The end of the year is right around the corner, but that doesn’t mean the new books will stop coming. These new or already-known worlds will help you escape the chaos of the ending year while you spend a few hours with some of the best queer characters.
If you have read the books in our LGBTQIA picks for October, we have 7 new titles to add to your TBR list. Lavanya Lakshminarayan, Tasha Suri, and Molly Horan are among the authors we highlight this month.
In order of release date, here are 7 LGBTQIA books we are looking forward to reading this November:
1. Interstellar MegaChef by Lavanya Lakshminarayan – November 5
If you enjoy cooking shows and sci-fi, Interstellar MegaChef is the book for you. Saras Kaveri embarks on a galaxy journey with her flying robot and the dream of winning the biggest cooking competition. Saras will be the first participant from Earth ever to enter the show.
Things take an unexpected turn when Saras meets Serenity Ko in the back of a flying cab. One knows how to cook, and the other knows everything about technology. Now, they must combine their power to change the future of food…and their lives.
Book Description: Looking for your one shot to rise to the “top of the pots” in the cutthroat world of interstellar cuisine? Look no further–you might have what it takes to be an Interstellar MegaChef!
Stepping off a long-haul star freighter from Earth, Saras Kaveri has one bag of clothes, her little flying robot Kili… and an invitation to compete in the galaxy’s most watched, most prestigious cooking show. Interstellar MegaChef is the showcase of the planet Primus’s austere, carefully synthesised cuisine. No one from Earth–where they’re so incredibly primitive they still cook with fire–has ever graced its flowmetal cookstations before, or smiled awkwardly for its buzzing drone-cams. Until now.
Corporate prodigy Serenity Ko, inventor of the smash-hit sim SoundSpace, has just got messily drunk at a floating bar, narrowly escaped an angry mob and been put on two weeks’ mandatory leave to rest and get her work-life balance back. Perfect time to start a new project! And she’s got just the idea: a sim for food. Now she just needs someone to teach her how to cook.
A chance meeting in the back of a flying cab has Saras and Serenity Ko working together on a new technology that could change the future of food–and both their lives–forever…
2. I Am the Dark That Answers When You Call by Jamison Shea – November 12
This sequel follows Laure as she tries to forget her past (and her present) by partying and drinking. However, there isn’t much she can do to escape what is going on. Acheron is back, and Elysium is dying, so Laure might have to put aside her plan to forget and face her reality.
Lethe’s influence might be too much for monsters like Laure, Andor, and Keturah to handle. Can they do what it takes to save themselves from oblivion?
Book Description: Monsters and mortals, rejoice! Acheron is back . . .Though Laure has tried to close the lid on her ballet shoes and the feelings she once held for dance since the Palais Garnier incident two months ago, Laure is spinning out. Between partying, drinking, and avoiding anything and, well, everyone, she has no time to be anything but a monster. But when Laure stumbles across a mysterious dead body during one of her nights out, she’s forced to notice the cracks stretching beyond herself.
Below the streets of Paris, Elysium is dying, and Acheron and Lethe’s influence is spilling into the streets like a blight. Laure isn’t the only of Elysium’s beasts to rise from the ruins of Palais Garnier, and someone is mobilizing an army of monsters with plans greater than Laure, Andor, and Keturah could have ever guessed. While Laure is warring between her wants and Acheron’s ever-demanding appetite, she and her circle of monsters are left to reckon with a not-so-simple how do you save yourself from oblivion?
Jamison Shea’s sharp and unflinching voice will bring readers to terrifying new heights in this vicious sequel to the “relentlessly gory and almost euphoric in its embrace of the horrific” (NPR) I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me.
3. The Lotus Empire by Tasha Suri – November 12
The Lotus Empire is the final book in the Burning Kingdom trilogy. This time around, empress Malini and priestess Priya must do everything they can to face the ancient magic threatening Ahiranya. That might mean they must destroy one another in order to keep their kingdoms safe.
However, as the danger grows, Malini and Priya realize that the only solution may be to unite their forces to save the kingdoms. Could fate bring them together once more?
Book Description: The Lotus Empire brings Tasha Suri’s acclaimed Burning Kingdoms trilogy to a heart–stopping close. As an ancient magic returns to Ahiranya and threatens its very foundations, Empress Malini and priestess Priya will stop at nothing to save their kingdoms—even if it means they must destroy each other.
Malini has claimed her rightful throne as the empress of Parijatdvipa, just as the nameless gods prophesied. Now, in order to gain the support of the priesthood who remain loyal to the fallen emperor, she must consider a terrible Claim her throne and burn in order to seal her legacy—or find another willing to take her place on the pyre.
Priya has survived the deathless waters and now their magic runs in her veins. But a mysterious yaksa with flowering eyes and a mouth of thorns lies beneath the waters. The yaksa promises protection for Ahiranya. But in exchange, she needs a sacrifice. And she’s chosen Priya as the one to offer it.
Two women once entwined by fate now stand against each other. But when an ancient enemy rises to threaten their world, Priya and Malini will find themselves fighting together once more – to prevent their kingdoms, and their futures, from burning to ash.
4. Monstress, Volume 9: The Possessed by Marjorie M. Liu and Sana Takeda – November 12
If graphic novels are what you are looking for this month, Monstress, Volume 9: The Possessed, is out. When Maika, Kippa, and Ren return to their world, they realize a year has passed. The megalomaniacal Lord Doctor has Zinn in his clutches, so the trio must find a way to defeat him.
Can Maika do what it takes to defeat her own father? Will loyalty and love win? Or will the murderous Lord succeed in his quest?
Book Description: The ninth volume of the multiple Eisner, Harvey, Hugo, and British Fantasy Award-winning series.
Maika, Kippa, and Ren return to their own world to discover a full year has passed in their absence–and Zinn is back in the clutches of Maika’s father, the megalomaniacal Lord Doctor. From the relative safety of the pirate-controlled Spice Islands, Maika and her friends must regroup, recover, and find a way stop the Lord Doctor’s murderous rampage before he destroys the Known World. Can loyalty and love transcend a history of betrayal and blood?
5. Leap by Simina Popescu – November 12
Ana, a contemporary dancer, has started to lose her passion for dancing as she falls in love with Carina, an ambitious ballerina. While Carina is afraid to come out of the closet, she pushes her relationship with Ana further into darkness, which makes Ana start living her life in Carina’s shadow.
Meanwhile, Sara has started to face rumors that she might be the best dancer in school. She has her mentor, Marlena, to thank for that. Suddenly, Sara realizes that her admiration for Marlena has started to change into something different, but she’s not sure what. Ana and Sara become roommates during their junior year and realize they have more in common than they thought.
Book Description: A coming-of-age graphic novel following two dancers at a conservative performing arts school―exploring friendship, first love, and what it means to fall out of step with your own dreams.
Ana has been studying contemporary dance since she was little, but her heart isn’t in it anymore. Instead her focus is on Carina―a beautiful, ambitious ballerina whose fear of being outed keeps Ana in the closet and their fragile relationship from seeing the light of day. Risking her own career, Ana gives up more and more in order to fit into the shadows of Carina’s life.
Sara, on the other hand, is fielding whispers she may be the best dancer their school has produced in years. Much of that is thanks to her mentor and instructor, Marlena, who plucked Sara from the classical track and encouraged her to blossom as a contemporary dancer. Sara has always been in awe of Marlena, but recently, that admiration has sparked into something more, and Sara’s not sure what to do about it.
As junior year at their performing arts school begins, Ana and Sara are assigned as roommates. What starts off as a tentative friendship soon becomes a much-needed anchor.
6. The Last Hour Between Worlds by Melissa Caruso – November 19
Kembral Thorne, a new mom, is enjoying herself at a party when guests start dying. As a Hound, she has no choice but to get to work and figure out what is happening. Her nemesis, burglar Rika Nonesuch, is also at the crime scene, trying to figure out the truth.
As the grandfather clock sends them down an Echo with every chime, these two rivals realize they must rely on one another if they want to unravel the secret clock and return home. Can they put their rivalry aside to solve the case?
Book Description: A whip-smart adventure fantasy packed with rival guilds, reality-bending magic, and sapphic pining, The Last Hour Between Worlds is the brilliant launch of a new series from David Gemmell Award-nominated author, Melissa Caruso.
Kembral Thorne is spending a few hours away from her newborn, and she’s determined to enjoy herself at this party no matter what. But when the guests start dropping dead, Kem has no choice but to get to work. She is a Hound, after all, and she can’t help picking up the scent of trouble.
She’s not the only one. Her professional and personal nemesis, notorious burglar Rika Nonesuch, is on the prowl. They quickly identify what’s causing the a mysterious grandfather clock that sends them down an Echo every time it chimes. In each strange new layer of reality, time resets and a sinister figure appears to perform a blood-soaked ritual.
As Kem and Rika fall into increasingly macabre versions of their city, they’ll need to rely on their wits—and each other—to unravel the secret of the clock and save their home.
7. Thanks for Listening by Molly Horan – November 26
HereToHelp is Mia’s newest venture. As she realizes no one in her life wants to take her advice, she creates an anonymous account to do just that. Maybe if they had listened, her best friend wouldn’t have a class flyer stapled to her, and her brother wouldn’t be dating someone he doesn’t have feelings for.
However, when she creates the account, Mia realizes two things. One, her best friends may be hiding more than they are telling her. Two, she also needs advice if she wants to survive her senior year.
Book Description: Perfect for fans of Loveless and You Should See Me in a Crown, this wry and insightful novel from the author of Epically Earnest features a sweet ace romance and a secret social media advice account that goes wonderfully, terribly astray.
Mia knows what she’s talking about.
Class schedules, significant others, existential life crises—you name it, she’s talked someone through it.
The problem? No one actually takes her advice.So when her latest round of (very sensible!) guidance is ignored, resulting in a class flyer stapled to her best friend’s arm and her brother going steady with a girl he doesn’t have feelings for, Mia is done talking. Instead, she creates HereToHelp, an anonymous account to give advice. If her friends don’t know it’s her behind the account, maybe they’ll finally listen for once.
Throw in the girl of her dreams, a plethora of sound (and not-so-sound) advice, and a couple of best friends who seem to have a lot more to hide than Mia knows…and Mia could use some advice of her own to make it through this senior year.
Hilarious and deeply insightful in turn, Thanks for Listening is a must-read for fans of Not My Problem and Eliza and Her Monsters—and any reader who has wanted to feel fully, truly, completely heard.
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What will you be reading in November? Share your picks in the comments below!
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Lara Rosales
By day, Lara Rosales (she/her) is a solo mom by choice and a bilingual writer with a BA in Latin-American Literature who works in PR. By night, she is a TV enjoyer who used to host a podcast (Cats, Milfs & Lesbian Things). You can find her work published on Tell-Tale TV, Geek Girl Authority, Collider, USA Wire, Mentors Collective, Instelite, Noodle, Dear Movies, Nicki Swift, and Flip Screened.
