LibraryAware LGBTQ+ Books Apr-May 2025

New & Notable

You're the Problem, It's You : a Novel
by Emma R. Alban

The enemies-to-lovers queer Victorian romance follow-up to Don't Want You Like a Best Friend, in which a young lord and a second son clash but find themselves thrust together again and again by their meddling cousins.

Metal from Heaven
by August. Clarke

Years after everyone she loves dies in a picket line, former child worker Marney Honeycutt tries to win the hand of Lady Gossamer to gain access to the industrialist who slaughtered her family and friends.

All the Painted Stars
by Emma Denny

When Lily Barden discovers her best friend Johanna's hand in marriage is being awarded as the main prize at a tournament, she is determined to stop it. Disguised as a knight, she infiltrates the contest, preparing to fight for Jo's hand. But her conduct ruffles feathers, and when a dangerous incident escalates out of Lily's control, Jo must help her escape. Finding safety with a local brewer, Lily and Jo soon settle into their new freedom, and amongst blackberry bushes and lakeside walks an unexpected relationship blossoms. But when Jo's past catches up with her and Lily's reckless behavior threatens their newfound happiness, both women realize that choices must always come at a cost. The question they need to ask is if the cost is worth the price of love...

Perfume & Pain : a Novel
by Anna Dorn

When she finally gets a chance to resurrect her dying career, controversial queer LA author Astrid Dahl finds her worst vice rearing its ugly head—the Patricia Highsmith, a blend of Adderall, alcohol and cigarettes, resulting in blackouts and a disturbing series of events.

Looking for a Sign : a Novel
by Susie Dumond

Grey, a single queer woman determined to find her future spouse, consults with an astrologer who advises her to go on a date with someone of each zodiac sign before her 29th birthday to find her most compatible match, learning about her own needs, desires and sense of adventure along the way.

Love and Sportsball
by Meka James

The new athletic trainer for the WNBA Atlantic Cannons, Khadijah Upton discovers her hot one-night stand is Shae Harris, the team's star player, and mixing business with pleasure against her better judgment, finds herself no longer playing by the rules.

The Z Word
by Lindsay King-Miller

Trying to find her place in the queer community of San Lazara, Arizona, Wendy, when an infection turns people into violent, terrifying mindless husks, must team up with her friends and frenemies to stay alive, save Pride and track the zombie outbreak to its shocking source.

Karaoke Queen
by Dominic Lim

When Rex Araneta finds out that his college sweetheart Aaron Berry is now living in the same town and needs help saving his karaoke bar, Rex dons his internet-famous drag queen alter ego to save the club and maybe get a second chance at love.

The Paris Affair
by Maureen Marshall

Fin Tighe is clinging to respectability by his nail-bitten fingers. He may be the illegitimate son of an English earl, but he hasn't spoken to his father in a decade, and his engineer's salary is barely enough to support him and his cousin Aurelie. A dancer in the corps de ballet, Aurelie is at constant risk from groping, leering men who assume any dancer is a prostitute in training. And Fin's evenings spent in the clandestine gay community may be legal through a loophole in the Napoleonic Code, but they leave him vulnerable. So, when Fin's employer, Gustave Eiffel, announces that he needs additional investors to pay for his pet project, a 300-meter tower that will dominate the city's skyline, Fin jumps at the chance. If he raises enough money, the commission will earn him a fortune, and hopefully, some protection. Capricious stranger Gilbert Duhais appears to be a boon from the gods. Gilbert is handsome, wealthy, connected, and somehow privy to Fin's background. Gilbert persuades Fin to masquerade as his father's heir-which couldn't be further from the truth-and introduces him to every nouveau riche speculator in the city. Each provocative interaction heightens Fin's risk of exposure. But also brings Fin closer to his dream of financial security. When a dear friend of Fin's is murdered above a clandestine gay club, the stakes rise even higher. Fin must untangle the disparate threads of his past-and his current romantic gamble-before they become his noose.

How to Leave the House : a Novel
by Nathan Newman

During his last day before leaving for university, Natwest, desperately waiting for a deeply embarrassing package he ordered, embarks on a small-town odyssey to find it, encountering an unforgettable cast of characters along the way, in this humorous story of being always connected to everyone and everything.

The Morningside : a Novel
by Tea Obreht

Settling at The Morningside, a crumbling luxury tower in Island City, Silvia, struggling with her new reality, becomes obsessed with the mysterious older woman who lives in the penthouse and is determined to unravel the truth about this woman's life, and her own haunted past.

We Were the Universe : a Novel
by Kimberly King Parsons

Still in denial after the death of her sister, Kit, a young mother, in the secret recesses of her mind, is keyed into everything that might distract from her surfacing pain, causing her to spiral as the thin line between reality and fantasy blurs, making her wonder if her sister is really gone.

Bad Habit : a Novel
by Alana Portero

Trapped in a working-class Madrid slum in the 1980s, a woman navigates the local party scene involving heroin and disco while searching for belonging in a potentially violent world where every choice can be fatal.

A Dark and Drowning Tide : a Novel
by Allison Saft

A folklorist embarks on an expedition with six eccentric nobles to find a fabled spring and must figure out who murdered her beloved mentor at the start of their trip before they have a chance to strike again.

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