6 of the Most Exciting New Queer Books Out This Week
Including lots of sapphic romance and romantasy!
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I’m back! I had a great, relaxing staycation, and it’s good to be writing Our Queerest Shelves again. Kelly and Erica did a fantastic job taking care of the newsletter while I was out, and I hope you added some new queer books to your TBR from their recommendations! Now, let’s jump into new queer books out this week.
New LGBTQ Releases This Week
Unfortunately, this week’s new releases are disproportionately by white authors, so since it’s Black History Month, I thought I’d use this space to remind you about a couple new queer releases by Black authors published earlier this year: Faebound by Saara El-Arifi, a sapphic fae romantasy novel, and How To Live Free In a Dangerous World: A Decolonial Memoir by Shayla Lawson, a queer travel memoir in essays.
Love and Hot Chicken by Mary Liza Hartong (F/F Romance)
PJ planned to return to her tiny hometown of Pennywhistle, Tennessee, only long enough to attend her father’s funeral, but between her and her mother’s grief, she can’t seem to get back to her PhD program at Vanderbilt. Instead, she impulsively takes a job as a line cook at Chickie Shak, making Nashville-style hot chicken. There, she falls for her coworker Boof, gets pulled into the campy Hot Chicken Pageant, and helps search for Boof’s biological mother.
Just Like Her by Fiona Zedde (F/F Romance)
Fiona Zedde has been writing F/F romance novels starring Black women for almost 20 years, starting with Bliss in 2005! Just Like Her follows Delphine, who is keeping most of her life a secret, including her past and her sexuality. Then, a woman reappears in her life who claims to be everything Delphine wants from a lover…and also says she’s straight. Is she worth the risk of heartbreak?
Remedial Magic (A Course in Magic #1) by Melissa Marr (F/F Fantasy Romance)
Looking for queer romantasy? Here’s a new series to pick up! As I said last time, “This one is about Ellie, a librarian who falls for a witch, Prospero — and then Ellie learns she has magic, too. She goes to a magical community college to learn how to manage her new powers. Meanwhile, Prospero is sure Ellie is the witch a prophecy foretold would be the key to saving her dying homeland.”
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We Got the Beat by Jenna Miller (Lesbian YA Contemporary)
I loved Jenna Miller’s previous sapphic YA book, Out of Character, so I’m excited about this one! Jordan is a fat, nerdy lesbian who is determined to be the first junior to become the school newspaper’s editor-in-chief. Instead, she’s told to report on the volleyball team, headed by her ex-best friend and current nemesis, Mackenzie. But as they spend more time together, Jordan begins to question what drove them apart in the first place.
The Diablo's Curse by Gabe Cole Novoa (Nonbinary YA Fantasy)
Dami is a demon trying to return to human form. And they’ve almost done it: they just have one more deal to cancel to make it happen. For Silas, though, that deal is the only thing keeping him alive. There’s one way out of this stalemate: the two of them team up to end Silas’s family curse.
Is This the Kind of Love I Want?, Volume 1 by Kouki (Gay Manga)
Uta and Ryo have a seemingly idyllic life living together, with one wrinkle: Uta is gay, Ryo is (seemingly) straight, and they aren’t technically a romantic or sexual couple. As their lease renewal date comes up, Uta wonders if this is the life he wants for himself.
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
Look at this adorable vinyl sticker inspired by queer icons Frog and Toad! $4
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