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Shalom Aleichem! May is Jewish Heritage Month, and to celebrate, we asked our contributors for their recommendations of queer books with Jewish characters or/and written by Jewish authors. I (Nina Waters), the owner of Duck Prints Press, am Jewish, so it’s a pleasure to finally be celebrating my own heritage with a themed list. The contributors to the list are: Tris Lawrence, Shea Sullivan, Nina Waters, Adrian Harley, Meera S., Linnea Peterson, and hullosweetpea.

• Dead Collections by Isaac Fellman
• Make Room for Love by Darcy Liao
• Lady Eve’s Last Con by Rebecca Fraimow
• Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker
• DeadEndia by Hamish Steele
• Add Magic to Taste Anthology, edited by Nina Waters
• When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb
• Beyond the Pale by Elana Dykewomon
• Little & Lion by Brandy Colbert
• Tell Me How You Really Feel by Aminah Mae Safi
• The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli
• Season of Love by Helena Greer
• For Never & Always by Helena Greer
• Flying Without a Net by E.M. Ben Shaul
• Body, Remember: A Memoir by Kenny Fries
• Yudah Cohen Short Story Series by Rebecca Fraimow
  • “Further Arguments In Support of Yudah Cohen’s Proposal to Bluma Zilberman”
  • “Shaina Rubin Keeps Her Head Under Circumstances Nobody Could Have Expected”
  • “Gitl Schneiderman Learns to Live With Her In-Laws”

What awesome queer Jewish books did we miss? Let us know!

Find these books on our Goodreads bookshelves, and/or visit the recommendation list in our affiliate shop on Bookshop.org and buy them for yourself!

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Today, May 3rd, is World Press Freedom Day. With journalists and an independent news media under attack literally and figuratively in places throughout the world, we wanted to take today to share some of our favorite non-fiction works that include investigative journalistic components. The line on what is or isn’t investigative journalism in non-fiction is fuzzy, so we gave our rec list contributors some leeway in making their recs. We did not require the books be queer. Contributors to the list are: Nina Waters, Shannon, Adrian Harley, polls, Linnea Peterson, Shea Sullivan, boneturtle, and Rhosyn Goodfellow.

• Hiroshima by John Hersey
• The Body Economic: Why Austerity Kills – Recessions, Budget Battles, and The Politics of Life and Death by Sanjay Basu & David Stuckler
• The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World by Antony Loewenstein
• Run: Book One by John Lewis & Andrew Aydin
• Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators by Ronan Farrow
• Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
• The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
• A Life in Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Missing Agents of WWII. by Sarah Helm
• No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram by Sarah Frier
• The Gay Metropolis: The Landmark History of Gay Life in America since World War II by Charles Kaiser
• Trapped in America’s Safety Net: One Family’s Struggle by Andrea Louise Campbell
• The Persuaders: At the Frontlines of the Fight for Hearts, Minds, and Democracy by Anand Giridharadas
• Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot by Masha Gessen
• The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein
• Wild Faith: How the Christian Right Is Taking Over America by Talia Lavin
• American Overdose: The Opioid Tragedy in Three Acts by Chris McGreal

What other important investigative journalism books do you think everyone should read?

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April 3rd was We Need Diverse Books Day. We’re slightly behind, schedule-wise, but we DO need diverse books, and we figured: better late than never! We asked our rec list contributors to give us one of their favorite queer books staring a person of color, and to give us a sentence or three review for the book! Below are their answers…

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz; rec by Anonymous #1: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz is the coming-of-age story that treats it’s characters with a great deal of love and respect. Dante and Ari feel entirely real, their struggles relatable and touching.

Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera; rec by S. J. Ralston: A Puerto Rican lesbian from the Bronx has a summer internship with a white feminist author in Portland. A coming-of-age story that focuses on the power of queer Black and Brown women. The narrator’s voice is strong, clear, and at times poetically beautiful.

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez; rec by Shadaras: The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez is a gorgeous stand-alone mythic fantasy novel with lush prose that moves through perspective and tone with ease. It weaves a story about two young men—a disillusioned prince and a one-armed soldier—rescuing the Moon from where she’d been entrapped for decades by the emperor, framed by a generations-later youth learning this tale.

Heaven Official’s Blessing by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu; rec by Anonymous #2: Heaven Official’s Blessing by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu follows Xie Lian, a prince turned vagrant who, after 800 years, ascends to godhood for a third time (as a god of junk and scrap collecting) and Hua Cheng, an enigmatic ghost king whose power and menace are rivalled only by his desperation to finally give Xie Lian a happy ending. It’s a nested narrative structured in a really interesting way, where each arc reveals more of what happened over the 800 years of Xie Lian’s long and troubled life while also exploring how his choices come back to haunt him in the present. The supporting cast is fascinating, the themes of how hard it is to do the right thing are especially resonant right now, and I’m still messed up about the Black Water arc.

We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds; rec by Shannon: It’s the first book that really captured (for me) the feeling of nearing adulthood and realizing you can decide what kind of adult you want to be, how nuanced and flawed people are, and how difficult learning to navigate all of that can be. And I’m a sucker for queer stories in the South.

Little Mushroom by Shisi (Yi Shi Si Zhou); rec by Nina Waters: Little Mushroom by Yi Shi Si Zhou is the story of a sentient mushroom who has lost his spore and goes searching through a post-apocalyptic dystopian near future in order to get it back. It’s the story of a state-sanctioned mass murderer he meets when he reaches a human city. And yes, it’s a BL about a sentient mushroom and a state-sanctioned mass murderer falling in love. But. It’s also a cutting look at what it means to be “human”; and it’s an insightful gaze at how far we’ll go to protect ourselves, our communities, and our worlds; and it’s a tragedy about the importance of hope – and that hope is ultimately rewarded. An Zhe is just a little mushroom. And his story is so. fucking. good.

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki; rec by Adrian Harley: Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki is a wonderful genre-blender. On the fantasy side, a world-class violinist has made a deal with the devil; on the sci-fi side, an intergalactic starship captain hides her identity and runs a donut shop with her family. The book is all about the power of music, food, and love, and it’s warming and joyful without tipping over into cloying.

Rust in the Root by Justina Ireland; rec by Shea Sullivan: Rust in the Root by Justina Ireland is the story of Laura, a young, queer, Black mage in the 1930s who is forced by circumstance to work for the government in a segregated group of Black mages. This group supports the future of magic, Mechomancy, which has always been powered by death: first, the death of Black people, and now, the old death of oil fuel. This story is an unflinching look at the realities of America’s roots in enslavement, genocide, and theft, and is also an incredible story of found family, the power of community, and the true responsibility of power. The worldbuilding is deft and deep, and sets the stage for a rich, layered, coming-of-age, coming-to-power story that gives no easy answers, but delivers hope in abundance.

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo; rec by E. C.: I am yet again gonna recommend the works of Malinda Lo, especially Last Night at the Telegraph Club, a touching, well-researched and well-footnoted sapphic coming-of-age story. It follows a Chinese-American high schooler in 1950s San Francisco as she struggles to reconcile the (often conflicting) expectations of her family, community, and country with her own goals and desires.

Make Room for Love by Darcy Liao; rec by Linnea Peterson: Make Room for Love by Darcy Liao is a sapphic adult romance about a biracial transfemme grad student named Mira who needs new housing after leaving an abusive relationship and winds up moving in with a Chinese American butch lesbian electrician named Isabel who she meets at a club. The book explores Mira’s trauma and self-worth struggles left over from her previous relationship, Isabel’s grief and eldest daughter issues following the death of one of her sisters, and both blue-collar and academic labor rights, since Isabel is a union member who has previously salted a non-union shop, and Mira is part of the effort to unionize her fellow grad students.

Our Goodreads book list is full of way more diverse queer books we recommend, so check it out!

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This week, April 13 to 19, is “Hate Week,” named after the “holiday” in George Orwell’s 1984. The resulting real event is an opportunity to highlight the realities that people who live under dictatorships and totalitarian states face. We asked our usual rec list contributors for their favorite books on this topic – and, given the tensions of the current time and the dangers so many of us face, we did not restrict them to reccing books with queer representation. The resulting list of books was so long that we are splitting it into two posts – April 13th’s post, highlighting fiction books, and today’s, featuring non-fiction books. The contributors to this list are: Nina Waters, boneturtle, Shannon, Linnea Peterson, Meera S., and E. C.

• Rifqa by Mohammed El-Kurd
• Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth’s Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa by Mark Mathabane
• Democracy May Not Exist, But We’ll Miss It When It’s Gone by Astra Taylor
• Our Time is Now: Power, Purpose, and the Fight for a Fair America by Stacey Abrams
• An Underground Life: Memoirs of a Gay Jew in Nazi Berlin by Gad Beck
• The White Rabbit: The Secret Agent the Gestapo Could Not Crack by Bruce Marshall
• Night by Elie Wiesel
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
• On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder
• The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America by Timothy Snyder
• How to Stand Up to a Dictator by Maria Ressa
• They Called Us Enemy by George Takei, Steven Scott, Justin Eisinger & Harmony Becker

You can view this list as a shelf on the Duck Prints Press Goodreads, or you can browse it in our Bookshop.org affiliate shop and buy the titles!

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Today, April 2nd, is International Children’s Book Day! A fair few of the people who contribute to our rec lists have kids, and of course we’re always on the lookout for queer-friendly children’s books, so here’s our list of 14 children’s and middle-grade titles. The contributors to this list are: Rascal Hartley, Nina Waters, Owl Outerbridge, Dei Walker and an anonymous contributor.

• The Witch Boy by Molly Knox Ostertag
• Snapdragon by Kat Leyh
• Dungeon Critters by Natalie Riess & Sara Goetter
• The Tea Dragon Society by K. O’Neill
• Perfectly Norman by Tom Percival
• All the Colours of the Rainbow by Rae White & Sha’an d’Anthes
• And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell, Justin Richardson & Henry Cole
• Unicorn Day by Diana Murray & Luke Flowers
• Red: A Crayon’s Story by Michael Hall
• A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss & E.G. Keller
• Jamie Is Jamie: A Book About Being Yourself and Playing Your Way by Afsaneh Moradian & Maria Bogade
• All Kinds of Families by Norma Simon & Joe Lasker
• Call Me Max by Kyle Lukoff & Luciano Lozano
• Julián Is a Mermaid by Jessica Love

Find these and more Children’s Books on our Goodreads book shelf. Wanna buy some of these awesome books? You can get them through the Duck Prints Press Bookshop.org affiliate shop

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Eid Mubarak! Ramadan is ending, and Eid al-Fitr is beginning, and we’re celebrating with a modest list of queer books with Muslim characters. The contributors to the list are: Meera S., Linnea Peterson, Nina Waters, and Adrian Harley.

We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir by Samra Habib

How do you find yourself when the world tells you that you don’t exist?

Samra Habib has spent most of their life searching for the safety to be themself. As an Ahmadi Muslim growing up in Pakistan, they faced regular threats from Islamic extremists who believed the small, dynamic sect to be blasphemous. From their parents, they internalized the lesson that revealing their identity could put them in grave danger.

When their family came to Canada as refugees, Samra encountered a whole new host of bullies, racism, the threat of poverty, and an arranged marriage. Backed into a corner, their need for a safe space–in which to grow and nurture their creative, feminist spirit–became dire. The men in Samra’s life wanted to police them, the women in their life had only shown them the example of pious obedience, and their body was a problem to be solved.

So begins an exploration of faith, art, love, and queer sexuality, a journey that takes them to the far reaches of the globe to uncover a truth that was within them all along. A triumphant memoir of forgiveness and family, both chosen and not, We Have Always Been Here is a rallying cry for anyone who has ever felt out of place and a testament to the power of fearlessly inhabiting one’s truest self.

Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H

When fourteen-year-old Lamya H realizes she has a crush on her teacher–her female teacher–she covers up her attraction, an attraction she can’t yet name, by playing up her roles as overachiever and class clown. Born in South Asia, she moved to the Middle East at a young age and has spent years feeling out of place, like her own desires and dreams don’t matter, and it’s easier to hide in plain sight. To disappear. But one day in Quran class, she reads a passage about Maryam that changes everything: when Maryam learned that she was pregnant, she insisted no man had touched her. Could Maryam, uninterested in men, be . . . like Lamya?

From that moment on, Lamya makes sense of her struggles and triumphs by comparing her experiences with some of the most famous stories in the Quran. She juxtaposes her coming out with Musa liberating his people from the pharoah; asks if Allah, who is neither male nor female, might instead be nonbinary; and, drawing on the faith and hope Nuh needed to construct his ark, begins to build a life of her own–ultimately finding that the answer to her lifelong quest for community and belonging lies in owning her identity as a queer, devout Muslim immigrant.

Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating by Adiba Jaigirdar

Everyone likes Humaira “Hani” Khan—she’s easy going and one of the most popular girls at school. But when she comes out to her friends as bisexual, they invalidate her identity, saying she can’t be bi if she’s only dated guys. Panicked, Hani blurts out that she’s in a relationship…with a girl her friends absolutely hate—Ishita “Ishu” Dey. Ishu is the complete opposite of Hani. She’s an academic overachiever who hopes that becoming head girl will set her on the right track for college. But Ishita agrees to help Hani, if Hani will help her become more popular so that she stands a chance of being elected head girl.

Despite their mutually beneficial pact, they start developing real feelings for each other. But relationships are complicated, and some people will do anything to stop two Bengali girls from achieving happily ever after.

Tell Me How You Really Feel by Aminah Mae Safi

Sana Khan is a cheerleader and a straight A student. She’s the classic (somewhat obnoxious) overachiever determined to win.

Rachel Recht is a wannabe director who’s obsesssed with movies and ready to make her own masterpiece. As she’s casting her senior film project, she knows she’s found the perfect lead – Sana.

There’s only one problem. Rachel hates Sana. Rachel was the first girl Sana ever asked out, but Rachel thought it was a cruel prank and has detested Sana ever since.

Told in alternative viewpoints and inspired by classic romantic comedies, this engaging and edgy YA novel follows two strongwilled young women falling for each other despite themselves.

DeadEndia by Hamish Steele

Barney Guttman’s life has been turned upside down. His family is struggling to fully embrace his trans identity, but thanks to his best friend Norma, he’s just landed a job at Phoenix Parks, a Dollywood-esque amusement park inspired by the long life and career of mysteriously youthful actress and singer Pauline Phoenix. Soon, Barney and his dog, Pugsley, secretly move into the haunted house attraction. Little does Barney know, the house contains a portal to the demonic planes of Hell. When Courtney, Barney’s devilish new roommate, invites a demon king to Earth through the portal, they offer Barney and Norma as flesh vessels for the king, but in a strange twist, Pugsley is possessed instead! It’s a race through the park to save Pugsley—and the world—from the demon king’s reign of terror that leaves Pugsley with strange and magical side effects. With all of this chaos going on, Barney is also discovering he has crush on park employee, Logan, so he must face his biggest fear of all… talking to someone he likes.

Follow the lives of this diverse group of friends in this hilarious and moving graphic novel series, complete with talking pugs, vengeful ghosts, and first love.

Shubeik Lubeik by Deena Mohamed

Shubeik Lubeik–a fairytale rhyme meaning “Your Wish is My Command” in Arabic–is the story of three characters navigating a world where wishes are literally for sale; mired in bureaucracy and the familiar prejudices of our world, the more expensive the wish, the more powerful and therefore the more likely to work as intended. The novel’s three distinct parts tell the story of three first class wishes as used by Aziza, Nour, and Shokry, each grappling with the challenge inherent in trying to make your most deeply held desire come true.

What are YOUR favorite Queer Muslim books? (We definitely need some recs ourselves!)

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Happy International Women’s Day! We’ve got 18 recommendations today for books staring queer female characters, and the only reason we don’t have way more is that we told our reccers they couldn’t suggest more than two books each. If you want more recs, you can also check out our International Women’s Day post from 2024, which has 13 more recommendations. The contributors to today’s list are: Tris Lawrence, Rascal Hartley, Linnea Peterson, Shea Sullivan, Shadaras, Sanne, Shannon, S. J. Ralston, Nina Waters and two anonymous contributors.

• Missed Fortunes by Tris Lawrence
• Ellen Outside the Lines by A.J. Sass
• Godkiller by Hannah Kaner
• Ophelia After All by Racquel Marie
• Lucy, Uncensored by Mel Hammond & Teghan Hammond
• Blood Sisters by Vanessa Lillie
• Spear by Nicola Griffith
• The Red Scholar’s Wake by Aliette de Bodard
• Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott
• Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
• Tauhou by Kōtuku Titihuia Nuttall
• Idlewild by James Frankie Thomas
• Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey
• The Water Outlaws by S.L. Huang
• Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant
• The Fox Maidens by Robin Ha
• The Secret to Superhuman Strength by Alison Bechdel
• Chlorine by Jade Song

Find these and many other books on our Goodreads bookshelf! You can also order your own copies through our Bookshop.org affiliate shop.

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Happy Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week everyone! This is our third year celebrating this lovely week with book recs; you can check out our 2023 list here and our 2024 list here. As an aro-owned business, this is an occasion near and dear to my heart, and I’m delighted to have 10 all-new recommendations for stories with (implied or explicit) aromantic characters! The contributors to this list are: May Barros, Neo Scarlett, Shea Sullivan, Nina Waters, Zel Howland, Shadaras, Meera S., Linnea Peterson and an anonymous contributor.

• I Want to be a Wall by Honami Shirono
• Common Bonds: An Aromantic Speculative Anthology by Claudie Arseneault, C.T. Callahan, B.R. Sanders, RoAnna Sylver
• Journey Home by May Barros
• Favorite by May Barros
• Baker Thief by Claudie Arseneault
• How to Sell Your Blood and Fall in Love by D.N. Bryn
• Yelen & Yelena by C.M. Rosens
• First Test by Tamora Pierce
• The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee
• If It Makes You Happy by Claire Kann

Aro books from this and previous years can be found on our Goodreads book shelf!

Do these sound cool? You can get them through the Duck Prints Press Bookshop.org affiliate shop.

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Making rec lists by a request is not our usual thing (though we’d love to make it more our thing! feel free to drop us an ask with a request), but we recently got an ask the-bi-library on Tumblr we could not refuse: “do you have any recommendations for mangas with bisexual main characters for me, please?” And boy, do we have some! Contributors to the list are Nina Waters, Rhosyn Goodfellow, and an anonymous contributor.

• 10 Dance by Inouesatoh
• Blue Flag by Kaito
• Given by Natsuki Kizu
• Fake by Sanami Matoh
• Rg Veda by CLAMP
• xxxHolic by CLAMP
• Until the Full Moon by Sanami Matoh
• The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t A Guy At All by Sumiko Arai
• Maybe Akira-kun, Maybe Akira-chan by Yasuko
• My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! by Satoru Yamaguchi & Nami Hidaka
• Devilman by Go Nagai
• Saiyuki by Kazuya Minekura

What manga with bisexual protagonists are your favorite?

Find these manga, and lots of other books with bisexual characters, on our bi-or-pan-characters shelf on Goodreads!

Do these sound fun? You can buy them through the Duck Prints Press Bookshop.org affiliate shop (though sadly, some are out of print currently).

Join our Book Lover’s Discord server to chat with us about YOUR favorite manga!

Happy Chinese New Year! According to the Chinese calendar, we’re entering the Year of the Snake. To celebrate it, we asked our contributors to tell us about their favorite queer books that feature snakes and snake-like creatures. Contributors to the list are: boneturtle, D.V. Morse, Nina Waters, Neo Scarlett, Linnea Peterson, Tris Lawrence, E. C. and an anonymous contributor.

The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Half-demon Luo Binghe rose from humble beginnings and a tortured past to become unrivaled in strength and beauty. With his dominion over both the Human and Demon Realms and his hundreds-strong harem, he is truly the most powerful protagonist…in a trashy webnovel series!

At least, that’s what Shen Yuan believes as he finishes reading the final chapter in Proud Immortal Demon Way. But when a bout of rage leads to his sudden death, Shen Yuan is reborn into the world of the novel in the body of Shen Qingqiu–the beautiful but cruel teacher of a young Luo Binghe. While Shen Qingqiu may have the incredible power of a cultivator, he is destined to be horrifically punished for crimes against the protagonist.

The new Shen Qingqiu now has only one course of action: get into Luo Binghe’s good graces before the young man’s rise to power or suffer the awful fate of a true scum villain!

A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger

Nina is a Lipan girl in our world. She’s always felt there was something more out there. She still believes in the old stories.

Oli is a cottonmouth kid, from the land of spirits and monsters. Like all cottonmouths, he’s been cast from home. He’s found a new one on the banks of the bottomless lake.

Nina and Oli have no idea the other exists. But a catastrophic event on Earth, and a strange sickness that befalls Oli’s best friend, will drive their worlds together in ways they haven’t been in centuries.

And there are some who will kill to keep them apart.

Dungeon Critters by Sara Goetter & Natalie Riess

Join the Dungeon Critters–a tight-knit squad of animal companions–on a wild adventure investigating a sinister botanical conspiracy among the furry nobility. As they risk their lives traveling through haunted dungeons, swamps, and high society balls–they also come closer together as friends.

Motivated by rivalries, ideals, and a lust for adventure, these critters navigate not only perils and dangers of the natural world, but also perils and dangers…of the heart.

Devil Venerable Also Wants To Know by Cyan Wings

In a Mary-Sue novel, the readers all liked the Devil Venerable, the second male lead who devoted himself whole-heartedly to the female lead. However the female lead only loved the male lead who abused her physically and mentally.

Readers: Why doesn’t the female lead like the Devil Venerable?!

Devil Venerable: This Venerable also wants to know. But what I really want to know is why I even like the female lead at all.

In order to understand why the female lead wasn’t attracted to him, the self-conscious Devil Venerable brutally interrogated the entire cast of characters from the novel.

Background characters: I have so many things I want to say but I don’t dare to say it to his face!

After obtaining the book, the Devil Venerable discovered that the book described the world he lived in. This book said that after he sacrificed himself for the female lead, the fourth male lead, his silent and loyal subordinate Yin Hanjiang, blackened and attempted to kill her as a sacrificial offering for his lord.

Devil Venerable Wenren E: Yin Hanjiang, this Venerable wants to know why you wanted to kill the female lead.

Yin Hanjiang was silent.

Wenren E: If you refuse to speak, this Venerable will cut out your tongue and drink it with alcohol!

Yin Hanjiang: …

Wenren E: What the hell are you blushing for?!

Guardian by Priest

Zhao Yunlan heads up a covert division of the Ministry of Public Security that deals with the strange and unusual, blurring the line between the mortal realm and the Netherworld. His cocky, casual attitude conceals both a sharp mind and an arsenal of mystical tools and arcane knowledge.

While investigating a gruesome death at a local university, Zhao Yunlan crosses paths with the reserved Professor Shen Wei. Zhao Yunlan is immediately intrigued by Shen Wei’s good looks and intense gaze, and the attraction between them is immediate and powerful, even as Shen Wei tries to keep his distance. Shen Wei and his secrets are a puzzle Zhao Yunlan feels compelled to solve as mysterious circumstances throw them together, and their connection becomes impossible to deny.

The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee

A year after an accidentally whirlwind grand tour with her brother Monty, Felicity Montague has returned to England with two goals in mind–avoid the marriage proposal of a lovestruck suitor from Edinburgh and enroll in medical school. However, her intellect and passion will never be enough in the eyes of the administrators, who see men as the sole guardians of science.

But then a window of opportunity opens–a doctor she idolizes is marrying an old friend of hers in Germany. Felicity believes if she could meet this man he could change her future, but she has no money of her own to make the trip. Luckily, a mysterious young woman is willing to pay Felicity’s way, so long as she’s allowed to travel with Felicity disguised as her maid.

In spite of her suspicions, Felicity agrees, but once the girl’s true motives are revealed, Felicity becomes part of a perilous quest that leads them from the German countryside to the promenades of Zurich to secrets lurking beneath the Atlantic.

Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan

Rae is a bookworm who prefers fictional men over real life boyfriends. But her life takes a strange turn when she is trapped by magic inside her favourite fantasy series, and she finds herself pitted against her suddenly living and breathing crush, the ‘Once and Forever Emperor’.

In a palace on the brink of war, she has become the villainess in his tale, and she needs to take control of the narrative before it, and the Emperor, take control of her… fatally.

Heaven Official’s Blessing by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Born the crown prince of a prosperous kingdom, Xie Lian was renowned for his beauty, strength, and purity. His years of dedicated study and noble deeds allowed him to ascend to godhood. But those who rise may also fall, and fall he does–cast from the heavens and banished to the world below.

Eight hundred years after his mortal life, Xie Lian has ascended to godhood for the third time, angering most of the gods in the process. To repay his debts, he is sent to the Mortal Realm to hunt down violent ghosts and troublemaking spirits who prey on the living. Along his travels, he meets the fascinating and brilliant San Lang, a young man with whom he feels an instant connection. Yet San Lang is clearly more than he appears… What mysteries lie behind that carefree smile?

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

Soldier. Summoner. Saint. Alina Starkov’s power has grown, but not without a price. She is the Sun Summoner–hunted across the True Sea, haunted by the lives she took on the Shadow Fold. But she and Mal can’t outrun their enemies for long.

The Darkling is more determined than ever to claim Alina’s magic and use it to take the Ravkan throne. With nowhere else to turn, Alina enlists the help of an infamous privateer and sets out to lead the Grisha army.

But as the truth of Alina’s destiny unfolds, she slips deeper into the Darkling’s deadly game of forbidden magic, and further away from her humanity. To save her country, Alina will have to choose between her power and the love she thought would always be her shelter. No victory can come without sacrifice–and only she can face the oncoming storm.

What queer books with snakes did we miss? Let us know!

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You can check out this list as a shelf on Goodreads – and you can also peek at the list we did for last year’s Chinese New Year, books with dragons! If you see something on this list you’d like to buy, we encourage you to facilitate doing so by checking out our Affiliate shop rec list on Bookshop.org.