Must-Have Monday is a feature highlighting which of the coming week’s new releases I’m excited for. It is not meant to be a comprehensive list of all books being published that week; only those I’m interested in out of those I’m aware of! The focus is diverse SFF, but other genres sneak in occasionally too.
THIRTEEN books this week!
(Books are listed in order of pub date, then Adult SFF, Adult Other, YA SFF, YA Other, MG SFF.)
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Queer MCs
Published on: 21st April 2025
After being exiled in his youth, Feilan has earned a comfortable, complacent life in the Siftar trading post. He has very little to worry about...
...aside from a would-be emperor with covetous eyes on Siftar’s trade network, the Vaer raiders who insist on camping nearby every summer, the warrior who got him exiled all those years ago – and the jolterhead who thinks it’s perfectly reasonable to walk the new child-queen of Seven Hills into the raiders’ camp to beg for help.
Renart is young Queen Adeline’s uncle, and he’s trying to save her from a dangerous regency. They desperately need champions for a monster hunt, and Renart is not exactly grateful to Feilan for diverting them for their own safety.
He’s very grateful to Feilan for falling for the trick he tries next.
Feilan finds himself accompanying Renart home, under orders to win the monster hunt to earn Adeline a throne and Siftar a trade deal. The monster’s more than even a Vaer warrior can handle alone, so he’ll need to pull together an unlikely alliance to stay in the game.
Meanwhile, he has a marriage to fake, and he soon finds spiky, provocative, lonely Renart to be a man of secret depths and unsung courage.
But there’s more than one monster in Seven Hills, and the one who wears the human mask is far too accustomed to power to let an interfering barbarian take it away...
NEW WENDY PALMER! Set in the same world as (but not a prequel/sequel to) Domesticated Magic – which I haven’t reviewed yet, because Fail, but it’s one of my all-time faves and won a spot on my Best of 2024 list!
You can buy it now at the author’s Payhip, or wait a couple weeks to get it from the usual places (link should keep updating as it appears on more retailers!) Personally, I recommend nabbing the Vaer World bundle at her Payhip, because that gets you Domesticated Magic as well, and you will NOT be sorry!
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Pansexual brown MC, secondary queerplatonic F/F, secondary F/M/F polyamory, queernorm world
Published on: 22nd April 2025
Goodreads
Lanie Stones is the necromancer that Death has been praying for.
Heartbroken, exiled from her homeland as a traitor, Lanie Stones would rather take refuge in good books and delicate pastries than hunt a deathless abomination, but that is the duty she has chosen.
The abomination in question happens to be her own great-grandfather, the powerful necromancer Irradiant Stones. Grandpa Rad has escaped from his prison and stolen a body, and is heading to the icy country of Skakhmat where he died, to finish the genocide he started. Fortunately for her, Lanie has her powerful death magic, including the power to sing the restless dead to their eternal slumber; and she has her new family by her side.
Grandpa Rad may have finally met his match.
AHHHHHH IT’S THE SEQUEL TO SAINT DEATH’S DAUGHTER!!! This series, folx, I cannot even. It’s perfect. Do you hear me? PERFECT. You have never read anything like Lanie’s story before, and you never will again, and if you do not read it – why would you deprive yourself like that??? THESE BOOKS ARE SELF-CARE FOR THE SOUL, KAY? KAY.
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: F/F
Published on: 22nd April 2025
Goodreads
A twisted, tangled story about workplace love-affairs, and plants with a taste for human flesh
During a grocery run to her local shopping center, Shell Pine sees a ‘HELP NEEDED’ sign in a flower shop window. She’s just left her fiancé, lost her job, and moved home to her parents’ house. She has to make a change and bring some good into her life, so she goes inside and takes a chance. Shell realizes right away that flowers are just the good thing she's been looking for, as is Neve, the beautiful florist who wrote the sign asking for help. The thing is, Neve needs help more than Shell could possibly imagine.
An orchid growing out of sight in the heart of the mall is watching them closely. His name is Baby, and the beautiful florist belongs to him. He’s young, he’s hungry, and he’ll do just about anything to make sure he can keep growing big and strong. Nothing he eats – nobody he eats – can satisfy him, except the thing he most desires. Neve. He adores her and wants to consume her, and will stop at nothing to eat the one he loves.
This is a story about possession, and monstrosity, and working retail. It is about hunger and desire, and other terrible things that grow.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Don’t try and tell me you don’t want an F/F novel narrated by the monster plant that wants to eat one of the women. I simply won’t believe you! Reading this now and enjoying it VERY MUCH!
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Horror
Representation: Romany MC
Published on: 22nd April 2025
Goodreads
Orchid Lovell is a young Romany woman haunted by a fear of being found out. Her family has been chased out of town before. After settling in a seemingly idyllic northern mining town that she soon understands as rife with unseen cruelty, Orchid finds solace in a lush orchid fen where she doesn’t fear the town’s judgement. Amid the green beauty of the fen, Orchid meets her beloved Jack, and marries him in a secret blackfly-infested ceremony.
But the town’s waters don’t only harbor life. In the nearby creek, dead girls take revenge on the men who murdered them, luring them into murky waters. Despite the unyielding nature of the water spirits, one man evades their violence. After a devastating attack linked to the expansion of the mine, Orchid’s fate is entwined with the panni raklies’ ruthless justice.
Written in over 100 dreamy mini-chapters, this novella explores the tenuous reality of the Romany diaspora living in troubled times on troubled lands.
This sounds strange and amazing and I can’t wait to dive into it!
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual MC, queernorm world
Published on: 22nd April 2025
Goodreads
"These books are addictive and I can’t wait to see what Aelis and the gang get up to next.”—C.L. Clark, author of The Unbroken
Wineshops on every corner.
Assassins in every alley.
It’s good to be home.Aelis de Lenti is back on her home turf, but it's not quite as welcoming as she remembered....
Recalled from Lone Pine to investigate claims of murder by magic against her mentor—legendary Warden Bardun Jacques—Aelis takes to the streets of the grand city of Lascenise, and plumbs the deepest secrets of the Lyceum to clear his name. Certain of her success, she doesn't count on thieves, subterranean labyrinths, or the assassins that dog her steps from the moment she leaves her tower.
Behind all of it lurks a ring of unknown wizards who can seemingly reach anyone with their magic. Without knowing who she can trust, Aelis must gather what allies she can to unravel the web of intrigue, murder, smuggling, and theft originating in the halls of magic power. With an old friend from her college days, a war-haunted gnome thief-catcher, and the advice of her imprisoned advisor, Aelis races to save lives and expose a conspiracy that seeks to change the face of the world.
This series has been so much fun! Entirely different take on necromancy from the Saint Death books; these are a bit more classic D&D. Strongly recommended!
Genres: Adult, Sci Fi
Representation: Black MCs
Published on: 22nd April 2025
Goodreads
A Black nerd coming-of-age novel set in 1970s Boston about a boy who struggles to learn the truth behind his mother’s claims of otherworldly origins in the smoldering aftermath of the Civil Rights era and COINTELPRO's dying breaths.
Sean’s mother, Sojourner, consistently claims otherworldly origins—Saturn, specifically. A story he’s heard his entire life and never considered that it might be true until strange men intrude on his family’s lives. Complicating matters, his father, David, and his mother, were part of a Civil Rights era Black power group that captured the attention of the FBI.
A literal bombing put an exclamation point to the end of the organization. But as soon as Sean could read on his own, he immersed himself in science fiction, fantasy, and comic books, while largely ignoring the history of his people. That ignorance morphs into a disturbing proposition and learning the truth of his parents’ pasts could prove deadly.
Sean’s exploration introduces him to music, girls, delusions of privilege, and the thrills of revolution, all while becoming an adult. The Queen of Saturn and the Prince in Exile marries golden age sci-fi with the nostalgia of roller skates, funk, and first love.
I haven’t been able to confirm that this is genuinely sci fi, but I think it is? I hope it is, because this would be much more fun with actual aliens!
Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Chinese cast, gay Chinese MC, nonbinary rep
Published on: 22nd April 2025
Goodreads
An intense and thoughtful time-travelling dystopian fantasy where three individuals, psychically linked through time, fight enslavement, exploitation, and environmental collapse. A great read for fans of Emily St. John Mandel.
In the year 2106, climate change has altered the world, transforming borders, cities, and socioeconomic structures. Additionally, a cosmic event known as the ‘Bloom’ has awakened psionic abilities in a small percentage of the population.
One such individual is Maida Chao, who possesses the ability of psychometry, a gift that allows her to “read” the objects she touches and know its entire history. Newly employed with the Golden Gate Cultural Recovery Project in the area once known as San Francisco Bay, she must learn how to navigate the parameters of her abilities as well as the politics of the organization she works for. Until a chance encounter with a political leader’s watch reveals a plan to eliminate psionic powers, and the people who possess them. People like her.
Terrified, but left with few options, Maida continues work at the GGCRP, when she stumbles upon a teacup and is psychically plunged into the lives of two of its previous owners – Ethan Chao of 2006, a “bourgeois bohemian” working his corporate design job while longing for greater purpose; and Li Nuan of 1906, an indentured servant in a Chinatown brothel.
On discovering that these two people are distant relatives of hers, a strong psychic connection is made and Maida realizes she can use the conduit of the teacup to send a message back through time, giving her the chance to warn her ancestors of the coming climate collapse and save her own life.
A very different book from Wong’s first, it sounds like!
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Queer MC
Published on: 22nd April 2025
Goodreads
Wings aren't supposed to be this much trouble...
On their sixteenth birthday, foundlings grow wings—either angel wings or devil wings—and their value to the city depends on which one.
To Asher, devil wings mean the freedom to do what he pleases: using the city as a canvas for his graffiti art; being with his loving, devil-winged boyfriend; riding the dark, glittering streets without a care in the world.
But when his wings finally sprout, already three years late, they’re angel wings. Now, the city expects his obedience. His freedom. His everything.
Bowing to the system and being a proper angel wing is the last thing Asher wants, except now with every plan he’s ever made in pieces, he doesn’t know what to do or where he belongs. He’d rather burn it all to the ground, but that’s not an option…
Or is it?
This sounds like a fanfic AU and I’m here for it.
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, YA
Representation: Black bisexual MC
Published on: 22nd April 2025
Goodreads
The electrifying conclusion to the “glorious” (The New York Times) award-nominated historical fantasy trilogy, The Forge & Fracture Saga.
It all ends with the Fae Queen. Unrestrained by the fractured Pact and its fragile peace, Titanea and her forces grow stronger each day. The Fae openly terrorize London while King James hides in the countryside, protected by the children of the Orisha. Seventeen-year-old Joan Sands must banish the Fae, just as her ancestor did nearly two thousand years ago, but first she’ll have to unravel the mystery behind the original pact. Armed with a magical sword and the power to manipulate and create metal, Joan gathers allies and enemies in unlikely places as the world she knew slips further away. But the children of the Orisha struggle to wield their magic for war, and Joan clashes with the elders who refuse to trust the fate of the world to a child, regardless of her Orisha blessings. All while her two loves, Nick and Rose, grow closer to each other, a prospect more momentous and alluring than Joan ever could have imagined. When a spirit bent on annihilating all who worship the Orisha is unleashed, Joan discovers the unsettling truth behind the original pact. Faced with the lies of the past, the frightening power of the Fae, and a mortal king whose dangerous whims hold her community hostage, Joan must Is the old world worth saving or is it time to forge something frighteningly new? Lauded by Locus Magazine as “vividly expressive, riotously queer, beautifully Black, and wildly creative” this thrilling story delivers an unforgettable finale—and a heroine unlike any other. The Forge & Fracture SagaThat Self-Same Metal (#1)Saint-Seducing Gold (#2)Iron Tongue of Midnight (#3)
The find book in the Forge & Fracture saga is HERE! Orishas, metal-magic, and fae in Shakespearean England is a combination pretty much guaranteed to impress, and if you’re not already reading this series…well, now’s the best time to start!
Genres: Horror, Queer Protagonists, YA
Representation: M/M
Published on: 22nd April 2025
Goodreads
From acclaimed author K. Ancrum comes a queer romantic thriller in which the lives of Hollis, a boy in search of meaning, and Walt, a spirit with unfinished business, collide when Walt takes possession of Hollis's body...and maybe his heart. For fans of Adam Silvera and Aiden Thomas!
Hollis Brown is stuck. Born to a Blue-Collar American Dream, Hollis lives in a rotting small town where no one can afford to leave. Hollis's only bright spots are his two best friends, cool girls Annie and Yulia, and the thrill of fighting his classmates.
As if his circumstances couldn’t get worse, a chance encounter with a mysterious stranger named Walt results in a frightening trap. After unknowingly making a deal at the crossroads, Hollis finds himself losing control of his body and mind, falling victim to possession. Walt, the ghost making a home inside him, has a deep and violent history rooted in the town Hollis grew up in and he has unfinished business to take care of.
As Walt and Hollis begin working together to put Walt’s spirit to rest, an unspeakable bond forms between them, and the boys begin falling for one another in unexpected ways. But, it’s only a matter of time before Hollis’s best friends begin to notice that something about Hollis isn’t quite…right.
With the threat of a long overdue exorcism looming before them, will Walt and Hollis be able to protect their love and undo the curse that turned their town from a garden of possibility into a place where dreams go to die?
Praise for
"The sparse prose in this unconventional, must-read of a trauma-infused borderline thriller is packed with emotional breadth." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"In this intimate poetic reimagining of the Icarus myth, Ancrum crafts a subversive triumph that is a love letter both to healing from trauma and to the importance of connection and empathy." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Beautifully written...Psychologically acute, subtle, and sophisticated." —ALA Booklist (starred review)
"In her extraordinary fifth novel, Icarus, K. Ancrum performs a confident high-wire act, balancing the weighty manifestations of connection, desire, and contradiction." —BookPage (starred review)
"Both romance and thriller fans will likely be gripped by this memorable love story, tinged with mythology, built around a mystery made up of bitter secrets between the two families." —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (starred review)
I’m fascinated by stories of possession, and I’ve been looking forward to Hollis Brown for ages! Gimmmmmeeeeeee! That being said, ignore the blurb: this is not a ‘romantic thriller’, it’s horror with romantic elements. Badly mismarketed, judging from early reviews.
Genres: Fantasy, MG, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Queer and QBIPOC MCs
Published on: 22nd April 2025
Goodreads
These are the folk tales that history forgot - or concealed. Tales in which gender is fluid and where queer stories can have a happy ending. From the humble sailor who finds his handsome prince to the transgender market girl who becomes queen, from Romania to China via the oceans of the Inuit First Nations, folklore expert Pete Jordi Wood has combed through generations of history to bring together ten unforgettable stories featuring LGBTQ+ characters.
This looks like a super sweet collection for younger readers (or those still young at heart) – definitely one I want to nab for my youngest sibs!
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fantasy
Published on: 24th April 2025
Goodreads
Come children, come children from far and near. Come choose your steed, you galloping knights, to enjoy the fun of the carousel . . .
Paris, 1900
Celebrated carousel-maker Gilbert works night and day to finish his masterpiece in time for the city's Exposition Universelle. But Gilbert is struggling in the wake of his wife and son's tragic deaths, and as he finalises his creation, a dangerous idea forms in his mind . . .
Chicago, 1920
Maisie Marlowe has come to America in the search of a new life. When she unearths a beautiful, neglected old carousel, she seizes the opportunity to carve a thrilling new destiny for herself. But Maisie doesn't know that beneath its glittering facade, the carousel is hiding a dark secret. Twenty years ago, it was linked to a number of people inexplicably vanishing into thin air - and now history has begun to repeat itself . . .
I mean – I adore carousels, what can I say? Although I think this is a UK-only release; doesn’t come out in the US until next year.
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: M/M
Published on: 27th April 2025
Goodreads
Cymin’s final tournament representing the East Deity for Lux Temple promises to be thrilling and bittersweet. After it’s done, all his skill and power must feed a Storm Tower to protect the world from fei’lux storms. But before his conscription, he intends to put on a dazzling show and enjoy his last glorious outing.
The streets are thronged with cheering crowds, and the grand procession shimmers with spells. Film stars and government ministers claim the best seats in the stands. And most exciting of all, the legendary Wraiths of Saigrath promise to attend this Spring Exhibition after centuries of absence from the world.
Cymin can’t wait to meet them.But when disaster strikes the celebrations, Cymin risks his own life and destroys a priceless artifact to prevent a massacre. His action not only plunge him into the battle between foreign provocateurs and his own nation’s spies, but captures the attention of the mythical Wraiths--one of whom has been searching for him in secret for hundreds of years.
It has been a MINUTE since I read Ginn Hale, but I am Very Intrigued Indeed by that description!
Will you be reading any of these? Did I miss any releases you think I should know about? Let me know!
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