Category: Read Harder

*content warning: SA*

In this searing graphic memoir, illustrator Katie Green describes her relationship with food and how she developed an eating disorder. From childhood, Green became fixated on routine and order, needing to keep her food separated and counting to ensure she chewed food evenly on both sides of her mouth. In her teen years, this fixation turned into a need to control all aspects of her eating and body weight. Her combination of depression and anxiety led her to descend ever deeper into anorexia and later into binging after a trusted therapist sexually assaults her.

Despite my love for graphic and comic formats, I struggle to get into the superhero genre. The Oracle Code is a rare exception. It’s a really clever YA mystery. When Barbara Gordon, or Babs, is paralyzed after a gunshot wound, she enters the Arkham Center for Independence for rehabilitation. Babs initially pushes all friendship overtures away, but soon befriends another patient, Jana, who tells her sinister stories at night. When Jana disappears, Babs realizes something wrong is happening at the Arkham Center.

This contemporary graphic novel translated from French is based on the author’s experience with Asperger’s, a form of Autism. Marguerite has always struggled with social situations, and it hasn’t gotten any easier in her late twenties. She’s elated to finally receive an Asperger’s diagnosis; she finally has answers! But no one else seems to feel the same way. This fantastic story depicts the daily ableist microaggressions people on the spectrum experience.

This is another graphic novel where I had zero frame of reference for, yet thoroughly enjoyed it. I have never read nor watched The Walking Dead, and I didn’t even realize this was based on the series until after I’d read it! *embarrassed face* Clementine, who is a leg amputee, navigates an apocalyptic future full of zombies in this entertaining YA graphic novel. Though she shuns friends, she nevertheless finds herself one, who leads her to the North, where three teen girls are attempting to rebuild a town and want their help.

At just 72 pages, this really is a quick and easy guide. Did you know disabled people have sex? I mean, this is such an obvious statement, but if you’re in any way shocked to learn this, you need to read this book. In addition to busting some myths about sex and disability, Andrews also gives tips for having sex with disabled folk. It’s queer-inclusive and a fun read.

This intense graphic memoir chronicles Teresa Wong’s experience with postpartum depression. I also had PPD, which morphed into anxiety after a year or two, and I connected with Wong’s illustrations even as we had very different experiences with the mental illness. It’s a moving, slim read that I frequently recommend to people considering becoming parents.

This is one of my favorite 2022 middle grade reads. Maggie loves animals and dreams of becoming a vet. When her parents finally let her have a dog, she discovers she has severe pet allergies. This diagnosis affects so much in her life: her understanding of herself, her budding friendship with a new neighbor, and her experiences in a new classroom. I have severe pet allergies, and I really identified with Maggie.

Fung draws on her own experiences with anxiety and being the daughter of Chinese immigrants in this moving middle grade graphic novel. Livy has an alternate identity — Viola. Viola is a physical manifestation of Livy’s anxiety, and haunts her as Viola starts a new school. Livy is trying to make friends, but Viola undermines her every chance she gets.

This charming middle grade graphic novel is about two Chinese-American friends — Moon and Christine — who could not be more different. Christine is a perfectionist, while Moon is spontaneous. When Moon’s behavior becomes ever more erratic, she winds up in the hospital. Will their friendship survive?

Daunis lives in two worlds: The world of her white mom, and the nearby reservation community where her father’s family resides. When she delays going off to college to help out with her sick grandmother, she finds her world rocked by a shocking murder and an investigation into drug use on the reservation — an investigation that she gets pulled into, despite her misgivings. As she peels back the layers of complicated truth about her community, she finds that not everything is as it seems. Bonus: Keep an eye out for Boulley’s next book, Warrior Girl Unearthed, out in May!

Beth died in a car accident not too long ago, but she lingers in this world, haunting her dad, who is the only other person able to see her. When she encourages him to go back to work, they find themselves in a small Australian town, trying to solve the mystery of a building destroyed by arson and a young woman who’s recently appeared with no name and no past, but a haunting story of her own to tell. Bonus: If you enjoy this book, check out Ambelin’s book The Interrogating of Ashala Wolf!

Louise has been through too many crushes and boyfriends who have said or done racist things, so starting this school year she’s determined to forego boys and focus on her job at the school newspaper. But when a new guy intrigues her and the town faces racist backlash over the casting of the school play, Louise learns that there’s no guarantees when it comes to guarding your heart. Bonus: Leitich also has a new YA novel out in 2023 called Harvest House, and it’s set in the same world as Hearts Unbroken!

Lou is working at her family’s ice cream shack this summer, trying to avoid her ex-boyfriend and the letter that recently arrived for her from her biological father, who is in prison. When her former best friend King also makes a surprise reappearance, Lou finds herself drawn to him. But she can’t ignore all of the things she’s been avoiding forever.

In a dystopian future where most of the population have lost the ability to dream, Native people are being hunted for their bone marrow, which restores the ability. Frenchie and his friends are making their way north, where they hope to find safety, but one of them holds the secret for ending their days on the run once and for all. Also look for the sequel, Hunting the Stars!

Carson and Maggi both have their own reasons for wanting to get away from their reservation, but both also realize that their best bet is to win the Battle of the Bands. Despite lots of family circumstance and a racist restaurant owner, they’re determined to give it their best shot…and find unexpected love and friendship along the way. Gansworth is also the author of If I Ever Get Out of Here and Apple (Skin to the Core).

Elatsoe can raise the spirits of dead animals in an alternate U.S. shaped by magic. When her cousin dies in a car accident, his ghost informs her that it was actually murder, sending Ellie on a harrowing journey to uncover the truth about his death, and shine a light on the secrets of her town. Little Badger is also the author of the award-winning A Snake Falls to the Earth!

Bugz is shy, self-conscious, and feels out of place in her reservation community. But online, she’s a confident gamer who is skilled and respected. When a fellow gamer moves to the reservation, a Chinese teen sent to Canada to live with his aunt, the Rez doctor, the two meet IRL and are drawn to each other. But living online and navigating real-life conflict isn’t so easy, and when Bugz is faced with a huge betrayal, she has to figure out where she stands.

This is an M/M Edwardian historical romance, with class differences between the two leads. Maurice, based on the novel by E.M. Forester, is one of my favorite movies, and this book sounds like a great comp for it — I can’t wait to read it!

This F/F hometown romance takes Delilah, a successful New York–based photographer, and throws her back into the small town she grew up in when she agrees to photograph her stepsister Astrid’s wedding. Then she is reintroduced to Astrid’s friend Claire, and things go awry for them both. This one sounds so fun!

This one is an M/F second-chance romance about childhood friends and young lovers who haven’t seen each other since he walked out 13 years ago. They reconnect, at first just working together…then sleeping together…and eventually wondering if there’s a chance for more.

In this M/M romcom, perma-temp Declan is tired of temping, and tired of everyone talking about his fiancé leaving him at the altar. Then he agrees to let popular nonbinary YouTuber Sidney, who hosts an advice show, set him up on a number of dates and discuss them on the show. Unfortunately, the dates are all meh…because Declan only has chemistry with Sidney.

In this F/F romance, Emmy is a witch who exiled herself from her hometown due to the presence of her crummy ex, Gareth, but she returns for a spellcasting tournament in order to help out her family. Then she meets Talia, who just broke up with Gareth after learning that he was also seeing Linden…and she and Linden both want revenge, so they team up with Emmy, who finds herself drawn to Talia.

In this M/F Georgian era historical (and hilarious) romance, thief Rob blackmails duchess Marian and is surprised to find her utterly charming in the letters they exchange — and shocked when she kidnaps him and ties him up to prevent him from participating in her planned highway robbery of her own husband. When Marian is forced to shoot her husband in the robbery gone wrong, she only has Rob to turn to for help.

In this steamy F/F romance, Amy is trying to save her restaurant and hires hot new reality TV chef Sophie, who is tired of being a public figure and confused by her attraction to her new boss. I love a book where a main character learns a lot about themself, so this one is going on my teetering TBR!

In this delightful M/F romance, single mum Rosaline wins a spot on a baking competition show, and quickly finds herself hooking up with fellow contestant Alain. But it’s her steady friendship with Harry that she finds herself relying on.

In this M/F romcom, Dani just wants a friends-with-benefits situation. After she’s rescued from an elevator by hot former rugby player Zaf — and video of the rescue goes viral online — she thinks she’s found one. Unfortunately, he wants more than just sex…and he’s very persuasive.

This M/F romance explores grief as much as it does love. Feyi lost the love of her life five years ago and is finally ready to date again. She agrees to a vacation in the tropics with the man she’s casually seeing, but once there, she finds herself drawn to his father, who is also grieving a lover who died.

With lots of hard work and studying, 18-year-old Hyeon has overcome the disadvantages that come with being an illegitimate daughter in 1758 Joseon (Korea). As a palace nurse, she hopes to eke out a living and maybe even gain favor with her estranged father. These hopes are interrupted, though, when four women are killed in the palace in a single night and her mentor and friend stands accused. To prove her friend’s innocence, she starts her own investigation where she meets young inspector Eojin. The two work together to find out the murderer in this YA historical mystery.

Here, one of the most loathed queens in Indian mythology, and a character in the epic poem Ramayana, is granted her origin story. While Kaikeyi is raised on tales of the grandeur and omnipotence of the gods, she begins to doubt them as she sees the unfairness of how women are treated. After her mother is banished, she discovers a power particular to her and begins to carve out a space for herself, despite the constricting world around her. But to do so comes at a price.

Bonus points for R.F. Kuang, author of The Poppy War and Babel saying that this is “One of my favorite books of 2022 so far!”

The intricately woven events of this novel are set in motion in 1917 when a starving Korean hunter saves a young Japanese officer from a tiger…

Following that, Jade is sold as a young girl to a courtesan school and eventually meets the orphan JungHo, who begs on the streets of Seoul. Jade goes on to become a well-known performer and JungHo gets entangled in the fight for independence. As battles wage on and Korea modernizes, Jade must decide which is more important to her — a higher social standing or the sincerity of a long-time friend.

In 1969, Malik is fresh out of private school and headed to apprentice at the Jaipur Royal Palace. The balcony of the palace’s new cinema collapses on opening night, but the explanation doesn’t make sense to Malik. His intuition, no doubt well-developed from having lived on the streets as a child, is telling him something more sinister is afoot, and he sets out to prove it.

This follows several generations of the Trần family as Việt Nam struggles through war. When Trần Diệu Lan fled with her six children, it was to escape the Communist Land grab. Then, in Hà Nội, the family she fought so hard to keep together — as well as the country — becomes splintered by the war. This shows the horrors of war, but it also has moments of hope and tenderness.

Once Nour’s father dies of cancer in 2011, her mother, a cartographer, wants to be closer to family. She moves Nour and her sisters from New York City to Syria, but the country feels differently compared to how it was when Nour’s mother lived there as a girl. Soon violence breaks out and Nour’s house is destroyed. Now her and her family must travel across several Middle Eastern and North African countries seeking a new home.

More than 800 years before Nour, Rawiya is a teen girl set on improving living conditions for her and her mother. She disguises herself as a boy and becomes an apprentice to a map maker. While helping to construct the map commissioned by King Roger II of Sicily, she will travel across the Middle East and North Africa, coming across beasts of mythology and historical figures.

As Nour and Rawiya’s paths run parallel to each other hundreds of years apart, we see the young women braving the unknown in search of a new place to belong.

This historical manga would be a great choice if you’re also trying to knock out Read Harder challenge #8 (Read a Manga You Haven’t Before). Following the end of the Russo-Japanese War in the early 1900s, veteran Saichi Sugimoto struggles to survive in the Hokkaido wilderness. When he finds a map that leads to a bounty of Ainu gold, he sets off to find it. But he’s not the only one trying to get their hands on the treasure, and to improve his chances against the likes of harsh wilderness, soldiers, and criminals, he’ll need the help of Ainu girl Asirpa.

Note: if you’re unfamiliar, the Ainu are a group of Indigenous people from the northern region of Japan.

Alharthi was the first female author from Oman to be translated into English, and this book won her the 2019 International Man Booker Prize. In it, we follow three Omani sisters, each with their own idea of marriage. Through them and their families, we see the history and culture of Oman as it shifts from a slave-owning patriarchy to its present-day iteration.

This collection of 11 short stories for adults by children’s author Becky Birtha, originally published in 1987, explores Black lesbian girlhood and is beautifully written.

In this “chick lit” from 2003, screenwriter Kristen Buckley gives us a twentysomething heroine just trying to make rent and pining for a TV doctor, who has to save her kidnapped best friend.

Tired of her sexual conquests never turning into romance, Natalie takes a vow of celibacy and explores her recent relationships a lá High Fidelity. 

You probably remember Rocky & Bullwinkle, the cartoon variety show from Jay Ward Productions. In this book, Keith Scott, who has voiced Bullwinkle since original actor Bill Scott (no relation) died, gives us the complete history of moose and squirrel.

In this book of essays on Black love in the romance genre, Book Riot writer Pryde brings together contributors, including romance novelists Beverly Jenkins, Jasmine Guillory, Piper Huguley, and Kosoko Jackson, as well as academics Sarah Hannah Gomez and Carole V. Bell, among others.

In this biography, Price’s daughter traces his six-decade career as well as his personal life, including his love of cooking, his art curation, and his work with the Indian Arts and Crafts Board.

When Hailee’s family wins the lottery, she is excited to finally be able to get the things she wants. No, needs. But her parents’ decisions about how to spend their newfound fortune don’t line up with her expectations, and suddenly she’s in a new (private) school and everything is different.

Each book of the lower middle grade Derby Daredevils series focuses on a different team member. In this first installment, Kenzie dreams of playing roller derby, but she has to put together a team of at least five in order to even try out.

In YA and romance author Amy Spalding’s second novel, 2013’s Ink is Thicker Than Water, Kellie feels out of place in her family, but a job at her stepdad’s tattoo parlor might help change that.

This book is indispensable in my kitchen! The dry seasoning recipe alone is worth the price of the book, and there are dozens of other amazing recipes for meat, vegetables, and desserts.

Rioter Susie Dumond told me about this book, and it’s now the one I turn to, even for recipes I already had a go-to version of. (Chocolate cake? Hers is richer. Cornbread? Perfection.)

This is more than a cookbook; it’s a history of Palestine and a window into the food, which is, of course, the culture. I’ve only cooked one recipe from this book, but I’ve read it like I would read a memoir or anthology.

Genres: Adult Romance, YA, Romance, Fantasy, Mystery

Best Known for: Lady Sherlock series, which A Study in Scarlet Women is the first of. In this book, we’re introduced to Charlotte Holmes who takes up sleuthing to clear her father’s and sister’s names after they’re accused or murder. The series follows her and the other mysteries she solves.

Genre: Paranormal Romance.
Fun Fact: Community Founder of the Inclusive Romance Project

When Chloe’s former vampiric gang draws her unwillingly into a plot to open up a mysterious box, she is caught between her old life and her new one. Further complicating this is her handsome boss Ethan and the mutual attraction they are unable to ignore.

Genre: General Fiction

This gripping novel is told in alternating time lines. In 2017, true-crime writer Cassie finds herself drawn into the story of Lore, a woman who, in 1985, had two different lives, husbands, and families. She managed to keep these lives separate until her secret is discovered and one husband is arrested for murdering the other.

Genre: Barrio Noir
Fun Fact: Accredited with the creation of the aforementioned genre

After a tragedy changes the trajectory of his life, reluctant hitman Mario agrees to one final job to hijack a cartel’s cash shipment. This job could leave him dead or with $200,000 dollars, but he isn’t in a position to turn it down. As he and his two other partners go on their journey, their motives and hidden secrets become apparent, ensuring that none of them will return the same.

Genre: Horror

Eric and his two daughters are on the run from their former life. Not being able to give references makes it hard to find a job, so when Eric hears about a caretaking position for the allegedly haunted, he sees it as the perfect opportunity to make some money; that is if the paranormal activity doesn’t drive him and his family mad.

Genre: Horror

Fun Fact: This book was the first novella released in Cemetery Gate’s My Dark Library series.

When a forum post about someone’s neighbor staring at stars all night is made, it’s quickly dismissed as bad fanfiction. Then the nocturnal activity begins to spread worldwide leaving the “stargazers” changed the next day. When it affects Henry’s city, the war veteran must use all his skills to save his family from this new and unknown danger.

Genre: Horror

Fun fact: Takes place near San Antonio’s famed haunted train tracks.

Erasmo lives with his beloved grandmother who he just found out has cancer. In a desperate attempt to help pay for her medical expenses, he sets up a paranormal investigation business and quickly finds out there is more to his home town than meets the eye.

Genres: Romance, Horror

Fun Fact: Co-host of the Genre Blackademia podcast

This collection of short stories all feature Black women and their brushes with the supernatural. Sometimes they’re the victims. Sometimes they’re the monsters. And oftentimes, they’re both.

This detailed history digs into the history of transness in the African American community by highlighting some of the Black trans folks who lived between the mid nineteenth century and the present day. It compares the exposure to the names of prominent and tragic white trans people to that of Black trans people living at the same time, and digs into the correlation between anti-Blackness and anti-transness. 

This is not a true history book, but does contain several perspectives on the history of queer Asians in the Americas through analysis, personal essay, poetry, and more. Its predecessor, Q&A: Queer in Asian America, was published by Hom and a different colleague, and was published in 1998.

This volume highlights the past and present of Ballroom culture, recently made famous by shows like Pose and Legendary. Using elements of oral history and archival study, Tucker discusses the connection between queer Black culture and the shifts and swings in house music and culture over several decades. 

This is the book that “decolonizes the history of gender and sexuality in Native North America.” Delving into the precolonial history of how gender and sexuality were expressed in various Indigenous groups, Smithers explores the meaning of holding onto the traditions that were all but erased by settler colonialism, genocide, and erasure. 

Black women were doing a lot at the beginning of the twentieth century. “Free love, common-law and transient marriages, serial partners, cohabitation outside of wedlock, queer relations, and single motherhood were among the sweeping changes that altered the character of everyday life and challenged traditional Victorian beliefs about courtship, love, and marriage.“ Hartman looks into a group of Black women at the turn of the century and how they effected a whole century’s worth of change through their own desires for a better way to live.

First published in 1987, this combination of essays and poetry delves into life on the Mexican border, both in the past and in Anzaldúa’s present. She examines history and the future, and queer life in straight spaces, in language that will breathe the same full life into stories for centuries to come.

This collection of oral histories gathers nearly-lost knowledge of days past. Using oral history and personal essays, 14 queer activists highlight the work done in the 1970s, ‘80s, and ‘90s, by themselves and their (often lost) peers. 

This oral history collection looks at the past and present of “racialized sexual minorities” in the American South, through their own words. E. Patrick Johnson has a whole catalog of books exploring the lives past and present of Black queer folks, so this one might just be a jumping off point if you’re interested in a deep dive into Queer Black Studies. 

I’ve been reading the Smitten Kitchen blog since blogs were, you know, a thing, so the parasocial attachment is real. She’s still the first place I go when I don’t know what to cook, so I’m excited to add a whole new batch of recipes to that well — especially that pound cake she keeps talking about.

I’ve only heard good things about this book, which explores Black and Jewish cuisine and the intersection between them — but also how food and culture shape each other, and the inventive cooking that arises out of migration and diaspora.

Another blog book! This one is by the Leung family, who are behind the popular blog of the same title. Chinese food is a go-to comfort food for me, so anything that can help me get more of it in my life is a plus.

NYC marathon champion Shalane Flanagan and nutrition coach Elise Kopecky’s previous book, Run Fast. Cook Fast. Eat Slow. is one of my favorite cookbooks to reference, so I need to add their latest collaboration to my collection. As a runner, I love their emphasis on flavor and enjoyment instead of counting calories or excising “bad” foods.

I know just enough about curry to know that it’s an extremely broad term that my occasional forays into cooking butter chicken have barely scraped the surface of. This cookbook about “the diaspora of curry” — from Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, and the Americas — sounds enlightening and fascinating.

Speaking of cuisines I know very little about, African cuisine is too often overlooked and ignored in the Western world. Africana has over 100 recipes from all over the African continent, which obviously encompasses a massive range of cultures and flavors, and I’m excited to try as many of them as possible.

Okay, this isn’t exactly a cookbook, but it does include 25 recipes, and also I loved Kurlansky’s The Big Oyster, on the history of the oyster industry in New York City, and more importantly, I absolutely love onions. Bring on the alliums!

This is another cookbook I keep hearing good things about and another cookbook that arose out of a popular blog — Little Fat Boy — but the main reason I bumped it up on my TBR is because it has the most beautiful dumplings on the cover, and I could eat dumplings every day of my life and never get sick of them.

Okay, this one is cheating a little bit, because I already own it, but I’m including it because it’s designed to be read straight through. What’s included in this book are less recipes and more techniques for how to make lots of basic staples that you can portion out, freeze, reheat, and repurpose to get a wide array of meals on the table quickly. Also, the back and forth notes between Chang and Krishna are charming.

And of course, we have to end with dessert! In the battle between cake and pie, I am always and forever Team Cake. This book gives you a little bit of a shortcut by starting with box mixes, which, let’s face it, are sometimes the tastiest option. And it’s publishing just in time for my birthday! You know, just in case anyone feels like throwing me a party.

This one stood out to me immediately, because the nun is smoking. As someone who knows nothing about nuns, I don’t even know if nuns smoke cigarettes? But something about this cover made me think that they don’t. And that made me think this nun must be a badass. (Spoiler: I have read this book since I chose it for this list, and the nun in question is indeed a badass.)

What is this book saying? Is it about a monster with claws? A manicure gone horribly wrong? Nail polish is flammable, after all. None of the words in the title give away anything that is conveyed in the illustration. But something about it has me transfixed. Maybe because it’s so cool how the nail color matches the font.

Here’s another fun illustration that captivated me. Something about the look the person in the illustration is giving, combined with the pine tree air freshener on fire, tells me this is a car ride I don’t want to take. So maybe it’s about a murderous ride share driver? The most ominous thing might be the upside-down smiley face.

I am a sucker (pun intended) for vampire novels, and at first glance, this title combined with that bit of blood has me thinking this might be one. It also has that sorta 1970s, early 1980s font, so perhaps it’s historical? The bloody ‘K’ could also just mean there’s murder, or it kind of looks like a thorn? But I’m guessing vampires.

I don’t know what is happening here but also I need it as a tattoo right away. I am fairly certain the figure on the left is a plague doctor, so perhaps the long-haired creature on the right is Death? And its adding another skull to its pile of dead people it has collected? The style reminds me of the dwelling of Gung the Magnificent from The Amazing Screw-On Head, my favorite 22 minutes of television, which is probably why it appeals to me.

Here’s one that really illustrates the point that taste is subjective. Because some of you might look at this and think, “Gross, no thank you.” But I look at it and think, “GIVE IT TO ME NOW.” Even though I don’t know what it’s about, I love the strange and unusual. (I myself am, et cetera, et cetera.) I’m going to guess it isn’t a Victorian-era romance or a children’s book. The title is a play on “mayfly” but does it actually have anything to do with insects? Will someone really lick a giant eyeball? Inquiring minds want to know!

This one I want to read just because the cover is beautiful. It doesn’t really tell me anything about the book, aside for the tag line at the top: “She came back. Is it a miracle…or a curse?” Did the character come back from the dead? College? Cleveland? Do butterflies and flowers really have anything to do with the story, or are they just pretty? I’m okay with the latter, because it got me to notice the cover.

This one already has my vote for my favorite cover of 2023. What does it even mean??? I’m guessing the person in the book isn’t actually made from fruit, but perhaps they’re a chef? Could it be a horror novel? Maybe someone is turned into food, like Alice becomes cake in that old Tom Petty video. I’m getting a bit of sinister vibes from it, too, or perhaps just weird vibes. Whatever it is, it’s GORGEOUS.

Here’s another one that made me say “WOW” when I saw it. This young woman has flowers in her mouth — they appear to be growing out of her mouth, indicated by the vines in her skin? I don’t think she is happy about it, because she’s crying. Or maybe she loves having flower lip accessories and she’s crying about something else. I must know!

And this last one does all its talking just with its font. This one appealed to me because it looks like something I was doodling on my notebook in high school while I should have been paying attention in class. It’s very heavy metal, and in fact, I did look at the synopsis for this one after the cover jumped out at me. And it is about heavy metal, so A+ job, cover designer!

If the title makes you think this is a silly story, you are absolutely right! But it isn’t just silly; it’s fun and heartfelt and scary and sexy, too! Cin (short for Cinnamon) is a spice farmer (lol) who — you guessed it — gets drunk and accidentally rescues a hungry demon from the centuries-long curse. And then he recruits her to help him slay the witch who cursed him. Road trip!

If you want your story to run a little darker, here’s the first in a new series setting the machinations of the Greek gods in a modern underworld. We start with Hades and Persephone — the man who runs the darkest corners of Khaos Falls and the aerial dancer who sets his world on fire. 

If you’re looking for a fun romp across the plains, look no further. When Lorena shows up to help out at a ranch hosting more than its usual number of guests, the last thing she expects is that the ranch owner’s grandmother has set up a scheme for several young women to show up in their own private season of The Bachelor.

The first book in a series of romances set at the Crooked Rock Urban Indian Center, Heartbeat Braves sees two feuding employees with fiery chemistry forced to work together to help ensure the Center’s future. There aren’t many Native/Indigenous/First Nations romance authors, and Pamela Sanderson’s skillful writing of both relationships and Indigenous social issues are a lot to strive towards matching. 

Did someone say a loose retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in the Caribbean at the turn of the twentieth century? Involving a fierce meet-dislike between a woman who secretly writes a serial and the man who publicly tears them apart (but might also secretly love them)? 

Food vlogger Tara just wants her parents to be proud of her, but their skills in STEM and her failing math grade do not mesh. When she discovers that she’ll be sharing space with Farah, one of her mother’s new grad students, she isn’t very pleased. But they strike a quid-pro-quo bargain and end up spending a lot of time together in the meantime. 

How about a comic book? La Boriqueña is the story of Marisol, a Boricua college student who travels to Puerto Rico for a study abroad program. While she’s on the island, one thing leads to another, and she ends up getting superpowers. 

Bootlegging in the hills of Appalachia and a marriage of convenience between warring families. What more could a person ask for? Well…honesty, communication, searing hot sexytimes, and some violent warfare might make it the best thing ever?

This novella is a delightful little story about a woman named Pinky and the biker who comes into her family’s restaurant. They have instant, intense chemistry, but there are secrets afoot, and he’s not exactly the safest guy to be around. 

If you want a completely different change of pace, check out this Edwardian story of love and society. Aubrey Fanshawe is in a…special kind of relationship with his best friends, Lord and Lady Hernedale. But when he meets journalist Lucien Saxby, he becomes the living embodiment of that Bugs Bunny heart-eyes meme. 

Bar owner Sofia lives by one rule: she’ll go home with anyone she wants, as long as they know she’s not in it for the long haul. One night, and one night only. When she tells this to rock star Bren, he’s fine with it. Until morning, when he realizes she was…serious about that. He wants more, and will do anything to prove to her that he’s worth it. 

You would think Harlow would be happy; she’s the girlfriend of a famous baseball star and has everything anyone could want in life. But that’s just it. It seems like her role is just that of the girlfriend to the famous baseball star. So she sets off on her own path of self discovery. 

This first book in a fantasy series features a grumpy archmage with a hidden heart of gold and the woman relying on him to survive when they both end up trapped in the Shadow Realm. There are wars to fight and secrets to uncover, but their need for each other might overshadow all the rest.