The temps are lowering, the holidays are coming, and ’tis the season to treat yourself! (Note: for a solid self-gift this month in the queer romance realm, check out the new edition of Alyssa Cole’s How to Find a Princess, coming in trade paperback for the first time on November 12th!)

• All the Painted Stars

  

  To win her heart, she’ll have to fight…Oxfordshire 1362

  When Lily Barden discovers her best friend Johanna’s hand in marriage is being awarded as the main prize at a tournament, she is determined to stop it. Disguised as a knight, she infiltrates the contest, preparing to fight for Jo’s hand. But her conduct ruffles feathers, and when a dangerous incident escalates out of Lily’s control, Jo must help her escape.

  Finding safety with a local brewster, Lily and Jo soon settle into their new freedom, and amongst blackberry bushes and lakeside walks an unexpected relationship blossoms. But when Jo’s past catches up with her and Lily’s reckless behaviour threatens their newfound happiness, both women realise that choices must always come at a cost. The question they need to ask is if the cost is worth the price of love…

  Denny kicked off her 14th Century Oxfordshire series with the sweet ‘n sexy m/m One Night in Hartswood, and I’m so happy to see her return with some historical Sapphics, especially when one’s a knight in shining armor! It’s so rare to get queer romance outside of Regency or Victorian eras, and I love what Denny’s been bringing to the Middle Ages so far.

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• Wake Up, Nat & Darcy

  

  Ex-lovers. Ex-rivals. New cohosts. Oh, puck.

  Cut from the US women’s hockey team right before her third chance at gold, Natalie Carpenter is scrambling for a plan that’ll help her avoid moving back home. The answer: a guest-hosting gig on Wake Up, USA’s winter games coverage. Her cohost: Darcy LaCroix, Nat’s ex-girlfriend, one-time college teammate turned adversary.

  Since leaving Team Canada, Darcy has worked hard to make a name in broadcasting. If her big break requires sharing screen time with the former cocky freshman who turned her world upside down, so be it. At this point, there’s nothing between them except history.

  But audiences disagree. #PuckingHotties is trending hard, and Nat and Darcy agree to lean into it—for ratings, obviously. It’s not like Nat can forget the way Darcy broke her heart or their bitter team rivalry.

  Between working, traveling together and that irresistible spark, it’s getting hard to separate what’s real and what’s for the camera. Because somewhere underneath everything that went wrong is the sneaking suspicion that nothing will ever feel quite this right again.

  Hockey Romances have been having a major moment for a while now, but lately I keep stumbling upon the question, “What about the Sapphics??” And while Kelly Farmer’s been holding that down for a little while now, it’s fabulous to get a new name on the ice in the form of debut Cochrane, who works a delightful lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers angle between two former Olympians and clearly knows her stuff. (This is not of the “But where are the actual sports?” subgenre of sports romance, and it’s actually very fun to see glimpses of a few different ones here. It never occurred to me quite how terrifying bobsledding must be until it made one of our heroines hurl and I realized I would’ve absolutely done the same!)

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• This Christmas

  

  It’s Christmastime and everyone is in the holiday spirit at no-kill animal shelter Junebug Farms.

  When Junebug sponsors the annual Christmas parade to raise money and awareness for their shelter, the staff have a the king and queen of the parade will spend the holidays filming adorable Christmas vignettes to bring in donations and find forever homes for lovable pups before Santa comes.

  What they don’t know is that Mia Sorenson, volunteer dog walker and superior matchmaker, is about to rig the voting so that her granddaughter, Samantha, and Sam’s friend Keegan, win queen and queen of the parade. Sam and Keegan have been dancing around each other for years, and if Mia doesn’t do something, they might never realize they’re meant to be together. But can Sam and Keegan ever forget the Big Embarrassing Thing that makes romance a nope?

  It’ll be all paws on deck to bring them a miracle and make this Christmas one to remember.

  The wildly prolific Beers is bringing the Christmas joy this season and combining it with some puppy love. What could be bad?? If you’re one of the many Sapphic readers with Beers on your instabuy author list, you’re definitely gonna wanna ring in the snowy season with this one.

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• Flopping in a Winter Wonderland

  

  All Aaron wants for Christmas is for his brother Casey to get over his ex, Raquel. He’d prefer not to be at Winter Wonderland, the island north of Alaska that’s home to a year-round Christmas theme park. But Casey loves Christmas, and so, here they are.

  All Kris wants for Christmas is for his uncle to move back to Winter Wonderland to be the first gay Santa. And so, he needs to win the Race, his grade’s annual competition to see who can get a guest to fall in love with them first. Winning means a trip to New York, where Kris would be able to plead his case for his uncle to the founder of Winter Wonderland himself.

  Then Aaron and Kris flop into each other during a flash mob and Kris agrees to help Aaron with his plan to keep Casey single. Soon, both can’t stop thinking about kissing the other, and it’s not just because of the mistletoe around every corner. Too bad true love isn’t on either of their Christmas lists…

  This adorable rom-com from bestselling author Jason June unwraps the healing power of love and the magic of the Christmas season.

  I’m one of those people whose interest is automatically piqued by anything set adjacent to Alaska (or any other perennially cold place), but making it a year-round Christmas theme park is just the icing on the cake. (Also, gives vibes of one my all-time favorite romances, With Love, From Cold World by Alicia Thompson.) Jason June’s fast becoming one of YA’s most reliable authors of contemporary gay romance, and this newest looks super cute.

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