Queer Book Releases April 2021
This post was sourced and created by both @lisa-stapleton and @lee_lei_lp and contains referral links.
I want to say a quick thank you to my Discord server, The Swamp for encouraging myself, @lisa-stapleton, and @lee_lei_lp to do this monthly queer books list. I know there’s a million more out there, but I hope ours specifically adds a little something to your day.
Also! For the entire month of April we’re doing Camp NaNo challenges, sprints, and workshops in The Swamp! So drop in and say hi! We’d love to have you.
Zara Hossain Is Here by Sabina Khan
Releases on: April 6 – Sourced by @lee_lei_lp
young adult, slice of life, school life
Zara is a high school student struggling against dangerous Islamophobia and targeted bullying. Her journey is marked by difficult and important discussions around racism and white privilege, gun violence, and homophobia. While Zara’s bisexuality doesn’t cause strife in her family, she sees that it is an issue in the US.
Side note: One review points out that the book has LGBT characters beyond the MC and her immediate circle, as well as trans inclusive feminism!
The Sky Blues by Robbie Couch
Releases on: April 6 – Sourced by @lee_lei_lp
young adult, slice of life, school life
Sky goes above and beyond, and completely out of character, by planning a huge, gay promposal for his crush. When his plans are maliciously leaked in a homophobia driven attack, Sky expects to be shunned by his small town. But now that he’s on their radar, they aren’t planning to let him down.
Malice by Heather Walter
Releases: April 13 – Sourced by @lee_lei_lp
new adult, fairy tale, fantasy
We all love a good fairy tale retelling. We all love a protag of ambiguous Good or Badness. We all love Disney princesses going sapphic. Need I say more?
Victories Greater than Death by Charlie Jane Anders
Releases: April 13 – Sourced by @lee_lei_lp
young adult, space opera
Most of us spend our teen years waiting for life to really begin, but Tina knows what’s in store for her. As the clone of a legendary space captain, she’s just waiting for the day that she is summoned to fulfill her destiny.
Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing Essays by Lauren Hough
Releases: April 13 – Sourced by @lisa-stapleton
In 2018, Hough’s eye-opening essay about the decade she spent as a cable guy in the suburbs of Washington D.C.—fixing phone, TV, and internet lines for “the American id in its underpants”—went viral. That piece is reprinted here, along with ten more staggering slices of autobiography, all of which reside in that sweet spot between devastating and irreverent. Though Hough has lived many lives—an airman, a cult survivor, a bartender—her brand of deadpan candidness is singular.
A Crown So Cursed by L.L McKinney
Releases April 13 – Sourced by @desdemona-wren
In A Crown So Cursed, the third book in L.L. McKinney’s Nightmare-Verse series, Alice is called to save Wonderland from itself.
Alice is doing her best to recover from her last boss battle, but members of her crew start having these… dreams.
And they’re all the same dream: visions of a dark past—and an even darker future. It seems the evil in Wonderland may not be as defeated as they’d hoped.
When word spreads of an encroaching army of Nightmares unlike any ever seen, Alice finds she may have to step between the coming darkness and the mortal world once more.
But this time is different.
This time, the monsters aren’t waiting for her on the other side of the Veil.
They’re in her own back yard.
NOTE: This is the third book in an AMAZING series.
These Feathered Flames by Alexandra Overy
Releases: April 20 – Sourced by @lee_lei_lp
young adult, fantasy, folktales
A queer retelling of a Russian folktale featuring f/f enemies to lovers. Twin princesses born into destined roles, the time has come for each to find out what her power really means.
She Drives Me Crazy by Kelly Quindlen
Releases: April 20 – Sourced by @lee_lei_lp
young adult, school life
We’ve got your fake dating. We’ve got your sports sapphics. We’ve got your kitschy rom-com tropes. Word on the street* is that we’ve even got your one bed. I don’t think we can lose here.
*Goodreads reviews
Kate in Waiting by Becky Albertalli
Releases: April 20 – Sourced by @lee_lei_lp
young adult, school life
Theater geeks and BFFs Kate and Andy share everything, from car rides to crushes to codependent decision making. It all works out in perfect harmony until Matt shows up. When delicate feelings get involved, their friendship is tested.
Water I Wont Touch by Kayleb Rae Candrilli
Releases: April 20 – Sourced by @lisa-stapleton
Whiting Award winner Candrilli evokes the ever-changing topography of American landscapes—from Wildwood, New Jersey to the Grand Canyon—in order to tap into the beautiful fluidity of their own physical and metaphysical self: “the tide tells me/my body can morph/as many times as it needs.”
The Key to You And Me by Jaye Robin Brown
Releases: April 20 – Sourced by @lisa-stapleton
Piper Kitts is spending the summer living with her grandmother, training at the barn of a former Olympic horseback rider, and trying to get over her ex-girlfriend. Much to Piper’s dismay, her grandmother is making her face her fear of driving by taking lessons from a girl in town.
Kat Pearson has always suspected that she likes girls but fears her North Carolina town is too small to color outside the lines. But when Piper’s grandmother hires Kat to give her driving lessons, everything changes.
Piper’s not sure if she’s ready to let go of her ex. Kat’s navigating uncharted territory with her new crush. With the summer running out, will they be able to unlock a future together?
In Deeper Waters by F.T Lukens
Releases: April 20 – Sourced by @lisa-stapleton
A young prince must rely on a mysterious stranger to save him when he is kidnapped during his coming-of-age tour in this swoony adventure that is The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue meets Pirates of the Caribbean.
Between Perfect and Real by Ray Stoeve
Releases: April 27 – Sourced by @lee_lei_lp
young adult
Currently out as a lesbian, Dean Foster knows that he is actually a trans guy. When he is cast as a “non-traditional” Romeo in the school play, he begins exploring ways to live his truth.