New LGBTQ Books & Other Reading Recommendations
Top Picks for Summer 2026
Embrace literature that challenges boundaries, amplifies marginalized voices and mirrors our beautifully diverse world. You'll find all this and more in our curated list of the summer's best new releases for our Woke Up Like This Reader Type. This book list celebrates progressive, inclusive and socially aware storytelling across an eclectic mix of genres, from LGBTQ+ romance and raw personal memoirs to groundbreaking poetry, fiction and urban lit. Featuring the visionary work of modern trailblazers like Lauren Hough, Laverne Cox and Frankie Grande, these stories push conversations forward. We have handpicked these new releases just for your reading style. Enjoy!
August New Book Releases
Call Me by Your Name: The Graphic Novel
by André Aciman - Sarah Maxwell-McNicol
A modern classic reimagined: a sundrenched graphic novel adaptation of one of the greatest love stories of our time.
"We were friends first and lovers second. Perhaps this is what lovers are."
On the Italian Riviera, Elio welcomes his father's house guest. Oliver is the picture of arrogance - all billowing shirts and snide comments - and Elio is convinced that Oliver will be someone he'll grow to hate.
Thrown together, a friendship blossoms as the pair spend endless hours walking treelined streets, enjoying sun-soaked lunches and besting each other at tennis.
Soon, Elio finds himself longing to make Oliver laugh and relishing glimpses of his glistening skin sprawled poolside. Over the restless weeks of the summer, an undeniable connection deepens as the two become entwined in the one thing both fear they may never truly find again: total intimacy.
For the first time, from artist Sarah Maxwell-McNicol, comes the gorgeous graphic novel adaptation of this international sensation. This instant classic is one of the great love stories of our time.
Changing Gender
by Susan Stryker
From the groundbreaking trans scholar Susan Stryker, a provocative, genre-bending call to reconsider the story we tell about gender itself.
That gender is a hotly contested topic becomes ever clearer as anti-gender ideology continues to be mobilized by the far right and transgender people's lives are increasingly targeted. But what are we talking about when we talk about gender? Where did the concept itself come from, and where might it go?
In Changing Gender, the leading trans scholar Susan Stryker invites readers to ride along on her lifelong quest to uncover what gender means and does. She traces the gender concept's roots in grammar and tells the story of how it transformed into a battleground of the culture wars. From the origins of "Yankee Doodle" to acid trips in Joshua Tree National Park, from 19th century phrenology to present-day anti-trans conspiracy theorists, Stryker finds surprising places to tune in to the origins, idiosyncrasies and generative possibilities of the gender concept. Along the way, she weaves stories drawn from her lifetime as a pathbreaking historian, filmmaker, activist and founding figure of transgender studies.
Poignant and deeply researched, lyrical and authoritative, Changing Gender is a book for our fraught time, exposing limiting assumptions about gender across the political spectrum and imagining what life might look like if some of those limitations were lifted. Ultimately, Stryker argues, to change gender is to change what it means to be human--and to change reality itself.
Finding Renée Richards: The Groundbreaking Story of Tennis's Trans Pioneer
by Julie Kliegman
"Not to be missed." -- Stephanie Howes, Booklist (starred review)
A Town & Country Must-Read Book of Summer 2026
The candid, definitive biography of professional tennis's first openly transgender player, Renée Richards, featuring never-before-seen archival photos and untold stories nearly lost to history, until now.
Fifty years ago, tennis player Renée Richards made international headlines in her fight to compete in the women's draw of the 1977 US Open, marking the first time a trans athlete sued to participate in professional sports in the gender category with which they identify. Renée eventually won her case. Though she lost in the first round of the singles tournament, she and her tennis partner made it to the finals in doubles, losing to Martina Navratilova and her partner.
Finding Renée Richards chronicles Richards's extraordinary life, moving from her tumultuous upbringing in Queens, New York, to her career as a successful eye surgeon; her years as a star tennis player to her role as a transgender pioneer. Now in her 90s, Renée remains a complex figure: A person who changed the sports world forever yet questions the place of trans athletes in that world today. GLAAD award-nominated sports journalist Julie Kliegman deftly probes these contradictions, drawing on intimate interviews and offering critical reflections on what is at stake for athletes, fans and the queer community today, at a time when trans participation in sports is more hotly contested and condemned than ever before.
Finding Renée Richards includes a 20-page photo insert featuring never-before-seen archival images.
Meet Me in the Garden
by Nina Lacour
"A MASTERPIECE that stands as an EXCEPTIONAL work of historical fiction. ...This character-driven beauty is an immersive, heartfelt TRIUMPH. It is a fantastic MUST-READ that will resonate deeply with fans of Alice Walker and Brit Bennett." -- Booklist (STARRED review)
"SWEEPING and PROFOUND." -- People (MOST ANTICIPATED)
From BESTSELLING, AWARD-WINNING author Nina LaCour comes a GORGEOUS FAMILY STORY about self-discovery and love in all forms, inspired by the author's Creole roots
New Orleans, 1944. Odette has always been one of the Honore sisters, glamorous and admired in their Creole community. But while Odette's older sisters are content to be wives and mothers, Odette has always wanted something else. It is only with her beloved cousin, Delphine, that Odette can tell her secret: she is in love with a woman, and she longs to be an artist. Delphine has a secret lover, too, a white man. In the hidden garden they've discovered, Odette and Delphine can dream of futures full of passion and freedom.
But five years later, Odette's life is nothing like what she'd planned. She's a widowed mother, living in Los Angeles, and she and Delphine, who is passing as white, have spiraled away from each other. When Delphine reaches a breaking point, Odette must make a shattering choice to try to hold her family together.
Profound and expansive, a story of love and longing, art and motherhood, friendship and desire, Meet Me in the Garden is a decades-spanning tour de force, inspired by the author's family and tracing the history of the Great Migration.
Queens of the Crypt, Vol 1: A Graphic Novel
by Dom&ink
E. M. Carroll meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer with a dash of The Rocky Horror Picture Show in this debut young adult graphic novel that is a celebration of horror, queerness and figuring out who you want to be.
*Features bright neon purple sprayed edges that complement Dom&Ink's stunning cover art!*
There is a crypt that sits in the darkness ... A crypt that exists across multiple realms, that houses your worst fears ... And it's coming to Widow's Creek ...
When 17-year-old Barnaby Jones comes out to their parents as nonbinary, they expect that to be the toughest part of their day. But it turns out the toughest part might actually be when their best friend, Fi, is kidnapped by a faceless killer who's been abducting teens all across the small town of Widow's Creek. Or is it when Barnaby unwittingly summons the undead and fabulous Queens of the Crypt through a portal in their bedroom closet?
Either way, the Queens, the Phantom, the Countess, Lady Invisible, the Creature and the Bogeywoman, are here to help. As the horrors creep closer, can Barnaby work together with the scream queens to save Widow's Creek from destruction and unmask the Faceless Frightener?
When Lemons Give You Life
by Anna Johnston
From the author of the beloved international bestseller The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife comes a heart-stirring novel about family, second chances and the lengths we go for those we love, following a woman fighting to hold onto life and her older brother who's rediscovering reasons to embrace it.
"Smart, authentic and full of heart." -- Graeme Simsion, New York Times bestselling author The Rosie Project
"A delicious treat of a novel, rich with the complex flavours of love, loss, familial relationships and redemption. I adored it." -- Emma Grey, international bestselling author of Pictures of You
Retired Michelin-star chef Griff Barlow has lost his appetite. He's done with grief, guilt and the beige slop they call food at Sunny Glen Aged Care Facility, where he resides. Six decades of life have handed him all the lemons he can handle, so he breaks into the nursing home kitchen to bake one last tart as his final meal. But the act of cooking stirs a dormant joy, and soon, he's sneaking in after dark to serve up flavor and comfort to fellow residents, who come alive with each bite, all while hiding a lie big enough to destroy the one thing he has left to protect.
Lisa, Griff's younger sister and sole visitor, is navigating a midlife ADHD diagnosis, a new romance and unexpected news that could change everything. Despite their fractured relationship, she keeps showing up, even with hope for reconciliation long buried in the silence between them. But the truth has a way of boiling over, and when secrets, soufflés and second chances collide, Griff and Lisa may discover a recipe for forgiveness.
Heartfelt and inspiring, When Lemons Give You Life is a deeply human novel about love, forgiveness, redemption and rediscovering joy when life has lost its flavor.
July New Book Releases
The Brides: A Feminist Horror Novel for Fans of Dracula (Original)
by Charlotte Cross
Creepy, sumptuous and incredibly gripping, The Brides is a feminist gothic horror about the three women who became the brides of Dracula - and the fourth who managed to escape ...
"Come to me, and be mine for eternity."
1884. When Mafalda journeys to Budapest to care for her grieving aunt, her secret love, Lucy, hurries from London to comfort her, with chaperone and lady's maid in tow.
But lady's maid Alice, blessed and cursed with the Sight, is tormented by terrifying visions. When chaperone Eliza falls prey to a disturbing wasting illness, the women hope to seek the healing waters of Transylvania. At a nobleman's invitation, they set out for Castle Dracula.
In the depths of the forest, miles from civilization, their host reveals his true intentions; a monstrous ambition which will tear the women apart.
And not all of them will survive.
All My Dead Cats and Other Losses: Practicing Good Grief in a Culture That Fears Mourning
by S. E. Smith
Have you suffered a loss? How was your life changed by the grief you experienced? Did you feel like your grief was properly acknowledged? Mourning is a personal experience and shouldn't be judged. There are no do-overs in death, but there are do-betters.
All My Dead Cats is not a book about pet loss. You will meet award-winning journalist and debut author s.e. smith's cats and read small slices of their stories. Their vignettes serve as an opening to scary conversations about loss, so grief can feel less intimidating and more relatable.
This is a book about grief and mourning as collective activities best undertaken in community. S.e. interviews dozens of experts--from death doulas to funeral home directors to therapists and psychologists--and discusses the different stages of grief. The shared perspectives help us understand that grief is not fixable but it can be livable. They teach us that if we have the courage, which begins with honest conversations about how we navigate grief, then we can learn how to do better.
After reading you'll better understand:
Grief is not over once the body is neatly disposed of, the rubble of the house has been taken away in dumpsters, the final fit on the prosthesis is done, the law is passed and withstands legal challenges, or when the permanent peace is brokered. It is an ongoing shift in our relationship to the world, and one that deserves attention and care as well as time and space to be amongst fellow mourners, to whom we do not need to justify or explain, because they understand where we are.
Readers will feel seen rather than being chastised for how they grieve and better understand how to process mourning--and how to help others. All My Dead Cats provides an entry point, by beginning the conversation about a beloved pet, so readers can think about the larger stakes of death and live a more fulfilled life.
Fabulous Bodies
by Chuck Tingle
From Chuck Tingle, USA Today bestselling author of Bury Your Gays, comes Fabulous Bodies, a supernatural joyride where Drive meets Beetlejuice.
Poppy Stringer was born to be a star.
An aspiring fashion influencer by day, Poppy moonlights as a grave robber to make ends meet, wheeling and dealing dead bodies across Palm Springs.
When her hero, the flamboyant, piano-slamming rockstar Eddie Michaels, unexpectedly dies, Poppy gets a call to retrieve his body from the medical examiner's office for a lucrative sum. It could be the last job she'll ever need--if everything goes to plan. But the night's delivery quickly veers off course when Eddie wakes up.
Now Poppy must fight for her life if she hopes to survive this blood-soaked joyride of carnage and extravagant entertainment.
Give Me Everything You've Got
by Imogen Crimp
"The book of the summer." -- Harper's Bazaar
"Rebecca meets Brideshead Revisited meets Saltburn." -- Stylist magazine
"A hugely talented writer." -- Sarah Waters
"Gripping ... a sensuous game of cat and mouse." -- Aisling Rawle
"Stylish, devastating and very hot." -- Daisy Alpert Florin, author of My Last Innocent Year
Hot to the touch, an "utterly addictive" (Colin Walsh) modern gothic about a promising young filmmaker pushed to the brink
In the middle of an unrelenting heat-wave, up-and-coming filmmaker Ruby arrives at the country house of her idol, Ellen. An iconoclastic feminist director, Ellen has offered Ruby mentorship and a room of her own in which to write her next film. Ellen's home is like something out of a dream--grand and imposing, with sprawling gardens and a shimmering swimming pool. But tension thrums beneath the picture-perfect surface. Ellen's reputation is under fire, and she chastises Ruby for refusing to turn her trauma into art. Meanwhile, Ellen's mercurial 20-year-old daughter, Lara, lounges by the pool under the blistering sun, drawing her mother's latest houseguest towards her like a moth to a flame.
As her hopes for an artistic summer retreat unravel, Ruby finds herself entangled in a dangerous dynamic between mother and daughter, waiting for the heat to break. Ellen and Lara seem to be playing games with her, and only they know the rules. Soon the house itself begins to feel haunted, and Ruby has the unnerving sensation that she's not the first promising young woman to fall under its spell.
An incendiary fever dream of a novel set during one sun-bleached July, Imogen Crimp's Give Me Everything You've Got explores the dark corners of ambition, exploitation, and what it takes to be a woman artist.
Chosen Family
by Madeleine Gray
An exuberant and irreverently funny novel about one gorgeously messy friendship-feud-unrequited-love-affair set in Sydney across eighteen years.
Nell Argall and Eve Bowman are both brilliant, odd, and friendless. When they meet on the brutal battlefield that is their posh all girls' high school during their first year there, both their lives are changed forever. From school, to university, to careers, Nell and Eve's relationship is a life raft that is also a poison apple that is also a Medusan stare, frozen in time.
When the passion, guilt, shame, and joy that perpetually twists and turns between them finally implodes, Nell abruptly walks away, leaving Eve alone at the helm of the gloriously unorthodox family they've built with their 7-year-old daughter, Lake. Eve finds herself left wondering: Can the wounds of adolescent betrayal ever really heal? Can we ever really understand what's going on in someone else's head? And what's love got to do, got to do with it?
Written with Gray's characteristic big-heartedness and dark wit, Chosen Family is a queer modern classic that reminds us again and again that sometimes the most fulfilling and life-saving relationships are the ones that are the hardest to define.
Misery's Wife
by Joan Tierney
A queer and cli-fi reimagining of a Portuguese folktale about a young trans woman who must save her elder sisters from the King of the Air, the King of the Sea, and the King of Misery
Elixane lives in a village ravaged by waves, storms, and the encroaching forest. When she was too young to remember, her elder sisters each picked a flower and were whisked away: Borboleta to marry the King of the Air, Adelina to marry the King of the Sea, and her favorite sister Dores to marry the King of Misery, who promised: No one will ever love you as I will.
So when Elixane receives a mysterious message from a toad, she sets out to rescue Dores from the Kingdom of Misery. She is aided by the jester-like Marquês of Luck and his sister Jinx, the contrary and beautiful Marquesa of Misfortune. On the way, she'll have to reunite with her sisters and their magical husbands, break several unbreakable curses--and, perhaps, find a magical love of her own.
Free Girls
by Kristen McCallum
"This one is for all the labeled 'bad kids' who need someone to see the good in them. Full of heartache but never short on hope." --Sonido Reyes, bestselling and award-winning author of The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School
A heartfelt coming-of-age debut about a girl starting over while keeping secret that she's spent the last year in juvenile detention. Perfect for fans of Nicola Yoon and Leah Johnson.
Sixteen-year-old Jasmine Cooper is back after twelve months at Guiding Hearts Home for Troubled Girls, and nothing is the way it was. Her mom has remarried and now there's a big new house, a shiny new family, and a fancy new school. Jas feels completely out of place, and things only get more complicated when her mom insists that her "fresh start" include hiding the truth of where she's been and cutting off people from her past.
As Jas settles into her new life bonding with her seemingly perfect stepsister, making a close-knit group of besties, and maybe even falling for the cute girl in class, it starts to feel like her second chance might actually be real.
But when a friend from the detention center reaches out to reconnect, Jas worries that everything she's built could fall apart. How long can she keep her past a secret? And how many times can she spin the truth before she forgets who she really is?
Ladies of the Knight
by Fiona Marchbank - Fiona Marchbank
"This colorful action-packed graphic novel about a medieval world with jousting knights, competitive rivalries, eager apprentices and corporate sponsorships is almost like a feudal and PG-13 "Heated Rivalry," starring female characters." -- New York Times
In a land where glamorous knights compete in showy tournaments for fame and fortune, George wants to be the best. Being small and untrained means no knight will give her a coveted spot as their squire, but George won't give up on her dreams so easily.
Serafina is the best knight around, no question. She's so good that she's getting bored and reckless in her jousts. It doesn't help that everyone is mesmerized by Aethelberg, her sparkling rival, who is much better at playing to the crowd, while Serafina would rather keep to herself and practice her swordplay. When Serafina's wife and patroness insists on her taking plucky George as a squire, Serafina suddenly finds herself in the position she never wanted--a mentor. Their partnership is going to be even harder than it looks, considering George can barely hold a sword without giving herself a black eye and Serafina is even pricklier than the lance she wields. But if either of them are going to take the league of knights by storm, they'll have to learn that neither of them can do it alone.
In her author-illustrator debut, step into Fiona Marchbank's (Fairest Of All: A Villains Graphic Novel, Of Her Own Design) colorful, medieval world for fans of Squire and Ella Enchanted and follow George on a quest to be the greatest knight in all the land ...
June Book Releases
Advice No One Asked for: Essays
by Jenny Hagel
From the Emmy-nominated comedian who created "the best segment in late night" (Vulture) comes this hilarious and practical collection of advice for how to live your best life in love, at work and in comedy.
You'd think with a résumé like Jenny Hagel's -- being a writer/performer for Late Night with Seth Meyers and head writer/EP of The Amber Ruffin Show -- she would describe her greatest accomplishment as something like sharing the stage with Hillary Clinton, or the six times she was nominated for an Emmy. Yet, for Jenny, landing a joke or going to a fancy award show pales in comparison to her true passion: giving people advice.
Jenny is so obsessed with (addicted to?) offering unsolicited wisdom that she runs a sold-out live show in New York City called, appropriately, Jenny Hagel Gives Advice. With her debut essay collection, Jenny sets out to backseat drive for as many unwitting strangers as possible. The result is a heartfelt and funny journey through a list of life-changing recommendations, like: wear black when you travel, buy an analog watch, and just because you can go into the monkey enclosure while visiting Honduras, doesn't mean that you should.
Fish and Water
by Gengoroh Tagame - Anne M Ishii
A new graphic novel from Eisner award-winning graphic novelist Gengoroh Tagame, which asks: what if The Odd Couple were Japanese, living in the middle of COVID-19 and just might be … gay?
From Gengoroh Tagame, the brilliant mind behind My Brother's Husband and Our Colors, comes Fish and Water, which follows the unlikely love story of two "straight" friends. Having met at a mutual friend's wedding, Akira, a business sales administrator, and Koji, a freelance writer, quickly become close buddies.
One day, during a visit with a farm client, Akira is offered a case of freshly picked cabbage. Since no one at his office wants it, and he is no cook, Akira decides to see if Koji (who loves to cook) might be interested. Koji accepts and invites Akira to join him. Lonely and in the midst of pandemic-related shutdowns, Akira welcomes the chance, and one meal becomes many. Once they get past how to be COVID-cautious, they become quite relaxed with each other, creating an amusing but emotionally perplexing scenario. Eventually, Akira and Koji grapple with deciding if they are just friends or something more.
Part exceptionally drawn character study, part contemporary comedy of manners, Fish and Water is a delightful love story for the modern era, considering how love and connection can find you in the strangest ways.
Meeting New People
by Daniel M Lavery
"Meeting New People is absolutely brilliant ... I found myself nearly crying with the desire to hold onto this book as long as I could." -- Kevin Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Run for the Hills
From the author of the national bestseller Women's Hotel, the irresistible and wildly entertaining story of one woman contending with age and friendship -- a narrative that reads like an homage to Nora Ephron's Heartburn.
Fifty-something, twice-divorced Barbara is at a crossroads. In the midst of her emotional uncertainty, she looks back on the dissolution of the nine best friendships of her life, in hopes of figuring out how to optimize finding her 10th, and hopefully last, best friend. Barbara is acerbic, opinionated and wrong about many things, but she also doesn't shy away when she's at fault.
The turning point of her predicament comes from Barbara's choice, in friends, between (too-young) Caitlyn and the (unsuitable) Other Barbara. Will she repeat the exciting mistakes of the past, or will she try a new kind of mistake for a change? She feels like an out-of-season Scrooge who is unexpectedly, and all at once, surprised and entirely transformed by the possibility of joy.
For readers who loved Bobby Finger's The Old Place and Elif Batuman's Either/Or, Meeting New People will feel like a long-lost companion in Lavery at the height of his storytelling powers. It's an unforgettable novel from one of our most inventive and brilliant writers.
Monster of a Land: On the Road in Search of Modern America
by Lauren Hough
From The New York Times bestselling author of Leaving Isn't the Hardest Thing comes an update of John Steinbeck's trip in Travels with Charley, a cross-country journey exploring modern America with Lauren Hough's signature observational wit, searing social commentary and perspective as someone who knows what it's like to truly exist on the margins in this country.
"Monster of a Land is so much more than a road trip book. It's about the trips we never take, the people we lose before we get the chance and what happens when you finally get in the goddamn car." -- Jennette McCurdy, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Half His Age and I'm Glad My Mom Died
Lauren Hough has always been haunted by the road trips she never got to take: no money, no vacation days, no car capable of making the trip. So, upon finally finding herself in a situation where such a trip might be possible. Being a writer may not always pay better than being a bartender or a cable guy, but at least the schedule's flexible. She leaps at the chance, refurbishing a ramshackle 2001 Dodge van and setting off from Austin, Texas, with her Husky mix Woody by her side.
Her influences feel obvious, but a lot has changed about the United States since the 1962 trip John Steinbeck chronicles in Travels with Charley. And Lauren Hough isn't John Steinbeck – unless the Noble Prize-winning author of The Grapes of Wrath had a secret past as a 6-foot-tall lesbian and Air Force vet. But even better as a social lubricant than beer, a dog is the ultimate conversation starter. With Woody as wingman, Lauren chats -- at gas stations and restaurants and auto shops and bars -- with an incredible cross-section of Americans from all walks of life and every possible political perspective. And as she circumnavigates the country, she documents, with all-too-rare empathy, what it means to be poor, to be marginalized and to be seen as Other in America.
Part travelogue, part social commentary and 100% Lauren Hough, Monster of a Land unites her poignant vulnerability, her hilarious narrative voice and her razor-sharp insights into a journey that will show us how far we've come as a country, and how far we still have to go.
Supergay!: A Memoir
by Frankie Grande
Not all heroes wear capes. Some wear glitter.
Frankie Grande always knew he was different. He just didn't know it was his superpower. Growing up glittery in a grayscale world, he found refuge in the fantasy realms of rainbow belts, telepathic mutants and intergalactic girlbosses. (Looking at you, Rainbow Brite.) But behind the show tunes and sparkles was a lonely little boy fighting big, scary feelings about identity, addiction, abandonment and belonging.
In Supergay!, Frankie turns his hot mess history into comic-book canon, reframing every heartbreak and hard moment as part of a campy, chaotic, deeply human hero's journey. With outrageous honesty and unapologetic humor, he tells the story of how a fabulous queer nerd learned to stop hiding, start healing and fully embrace the power of being too much.
This isn't just a memoir. It's a technicolor call to arms for anyone who's ever felt weird, othered, or alone. Because in a world that wants you to tone it down, the bravest thing you can do is turn the volume all the way up.
The Disaster Gay Detective Agency
by Lev Ac Rosen
From award-winning, critically acclaimed crime writer Lev Rosen comes a punchy, hilarious mystery-thriller. Meet the disaster gays: They're messy. They're queer. And they're about to solve a murder ... Or die trying.
"Madcap and criminally good. Lev Rosen has served up a sharp mystery with verve and heart. … The smart and feel-good murder mystery we've been waiting for!" -- Margot Douaihy, bestselling and award-winning author of Scorched Grace
Brandon is a hopeless romantic. So when a handsome stranger named Jon checks in at the hotel he works at and invites Brandon to his room, Brandon ignores the advice of his crew, a group of loveable and messy queer 20-somethings, and accepts. What follows is a tale as old as time: they hook up, Jon promises to text, Brandon falls in love and Jon ghosts. Case closed, or is it?
When Jon checks out early, leaving behind a bag of belongings and his cellphone, Brandon takes the phone and sets out to find him, thinking that this must at last be his Cinderella story.
But he gets more than he bargained for when he witnesses a murder and sees Jon fleeing the scene.
Determined (and not in over their heads whatsoever), Brandon, Ollie, Nicole and Ian decide to solve the mystery of the murder and uncover Jon's true identity. … They just have to figure it out before a target falls on their own backs.
The Make-Believe: A Memoir of Magic and Madness
by Hannah Murray
From Skins and Games of Thrones star Hannah Murray, a deeply intimate, shockingly honest memoir about fame, mental illness and the struggle to leave a shadowy wellness organization whose belief in magic shattered her reality.
"Extraordinary, propulsive, immersive; like nothing I have ever read." -- Dolly Alderton
"A remarkable book about the cost of wanting to be saved." -- Ruth Wariner
I lost my mind. I lost my self. I got them back. But they are different … From her breakout role as a teen actor on the cult TV show Skins, to critically acclaimed movies, to the smash hit Game of Thrones, Hannah Murray built a career in Hollywood cracking open her own psychological foundations and pushing her body to its limits. But one day, the line between make-believe and reality disappeared, and she found herself confined to a psych ward, dangerously in love with the leader of a shadowy wellness organization and believing in magic. How she got there and how she managed to rebuild her life is the heart of this gripping, powerful memoir that asks: How far would you go to find enlightenment?
For Hannah, it was deceptively easy to fall down the rabbit hole. As she struggled with her mental health, she sought help in the form of wellness and self-care. After an eye-opening session with an energy healer, Hannah was introduced to an organization that she was told would bring her further spiritual rewards. Enthralled by its charismatic leader and his teachings of a world filled with magic and meaning, Hannah found herself sucked into a rigorous practice involving high control and financial outlay. And as her sense of reality began to slip, eventually resulting in her hospitalization and diagnosis with bipolar disorder, she realized she had fully ceded control of her life to this mysterious organization. And, she thought, as she reckoned with the Hollywood career that conditioned her to give her body and soul over to others, maybe she'd been doing that her whole life.
Both a cautionary tale and a cry for radical empathy, Hannah's story of learning to trust herself will resonate with anyone who has struggled to find agency. The Make-Believe is a probing exploration of womanhood and mental health and a search for the healing that comes when we reclaim our own narratives.
The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones
by Lex Croucher
"A WONDROUS BOOK...ABOUT LOVE AND HURT AND HOW WE SURVIVE IT ALL TOGETHER." -JOHN GREEN
"A HANDS-DOWN FAVORITE OF THE YEAR, AND PROBABLY EVER." -OLIVIE BLAKE
"FANS OF THE MAGICIANS AND NINTH HOUSE HAVE FOUND THEIR NEW OBSESSION." -LAURA STEVEN
From New York Times bestselling author Lex Croucher comes an extraordinary dark academia fantasy about dangerous privilege, corrupted power and two former best friends caught on opposite sides of the secrets rotting at the heart of Britain's most prestigious boarding school.
For as long as they can remember, Briar Jones dreamed of attending the Temple School of Thaumaturgy. Behind its looming ornate gates, the elite boarding school -- the place that has produced the most CEOs and Prime Ministers in British history – is whispered to be magical.
Briar's best friend, Sebastian Wolfe, never cared about Temple. He just wanted them to stay together forever.
When, at age eleven, Seb gets an acceptance letter and Briar doesn't, their childhood friendship is shattered. Seb vanishes onto Temple's grounds and Briar resigns themself to a mundane life. But they can't completely forget their yearning for Temple, for the extraordinary, to be one of the chosen in the ivory tower.
Seven years later, Briar secures a temp job sorting through the junk in Temple's attics. And when Briar takes it, they discover that quiet, sensitive Seb, the boy they once loved more than anything else in the world, has become Bastian: a beautiful, arrogant villain feared by the entire school. And worse, the secrets Temple is hiding might not be so enchanting after all.
Transcendent: A Memoir
by Laverne Cox
Four-time Emmy-nominated actress Laverne Cox shares her journey as a transgender woman in Hollywood, confronting childhood trauma, shame, gender identity, her transition, body image issues, her search for romantic love, deep-seated feelings of unworthiness, and ultimately, healing.
Laverne Cox is a powerhouse in the fight for transgender rights and representation, but her path from a struggling trans actress to a cultural movement was anything but easy.
Surviving a childhood full of trauma, dealing with depression and working at a drag restaurant in New York City for seven years, Laverne was turning 40 and felt it was time to throw in the towel when it came to being a Hollywood star. Then, she booked the character of Sophia Burset in Orange is the New Black. Her world changed overnight.
She made history as the first openly transgender person nominated for a Primetime Emmy, starred in a range of high-profile shows and became the first transgender person to win a Daytime Emmy as executive producer on Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word. A red-carpet fashion icon, podcast host and fearless advocate, she uses her stardom to champion LGBTQ+ rights, whether on Hollywood's biggest stages, her personal channels or at Supreme Court hearings. And she's only getting started.
In Transcendent, you will experience life in Laverne's shoes, from her childhood abuse to making her big break, dealing with Hollywood bureaucracy, feeling lonely in a world that is unaccepting and finding her voice through the chaos of it all. With behind-the-scenes stories and personal reflection, we can heal and fight for equality, right alongside Laverne.
Troubleman
by K'Wan
The legendary urban lit author returns with a new character, a new city, a new series, as AUWA Books makes its first foray into fiction.
Toussaint Batiste is returning home to the City of Brotherly Love hoping he can, for once in his life, outrun his nickname: Trouble.
Toussaint has been in prison, but before that, he was a Philadelphia police officer. He's returning home with few friends on either side of the law, but with a little apartment in Chinatown and a vested interest in taking care of the family restaurant downstairs, he expects to have enough to keep himself busy. But as ever, Trouble has other ideas.
K'wan made his name publishing urban crime fiction series like Animal and Hood Rat and rose to the top ranks of the genre, creating his own literary Harlem as rich as anything out of Mario Puzo or Elmore Leonard. Now, he is teaming up with Questlove to take on a whole new territory, a whole new jawn, with Troubleman, the beginning of a brand new series that brings Philadelphia to literary life in a way that's never been done before. Trouble.
Related: Before you go, take a minute to check out our best Spring New Releases for Woke Up Like This readers. You may also enjoy our latest selections for Lifelong Learners.