My Most Anticipated Sapphic Novels for the First Half of 2025
Don't miss these 19 must-read WLW stories coming out in 2025.
The first two novels on this list are already out, which means you can get your hands on them right now! The Last Bookstore on Earth is a unique twist on the post-apocalyptic survival story set in an abandoned bookstore while Single Player is a fun contemporary romance about two developers in the gaming industry that couldn’t be more different from each other.
The Last Bookstore on Earth by Lily Braun-Arnold
January 7
Ever since the first Storm wreaked havoc on modern civilization, seventeen-year-old Liz Flannery has been holed up in an abandoned bookstore in suburban New Jersey where she used to work, trading books for supplies with the few remaining survivors. It’s the one place left that feels safe to her.
When she learns another earth-shattering Storm is coming, Liz reluctantly accepts the help of Maeve, a prickly and potentially dangerous out-of-towner. Maeve has what Liz needs—the skills to repair the dilapidated store before the next climate disaster strikes—and when Liz reluctantly agrees to let her stay, feelings blossom.
Single Player by Tara Tai
January 7
Two video game creators go head-to-head in this delightful, queer enemies-to-lovers workplace romance debut. Cat Li cares about two things: video games and swoony romances. When she lands her dream job writing the love storylines for Compass Hollow—the next big thing in games—she knows it’s all been worth it. Then she meets her boss: the infamous Andi Zhang, who’s not only an arrogant hater of happily-ever-afters determined to keep Cat from doing her job but also impossibly, annoyingly hot.
As Compass Hollow’s narrative director, Andi couldn’t care less about love—in-game or out. After getting doxxed by internet trolls three years ago, Andi’s been trying to prove to the gaming world that they’re a serious gamedev. But when a man funding the game’s development insists Andi add romance in order to make the story “more appealing to female gamers,” Andi is forced to give Cat a chance. As they work together, Andi begrudgingly realizes there’s more to Cat than romantic idealism and, okay, a cute smile. Especially they’re forced to put aside their differences in order to save Andi’s career.
Name Her Holy by Aubrey Ennis
February 13
A Herald has been named to mark its ascension— a woman resurrected by The Seeker’s hand and placed in the pious care of the Vigil Order. A once disgraced daughter of her noble house, Kye Liatris is crowned a living saint, one tasked with stopping the coming cataclysm. Kye has lived on borrowed time since, aiding the Vigil while quietly enduring worsening ailments.
When a strange blight brings death to the valley of Jude Arendell’s home village, she finds herself swept up in the Vigil’s fight. But in taking up her mother’s sword, Jude learns that her family legacy was not as it seemed. Now Kye and Jude must decide whether to follow their divine callings or scorn the gods and place their trust in each other.
Hungerstone by Kat Dunn
February 18
In a compulsive feminist retooling of Carmilla, Kate Dunn’s Hungerstone tells a captivating story of appetite and desire. Set against the violent wilderness of the Peaks and the uncontrolled appetite of the industrial revolution, Hungerstone follows Lenore, the wife of a steel magnate whose ambitions take them from London to Sheffield and to the hunt, an old tradition and a time for settling old scores.
In the weeks leading up to her husband’s hunt, a carriage accident near their remote home brings the mysterious Carmilla into Lenore's life. Carmilla, who is weak and pale during the day but vibrant at night, Carmilla who will not eat meals with the family, Carmilla who stirs up a hunger deep within Lenore. Soon girls from local villages begin to fall sick before being consumed by a terrible hunger . . .
Fable for the End of the World by Ava Reid
March 4
The author of dark academia darling A Study in Drowning returns for a standalone dystopian romance set in a world where a single corporation controls all aspects of society. When Inesa learns that her mother has offered her as a sacrifice to the Lamb’s Gauntlet, she dares to dream of making it out alive.
Meanwhile, Melinoë is an assassin, trained to track and kill the sacrificial Lambs. The product of neural reconditioning and physiological alteration, she is a living weapon, and she has never failed to assassinate one of her marks. But as Mel pursues Inesa across the wasteland, she never anticipates falling in love.
They Bloom at Night by Trang Thanh Tran
March 4
Vietnamese American author Trang Thanh Tran takes another stab at queer horror in a novel set in a town where monsters walk in plain sight. When Mercy is submerged in a devastating hurricane, Noon is stuck navigating the town with her mom, who believes their dead family has reincarnated as sea creatures.
When Mercy’s predatory leader demands Noon and her mom capture the creature drowning residents, Noon reluctantly finds an ally in the leader’s deadly hunter of a daughter and friends old and new. As the next storm approaches, Noon must confront the past and decide if it’s time to answer the monster itching at her skin.
Tea You at the Altar
March 4
Rebecca Thorne returns to her bestselling cozy fantasy series in a third novel where our favorite lesbian couple, Reyna and Kianthe, are finally ready to walk down the aisle. There’re loads to do—but like all best laid plans, everything seems to be going awry.
Between their baby dragons causing mayhem in Tawney, Kianthe's uptight parents inviting themselves to the wedding, and Reyna becoming embroiled in a secret plot to overthrow Queen Tilaine, the world seems against them—how are they going to live long enough to say "I do"?
The Gift of Blood by Vaela Denarr and Micah Iannandrea
March 21
Monsters are real, and Ryann is one of them. Chosen as a weapon in a war that is not her own, she finds an outlet for her anger in the fighting pits beneath Toronto, and on the hunt for the vampires that changed her. Whatever the cost, she’ll take back her life, her control—or make them fear the hunger they’ve roused in her.
Burdened by monstrosity, Meg, assassin of the Scorching Dawn, drowns her pain in the blood of her enemies. When the call comes to slay the monster whipping the city’s beasts into a frenzy, she welcomes the hunt. And in Ryann, she finds a violent thirst for blood and the opportunity to feed her own. But as Ryann and Meg are drawn together by mutual hunger, they must also learn to trust each other—or perish in the dark.
Where Shadows Meet by Patrice Caldwell
April 1
Vampires meet high fantasy in this thrillingly sapphic romantic debut. Once upon a time, a girl named Favre sacrificed her wings for love. Thana, the young goddess she so willingly gave them up for, sacrificed that same love for power. But everything has a cost. Favre never got over the loss of her wings. And Thana’s choices led to a life of eternal night, and later, their destruction. Favre has bid her time ever since, waiting for the chance to resurrect the girl she loves who turned her into the creature she hates.
Now, a thousand years later, Leyla, the crown princess of the malichora—an ancient race that survives on human blood—must travel to the Island of the Dead when her best friend is captured during an attack on her nation’s capital. Along with Najja, a fierce, beautiful seer, and the last person she expected to help her, Leyla forges down a dangerous path, intent on saving her friend. But nothing is as it seems. The closer she gets to her goal, the more she risks awakening an ancient evil and destroying everything she holds dear.
Shattered Star by Fae Rynn
April 30
In the second installment of Mechanized Hearts, Fae Rynn returns to her fast-paced sci-fi romance about sapphics in space. Deep in the heart of Blackstar, a warlord–Gilgamesh–has risen to power. Her might is uncontested; her loyal bodyguard, Enkidu, is her greatest weapon. Powers align to crush them lest their meteoric rise threaten the system-state itself.
Eden has been a time of bliss for three new wives, away from battle, from their crusade. Yet the fight continues, and their honeymoon must come to an end. They have a new target, and new potential allies. The only problem? The destruction of the Fomorian Armory has made them the most wanted criminals in the galaxy.
Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame by Neon Yang
May 6
Woof, if a book cover could sell…well, it would be this one. In this new queer, Asian-inspired novella about a renowned dragon slayer who never takes her armor off in public, the mysterious dragon hunter Yeva must woo a fiercely independent nation’s queen to understand what secrets she is hiding.
Bearing the burden of safety for her entire people, Lady Sookhee is reasonably suspicious of Yeva’s intentions and the imperial might of the throne she represents. How can she trust this stranger newly arrived to her court, a weapon forged in blood and fire, to understand what her people need and how best to safeguard their future?
The Incandescent by Emily Tesh
May 13
As a huge fan of Emily Tesh’s Some Desperate Glory, you can be assured that The Incandescent is high on my list of 2025 must-reads. In this sapphic dark academia fantasy—that I really cannot wait for—the esteemed Doctor Walden, one of the most powerful magicians in England, spends her days attending meetings, teaching A-Level Invocation to four talented students, and securing the school’s boundaries from demonic incursions.
Walden is good at her job―no, Walden is great at her job. But demons are masters of manipulation. It’s her responsibility to keep her school with its six hundred students and centuries-old legacy safe. And it’s possible the entity Walden most needs to keep her school safe from is herself, in what I’m sure is a novel that will have absolutely no commentary about the state of academia at all.
The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling
May 20
Aymar Castle has been under siege for six months. Food is running low and there has been no sign of rescue. But just as the survivors consider deliberately thinning their number, the castle stores are replenished. The sick are healed. And the divine figures of the Constant Lady and her Saints have arrived, despite the barricaded gates, offering succor in return for adoration.
As the castle descends into bacchanalian madness—forgetting the massed army beyond its walls in favor of hedonistic ecstasy—three women are the only ones to still see their situation for what it is. But they are not immune from the temptations of the castle’s new masters… or each other; and their shifting alliances and entangled pasts bring violence to the surface. To save the castle, and themselves, will take a reimagining of who they are, and a reorganization of the very world itself.
Cosmic Love at the Multiverse Hair Salon
June 3
When a misdirected text from a stranger leads to a flirty exchange, Tressa Fay Robeson surprises herself by suggesting an impulsive meetup. But the woman, Meryl, never shows. Tressa Fay brushes it off—until Meryl’s sister and friend show up at the salon demanding to know what’s going on. Because, you see, there’s no way Meryl could have texted her. Meryl has been missing for a month.
Tressa Fay and her tight-knit group of friends soon discover they aren’t dealing with a catfish, but a temporal paradox. But even as they understand the multiverse more and more, nothing keeps Meryl from vanishing. As they draw closer to the moment of Meryl’s disappearance, can they do enough to change the outcome, or have they done so much that none of them will make it past that fateful day in September?
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab
June 10
Vampires are kind of having a moment in the sapphic literary world. As they should. And when best-selling author of A Darker Shade of Magic V.E. Schawb posts on Instagram that she’s writing a novel about toxic lesbian vampires, you take note.
Set during three distinct time periods, Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soul is about three young women, their bodies planted in the same soil, their stories tangling like roots. One grows high, and one grows deep, and one grows wild. And all of them grow teeth.
Six Wild Crowns by Holy Race
June 10
When a king is appointed by god to marry six queens, he probably doesn’t expect this kind of trouble in paradise. Holy Race’s Six Wild Crowns promises to be filled with dragons, court politics, and most importantly, sapphic yearning. Clever, ambitious Boleyn is determined to be Henry's favorite. And if she must incite a war to win Henry over? So be it.
Seymour acts as spy and assassin in a court teeming with dragons, backstabbing courtiers and strange magic. But when she and Boleyn become the unlikeliest of things—allies—the balance of power begins to shift. Together they will discover an ancient, rotting magic at Elben's heart. A magic that their king will do anything to protect.
Memory of Olympus by Maria Ying
June 25
Writing duo Devi Lacroix and Benjanun Sriduangkaew return for the second installment in their Greek mythology-inspired mecha sci-fi series Gunmetal Olympus with a collection of short stories that take us back to the Titans’ rule and after the Titanomachy, where the gods find themselves, establish themselves—and go to war against their makers.
Considering how deliciously queer the world building in The Hades Calculus was, we can probably expect even more sapphic delight and violence in Memory of Olympus. My money is on the gods meeting their first loves, the original pilots of their eidolons. My bones are ready for some delicious Hades and Hephaestus action.
A Treachery of Swans by A.B. Poranek
June 29
Aubrey Benjaminsen illustrated my favorite cover of 2025, and now I can’t help but see her work everywhere, on all the sapphic books. A Treachery of Swans is certainly evoking A Dark and Drowning Tide in its design, and I don’t mind that. I don’t mind that at all. I would like this sapphic retelling of Swan Lake on my bookshelf as soon as possible, please.
Raised by a sorcerer, Odile has spent years preparing for the heist of a lifetime. It’s perfectly simple. Impersonate a princess, infiltrate the palace, steal the king's enchanted crown and restore magic to the kingdom. But when the King is unexpectedly murdered, she’s forced to recruit the help of Marie d'Odette, the real princess, and the two begin to unravel a web of lies. Soon Odile must decide—her mission or the girl she’s falling for?
Did I miss any of your most anticipated sapphic novels? Which of these upcoming releases caught your eye? Let me know in the comments!
These all look so good 😱😱😱 RIP my TBR! Thank you for sharing!