12 New Queer Books Out in September 2025

Julia Rosenberg has built a life she loves for herself in New York, so she’s not excited to go back to her Florida hometown to be “best woman” for her brother’s wedding, rubbing elbows with people she hasn’t seen since she came out as a woman. But there’s one bright spot: Kim Cameron, who she had a crush on in high school, is the maid of honor. In Julia’s bluster to try to impress her, she tells a little white lie that quickly spins out of control. This is a send-up of My Best Friend’s Wedding that comes highly recommended by Casey McQuiston.

I just finished this and loved it! To the Moon and Back is about Steph, who is determined to become the first Cherokee astronaut. We also follow her sister, an Indigenous artist and social media influencer; her mother, who is keeping secrets about her past; and Steph’s college girlfriend, whose custody case between her Cherokee biological father and white adoptive parents made her a household name as a toddler. It’s a fascinating and complex literary fiction novel that I hope will get the attention it deserves.

The unnamed narrator of Middle Spoon has a loving husband and two incredible kids—and he’s nursing a heartbreak no one in his life seems to understand. While his husband is supportive of him being polyamorous, he doesn’t see why he’s so hurt by the breakup with his boyfriend. To try to process, the narrator writes, including exchanges with his therapists (plural) and endless unsent emails to his ex. These transcripts skewer modern “rules” of love and heartbreak.

If you’re counting down the days until Halloween (aka Gay Christmas), this romance is for you. Transmasculine haunted house designer Jamie doesn’t believe in ghosts. Edgar has been tormented by ghosts his whole life. When they meet, sparks fly—but Edgar is afraid to open up to Jamie, who only sees ghosts as special effects. This promises to be a cozy paranormal romance with some scorching steamy scenes.

I loved The Spirit Bares Its Teeth and Compound Fracture by Andrew Joseph White, and now he’s making his adult debut. Given how dark and gory his YA horror is, I can only imagine what his adult horror will be like. In this, Crane is one of the last humans on Earth, living only to serve the alien hive. There have been some upsides to the end of the world, though, including that he’s been able to transition and has met Levi. But when Levi gets him pregnant and the hive demands Crane give birth, Crane will do anything to stop it.

C.L. Clark’s incredible Magic of the Lost sapphic fantasy books have made me a fan for life, so I’m counting down the days until her new sapphic fantasy comes out. Fate’s Bane, a “tragic sapphic adventure,” follows two women from rival clans who fall in love. They could be the key to ending the feud—but it would come with a terrible price.

On the same day, we’re getting The Sovereign, the final book in the Magic of the Lost trilogy! I’m excited/terrified to read it.

This cozy mystery follows Sadie and Cleo, who have been rivals ever since the day they were born. (Cleo won the “first baby born that year” title.) Now, they’re competing to become valedictorian, but when they’re framed for a series of vicious pranks, they have to work together to clear their names. And, of course, the more time they spend together, the more they begin to question if they’re merely rivals. I really liked Chatham Greenfield’s previous sapphic YA novel, Time and Time Again, so I’m looking forward to this one.

This is a companion novel to The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School! Cesar has been doing the work recently. He’s slowly begun to come out to his family. He’s been going to therapy and taking his meds. He finally feels ready to try to reunite with Jamal, his ex-boyfriend. Their relationship ended when Cesar was desperately trying to stay in the closet. But despite his best efforts, Cesar begins to doubt himself, hearing that old Catholic guilt creep up. When a manic episode shakes his reputation, he has to make a choice: “is the mortifying vulnerability of being loved by the people he’s hurt the most a risk he’s willing to take?”

When Hunter is finally able to get top surgery, it’s supposed to be a win, not the start of a whole new fight. But as he’s recovering, he’s attacked by a creature in his backyard and barely escapes with his life. Then the wounds start healing… strangely. And he hears a voice telling him to give in to this lycanthropic transformation. Together with his friends Mars and Gabe, Hunter will have to fight to reclaim his body—again.

The author of The Honeys is back with another unsettling queer YA horror novel. Ollie and his mother, Gracie, are returning to their tiny hometown: the island of Anchor’s Mercy, Maine. Gracie is celebrating recovering from cancer and is determined this will be the “best summer ever.” Ollie is skeptical. He knows that despite it being a tourist destination and queer haven, there’s a rot in Anchor’s Mercy, one that he suspects made his mother and other residents sick. When a storm hits, the island is cut off, and a plague with strange symptoms spreads. Together with his estranged best friends, Ollie searches for answers. This looks like a creepy horror read that is also about the strength of queer community.

The first book in this series, The Sun and the Star: A Nico di Angelo Adventure by Rick Riordan and Mark Oshiro, was on the bestseller list for 73 weeks. It has to be one of the most popular queer middle grade books of all time. In this follow-up, Will, Nico, and Nico’s half-sister Hazel deal with the fallout of The Sun and the Star. Monsters looking for refuge have arrived at Camp Jupiter—and then they start disappearing.

I couldn’t leave a new Billy-Ray Belcourt book off this list! This is his sixth book and third poetry collection, with poems that explore the “long twentieth century” and the ongoing effects of colonization on Indigenous people, as well as their resistance. Combining philosophy and personal writing, “this collection weaves lyric verse, sonnets, field notes, and fragments to examine the delicate facets of queer Indigeneity.”