Halloween is almost here, and it is the perfect time to pick up a spooky book and get in the mood. However, if spooky isn’t your thing, there are other stories that might captivate you as well.
If you have read the books in our LGBTQIA picks for September, we have 7 new titles to add to your TBR list. Emma Hinds, Kat Hillis, and Rosiee Thor 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 October:
1. Cinder House by Freya Marske – October 7
Ella died and now finds herself trapped as a ghost inside her father’s house. The only living people able to see her are her stepmother and stepsisters. Every night when the clock strikes midnight, Ella finds herself at the same staircase where she died.
After forming a friendship with a fairy charm-seller, Ella has the opportunity to experience three nights of freedom. What happens when she finds herself able to dance and be touched?
Book Description: Sparks fly and lovers dance in this gorgeous, yearning Cinderella retelling from bestselling author Freya Marske—a queer Gothic romance perfect for fans of Naomi Novik and T. Kingfisher.
Ella is a haunting.
Murdered at sixteen, her ghost is furiously trapped in her father’s house, invisible to everyone except her stepmother and stepsisters.
Even when she discovers how to untether herself from her prison, there are limits. She cannot be seen or heard by the living people who surround her. Her family must never learn she is able to leave. And at the stroke of every midnight, she finds herself back on the staircase where she died.
Until she forges a wary friendship with a fairy charm-seller, and makes a bargain for three nights of almost-living freedom. Freedom that means she can finally be seen. Danced with. Touched.
You think you know Ella’s the ball, the magical shoes, the handsome prince.
You’re halfway right, and all-the-way wrong.
Rediscover a classic fairy tale in this debut novella from “the queen of romantic fantasy” (Polygon).
2. An Amateur Witch’s Guide to Murder: A Novel by K. Valentin – October 14
When Mateo was born, his mother used a spell to trap a demon in his body, forbidding him from ever using magic. Now that his mother is gone, Mateo must gather the necessary money for an exorcism that will allow him to separate from said demon. To get the money, he uses his Spanish and half-remembered spells to get clients.
In comes Topher, a nepobaby with a curse that kills everyone around him. Mateo thinks helping Topher will be simple, but as his feelings grow, he finds himself at the center of a magical conspiracy.
Book Description: A wannabe witch tries to break a curse on a clueless client in this laugh-out-loud debut for fans of queer fantasy like TJ Klune and Tamsyn Muir.
Mateo Borrero has ninety-nine problems, and all of them hinge on the fact that his terrifying and currently-missing bruja mother trapped a demon in his body when he was born. His mother forbade him from ever using magic, but now that she’s gone, magic’s his only marketable skill, and he’d really like an exorcism—which costs money he doesn’t have. What’s the harm in making a quick buck by calling himself an Occult Specialist and chanting a few half-remembered spells in his crappy Spanish?
Enter Topher, a naive nepo baby with a curse that keeps killing people around him. Most importantly, he’s rich, and too clueless to clock that Mateo–and his (absolutely-not-the-assistant) astral-projecting best friend Ophelia–have never actually had a client before. Lifting Topher’s bad luck curse should be simple, but as luck would have it, nothing is simple, and Topher–who Mateo sort of, kind of likes–might be at the center of a deadly magical conspiracy.
To make matters worse, the more magic Mateo does, the stronger the demon inside him grows and the more he wants to eat people. But would caving to the urges of an ancient evil really be that bad if it helps him get a payday?
Legends and Lattes meets A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Catching a Killer in this hilarious and charming contemporary fantasy readers won’t want to miss.
3. Dead & Breakfast by Kat Hillis and Rosiee Thor – October 14
Arthur and Sal aren’t exactly the kind of vampires everyone has in mind. The sun doesn’t kill them, and they are free to eat garlic. To continue their out-of-trouble life, the couple moved to Oregon and opened and bed & breakfast.
However, trouble finds them at their door when the town’s mayor is found dead in their garden with two puncture wounds on his neck. Arthur and Sal must prove they aren’t responsible for the killing with the help of a werewolf, an elf, and a human.
Book Description: The new vampires in town are sinking their teeth into solving a murder…
Married odd couple Arthur and Sal are totally normal. They wear sunscreen, not because the sun can kill them, but because even the undead need a skincare regimen. They eat garlic whenever they want, though it gives Sal indigestion. They can talk to creatures of the night, but only the raccoons that rifle through their garbage. Really, they don’t bite… except into delicious baked goods.
Ready to settle down and stay out of trouble, the two have opened a bed & breakfast in the idyllic, if not-so-paranormal-friendly, town of Trident Falls, Oregon. But trouble finds them when the mayor is discovered dead in their begonias with two puncture wounds in his neck. With the help of a werewolf barista, the elven town coroner, and a very human city manager, Arthur and Sal will need to prove they aren’t literally out for blood by catching a killer…
4. Witchlore by Emma Hinds – October 14
Orlando attends Demdike College of Witchcraft, where he is the only shapeshifter. Even though he has no control over his magic, that isn’t the reason he finds himself an outcast. Orlando’s fate changed when his girlfriend, Elizabeth, died, and he was to blame.
Now, Bastian arrives at college and offers Orlando a spell to bring Elizabeth back from the dead. As Orlando and Bastian get closer, he begins to wonder who this new boy is and what he wants.
Book Description: Holly Black meets Lex Croucher in this contemporary fantasy about a love story to raise the dead.
At Demdike College of Witchcraft, Orlando is an outcast. Not just for being the only shapeshifter in a college of witches. Not just for being a really bad shapeshifter, with no control over their magic or when their body switches between male and female forms. But because their girlfriend Elizabeth died – and it was Lando’s fault.
Then charming new boy Bastian arrives with a proposition: he knows a spell that can raise Elizabeth from the dead. It’s dangerous but Lando will try anything. But as Lando’s attraction to Bastian grows, questions start to arise. Who is Bastian? What does he really want? And who will survive the resurrection spell?
For fans of V.E. Schwab and Rainbow Rowell, Emma Hinds’ Witchlore is a spellbinding contemporary fantasy where the passion is as real as the magic.
5. I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm by Mariama J. Lockington – October 14
Lyric is a high school senior and up-and-coming makeup influencer. After being in and out of the foster care system for so many years, she has come to find the Christmas season extremely hard. On the other hand, Juniper loves Christmas…or at least she did before her parents split up and got back together.
After high school, Juniper wants to go on a gap-year trip, but she can’t afford it without her parents’ help. Lyric offers her a deal: pretend to be her girlfriend for social media posts, and they’ll split the sponsorship money. But as the two begin to work together, the lines between what’s fake and what’s real begin to blur.
Book Description: When snow falls, sparks fly in this irresistible queer romance from Schneider Family Book Award and Stonewall Honor winner Mariama J. Lockington—for fans of She Gets the Girl and Jennifer Dugan.
High school senior Lyric has always found Christmas to be the hardest season. While other kids got presents and family time by the fire, she was in and out of foster care. An up-and-coming make-up influencer and aspiring cosmetology student who loves a bold lip, Lyric definitely isn’t looking for romance—not when opening up to someone feels a lot like asking to get hurt.
Christmas is Juniper’s favorite time of year. At least, it was, until her moms’ separation. They’re back together now, and Juniper hopes they’ll stay that way. Because if they’re happy, that means Juniper can leave for her gap-year trip after graduation (the one she has yet to tell her parents about, and can’t really afford without their help).
When a chance meeting brings these two opposite personalities together, they should clash . . . only they don’t. Instead Lyric strikes a deal with Juniper: pose as her fake girlfriend in a series of holiday-themed social media posts and they can split the money from her beauty sponsorships. But soon the lines between what’s real and what’s not start to blur. Could it be that sparks are flying both in front of the camera and behind it?
Told from dual perspectives, one in prose and one in verse, I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm is a cozy and modern love story from acclaimed author Mariama J. Lockington that’s perfect for the winter holidays or all year round.
6. Local Heavens by K.M. Fajardo – October 14
The year is 2075, and the city is New York. Nick Carraway works as a corporate cyberspace hacker in a city where the wealthy use technology to enhance their bodies and cheat death. Nick’s newest assignment is investigating Jay Gatsby, a new-money, elusive billionaire.
When Nick first meets Jay, he falls for his charm and confidence. However, he can’t forget about his assignment. Could it be that compassion and accountability beat greed? Will love win? Or will the truth beat everything?
Book Description: A corporate hacker. An elusive billionaire. A society trying to survive the American Nightmare.
New York City, 2075. Filipino-American Nick Carraway has just moved to the heart of the fractured New Americas, where he’s struck by the city’s contradictions—shining corporate towers casting bleak shadows over the slums of a crumbling middle class.
When Nick meets alluring new-money Jay Gatsby, he falls for Gatsby’s frank charm and confident aura. But in a city where the wealthy flaunt tech-enhanced bodies to cheat death, surfaces aren’t all they seem—and as a corporate- sanctioned cyberspace hacker, Nick knows that no secret can stay buried forever. He’s the reason they don’t. And his latest assignment? Investigate Gatsby himself.
As Nick becomes entangled in the dark affairs of the elite—and the devastating fallout of their actions on the city’s most vulnerable—he must reckon with the limits of compassion and accountability across class and status. What takes precedence: Love, or truth? Heart, or soul?
A brilliant reimagining of Fitzgerald’s classic tale of glamour, desire, and desperation, Local Heavens examines the guardrails of morality… and the price of desire.
7. Most Valuable Player by A.M. Woody and Amanda Woody – October 21
Cameron Morelli is the football team’s star quarterback, and everything always goes right for him. However, his luck changes when Mason Gray, the water boy, rejects hi,m and the coach benches him until his grades go up. The only way he can get back on the team is by being tutored by the same boy who rejected him.
Mason offers to tutor Cameron as a distraction from his past. However, as the two of them begin to study together, Mason discovers there is more to Cameron than the jock attitude everyone knows him by.
Book Description: Cameron Morelli is hot sh*t. Worse, he knows it. With a godlike physique and a position as his varsity football team’s star quarterback, there’s nobody he can’t charm. So one might imagine his mortification when he’s rejected by Mason Gray, the team’s snarky water boy. To make matters worse, this disgrace is followed by Cam’s coach benching him until he can get his grades up. Luckily, a reliable tutor steps forward to help Cam reclaim his dignity – the boy who just humiliated him.
For Mason, tutoring an airheaded jock is nothing but a distraction from a past he can’t escape. What he doesn’t expect is to find something worthwhile in their conversations-something softening in the ice between them. Nor does Cam expect that Mason’s calm smile hides a harrowing story. As they slowly nudge through each other’s steel gates, the dangerous realities beyond high school threaten their deepening bond.
But really, it’s about football.
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What will you be reading in October? 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 known as a Media Relations Expert. By night, she is a TV enjoyer who used to host a podcast (Cats, Milfs & Lesbian Things). In addition to Eulalie Magazine, you can find her work published on Tell-Tale TV, Geek Girl Authority, W Spotlight, Collider, USA Wire, Mentors Collective, Instelite, Noodle, Dear Movies, Nicki Swift, and Flip Screened.