May 2025 Queer Releases

🌈 What's COMING OUT (pun intended) this May? Which books are you excited for? Which books are you adding to your TBR? Any other queer releases you know of?

We do our best to screen books for AI usage and do not include books with covers that are made by generative AI, or books written by generative AI. If there was a mistake, please let us know so we can update our post!!

Check out the embedded link for more information about the book.

Note: Some dates may have changed. We haven’t read all of these books, so please check reviews for more details on queer identities represented and The StoryGraph for content warnings!

1

• The Sun Blessed Prince by Lindsey Byrd

• The Boy Who Was Saved by Jazz by Tom Bentley-Fisher

• All Humans Outside: Stories of Belonging in Nature by Tommy Corey

• My Lady Hiraya by Steven Sy

• Tyler’s Guarded Heart (Cardinal Falls Book 2) by E.J. Stoll

• Going Solo by D.P. Clarence

• The Scavengers & the Stray by Rae Ryan

• Clean Slate (A Lord & Burton Mystery) by Barbara Winkes

• Those We Run From by Fiona Zedde

• The Architecture of Us by Lisa Elliot

• Discovering Nicola by Clare Ashton

• Sound Check by Jennifer Fenn

2

• To Sway a Charlatan by Daphinie Cramsie

5

• 5 Elements by Banks Benson

6

• The Survivor Wants to Die at the End (Death-Cast Book 2) by Adam Silvera

• The Vengeance (The Vampires of Dumas Book 1) by Emma Newman

• Murder Land by Carlyn Greenwald

• Rainbow! Volume 2 by Sunny & Gloomy (Illustrator)

• A Spell for Change by Nicole Jarvis

• The Manor of Dreams by Christina Li

• Motherlover by Lindsay Ishihiro

• Sometimes the Girl by Jennifer Mason-Black

• Star Wars: The Acolyte: Wayseeker by Justina Ireland

• And Introducing Dexter Gaines by Mark B. Perry

• milktooth by Jaime Burnet

• Archangel’s Ascension (Guild Hunter Book 17) by Nalini Singh

• A Poisonous Silence by Jenny Adams

• The Butcher’s Daughter: The Hitherto Untold Story of Mrs. Lovett by Corinne Leigh Clark & David Demchuk

• Love Languages by James Albon

• Are You Happy?: Stories by Lori Ostlund

• Disco Witches of Fire Island by Blair Fell

• Growing into You!: An Inclusive, Shame-Busting, Get-Real Guide to Your Changing Body and Mind by Melissa Pintor Carnagey &Brianna Gilmartin (illustrator)

• Overgrowth by Mira Grant 

• Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame by Neon Yang

• Modern Divination (Spells for Life & Death Book 1) by Isabel Agajanian

• Love Is for All of Us: Poems of Tenderness and Belonging from the LGBTQ+ Community and Friends edited by James Crews &Brad Peacock, illustrated by Lisa Congdon

• Kiss Me, Maybe by Gabriella Gamez

• I Can’t Even Think Straight by Dean Atta

• All’s Fair in Love & Field Hockey by Kit Rosewater

• The Rebel’s Guide to Pride by Matthew Hubbard 

• Beyond They/Them: 20 Influential Nonbinary & Gender-Diverse People you should know by Em Dickson & Cameron Mukwa (Illustrated)

• Come Home to My Heart by Riley Redgate

• Rink Rash by Santana Knox

• Bound by Their Blood by Autumn Hawthorne

• Milf: A Holiday Romance by AS Adams

7

• Pyg by Pip Landers-Letts

• At Her Service (Club Velvet) by Anna Stone

8

• See You at the Finish Line by Zac Hammett

• Waist Deep by Linea Maja Ernst, Sherilyn Nicolette Hellberg (Translator)

• Taken to the Shadow Realm (Stolen Demon Brides Book 2) by Elle Mae

• Hits Different by Joel Rustin

9

• The Crystal Island (Talent Continuum Trilogy Book 2) by Phoenix McDonald

• Unveiling The Shadowbearer's Burden (A Dark Fantasy Spicy Anthology) by Jasmyn Morning

10

• Soul Burn (Blood Tethered Book 3) by I.S. Belle

• Butterfly Pinned by Leslie Liautaud

• The Year of Us: May by Kate Hawthorne and E.M. Denning

• Only Want to Be With You (Portland Symphony Bonus Standalone) by London Price 

11

• Carnations & Commitment (Chicago Sapphics Book 3) by H.B. Cliffy

12

• Never Nix Up by Ali Williams

13

• When Love Gives You Lemons by Steven Salvatore

• The Duke Steals Hearts & Other Body Parts by Elias Cold

• One of the Boys by Victoria Zeller

• The Einstein of Sex: Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, Visionary of Weimar Berlin by Daniel Brook

• A Sharp Endless Need by Marisa Crane

• Grand Slam Romance Book 3: Farewell to Babes by Ollie Hicks & Emma Oosterhous (Illustrator)

• Shampoo Unicorn by Sawyer Lovett

• The Incandescent by Emily Tesh

• The Mutant and the Mule by A. A. Blair

• Atana & the Jade Mermaid (Atana Book 2) by Vivian Zhou

• Slaying You (An Amber Jamison Book 2) by Michelle Gagnon

• Dream On, Ramona Riley (Clover Lake Book 1) by Ashley Herring Blake 

• Get Real, Chloe Torres by Crystal Maldonado 

• Two Weddings and a Funeral by Claudia Parr

• To Broadway by Maurane Mazars

• Trans History: From Ancient Times to the Present Day by Alex L. Combs & Andrew Eakett

• So Many Stars: An Oral History of Trans, Nonbinary, Genderqueer & Two-Spirit People of Color by Caro de Robertis 

• Blades of Furry Volume 1 by Emily Erdos & Deya Muniz

• Summer Girls by Jennifer Dugan

• Athlete is Agender: True Stories of LGBTQ+ People in Sports edited by Katherine Locke & Nicole Melleby

• The Intermediaries: A Weimar Story by Brandy Schillace

• Learning to Fall by Peach Morris

• Death in the Cards by Mia P. Manansala

• The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong

• The Smallest Day (A Micky Knight Mystery Book 12) by J.D. Redmann

• Portalmania: Stories by Debbie Urbanski

• Love Letters & Pocket Knives by J.J. Celli

• Emma by the Sea by Sarah G. Levine

• Dream a Little Dream by Melissa Brayden

• Astrophobia: An Anthology of Space Horror curated by Vesper Doom

• To Please Her by Elena Abbott

• Goodbye, Hello by Heather K. O'Malley

• Drowning Lessons by Ana Hazel

• You’re Ours: A Not so Normative Novella by D.C. Emerson

• Discovering Gold by Sam Ledel

• One Measure of Love by Annie McDonald

14

• Obsessed (The Pointe of Love Book 3) by Sonia Blue

• Enemies by Nature (The Shape-Shifter Series Book 7) by Jae

15

• The Lady of the Lake by Jean Mezies

• Binds of the Forsaken by Elijah Her

• Riyati Rivals (Riyati Book 2) by Kai Zeal

• Seed Beetle by Mahaila Smith

• Origin by Jaz Pate

• Caught by Cupid by Claerie Kavanaugh

• Sage by Yaffa

• Sweet Mother, I Cannot Weave by T.D. Cloud (Itch.io Exclusive)

16

• The Divide That Binds Us by Michelle J

20

• Everyone Sux But You by K. Wroten

• Let Them Stare by Jonathan Van Ness & Julie Murphy

• Rainbow Boy and the Pride Parade by Taylor Rouanzion and Stacey Chomiak

• Out of Step, into You by Ciera Burch

• Checked Out by Katie Fricas

• Behooved by M. Stevenson 

• In Case You Read This by Edward Underhill

• The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling

• Don’t Let Me Go by Kevin Christopher Snipes

• Rebel in the Deep (Crimson Sails Book 3) by Katee Robert

• Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson by Tourmaline

• One Day in June: A Story Inspired by the Life and Activism of Marsha P. Johnson by Tourmaline & Charlot Kristensen (illustrator)

• Aggregated Discontent: Confessions of the Last Normal Woman by Harron Walker

• Dinghai Fusheng Records Vol. 1 by Fei Tian Ye Xiang

• The Bi Book by A.J. Irving & Cynthia Alonso (Illustrated)

• Gay the Pray Away by Natalie Naudus

• Hardly Creatures: Poems by Rob Macaisa Colgate

• Give My Love to Berlin by Katherine Bryant 

• The Mage of Mourning (Otherworldly Anarchist 2) by Dreamer's Riot 

• Mrs. Victoria Buys a Brothel by Talhí Briones

• Fulfillment City by E.M. Arons

• Blood and Flame (The Quinate's Faithful Book ) by Brendan Corbett

• All I Know so Far by Nicole Zelniker

• Those Who Burn the Brightest by Kayla Morton

• Dragon Boats & Doctor’s Notes by Hudson Lin

21

• Do You Believe in Life After Loss?: Queer Stories of Loss, Hope & Resilience by Andrew Flewitt

• The Silence of Storms (A Three Realms, Nine Monarchs Novel) by Nico Silver

22

• Brim Over Boot (The Darling Brothers Book 2) by Emmy Sanders

• Shade Spells with Strangers (Fae & Human Relations Book 3) by Sarah Wallace & S.O. Callahan

• Kiln Me Softly by B.B. Woods

23

• Accepted Precedent (Love & Politics Book 2) by Irene Bahrd

• Scent of Sanctuary by N. Slater

• There's a Badge for That by Relly Moring

• A Soft Place to Land by Kelsey Lranz

• black&white – episode 2: saturation by Soph Tang

24

• Shades of Spring (Shades of Spring Book 1) by Niranjan

25

• Bears & Bakeries (Sweet & Stocky Book 2) by Dylan Drakes

• First Rose (Deity Chronicles Book 2) by Jake Vanguard

• Demon Engine by Marten Norr

• Ace Thompson by Sharif Nsubuga

26

• Don’t Give a Nix by Ali Williams

27

• These Vengeful Gods by Gabe Cole Novoa

• And They Were Roommates by Page Powars

• Lava at First Sight by Adelaide Snow

• Going Overboard by Caroline Huntoon

• Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian

• Before Gender: Lost Stories from Trans History, 1850-1950 by Eli Erlick

• Flirty Dancing by Jennifer Moffatt

• The South by Tash Aw

• Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me (Dark Lord Davi Book 2) by Django Wexler

• Time After Time by Mikki Daughtry

• And the Trees Stare Back by Gigi Griffis

• A Fate Forged in Fire (Bonded to Beasts Book 1) by Hazel McBride

• Disappoint Me by Nicola Dinan

• A Game of Monsters (Realm of Fey Book 4) by Ben Alderson

• Costumes for Time Travelers by A.R. Capetta

• Summerhouse by Yiğit Karaahmet, trans. by Nicholas Glastonbury

• Qiang Jin Jiu (Ballad of Sword and Wine Volume 4) by Tang Jiu Qing & ST (Illustrator)

• Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity, ed. by Lee Mandelo

• All-Nighter by Cecilia Vinesse

• Love in Focus by Lyla Lee

• Price of a Thousand Blessings Volume 2 by Ginn Hale

• Maybe This Will Save Me: A Memoir of Art, Addiction and Transformation by Tommy Dorfman

• The Glade by Naseem Jamnia

• To the End of the Line by Sage Greer

• Housemates by Emma Copley Eisenberg

• Divine Blessings by K.R Thompson

• Joey and the Ocean of Possibilities by Mike Jakubowski

• Who We Thought We Were by Alex Hoeft

• Delicious: An MM/MMM Food Themed Charity Romance Anthology

28

• Loyalty to the Max by Maya Darjani

• The Other Jay & Eve by Emma Jayne & Ashanti Fortson (Colorist)

• Magic & Other Mishaps by TJ Nichols

• Shifting Nature (The Shape-Shifter Series Book 8) by Jae

29

• The Ayatollah's Gaze: A Memoir of the Forbidden and the Fabulous by Majid Parsa

• Palm Meridian by Grace Flahive

• You Can't Get Rid Of Me: An adopted son’s search for family by Jesse Scott and Keri Ault

• Do Ask, Do Tell: Queer Life, Love and Culture Laid Bare by Lotte Jeffs, Stu Oakley

30

• Gratuitous Games (Disaster Bi Design Book 2) by Darby Quinn

• On Wings of Fallen Stars (Starbinder Book 1) by Vaela Denarr & Micah Iannandrea 

31

• The Dreammonger by Emma T. Shannon

• The Blood of the Covenant (Book 1) by Andy J N McRae

• Cloudy With a Chance of Bad Decisions by Fae Quin

• And Another Thing by Patrick Paridee Samuel

• Conscious Tongues by Elenia Graf

Late Additions:

• For Whom the Belle Tolls (Hell’s Belles Book 1) by Jaysea Lynn

• We Could be Something by Will Kostakis

• Diffidence & the Rift by Amy Crook

We post an open call for new releases around the 20th of the month preceding on Twitter/X, Blue Sky and Threads. Authors can add their books to these posts to be included in future new release lists. Or you can email andy@rainbowcratebookbox.com with the title/series name, author, book cover and a link to more information/purchase options (Goodreads/Author website/Itch.io).

ID: A post of seventeen slides. Background is made up of a diagonal oriented 6-stripe rainbow for each slide. Slide 1 has a white square which reads "191 queer books coming out this May!". The 191 is in matching horizontal rainbow stripes and May is in yellow text. Text between the number and month are all caps black font. Slide 2-16 features a white grid outline with a column on the left that has the release date in black over a yellow rectangle and book covers in three rows of 4 book covers each. Slide 17 features the same setup with 11 book covers and 1 pale yellow rectangle. End ID.