It’s that time of year again when we put an impossible task before ourselves: choose only one (1) book per month you’re most excited about. When we know and are waiting for dozens of them? It’s like choosing a favourite pet.
It’s a tiny bit easier because we also have a rule: neither of use is allowed to choose a book we have already read an arc of. And since we were very lucky this year with advanced copies, the pool to choose from was a tiny bit smaller. This is why you won’t see The Hollow Heart or A Marvellous Light, or Iron Widow here, to name just a few…
This is all to say that a ridiculous number of great LGBT books is being published this year, and below are six we (haven’t read yet and) are most excited about. And here’s what we were waiting for in the first half of the year!
July
Charlotte
The River Has Teeth
Erica Waters
Release date: 20th July
Goodreads
Rep: sapphic mc & li
Genre & tropes: paranormal, mystery
Anna
She Who Became the Sun
Shelley Parker-Chan
Release date: 20th July
Goodreads
Rep: Chinese & Mongolian coded cast, nonbinary lesbian mc, lesbian mc, gay mc, bi mc
Genre & tropes: historical, fantasy, retelling
August
Charlotte
Edie in Between
Laura Sibson
Release date: 24th August
Goodreads
Rep: wlw relationship
Genre & tropes: fantasy, contemporary
Anna
The Dead and the Dark
Courtney Gould
Release date: 3rd August
Goodreads
Rep: lesbian mcs
Genre & tropes: paranormal, mystery
September
Charlotte
Obie is Man Enough
Schuyler Bailar
Release date: 7th September
Goodreads
Rep: trans mc
Genre & tropes: contemporary
Anna
The Lost Girls
Sonia Hartl
Release date: 14th September
Goodreads
Rep: wlw relationship
Genre & tropes: paranormal fantasy, vampires, John Tucker Must Die retelling
October
Charlotte
Jade Fire Gold
June C. L. Tan
Release date: 12th October
Goodreads
Rep: sapphic characters
Genre & tropes: fantasy
Anna
Payback’s a Witch
Lana Harper
Release date: 13th October
Goodreads
Rep: wlw relationship
Genre & tropes: fantasy, romance, witches
November
Charlotte
The Bone Shard Emperor
Andrea Stewart
Release date: 9th November
Goodreads
Rep: wlw relationship
Genre & tropes: fantasy
Anna
Spin Me Right Round
David Valdes
Release date: 2nd November
Goodreads
Rep: mlm relationship
Genre & tropes: contemporary, time travel
December
Charlotte
The Midnight Girls
Alicia Jasinska
Release date: 7th December
Goodreads
Rep: wlw relationship, lesbian mc, bi mc
Genre & tropes: fantasy, enemies to lovers
Anna
Fools in Love
ed. by Rebecca Podos & Ashley Herring Blake
Release date: 7th December
Goodreads
Rep: lgbt cast
Genre & tropes: romance, short stories
It was all but impossible to stick to only six books, but we managed it eventually! Are any of your most anticipated releases on our list?
10 Comments
Samantha @WLABB
Fools in Love is high on my list. There’s such a spectacular group of contributors involved. How could it not be amazing?
readsrainbow
right?? it’s like the sat down and decided to make a book specifically for us!
Gabriele | QueerBookdom
I am excited for all of them 😍! Oh, to have all the money and shelf space in the world
readsrainbow
oh we know those problems too, sadly
frayedbooks
I keep hearing great things about The Dead and the Dark – I’m looking forward to that one!!
readsrainbow
charlotte absolutely adored it so im super excited!!
chelsea @ your bookish friend
the midnight girls sounds so good!
readsrainbow
it IS extremely good!!!! one of my favs of the year!
– anna
Jess @ Jessticulates
Great list! She Who Became the Sun made my list this week, too, and I love the cover of Edie in Between.
readsrainbow
god i’ve been waiting for she who became the sun for so long, icb it’s almost here! and yeah, it’s lovely!
– anna