April presents another stacked month for LGBTQ+ books! In fact, it’s so stacked that instead of just five top picks this month, I’m coming at you with SEVEN! Catch up on what to add to your TBR pile from March and then keep on stacking that pile with the brilliant books detailed below and forthcoming this month! Find our top 7 anticipated queer books for April 2025, followed by the rest of the books we want to highlight this month. And if there’s anything else we should have on our radar, shout it out in the comments!

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Autostraddle’s Top Most Anticipated LGBTQ Books for April 2025

Freakslaw, by Jane Flett (April 1, Horror)

The titular traveling carnival of queers and freaks descends on a repressed Scottish town called Pitlaw in the summer of 1997 in this freakish horror debut all about REVENGE. Funny and strange, you’re going to want to get your claws on this one. I fell in love with the author’s work immediately after reading Flett’s short story “The Sin Eater“, so if you want a taste, check that out.

A/S/L, by Jeanne Thornton (April 1, Literary Fiction)

Oh, I’ve been waiting for this one for a long time!!!! The author of Summer Fun is back, this time with a novel about three queer friends and video games. As its early-internety title suggests, the narrative begins in the 90s and centers Lilith, Sash, and Abraxa, who live all over the country but come together to create the game Saga of the Sorceress despite never meeting in person. We jump 18 years later to their adult lives, where Lilith is “a trans woman in a very cis world,” working as a loan underwriter in a Manhattan bank; Sash is a part-time cam dominatrix in Brooklyn; and Abraxa is sleeping on her friend’s floor in Jersey City. None of them know the other is so close!

Authority, by Andrea Long Chu (April 8, Nonfiction)

One of the greatest critics of our time is back with a book that weaves together some of her existing work, along with two new essays providing an intellectual history of the crisis of authority in criticism. Every queer critic or aspiring queer critic (or just every critic, really) should probably check this one out.

Flirting Lessons, by Jasmine Guillory (April 8, Romance)

Bestselling romance icon Jasmine Guillory delivers her first queer romance! Avery Jensen is about to turn 30, fresh off a breakup, and wanting to date around and especially date women. Taylor Cameron is also fresh off a breakup (in which she was the heartbreaker) and her best friend has bet she can’t make it to Labor Day without sleeping with someone, so as a distraction from her own flirty ways, Taylor offers to give Avery flirting lessons.

Awakened, by A.E. Osworth (April 8, Fantasy)

A trans magical coming-of-age tale, Awakened follows a coven of trans witches battling an evil AI against the backdrop of late capitalism. Funny, incisive, and full of magical adventures, Awakened is an adult fantasy novel that’ll cast its spell on you. And it’s written by A.E. Osworth!

Slayers, Every One of Us: How One Girl in All the World Showed Us How to Hold On, by Kristin Russo and Jenny Owen Youngs (April 8, Memoir)

Fans of their hit podcast Buffering the Vampire Slayer will surely love Kristin Russo and Jenny Owen Youngs’s candid and insightful memoir, which begins with the ultimatum given at the beginning of their marriage that Kristin must watch Jenny’s favorite show Buffy but then takes us through the story of their public divorce and the friendship that followed.

Somadina, by Akwaeke Emezi (April 15, Fantasy)

Emezi stays putting out books (annually it feels like?!), and this latest one is a YA fantasy-adventure set in a magical West African world and about a teen girl trying to find her missing twin. Since it’s Emezi, you know the language will be lush, the characters complex, and the world-building immersive and ambitious.

And now, enjoy the rest of our picks for most anticipated queer books this month, with brief descriptions!

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April 1

Direct Descendant, by Tanya Huff (Horror)

Set in Toronto, this cozy horror novel features a queer romance between the town baker and a PI.

Unsex Me Here, by Aurora Mattia (Story Collection)

This story collection sounds ethereal and haunted, blending realism, the speculative, and autofiction for a true genre-bending experience.

King’s Legacy, by L. C. Rosen (YA)

We were big fans of Rosen’s Lavender House, so we’re looking forward to checking out this YA adventure novel steeped in queer history and Biblical figures.

Glitter in the Dark, by Olesya Lyuzna (Mystery)

Set in Prohibition-era New York, historical fiction mystery-thriller Glitter in the Dark follows a reporter and advice columnist and the search for a kidnapped singer through Harlem speakeasies and the theater world.

Where Shadows Meet, by Patrice Caldwell (Fantasy)

This is a Black sapphic vampire romantasy, full of fantasy, friendship, love, and loss.

Messy Perfect, by Tanya Boteju (YA)

Here’s a sweet YA premise about a teen girl who starts an underground GSA club at her oppressively conservative Catholic high school.

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April 8

Lonely Women Make Good Lovers, by Keetje Kuipers (Poetry)

April is National Poetry Month, so make sure you’re reading and supporting some queer poets this month!!! Sexy, earth, and full of desire, be sure to check out this new release from Keetje Kuipers. You can get a taste here.

Make Sure You Die Screaming, by Zee Carlstrom (Literary Fiction)

Adding to the queer road trip novel canon, Make Sure You Die Screaming features an unnamed nonbinary narrator burned out from their corporate job who drives from Chicago to an ultra conservative part of Arkansas after getting a call from their mother that their MAGA-loving conspiracy theorist father has gone missing.

Don’t Sleep with the Dead, by Nghi Vo (Fantasy)

Prolific sapphic genre writer Nghi Vo delivers a standalone companion novella to her queer reimagining of The Great Gatsby, The Chosen and the Beautiful from 2021.

The Influencers, by Anna-Marie McLemore (Thriller)

A mother who has amassed a massive empire as a mom-fluencer finds her life upended when her new husband is killed and her mansion is torched. The suspects? The five daughters, now adults, whose lives she mined for content for their entire childhoods. Juicy!

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April 15

When the Harvest Comes, by Denne Michele Norris (Literary Fiction)

I’ve had the privilege of hearing Denne read from this novel, and just trust me when I say: Preorder it right now! Denne’s prose is gorgeous and immersive, and this narrative of queer Black love and complicated family dynamics will absolutely undo you.

No One Taught Me How to Be a Man: What a Trans Man’s Experience Reveals About Masculinity, by Shannon T.L. Kearns (Memoir)

Trans author Shannon Kearns pens an exploration of masculinity and transmasc identity, combining pop culture analysis, personal narrative, and a close look at the cultural expectations placed on men.

a body more tolerable, by jaye simpson (Poetry)

I said it before, and I’ll say it again: Read! More! Queer! Poetry! This one would be good to check out if you are drawn to fairy tales and mythology.

Francine’s Spectacular Crash and Burn, by Renee Swindle (Literary Fiction)

A woman saves a 10-year-old boy from bullies, and the two form a special bond. And then the woman learns his foster mom is her former crush from high school!

Lone Yellow Flower, by Erika Gill (Poetry)

More queer poetry for you! Erika Gill explores biracial, disabled, and queer identities in these embodied and place-specific poems.

Notes from a Queer Cripple: How to Cultivate Queer Disabled Joy, by Andrew Gurza (Nonfiction)

This work of personal narrative and cultural analysis tackles topics like ableism in queer spaces, internalized ableism and sexuality, desirability, microaggressions, self-pleasure, and finding disabled joy in a hellscape of discrimination and harm.

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April 22

Eat the Ones You Love, by Sarah Maria Griffin (Horror)

Well you know my Yellowjackets-loving ass immediately was hooked by this title. It’s about protagonist Shell, who takes a job working in a florist shop where she meets shop manager Neve, who has some dangerous secrets involving a hungry sentient orchid. This copy from the publisher is too good not to quote directly: “This is a story about desire, dreams, decay—and working retail at the end of the world.” Sign me right on up!

Accidentally on Purpose, by Kristen Kish (Memoir)

Kristen Kish memoir ALERT! Here’s a celebrity memoir I actually cannot wait for! It covers her life growing up as an adoptee in the Midwest and working at a pretzel stand in high school to coming out, finding love, and taking the celebrity chef world by storm.

If We Were a Movie, by Zakiya N. Jamal (YA)

An enemies-to-lovers sapphic romance that largely takes place in a historic Black-owned movie theater, this YA release sounds super sweet and perfect for romance lovers who spend a lot of time in movie theaters.

The Corruption of Hollis Brown, by K. Ancrum (Thriller)

Here’s a queer romantic thriller with some paranormal twists. I love a gay ghost book!

Super Gay Poems: LGBTQIA+ Poetry After Stonewall, edited by Stephanie Burt (Poetry)

It IS National Poetry Month after all! And what better way to celebrate than with this tome of an anthology that explores post-Stonewall queer poetics, featuring work by Frank O’Hara, Audre Lorde, Adrienne Rich, Chen Chen, essa ranapiri, and more!

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April 29

The Lilac People, by Milo Todd (Historical Fiction)

Set in 1932 Berlin, The Lilac People follows a trans man named Bertie who works for Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld at the Institute of Sexual Science and has to fight for survival as the Nazis rise to power.

My Best Friend’s Honeymoon, by Meryl Wilsner (Romance)

Romance icon Meryl Wilsner (author of The MILF Book, which is not its actual title but ifykyk) is back with a spicy romance that features a nonbinary main character and a honeymoon full of shenanigans.

When the Tides Held the Moon, by Venessa V. Kelley (Fantasy)

This queer historical cozy fantasy centers a young Puerto Rican immigrant who captures a merman for a Coney Island sideshow in the early 1900s.

The Sea Gives Up the Dead: Stories, by Molly Olguín (Story Collection)

Historical fiction, horror, and fantasy come together in this mythical, wondrous story collection. In addition to reading more queer poetry this month, make it a goal to read more queer short fiction!