18 LGBTQ+ New Books You'll Want To Dive Into This April

You're going to want to make space on your bookshelf for these LGBTQ+ books.

1. Nothing Burns As Bright As You by Ashley Woodfolk

HMH Books / Via hmhbooks.com

Release Date: April 5

Summary: Ashley Woodfolk's young adult novel in verse follows two girls over the course of one day, in which a quickly intensifying friendship becomes more. The blurred lines between friendship and love complicate things, and through the day that reveals their past and destabilizes their future, they will learn that some loves are meant to be, and some may burn bright and beautiful, but they won't burn forever.

You can pre-order it from Bookshop or your local bookstore via Indiebound here.

2. She Gets the Girl by Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick

Simon & Schuster / Via simonandschuster.ca

Release Date: April 5

Summary: She Gets the Girl is a wonderful sapphic YA contemporary written in alternating points of view by two different authors — Rachael Lippincott, coauthor of the bestselling novel Five Feet Apart, and her wife and debut author, Alyson Derrick. 

The story follows college freshmen, Alex Blackwood and Molly Parker, two girls who on the surface, couldn't be more different from one another. Alex is fun, chaotic and flirty, with a long dating history and an uncanny ability to always get the girl. Molly, on the other hand, is totally put together, if you put aside her awkwardness and difficulty connecting with people. She has been crushing on the same girl, Cora Myers, since high school, but she's still trying to figure out how to talk to her. This is where the newly single Alex comes in. Looking to win back her ex by proving that she's a good person who is ready for commitment, Alex volunteers to help Molly win over Cora, and despite her initial distain for Alex, Molly can't deny that Alex has much more proven romantic experience than her, so she takes her up on it. The two girls decide to follow a five-step plan that ends with Molly winning over Cora, and Alex back with her ex. But will they end up falling for each other along the way?

You can pre-order it from Bookshop or your local bookstore via Indiebound here.

3. Time Is a Mother by Ocean Vuong

Penguin Random House / Via penguinrandomhouse.com

Release Date: April 5

Summary: In award-winning writer, Ocean Vuong's, highly anticipated second poetry collection, the author grapples with moving forward in the aftermath of his mother's death. While the main theme here seems to be grief, the collection also grapples with similar themes to Vuong's award-winning novel, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, published in 2019, such as love and tenderness in the face of abuse. Vuong explores what it's like to grieve someone who was imperfect, but whom you loved anyway, and what it's like to grapple with that love transforming to grief when the person is gone. 

You can pre-order it from Bookshop or your local bookstore via Indiebound here.

4. Burning Butch by R/B Mertz

Unnamed Press / Via unnamedpress.com

Release Date: April 5

Summary: When Rebecca Mertz's parents divorce and their mother takes them away from their abusive father and into a conservative fundamentalist Catholic subculture in Washington, D.C., where they are homeschooled and their whole life revolves around God and religious services. Rebecca's childhood becomes torn between Pennsylvania and Maryland, abuse and safety, religion-based homeschooling, and the reality of modern America. The Catholic religion teaches Rebecca many things, the main thing being how to repress their queerness, which they continue to put effort toward in adulthood, avoiding the feelings they have for a woman in their community, by choosing to leave and attend a Conservative Catholic school in Ohio, the Franciscan University of Steubenville. Throughout their college years, Mertz is forced to confront their sexuality and gender identity while grappling with what that means for their faith and their role in the conservative Catholic environment they have grown up in.

You can pre-order it from Bookshop or your local bookstore via Indiebound here.

5. Scout’s Honor by Lily Anderson

macmillan publishers / Via us.macmillan.com

Release Date: April 5

Summary: In the much-anticipated YA paranormal novel by the author of Undead Girl Gang, 16-year-old Prudence Perry is a legacy member of the Ladybird Scouts, a family of hunters sworn to protect humans from mulligrubs — interdimensional monsters who feed on negative human emotion. On the outside, the Ladybird's are a prim and proper ladies organization, but behind closed doors they are trained to be lethal, concocting poisons and using knitting needles as daggers before graduating to knives, swords and axes. Prue left the Scout's three years ago when her best friend was killed during a hunt, and these days she prefers to spend her time with her punkish friends, much to the disappointment of her mother and tía. However, after everything she went through with the Ladybirds, Prue can't get past all her trauma and guilt, so she seeks out a highly restricted memory tincture in order to forget — but she must get it from the Ladybirds themselves. In her quest to obtain the tincture, Prue falls back into old monster-slaying habits, and when her town is unexpectedly hit by a mysterious wave of demons, she knows it's time to face the one monster she's not sure she's prepared to face: her past.

You can pre-order it from Bookshop or your local bookstore via Indiebound here.

6. Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart

Penguin Random House / Via penguinrandomhouse.ca

Release Date: April 5

Summary: An adult contemporary fiction novel about a dangerous love between two men, Young Mungo follows two young men, Mungo and James, as they grow up in a housing estate in Glasgow. The two should be sworn enemies — Mungo is a Protestant and James is a Catholic — but against all odds, they become best friends, and eventually fall in love, becoming each other's safe place. As the two seek somewhere to belong, Mungo especially must work hard to hide his love life from those around him, especially from his older brother Hamish, who is a local gang leader with a reputation that's not to be messed with. Several months later, Mungo's mother sends him on a fishing trip to western Scotland with two men he doesn't know, and it will take everything Mungo has to make it through the trip and back into James's arms.

You can pre-order it from Bookshop or your local bookstore via Indiebound here.

7. Let’s Not Do That Again by Grant Ginder

macmillan publishers / Via us.macmillan.com

Release date: April 5

Summary: In this hilarious adult contemporary novel from the author of The People We Hate at the Wedding, we follow Nancy Harriman, who is running for senate, something she has worked hard toward since inheriting her husband's seat in the House of Representatives after his untimely death (which wasn't her fault, by the way!). Nancy is on track to winning the election, almost everything is in line for her to secure her seat in the senate, everything, that is, except for her adult children. Greta and Nick Harriman are, well, a bit of a mess. Nick is recently heartbroken and struggling to write a script for a musical about the life of Joan Didion, and Greta has everything going for her but is letting life pass her by, spending her days working an unfulfilling job at the Apple Store. One morning the world wakes up to headlines about Nancy's campaign that centre not Nancy but Greta, who is featured in headlines in Paris with extremist protestors throwing a bottle of champagne through the window of a beloved bistro. Nick and Nancy must rush to save Greta (and the campaign) before it's too late.

You can pre-order it from Bookshop or your local bookstore via Indiebound here.

8. Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak by Charlie Jane Anders

macmillan publishers / Via us.macmillan.com

Release Date: April 5

Summary: In Charlie Jane Anders's much anticipated sequel to Victories Greater Than Death, the second novel in the Unstoppable series is set against the backdrop of an intergalactic war. Rachael Townsend, the first artist to ever leave Earth and travel out into the galaxy, has had an encounter with an alien artifact and can no longer make art. Elza Monteiro is determined to compete for a chance to become a princess by being the first human to go inside the Palace of Scented Tears, but when she finally gets to the palace, she finds someone she had hoped to never see again. Tina Mains and her friends are studying at the Royal Space Academy, but Tina's not the badass hero everyone was expecting her to be. Each of the three girls must make difficult and painful choices to move forward as their worlds crumble around them, both literally and figuratively.

You can pre-order it from Bookshop or your local bookstore via Indiebound here.

9. Alone Out Here by Riley Redgate

Disney Books / Via books.disney.com

Release Date: April 5

Summary: It's the year 2072, and soon a volcanic eruption will cause worldwide devastation, and the world's leaders have decided that the only way out is up. The world's leading scientists, engineers and politicians are overseeing the production of a space fleet meant to be the saviour of humankind, so their children are brought in for a weekend-long tour of the high-tech Lazarus spaceship prototype. When the world ends months ahead of schedule, First Daughter Leigh Chen, and a small number of teens from the Lazarus tour, are the only ones to escape the planet. The teens new world is on board the starship, where 53 terrified survivors panic about what to do next, prompting some to step into leadership roles, including the pilot's daughter, Eli, who takes the lead in their hunt for a new and habitable planet. As time passes, isolation sets in and a struggle for control creates a chaos that will mean the difference between life and death, and ultimately, the end of the human race.

You can pre-order it from Bookshop or your local bookstore via Indiebound here.

10. Witchlings by Claribel A. Ortega

Scholastic Kids / Via kids.scholastic.com

Release Date: April 5

Summary: Every year in Ravenskill, Witchlings can participate in the Black Moon Ceremony and be placed into covens to become full-fledged witches, and this year it's 12-year-old Seven Salazar's turn. Seven has high hopes of being placed in the most powerful coven with her best friend, but these hopes are crushed in front of the entire town when she isn't placed in any of the five covens, but is placed as a Spare! Spare covens are smaller, less powerful covens that are looked down on by everyone, and to make matters worse, when Seven and the two other Spares perform the magic circle ceremony to seal their coven and make themselves official sisters, it fails! All three of them are stuck as Witchlings and will never be able to perform powerful magic. 

The only option they have is to do the impossible task: the three Spares will be assigned the task, that they are expected to work together in order to succeed at sealing their coven and gaining their full powers. The only catch is they have to succeed — the last coven that failed was turned into toads forever. This magical middle-grade fantasy is action-packed and full of humor, making it the perfect gift for the young reader in your life.

You can pre-order it from Bookshop or your local bookstore via Indiebound here.

11. This Rebel Heart by Katherine Locke

Penguin Random House / Via penguinrandomhouse.com

Release Date: April 5

Summary: This Rebel Heart is a young adult historical fiction set in post-WWII communist Budapest amid the 1956 Hungarian revolution. 

Csilla loves her country, but it doesn't feel like it loves her back. During WWII, the only thing that kept her and her family safe from the Holocaust was the river that runs through the middle of Budapest, a river that Csilla knows to be magic. Now the Holocaust is over, the communists have seized power, and Csilla's parents have been murdered by Soviet police, revealing things about her father and his legacy that she longs to forget. With everything changed and her parent's gone, Csilla is planning her escape from Budapest when her parents are suddenly publicly exonerated, throwing a wrench in her plans. Soon protests are popping up in surrounding countries and there is talk of a revolution in Hungary, leaving Csilla to decide if there is enough of the country she loves left to save, and if so, if she wants to be part of the fight, or leave it to burn.

You can pre-order it from Bookshop or your local bookstore via indiebound here.

12. Sedating Elaine by Dawn Winter

Penguin Random House / Via penguinrandomhouse.com

Release Date: April 12

Summary: This debut is a darkly comedic adult contemporary following Frances, who was not looking for a relationship when she met Elaine in a bar. She had been freshly heartbroken and looking to drown her sorrows, but a combination of her usual steady stream of beer and weed led Frances to invite Elaine back to her bed, and Elaine has never left. With pressure from her drug dealer, Frances invites Elaine to move in with her, thinking only of the financial benefits, and not anticipating the affect this new step in their relationship will have on Elaine, who becomes more romantic and sex-crazed than ever. Frances, seeing no other way to ever escape this relationship, decides she only has one choice: she will sedate Elaine.

You can pre-order it from Bookshop or your local bookstore via indiebound here.

13. Blaine for the Win by Robbie Couch

Simon & Schuster / Via simonandschuster.com

Release Date: April 12

Summary: Robbie Couch's sophomore young adult novel is about Blaine Bowers, a high school junior who decides to run for senior student council president after being very publicly dumped by the school's current student council president and long-time boyfriend, Joey. When Joey breaks up with Blaine, he tells him it's in order to date more serious guys, and Joey is very clear that he doesn't believe Blaine fits that description. Blaine believes that running (and winning) the race for student council president will prove Joey wrong, and make him take Blaine more seriously. As an added bonus, winning would mean beating out Joey's new boyfriend, Zach. Blaine is determined to prove himself, but is he willing to sacrifice all the things he loves about himself to do it?

You can pre-order it from Bookshop or your local bookstore via Indiebound here.

14. The Drowning Summer by Christine Lynn Herman

Little, Brown and Company / Via lbyr.com

Release Date: April 19

Summary: Part contemporary young adult fantasy, part murder-mystery, Christine Lynn Herman's The Drowning Summer takes place in Long Island, where three teenagers were drowned, their bodies discovered with sand dollars placed over their eyes. As far as anyone in the town is concerned, there is only one suspect: Evelyn Mackenzie's father, whose charges were dropped solely because Evelyn herself summoned a ghost to clear his name.

Six years later and the mystery still goes unsolved, and continues to complicate the lives of both Evelyn and her former friend, Mina Zanetti, whose family has worked locally as mediums for decades, drawing on the ocean's power to guide spirits to their final resting place. With sea levels rising, the ghosts seem to be becoming more dangerous, and Mina has been suddenly shut out of the family business. When Evelyn summons another spirit, and it goes horribly wrong, the two must reunite to solve the six-year-old mystery of the drowning summer, while figuring out their feelings for one another along the way.

You can pre-order it from Bookshop or your local bookstore via Indiebound here.

15. Sofi and the Bone Song by Adrienne Tooley

Simon & Schuster / Via simonandschuster.ca

Release Date: April 19

Summary: Sofi lives in the Kingdom of Aell, where magic is accessible to all, and strict anti-magic laws are in place to preserve music as the last untouched art. These laws mean that only five people in the country are licensed to perform and compose original songs — these people are called Musiks, and Sofi's father is one of them. Sofi has spent her whole life training to take her father's place one day, and is surprised when she is met with unexpected competition on the day of her audition. Lara, who has never before played the lute, somehow manages to play beautifully and win over the judges, convincing Sofi that she is using illegal magic to win the coveted title of Musik. When Sofi's father dies on the same day that Lara is given the title, Sofi sets out to prove Lara's use of illegal magic in order to claim her rightful place as Musik. The more time Sofi spends with Lara, the more dark secrets are revealed about her world and her family, and she starts to doubt everything, all while trying not to fall for the girl who stole her inheritance and the only future she had ever imagined.

You can pre-order it from Bookshop or your local bookstore via Indiebound here.

16. I Am the Ghost in Your House by Maria Romasco-Moore

Penguin Random House / Via penguinrandomhouse.com

Release Date: April 19

Summary: Maria Romasco-Moore's young adult fantasy novel follows Pie, an invisible girl whose looks change depending on what's behind her. Pie has grown up travelling across America with her mother, sleeping in stores, trains, other people's houses, and on the streets — and at seventeen, she's starting to get lonely. When her mother gifts her with the choice of their next destination, Pie instantly chooses Pittsburgh, where she plans to find the girl she fell in love with once before, and this time plans to be brave enough to reveal herself to her. But Pie's not sure if her bravery will be enough to make someone love an invisible girl.

You can pre-order it from Bookshop or your local bookstore via Indiebound here.

17. Every Word You Never Said by Jordon Greene

Franklin/Kerr Press, LLC / Via jordongreene.com

Release Date: April 26

Summary: Skylar Gray is used to being different; he's adopted, nonverbal, queer, and he loves to wear skirts. Despite the adversity he's faced, when Skylar is adopted by a new family, and moved to a new school in a new state, he is optimistic about making new friends. Unfortunately, what he is met with is more bullies, and a new school that implements sexist dress codes that prohibit him from wearing skirts. Luckily for Skylar, this event lights a fire under newly-out rocker boy, Jacob, who loves to paint his nails and dye his hair, and he decides to take a stand with Skylar, no matter the risk to himself.

You can pre-order it from Bookshop or your local bookstore via Indiebound here.

18. Love, Hate & Clickbait by Liz Bowery

HarperCollins / Via harpercollins.ca

Release Date: April 26

Summary: This adult enemies-to-lovers queer romance novel by debut author, Liz Bowery, is about cutthroat political consultant Thom Morgan, who loves everything about the job he has working on the governor of California's political campaign. Well, everything except for his coworker, data analyst, Clay Parker. When the two get in a very heated public argument, and a photographer snaps a photo that makes it appear like they're kissing, the photo goes viral, and in hopes of securing the liberal vote, the governor asks them to play the part. But when their fake relationship starts to become more real than either of them expected, they will have to weigh the risks that this poses to the campaign, their careers, and their hearts.

You can pre-order it from Bookshop or your local bookstore via Indiebound here.