Although Delphina Baker and her Gramma move often, she doesn’t mind. Home is wherever she and Gramma are together.

But when Gramma gets sick, Delphina is sent away to live with her Nana Rose — a woman she’s never met before who runs a school for magic in South Carolina. While getting over the shock that magic is real, Delphina seeks answers to family secrets that Gramma never shared with her.

Seventh grader Ben struggles to feel at home after moving to a new city and coping with his parents’ divorce. If only making new friends could be as easy as playing his favorite role-playing games.

When Ben falls through an interdimensional portal, he enters a strange fantasy realm where a girl named Niara claims he’s the Chosen One. Soon he discovers that, while his gaming knowledge is useful, saving the world is a lot more complicated in real life.

Josie, Theo, and Taylor are three teens whose lives are brought together by a haunted house in the middle of Saint Juniper’s Folly — a forest rumored to be cursed. Escaping the Folly will mean working together, as none of the teens have the strength to face its dangers alone.

Saorise Sorkova is a siren in hiding among her fellow soldiers, knowing that if others found out, they would likely kill her. When she becomes the crown prince Hayes’ bodyguard, she not only has to navigate the complicated romantic feelings that emerge, but also work harder to hide her magical powers and her secret job as an assassin in a group of mercenaries Prince Hayes asks her to track down.

Born into a family of time travelers, twins Tommy and Eva search for unanswered questions to why their parents disappeared into the past. While Eva copes with her grief by trying to make a place for herself in the present, Tommy is drawn to a woman named Peggy living in London’s Chinatown nearly a century ago.

Amidst the lingering trauma of World War I, Rin and her wife Odette run a magical circus troupe that offers escapism from the troubling outside world. But with the threat of another war on the horizon, a second, more sinister circus emerges. And its cruel ringmaster brings dangers from Rin’s past back into her life.

What if first contact was briefer and more perplexing than anyone expected? When a fleet of spaceships disappear as quickly as they arrived, people around the world are left with existential questions. With humanity’s place in the universe small, finding meaning in life can take absurd but nonetheless hopeful turns.

This book is half trans love story and half ghost story. Archivist and transmasc vampire Sol is already kind of struggling in life. He’s secretly living in the sunless archives where he works and getting regular blood transfusions. But when they take in the collections of a deceased sci-fi author, weird things start happening, and he reaches out to the author’s widow, Elsie. This book is a fun, fluffy romance that takes on deeper issues of transphobia, questioning, and queerness.

Content warnings for transphobia, dysphoria, outing, grief, ableism, homophobia, biphobia, mental illness.

Dive into this lowkey silly novella about over-worked retail employees being forced (per their contracts) to go into the wormholes popping up at their warehouse store and try to find a grandmother who fell into it. Naturally, the two chosen for this are the anxious, depressed Ava and her nonbinary ex Jules…who just broke up a week ago. This is an absurd portal fantasy with good character growth and fun action, and it’s a speedy read too.

Content warnings for death, violence, mental illness, transphobia, homophobia, classism, anxiety/panic.

This book has it all. A secret family of interstellar refugees running a donut shop as a cover as they try to fix their spaceship undercover. A woman who made a deal with the devil to get tremendous violin talent in exchange for delivering seven prodigy souls. And her newest, and last, prodigy: a young trans girl running away from an abusive household. This book is queer as heck, warm and wild — an explosion of a story about found family and tough choices.

Content warnings for transphobia, sexual assault, child abuse, racism, homophobia, dysphoria, deadnaming, self harm, suicidal ideation.

Private investigator Ivy Gamble has a magical sister who teaches at an American magic high school. She, unfortunately, is normal. She’s always been the boring sister, but she lies to herself a lot, and when she’s asked to investigate a murder at her sister’s magic school, she lies to herself and to others that she’s totally capable of uncovering the killer and staying 100% impartial and unemotional the whole time. It’s a satisfying mystery but also a great book about love, sisterhood, facing the truth, and learning to let people go.

Content warnings for abortion, body horror, grief, death, medical trauma, grief, substance abuse, fatphobia, mental illness.

This is one of my favorite books of recent years. Janelle Monáe expands on her world of Dirty Computer with the help of five extremely talented authors. They bring her Afrofuturist, queer world to life. Under New Hope’s totalitarian government, a director librarian struggles with what to do about a blooming resistance to memory logging, a student finds a pantry where time stands still, and a group of young kids see a glimpse of possible future. It’s a beautiful queer book about resistance, gender nonconformity, and survival in a cyberpunk world.

Content warnings for homophobia, transphobia, racism, police brutality, institutionalization, grief, ableism, mental illness, xenophobia, classism.

All Luli Wei wants is to be a Hollywood star — but the film business is dangerous. It runs on a fae-like system of blood magic, sold souls, sacrifice, predatory producers, and steeply priced contracts. Luli is facing an already bloodthirsty industry as a young, queer Chinese American girl from Hungarian Hill, and she risks being type cast, dismissed, and denigrated in a place where they’ll do anything to get to you or your loved ones if it means a potential profit. But Luli is pretty cutthroat herself, and she’s willing to do anything to become the star she knows she is destined to become.

Content warnings for racism, homophobia, misogyny, xenophobia, violence, substance abuse, self-harm, death, sexual assault, fatphobia.

After a series of terror attacks and a influx of pandemics, the government shuts down all live events and gatherings. Long after, people have gotten used to virtual life and drone delivery — a life without physical contact. Rosemary loves that life, but her new job wants her to infiltrate a real-life gathering of musicians resisting the system by performing illegally live and convince them to step into the more profitable, virtual spotlight. A book released pre-pandemic that feels particularly real now, A Song for a New Day shows why sci-fi is always a reliable way to explore the possibilities of our future, both in its possible terrors and in its possibility for hope and resistance.

Content warnings for panic attacks, terminal illness, death, homophobia, violence.

I had quite a bit to say about this book even before Bigolas Dickolas had it trending on twitter. This lush, poetic book made up of love letters exchanged between two time-traveling secret agents fighting a timeline war on opposite sides is full of some of the most beautiful language I’ve ever read, but don’t be mistaken — it’s also a wild science fiction story of timeline braids, tweaking of history, and rich unexpected worlds. The moment I first read this book, I wanted to start over and read it again.

Content warnings for death, violence, body horror, torture.

Generations after humanity abandoned earth, they live in a regimented and classist spaceship, the HMS Matilda, with sharp limitations and harsh power structures. Odd, brilliant scientist Aster, surgeon Theo, and paranoid Giselle, are trying to survive the world they live in any way they can — but Aster thinks her mother’s coded journals might be a key to escaping the world they’re in. This is a hard read sometimes, but well worth it for its rich story of queerness, found family, and survival.

Content warnings for sexual assault and violence, racism, violence, police brutality, child death, mental illness, torture, suicide, self harm, transphobia, grief.

What would you do if you had to sacrifice your first love so you can save your family’s magic? Well, that’s Voya’s task in Blood Like Magic! Voya failed her first Calling, a trial which would grant her her powers. But her second chance comes with a price: to kill her first love. Even worse, if she fails her whole family will be left without magic. So Voya signs up for a matchmaking program, and that’s where she meets Luc.

This book is a brilliant retelling of what is probably the best known romance in the world: none other than Romeo and Juliet! Set in a magical 1920s Shanghai, These Violent Delights follows Juliette Cai. She’s the heir of the Scarlet Gang, and the first love of her family’s number one rivals, the White Flowers. Even though Roma Montagov betrayed her long ago, the two must work together again if they want to defeat the monster who’s attacking their city. Or there might not be a city left for either gang to rule.

Sorcery of Thorns follows Elisabeth, who grew up hearing that sorcerers are evil. She was raised as a foundling in one of Austermeer’s Great Libraries, hoping to become one of their wardens someday. But her life is turned upside down when someone releases the library’s most dangerous grimoire. Elisabeth is blamed for this and sent to the capital to face justice. So she turns to the only person who can help her: the sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn. The more time she spends with Nathaniel, the more she realizes the world is not what she thought it was — and neither is he.

In Cemetery Boys, Yadriel needs to prove to his family that he is a real brujo. So he performs a ritual that will find the ghost of his murdered cousin and then set him free. Except the ghost who shows up is not Yadriel’s cousin. It is actually Julian, the school’s resident bad boy. He wants to tie up some loose ends before he leaves, so he and Yadriel strike a deal so that both of them get what they want. As they spend more and more time together, Yadriel realizes he doesn’t want Julian to leave. What could go wrong when you fall for a ghost?

If you love the forbidden romance trope, then Tahereh Mafi’s This Woven Kingdom is definitely for you! The story follows Alizeh, the lost heir to the Jinn kingdom. She’s currently hiding as a servant in a noble household, hoping to escape her enemies. Enter crown prince Kamran. He’s slowly falling for the servant girl with the stunning eyes. But little does he know, she will one day be responsible for his kingdom’s uprooting — and the prophecies that surround the king himself.

Lucha of the Night Forest follows a girl named Lucha who would do anything to protect her sister. When their mother doesn’t come back from a bender with a forgetting drug, the sisters lose their home. This leads Lucha to strike a dangerous deal with El Sediento, a nightmarish creature that proves that there’s a world outside her home. So Lucha and her sister decide to escape. They’re joined by the gorgeous Paz — an acolyte of a forbidden goddess. The problem is, there’s a big fight between two old gods brewing, and Lucha is smack in the middle of their conflict thanks to her powers. 

Last but certainly not least comes F.T. Lukens’ latest YA fantasy romance! Spell Bound follows Edison Rooker, who hides a Spell Binder and wants nothing more than to regain access into the world of magic. That’s why he becomes the apprentice of the powerful sorceress Antonia Hex. Now known as Rook, his biggest worry is contending with Sun — the apprentice of Antonia’s nemesis Fable. But when the Magical Consortium finds out about Rook’s Spell Binder, they come for Antonia and Fable. So Rook and Sun have no choice but to work together if they want to get their mentors back.

This is one of the most highly anticipated upcoming sci-fi books! It’s from the author of the Imperial Radch series, which won a gazillion awards, give or take. It’s about a translator, Qven, from an alien race who doesn’t want to do what their job entails. Rebelling against their fate, Qven will meet a diplomat and a mechanic, and the choices these three make will affect the whole of the universe. Based on Leckie’s previous novels, this is sure to be brilliant.

From one of the funniest and most delightful writers of sci-fi comes a new comedy about alien abduction. Francie’s college roommate is getting married to a UFO chaser. So it is only fitting the wedding will be in the holy land of alien activity, Roswell, New Mexico, where a UFO allegedly crashed in 1947. Francie thinks it is all a bunch of nonsense. Which makes it much harder when she’s abducted by an alien resembling a tumbleweed.

This is a debut space opera being recommended for fans of N.K. Jemisin and Nnedi Okorafor! Who isn’t excited about that?! It’s about a tea expert who must spy on her government to help her nation secure its independence after her lover is killed and her sibling is kidnapped.

This is an excellent space thriller about a mission to find a new habitable planet, and what happens when their ship is sabotaged. When an explosion knocks The Phoenix off course, the crew must figure out who is responsible — and how to get back on track. Books where humans look for a new planet because the Earth is failing should be a sci-fi sub-genre, if it isn’t already.

This one sounds intense! It’s a race to beat the underwater clock. A diver searching for his father’s body is accidentally swallowed by an 80-foot sperm whale. He has one hour to escape the whale before his oxygen supply is depleted. Related: Did you know sperm whales have four stomachs??! Now you do!

This is a story of augmented reality and an implant that lets people have a more complete online experience. Of course, direct access to people means the government can’t resist taking a peek… More Perfect is set in a near-future London and is a reworking of the Greek myth of Eurydice and Orpheus.

From the amazing Dr. Karen Lord comes a new novel of first contact. A group of humans on the dying Earth are chosen to make first contact when aliens indicate they are ready to communicate. But one of them, a pop star, may be the key to unlocking contact with all of the universe.

Zaira is the reincarnation of the god Indigo, though she doesn’t have a god’s powers. So it’s pretty unfair that the emperor still wants to sacrifice her to the god of destruction. Not up for being sacrificed, Zaira escapes and finds a grumpy pilot named Wesley, who may be fated to help her defeat the god of destruction whether he wants to or not.

When his father is struck with an illness, Rumi must leave his safe shelter from behind the walls of the Upper City to seek a cure. In the ruins of Paraíso, he meets a guide named Paz and sparks fly. But Paz is keeping secrets from Rumi, and as their journey continues, she will have to decide where her loyalties lie.

Amina Al-Sirafi gave up her life of piracy for the relative security of a life with her family and young daughter. But when her past comes calling — and threatens her family’s safety — she returns to the sea and the ship she left behind in order to protect them. But this is no ordinary mission; Amina is up against an opponent dabbling with supernatural forces far beyond his control. Amina has had enough dealing with the supernatural to know what a terrible idea that is. With her family’s lives on the line, though, Amina will have to team up with the demon she once loved in order to win the day. And anyone — especially Amina Al-Sirafi — could tell you that’s a risky proposition.

A scavenger captured by pirates is offered a complicated deal with life-changing repercussions: marry the mind-ship who leads the Red Banner in exchange for her protection and help uncover who was behind the murder of her late wife, the Red Scholar, or remain a prisoner of the notorious pirate fleet. For Xích Si, it’s no choice at all. But with the pirates under attack from both inside and outside forces, will Xích Si and Rice Fish be able to uncover their enemies and come to an understanding — maybe even more — before it’s too late?

From the author of You Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea comes another cozy adventure, this time set on the high seas. The newly engaged Kianthe and Reyna become enmeshed in another love story while on the hunt for dragon eggs when the lord of the Nacean River calls on the powerful mage Kianthe to track down the pirate who’s been marauding his shores. Alongside Bobbie, one of the lord’s constables, they set their sights on tracking down the pirate Serina. But Bobbie knew Serina long before she turned pirate, and she has her own reasons for wanting to find the woman before any others.

When Evelyn boards the Dove, she has no idea it’s a pirate ship. She only knows she’s being shipped off to a distant shore for a marriage she had no say in. But when the Dove’s true affiliation is revealed, it’s only her friendship with a young deckhand that saves her. Flora, who took up the name and identity of Florian aboard the ship, only turned pirate out of desperation and love for her brother. But now Flora has someone new to protect. Doing so will take the two of them on an adventure that will change their lives forever.

Treasure Island gets a new spin in this novel following a girl searching for answers about her father at the end of the golden age of piracy in the 19th century South China Sea. Xiang’s father has only ever been a story, lost at sea before she was born. But when the pendant she inherited from her father is stolen, and Xiang discovers it contains a secret scroll, her life is turned upside down. Apparently, her father sailed with the legendary Dragon Fleet — and they may have left behind one last treasure before they disappeared.

This novella from the author of A Master of Djinn follows a teen living on the streets of an alternate history New Orleans looking to escape aboard the smuggler airship, Midnight Robber. Creeper believes her knowledge about a kidnapped Haitian scientists could get Captain Ann-Marie on her side. But her secret connection with the African orisha of the wind, Oya, might also prove useful — especially when it becomes apparent that the gods have become much more involved than anyone realized in New Orleans.

In this Latine pirate fantasy starring a nonbinary teen, the devil comes to collect on a bargain made by their father when Mar turns 16. Now, Mar is the sole survivor, rescued by another pirate crew and given a terrible choice by el Diablo: trade their soul in exchange for their father’s or never seem him again. Mar knows better than to make a deal with the devil, but with the help of the captain’s arrogant son and a genderfluid demonio with uncertain motives, Mar might just be able to use the magic powers they’ve kept hidden for so long to take on el Diablo.

The author of Daughter of the Pirate King is back with a new book in the series, following an assassin working for Alosa, the Pirate Queen. But Alosa’s newest job for her doesn’t involve killing. Instead, she’s tasked with captaining a rescue mission alongside a helmsman who is altogether too annoying and attentive. When their journey takes them through the waters of the King of the Undersea, who controls the dead, their rescue mission turns into a fight to save the entire world from an undead army.

This contemporary romance retells the iconic fairy tale “Beauty and the Beast.” Isabelle is an editorial assistant who dreams of advancing in her career. Beau is a child of celebrities who owes Isabelle’s boss a tell-all manuscript. But he’s gone no contact and has hidden himself away in his Santa Barbara mansion. Isabelle decides to confront him at home, but ends up making a different bargain than she expected. Beau agrees to work on the memoir, but only if she stays with him and helps him write it. From rose gardens to a stunning library and more, there are lots of winks and nods to the Beauty and the Beast along the way in this love story!

This YA novel is a queer retelling of the “Snow White and Rose Red” fairy tale. Rosie and Ivory are twins who’ve grown up in their bearded lady, ringmaster mother’s circus. Told partly in verse, the story unfolds when the circus returns to the twins’ birthplace to find a religious fundamentalist regime has taken over. After a devastating fire in the circus tent, Ivory must abandon her behind-the-scenes work to become the ringmaster. She must hold together the circus for her disappeared family while working to find them and the people responsible for the tragedy.

This novel borrows from “Hansel and Gretel” as well as the “Gingerbread Man” story to bring about a mystical world between the one we know and one we’ve read about in fairy tales. Perdita Lee and her single mother appear normal to the outside world. But inside their home, there are signs they aren’t such a average British family. Most of all, there is something peculiar about the gingerbread they make to send home to Predita’s mother’s childhood best friend Gretel in the land of Druhástrana. But what is only hinted at in Perdita’s life unfolds in front of her as she travels to this land to find Gretel and uncovers mysteries from her mother’s past.

This contemporary Western romance is a loose retelling of “Sleeping Beauty.” In it, Evie is the star of a cooking show who develops amnesia after a mysterious fall down the stairs. Evie hasn’t returned to her family ranch out West in years. Not since her best friend Zach told her that there would never be more than friendship between them. But with no one else to help her, Zach flies to New York and brings her home. He doesn’t want to let her out of his life again, but will their fresh start be ruined once her memory returns? Once you read this one, Weatherspoon has a whole series of fairy tale inspired cowboy romances for you to enjoy!

This YA fantasy is a murder mystery inspired by many of the more obscure Brothers Grimm fairy tales. In the middle of a dark, dangerous forest, there is a small town where the villagers never leave: the town of Greymist Fair. The story starts when the Heike, the town’s tailor, discovers a dead body in the road. Told through multiple perspectives, this horrible crime reveals more and more mysterious secrets embedded in Greymist Fair’s history.

A strange alien invasion has taken over the world, and while most people have embraced the almost utopian changes, Trina has not. When her wife, Deeba, decides to use Seep technology to start over as a baby, reliving her childhood for the better this time, there’s nothing left for Trina but to run away. Deep in an alcoholic haze, she stumbles across a young boy and sets out on a quest to save him from the grip of the Seep. But is it really a quest, or just a desperate bid to escape her grief?

A renowned violin instructor paying off a deal with the devil and an alien refugee running a donut shop with her children come together in unexpected ways in this lyrical novel that blends together fantasy and science fiction. What does it mean to be a parent, a family? And what are we willing to sacrifice for the ones we love? As both women experience the complications of motherhood, in all its various forms, they realize that love is worth it, no matter the consequences.

In this eldritch horror novella, a 55-year-old professor at the Ulthar Women’s College follows a wayward student across the Dreamlands when she elopes with a dreamer from the waking world. It’s a dangerous journey that will send her into the very depths of her own mysterious past. Vellitt Boe is a seasoned adventurer in addition to being a math professor, but will she be able to track down her missing student in a land of ever-changing dreams?

A retired pirate with a young daughter is drawn back into a dangerous job on the high seas when a rich woman tracks her down and threatens her family. Amina Al-Sirafi thought she had left that life behind her when she gave birth to her daughter, determined to keep her little girl safe. But now, it’s only by going on a perilous journey that reunites her with the girl’s otherworldly father and a cast of criminals both friend and foe that she can hope to keep her daughter out of harm’s way. And maybe being back on the sea and at the helm of her own ship, even if it means being worlds away from the ones she loves, might be worth it anyway.

A disgraced doctor working at a village clinic in India is approached by a family one night with a strange request: if the doctor can mend their fatal wounds before sunup, they’ll be brought back to life. The surgeon and his assistant will have to work through the night to save them. And by morning, they’ll both have gained knowledge that no mortal should ever have.

A floating city in the Arctic Circle protects it’s citizens from devastation after the world was rocked by the climate wars. But the city, once a marvel of engineering, is now fraying along the edges. Crime, poverty, and corruption are destroying the city’s way of life. When a mysterious woman riding an orca arrives with a polar bear by her side, she encourages a wave of resistance. And four people living on the periphery are brought together to save their city from its own decay, discovering shocking truths about themselves in the process.

At 75 years old, after attending his wife’s funeral, John Perry enlisted in the Colonial Defense Force. They’re not interested in young soldiers; they want people with a lifetime of knowledge and skill. And if recruits like John can survive two years in the service, they’re given a homestead of their own on one of the colony planets they’re fighting so hard to protect. But first, he’ll have to undergo the process of becoming the sort of soldier the Colonial Defense Forces want — and that means being changed, body and soul.

The living avatars of New York City come together when they realize their city is coming to life in this urban fantasy novel from SFF master N.K. Jemisin. A disparate collection of New Yorkers, representing the city’s five boroughs, learn of their true nature and the nature of their city as they fight to protect it against ancient and mysterious forces that would keep it — and all other great cities — from ascending. Success would see the city flourish, but failure could mean the end of New York City as we know it. And when even some of their own decide to work against them, the city teeters on a precipice that will see it changed for good.

In this fairy tale retelling, Red Riding Hood isn’t a little girl going up against a big bad world; she’s a middle-aged woman running from her past and helping an archer with an equally storied life protect the countryside from the ravages of sunbirds. But when their pasts begin to catch up with them, both women must reckon with the choices they’ve made and how those choices continue to affect them — and those around them.

Survivors from Earth make up the Exodus Fleet, a relic of a spaceship just trying to survive after humanity was accepted into the Galactic Commons. Most humans have moved on to other planets, but for those Exodans left, life on the Exodus Fleet is carefully guarded. A lifelong spacer, a young apprentice, an alien academic, a newcomer, and others wrestle with what it means to stay on a ship after you’ve reached your destination and whether their way of life is even worth protecting in this gorgeous novel from Becky Chambers Wayfarers series.