Exclusive Cover Reveal: A Different Kind of Enemy by Lee Wind

Today on the site I’m delighted to welcome back queer YA icon Lee Wind to reveal the cover of his upcoming YA, A Different Kind of Enemy, which releases May 19th from Interlude Press/Duet Books! Here’s the story:

Perfect for YA fans of Heartstopper and Red, White & Royal BlueA Different Kind of Enemy is the sequel to the Gay teen globe-trotting adventure Kirkus Reviews called “Thrilling. Positively thrilling.”

An anomaly in space has stopped in Earth’s path in a way not accounted for by astronomical physics. Is it aliens? With only six days before inevitable contact, newly married teen spies Nicolas “Nico” Hall and Samuel “Sam” Solomon are enlisted to investigate—each young man sworn to secrecy even from the other.

Nico is in the field looking for answers and tracking a mysterious Person of Interest. Sam is working first contact scenarios on the thirteenth floor of a Manhattan building that doesn’t officially have a thirteenth floor. And they’re both wondering if the rules of love change if it’s the end of the world.

As humanity slips into the grip of alien invasion panic, Nico and Sam realize they’re going to have to work together to save the world—and their marriage.

And here’s the gorgeously bold cover by CB Messer!

Buy it: Amazon

LEE WIND is not currently a spy. Mind you, he never was a spy. But he did spend fourteen years undercover (what most people call “in the closet”). So now he writes the books that would have changed his life as a Gay Jewish kid and teen. Lee is the award-winning author of nonfiction for ages eleven and up (No Way, They Were Gay? and The Gender Binary Is a Big Lie ), picture books (including Like That Eleanor and Love of the Half-Eaten Peach ), and YA novels (Queer as a Five-Dollar Bill and A Different Kind of Brave ). To help go on the offense against book banning, Lee cocreated the national campaign We Are Stronger than Censorship, which buys and donates two books to offset every one book challenge. He also runs the popular blog I’m Here. I’m Queer. What the Hell Do I Read? —words his teenage self only dreamed of saying. Visit Lee online at leewind.org.

New Releases: January 2026

Pumped by K.M. Neuhold (2nd)

I’m just a nerd, standing in front of a bench press, asking it not to humiliate me in front of my gym crush

I’ve never walked into a gym on purpose in my life, and I’m not sure which part is more shocking, the massive beefcake who immediately challenges me to arm wrestle or the fact that I kind of want to come back.

I spent years of my life refusing to lift anything heavier than a textbook, and it shows. I never expected that coming to the gym and bulking up would give me more gender euphoria than all the T shots in the world.

The crush I’m developing on my Golden Retriever of a personal trainer, Butch, though? Yeah, I should have seen that one coming.

Butch is a guy’s guy. Jockstraps, armpit licking, Sweat enthusiast… what could he possibly find exciting about a scrawny, book-ish nerd like me?

I’m just going to try not to drool on him too hard while he helps me get pumped. And I’m for sure not going to do anything stupid like falling in love with him…

Buy it: Amazon

Continue reading New Releases: January 2026

December 2025 Deal Announcements

Adult Fiction

Ari Baran‘s UNSPORTSMANLIKE CONDUCT, part of the Penalty Box hockey romance series, in which a tightly wound, picture-perfect all-star is forced to babysit a bad boy waiver pickup, on a team decimated by injury, where it’s unclear what could be more devastating—losing the season, or losing their hearts, to Leyla Erkan at Carina Press, in a two-book deal, by Deidre Knight at The Knight Agency (world English).

Continue reading December 2025 Deal Announcements

Fave Five: MG Starring Trans Girls

The Ink Witch by Steph Cherrywell

Zenobia July by Lisa Bunker

Magical Princess Harriet by Leiah Moser

Glitch Girl! by Rainie Oet

Joy, to the World by Lisa Bunker and Kai Shappley

Bonus: These are all prose novels, but for graphic novels, check out The Deep & Dark Blue by Niki Smith and The Ojja-Wojja by Magdalene Visaggio and Jenn St-Onge

Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Young Adult Fiction: January-June 2026

I, in the Shadows by Tori Bovalino (January 13th)

Maybe this is possession; maybe this is truly what it is to be haunted.

There’s a ghost hanging out in Drew Larpin’s new room. He’s a fellow Pine Hollow high schooler named Liam, and technically, it’s his old room. Now he’s stuck haunting it―unsure of how he died or why he hasn’t moved on to the afterlife. Drew knows she has to help him. . . . She has to figure out how to resolve Liam’s earthly regrets. Otherwise, he’ll degrade―just like any ghost who hangs around the living for too long―until all that’s left is a hungry, mindless husk of who he used to be.

So, Drew interviews Liam about his life, getting the rundown on her new classmates in the process. She slowly falls into Liam’s old group of friends, experiencing their grief with the painful knowledge that Liam is watching it all play out from right beside her. Things get more complicated when Drew realizes she and Liam share a hopeless attraction to valedictorian-to-be, walking sunshine Hannah Sullivan. Liam was Hannah’s best friend in life, and at first, he doesn’t seem to mind being Drew’s wingman in death. But his unrequited feelings boil under the surface. The spectral energy cast off by his emotions is so powerful that it catches the attention of something truly sinister.

It’s lurking in the woods, watching Liam, attracted by the intensity of his grief and frustration. Whatever this “Watcher” has in store for him, it’s a fate far worse than death. Drew is determined to save him from it. But with Hannah slowly catching on that Liam might not be totally gone, the tangled mess of everyone’s emotions only draws the Watcher closer. It becomes a race against the clock to help Liam come to terms with his own death―even if it means shattering the fragile, painful normalcy his loved ones have built in his absence.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Continue reading Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Young Adult Fiction: January-June 2026

Fave Five: Queer Hockey Romance Standalones

For more m/m hockey titles, click here.
For queer hockey romance series, click here.

It’s a Love/Skate Relationship by Charli J. Corson (f/f YA)

Time to Shine and The Shots You Take by Rachel Reid (m/m)

Shoot Your Shot by Lexi LaFleur Brown (bi m/f)

Light Up the Lamp by Kit Oliver (m/m)

Overtime by Tracey Richardson (f/f)

Bonus: Coming in 2026, A Good Puck by Rochelle Wolf (f/f), which is part of the Love on the Podium shared universe, and Peaches and Pucks by M.A. Wardell (m/m novella)

Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Romances: January-June 2026

Pumped by K.M. Neuhold (January 2nd)

I’m just a nerd, standing in front of a bench press, asking it not to humiliate me in front of my gym crush

I’ve never walked into a gym on purpose in my life, and I’m not sure which part is more shocking, the massive beefcake who immediately challenges me to arm wrestle or the fact that I kind of want to come back.

I spent years of my life refusing to lift anything heavier than a textbook, and it shows. I never expected that coming to the gym and bulking up would give me more gender euphoria than all the T shots in the world.

The crush I’m developing on my Golden Retriever of a personal trainer, Butch, though? Yeah, I should have seen that one coming.

Butch is a guy’s guy. Jockstraps, armpit licking, Sweat enthusiast… what could he possibly find exciting about a scrawny, book-ish nerd like me?

I’m just going to try not to drool on him too hard while he helps me get pumped. And I’m for sure not going to do anything stupid like falling in love with him…

Buy it: Amazon

Continue reading Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Romances: January-June 2026

Happy 250th Birthday, Jane Austen!

RIP, Jane – you would’ve really loved how much queer literature is explicitly gaying up your work.

***

For generally Austen-inspired work, check out:

I Shall Never Fall in Love by Hari Conner

George has major problems: They’ve just inherited the failing family estate, and the feelings for their best friend, Eleanor, have become more complicated than ever. Not to mention, if anyone found out they were secretly dressing in men’s clothes, George is sure it would be ruination for the family name.

Eleanor has always wanted to do everything “right,” including falling in love—but she’s never met a boy she was interested in. She’d much rather spend time with her best friend, George, and beloved cousin Charlotte. However, when a new suitor comes to town, she finds her closest friendships threatened, forcing her to rethink what “right” means and confront feelings she never knew she had.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Continue reading Happy 250th Birthday, Jane Austen!

Queering up your shelf, one rec at a time!