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Chrysalis
by Mags HaywardAmy doesn’t know who she is. Determined to put that right, she’s arranged a date through the Pink Roses website. The hotel room is booked, she’s bought wine to break the ice, and now she’s face to face with prospective lover, Kayla.Kayla’s gorgeous but Amy’s terrified. She’s new to dating, and new to women. Torn between, curiosity, lust, and fear, she doubts her ability to continue the date in spite of Kayla’s reassurances.Was this all a mistake? Has she left it too late to explore her true self? Is she destined to remain the chrysalis, never the liberated butterfly?
Cinema Love: A Novel
by Jiaming Tang&“Exceptional, moving, and not to be missed.&”—Alice Hoffman &“Gentle and fierce, heartbreaking without sacrificing its sense of humor . . . I have never read anything like it.&”—Robert Jones, Jr. A staggering, tender epic about gay men in rural China and the women who marry them. For over thirty years, Old Second and Bao Mei have cobbled together a meager existence in New York City&’s Chinatown. But unlike other couples, these two share an unusual past. In rural Fuzhou, before they emigrated, they frequented the Workers&’ Cinema: a theater where gay men cruised for love. While classic war films played, Old Second and his countrymen found intimacy in the screening rooms. In the box office, Bao Mei sold movie tickets to closeted men, guarding their secrets and finding her own happiness with the projectionist. But when Old Second&’s passion for his male lover is revealed, a series of haunting events unfold, propelling these characters toward an uncertain future in America. Spanning three timelines—post-socialist China, 1980s Chinatown, and contemporary New York—Cinema Love is an &“exceptional" and "moving&” (Alice Hoffman) epic about men and women who find themselves in forbidden relationships; the weight of secrets; and the way memory forever haunts the present.
Cinema Love: 'Not just an extraordinary debut but a future classic' Jessamine Chan
by Jiaming Tang*A stunning and compelling novel for fans of PACHINKO, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, and SHUGGIE BAIN*'Cinema Love is not just an extraordinary debut but a future classic' Jessamine Chan, author of The School for Good Mothers'I loved it. Cinema Love fizzes with energy. The characters are rich and warm and the prose is perfect. Jiaming Tang is a remarkable new voice' Fiona Mozley, author of Booker-shortlisted Elmet'A tender and enrapturing feat of storytelling' Vanessa Chan, author of The Storm We MadeFor over thirty years, Old Second and Bao Mei have cobbled together a meagre existence in New York City's Chinatown. But unlike other couples, these two share an unusual past. In rural Fuzhou, before they emigrated, they frequented the Workers' Cinema, where gay men cruised for love.While classic war films played, Old Second and his fellow countrymen found intimacy in the privacy of the Workers' Cinema's screening rooms. Elsewhere, in the box office, Bao Mei sold tickets to closeted men - guarding their secrets and finding her own happiness with the projectionist. But when secrets are unveiled, they set in motion a series of haunting events that propel Old Second and Bao Mei towards an uncertain future in America.Spanning three timelines - post-socialist China, 1980s Chinatown, and contemporary New York - Cinema Love is a tender epic about men and women who find themselves in forbidden and frustrated relationships as they grapple with the past and their unspoken desires.
Cinema Love: 'Not just an extraordinary debut but a future classic' Jessamine Chan
by Jiaming Tang*A stunning and compelling novel for fans of PACHINKO, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, and SHUGGIE BAIN*'Cinema Love is not just an extraordinary debut but a future classic' Jessamine Chan, author of The School for Good Mothers'I loved it. Cinema Love fizzes with energy. The characters are rich and warm and the prose is perfect. Jiaming Tang is a remarkable new voice' Fiona Mozley, author of Booker-shortlisted Elmet'A tender and enrapturing feat of storytelling' Vanessa Chan, author of The Storm We MadeFor over thirty years, Old Second and Bao Mei have cobbled together a meagre existence in New York City's Chinatown. But unlike other couples, these two share an unusual past. In rural Fuzhou, before they emigrated, they frequented the Workers' Cinema, where gay men cruised for love.While classic war films played, Old Second and his fellow countrymen found intimacy in the privacy of the Workers' Cinema's screening rooms. Elsewhere, in the box office, Bao Mei sold tickets to closeted men - guarding their secrets and finding her own happiness with the projectionist. But when secrets are unveiled, they set in motion a series of haunting events that propel Old Second and Bao Mei towards an uncertain future in America.Spanning three timelines - post-socialist China, 1980s Chinatown, and contemporary New York - Cinema Love is a tender epic about men and women who find themselves in forbidden and frustrated relationships as they grapple with the past and their unspoken desires.
Cirque du Slay
by Rob OslerIn this rollicking mystery, perfect for fans of Steven Rowley and Elle Cosimano, the circus becomes the stage for a high-profile murder investigation. With quirky LGBTQ+ amateur sleuths, Cirque du Slay will delight readers looking for a madcap mystery with high-flying excitement!Pint-sized Seattle middle school teacher and gay dating blogger Hayden McCall and his best friend Hollister are invited to a fundraiser for Bakers Without Borders. The celebrity performer, Kennedy Osaka, is the artistic director of Mysterium, an upscale circus arts show combining magic, acrobatics, and a Michelin-star dinner. But Kennedy is a no-show—until she&’s found dead in her hotel suite.When frenemy Sarah Lee is discovered in the room with the body, Hayden and Hollister are on the case to find the real culprit before Sarah Lee is charged with the crime.The suspects for the murder are as unique as Mysterium itself: a Russian trapeze artist, a cowgirl comedian sharp-shooter, an over-cologned operations director, a feisty, green-haired costume manager, and Adrenalin!, a sexy troop of Romanian male acrobats...If Hayden and Hollister are to clear Sarah Lee of suspicion, they&’ll have to outsmart a killer for whom trickery is art.
The City Is Up for Grabs: How Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot Led and Lost a City in Crisis
by Gregory Royal Pratt"Gregory Pratt had a rare front-row seat to the passions, problems, peculiarities, hopes, disappointments, shenanigans, and pettiness in the drama and farce that was Lori Lightfoot's uneasy tenure on the fifth floor at City Hall. What he delivers on these pages takes us backstage to give us a powerful, incisive portrait of the woman, the details of her mayoralty, and the many players who shared the stage." —Rick Kogan, Chicago Tribune reporter and author of A Chicago Tavern Chicago is a world-class city, but it is also a city in crisis. Crime is up, schools have repeatedly shut down due to conflict between City Hall and the powerful teachers' union, and COVID-19 only deepened the entrenched poverty, institutional racism, and endless tug of war between the city's haves and have nots. For four years, the person at the center of this storm was Lori Lightfoot. A groundbreaking figure—the first Black, gay woman to be elected mayor of a major city and only the second female mayor of Chicago—she knew the city was at a critical turning point when she took office in 2019. But the once-in-a-lifetime challenges she ended up facing were beyond anything she or anyone else saw coming. Chicago Tribune reporter Gregory Royal Pratt offers the first comprehensive behind-the-scenes look at the tumultuous single term of Mayor Lightfoot and the chaos that roiled the city and City Hall as she fought to live up to her promises to change the city's culture of corruption and villainy, reform its long-troubled police department, and make Chicago the safest big city in America. Some of Chicago's problems can be explained by forces greater than the mayor: national polarization, long-standing cultural and racial tensions, our plague years. But some are the result of Lightfoot's poor leadership at City Hall, a story that hasn't been told in full—until now.
Clarion Call (The Ravensong Series)
by Cayla FayNeve faces her vengeful cousin, the leader of the legions of hell, forcing her to decide where her loyalties truly lie in this thrilling sequel to Ravensong that&’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Celtic mythology.Neve and her sisters failed in protecting the mortal world against the legions of hell when the Veil they had spent their lives guarding split and the vengeful cousin they forgot ever existed, Aodh, managed to slip through. Dangerous and bitter, Aodh is on a mission to free the rest of their family still trapped behind the veil and set them loose on the mortal world. Still injured from her last battle, Neve is not only working to track Aodh, but also trying to navigate painful memories that keep rising to the surface. Memories of her past lifetimes protecting the Gate…and of her first life, before she and her sisters scrubbed it from their minds. More questions arise when a new family member reveals themself, someone Neve and her sisters have been missing. Someone who might just be able to save them all. Neve must face the sins of her past while navigating the dangers of the present. The more she remembers, the more it seems like everything she was raised to believe was a lie, and the fallout might decimate everything she has worked so hard to build in the present, including her relationship with Alexandria. Caught between humanity and divinity, the past and the present, Neve must try to strike a balance between the warring forces both within and without, because if she doesn&’t, it might not just be her relationship at stake, but the whole world.
Closures: Heterosexuality and the American Sitcom
by Grace LaveryFrom The Mary Tyler Moore Show to Arrested Development to BoJack Horseman, the American sitcom revolves around crises that must be resolved by episode’s end, with a new crisis to come next week. In Closures, Grace Lavery reconsiders the genre’s seven-decade history as an endless cycle of crisis and closure that formally and representationally frames heterosexuality as constantly on the verge of both collapse and reconstitution. She shows that even the normiest family-based sitcoms rely on queer characters like Alice (The Brady Bunch) and Steve Urkel (Family Matters) who highlight how the family is perpetually incomplete and unstable. Analyzing the genre’s techniques and devices such as the laugh track and the cringe pan, Lavery also charts the shift to friend-group and workplace sitcoms like Friends and The Office, which she contends reflect a weakening of social ties in ways that place characters in an unending state of becoming. With this capacious yet svelte queer and trans theorization of the sitcom, Lavery demonstrates that the family ties that bind the genre’s normative heterosexuality are far more tenuous than we have been led to believe.
Colliding Stars
by Claire RosalindSequel to Shooting StarsJasper Reid has everything. Fame beyond what he’d ever imagined. The man he never knew he needed. And a career full of fun with his best friend and band mates. For once in his life, he’s actually fine.Ryan Kurtis has everything. A promising career on Broadway. The love of his life by his side. The dreams he never thought would come true are all within reach. For once in his life, he’s not worried about the future.But maintaining the perfect life becomes impossible when the famous couple are faced with shattering devastation. When The Obsolete falls apart, Jasper breaks piece by delicately held-together piece, leaving Ryan desperately trying to catch Jasper on the star’s self-destructive fall from fame.After losing everything and finally facing the parts of himself he’s been afraid to confront, Jasper must find a way to overcome his worst self, accept a heartbreaking loss, let love back in, and reclaim the life he’s worked so hard for.Can Jasper and Ryan make it through their battles to their happily ever after? Or will this be the end of the RySper ship?NOTE: This book references trauma, death, grief, alcohol and drug abuse/dependence, panic attacks, and off-page sexual coercion.
Conjure Hill
by Patrick Bryce WrightJorgi Williams hopes starting graduate school will go smoothly. He needs a break from his clingy and transphobic mother Kat, who still insists on calling him by his deadname. Moving into a duplex with a male roommate only sparks a fresh tirade from Kat, and Jorgi is sick of this treatment.Thane Miller, Jorgi’s roommate, is a fellow graduate student. Handsome in a skinny, alterna way, Thane is laidback and kind, and seems to accept Jorgi exactly as he is. Jorgi can’t help developing a crush, despite his fear about whether Thane would date a transman.But the question of love is put on hold when they receive evil spirits as a housewarming present. Thane locates and digs up a cursed jar in the front yard and reveals he is a Wiccan, a white witch. He begs Jorgi not to freak out. Far from being freaked out, Jorgi is fascinated. Thane introduces Jorgi to his coven and the coven leader asks the dreaded question: Who in Jorgi’s life is capable of something like this? Jorgi’s ex-best friend Christy is infamous for vicious grudges, and she’s openly interested in black magic. Chance meetings with Christy seem to confirm she’s guilty.But not everything is adding up. As the demons grow powerful enough to talk, they claim Jorgi’s soul soul has been bound to a powerful demon in a blood magic contract. That’s something Christy wouldn’t have the ability to do. Are the demons lying, or is the enemy still out there?The stress of the demonic attacks, Kat’s relentless transphobic hounding, and the world of blood magic opening up around Jorgi cause him a massive internal shift. Suddenly, he becomes aware there is a part of him who comes and goes and who claims their family is not as innocent and Christian as Jorgi always believed. Jorgi has Dissociative Identity Disorder, and his other selves are holding onto dark secrets about the Williams family’s real religion. Thane is supportive every step of the way, causing Jorgi to fall in love.Then one of Jorgi’s inner selves points the finger at their mother, and Jorgi’s sense of reality is thrown into chaos. Is his enemy Christy or his mother? Can Jorgi and Thane stop the haunting, break the evil contract, and get their happily-ever-after?
Conversations with Sarah Schulman (Literary Conversations Series)
by Will BrantleyThe twenty-four interviews collected in Conversations with Sarah Schulman, roughly a fifth of those that exist, have enabled Schulman to expound upon her distinctive fusion of art and social commitment. Ranging from major forums to smaller venues, and covering a period of more than thirty years, these interviews provide full evidence of Schulman’s value as a pivotal player in the intellectual life of her time. Schulman’s career as a writer, activist, teacher, and oral historian is now in its fifth decade. Spanning multiple fiction genres, her eleven novels include After Delores (1988), Rat Bohemia (1995), The Child (2007), and Maggie Terry (2018). A native New Yorker, Schulman (b. 1958) writes for the people that she writes about—women and men making the most of a society that seems continually marked by homophobia, which Schulman regards as less a phobia than an unacknowledged pleasure system. Readers have come to relish Schulman’s provocations, nowhere more so than through her books of nonfiction on topics such as gentrification and the interlocking nature of conflict and abuse. And since the early 1980s, when Schulman worked as a journalist, readers have come to applaud her searing indictments of the nation’s woeful response to its AIDS crisis. Schulman has received the Kessler Award from CLAGS: The Center for LGBTQ Studies in honor of her body of work that has influenced the field of gay and lesbian studies, as well as the Bill Whitehead Award from Publishing Triangle for lifetime achievement. She holds an endowed chair in creative writing at Northwestern University.
The Coral Bones
by EJ SwiftThree women: divided by time, connected by the ocean.Marine biologist Hana Ishikawa is racing against time to save the coral of the Great Barrier Reef, but struggles to fight for a future in a world where so much has already been lost.Seventeen-year-old Judith Holliman escapes the monotony of Sydney Town during the nineteenth century, when her naval captain father lets her accompany him on a voyage, unaware of the wonders and dangers she will soon encounter.Telma Velasco is hunting for a miracle in a world ravaged by global heating: a leafy seadragon, long believed extinct, has been sighted. But as Telma investigates, she finds hope in unexpected places.Past, present and future collide in this powerful elegy to a disappearing world - and vision of a more hopeful future.
The Coral Bones
by EJ SwiftThree women: divided by time, connected by the ocean.Marine biologist Hana Ishikawa is racing against time to save the coral of the Great Barrier Reef, but struggles to fight for a future in a world where so much has already been lost.Seventeen-year-old Judith Holliman escapes the monotony of Sydney Town during the nineteenth century, when her naval captain father lets her accompany him on a voyage, unaware of the wonders and dangers she will soon encounter.Telma Velasco is hunting for a miracle in a world ravaged by global heating: a leafy seadragon, long believed extinct, has been sighted. But as Telma investigates, she finds hope in unexpected places.Past, present and future collide in this powerful elegy to a disappearing world - and vision of a more hopeful future.
Countless Sleepless Nights: A collection of coming-out stories and experiences
by Carina Maggar'I'm sorry I can't say this to your face, but words fail me every time I try, even though I know you would be fine (and knowing you, you might have already guessed).''Shit. I've made this sound like a big deal. It's really, really not. I'm not a murderer or a heroin addict (how boring), I'm just the same old bitter, unreliable, drunken fool you know and love.'A moving, inspiring and thought-provoking collection of 50 coming out stories from around the world. From the good, the sad, the surprising and the funny, no two stories are the same, yet all are written by people who share the courage to be vulnerable, take huge risks to find love and acceptance and are brave enough to be their authentic selves. Whether you have any experience of coming out or not, these stories are incredibly powerful and moving.
Countless Sleepless Nights: A collection of coming-out stories and experiences
by Carina Maggar'I'm sorry I can't say this to your face, but words fail me every time I try, even though I know you would be fine (and knowing you, you might have already guessed).''Shit. I've made this sound like a big deal. It's really, really not. I'm not a murderer or a heroin addict (how boring), I'm just the same old bitter, unreliable, drunken fool you know and love.'A moving, inspiring and thought-provoking collection of 50 coming out stories from around the world. From the good, the sad, the surprising and the funny, no two stories are the same, yet all are written by people who share the courage to be vulnerable, take huge risks to find love and acceptance and are brave enough to be their authentic selves. Whether you have any experience of coming out or not, these stories are incredibly powerful and moving.
Court of Wanderers: THE MOST EXCITING GOTHIC ROMANTASY YOU'LL LISTEN TO ALL YEAR! (Silver Under Nightfall)
by Rin ChupecoThe highly anticipated sequel to the action-packed dark fantasy SILVER UNDER NIGHTFALL! Perfect for fans of CASTLEVANIA and Jay Kristoff's EMPIRE OF A VAMPIRE!Bound by fate, united by darkness.Vampire hunter Remy Pendergast and his unexpected vampiric royal companions, Lord Zidan Malekh and Lady Xiaodan Song, are on the road through the kingdom of Aluria again after a hard-won battle against the formidable Night Empress. Xiaodan, severely injured and powerless, causes the trio to seek refuge at the mysterious Court of Wanderers. Meanwhile, Remy must confront his strange dreams of the Night Empress, a woman he has long suspected to be his own mother. As family secrets unravel, Remy must face a heart-wrenching choice between his parents' legacies and his own destiny. Disguised as Malek and Xiaodan's human familiar, Remy navigates the vampire courts and a series of gruesome murders. All while the trio's unbreakable bond is tested as they unlock new, formidable powers, each revelation exacting a new devastating toll. The cost of power may prove too high in this thrilling tale of love, betrayal, and supernatural warfare.'Sharp, thrilling, and action-packed, with a hell of a bite'K. S. Villoso
Court of Wanderers: the highly anticipated sequel to the action-packed dark fantasy SILVER UNDER NIGHTFALL! (Silver Under Nightfall)
by Rin ChupecoThe highly anticipated sequel to the action-packed dark fantasy SILVER UNDER NIGHTFALL! Perfect for fans of CASTLEVANIA and Jay Kristoff's EMPIRE OF A VAMPIRE!Bound by fate, united by darkness.Vampire hunter Remy Pendergast and his unexpected vampiric royal companions, Lord Zidan Malekh and Lady Xiaodan Song, are on the road through the kingdom of Aluria again after a hard-won battle against the formidable Night Empress. Xiaodan, severely injured and powerless, causes the trio to seek refuge at the mysterious Court of Wanderers. Meanwhile, Remy must confront his strange dreams of the Night Empress, a woman he has long suspected to be his own mother. As family secrets unravel, Remy must face a heart-wrenching choice between his parents' legacies and his own destiny. Disguised as Malek and Xiaodan's human familiar, Remy navigates the vampire courts and a series of gruesome murders. All while the trio's unbreakable bond is tested as they unlock new, formidable powers, each revelation exacting a new devastating toll. The cost of power may prove too high in this thrilling tale of love, betrayal, and supernatural warfare.'Sharp, thrilling, and action-packed, with a hell of a bite'K. S. Villoso
Court of Wanderers: Silver Under Nightfall #2 (Silver Under Nightfall #2)
by Rin ChupecoRemy Pendergast and his royal vampire companions return to face an enemy that is terrifyingly close to home in Rin Chupeco&’s queer, bloody Gothic epic fantasy series for fans of Samantha Shannon&’s The Priory of the Orange Tree and the adult animated series Castlevania.Remy Pendergast, vampire hunter, and his unexpected companions, royal vampires Lord Zidan Malekh and Lady Xiaodan Song, are on the road through the kingdom of Aluria again after a hard-won first battle against the formidable Night Empress, who threatens to undo a fragile peace between humans and vampires. Xiaodan, severely injured, has lost her powers to vanquish the enemy&’s new superbreed of vampire, but if the trio can make it to Fata Morgana, the seat of Malehk&’s court—dubbed &“the Court of Wanderers&”—there is hope of nursing her and bringing them back. En-route to the Third Court, Remy crosses paths with his father, the arrogant, oftentimes cruel Lord of Valenbonne. He also begins to suffer strange dreams of the Night Empress, whom he has long suspected to be Ligaya Pendergast, his own mother. As his family history unfolds during these episodes, which are too realistic to be coincidence, he realizes that she is no ordinary vampire—and that he may end up having to choose between the respective legacies of his parents. Posing as Malek and Xiaodan&’s human familiar, Remy contends with Aluria&’s intimidating vampire courts and a series of gruesome murders with their help—and more, as the three navigate their relationship. But those feelings and even their extraordinary collective strength will be put to the test as each of them unleashes new powers in combat at what may be prove to be the ultimate cost.
Cross My Heart
by Darcy ArcherWhen a tackle stopped NFL superstar Tyler Fantana&’s heart, millions of fans watched their MVP die on camera. Now America&’s Tightest End has headed home to put his broken pieces back together. Tyler knows returning to football could kill him, so keeping his rehab on track seems impossible—until he starts training with a familiar guy-next-door who knocks his jock off. Josh Ayres has harbored a secret crush on Tyler since high school. Fifteen years later, Josh has blossomed from a quiet nerd into bona fide beefcake, coaching the team for his alma mater. Helping Tyler get back in the game might become the second chance he never expected… if he can work up the courage to confess his feelings to the bad boy he never stopped loving. Sparks fly as Tyler and Josh join forces to save the school library, battling book bans, malicious gossip, and media pressure. What happens if infatuation turns into something that feels like forever? And when the NFL offers Tyler the chance to reclaim his fame, can he choose between a deadly game and the man who finally taught him that hearts can heal?
Crossed Lines
by A. F. HenleyWhen Aaron Fielde told his ex-partner he didn't know what love was, he meant it. All his life he'd done everything everyone expected him to and still somehow managed to end up as a bored, lonely, middle-aged man living a forgotten life on his own. When he gets into a car accident with a man he too late realizes is Dante Hyako, heir to the Hyako fortune, he has a vested interest in keeping the secret he probably shouldn't have been driving.Dante is classy, sexy, and elicits feelings Aaron didn't think he was capable of. So when Dante suggests they meet again, in private, Aaron agrees. It doesn't take long for Aaron to realize he's attracted to Dante, but something doesn't feel quite right. What would a guy like Dante want with a guy like him?The closer they get, the more Aaron feels Dante may have his own agenda, and Aaron is walking into a trap.
Crushed Ice (Hockey Ever After)
by Ashlyn Kane Morgan JamesWhen Liam Belanger gets a professional tryout with the Miami Caimans, he&’s hoping to land a roster spot that&’ll keep him from bussing tables. If he can make the team and score a tryout in bed with Russ Lyons, the veteran defenseman who&’s appointed himself Liam&’s mentor, that would be the icing on the sweet hockey cake. Living life by a strict set of rules has worked out well for Russ. He has a great career, great friends, and a great family, even if they do keep setting him up with hometown honey traps. But he can&’t stop time, and now, despite all his planning, he&’s looking at his last year with the Caimans before the uncertainty of free agency. Maybe that&’s why he finds sunny, free-spirited Liam so attractive. He&’s still not going to sleep with his rookie. Probably. Liam starts the season in the minors, but it&’s not long before he gets a shot at the Big Show. His year is shaping up to be a dream come true—even before Russ picks up on Liam&’s passes and proves defensemen can score too.
Crypt Coffee Box Set
by Gareth VaughnPart of a secret organization tasked with responding to paranormal threats, Dane is a loose cannon operating out of a niche coffee shop, Crypt Coffee. When Sean, a local professor addicted to Dane’s pastries, accidentally sees something he shouldn’t have -- something impossible --it starts the two of them on a dangerous and passionate affair full of sex, secrets, strange characters, and ... murder.This box set contains all five books in the series, including:Bad Seed: Monster hunter Dane and professor Sean make an unlikely pair, but teaming up together is the only chance they have at catching a killer -- that is, if they don’t get too distracted with each other first.Night Terror: Something in Bleu Falls is killing off cows, and monster hunter Dane is ready to track it down with the help of his partner, Sean. The only problem is Sean doesn’t remember him anymore.Family Bonds: When a violent werewolf ghost threatens to rip the delicate peace between the local packs apart, it’s up to Sean and Dane to step in and diffuse the situation. Negotiating killer ghosts and shady secret organizations might be easier than dealing with a surprise visit from Dane’s parents, who have no idea about his real job and who are intent on spending some quality family time with their son.Slim Chance: A stable relationship is harder for Dane and Sean than dealing with monsters or murderers, so when Sean sees something weird at work, it’s almost a welcome challenge. Except that Sean’s getting sick, and Dane has to pose as a student to get to the bottom of things, a role he hates. Can they solve the mystery in time or are their chances for success, and survival, slim indeed?Tipped Scales: A series of attacks gets the summer off to a dangerous start as Sean and Dane investigate what's going on in Bleu Falls. As the pieces click into place, they find there's an awful lot of magical power at stake, enough to change the world. But the closer they get to answers, the less likely it seems they will ever have a chance at a future together -- unless they can tip the scales in their favor.
Cupid's Revenge
by Wibke BrueggemannFor fans of Casey McQuiston and Alice Oseman, a girl falls for her best friend’s crush in Cupid’s Revenge, a queer young adult rom-com from Wibke Brueggemann that’s equal parts hilarious and swoon-worthy.It was never Tilly’s intention to fall in love, but Cupid will get you when you least expect it. That’s exactly what happens when Tilly’s best friend, Teddy, ropes Tilly into a plan to woo his dream girl, aspiring actress Katherine Cooper-Bunting. It turns out Teddy’s not the only one who finds her dreamy.But Katherine is off-limits. The only thing more important than Tilly’s feelings for someone she just met is not hurting Teddy, whose heart has been broken in the past.Avoiding temptation is easier said than done, as Teddy convinces Tilly to help him audition for a local play as a way to get to know Katherine better—a complete horror for someone who grew up in an artsy family but doesn’t have a creative bone in her body. On top of dealing with her growing feelings for the girl she shouldn’t like (but who may like her back), Tillie is still grieving a loss while navigating her grandfather’s recent Alzheimer’s diagnosis. So yeah, that’s a lot for any sixteen-year-old to handle without Cupid’s vengeful arrows getting involved.
The Cure for Drowning
by Loghan PaylorEvocative, magical and luminously written, The Cure for Drowning is not only a brilliant, boundary-pushing love story but a Canadian historical novel that boldly centres queer and non-binary characters in unprecedented ways.Born Kathleen to an immigrant Irish farming family in southern Ontario, Kit McNair has been a troublesome changeling since, at ten, they fell through the river ice and drowned—only to be nursed back to life by their mother's Celtic magic. A daredevil in boy's clothes, Kit chafes at every aspect of a farmgirl's life, driving that same mother to distraction with worry about where Kit will ever fit in. When Rebekah Kromer, an elegant German-Canadian doctor's daughter, moves to town with her parents in April 1939, Rebekah has no doubt as to who 19-year-old Kit is. Soon she and Kit, and Kit's older brother, Landon, are drawn tight in a love triangle that will tear them and their families apart, and send each of them off on a separate path to war. Landon signs up for the Navy. Kit, now known as Christopher, joins the Royal Air Force, becoming a bomber navigator relied on for his luck and courage. Rebekah serves with naval intelligence in Halifax, until one more collision with Landon changes the course of her life and draws her back to the McNair farm—a place where she'd once known love. Fallen on even harder times, the McNairs welcome all the help she is able to give, and she believes she has found peace at last. Until, with the war over, Kit and Landon return home.Told in the vivid, unforgettable voices of Kit and Rebekah, The Cure for Drowning is a powerfully engrossing novel that imagines a history that is truer than true.
Curiosities: A Novel
by Anne Fleming"Curiosities is pure delight. Anne Fleming draws us in so that we feel we are living the characters&’ lives, whether braving the North Atlantic on a sailing ship, or stealing away for a forbidden tryst in the English countryside. And she does it all with a light touch that has the reader dancing through peril and pleasure." —Ann-Marie MacDonald"Curiosities arrives like a little sun from another period to warm the reader with the joy and pleasure of knowledge, even as it illuminates the terrors and confusion that arise from ignorance. Wonders and disasters tumble over fractured lives and loves, but Fleming&’s conjuring of the past alive in our present is so deft and sure it might be witchcraft. I loved this book." —Marina EndicottThis sparkling, genre-bending novel opens with amateur historian Anne, who has a passion for research into the murkier corners of England in the 1600s. In an archive, Anne has stumbled across an obscure memoir, one that hints at an intricate tapestry of secret lives and loves. The full story eventually weaves together five manuscripts, each a different thread in the same strange tale: The Plague descends upon a village, and two children, Joan and Thomasina, are the only survivors. They bond with each other and with "Old Nut," a woman who lives in the forest nearby. But when relatives return, Old Nut is accused of witchcraft and condemned to death. Joan is hired as a maid to well-educated Lady Margaret Long—and, being lively and curious, soon becomes a beloved companion. Thomasina is sent on a perilous voyage to Virginia, where she adopts boys' clothing and navigates life as a male. Years later, Tom and Joan find each other and fall in love—but are discovered, naked, by a clergyman. Horrified, he believes there can only be one explanation for Tom's "unmanned" state: Joan is a witch and, like Old Nut years ago, must be tried for sorcery. It falls upon Anne, reading between faded pages and centuries, to uncover the fate of the lovers—and add her own contemporary line of "truth" to this tale from a time when there were no labels for who Tom and Joan might be.