The Woke Up Like This Recommendations
Winter Book Releases 2025-2026
The Woke Up Like This reader seeks authenticity and representation in every story. This winter’s lineup brings vibrant, diverse voices and meaningful narratives — from LGBTQIA love stories to powerful essays and memoirs — reminding us that every perspective deserves the spotlight.
february books:
Boy, with Accidental Dinosaur
by Ian McDonald
A FanFiAddict Most Anticipated Title!
How to Train Your Dragon meets Mad Max in this story of an orphan in a fractured Southwest who just wants to ride a dinosaur under the lights.
Come one, come all to the dinosaur rodeo!
Tif Tamim wants nothing more than to be a dinosaur buckaroo. An orphan in search of a place to rest his head and a job to weigh down his pockets, Tif has bounced from circus to circus, yearning for a chance to ride a prehistoric beauty under the sparkling lights of a big-top.
To become a buckaroo, Tif needs to learn the tools of the trade, yet few dino maestros want to take a scrawny nobody from nowhere under their wing. But when Tif frees a dino from an abusive owner and braves the roving gangs of the formerly-American west to bring the dino to safety, he catches someone's eye. And boy, how those eyes dazzle Tif from the back of a bucking carnotaur.
Missing Sam
by Thrity Umrigar
A tense and twisty story of a woman who goes missing on a morning run and her wife's determination to both find her and clear her own name--from the bestselling author of Honor.
One night after a party, old grievances surface between married couple Aliya and Sam and the night ends badly with a heated argument. Sam goes for a run early the next morning to clear her head--and doesn't come back.
Aliya reports her wife missing, but as a gay, Muslim daughter of immigrants, she can't escape the scrutiny and suspicion of those around her. Scared and furious and feeling isolated as strangers and acquaintances alike doubt her innocence, Aliya makes one wrong choice after another. She must fight to prove her innocence in the public eye even as she is torn between her fear that Sam is dead and her desire to find and save her wife. But is safety ever truly possible for them?
A provocative examination of suburban mores, Missing Sam captures the terror manifested in today's political climate, and the real dangers, both physical and psychological, of being brown and queer in America.
Kingfisher
by Rozie Kelly
An electrifying debut novel about grief, power and desire--and the tangles in between that make up a life.
When a creative writing academic becomes infatuated with his colleague--the poet--his fascination soon begins to threaten his relationship with his partner, Michael. Michael is beautiful. Michael is safe. But the poet is everything he isn't; she has everything he wants. While he writes about steel and sex, she dreams about the movements of swallows. While he tends to his budding career, she writes from her big, white house in the woods.
Meanwhile, his homophobic and spiteful mother--who cast a shadow over his childhood--is continuing to make his life difficult. As he is pulled back and forth between these two different worlds, his fixation on the poet, his Kingfisher, grows into something more powerful. She becomes his sole focus. He is hypnotized.
But when simultaneous illnesses threaten to destroy the precarious reality he clings to, he's forced to question what he can and cannot take from someone.
To the Death
by Andrea Tang
Two teens are pitted against each other in a magical duel for revenge, but they'll have to fight their growing attraction first, in this YA fantasy thriller from the author of These Deadly Prophecies.
Eighteen-year-old Samantha Chan wants only one thing: revenge for her brother's death in an illegal magical duel. Ever since that terrible day, she's been quietly working with legitimate dueling champion Lysander Rook and biding her time until she can take down her brother's killer: Mateus Blackwood.
Tamsin Blackwood is trapped. She wants to make a name for herself in the magical dueling circuit, but she can't get away from the legacy of her father--and coach--Mateus Blackwood. When she receives a challenge from the undefeated Lysander and his assistant Sam, she jumps at the chance to earn enough fame and glory to finally escape her father's influence.
Tamsin has no idea about Sam's scheming, and Sam plans to keep it that way. Despite herself, though, she can't help liking Tamsin, and the two girls quickly grow closer to each other than anyone else in their lives. But Sam won't let anything get in the way of her revenge--not even her heart.
According to Plan
by Christen Randall
Three starred reviews!
From USA TODAY bestselling author Christen Randall comes a cozy, "authentic, and affirming" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) queer romance about self-discovery, finding your person, and carving out a space for yourself in unexpected places--perfect for fans of Heartstopper, Felix Ever After, and Julie Murphy.
Mal Flowers expected senior year fall to be full of cozy sweaters, good coffee, and copyediting. As the new editor-in-chief of their school's literary magazine, they just want to follow The Plan to graduate and get out of their small midwestern town--a place where, as a broke, fat, queer person with ADHD, they've never really fit in. But when budget cuts result in the lit mag's cancellation, Mal is suddenly left scrambling for something to replace it.
That is, until Emerson Pike--who also has ADHD but is loud, confident, and Mal's complete opposite--suggests the staff go rogue and create a zine instead. Which would be cool, except that making and selling contraband isn't exactly what Mal envisioned listing as the extracurricular activity on their college application. A zine would be unofficial, unapproved, and definitely not in The Plan.
But a zine is also a good way to spend more time with Emerson, whose playful banter and bad jokes Mal can't seem to get enough of. And maybe, with a group of new friends, the back of the charming coffee shop where Emerson works could be somewhere Mal does belong. Because breaking the rules with Emerson--and flirting with her over coffee--is fun.
Maybe The Plan isn't the only way to find happiness, but can Mal let go of something they've depended on for so long?
January Picks
Into the Midnight Wood
by Alexandra McCollum
A whimsical queer romance about two mismatched roommates whose fragile--and definitely not romantic at all--balance is upended by an impending family wedding and an otherworldly danger in the nearby enchanted wood.
There are at least 100 things wrong with Meredith Schwarzwelder. In fact, keeping track of these things is the only way David Carew has managed to remain living with him for as long as he has. Meredith is an irredeemable eccentric who flirts with everyone in his path (#3 on the list), cries at anything (#35), makes the worst coffee in the world (#70), and talks to mice, or imagines he does (#50).
It's bad enough living with such a person on the edge of the Midnight Wood, but when magic starts to seep from the wood and a dark being emerges with a sinister plan involving Meredith, David decides that it's time to leave the cottage, and his roommate, behind. Then Meredith's brother gets engaged to the daughter of David's boss, and David sees an opportunity: If he can insert himself into the festivities, maybe he can advance his career and get himself out of a personal rut.
With wedding bells sounding and the dangers of the Midnight Wood encroaching, David realizes there's much more hiding beneath the surface of his roommate's seemingly carefree charm, and that perhaps his own exasperation carries more fondness than he'd like to admit.
Cozy, sharp, steamy, and poignant, Into the Midnight Wood is a contemporary queer fairy tale about the masks we wear, the stories we tell, and the powerful need for true, honest connection to heal old wounds and new.
Playing for Keeps
by Alexandria Bellefleur
Lambda Literary Award winner and national bestselling author Alexandria Bellefleur returns with a steamy Sapphic rom-com about two rival publicists who are forced to work together when their mega-famous clients--a popstar and a quarterback--begin to date.
Poppy Peterson's life is finally back on track and she's thriving as the publicist of the NFL's most promising quarterback (and her childhood best friend), Cash Curran. So, she doesn't appreciate when he makes an impulsive and public pass at America's popstar darling, Lyric Adair. When Lyric's notorious publicist Rosaline Sinclair reaches out, Poppy is ready to face her wrath, but instead learns that Lyric is equally interested.
As Cash and Lyric embark on their ill-advised whirlwind romance, Poppy and Rosaline are forced together, each determined to protect their own client from the other. Poppy is frustrated by Rosaline's cool demeanor, while at the same time, as a legend in the industry, she's determined to impress her. But, no matter what she does, she can't shake the feeling that Rosaline doesn't like her.
You'll Never Forget Me
by Isha Raya
In this captivating cat-and-mouse thriller, a struggling actress is only just beginning to enjoy the life sheʼs always wanted after inadvertently killing her rival--but now she must contend with the woman who threatens to take it all away.
Struggling actress Dimple Kapoor wouldn't call herself a murderer, per se--she'd prefer the term "opportunist." Years ago, she did what had to be done to get herself out of a bad situation. And now, after accidentally killing her Hollywood rival, Irene Singh, at a party, she's simply seizing the chance to nab her dream leading role and resuscitate her career in the process. Thereʼs only one problem: Someone else at the event witnessed the crime . . . and caught it all on camera.
With everything she's ever wanted within reach, Dimple will stop at nothing to keep stardom in her grasp. But Irene's parents have hired Saffi Mirai Iyer, one of the best private investigators in the business. Living up to her reputation, Saffi immediately zeroes in on Dimple, who feels she has no choice but to raise the stakes. Playing along with Dimple's facade, Saffi invites her on to the case, suggesting she act as bait to draw out the killer--and as the two women's cat-and-mouse game intensifies, Saffi starts to wonder if she may have finally met her match.
Is This a Cry for Help?
by Emily Austin
Emily Austin, the bestselling "queen of darkly quirky, endearingly flawed heroines" (Sarah Haywood, author of The Cactus), returns with a luminous new novel following a librarian who comes back to work after a mental breakdown only to confront book-banning crusaders in an empowering story of grief, love, and the power of libraries.
Darcy's life turned out better than she could have ever imagined. She is a librarian at the local branch, while her wife Joy runs a book binding service. Between the two of them, there is no more room on their shelves with their ample book collections, various knickknacks and bobbles, and dried bouquets. Rounding out their ideal life is two cats and a sun-soaked house by the lake.
But when Darcy receives the news that her ex-boyfriend, Ben, has passed away, she spirals into a pit of guilt and regret, resulting in a mental breakdown and medical leave from the library. When she returns to work, she is met by unrest in her community and protests surrounding intellectual freedom, resulting in a call for book bans and a second look at the branch's upcoming DEI programs.
A Black Queer History of the United States
by C Riley Snorton - Darius Bost
The first-ever Black history to center queer voices, this landmark study traces the lives of LGBTQ+ Black Americans from slavery to present day
Gender and sexual expression have always been part of the Black freedom struggle
In this latest book in Beacon's award-winning ReVisioning History series, Professors C. Riley Snorton and Darius Bost unearth the often overlooked history of the Black queer community in the United States.
Arguing that both gender and sexual expression have been an intimate and intricate part of Black freedom struggle, Snorton and Bost present historical contributions of Black queer, trans, and gender non-conforming Americans from slavery to the present day to highlight how the fight against racial injustice has always been linked to that of sexual and gender justice.
December Picks:
Audrey Lane Stirs the Pot
by Alexis Hall
A charming new LGBTQIA+ romcom from the bestselling author of BOYFRIEND MATERIAL.
Audrey Lane is perfectly fine. Really. So what if she left her high-powered job as a Very Important Journalist--and her even higher-powered long-term girlfriend--to live a quiet life as a reporter for the second-biggest newspaper in Shropshire? And so what if she keeps hearing that same higher-powered long-term now-ex-girlfriend in her head night and day, constantly judging just how small Audrey's allowed her life to become?
She's fine. She's happy. She's perfectly within her groove. Do not-in-their-groove people get weekday drunk and impulsively apply for the UK's most beloved baking show?
The Curse of the Cole Women
by Marielle Thompson
Three generations of women struggle with a curse unfairly placed on their ancestor in this gothic story of magic, queer love, and mother-daughter relationships, perfect for fans of Spells for Forgetting and Practical Magic.
The Cole women are cursed. Each generation will birth a daughter, lose their love, and, as surely as the tide beats against the rocky shore, take her own life by giving herself to the sea. For generations, the Cole women have lived as outcasts, maintaining a lighthouse on a small island off the coast of New Hampshire. Ever since their ancestor was accused of witchcraft and cast into the sea hundreds of years prior, the islanders have ostracized the Coles, distrusting their rumored magic and their control of the lighthouse.
Despite their mistreatment, the Cole women are compelled to remain on the island because they know that if a Cole woman does not light the beacon on Juniper Island, anyone who is out at sea will be drowned.
Galapagos
by Fátima Vélez - Hannah Kauders
"Vélez stuns with her corporeal descriptions and baroque literary allusions. This is a knockout."
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
From NYC-based Colombian writer Fátima Vélez comes debut novel Galapagos, following a group of bohemian artists who are dying of AIDS as they embark on a surreal final voyage through the Galapagos Islands, their bodies cloaked in the skins of the dead.
Lorenzo is a painter who doesn't paint. He spends his days watching Jeanne Moreau films, luxuriating in his partner Juan B's bed, and swapping letters with his lovers. Then, one day, his nail falls off. Then another nail, then all of them. Thus begins a journey of decomposition that carries him from Colombia to Paris, from Paris to the French countryside, and on a final journey to the Galápagos Archipelago.
A Danger to the Minds of Young Girls: Margaret C. Anderson, Book Bans, and the Fight to Modernize Literature
by Adam Morgan
"Wholly transportive and spellbinding. I was beguiled." --Ling Ma, bestselling author of Severance and Bliss Montage
"A fascinating account of a remarkable woman dangerously ahead of her time." --Kevin Kwan, bestselling author of Crazy Rich Asians
"Exquisitely researched, deeply felt, and poignant. This one belongs on your shelf." --Sarah Rose Etter, author of Ripe and The Book of
The life and times of literary pioneer and queer icon Margaret C. Anderson, who risked everything to be the first to publish James Joyce's Ulysses in America. Perfect for fans of The Editor, Flapper, and Nasty Women.
Already under fire for publishing the literary avant-garde into a world not ready for it, Margaret C. Anderson's cutting-edge magazine The Little Review was a bastion of progressive politics and boundary-pushing writing from then-unknowns like T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, William Butler Yeats, and Djuna Barnes. And as its publisher, Anderson was a target. From Chicago to New York and Paris, this fearless agitator helmed a woman-led publication that pushed American culture forward and challenged the sensibilities of early 20th century Americans dismayed by its salacious writing and advocacy for supposed extremism like women's suffrage, access to birth control, and LBGTQ rights.
The Book of Luke
by Lovell Holder
For fans of Survivor and Less, this fast-paced debut novel shines an unflinching light on the drama of reality TV when a gay man returns to the cut-throat show he won in his youth after his adult life begins to unravel.
Following the car accident that ended his football career and left his body scarred, twenty-two-year-old Luke Griffin joins the cast of Endeavor, a new competition-based reality show that pits the tabloids' darlings against one another in tasks of endurance and problem solving. At first, he thrives, effortlessly forming friendships and even a romantic relationship that he thinks will last a lifetime. But Luke has aspirations far bigger than the show's million-dollar prize, and soon a series of betrayals leads to irreversible tragedy, changing the course of his and his fellow contestants' lives forever.