One and Done

By Frederick Smith

One night of passion and possibly one more chance at love…

Determined, motivated, goal-driven, and eternally single, Dr. Taylor James is an accomplished university administrator in San Francisco determined to get his campus successfully through an upcoming accreditation process. The process could set him up for his ultimate career goal–to be one of the only Black and openly queer university presidents in the US. Taylor gives himself just one day a week to have fun and let loose with friends–a one and done Sunday Funday brunch in the Castro District.

Dustin McMillan is a consultant and project manager who reluctantly returns to the Bay Area, his hometown, for an assignment. The first in his family to finish college, earn a healthy six-figure income, and have choice and agency in his life’s direction, Dustin is fearful that returning home could mean falling back into roles that he’d thought he’d resolved by moving miles away…and equally fearful of falling back into bed with one sexy and toxic ex-boyfriend who still lingers in his memories.

One chance encounter. One night of passion. Will Taylor and Dustin leave it at one and done?

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Puzzles Can Be Deadly

By David S. Pederson

A bizarre old woman who worships the memory of her lost son.

A nun with hidden secrets.  

A spinster housekeeper with a secret of her own.  

An angry young man with a troubled past.

A neighbor who claims to talk to dead people at seances.

Skip Valentine and Henry Finch encounter these eccentric people on their weekend trip to visit Henry’s uncle. When they learn of the groundskeeper who died in a mysterious fire shortly before they arrived, strange occurrences are imbued with ominous portent. The peculiar accidents, ghostly barking, a pounding heard late at night in the creepy old mansion, and a strange old box buried behind the burned-out carriage house all add up to something.   

Skip yearns to investigate. It’s all so perplexing. But when another death raises the stakes, the puzzle turns deadly. The solution may lie in a curious rhyme told by the groundskeeper before he died, but first Skip and Henry must decipher it.

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Triad Magic

By 'Nathan Burgoine

Triad Blood Trilogy | Book 3

The law of three is everything: three vampires for a coterie, three demons for a pack, and three wizards for a coven. Those alone or in pairs are vulnerable to the rest. Luc, Anders, and Curtis—vampire, demon, and wizard—sidestepped tradition by binding themselves together.

Someone is killing those with the gift of prescience and prophecy, a feat that shouldn’t be possible given the victims should all sense the danger at hand. The three try to catch the killer, but how do you outwit someone killing those who see the future?

As more psychics turn up dead, new demons move into Ottawa, the magical Families close ranks, and a rebellion is sparked. Luc, Anders, and Curtis must stop a plan set into motion decades ago by one of the strongest and most dangerous supernatural powers ever to exist in Ottawa.

They already used the power of blood, soul, and magic to kill him once.

Now they have to stop his future from coming to pass.

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Head Over Heelflip

By Sander Santiago

People of Color
Friends & Community
Friends to Lovers Romance
Marriage of Convenience/Fake Relationship
Multicultural 

For most, the Colorado Amateur Street Sports Tour means a chance to see some local skateparks and fun antics as participants compete for some unusual point prizes. While he doesn’t expect to go pro as a skateboarder or BMX biker, Arturo hopes winning will jump-start his career in media. To win, his team must snag one of the bigger prizes, which means marrying his best friend Thomas “Pirate” Jefferson. But every plan has its hiccups. With bigots, journalists, and pressure from sponsors and teammates, Arturo must perform his best to pull it off.

The stakes are high for skateboarder and rollerblader Thomas. Invited onto the team because he’s that good, Thomas must win to prove he deserves to be there. To secure the biggest prizes, he’ll do almost anything, even marry his crush—Arturo “Uno” Ortiz. Although his feelings are a secret, his attraction gets harder to hide when the competition starts to push their relationship out into the open. When pressure drives a wedge through his team, Thomas is going to need more than a win to keep everyone he loves.

Arturo and Thomas know falling can hurt, but they didn’t anticipate marriage would be an extreme sport.

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Mississippi River Mischief

By Greg Herren

Gangsters
New Orleans 
Friends & Community
A Scotty Bradley Mystery

Spring has returned to New Orleans, bringing with it the swarming termites! First-time homeowner Scotty Bradley is feeling like he may have made the biggest mistake of his life buying in the French Quarter. Between dealing with the Vieux Carré Commission rules, termite damage, and contractors, it’s a relief when his best friend David brings the accidental sleuth a case: one of his students is being harassed by a much older man who turns out to be a big wheel politician in one of the parishes outside of New Orleans, up to his neck in corruption.

When the politician turns up dead and Scotty’s client is the most obvious suspect, Scotty and his friends set out to prove his client’s innocence. Lots of people wanted the man dead, but someone doesn’t want all the corruption in St. Jeanne d’Arc Parish exposed. And if that's not bad enough, someone from Scotty's past returns, making him question what he thinks he knows about himself and his own history...

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Murder at the Oasis

By David S. Pederson

A Private Detective Mason Adler Mystery | Book 3
Friends & Community
California
Private Investigator
Vacation
Children / Families

A relaxing trip to a Palm Springs resort turns deadly for Mason Adler and his friend Walter Wingate when first one of their fellow guests, then another, ends up murdered. Suspects and motives abound among the remaining guests as well as the owner of the Oasis resort, Marvin Gagliardi, an old friend of Walter’s.

Mason investigates, hoping to prove Marvin’s innocence, but the more he uncovers, the more he wonders if Marvin actually might be the murderer. Distracting Mason is the handsome and eligible police detective assigned to the case, Brian Branchford. Mason had vowed not to become interested in anyone living a five-hour drive from Phoenix, but Branchford’s green eyes, gray hair, and toothbrush moustache are compelling reasons to give it a try.

It’s up to Mason to uncover the truth about the deaths at the Oasis, and to discover if there’s romance as well as murder at the Oasis.

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The Speed of Slow Changes

By Sander Santiago

Bisexual
Blue Collar
People of Color
Children / Families
Multicultural 

Al Jefferson has people: wife, kids, father, siblings, friends. When Lucas shows up at a local polyamory party, Al knows he is ready for more. Sudden illnesses, date interruptions, and an unexpected visit prove that mixing Lucas into his already busy life isn’t going to be easy.

Lucas Laverty has people too: wife, daughter, parents. And though he and Al are both looking for a boyfriend, Lucas learns they mean different things by “boyfriend.” They don’t see things the same way when it comes to their other relationships, either. And before Lucas can sort out his relationship with Al, he’ll have to track down the father he missed out on.

If being a coach’s son has taught Al anything, it’s that winning the game might mean changing the play. But Lucas isn’t exactly flexible, and people don’t fall into neat categories. As Al and Lucas navigate the ups and downs of life, only one thing is certain: romance has never been so crowded.

Reader advisory: This book contains the use of a homophobic slur.

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Felix Navidad

By 'Nathan Burgoine

A Little Village Novella

Felix doesn’t do impulsive anymore. But attending a friend’s wedding reminds Felix he’s the only one of his friends attending solo, and recent losses have him thinking he's swung too far in the not-impulsive direction. 

So, impulse decision number one? Cutting in on a dance with handsome farmer Kevin, the ex of one of the grooms, for a spin at the reception. Impulse decision number two? Planning his first holiday vacation off work. Christmas in Hawai’i will be a gift to himself.

When dancing doesn’t work out, Felix keeps high hopes for his vacation right up until the first flight cancellation. After bumping into a stranded Kevin, who lost his flight home, Felix gives impulse a third try: Why not drive to Toronto together? But after ice rain strands them halfway, it looks like Felix isn’t going to get to give himself his gift after all. Instead, this Christmas is a small cabin—and Kevin.

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Manny Porter and The Yuletide Murder

By D.C. Robeline

Tinker Creek Series | Book 2
Blue Collar
People of Color
Amateur Sleuths
Friends & Community
Small Town Romances

Riding a tide of success after helping his boyfriend, Lyle, save their neighborhood of Tinker Creek from predatory developers, reporter Manny Porter throws himself into his career and community activism. The last thing he expects is to discover the body of prominent research scientist Phillip Nikolaidis during a laboratory tour. Murder can strike anywhere, and all the evidence is pointing toward Tristan DeJesus, Manny’s nineteen-year-old mentee.

Manny only has the holiday season to overcome jealous colleagues, an angry corporation, and a skeptical publisher to discover who killed Nikolaidis before the judicial system condemns an innocent man to lethal injection.

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Corpus Calvin

By David Swatling

Calvin Mystery Series | Book 2

Jason Dekker doesn’t believe in ghosts but is haunted by memories of Amsterdam. A move to the White Mountains of New Hampshire with his dog, Calvin, promises a fresh start. College friend Tessa Bernstein enlists his help at Cloverkist Inn, where strange occurrences are scaring off customers and staff. Is someone trying to drive Tessa out of business, or are darker forces at work? Does an enigmatic boy who bonds with Calvin hold the key to a secret dating back to the Civil War? The unsolicited arrival of psychic medium Valraven creates further turmoil when his investigation into paranormal activity clashes with Dekker’s skepticism. Loyalties shift and deep emotional wounds resurface as past and present converge with far-reaching consequences. Ghosts of memory may prove more difficult to exorcise than any phantom at Cloverkist.

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Hot Keys

By R.E. Ward

Music
Gangsters
Enemies to Lovers Romance
New York City
Bisexual
People of Color
Friends & Community
Big City
Magic

In 1920s New York City, it’s hard on the streets, but Betty May Dewitt and her best friend, Jack Norval, are determined to make their Tin Pan Alley dreams come true. Fate leads them to a speakeasy called the Trespass Inn, where people play fast and loose and criminals run the show. Betty and Jack are whisked into the glamorous and dangerous world of Prohibition rum-running, but fate has more in store for them than adventure. Romance blooms when a psychic medium’s magic dazzles Betty, and a gangster infuriates and fascinates Jack all at the same time. But danger lurks in every alley, and with the Trespass Inn under attack by rival gangsters, Betty and Jack will have to fight—not only for their hearts and dreams, but for their lives.

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Murder at Union Station

By David S. Pederson

A Private Detective Mason Adler Mystery | Book 2
Big City
Private Investigator
Actors/Artists
Friends & Community

Phoenix, May 6, 1946

At close to midnight in the Union Station baggage room, the air is hot, still, and thick. The eleven forty-five Golden State Limited to Los Angeles is approaching rapidly when the baggage handler, Alfred Brody, notices a stray hound dog sniffing around one of the steamer trunks. The horrific discovery of a body inside the trunk can mean only one thing: there’s a murderer among them.

The young woman was certainly murdered, but who did it, and why? Suspects and motives abound as Private Detective Mason Adler investigates. He soon realizes that nothing, and no one, are what they seem to be as he races to uncover the truth and bring the real murderer to justice without becoming the next victim.

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A Champion for Tinker Creek

By D.C. Robeline

Tinker Creek Series | Book 1
Gangsters
Blue Collar
Multicultural 
Friends & Community
Amateur Sleuths
People of Color
Small Town Romances

Master mechanic Lyle James built a successful but lonely life in Tinker Creek after rescuing his dad’s auto repair shop until an international development firm conspires with local officials to condemn the shop and steal his land.

Jose “Manny” Porter has come home to take a reporting job at the South Georgia Record, a regional newspaper where his father is publisher and editor-in-chief. As the son of a driven Anglo father and Cuban exile mother, Manny knows all about how competing parental expectations can chill efforts to even find sex—much less love.

After a night of passion, Lyle and Manny are thrown together in a fight to save Lyle’s business. Their struggles may lead to more than either expected for their community and their lives.

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Inherit the Lightning

By Bud Gundy

Coming Out
Secret Baby
Blue Collar
Second Chance at Love
Small Town Romances
Marriage of Convenience/Fake Relationship

Growing up middle-class in Cleveland, Ohio, Darcy O’Brien and his sisters learn they’re about to inherit a long-rumored, immense family fortune from their great-grandfather Cooper Tiller—until a mysterious stranger from New York City swoops in and claims ownership of the estate.

When his lawyer forbids Darcy from confronting the interloper, it only fuels his determination to protect their rightful inheritance. In many ways a mirror of Coop—a masculine, hard-charging businessman from the early 20th century—Darcy’s uncertain about his ability to find love with the right man, but he secretly longs for Jake Tester and allows him to join his quest.

The journey will change their lives as they uncover Coop’s epic tale, unraveling a seventy-year-old family secret that forces Darcy to face his fears and leads to a breathtaking discovery waiting more than a century to be unearthed.

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Pursued: Lillian's Story

By Felice Picano

International Setting

In Pursuit: A Victorian Entertainment, Addison Grimmins, slum-born but ambitious and ruthless, sets out on a quest to bring back the Lord Exchequer of England’s missing wife. Now, in Pursued: Lillian’s Story, we get the other side of the story from Lillian, the woman being pursued.

From boat to stagecoach to train, as Lillian and her questionably reliable companions elude her pursuers throughout Europe, Lillian writes to her daughter-in-law on her honeymoon, warning her of what she may expect marrying into the Ravenglass estate and its cursed male line of descent. Lillian recounts how as a girl she entered a dream marriage to the “golden” son of a great Lord. And how, little by little, one misfortune after another, the dream union threatened to become a nightmare that would destroy her reputation—and her life.

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Murder on Monte Vista

By David S. Pederson

Private Investigator
A Private Detective Mason Adler Mystery | Book 1
Veterans
Actors/Artists
Big City
Friends & Community
Food

It’s 1946, and on a hot spring night in Phoenix, Arizona, things are only beginning to heat up at the Monte Vista Road home of flamboyant decorator Walter Waverly Wingate.

Private detective Mason T. Adler isn’t thrilled to be turning fifty, and the party Walter throws him makes him even more uncomfortable. Walter has arranged a special birthday present for Mason: a private hour with the handsome, young Henry Bowtrickle in Walter’s upstairs bedroom. But the night turns deadly when his birthday gift turns up murdered. The room was locked, no way in or out, and only Henry and Mason were inside.

Mason Adler is on the case, but he is also a suspect, along with the other assorted party guests who were all downstairs at the time of the stabbing. Or were they?

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Boy at the Window

By Lauren Melissa Ellzey

Coming Out
Young Adult
People of Color
Children / Families
California
Multicultural 

It all began with trying to fly. After jumping off the roof of his house in the middle of the night, Daniel Kim wakes up far from Neverland, his reprieve from the real world. Thrust into a mental health hospital and then into a brand-new high school, he struggles to hold on to reality while haunted by both his very-present past and his never-present parents. But when he joins Cranbrook Preparatory’s cross-country team, he starts to feel like he’s walking on his own two feet once again. He meets Jiwon Yoon—another cross-country runner, who may be the first person to join Daniel in his Neverland daydreams. Or maybe Jiwon is the one who will finally break Daniel free.

Content warning: Emotional trauma, attempted suicide, mental illness.

 

"In his daydreams, Daniel, who is White and Korean, is the confident leader of the Lost Boys who spends his days seeking treasure and battling Captain Hook. There are no strict, distant parents in Neverland, no homophobic classmates, no pressure for him to be someone he isn’t. In real life, Daniel is a junior at Cranbrook Prep in Southern California, having transferred to the school for a fresh start following a suicide attempt over the summer… The portrayals of mental illness and trauma recovery are handled honestly and sensitively. There is no magical solution…An ultimately uplifting story that does not shy away from the discomfort of reality."Kirkus Reviews, 01/01/2022

"Ellzey’s novel is a sensitive story from a gifted writer...While the book has some triggering content, such as suicide attempts and mental illness, the author never equates Daniel’s mental struggles to his sexuality. It is a very keen move to draw that line very cleanly. Daniel is a fresh take on LGTBQIA+ youth representation who many readers will gravitate to; he is relatable without being stereotypical and his story is one young adults will want to read. VERDICT This debut novel belongs on the shelves of all libraries that serve high school readers."–School Library Journal, 05/01/2022

 

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Three Left Turns to Nowhere

By J. Marshall Freeman and Others

Young Adult

Three strangers heading to a convention in Toronto are stranded in rural Ontario, where a small town with a subtle kind of magic leads each to discover what he’s been searching for.

Ed Sinclair and his friends get stuck in Hopewell after their car breaks down. It’s snark at first sight when he meets local mechanic Lyn, but while they’re getting under each other’s skin, the town might show them a way into one another's hearts.

Rome Epstein is out and proud and clueless about love. He’s hosting a giant scavenger hunt at the convention, but ends up in Hopewell. When the town starts leaving him clues for its own scavenger hunt, he discovers a boy who could be the prize he’s been searching for.

Fielding Roy has a gift for seeing the past. His trip to reunite with friends hits an unexpected stop in Hopewell, but a long-lost love letter and two local boys give him a chance to do more than watch the past. This time, Fielding might be able to fix the present.

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