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NEW QUEER FICTION FOR ADULTS SEPTEMBER 2025 |
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Love redeemed them, but the past isn't done with them yet. England, 1925. For jaded Lord Fine--Wesley, to the friends he's surprised he now has--falling into his lover Sebastian's world of magic and intrigue has changed everything. But when a plot to destroy magic is linked to Wesley's own aristocratic world, he's determined to root it out--especially when it threatens newly vulnerable Sebastian. Sebastian will never regret sacrificing his magic to save Wesley's life, even if life without magic is challenging and sometimes dangerous. But now he faces the biggest danger yet: infiltrating Wesley's viscount circles to find a villain, without magic to protect them, because Sebastian's magic is gone forever...isn't it? Joined by old friends, Wesley and Sebastian follow the clues from New York's speakeasies, across the ocean to England, and finally to a duke's country estate. Always one step behind, they must race against time to stop those responsible and end the threat to the world, and magic, once and for all. |
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Series: HMRC bk 3With Her Majesty's Royal Coven in shambles and the fate of the world hanging in the balance, the sisterhood of friends and witches must find a new way of putting together the pieces if (wo)mankind is to stand a chance, in this final chapter to Juno's "irresistible" series (Lana Harper) Niamh, Ciara, Leonie, Elle and Theo. Five very different witches with one thing in common: they were unwittingly chosen by the dangerously charming Lucifer, the demon king of desire, to fulfil a dark prophecy: Satanis will rise and the daughters of Gaia will fall. The coven is reunited-but broken. Niamh is back from the dead ... but she hasn't come back alone. Elle mourns a son she never had. Ciara languishes in a prison for witches, and Leonie reels from a very unexpected surprise. Meanwhile, Lucifer offers fledgling witch Theo a deal: if she helps him, her coven-her family-will be spared. But the magic he asks for will take her out of London-out of time, entirely. The final confrontation between good and evil in the spectacular conclusion to the saga of Her Majesty's Royal Coven |
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To Clutch a Razor by Veronica RothA funeral. A heist. A desperate mission.When Dymitr is called back to the old country for the empty night, a funeral rite intended to keep evil at bay, it's the perfect opportunity for him to get his hands on his family's most guarded relic—a book of curses that could satisfy the debt he owes legendary witch Baba Jaga. But first he'll have to survive a night with his dangerous, monster-hunting kin.As the sun sets, the line between enemies and allies becomes razor-thin, and Dymitr's new loyalties are pushed to their breaking point.Family gatherings can be brutal. Dymitr's might just be fatal |
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The Maiden and her Monster by Maddie Martinez As the healer’s daughter, Malka has seen how the wood’s curse has plagued her village, but the Ozmini Church only comes to collect its tithe, not to protect heretics with false stories of monsters in the trees. So when a clergy girl wanders too close to the forest and Malka’s mother is accused of her murder, Malka strikes an impossible bargain with a zealot Ozmini priest. If she brings the monster out, he will spare her mother from execution. When she ventures into the shadowed woods, Malka finds a monster, though not the one she expects: an inscrutable, disgraced golem who agrees to implicate herself, but only if Malka helps her fulfill a promise first and free the imprisoned rabbi who created her. But a deal easily made is not easily kept. And as their bargain begins to unravel a much more sinister threat, protecting her people may force Malka to endanger the one person she left home to save―and face her growing feelings for the very creature she was taught to fear.
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Florenzer : a novel
by Philip H. Melanson
In fifteenth-century Florence, young Leonardo da Vinci, rising banker Lorenzo de' Medici and ambitious priest Francesco Salviati navigate artistic brilliance, political intrigue and forbidden desires that will shape both their fates and the city's future. Illustrations.
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These Heathens : a novel by Mia McKenzieDear Lord, please forgive me for the sins I’ve committed. And for the one I’m still planning to commit tomorrow. Amen. Where do you get an abortion in 1960 Georgia, especially if your small town’s midwife goes to the same church as your parents? For seventeen-year-old Doris Steele, the answer is Atlanta, where her favorite teacher, Mrs. Lucas, calls upon her brash, wealthy childhood best friend, Sylvia, for help. While waiting to hear from the doctor who has agreed to do the procedure, Doris spends the weekend scandalized by, but drawn to, the people who move in and out of Sylvia’s orbit: celebrities whom Doris has seen in the pages of Jet and Ebony, civil rights leaders such as Coretta Scott King and Diane Nash, women who dance close together, boys who flirt too hard and talk too much, atheists! And even more shocking? Mrs. Lucas seems right at home. From the guests at a queer kickback to the student activists at a SNCC conference, Doris suddenly finds herself surrounded by so many people who seem to know exactly who or what they want. Doris knows she doesn’t want a baby, but what does she want? Will this trip help her find out? These Heathens is a funny, poignant story about Black women’s obligations and ambitions, what we owe to ourselves, and the transformative power of leaving your bubble, even for just one chaotic weekend.
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The Original : a novel by Nell StevensAn unwanted guest of her uncle's family since childhood, Grace has grown up on the periphery of a once-great household. She has unusual predilections: for painting, particularly forgery; for deception; for other girls. Her life is altered when a letter arrives from the South Atlantic. The writer claims to be her cousin Charles, long presumed dead at sea. When he returns, a rift emerges between family members who claim he is an imposter and Grace's aunt, who insists he is her son. Grace, whose intimate knowledge of fakes is her own closely guarded secret, is forced to decide who to believe and who to pretend to believe. In deciphering the truth about her cousin, she comes to understand other truths: how money is found and lost, and who deserves to be rich; what family means to queer people; and the value of authenticity, in art and in love.
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A Game in Yellow by Hailey PiperA kink-fixated couple, Carmen and Blanca, have been in a rut. That is until Blanca discovers the enigmatic Smoke in an under-street drug den, who holds pages to a strange play, The King in Yellow. Read too much, and you'll fall into madness. But read just a little and pull back, and it gives you the adrenaline rush of survivor's euphoria, leading Carmen to fall into a game of lust at a nightmare's edge. As the line blurs between the world Carmen knows and the one that she visits after reading from the play, she begins to desire more time in this other world no matter what horrors she brings back with her.
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You Weren't Meant to Be Human by Andrew Joseph WhiteFestering masses of worms and flies have taken root in dark corners across Appalachia. In exchange for unwavering loyalty and fresh corpses, these hives offer a few struggling humans salvation. A fresh start. It's an offer that none refuse.Crane is grateful. Among his hive's followers, Crane has found a chance to transition, to never speak again, to live a life that won't destroy him. He even met Levi: a handsome ex-Marine and brutal killer who treats him like a real man, mostly. But when Levi gets Crane pregnant—and the hive demands the child's birth, no matter the cost—Crane's desperation to make it stop will drive the community that saved him into a devastating spiral that can only end in blood.
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Series: Sworn Soldier bk 3Alex Easton does not want to visit America. They particularly do not want to visit an abandoned coal mine in West Virginia with a reputation for being haunted. But when their old friend Dr. Denton summons them to help find his lost cousin--who went missing in that very mine--well, sometimes a sworn soldier has to do what a sworn soldier has to do... |
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Dancer From the Dance : a novel by Andrew HolleranYoung, astonishingly beautiful, and tired of living a lie, Anthony Malone trades life as a seemingly straight small-town lawyer for the decadence of New York’s emerging gay scene—an odyssey that takes him from Manhattan’s Everard baths and after hour discos, to lavish orgies on Fire Island and parks after dark. Rescuing Malone from a possessive lover and shepherding him through his immersion in this life of fierce joys and cheap truths is the flamboyant Sutherland, a high-camp quintessential queen. But for Malone, the endless city nights and Fire Island days are close to burning out, and despite Sutherland’s abundant attentiveness and glittering world-weary wisdom, Malone soon realizes what he is truly looking for may not be found in these beautiful places, where life is crowded, and people are forever outrunning their own desires and death.
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Necessary Fiction : a novel by Eloghosa OsundeAcross Lagos, one of Africa's largest urban areas and one of the world's most dynamic cities, Osunde’s characters seek out love for self and their chosen partners, even as they risk ruining relationships with parents, spouses, family, and friends. As the novel unfolds, a rolling cast emerges: vibrantly active, stubbornly alive, brazenly flawed. These characters grapple with desire, fear, time, death, and God, forming and breaking unexpected connections; in the process unveiling how they know each other, have loved each other, and had their hearts broken in that pursuit. As they work to establish themselves in the city's lively worlds of art, music, entertainment, and creative commerce, we meet their collective and individual attempts to reckon with the necessary fiction they carry for survival.
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Lonely crowds : a novel by Stephanie WambuguRuth, an only child of recent immigrants to New England, lives in an emotionally cold home and attends the local Catholic girl's school on a scholarship. Maria, a beautiful orphan whose Panamanian mother dies by suicide and is taken care of by an ill, unloving aunt, is one of the only other students attending the school on a scholarship. Ruth is drawn forcefully into Maria's orbit, and they fall into an easy, yet intense, friendship. Ruth's devotion to her charming and bright new friend opens up her previously sheltered world. While Maria, charismatic and aware of her ability to influence others, eases into her full self, embracing her sexuality and her desire to be an artist, Ruth is mostly content to follow her around: to college and then into the early-nineties art world of New York City. There, ambition and competition threaten to rupture their friendship, while strong and unspoken forces pull them together over the years. Whereas Maria finds early success in New York City as an artist, Ruth stumbles along the fringes of the art world, drawn toward a quieter life of work and marriage. As their lives converge and diverge, they meet in one final and fateful confrontation. Ruth and Maria's decades-long friendship interrogates the nature of intimacy, desire, class, and time. What does it mean to be an artist and to be true to oneself? What does it mean to give up on an obsession?
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To the Moon and Back by Eliana Ramage Steph Harper is on the run. When she was five, her mother fled an abusive husband—with Steph and her younger sister in tow—to Cherokee Nation, where she hoped they might finally belong. In response, Steph sets her sights as far away from Oklahoma as she can get, vowing that she will let nothing get in the way of pursuing the rigorous physical and academic training she knows she will need to be accepted by NASA, and ultimately, to go to the moon. Spanning three decades and several continents, To the Moon and Back encompasses Steph’s turbulent journey, along with the multifaceted and intertwined lives of the three women closest to her: her sister Kayla, an artist who goes on to become an Indigenous social media influencer, and whose determination to appear good takes her life to unexpected places; Steph’s college girlfriend Della Owens, who strives to reclaim her identity as an adult after being removed from her Cherokee family through a challenge to the Indian Child Welfare Act; and Hannah, Steph and Kayla’s mother, who has held up her family’s tribal history as a beacon of inspiration to her children, all the while keeping her own past a secret. In Steph’s certainty that only her ambition can save her, she will stretch her bonds with each of these women to the point of breaking, at once betraying their love and generosity, and forcing them to reconsider their own deepest desires in her shadow.
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MYSTERY & THRILLER FICTION
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No Body No Crime by Tess SharpeMurder either bonds you or breaks you. Rural PI Mel Tillman knows this well. She’s seen her fair share of bloody cases and botched cover-ups. But killing with someone? That is a different kind of mess all together, and Mel’s got real experience with it. No one’s heard from Toby Dunne since Chloe Harper’s sweet sixteen party―because the birthday girl and sixteen-year-old Mel buried him so deep in the backwoods, no one’s ever finding him. Mel loses little sleep over it―Toby had been terrorizing them. What she does lose sleep over is Chloe, the girl with whom she survived that horrible night in the woods. Chloe, the girl she fell in love with. Chloe, the girl who disappeared and hasn’t been seen in more than six years. Tasked with locating Chloe by her family, Mel can’t resist the call of a good chase, or finding the one who got away with her heart (and with murder). When Mel finds an armed and vigilant Chloe living off-grid in a highly booby-trapped patch of Canadian wilderness, she realizes that Chloe had been expecting someone other than her ex to come looking for her. The thing that’s kept Chloe going for years is that she’s kept Mel safe by running. Now, the truth must come out as they run for their lives once again. Because when they buried Toby Dunne in the backwoods, they buried something else, too. Something Toby took. And the powerful family he stole it from? They’ll do anything to get it back.
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Hot Girls with Balls : a novel by Benedict NguyễnSix is 6′7″, scheming to rejoin the starting lineup, and barely checks her phone. Green is 6′1″, always building her brand, and secretly jealous of her more famous girlfriend. Together, they're going where no Asian American trans woman has gone before: the men's pro indoor volleyball league. Our hot girls with balls just thought playing with the boys would spare them some controversy . . . haha. In between their rival teams' away games across the globe, Six and Green stay connected on SpaceTime and selflessly broadcast their romance to fans on their weekly Instagraph live show. After a long season, they'll finally reunite for the championship tournament, the first to accommodate in-person fans since the COVIS pandemic struck the world a year ago. Just as they enter an airtight bro bubble of the world's best, they're faced with a crisis that demands an indisputably humiliating task: make a public statement online. Can Green stock up enough clout for her post-ball future? Can Six girlboss her team's seniority politics? Can they both take a time-out to just grieve? Their rabid fans and horny haters await their next move. We're all just desperate for a whiff of the sweaty feminine energy that makes that ball thwack with such spectacular force.
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The Fortune Hunter's Guide to Love by Emma-Claire SundayFortune-hunting Lady Sylvia is on the brink of financial ruin. Her solution? A summer by the seaside, where wealthy bachelors abound. But when she strikes a deal with practical, down-to-earth farmer Hannah--help Sylvia land a rich husband in exchange for funding Hannah's dream cheese shop--their partnership takes an unexpected turn.
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The Entanglement of Rival Wizards by Sara RaaschSebastian Walsh: Evocation Department. Human. The first of his family to pick college over the military.Elethior Tourael: Conjuration Department. Half-elf. Pretentious asshole. The latest legacy Tourael at Lesiara U. Both: Mageus Research Grant finalists.Sebastian refuses to let anyone snatch this away, least of all a snob riding on old money. But what's worse than a nemesis stealing your grant? You could both get it. Under the condition you work together.Sebastian is in hell. Thio's broody. Takes up their shared lab space with his projects . . . and biceps. Brings treats for Sebastian's familiar . . .. . . and is nothing like Sebastian thought.When Sebastian's past with the Touraels forces him to choose his research or Thio, the decision should be simple. But while working with his rival is volatile . . . falling for his rival might blow up Sebastian's future.
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People Watching by Hannah Bonam-youngPrudence Welch has found solace in her introverted life in Baysville, a charming tourist town in Northern Ontario. Despite once dreaming of a life beyond its borders, she now finds contentment in her routines: working at her father’s gas station, writing poetry, and caring for her mother, who was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease shortly after Prue’s nineteenth birthday. But as her mother’s condition worsens and her father’s concerns about her own future intensify, Prue feels her world slipping further out of control. Enter Milo Kablukov, an enigmatic wanderer whose beat-up van covered with ill-advised bumper stickers rolls into town just when Prue needs a change. It’s all too easy to let go with him, and Prue can’t help but strike up an unlikely friendship with Milo, which leads to a wild and sexy agreement between them.Milo, a man of many adventures and countless stories, is not one to settle down. However, his brother’s urgent need for help has brought him to Baysville, and now the intriguing Prue has given him more reason to stay—especially once they start spending more time together, their chemistry intensifying, and casual-sex lessons begin at Prue’s request. But as their temporary arrangement blossoms into something deeper, Prue and Milo discover that getting out of their comfort zones is one thing . . . taking that leap together is something else entirely.
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Series: Alliance bk 2Teo Anand, former ne'er-do-well second son of the Anand Tech empire and current solar fugitive, has just crash-landed on the Moon after escaping the latest attempt on his life. But if anyone can help exonerate him, it's his best friend, bold Korean space pilot Ocean Yoon. Falsely accused of murdering his family, Teo is running out of both time and options. But loyalties are uncertain in their group of steadfast comrades and tentative new allies, and it's difficult to know who to trust in the tangled web that awaits them in Artemis, a city on the Moon rich in Korean history and haunted by ghosts from Teo's and Ocean's pasts. Further complicating matters are Haven--the pensive medic whose beliefs challenge Ocean's--and the dashing Phoenix--a space raider who's come blazing into Teo's life in more ways than one. All the while, Corvus, the real culprit behind the slaying of the Anands, is sowing a path of destruction that threatens to swallow the solar whole. The crew will wrestle with clashing ideals, flying bullets, and undeniable feelings as they race toward a stunning final stand. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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The Public Library
501 Copper NW
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87102
505-768-5141abqlibrary.org |
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