LibraryAware LGBTQ+ Books Jun-Jul 2025

New & Notable

But How Are You, Really : a Novel
by Ella Dawson

With her demanding boss giving the commencement address at her alma mater, Charlotte has no choice but to return to her past and explain to her queer chosen family why she has been so bad at keeping in touch.

The Butcher's Daughter
by David Demchuk

In 1887 London, journalist Emily Gibson investigates the chilling past of a woman claiming to be Mrs. Lovett, Sweeney Todd's infamous accomplice, through a series of letters revealing a harrowing life in Victorian London, drawing her into a dangerous mystery.

The Paris Express : a Novel
by Emma Donoghue

Set on a fateful 1895 train journey to Paris, a diverse group of passengers—including politicians, a medical student, an inventor, and an anarchist—navigate personal ambitions and hidden motives, culminating in a disaster that forever changes their lives.

Masquerade : a Novel
by Mike Fu

Newly single Meadow Liu is house-sitting for his friend, artist Selma Shimizu, when he stumbles upon The Masquerade, a translated novel about a masked ball in 1930s Shanghai. The author's name is the same as Meadow's own in Chinese, Liu Tian--a coincidence that proves to be the first of many strange happenings. Over the course of a single summer, Meadow must contend with a possibly haunted apartment, a mirror that plays tricks, a stranger speaking in riddles at the bar where he works, as well as a startling revelation about a former lover. And when Selma vanishes from her artist residency, Meadow is forced to question everything he knows as the boundaries between real and imagined begin to blur.

Flirting Lessons
by Jasmine Guillory

When shy, newly single Avery enlists flirty heartbreaker Taylor for flirting lessons, their playful arrangement ignites undeniable chemistry, forcing both women to confront their feelings and risk everything for the chance at something real.

This Princess Kills Monsters
by Ry Herman

Someone wants to murder Princess Melilot. This is sadly normal. Melilot is sick of being ordered to go on dangerous quests by her domineering stepmother. Especially since she always winds up needing to be rescued by her more magically talented stepsisters. And now, she's been commanded to marry a king she's never met. When hideous spider-wolves attack her on the journey to meet her husband-to-be, she is once again rescued-but this time, by twelve eerily similar-looking masked huntsmen. Soon, she has to contend with near-constant attempts on her life, a talking lion that sets bewildering gender tests, and a king who can't recognize his true love when she puts on a pair of trousers. And all the while, she has to fight her growing attraction to not only one of the huntsmen, but also her fiance's extremely attractive sister. If Melilot can't unravel the mysteries and rescue herself from peril, kingdoms will fall. Worse, she could end up married to someone she doesn't love.

Our Evenings : a Novel
by Alan Hollinghurst

Peeks in on the orbit of Dave Win—the son of a British dressmaker and a Burmese man he's never met—after he receives a scholarship to a prestigious English boarding school and how the relationships he made affect his struggles with class and race, art and sexuality, love and violence.

The Merriest Misters
by Timothy Janovsky

Patrick Hargrave and Quinn Muller have been married for less than a year, but their passionate romance is cracking under the pressures of domestic life and a cumbersome mortgage. That's until Christmas Eve when Patrick wakes Quinn up with: "I think I've killed a man." Quinn realizes the "burglar" Patrick knocked out is none other than Mr. Claus himself. Instructed by a harried elf to don the red suit and take the reins of the reindeer-guided sleigh up on the roof, Quinn and Patrick work together to save Christmas. But as the sun rises on Christmas morning, the sleigh brings them back to the North Pole instead of New Jersey, and they're in for a massive shock. The couple must assume the roles of Santa Claus and the first ever Merriest Mister or Christmas will be canceled... permanently. With Christmas-and their marriage-on the line, Patrick and Quinn agree to stay together for one year. But can running a toy shop together save their relationship, or will Patrick and Quinn be stuffing coal in each other's stockings come next Christmas?

When the Tides Held the Moon
by Venessa Vida Kelley

Benigno "Benny" Caldera knows an orphaned Boricua blacksmith in 1910s New York City can't call himself an artist. But the ironwork tank he creates for famed Coney Island playground, Luna Park, astounds everyone, especially the eccentric side-show proprietor who commissioned it. Benny's work earns him an invitation to join the show's eclectic crew of performers--his first welcome in the city--and share in their astonishing secret: the tank Benny built is a cage for their newest exhibit, a living, breathing, in-the-flesh merman stolen from the banks of the East River under a gleaming full moon. The merman is more than a mythic marvel, though. Benny comes to know Râio as a clever philosopher, an observant traveler, and a kindred spirit more beautiful and compassionate than any human he's ever met. Despite their different worlds, what begins as a friendship of necessity deepens to love, leading Benny's heart into uncharted waters where he can no longer ignore the agonizing truth of Râio's captivity--and his own. A cage is no place for a merman to survive. Though releasing Râio means betraying his new family, bankrupting their home, and losing his soulmate forever, Benny must look within for the courage to do what's right, and find a love strong enough to free them both.

Ellipses : a Novel
by Vanessa Lawrence

Biracial and bisexual, Lily learns to navigate high society parties, microaggressions at work and her relationship with her girlfriend after accepting a ride home from a fashion world business titan who can advance her career and love life.

Everyone I Kissed Since You Got Famous
by Mae Marvel

Returning home to small-town Wisconsin for Christmas, A-list actress Katie Price reconnects with her high school crush Wil after a decade apart, but old flames and new challenges test their rekindled romance.

Oye : a Novel
by Melissa Mogollon

As the baby of her large Colombian American family, Luciana is usually relegated to the sidelines. But now she finds herself as the only voice of reason in the face of an unexpected crisis: A hurricane is heading straight for Miami, and her eccentric grandmother, Abue, is refusing to evacuate. Abue is so one-of-a-kind she's basically in her own universe, and while she often drives Luciana nuts, they're the only ones who truly understand each other. So when Abue, normally glamorous and full of life, receives a shocking medical diagnosis during the storm, Luciana's world is upended. When Abue moves into Luciana's bedroom, their complicated bond intensifies. Luciana would rather be skating or sneaking out to meet girls, but Abue's wild demands and unpredictable antics are a welcome distraction for Luciana from her misguided mother, absent sister, and uncertain future. Forced to step into the role of caretaker, translator, and keeper of the devastating family secrets that Abue begins to share, Luciana suddenly finds herself center stage, facing down adulthood--and rising to the occasion. As Luciana chronicles the events of her disrupted senior year of high school over the phone to Mari, Oye unfolds like the most fascinating and entertaining conversation you've ever eavesdropped on.

The Last Witch In Edinburgh
by Marielle Thompson

In an alternate Edinburgh of 1824, Nellie, finding a place and purpose at Rae Women's Apothecary, learns about a witch's ability to return to life after death, and after a heart-breaking disaster causes her to hide from the world for two centuries, she returns to fight the patriarchy in its many forms.

The In-Between Bookstore : a Novel
by Edward Underhill

When Darby, a nearly 30-year-old trans man, returns to his Illinois hometown after losing his job, he steps into his old high school bookstore and slips back in time, coming face-to-face with his pre-transition teenage self, offering him a chance to change the past and confront old wounds.

The Other Olympians : Fascism, Queerness, and the Making of Modern Sports
by Michael Waters

Uncovering, for the first time, the gripping true stories of early pioneering trans and intersex athletes, while tracking how international Olympic Committee members ignored Nazi Germany's atrocities to pull off the Berlin Games, this inspiring call for equality is an essential contribution toward understanding the contemporary culture wars over gender in sports.

Mutual Interest
by Olivia Wolfgang-Smith

At the turn of the 20th century, Vivian Lesperance operates Clancey & Schmidt, a preeminent manufacturer of soap, perfume, and candles, from behind the image of Oscar Schmidt and Squire Clancey, and when Oscar and Squire fall in love, the trio form a new partnership, in this story of queer romance and power.

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