25 of the Best New LGBTQ Books Out This Week
Including a lesbian rom-com about death, a queer take on Jesus's life, a bisexual gothic coming-of-age, and more.
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I really struggled to narrow down the new releases this week, because there are so many exciting ones! I’ve read two of them already, which I talked about on today’s episode of All the Books. Let me know in the comments which one you’re most looking forward to reading!
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New LGBTQ Releases This Week
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A Good Happy Girl by Marissa Higgins (Lesbian Fiction)
Helen is an anxious lesbian lawyer looking for a distraction. She can’t stop thinking about the crime of neglect her parents committed, so she begins dating lesbian couples — a recipe for drama if there ever was one. When she starts seeing Catherine and Katrina, their relationship quickly grows intense. Meanwhile, her father is asking for help with parole, and Helen realizes she can use this leverage to uncover what she’s suppressed about her childhood.
A Season in Chezgh’un by Darrel J. McLeod (Queer Fiction)
James has a comfortable life in 1989 Vancouver, Canada. He’s well-off, has a great relationship with a loving man, and he has a supportive network of friends. When his mother dies, though, he’s reminded how disconnected he is from his Cree culture. He takes a job as principal in a remote Dakelh community in a northern British Columbia town to try to reconnect — but although he finds strength in the resilience of the Dakelh culture, he’s overwhelmed by the poverty and abuse the community is struggling with.
Dayspring by Anthony Oliveira (Queer Biblical Retelling)
This is the story of Jesus and the disciple he loved, told in a blend of fiction, memoir, and poetry. It’s a queer coming-of-age story mixed with a Biblical retelling. Kai Cheng Thom, one of my favorite authors, describes it as: “Astonishingly beautiful and unrepentantly sexy, this is a book that is sure to both heal and challenge its readers in all the most important ways. To open its pages is to open your heart to a vision of love that is as deeply, tragically, and courageously human as it is divine.”
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Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun (Lesbian Romance)
I am still swooning over this book. Logan and Rosemary were best friends in childhood, until a kiss ruined everything. Now, they’re rival high school English teachers. When their shared mentor makes a deathbed request for them to drive him across the country so he can die in his cottage in Maine, they reluctantly agree — but all that tension and miscommunication between them is sure to bubble to the surface. This is a lesbian rom-com about death! Also, both main characters have ADHD. You can hear more of my thoughts on today’s episode of All the Books.
Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell (Sapphic Monster Romance)
Shesheshen is a shapeshifter. When she’s hunted by a mob, she borrows a few things to build a body for herself — a chain for a spine, some bones for her limbs, and a bear trap for a spare mouth. But in the chase, she falls off a cliff. Luckily, Homily is there to nurse her back to health. Homily is nurturing and kind — the perfect person to lay her eggs in so her young can devour her from the inside out. But just as Shesheshen is starting to understand human love and wants to tell Homily who she really is, Homily reveals that her family is hunting a shapeshifting monster. Has she seen one around?
Something Kindred by Ciera Burch (Bisexual YA Gothic)
Jericka has been dragged away from her friends and boyfriend to help take care of her mother of her dying grandmother for the summer. This is made more complicated because Gram left Jericka’s mother and uncle when she were young children, abandoning them to the care of their abusive father. This is the first time they’ve spoken since. In Coldwater, Jericka meets Kat, the cute girl working the hospital cafeteria — and the only one who talks about the ghosts in town. You can hear more of my thoughts on today’s episode of All the Books.
Marley's Pride by Joëlle Retener, illustrated by DeAnn Wiley (Nonbinary Picture Book)
Marley is a Black nonbinary kid going to Pride for the first time, to see their Zaza get an award. But Marley is anxious and has sensory issues. How will they navigate the noise and crowds of Pride? This also comes with backmatter explaining the history of pride.
Like Love: Essays and Conversations by Maggie Nelson (Queer Essays)
From the author of The Argonauts comes a new essay collection sampled from 20 years of Nelson’s work. Topics include love and friendship, queerness, how feminism has changed over time, language, making art, and much more.
✨ Paid subscribers can find 18 more LGBTQ books out this week at the end of this post! ✨
For more new releases, check out our New Books newsletter and the New Release Index — you can even filter by queer books!
Queer Bookish Goodies
I love this Queer Pride Adventuring Party Sticker Set that combines queer solidarity with a D&D/fantasy aesthetic. $5 each or $18 for all four.
That's it for me! Until next time, you can find me at my sapphic book blog the Lesbrary. You can hear me on All the Books, and you can also read my Book Riot posts and subscribe to my other Book Riot newsletter, Read Harder.
Happy reading!
Danika
18 More LGBTQ Books Out This Week
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