Whether you’re riding out the last days of warmth or jumping straight into curling up under a cozy blanket, there’s no greater September accessory than a great romance novel, and this month runneth over with excellent queer options. Treat yourself!
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A Shot in the Dark
Author: Victoria Lee
Released: September 5, 2023 by Dell
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, RomanceElisheva Cohen has just returned to New York after almost a decade away. The wounds of her past haven’t fully healed, but four years of sobriety and a scholarship to study photography with art legend Wyatt Cole are signs of good things to come, right? They could be, as long as Ely resists self-sabotage. She’s lucky enough to hit it off with a handsome himbo her first night out in the city. But the morning after their mind-blowing hookup, reality comes knocking. When Wyatt Cole walks into the classroom, Ely realizes the man she just spent the night with, the man whose name she couldn’t hear over the loud club music, is her teacher.
Everyone in the art world is obsessed with Wyatt Cole. He’s immensely talented and his notoriously reclusive personal life makes him even more compelling. But behind closed doors, Wyatt’s past is a painful memory. After coming out as transgender, Wyatt was dishonorably discharged from the military and disowned by his family. Since these traumatic experiences, Wyatt has worked hard for his sobriety and his flourishing art career. He can’t risk it all for Ely, no matter how attracted to her he is or how bad he feels about insisting she drop his class in exchange for a strictly professional mentorship. Wyatt can help with her capstone photography project, but he cannot, under any circumstances, fall in love with her in the process.
Through the lens of her camera, Ely must confront the reason she left New York in the first the Orthodox community that raised her, then shunned her because of her substance abuse. Along the way, Wyatt’s walls begin to break down, and each artist fights for what’s right in front of them—a person who sees them for all that they are and a love that could mean more than they ever imagined possible.
I was excited about this one for so many reasons, from the female lead being a queer ex-Orthodox Jew to the male lead being a sexy trans man to the teacher-student dynamic (don’t worry if that trope is not your thing, as they’re both significantly into adulthood and it’s dealt with in the most responsible way possible), but the layers go deeper and deeper in Lee’s adult debut, grappling with addiction, recovery, and revisiting the past with a different lens as the person you’ve become in the present. Plus, the chemistry is *chef’s kiss*.
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Fly with Me
Author: Andie Burke
Released: September 5, 2023 by St. Martin's Griffin
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, RomanceA one-way ticket to love or a bumpy ride ahead?
Flying-phobic ER nurse Olive Murphy is still gripping the armrest from her first-ever take-off when the pilot announces an in-flight medical emergency. Olive leaps into action and saves a life, but ends up getting stuck in the airport hours away from the marathon she’s running in honor of her brother. Luckily for her, Stella Soriano, the stunning type A copilot, offers to give her a ride.
After the two spend a magical day together, Stella makes a surprising Will Olive be her fake girlfriend?
A video of Olive saving a life has gone viral and started generating big sales for Stella’s airline. Stella sees their union as the perfect opportunity to get to the boys’ club executives at her company who keep overlooking her for a long-deserved promotion. Realizing this arrangement could help her too, Olive dives into memorizing Stella’s comically comprehensive three-ring-binder guide to fake dating. As the two grow closer, what’s supposed to be a ruse feels more and more real. Could this be the romantic ride of their lives, or an epic crash and burn?
It doesn’t take a whole lot to get me excited by a new voice in Sapphic romance, especially where steam and banter are promised. But there are so many glorious tropes in this debut, from forced proximity to fake dating to opposites attract, and let’s just say a protagonist with a fear of flying definitely resonates, as does a…whatever the furthest thing from a “meet cute” is. And a pilot! Definitely a new-to-me heroine profession and I can’t wait to keep reading.
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Thank You for Sharing
Author: Rachel Runya Katz
Released: September 12, 2023 by St. Martin's Griffin
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, RomanceDaniel Rosenberg and Liyah Cohen-Jackson’s last conversation—fourteen years ago at summer camp—ended their friendship. Until they find themselves seated next to each other on a plane, and bitterly pick up right where they left off. At least they can go their separate ways again after landing…
That is, until Daniel’s marketing firm gets hired by the Chicago museum where Liyah works as a junior curator, and they’re forced to collaborate with potential career changing promotions on the line.
With every meeting and post-work social gathering with colleagues, the tension (and chemistry) between Daniel and Liyah builds until they’re forced to confront why they broke apart years ago at camp. But as they find comfort in their shared experiences as Jews of color and fumble towards friendship, can they ignore their growing feelings for each other?
With sexy charm and undeniable wit, Rachel Runya Katz’s sparkling debut, Thank You For Sharing, proves that if you’re open to love, anything is possible.
Queer Jewish romance is having a serious moment right now, much to my delight (see: A Shot in the Dark, but also KD Casey’s m/m baseball series, Unwritten Rules; The Intimacy Experiment by Rosie Danan, Season of Love by Helena Greer, and Roz Alexander’s Hot for the Holidays series, among others), but Katz’s debut stands out considerably by pairing up two Jews of color, one of whom is bi. Not only does the book feature some great banter and chemistry, but it’s also got a lot of great conversations about existing in that intersectional space and the difficulties (particularly microaggressions) that come with it. The summer camp throwback is just the icing on the cake.
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Salt Kiss
Author: Sierra Simone
Released: September 12, 2023 by Bloom Books
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, Romance
Series: Lyonesse #1From TikTok sensation Sierra Simone comes the first in the Lyonesse series, a spin-off of her bestselling New Camelot books.
Tristan Thomas is lost.
After leaving the army, the young former soldier is in limbo. Until, that is, he’s hired by Mark Trevena, the owner of Lyonesse―DC’s ultra-secret club―to be Mark’s new bodyguard. He’s drawn into Mark’s dark, seductive world of power and desire, and slowly drawn to Mark himself, even though Mark is everything Tristan knows he shouldn’t want: cruel and wicked and shamelessly amoral. But protecting Mark isn’t Tristan’s only duty: soon, Mark asks him to guard his soon-to-be bride as she travels home from Ireland on Mark’s yacht. Tristan is jealous―and hurt to learn that the object of his obsession is engaged―but the former soldier in him is made to obey orders, and he goes to fetch Mark’s bride for him. Isolde Laurence is nothing like Tristan expected, however. Young, quiet, and sharp, she’s being pushed into this marriage by her family, and as the two travel back to America, Tristan finds himself fascinated with Isolde and the glimpses he gets of the lonely but determined woman behind her reserve. And the fascination is mutual: one night, while sailing under the cold stars, they share a searing kiss. From there, it’s a fast fall into the forbidden for all three of them.So here’s where I admit that I’m new to the Church of Sierra Simone, but as someone who’s interrupted her TBR to devour Priest, Sinner, Saint, and A Lesson in Thorns in the last couple of months, I am definitely a devoted member. I still have to catch up on her New Camelot books, but I definitely plan to be ready for this spinoff series, Lyonesse, inspired by Tristan and Isolde and similarly MMF. Bring on the queer nautical heat!
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Cleat Cute
Author: Meryl Wilsner
Released: September 19, 2023 by St. Martin's Griffin
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, RomanceGrace Henderson has been a star of the US Women’s National Team for ten years, even though she’s only 26. But when she’s sidelined with an injury, a bold new upstart, Phoebe Matthews, takes her spot. Phoebe is everything Grace isn’t—a gregarious jokester who plays with a joy that Grace lost somewhere along the way. The last thing Grace expects is to become friends with benefits with this class clown she sees as her rival.
Phoebe Matthews has always admired Grace’s skill and was star struck to be training alongside her idol. But she quickly finds herself looking at Grace as more than a mere teammate. After one daring kiss, she’s hooked. Grace is everything she has been waiting to find.
As the World Cup approaches, and Grace works her way back from injury, the women decide to find a way they can play together instead of vying for the same position. Except, when they are off the field, Grace is worried she’s catching feelings while Phoebe thinks they are dating. As the tension between them grows, will both players realize they care more about their relationship than making the roster?
Wilsner is such a fun author to follow, because their debut was the slowest of the slow burns, and then bam, their followup was the spiciest of the spicy (within trad pub contemporary romance), and so Cleat Cute really could’ve gone either way… and gives a great compromise by making you think it’s gonna be the former and then. Whew. You will know it when you see it, and you will like it. Plus, sports romance is always a good time, and there’s a fun mentor/student dynamic between the lesbian protags who are only actually four years apart. The neurodivergence rep is great as well, and the way the characters handle each other’s personalities and quirks is one of the best parts of the whole shebang. (The other part is the…shebanging. I mean. Come on.)
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In addition to the aforementioned SALT KISS, the other queer romance I have on my September TBR is the new Rachel Reid, TIME TO SHINE (September 26). This one hits all the m/m hockey romance tropes: backup player/superstar, veteran-rookie, roommates, grumpy-sunshine, bi-awakening. I’m really excited to read a new book from one of my favorite writers, but the only drawback is that Rachel Reid’s post-Game Changers popularity means that TIME TO SHINE’s ebook is priced at $9.99. Can I possibly wait for a sale or for the library copy to arrive before I devour the book? All signs point to unlikely.
Did I panic that the new KJ Charles book release date had been pushed when I didn’t see it listed here? I’m sure my heart rate will come down eventually. It’s fine y’all, it’s still set for the 19th. I am first on the library hold list. Breathe, breathe.
I don’t handle anticipation particularly well, so I guess it’s fortunate that there is nothing I look forward to like a new KJ Charles.
K.J. Charles’ A NOBLEMAN’S GUIDE TO SEDUCING A SCOUNDREL (September 19) is the conclusion to her Doomsday duology and it’s great! Luke from “Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen” is all grown up, an efficient but scheming secretary to the new Earl of Oxney. Rufus, who has unexpectedly inherited the title, is a big, blunt former soldier who desperately needs Luke’s help to manage the estate’s details while he fends off the greedy, angry family members. The men become lovers, but Luke is hiding a big secret that could destroy their fledgling relationship, and put Rufus’ life in danger. KJC’s second mainstream publisher title shows that she has not sacrificed any of the sharpness of her self-published “romance with a body count” books.
Ha! I did originally have the KJ Charles book in this post, but since I only get to cover five, and I had seven on my list, I definitely cut it for being the book I thought the most SBTB readers would already know about. Definitely treat yourself to the new KJ Charles! It is certainly out this month!
My neighborhood independent bookstore is going to have a Zoom discussion with KJ Charles, and I am so excited to attend. I always enjoy her appearances on the podcast.
I can share the link to the info on the discussion if it’s OK with the moderators.
Got all of these on my TBR!
The third in the new Crusie / Mayer series (One In Vermillion) also comes out on the 19th. I have that and the KJC pre-ordered, so will not know which to read first. I may make poor decisions at 12.01 on the night of the 18th.
If you are into fundraiser anthologies, I have a story in “Bay Area Queer Writers Association Presents: Queer Cheer: Holiday Stories with a Queer Twist,” available now at AMZ, and another in “We Came to Dance” available at AMZ and at Amphibian Press, which releases November 18, 2023. 🙂
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Thanks chacha1-I’ll definitely check out your new anthology. There’s another anthology that just came out (yesterday) FATED MATES mm paranormal charity with contributors like AJ Sherwood, SJ Himes,…which is now at the top of my TBR PILE.