. She doesn't die at the end of this book, having finally decided to kiss the girl. It's the sexy, honest, bumpy, and triumphant dyke's tale her younger, wasn't-allowed-to-watch-Ellen self needed to read. Because there was a long time when she thought she wouldn't make it. Not as a comic, but as a human.


Title: The Best Liars in Riverview

Author: Lin Thompson

Publication Date: March 8, 2022

Summary: Aubrey and Joel are like two tomato vines that grew along the same crooked fence—weird, yet the same kind of weird. But lately, even their shared weirdness seems weird. Then Joel disappears. Vanishes. Poof. The whole town is looking for him, and Aubrey was the last person to see Joel. Aubrey can’t say much, but since lies of omission are still lies, here’s what they know for sure: For the last two weeks of the school year, when sixth grade became too much, Aubrey and Joel have been building a raft in the woods.

The raft was supposed to be just another part of their running away game.

The raft is gone now, too.

Aubrey doesn’t know where Joel is, but they might know how to find him. As Aubrey, their friend Mari, and sister Teagan search along the river, Aubrey has to fess up to who they really are, all the things they never said, and the word that bully Rudy Thomas used that set all this into motion.


Title: Wild and Wicked Things

Author: Francesca May

Publication Date: March 29, 2022

Summary: On Crow Island, people whisper, real magic lurks just below the surface.

Neither real magic nor faux magic interests Annie Mason. Not after it stole her future. She’s only on the island to settle her late father’s estate and, hopefully, reconnect with her long-absent best friend, Beatrice, who fled their dreary lives for a more glamorous one.

Yet Crow Island is brimming with temptation, and the biggest one may be her enigmatic new neighbor.

Mysterious and alluring, Emmeline Delacroix is a figure shadowed by rumors of witchcraft. And when Annie witnesses a confrontation between Bea and Emmeline at one of the island's extravagant parties, she is drawn into a glittering, haunted world. A world where the boundaries of wickedness are tested, and the cost of illicit magic might be death.


HarperCollins



Title: All That's Left in the World

Author: Erik J. Brown

Publication Date: March 8, 2022

Summary: When Andrew stumbles upon Jamie's house, he's injured, starved, and has nothing left to lose. A deadly pathogen has killed off most of the world's population, including everyone both boys have ever loved. And if this new world has taught them anything, it's to be scared of what other desperate people will do . . . so why does it seem so easy for them to trust each other?

After danger breaches their shelter, they flee south in search of civilization. But something isn't adding up about Andrew's story, and it could cost them everything. And Jamie has a secret, too. He's starting to feel something more than friendship for Andrew, adding another layer of fear and confusion to an already tumultuous journey.

The road ahead of them is long, and to survive, they'll have to shed their secrets, face the consequences of their actions, and find the courage to fight for the future they desire, together. Only one thing feels certain: all that's left in their world is the undeniable pull they have toward each other.


Title: Drew Leclair Gets a Clue

Author: Katryn Bury

Publication Date: March 1, 2022

Summary: Drew Leclair knows what it takes to be a great detective. She’s pored over the cases solved by her hero, criminal profiler Lita Miyamoto. She tracked down the graffiti artist at school, and even solved the mystery of her neighbor’s missing rabbit. But when her mother runs off to Hawaii with the school guidance counselor, Drew is shocked. How did she miss all of the clues?

Drew is determined to keep her family life a secret, even from her best friend. But when a cyberbully starts posting embarrassing rumors about other students at school, it’s only a matter of time before Drew’s secret is out.

Armed with her notebooks full of observations about her classmates, Drew knows what she has to do: profile all of the bullies in her grade to find the culprit. But being a detective is more complicated when the suspects can be your friends. Will Drew crack the case if it means losing the people she cares about most?


Title: Going Public

Author: Hudson Lin

Publication Date: March 29, 2022

Summary: As an operating partner at Jade Harbour, Raymond Chao prides himself in fixing even the most disastrous of portfolio companies—no matter the cost. While his colleagues might not always like his methods, they love his results. But his latest business partner isn’t cooperating, and what’s worse, Raymond's underhanded tactics have landed him in hot water with the law.

Elvin Goh has been Raymond's assistant for years, and he's been in love with the charming, ruthless playboy for just as long. There's very little that Elvin won't do—or hasn't done—for Raymond. Impossible crush aside, it's his job. But this time, even Elvin can't see a way out.

When long nights in the office lead to whispered confessions and a newfound intimacy, it seems like a dream come true—for both of them. But with the prospect of failure on the horizon, can this dream team beat the odds and come out the victors in the office and in their hearts?


Title: Messy Roots

Author: Laura Gao

Publication Date: March 8, 2022

Summary: After spending her early years in Wuhan, China, riding water buffalos and devouring stinky tofu, Laura immigrates to Texas, where her hometown is as foreign as Mars--at least until 2020, when COVID-19 makes Wuhan a household name.

In Messy Roots, Laura illustrates her coming-of-age as the girl who simply wants to make the basketball team, escape Chinese school, and figure out why girls make her heart flutter.

Insightful, original, and hilarious, toggling seamlessly between past and present, China and America, Gao's debut is a tour de force of graphic storytelling.


Title: The Break Up

Author: Charlotte Barnes

Publication Date: March 25, 2022

Summary: Edi Parcell thought she had life all planned out, so when her childhood sweetheart proposes a three-month break to date other people, she’s shocked. Unexpectedly back on the dating scene after years with the same guy, this is the first opportunity Edi’s had to think about what she really wants from life – and love.

When she meets Winifred, her world is turned upside down. She never expected to have feelings for someone else, but now she’s met Winifred she can’t stop thinking about her. As the months pass, Edi is shocked to realise she’s not sure she wants her old relationship back at all – not now there’s Winifred…


Jessica Kingsley Publishers



Title: Queer Body Power

Author: Essie Dennis

Publication Date: March 21, 2022

Summary: As a young, queer, plus-size person, Essie Dennis has spent a lot of time feeling like they weren't enough - not queer enough, not feminine enough, not perfect enough. When they took to social media to share how they felt, they were overwhelmed by how many others felt the same.

I look too masculine to be non-binary
I look too feminine to be a lesbian
Am I too fat for drag?

Inviting you to challenge accepted beauty standards and the concept of 'the perfect body', Essie takes everything they have learned on their journey to self-acceptance and body satisfaction to help guide you towards loving your queer body. From gender, sexuality and reclaiming your body, through to food, politics, social media and fatphobia, this radical book starts a conversation about body image and mental health that queer people are so often left out of.

Fiercely and unapologetically written, and with honest advice and powerful stories from a diverse range of queer people throughout, this is an inspiring and necessary book that will show you that you are enough.


Title: The Queer Mental Health Workbook

Author: Dr. Brendan J. Dunlop

Publication Date: March 21, 2022

Summary: To be queer is to feel different - a felt sense that you don't fit in. This can be alienating and difficult and lead to mental health challenges and lower wellbeing throughout life. Using a range of therapeutic approaches, this comprehensive, down-to-earth self-help workbook is designed to be your personal mental health resource. It is filled with techniques and activities you can read, tailor and 'pick and mix' to improve your wellbeing as a queer person, at your pace.

The workbook is split into two sections - the first part focusses on laying the groundwork by exploring identity, psychological wellbeing, and mental health experiences in order to situate mental health challenges in context and improve overall mental health. The second half hones in on ideas and techniques applicable to specific challenges and situations. It explores difficult topics such as anxiety, low self-esteem, eating disorders, self-harm, suicidal ideation, shame, trauma, substance abuse, sleep, and low mood, all whilst maintaining a focus on your needs as a queer individual.

Empowering and reassuring, and written by an experienced queer mental health practitioner, this one-of-a-kind workbook will help you to flourish as a queer person and begin to overcome any challenge.


Jetspace Studio



Title: Founder's Mercy

Author: Owen Lach

Publication Date: March 22, 2022

Summary: The Bolvar Union provides everything a good citizen needs, only asking one thing in return: total devotion to the State. Teenage best friends Adan Testa and Bo Shen have other ideas. They plan an unlikely heist to earn their way over the wall, escaping Bolvar before serving their mandatory five years in the Bolvar Union Defense Force. But Adan doesn’t know he possesses a secret talent that no one has seen in the five centuries since the First Explorers colonized Neska. And when the Union discovers Adan's hidden gift, they'll do anything and everything they can to discover his secret. Even if it kills him.


Macmillan



Title: A Million Quiet Revolutions

Author: Robin Gow

Publication Date: March 22, 2022

Summary: For as long as they can remember, Aaron and Oliver have only ever had each other. In a small town with few queer teenagers, let alone young trans men, they've shared milestones like coming out as trans, buying the right binders--and falling for each other.

But just as their relationship has started to blossom, Aaron moves away. Feeling adrift, separated from the one person who understands them, they seek solace in digging deep into the annals of America's past. When they discover the story of two Revolutionary War soldiers who they believe to have been trans man in love, they're inspired to pay tribute to these soldiers by adopting their names--Aaron and Oliver. As they learn, they delve further into unwritten queer stories, and they discover the transformative power of reclaiming one's place in history.


Title: Alphabet Soup

Author: Michael Bach

Publication Date: March 29, 2022

Summary: What you aren’t doing about creating an LGBTQ2+ inclusive workplace is costing you more than might think. Every year, companies who aren’t doing the necessary work are losing millions of dollars to low productivity, staff turnover, missed opportunities, and reputational damage—and no, simply slapping a rainbow over your company logo every June isn’t going to cut it.

In this myth-busting follow-up to the 2020 breakout bestseller Birds of All Feathers, diversity and inclusion expert Michael Bach breaks down everything you need to know about creating inclusive workplaces for people who don’t fit squarely into the “straight” and “cis” box. And don’t worry if you’re already feeling lost; by the time you’ve finished this book, you’ll know exactly LGBTQ2+ means—and a whole lot of other stuff to boot.

With clarity and a healthy dose of humor, Bach lays out a road map on how to ensure your workplace is safe for LGBTQ2+ people. You’ll gain a clear understanding of sexuality, gender identity, and gender expression (yes, they’re different things, and it matters); what a Safe Space is, and how to turn your workplace into one; how to create and properly enforce a workplace Code of Conduct; and how to grab a piece of the fabulous “pink dollar“ (worth more than $1 trillion dollars annually in the Canada and US alone!).


Title: And They Lived...

Author: Steven Salvatore

Publication Date: March 8, 2022

Summary: Chase Arthur is a budding animator and hopeless romantic obsessed with Disney films and finding his true love, but he's plagued with the belief that he's not enough for anyone: he's recovering from an eating disorder and suffers from body dysmorphia fueled by his father, and can't quite figure out his gender identity. When Chase starts his freshman year of college, he has to navigate being away from home and missing his sister, finding his squad, and contending with his ex-best friend Leila who is gunning for the same exclusive mentorship. If only he can pull together a short for the freshman animation showcase at the end of the semester.

Then Chase meets Jack Reid, a pragmatic poet who worships words and longs to experience life outside of his sheltered world. But Chase throws everything into question for Jack, who is still discovering his sexual identity, having grown up in close-knit conservative family. Jack internalized a lot of homophobia from his parents and childhood best friend, who unexpectedly visit campus, which threatens to destroy their relationship. Chase will have to learn to love--and be enough for--himself, while discovering what it means to truly live.


Title: Anything But Fine

Author: Tobias Madden

Publication Date: March 29, 2022

Summary: Luca Mason knows exactly who he is and what he wants: In six months, he’s going to be accepted into the Australian Ballet School, leave his fancy private high school, and live his life as a star of the stage—at least that’s the plan until he falls down a flight of stairs and breaks his foot in a way he can never recover from.

With his dancing dreams dead on their feet, Luca loses his performing arts scholarship and transfers to the local public school, leaving behind all his ballet friends and his whole future on stage.

The only bright side is that he strikes up unlikely friendships with the nicest (and nerdiest) girl at his new school, Amina, and the gorgeous, popular, and (reportedly) straight school captain, Jordan Tanaka-Jones.

As Luca’s bond with Jordan grows stronger, he starts to wonder: who is he without ballet? And is he setting himself up for another heartbreak?


Title: Forward March

Author: Skye Quinlan

Publication Date: March 22, 2022

Summary: Harper “Band Geek” McKinley just wants to make it through her senior year of marching band—and her Republican father’s presidential campaign. That was a tall order to start, but everything was going well enough until someone made a fake gay dating profile posing as Harper. The real Harper can’t afford for anyone to find out about the Tinder profile for three very important reasons:

1. Her mom is the school dean and dating profiles for students are strictly forbidden.
2. Harper doesn't even know if she likes anyone like that—let alone if she likes other girls.
3. If this secret gets out, her father could lose the election, one she's not sure she even wants him to win.

But upon meeting Margot Blanchard, the drumline leader who swiped right, Harper thinks it might be worth the trouble to let Margot get to know the real her.

With her dad’s campaign on the line, Harper’s relationship with her family at stake, and no idea who made that fake dating profile, Harper has to decide what’s more important to her: living her truth or becoming the First Daughter of America.


Title: Lakelore

Author: Anna-Marie McLemore

Publication Date: March 8, 2022

Summary: Everyone who lives near the lake knows the stories about the world underneath it, an ethereal landscape rumored to be half-air, half-water. But Bastián Silvano and Lore Garcia are the only ones who’ve been there. Bastián grew up both above the lake and in the otherworldly space beneath it. Lore’s only seen the world under the lake once, but that one encounter changed their life and their fate.

Then the lines between air and water begin to blur. The world under the lake drifts above the surface. If Bastián and Lore don’t want it bringing their secrets to the surface with it, they have to stop it, and to do that, they have to work together. There’s just one problem: Bastián and Lore haven’t spoken in seven years, and working together means trusting each other with the very things they’re trying to hide.


Title: Last Exit

Author: Max Gladstone

Publication Date: March 8, 2022

Summary: Ten years ago, Zelda led a band of merry adventurers whose knacks let them travel to alternate realities and battle the black rot that threatened to unmake each world. Zelda was the warrior; Ish could locate people anywhere; Ramon always knew what path to take; Sarah could turn catastrophe aside. Keeping them all connected: Sal, Zelda’s lover and the group's heart.

Until their final, failed mission, when Sal was lost. When they all fell apart.

Ten years on, Ish, Ramon, and Sarah are happy and successful. Zelda is alone, always traveling, destroying rot throughout the US.

When it boils through the crack in the Liberty Bell, the rot gives Zelda proof that Sal is alive, trapped somewhere in the alts.

Zelda’s getting the band back together—plus Sal’s young cousin June, who has a knack none of them have ever seen before.

As relationships rekindle, the friends begin to believe they can find Sal and heal all the worlds. It’s not going to be easy, but they’ve faced worse before.

But things have changed, out there in the alts. And in everyone's hearts.


Title: Lead Me Astray

Author: Sondi Warner

Publication Date: March 15, 2022

Summary: Aurie Edison shouldn't linger in Overlay City, a mystical world of ley lines hidden within New Orleans. Luckily, there's a seductive Empath named Mys who pledges to get her where she needs to be. Then there's Detective Zyr Ravani, the hot werewolf tasked with keeping them safe. But what's the worst that can happen to a Ghost?

See, Aurie's not living her best life. But she COULD be if she accepts the powerful desire swirling between the three of them.

Ready to get away with something different? Solve Aurie's murder with Detective Zyr Ravani and the genderqueer Mx. Mys as you fall head over heels for this threesome along the way. Go ahead. #GetAwayWithIt

Introducing an adventurous tale of self-discovery, magic and menagé a trois. LEAD ME ASTRAY is a fresh new story from an authentic LGBTQ voice. Add this unicorn to your reading list and find out why it's a winner.


Title: Secret Identity

Author: Alex Segura

Publication Date: March 15, 2022

Summary: It’s 1975 and the comic book industry is struggling, but Carmen Valdez doesn’t care. She’s an assistant at Triumph Comics, which doesn’t have the creative zeal of Marvel nor the buttoned-up efficiency of DC, but it doesn’t matter. Carmen is tantalizingly close to fulfilling her dream of writing a superhero book.

That dream is nearly a reality when one of the Triumph writers enlists her help to create a new character, which they call “The Lethal Lynx,” Triumph's first female hero. But her colleague is acting strangely and asking to keep her involvement a secret. And then he’s found dead, with all of their scripts turned into the publisher without her name. Carmen is desperate to piece together what happened to him, to hang on to her piece of the Lynx, which turns out to be a runaway hit. But that’s complicated by a surprise visitor from her home in Miami, a tenacious cop who is piecing everything together too quickly for Carmen, and the tangled web of secrets and resentments among the passionate eccentrics who write comics for a living.

Alex Segura uses his expertise as a comics creator as well as his unabashed love of noir fiction to create a truly one-of-a-kind novel--hard-edged and bright-eyed, gritty and dangerous, and utterly absorbing.


Title: The One True Me and You

Author: Remi K. England

Publication Date: March 1, 2022

Summary: Up and coming fanfic author Kaylee Beaumont is internally screaming at the chance to finally meet her fandom friends in real life and spend a weekend at GreatCon. She also has a side quest for the weekend:

Try out they/them pronouns to see how it feels
Wear more masculine-presenting cosplay
Kiss a girl for the first time

It’s… a lot, and Kay mostly wants to lie face down on the hotel floor. Especially when her hometown bully, Miss North Carolina, shows up in the very same hotel. But there’s this con-sponsored publishing contest, and the chance to meet her fandom idols… and then, there’s Teagan.

Pageant queen Teagan Miller (Miss Virginia) has her eye on the much-needed prize: the $25,000 scholarship awarded to the winner of the Miss Cosmic Teen USA pageant. She also has secrets:

She loves the dresses but hates the tiaras
She’s a giant nerd for everything GreatCon
She’s gay af

If Teagan can just keep herself wrapped up tight for one more weekend, she can claim the scholarship and go off to college out and proud. If she’s caught, she could lose everything she’s worked for. If her rival, Miss North Carolina, has anything to do with it, that’s exactly how it’ll go down.

When Teagan and Kay bump into one another the first night, sparks fly. Their connection is intense—as is their shared enemy. If they’re spotted, the safe space of the con will be shattered, and all their secrets will follow them home. The risks are great… but could the reward of embracing their true selves be worth it?


Title: Walk Me to the Corner

Author: Anneli Furmark

Publication Date: March 22, 2022

Summary: A loving home and husband; two grown sons; a lakeside cabin with a picnic table where their initials are carved; and the chance encounter at a party that destabilizes it all. Elise is in her mid-fifties and is satisfied with life. But the moment she sees Dagmar, she’s entranced. What begins as eye contact transitions to harmless texting, and quickly swells into the type of lust and yearning Elise did not know her life was lacking. Both are happily married and there’s trepidation, but they can’t resist. The two arrange to meet, changing the course of Elise’s stable and consistent life forever.

Though Elise’s husband attempts to support her exploration, he also begins an affair with a much younger woman—a postgraduate student in her thirties. The cliché of it all is too much for Elise to bear. As her marriage unravels, Elise’s love for Dagmar grows stronger. But with Dagmar content to stay in her marriage, Elise is stranded, adrift, completely alone for the first time in her adult life, and searching for someone to blame—the other woman. In the blur of a breakdown, she’s left facing the reality that, after all, she started it.


Ninestar Press



Title: Bi-Furious

Author: Chelsi Robichaud

Publication Date: March 8, 2022

Summary: Jess, a young artist, has spent her entire life thinking she was straight. That is, until her long-term boyfriend leaves her for someone else. Single for the first time in years, Jess has time to think about what it is she really wants. And to express that, she paints a portrait of two women embracing. The painting goes viral overnight, and she gets approached by her favorite lesbian illustrator, Lily. The two become fast friends, but there’s one problem: Lily doesn’t know that Jess is straight. The more they talk, the more Jess starts to question her sexuality.

Once she realizes she is bisexual, Jess has to decide what she values more: the safety that heterosexual relationships afford her, or a real connection with someone she truly likes. As her infatuation for Lily grows, Jess has to make the difficult choice between keeping things as they are or accepting the risks that come with being openly bisexual.

Some of those risks involve being the target of cyber-bully-ing. Although Jess’ friends are happy for her, the Internet is not. One particularly spiteful fan does her best to ruin their relationship. It is up to Jess to find it within herself to reject the online harassment and inner doubts and embrace her new-found identity.


Title: Howl Down the Moon

Author: Layla Dorine

Publication Date: March 1, 2022

Summary: Luka knows he screwed up the night he tried to help Raine. He always gets things wrong—one of many reasons he steers clear of the rest of the pack. Besides, he doesn’t deserve the fellowship of other wolves, not with how badly he failed when it mattered most.

Rand has seen a great deal during his time as pack physician, both good and bad. Helping others is his life’s calling, so when a wolf shows up with bitemarks from an altercation with another wolf, he’s quick to treat, but when he learns the name of the wolf bleeding on his clinic floor, he’s quick to judge, too. Too bad he fails to take the time to learn the whole story.

Speaking of stories, there’s one Slade has refused to listen to for years—so much so, he’s relegated himself to the borderlands to avoid having anything to do with those who caused the tragedy that cost him his twin and the vengeance he knows will damn him for life if he carries it out.

A series of decisions, good and bad, brings the lives of these three wolves crashing together. In Comet Lake, that’s called fate. The spark of a chance. Now it’s up to them to put stubbornness aside, stop answering questions with questions, and pause in their self-loathing long enough to listen to one another, put their pasts behind them, and learn how to love.


Title: Oddbird

Author: Ellie Goforth

Publication Date: March 18, 2022

Summary: Katerina’s small, safe life in London is upended on Christmas Eve when her beloved mum passes away. Two days later, she sees her boyfriend of five years kissing the local librarian. Kat goes to bed and pulls the covers over her head, convinced she will never recover from these losses.

To Kat’s great surprise, her mum has left her four letters to guide her through her grief and an air ticket to Swedish Lapland for a wild adventure. Before Kat knows it, she’s at the top of the world with a backpack and her headstrong French bulldog, Olive.

On the challenging, exhilarating eight-day trek, Kat learns she can come to terms with her mum’s death. She also encounters Anna, lanky and gorgeous, who invites her to Stockholm for a weekend of passion.

The three days they share awakens Kat to her truth. It leads the way to her desires, including a long ambition to open a small bookshop in her London neighborhood. But how can she do that and follow her heart with her new love? Will the dangers and complications that face both her and Anna force her hand?


Title: Toxic

Author: Rick R. Reed

Publication Date: March 15, 2022

Summary: Connor Ryman thought he had it all—a successful career as a mystery novelist, a condo with stunning views of Seattle’s Lake Union, a supportive and long-term partner, Steve, and a loving daughter, Miranda, who was following in her father’s creative footsteps.

It all went bad when Steve left the family suddenly. Jilted and heartbroken, Connor begins to search for love online. So long off the market, he enlists his daughter’s help in crafting a dating profile.

His prayers are answered when Trey Goodall, smart and handsome, answers his ad. He’s witty, urbane, a wealthy attorney, and his sex appeal is off the charts. But he’s a liar, a monster under a pretty mask. Miranda sees through the red flags and senses something very wrong beneath the façade.

Can she convince her father to save himself before it’s too late? Or will Trey, a master manipulator with a very tainted history, play upon Connor’s innocence to ensnare him in a web of deceit, intrigue, and, ultimately, murder?


North Star Editions



Title: Every Variable of Us

Author: Charles A. Bush

Publication Date: March 1, 2022

Summary: After Philly teenager Alexis Duncan is injured in a gang shooting, her dreams of a college scholarship and pro basketball career vanish in an instant. To avoid becoming another Black teen trapped in her poverty-stricken neighborhood, she shifts her focus to the school's STEM team, a group of nerds seeking their own college scholarships. Academics have never been her thing, but Alexis is freshly motivated by Aamani Chakrabarti, the new Indian student who becomes her mentor (and crush?). Alexis begins to see herself as so much more than an athlete. But just as her future starts to reform, Alexis’s own doubts and old loyalties pull her back into harm’s way.


Penguin Random House



Title: Eleutheria

Author: Allegra Hyde

Publication Date: March 8, 2022

Summary: Willa Marks has spent her whole life choosing hope. She chooses hope over her parents’ paranoid conspiracy theories, over her dead-end job, over the rising ocean levels. And when she meets Sylvia Gill, renowned Harvard professor, she feels she’s found the justification of that hope. Sylvia is the woman-in-black: the only person smart and sharp enough to compel the world to action. But when Sylvia betrays her, Willa fears she has lost hope forever.

And then she finds a book in Sylvia’s library: a guide to fighting climate change called Living the Solution. Inspired by its message and with nothing to lose, Willa flies to the island of Eleutheria in the Bahamas to join the author and his group of ecowarriors at Camp Hope. Upon arrival, things are not what she expected. The group’s leader, author Roy Adams, is missing, and the compound’s public launch is delayed. With time running out, Willa will stop at nothing to realize Camp Hope’s mission—but at what cost?


Title: Great or Nothing

Author: Various Authors

Publication Date: March 8, 2022

Summary: In the spring of 1942, the United States is reeling from the attack on Pearl Harbor. While the US starts sending troops to the front, the March family of Concord, Massachusetts grieves their own enormous loss: the death of their daughter, Beth.

Under the strain of their grief, Beth's remaining sisters fracture, each going their own way with Jo nursing her wounds and building planes in Boston, Meg holding down the home front with Marmee, and Amy living a secret life as a Red Cross volunteer in London--the same city where one Mr. Theodore Laurence is stationed as an army pilot.

Each March sister's point of view is written by a separate author, three in prose and Beth's in verse, still holding the family together from beyond the grave. Woven together, these threads tell a story of finding one's way in a world undergoing catastrophic change.


Title: Kiss & Tell

Author: Adib Khorram

Publication Date: March 22, 2022

Summary: Hunter never expected to be a boy band star, but, well, here he is. He and his band Kiss & Tell are on their first major tour of North America, playing arenas all over the United States and Canada (and getting covered by the gossipy press all over North America as well). Hunter is the only gay member of the band, and he just had a very painful breakup with his first boyfriend–leaked sexts, public heartbreak, and all–and now everyone expects him to play the perfect queer role model for teens.

But Hunter isn’t really sure what being the perfect queer kid even means. Does it mean dressing up in whatever The Label tells him to wear for photo shoots and pretending never to have sex? (Unfortunately, yes.) Does it mean finding community among the queer kids at the meet-and-greets after K&T’s shows? (Fortunately, yes.) Does it include a new relationship with Kaivan, the star of the band opening for K&T on tour? (He hopes so.) But when The Label finds out about Hunter and Kaivan, it spells trouble—for their relationship, for the perfect gay boy Hunter plays for the cameras, and, most importantly, for Hunter himself.


Title: Right Where I Left You

Author: Julian Winters

Publication Date: March 15, 2022

Summary: School’s out, senior year is over, and Isaac Martin is ready to kick off summer. His last before heading off to college in the fall where he won’t have his best friend, Diego. Where—despite his social anxiety—he’ll be left to make friends on his own. Knowing his time with Diego is limited, Isaac enacts a foolproof plan: snatch up a pair of badges for the epic comic convention, Legends Con, and attend his first ever Teen Pride. Just him and Diego. The way it should be. But when an unexpected run-in with Davi—Isaac’s old crush—distracts him the day tickets go on sale, suddenly he’s two badges short of a perfect summer. Even worse, now he’s left making it up to Diego by hanging with him and his gamer buddies. Decidedly NOT part of the original plan. It’s not all bad, though. Some of Diego’s friends turn out to be pretty cool, and when things with Davi start heating up, Isaac is almost able to forget about his Legends Con blunder. Almost. Because then Diego finds out what really happened that day with Davi, and their friendship lands on thin ice. Isaac assumes he’s upset about missing the convention, but could Diego have other reasons for avoiding Isaac?


Title: The Town of Babylon

Author: Alejandro Varela

Publication Date: March 22, 2022

Summary: Revolutionary Road meets What Belongs to You, a debut novel about suburban malaise, following Andrés, a gay Latinx professor, returning to his hometown for a twenty-year high school reunion.

When his father falls ill, Andrés, a professor of public health, returns to his suburban hometown to tend to his father’s recovery. Reevaluating his rocky marriage in the wake of his husband’s infidelity and with little else to do, he decides to attend his twenty-year high school reunion, where he runs into the long-lost characters of his youth.

Jeremy, his first love, is now married with two children after having been incarcerated and recovering from addiction. Paul, who Andrés has long suspected of having killed a man in a homophobic attack, is now an Evangelical minister and father of five. And Simone, Andrés’s best friend, is in a psychiatric institution following a diagnosis of schizophrenia. During this short stay, Andrés confronts these relationships, the death of his brother, and the many sacrifices his parents made to offer him a better life.


Title: Vagabonds!

Author: Eloghosa Osunde

Publication Date: March 15, 2022

Summary: As in Nigeria, vagabonds are those whose existence is literally outlawed: the queer, the poor, the displaced, the footloose and rogue spirits. They are those who inhabit transient spaces, who make their paths and move invisibly, who embrace apparitions, old vengeances and alternative realities. Eloghosa Osunde's brave, fiercely inventive novel traces a wild array of characters for whom life itself is a form of resistance: a driver for a debauched politician with the power to command life and death; a legendary fashion designer who gives birth to a grown daughter; a lesbian couple whose tender relationship sheds unexpected light on their experience with underground sex work; a wife and mother who attends a secret spiritual gathering that shifts her world. As their lives intertwine—in bustling markets and underground clubs, churches and hotel rooms—vagabonds are seized and challenged by spirits who command the city's dark energy. Whether running from danger, meeting with secret lovers, finding their identities, or vanquishing their shadowselves, Osunde's characters confront and support one another, before converging for the once-in-a-lifetime gathering that gives the book its unexpectedly joyous conclusion.

Blending unvarnished realism with myth and fantasy, Vagabonds! is a vital work of imagination that takes us deep inside the hearts, minds, and bodies of a people in duress—and in triumph.


Quarto



Title: My Own Way

Author: Joana Estrela

Publication Date: March 1, 2022

Summary: Small children are often asked to choose between a gendered binary–"boy" or "girl", "pink" or "blue". This colorful picture book smashes these stereotypes and encourages the reader to follow their own way!

"Girl or Boy?"
What brings you joy?
"Pink or blue?"
It’s up to you.


With vibrant illustrations and concise, poetic text, this powerful book teaches young children that there are no limits in what you can do and who you can be. You are unique!

Translated from the original Portuguese by award-winning transgender poet Jay Hulme, My Own Way is an important, timely, and beautiful celebration of identity, difference, and respect.


Rutgers University Press



Title: OutWrite

Author: Julie R. Enszer

Publication Date: March 18, 2022

Summary: Running from 1990 to 1999, the annual OutWrite conference played a pivotal role in shaping LGBTQ literary culture in the United States and its emerging canon. OutWrite provided a space where literary lions who had made their reputations before the gay liberation movement—like Edward Albee, John Rechy, and Samuel R. Delany—could mingle, network, and flirt with a new generation of emerging queer writers like Tony Kushner, Alison Bechdel, and Sarah Schulman.

This collection gives readers a taste of this fabulous moment in LGBTQ literary history with twenty-seven of the most memorable speeches from the OutWrite conference, including both keynote addresses and panel presentations. These talks are drawn from a diverse array of contributors, including Allen Ginsberg, Judy Grahn, Essex Hemphill, Patrick Califia, Dorothy Allison, Allan Gurganus, Chrystos, John Preston, Linda Villarosa, Edmund White, and many more.

OutWrite offers readers a front-row seat to the passionate debates, nascent identity politics, and provocative ideas that helped animate queer intellectual and literary culture in the 1990s. Covering everything from racial representation to sexual politics, the still-relevant topics in these talks are sure to strike a chord with today’s readers.


Simon & Schuster



Title: A Quick & Easy Guide to Asexuality

Author: Molly Muldoon & Will Hernandez

Publication Date: March 29, 2022

Summary: Asexuality is often called The Invisible Orientation. You don’t learn about it in school, you don’t hear “ace” on television. So, it’s kinda hard to be ace in a society so steeped in sex that no one knows you exist. Too many young people grow up believing that their lack of sexual desire means they are broken – so writer Molly Muldoon and cartoonist Will Hernandez, both in the ace community, are here to shed light on society’s misconceptions of asexuality and what being ace is really like. This book is for anyone who wants to learn about asexuality, and for Ace people themselves, to validate their experiences. Asexuality is a real identity and it’s time the world recognizes it. Here’s to being invisible no more!


Title: All the White Spaces

Author: Ally Wilkes

Publication Date: March 29, 2022

Summary: In the wake of the First World War, Jonathan Morgan stows away on an Antarctic expedition, determined to find his rightful place in the world of men. Aboard the expeditionary ship of his hero, the world-famous explorer James “Australis” Randall, Jonathan may live as his true self—and true gender—and have the adventures he has always been denied. But not all is smooth sailing: the war casts its long shadow over them all, and grief, guilt, and mistrust skulk among the explorers.

When disaster strikes in Antarctica’s frozen Weddell Sea, the men must take to the land and overwinter somewhere which immediately seems both eerie and wrong; a place not marked on any of their part-drawn maps of the vast white continent. Now completely isolated, Randall’s expedition has no ability to contact the outside world. And no one is coming to rescue them.

In the freezing darkness of the Polar night, where the aurora creeps across the sky, something terrible has been waiting to lure them out into its deadly landscape…

As the harsh Antarctic winter descends, this supernatural force will prey on their deepest desires and deepest fears to pick them off one by one. It is up to Jonathan to overcome his own ghosts before he and the expedition are utterly destroyed.


Title: Girls Can Kiss Now

Author: Jill Gutowitz

Publication Date: March 8, 2022

Summary: Jill Gutowitz’s life—for better and worse—has always been on a collision course with pop culture. There’s the time the FBI showed up at her door because of something she tweeted about Game of Thrones. The pop songs that have been the soundtrack to the worst moments of her life. And of course, the pivotal day when Orange Is the New Black hit the airwaves and broke down the door to Jill’s own sexuality. In these honest examinations of identity, desire, and self-worth, Jill explores perhaps the most monumental cultural shift of our lifetimes: the mainstreaming of lesbian culture. Dusting off her own personal traumas and artifacts of her not-so-distant youth she examines how pop culture acts as a fun house mirror reflecting and refracting our values—always teaching, distracting, disappointing, and revealing us.

Girls Can Kiss Now is a fresh and intoxicating blend of personal stories, sharp observations, and laugh-out-loud humor. This timely collection of essays helps us make sense of our collective pop-culture past even as it points the way toward a joyous, uproarious, near—and very queer—future.


Title: So This Is Ever After

Author: F.T. Lukens

Publication Date: March 29, 2022

Summary: Arek hadn’t thought much about what would happen after he completed the prophecy that said he was destined to save the Kingdom of Ere from its evil ruler. So now that he’s finally managed to (somewhat clumsily) behead the evil king (turns out magical swords yanked from bogs don’t come pre-sharpened), he and his rag-tag group of quest companions are at a bit of a loss for what to do next.

As a temporary safeguard, Arek’s best friend and mage, Matt, convinces him to assume the throne until the true heir can be rescued from her tower. Except that she’s dead. Now Arek is stuck as king, a role that comes with a magical catch: choose a spouse by your eighteenth birthday, or wither away into nothing.

With his eighteenth birthday only three months away, and only Matt in on the secret, Arek embarks on a desperate bid to find a spouse to save his life—starting with his quest companions. But his attempts at wooing his friends go painfully and hilariously wrong…until he discovers that love might have been in front of him all along.


Title: The World Cannot Give

Author: Tara Isabella Burton

Publication Date: March 8, 2022

Summary: When shy, sensitive Laura Stearns arrives at St. Dunstan’s Academy in Maine, she dreams that life there will echo her favorite novel, All Before Them, the sole surviving piece of writing by Byronic “prep school prophet” (and St. Dunstan’s alum) Sebastian Webster, who died at nineteen, fighting in the Spanish Civil War. She soon finds the intensity she is looking for among the insular, Webster-worshipping members of the school’s chapel choir, which is presided over by the charismatic, neurotic, overachiever Virginia Strauss. Virginia is as fanatical about her newfound Christian faith as she is about the miles she runs every morning before dawn. She expects nothing short of perfection from herself—and from the members of the choir.

Virginia inducts the besotted Laura into a world of transcendent music and arcane ritual, illicit cliff-diving and midnight crypt visits: a world that, like Webster’s novels, finally seems to Laura to be full of meaning. But when a new school chaplain challenges Virginia’s hold on the “family” she has created, and Virginia’s efforts to wield her power become increasingly dangerous, Laura must decide how far she will let her devotion to Virginia go.


Scholastic



Title: Loveless

Author: Alice Oseman

Publication Date: March 1, 2022

Summary: From the marvelous author of Heartstopper comes an exceptional YA novel about discovering that it's okay if you don't have sexual or romantic feelings for anyone . . . since there are plenty of other ways to find love and connection.

This is the funny, honest, messy, completely relatable story of Georgia, who doesn't understand why she can't crush and kiss and make out like her friends do. She's surrounded by the narrative that dating + sex = love. It's not until she gets to college that she discovers the A range of the LGBTQIA+ spectrum -- coming to understand herself as asexual/aromantic. Disrupting the narrative that she's been told since birth isn't easy -- there are many mistakes along the way to inviting people into a newly found articulation of an always-known part of your identity. But Georgia's determined to get her life right, with the help of (and despite the major drama of) her friends.


Title: Ready When You Are

Author: Gary Lonesborough

Publication Date: March 1, 2022

Summary: A remarkable YA love story between two Aboriginal boys -- one who doesn’t want to accept he’s gay, and the boy who comes to live in his house who makes him realize who he is.

It's a hot summer, and life's going all right for Jackson and his family on the Mish. It's almost Christmas, school's out, and he's hanging with his mates, teasing the visiting tourists, avoiding the racist boys in town. Just like every year, Jackson's Aunty and annoying little cousins visit from the city -- but this time a mysterious boy with a troubled past comes with them. As their friendship evolves, Jackson must confront the changing shapes of his relationships with his friends, family and community. And he must face his darkest secret -- a secret he thought he'd locked away for good.


Sourcebooks



Title: Survive the Dome

Author: Kosoko Jackson

Publication Date: March 29, 2022

Summary: Jamal Lawson just wanted to be a part of something. As an aspiring journalist, he packs up his camera and heads to Baltimore to document a rally protesting police brutality after another Black man is murdered.

But before it even really begins, the city implements a new safety protocol...the Dome. The Dome surrounds the city, forcing those within to subscribe to a total militarized shutdown. No one can get in, and no one can get out.

Alone in a strange place, Jamal doesn't know where to turn...until he meets hacker Marco, who knows more than he lets on, and Catherine, an AWOL basic-training-graduate, whose parents helped build the initial plans for the Dome.

As unrest inside of Baltimore grows throughout the days-long lockdown, Marco, Catherine, and Jamal take the fight directly to the chief of police. But the city is corrupt from the inside out, and it's going to take everything they have to survive.


The Parliament House



Title: The Life Giver

Author: Jase Puddicombe

Publication Date: March 29, 2022

Summary: The Dreamers are untouchable. They are protected by the Sun God who speaks to them through their dreams: The Life-Giver. They live away from society and are only seen by their Scribes.

But now someone—or something—has begun attacking them.

The Council tried to place the blame on the Life-Giver, but Dreamer Annelie and her Scribe Lyam know better. They learn that danger is buried deep in the heart of the Council itself, threatening their peaceful way of life for good.

Forced to team up with Enoch, a mysterious man who talks in riddles, the trio must race against time to save their underground city from corruption—before their world crumbles around them.


Two Dollar Radio



Title: My Volcano

Author: John Elizabeth Stintzi

Publication Date: March 22, 2022

Summary: On June 2, 2016, a protrusion of rock is spotted by a jogger growing from the Central Park Reservoir. Three weeks later, when it finally stops growing, it's nearly two-and-a-half miles tall, and has been determined to be an active volcano.

As the volcano grows and then looms over New York, an eight-year-old boy in Mexico City finds himself transported 500 years into the past, where he witnesses the fall of the Aztec Empire; a Nigerian scholar in Tokyo studies a folktale about a woman of fire who descends a mountain and destroys an entire village; a white trans writer in Jersey City struggles to write a sci-fi novel about a thriving civilization on an impossible planet; a nurse tends to Syrian refugees in Greece while grappling with the trauma of living through the bombing of a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan; a nomadic farmer in Mongolia is stung by a bee, magically transforming him into a green, thorned, flowering creature that aspires to connect every living thing into its consciousness.


University of Illinois Press



Title: Queer Country

Author: Shana Goldin-Perschbacher

Publication Date: March 22, 2022

Summary: Though frequently ignored by the music mainstream, queer and transgender country and Americana artists have made essential contributions as musicians, performers, songwriters, and producers. Queer Country blends ethnographic research with analysis and history to provide the first in-depth study of these artists and their work. Shana Goldin-Perschbacher delves into the careers of well-known lesbian artists like k.d. lang and Amy Ray and examines the unlikely success of singer-songwriter Patrick Haggerty, who found fame forty years after releasing the first out gay country album. She also focuses on later figures like nonbinary transgender musician Rae Spoon and renowned drag queen country artist Trixie Mattel; and on recent breakthrough artists like Orville Peck, Amythyst Kiah, and chart-topping Grammy-winning phenomenon Lil Nas X. Many of these musicians place gender and sexuality front and center even as it complicates their careers. But their ongoing efforts have widened the circle of country/Americana by cultivating new audiences eager to connect with the artists’ expansive music and personal identities.

Detailed and one-of-a-kind, Queer Country reinterprets country and Americana music through the lives and work of artists forced to the margins of the genre's history.

Publication supported by a grant from the AMS 75 PAYS Fund of the American Musicological Society, supported in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.


Verve Poetry Press



Title: The Human Body is a Hive

Author: Erica Gillingham

Publication Date: March 10, 2022

Summary: Composed in two halves, Erica Gillingham’s The Human Body is a Hive is a playful and observant reconception of queer love and queer family-making. Opening with a shameless celebration of sex and desire, the collection expands the boundaries of love to include friendship, romance, and lifelong partnership. The latter catalogues the cyclical heartbreaks and wonders of fertility treatment through the microscopic lenses of nature, medicine, and art. Both quietly moving and profoundly celebratory, this exciting debut evokes tenderness and resilience.


West Virginia University Press



Title: Another Appalachia

Author: Neema Avashia

Publication Date: March 1, 2022

Summary: When Neema Avashia tells people where she’s from, their response is nearly always a disbelieving “There are Indian people in West Virginia?” A queer Asian American teacher and writer, Avashia fits few Appalachian stereotypes. But the lessons she learned in childhood about race and class, gender and sexuality continue to inform the way she moves through the world today: how she loves, how she teaches, how she advocates, how she struggles.

Another Appalachia examines both the roots and the resonance of Avashia’s identity as a queer desi Appalachian woman, while encouraging readers to envision more complex versions of both Appalachia and the nation as a whole. With lyric and narrative explorations of foodways, religion, sports, standards of beauty, social media, gun culture, and more, Another Appalachia mixes nostalgia and humor, sadness and sweetness, personal reflection and universal questions.


Ylva



Title: Chasing Dreams

Author: A.L. Brooks

Publication Date: March 16, 2022

Summary: Powerful venture capitalist Claire Pressley is done with stressful New York and has set her sights on a “treechange”— renovating a homestead in Eagle Cove, Oregon to make a gorgeous guesthouse.

Her plan isn’t quite so simple when it turns out Eagle Cove’s beloved town librarian Ruby Jordan had been saving to buy the homestead herself. Worse, Ruby had some grand, beautiful dream to turn it into an animal shelter.

Claire couldn’t look more like a villain in her new town if she tried. Now she has to find a way to make peace with the locals, as Ruby furiously works out a Plan B for her animal shelter.

But even as the hot-headed women keep clashing, it’s hard not to notice their sizzling chemistry, and how attractive they find each other.

It seems unlikely they’ll even manage to be friends at this rate. And being more than friends…that would be just ridiculous! Right?


Title: The Complete A Story of Now Series

Author: Emily O'Beirne

Publication Date: March 16, 2022

Summary: For the first time, Emily O’Beirne’s beautiful, two-part, lesbian coming-of-age series is together in one book.

In "A Story of Now," Claire is nineteen, brittle, sassy, and knows she needs a life. And some new friends. Enter the warm, brilliant Mia who seems to get Claire like no one has before.

In "The Sum of These Things," Claire has learned falling for a girl is easy. Now comes the hard part: learning to trust. Then there’s the question of what to do with her life.

A new volunteer job working with kids offers a glimpse of a potential future, one her pushy mother isn’t going to like.

Negotiating this new terrain of adulthood isn’t easy. But the biggest lesson for Claire is how not to let anything get in the way of her happiness. Especially herself.


Independently Published



Title: Glorious

Author: Cameron James

Publication Date: March 22, 2022

Summary: Elijah, has a reputation as that kid who's Mum died, then transitioned. He is used to being the hot topic, the name on everybody's lips, the centre of attention, so it is no surprise when he is named one of ballets raising stars, and expected to win gold with ease at this years competition.

It should be easy. Right?

But, Elijah's mind is elsewhere, on leaving home, on money, on sex and falling in love and things begin to get complicated. Can this trans ballerina win gold, figure out how to love two people, get into ballet school, and find the big O all before school finishes for good?


Title: Jackal's Wild

Author: Abby Kaitz

Publication Date: March 25, 2022

Summary: A shy math geek. His roommate with an NSFW alter ego. College just got a lot more interesting.

Quiet, studious Adam Hatchard is ready to reinvent himself and be the leading man in his own life.

- Survive his first frat party? Check.
- Talk to the hot TA in math class? Halfway(ish) there.
- Coexist in peace with his Neanderthal roommate? Send help.

From day one, Carter Ellison has given Adam nothing but cocky smirks, secondhand embarrassment, and dirty underwear all over their room—the perfect storm for Most Annoying Roommate Ever.

His ridiculously toned body deserving to be the eighth wonder of the world is beside the point.

But Carter has a secret: an unconventional side hustle involving cameras and a distinct lack of clothing. When Adam stumbles upon Carter’s online alter ego, the last thing he expects to feel is…compassion.

And when Carter asks him to hold the camera? Adam discovers there’s more to his roommate than the irritating frat boy persona Carter puts on.

What begins as a way for both of them to earn extra cash develops into something more. Something involving longer-than-appropriate stares, stolen touches, midnight confessions—and the realization that Adam just may have found his own leading man.


Title: Mall Out of Luck

Author: Sarah Robinson

Publication Date: March 11, 2022

Summary: Saoirse (pronounced Sur-Sha) Walsh hails from a town of less than five hundred people in Nebraska—and she’s already left three of them at the altar. Now she’s moved to Michigan to start over as a business woman and tonight’s the opening of her bar—The Lucky Leprechaun—and, as luck would have it, it’s also St. Patrick’s Day so it’s not surprising when she finds herself charmed by one of the patrons at the bar.

Nell James believes that everyone makes their own luck, and she has no time for shenanigans. As a brilliant scientist and former foster child with a pet snake and a rooster-themed kitchen, she’s as rare as a four-leaf clover in the small Michigan town. But when she meets Saoirse and finds themselves tumbling into some unlucky shenanigans, Nell begins to realize that she just may have found her perfect match in the woman she meets at the end of the rainbow.


Title: The One to Walk Away

Author: L. Dreamer

Publication Date: March 24, 2022

Summary: For FBI Special Agent Lake Stuart, doing the right thing came at a price—her family. Years later, in a new city, a new career, she’s still feeling the burden of the cost. She refuses to let anyone close enough to break her heart again. She’s the one to walk away now—until she goes home with Dr. Mel Pascale for one of her many routine one night stands. What happens to Lake’s ‘one and done’ way of companionship when she can’t get Mel off of her mind?

Pediatrician Mel Pascale likes her life the way it is: working at a premier hospital and volunteering at a refugee clinic, hanging out with her nephew, sister, and best friend and surfing. But she yearns to find someone special. When she (literally) runs into a beautiful, assertive woman, she’s taken with her immediately. And when she does something she’s never done before–take a stranger home for the night—something clicks into place and falls into an incongruous mess all at once.

Just as the two women are figuring out who they can be to each other, Mel gets embroiled in Lake’s multi-agency drug cartel corruption investigation, putting their burgeoning relationship—and lives—at risk.


Title: Welcome to the Cardinal

Author: TJ Dallas

Publication Date: March 26, 2022

Summary: When your friend recommends a renowned sex club, the location you find yourself at is not what you expected. The seven-story building in the heart of Edinburgh also hosts a hotel, a restaurant, a casino… Even a nightclub! As you explore in your own time, prepare to meet a plethora of sinful people. Do you want to learn how to play Blackjack, or would you prefer the owner to show you a good time over her private poker table? Are you ravenous for food, or something more in the restaurant? Does the sexy butch who runs the gym really know what she’s doing with a strap-on? (*Spoiler alert, of course she does.) Choose wisely.

~A create-your-own lesfic erotic adventure based on the Cardinal, the setting of my women-loving-women series featuring the Seven Deadly Sins. Over twenty seductive sapphic encounters to enjoy!~


Title: Wherever Is Your Heart

Author: Anita Kelly

Publication Date: March 1, 2022

Summary: How long, exactly, had June been coming to Moonie’s for the sole purpose of pining after the bartender?

She certainly didn’t come for the karaoke. Even though the karaoke made her smile sometimes. All these young queers with their off-key, bouncy energy. They made Mal smile, too, June knew. Even if Mal tended to hide her smiles.

But she saved them sometimes, for June.

Maybe Mal had secret smiles for other women, when June wasn’t around. There was probably no good reason for Mal Edwards, a bastion of stability and good sense, to see any kind of future with June anyway. Was it even fair to express feelings to a woman like that when you spent months away on the road?

But as another Pride weekend approaches, June’s fiftieth birthday and the eventual end of her long-haul trucking days loom in her mind, nestled against the memories of Moonie’s nights gone by where it felt like June and Mal came close—close to something happening, something real. Until June would inevitably chicken out. Retreat once again to life on the road.

It’s time for June to finally figure out her next act. And if she’s not brave enough to ask Mal Edwards to be part of it, she doesn’t deserve her, anyway.

After all. If you can’t tell a butch you love her during Pride, when the hell can you?


Hansen House



Title: Not Your Type

Author: Elizabeth Jeannel

Publication Date: March 25, 2022

Summary: When Ava meets Parker in an LGBT therapy group, she's hesitant to get close to someone new. Ava's traumatic past with relationships, and her inability to fully embrace her asexuality has made it hard for her to connect with anyone. But when she starts seeing Parker everywhere, she finds it hard to ignore how familiar Parker is, and how at peace Parker's presence in her life makes her feel.

Parker is less than a year out of a toxic relationship when she starts seeing Ava all over town. At the gym where she works, at the coffee shop she frequents, and then at the LGBT therapy group she decides to attend on a whim. She takes this as a sign from the universe, but is shocked to find that Ava doesn't believe in fate, and none of the charm and charisma that has worked before will quite cut it this time.

As the two grow closer, they both have to decide if holding onto the things their exes taught them are also holding them back from their future.






Disclaimer: I am a bookshop.org affiliate and may earn a commision on books bought using the link on my page.

Book Tour: THE FINAL CURSE OF OPHELIA CRAY review + 15 thoughts

Thank you so much to TBR and Beyond Tours for allowing me to take part in this tour for The Final Curse of Ophelia Cray. I had been so j...