Happy Tuesday!
June is looking up to a pretty beefy month. Lots of sci-fi on our radar this month, plus a contemporary retelling, historical romance, and some mysteries.
Which releases are on your radar this week? Let us know in the comments!
Bald-Faced Liar
Author: Victoria Helen Stone
Released: June 1, 2025 by Lake Union Publishing
Genre: Mystery/ThrillerLiving a lie becomes a matter of life and death for a woman hiding from her past in a novel of mounting psychological suspense by the bestselling author of Jane Doe and The Hook.
Traveling nurse Elizabeth May has a promising new home in Santa Cruz. And another new identity. It’s a pattern of reinvention for a woman escaping her traumatic childhood—and hiding from the decades of notoriety and destruction that followed. Invisibility has kept Elizabeth safe. Until now. After all these years, someone sees her for who she is.
Threat by threat, a vengeful stalker is dismantling Elizabeth’s carefully constructed lifetime of lies. And no one in her temporary circle can be trusted—not her fleeting new love interest, not the supportive friend she knows only from online forums, and certainly not the police. They’ve never been there for her.
As fear sharpens to terror, Elizabeth soon discovers something about her past that even she didn’t know. The revelation could finally set her on a path of healing and redemption. Or, now alone in the dark, it could be Elizabeth’s worst nightmare.
Victoria Helen Stone’s latest thriller!
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Author: Ruthie Knox
Released: June 1, 2025 by Thomas & Mercer
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Series: Prairie Nightingale #1Sarah: Ruthie Knox has written some romances I’ve loved, and now she’s writing a mystery with Annie Mare. Prairie Nightingale is a homemaker, and when one of the moms in her friend group disappears, she investigates.
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Author: Annie Mare
Released: June 3, 2025 by Ace
Genre: LGBTQIA, Time Travel, Romance, Science Fiction/FantasyA multiverse novel about two women who fall in love despite living in worlds that are five months apart, as they try to find a timeline that doesn’t end in disaster, in this debut novel by Annie Mare.
Tressa Fay Robeson has never been shy, which is how she’s made a name for herself as an in-demand hairstylist and social media star. So she can admit that spending her days at her hair salon and her nights with her tight-knit group of friends (and one grumpy cat) is not the kind of exciting life she’d hoped for.
When a misdirected text from a stranger leads to a flirty exchange, she surprises herself by suggesting an impulsive meetup. But the woman, Meryl, never shows. Tressa Fay brushes it off—until Meryl’s sister and friend show up at the salon demanding to know what’s going on. Because, you see, there’s no way Meryl could have texted her. Meryl has been missing for a month.
Tressa Fay and her tight-knit group of friends soon discover they aren’t dealing with a catfish, but a temporal paradox. As they come to terms with the idea of parallel universes, they realize how many times their paths have crossed like this before. But even as they understand the multiverse more and more, nothing keeps Meryl from vanishing.
As it draws closer to the moment of Meryl’s disappearance, there’s only one question Have they done enough to change the outcome, or have they done so much that none of them will make it past that fateful day in September?
Tara: I’ve enjoyed some other multiverse stories, so I’m looking forward to checking out this take.
Elyse: The premise of this book sounds trippy and reminds me vaguely of Griffin and Sabine.
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Author: Tashie Bhuiyan
Released: June 3, 2025 by HarperCollins
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, Romance, Young AdultSummer Ali has been making a name for herself in the music industry for years, slowly but surely climbing the charts—but the world doesn’t know her stage parents are the ones who molded her entire public persona. Finally eighteen, Summer breaks free of their control and focuses on creating her own path.
Upon running into writer’s block, Summer grows eager to take any opportunity to shake things up—even if it means agreeing to a PR stunt with child-actor-turned-playboy, Jules Moradi, famous for his tabloid escapades.
At first, Jules keeps his distance, maintaining professional boundaries. But as time passes, his walls come down, and Summer uncovers who he is beyond his reputation, and it’s someone more like her than she ever realized. As the lines blur between fake and real, Summer begins questioning who she is and what she wants—and if her dreams are worth sacrificing her heart.
Elyse: I love a celebrity romance.
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Author: Barbara Truelove
Released: June 3, 2025 by Bindery Books
Genre: Horror, LGBTQIA, Paranormal, Science Fiction/FantasySpaceships aren’t programmed to seek revenge—but for Dracula, Demeter will make an exception.
Demeter just wants to do her job: shuttling humans between Earth and Alpha Centauri. Unfortunately, her passengers keep dying—and not from equipment failures, as her AI medical system, Steward, would have her believe. These are paranormal murders, and they began when one nasty, ancient vampire decided to board Demeter and kill all her humans.
To keep from getting decommissioned, Demeter must join forces with her own team: A werewolf. An engineer built from the dead. A pharaoh with otherworldly powers. A vampire with a grudge. A fleet of cheerful spider drones. Together, this motley crew will face down the ultimate evil—Dracula.
The queer love child of pulp horror and classic sci-fi, Of Monsters and Mainframes is a dazzling, heartfelt odyssey that probes what it means to be one of society’s monsters—and explores the many types of friendship that make us human.
Amanda: A sentient ship out to kill Dracula. What amazing fever dream is this?!
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Author: Denise Robbins
Released: June 3, 2025 by Bindery Books
Genre: Science Fiction/FantasyAmanda: This sounds trippy and really interesting.
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Author: Jesse Sutanto
Released: June 3, 2025 by Hyperion Avenue
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romance
Series: Meant to Be #5Laugh and swoon with the next book in Disney’s Meant to Be collection by bestselling and award-winning author Jesse Q. Sutanto, whose novel Dial A For Aunties Emily Henry called “Utterly clever, deeply funny, and altogether charming.”
Mulan is reimagined as a contemporary romance about family expectations, mistaken identity, and high stakes mergers—of both business and the heart.
As the right hand of her father’s hedge fund company, Fa Mulan knows what it takes to succeed as a woman in a man’s work twice as hard, be twice as smart, and burp twice as loud as any of the other finance bros she works with. So when her father unexpectedly falls ill in the middle of a critical acquisition, she is determined to see it through. There’s just one the family company in question is known for its ultra masculine whiskey brand, and the brood of old-fashioned aunts, uncles, and cousins who run it—lead by the dedicated but overworked Shang—will only trust Mulan’s father, Fa Zhou, with the future of their business.
Rather than fail the deal and her father, Mulan pretends she’s Fa Zhou. Since they’ve only corresponded over email, how hard could it be to keep things moving in his absence?
But the email leads to a face-to-face meeting, which leads to an invitation to a week long retreat at Shang’s family ranch. One meeting she can handle, but a whole week of cattle wrangling, axe-throwing, and learning proper butchering techniques, all while trying to convince Shang’s dubious family that this young woman is the powerful hedge fund CEO they’ve been negotiating with? Not so much—especially as she finds it harder and harder to ignore the undeniable spark between her and Shang.
Can she keep her head in the game and make her father proud, all while trying not to fall into a trough, or in love with Shang?
Amanda: Mulan is my favorite Disney princess, so I’m stoked for this.
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Author: Darcy McGuire
Released: June 6, 2025 by Boldwood Books
Genre: Historical: European, Romance
Series: The Queen's Deadly Damsels #4Preorder the BRAND NEW instalment in Darcy McGuire’s gorgeously funny, spicy romance series, featuring Queen Victoria’s Deadly Damsels! She may be innocent…but she’s also deadly!
When seemingly fragile Miss Ivy Cavendale takes the headmistress position in an orphanage, it is her chance to stay anonymous in society. But not all is what it seems with Miss Ivy. When an intruder breaks in one night, she’s quick to draw her weapon, and while fear – her constant companion – has mysteriously disappeared, one thing is very she and her charges are the next target of The Devil’s Sons.
Commissioner Edward Worthington owes the head of The Queen’s Deadly Damsels a debt. So, he must keep an eye on the Duchess’s new protégé. How much trouble can the shy Miss Cavendale be? Rather a lot, actually. The diminutive wallflower has been overlooked and forgotten by society’s elite, but Edward sees a woman full of fascinating contradictions he’s compelled to unravel.
Burdened by secrets and childhood trauma, Ivy is stunned as Edward ignites a breathless curiosity within her. And when he asks her to join forces to identify the dangerous intruder at The Widow’s Ball, she cannot refuse. She may not trust many, but something tells her she should trust Edward… with more than just this mission.
Lara: I’m intrigued…
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Really excited for Taylor Jenkins Reid’s new book, Atmosphere, about female astronauts in the 1980s. Here’s part of the blurb: As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined. In this new light, Joan begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe. Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, everything changes in an instant.
Most of these are on my TBR!
Will there be a summer romance bingo this year?
@Nicolette: What a coincidence! I actually just finished this year’s card this afternoon. A post will be up on Saturday announcing it and it will start June 20th.
Of Monsters and Mainframes sound amazing
Super excited for Maggie Stiefvater’s adult debut, THE LISTENERS, which is out today! Also the latest (and I think final) book in Ashley Weaver’s WWII mystery series, ONE FINAL TURN. Neither is a romance, but I believe both have romantic subplots (the Weaver definitely does).
Skye Kilean’s list of queer romances that came out in May is just out. Her list focuses on under the radar queer romances by indie, small press or marginalized authors. I’ve found some real gems.
https://skyewritesromance.com/new-queer-romances-may-2025/
I just started Her Lovely Champion by Mariah Rae Birch – Sapphic fairytale with a lady knight out to rescue a princess.
OMG thank you! I had not heard of Monsters and Mainframes but the ebook was only 3.99 so wth I got it and I just finished it and it was SO MUCH FUN! Highly recommend!
The God and the Gumiho by Sophie Kim, Battle of the Bookstores by Ali Brady, Worth Fighting For, and The listeners by Maggie Stiefvater are the adult novels on my radar this week. A Forgery of Fate by Elizabeth Lim, Celestial Banquet by Roselle Lim, We Could be Magic by Marissa Meyer, and Lady’s Knight by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner are the YA novels I’m hoping to get to
Adding to the new scifi, saw a post by the author about Galaxy Grifter by A. Zaykoya. Not sure if there’s any romance, but I’m always up for grifts and heists. Going to grab this for vacation later this month.
Levi is an interstellar con artist: all charm, no conscience. His only real love is his spaceship, Caerus—his symbol of status and freedom—which he is forced to surrender as loan collateral to the most dangerous gang in his current quadrant. Desperate to get his ship back by any means necessary, Levi swindles a valuable antimatter-tech blueprint from an alien diplomat, which he plans to sell for millions of credits to the highest bidder.
To decode the document, Levi hires Vera, a programmer whose inherited debt keeps her trapped on an asteroid in the galactic backwaters. Certain that Levi is merely using her, she plans to steal the blueprint for her creditors and finally gain her freedom.
Their alliance is plagued by fiery sexual tension, betrayals, and an impossible choice when they learn that an alien government intends to use the stolen technology to plan humanity’s genocide and that they will stop at nothing to retrieve their plans.
Ok but really, how much catnip can an author include in one book? A modern re-telling of Mulan?!?! Hi hello, I’m intrigued. Then this is the first sentence:
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a woman working in finance must work twice as hard, worry twice as much, and get approximately 50% less sleep than her male co-workers.
References Pride & Prejudice. Spits some absolute truths. USES OXFORD COMMAS.
I guess I’m reading ‘Worth Fighting For’ and I just have to accept that I’ll be singing LET’S GET DOWN TO BUSINESS off-key for the next 2 weeks.
OF MONSTERS AND MAINFRAMES is on sale for $3.99 (at Kobo but presumably elsewhere too)! (Down from the $8.99 it was at when I first read this post.)