7 New LGBTQIA Books to Read This November: Happily Ever After the Murders, Guard Your Heart, and more

While the year is almost over, the new releases are not! We’ve selected 7 new titles we think you should read before 2026 ends.

If you have read the books in our LGBTQIA picks for October, we have 7 new titles to add to your TBR list. Cassandra Clare, Karen Foxlee, and Zakiya N. Jamal 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. Happily Ever After the Murders by Rae Wilde – November 3

If you like murder mysteries, Happily Ever After the Murders might be the best option for your next read. Rae Wilde’s story follows Ida and Jean forty years after murdering their husbands.

While they’ve spent four decades in peace, an electrical line that needs replacing might ruin it. However, these women aren’t going down without a fight…or without another murder to their name.

Book Description: Four decades ago, Ida and Jean got away with murder.

Now settling into her golden years, Ida’s biggest problems are HOA squabbles, grown kids who don’t visit enough, and irritating neighbors. But when the electrical lines in their backyard need replacing, Ida knows that digging up the ground will unearth their long held the bodies of their late husbands.

After a series of failed attempts to keep the electrical company from digging, Jean shoots the worker poised to break ground in their yard, launching the couple into their last big adventure together. To outwit the detective that’s hot on their trail, they go on the run to San Francisco, the place they’d always meant to visit, but that the fear of coming out as a lesbian couple had always kept them from.

2. The Last King of Faerie by Cassandra Clare – November 3

The Shadowhunters stories have kept readers entertained for several years, and it’s time for the final trilogy to do the same. Cassandra Clare is bringing more adventure, chaos, and magic to readers’ lives with a story that follows Drusilla Blackthorn very closely.

While Dru is held captive by Prince Ash Morgenstern, Kit Herondale and Ty Blackthorn must work together to save everything they love.

Book Description: The final Shadowhunters trilogy! Cassandra Clare brings the saga that began in The Mortal Instruments to a conclusion.

It’s Drusilla Blackthorn’s third year at Shadowhunter Academy when a chance encounter at a nightclub turns into a kidnapping. Dru finds herself held prisoner by Prince Ash Morgenstern in the land of Faerie, a place that proves just as dangerous as it is beautiful. Despite herself, Dru is drawn to Ash and the darkness that seems to surround him—but one false move could cost her life.

Meanwhile, a shocking disappearance rocks the foundations of the Shadowhunter world. Kit Herondale and Ty Blackthorn must set aside the bitterness that lingers between them and join forces on a perilous quest to save everything they cherish.

3. Guard Your Heart by Anna Rowan and Carla Brooks – November 3

If the Heated Rivalry books and TV show have done anything for the queer community, it’s pushed forward more stories of rivals and lovers. Anna Rowan and Carla Brooks know how to work with both of those trending topics in their newest book, Guard Your Heart.

Even though two of the most famous tennis players have spent years avoiding one another, they are suddenly forced into a doubles partnership. What might start as a hostile encounter soon becomes a life-altering experience.

Book Description: After years of carefully avoiding each other on the circuit, two tennis stars are forced into an unexpected doubles partnership. What starts as barely concealed hostility slowly unravels into something neither man saw coming—and neither can walk away from.

4. An Embodiment of Souls by Julia Laurel – November 10

Alek is hesitant to take his Second body, afraid he will be accused of sinning, and his body will be claimed by someone else. As he studies abroad, he spends his days distracted by magic and his roommate Gabe. However, everything changes when he meets Rissa and witnesses one of her fathers’ abductions.

Rissa, who believed living abroad would be the perfect change, must work with Alek and form an alliance if she wants to save her father and uncover a conspiracy. The two of them must cooperate if they want to be free.

Book Description: As the daughter of a foreign ambassador, Rissa hoped living abroad would protect her from home’s puritanical customs where women are forbidden to walk at night or use magic except to support a necromancer’s dual identity. Alek, the youngest prince of the Memric Isle, hasn’t yet taken his Second body. Fearing he’ll be accused of sin and his body claimed as a Second himself, Alek lives piously while studying abroad, even though he’s distracted by magic—and his handsome roommate, Gable. When Alek meets Rissa by chance, his quiet life is thrown into chaos. One of Rissa’s fathers has been abducted, and Alek and Gable are witnesses. Alek and Rissa form a secret alliance to find her father and uncover the truth behind the conspiracy, risking life and freedom as they follow clues straight to the heart of the Memric Isle’s government.

5. The Wondrous Tale of Lavender Wolfe by Karen Foxlee – November 10

If you’re looking for the perfect book for the young kiddo in your family who needs to read stories they identify with, The Wondrous Tale of Lavender Wolfe might be the perfect option. Karen Foxlee’s book follows the story of Lavender Wolfe as she is kidnapped and thrown onto a pirate ship.

As part of the pirate crew, Lavender must live disguised as a boy under the vigilant eye of Captain Odysseia Pleasant. Everyone on the ship must work together to find the stolen treasure before they are turned into sand.

Book Description: Lavender Wolfe is a clapperdudgeon, pickpurse and all alone on a wharf when she is snatched by Big Agatha and thrown into the galley of a pirate ship, The Good Marchioness.

Disguised as a boy (for only boys may live in the galley) and renamed Hans Whitby, Lavender has to make her home among the kitchen rats. However, The Good Marchioness is no ordinary ship. Captained by Odyessia Pleasant, a fierce pirate with long blonde hair, violet eyes and a bird’s wing in the place of an arm, the crew are on a desperate voyage – to find and return stolen treasure before all those who sail within the cursed pirate ship are turned to sand. Lavender included.

Lavender is quick-witted and sharp as a tack, and as her magic starts to be revealed she finds herself coming under the arresting gaze of Captain Pleasant.

Will Lavender help break the curse? Or will she be just another victim of this story within a story within a story, her true identity lost to the sands of time?
An adventure as big as the ocean and as warm as your heart. All aboard!

6. Dream Girl Disaster by Balazs Lorinczi – November 10

Susie knows her best friends, Helen and Jo, don’t get along, but she needs their help to film an action movie for school. Will she be able to bring her friends together for one project?

While Helen is great at acting, Jo seems to be having a hard time creating the film’s music. But after one dream filled with images of Helen’s heroine, Jo starts writing the best music she’s ever played. Could there be more between these two former rivals?

Book Description: Two rivals put aside their differences to help their friend make a student film. Easy, right? In your dreams!

Jo and Susie are best friends. Helen and Susie are also best friends. Helen and Jo, however… well, let’s just say things can quickly get out of hand when the two are in the same room… or the same set, shooting Susie’s action-movie project for film school.

As the lead actress, Helen is nailing it, while Jo is struggling to come up with music for the film. But when Jo’s nights fill with eerily vivid dreams that transport her into the story alongside Helen’s gruff heroine, she wakes up full of tunes. Is there something more than just hatred between Jo and Helen?

What will Susie think about all this? Will they be able to finish the film before the tension on set becomes explosive? Or are these three dream girls headed for disaster?

7. Two Can Play That Game by Zakiya N. Jamal – November 17

Chelsea never expected an invitation to sit courtside at a WNBA game to change her life. As a sex-positive influencer, she was looking for something to spice up her routine, but she never expected it to be AD, the non-binary player with a messy dating history.

When AD’s agent comes up with a plan to have AD and Chelsea play pretend girlfriends until AD’s retirement, none of them could have imagined their connection would be so deep. Are they able to go their separate ways when the season ends?

Book Description: After a chance courtside encounter, a fake relationship between a rising influencer and a WNBA star gets a little too real in this swoony sapphic romance.

Chelsea has never cared about sports. But when she’s invited to sit courtside at a New York WNBA game, she welcomes the break from her usual routine. What she doesn’t expect is a basketball nearly colliding with her face—or the six-foot-four hottie who jogs over, flashing a heart-stopping grin, to retrieve it.

Adrienne “AD” Daniels is a player on and off the court, notorious for their inability to stay in a relationship. Still, something about Chelsea sticks with them—even though their instant connection can’t bring AD to offer more than one night.

But AD’s agent makes that Chelsea should pretend to be AD’s girlfriend. It’s a strategic move. AD, hoping to retire after this season, needs to lock down some brand deals—but their identity as a Black, nonbinary lesbian with a messy dating history makes sponsors wary. Chelsea, a sex-positive influencer, is ready to pivot her platform, and this feels like the perfect next step. With Chelsea’s network and AD’s star power, they could both strengthen their public images. Once the season ends, they’ll go their separate ways.

As the ruse starts to work and their connection deepens, Chelsea finds herself on unsteady ground. Falling for AD wasn’t part of the plan, and if she lets herself get too close, she might lose the future she’s finally starting to build.

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What will you be reading in November? Share your picks in the comments below!

 

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