As 2022 comes to a close, we're taking a look at some excellent sapphic book releases coming in 2023. From contemporary wlw romance to long-awaited high fantasy sequels, here are 20 of our most anticipated sapphic books coming out in 2023.

Note: some release dates of these books may be pushed back and covers may change.

Out Of Character - Jen Miller

Contemporary YA Romance

16 February 2023

Dumplin' meets Geekerella in debut author Jenna Miller's queer, body-positive love story that explores online and offline relationships in all of their messiness. If you asked seventeen-year-old Cass Williams to describe herself, she'd happily tell you she's fat, a lesbian, and obsessed with the Tide Wars books. What she won't tell you - or anyone in her life - is that she's part of an online Tide Wars roleplay community.

Sure, it's nerdy as hell, but when she's behind the screenwriting scenes as Captain Aresha, she doesn't have to think about her mother who walked out or how unexpectedly stressful it is dating resident cool girl Taylor Cooper. But secretly retreating to her online life is starting to catch up with Cass. For one, no one in her real life knows her secret roleplay addiction is the reason her grades have taken a big hit.

Neon Roses - Rachel Dawson

Contemporary Romance

25 May 2023

Eluned Hughes is stuck. It's 1984 in a valley in south Wales: the miners' strike is ravaging her community; her sister's swanned off with a Thatcherite policeman; and her boyfriend Lloyd keeps bringing up marriage. And if they play '99 Red Balloons' on the radio one more time, she might just lose her mind.

Then the fundraising group Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners come down from London, and she meets June, a snaggle-toothed blonde in a too-big leather jacket. Suddenly, Eluned isn't stuck anymore - she's in freefall. June's an artist and an activist, living in a squat in Camden.

A Million to One - Adiba Jaigirdar

YA Historical Fiction

05 January 2023

Adiba Jaigirdar, author of one of TIME's Best YA books of all time and winner of the YA Book Prize 2022, gives Titanic an Ocean's 8 makeover in this nail-biting heist set onboard the infamous ship.

Four friends have stolen aboard the Titanic. They're after the Rubaiyat - a book inlaid with priceless jewels.

Josefa is a charismatic thief, Hinnah, a daring acrobat, Violet, an outstanding actress and Emilie, a talented artist. It is Josefa's plan, but she needs all of their skills. Despite their very different backgrounds, the girls must work together to pull off the heist of their lives in a world of first-class passengers and suspicious crew members.

A Day Of Fallen Night - Samantha Shannon

Adult Fantasy

28 February 2023

A return to the world of Samantha Shannon's Sunday Times and New York Times-bestselling The Priory of the Orange Tree.

For fifty years, she has trained to slay wyrms - but none have appeared since the Nameless One, and the younger generation is starting to question the Priory's purpose. To the north, in the Queendom of Inys, Sabran the Ambitious has married the new King of Hroth, narrowly saving both realms from ruin. Their daughter, Glorian, trails in their shadow - exactly where she wants to be.

The dragons of the East have slept for centuries. Dumai has spent her life in a Seiikinese mountain temple, trying to wake the gods from their long slumber. Now someone from her mother's past is coming to upend her fate.

Motor Crush 3 - Brenden Fletcher

Graphic Novel - Science Fiction

31 January 2023

YALSA's 2018 Great Graphic Novels for Teens

The acclaimed sci-fi action-adventure series MOTOR CRUSH returns with another burst of hot pink energy!

Domino Swift is used to gunning for victory on the racetrack. But what happens when a far bigger trophy is on the line? As Domino struggles to understand her mysterious past and tumultuous present, the future of all humanity rests in her hands. Will she make it to the finish line? Collects MOTOR CRUSH #12-16

She Is a Haunting - Trang Thanh Tran

YA Fantasy Horror

28 February 2023

A house with a terrifying appetite haunts a broken family in this atmospheric horror, perfect for fans of Mexican Gothic.

When Jade Nguyen arrives in Vietnam for a visit with her estranged father, she has one goal: survive five weeks pretending to be a happy family in the French colonial house Ba is restoring. She’s always lied to fit in, so if she’s straight enough, Vietnamese enough, American enough, she can get out with the college money he promised.

But the house has other plans. Night after night, Jade wakes up paralyzed. The walls exude a thrumming sound, while bugs leave their legs and feelers in places they don’t belong. She finds curious traces of her ancestors in the gardens they once tended. And at night Jade can’t ignore the ghost of the beautiful bride who leaves her cryptic warnings: Don’t eat.

Never Ever Getting Back Together - Sophie Gonzales

Contemporary YA Romance

05 January 2023

Romance, revenge, and reality TV. The new queer YA rom-com from Sophie Gonzales, bestselling author of Only Mostly Devastated. Eighteen-year-old Maya dumped her cheating ex-boyfriend Jordy two years ago.

So, when she receives a call to participate in Second Chance Romance - a reality show in which the now-famous Jordy re-dates his ex-girlfriends - she isn't interested . . .

until she realizes she can use this opportunity to exact her revenge. If she can make it to the final spot on the show, she can reject Jordy in front of the nation, and publicly break his heart. Maya's fellow contestants include Skye, the beautiful, charismatic girl Jordy cheated on Maya with.

The Severed Thread - Leslie Vedder

YA Fantasy

16 February 2023

Clever, bookish Fi and her brash, ax-wielding partner Shane are back in this action-packed sequel to the bestselling The Bone Spindle, the gender-flipped Sleeping Beauty retelling, perfect for fans of Sorcery of Thorns and The Cruel Prince.

Fi has awakened the sleeping prince, but the battle for Andar is far from over. The Spindle Witch, the Witch Hunters, and Fi’s own Butterfly Curse all stand between them and happily ever after.

Shane has her partner’s back. But she’s in for the fight of her life against Red, the right hand of the Spindle Witch who she’s also, foolishly, hellbent on saving.

Briar Rose would do anything to restore his kingdom. But there’s a darkness creeping inside him—a sinister bond to the Spindle Witch he can’t escape.

The Witch and the Vampire - Francesca Flores

YA Fantasy Romance

21 March 2023

Francesca Flores's The Witch and the Vampire is a queer Rapunzel retelling where a witch and a vampire who trust no one but themselves must journey together through a cursed forest with danger at every turn.

Ava and Kaye used to be best friends. Until one night two years ago, vampires broke through the magical barrier protecting their town, and in the ensuing attack, Kaye’s mother was killed, and Ava was turned into a vampire. Since then, Ava has been trapped in her house. Her mother Eugenia needs her: Ava still has her witch powers, and Eugenia must take them in order to hide that she's a vampire as well. Desperate to escape her confinement and stop her mother's plans to destroy the town, Ava must break out, flee to the forest, and seek help from the vampires who live there. When there is another attack, she sees her opportunity and escapes.

Feed Them Silence - Lee Mandelo

Science Fiction/Horror

14 March 2023

What does it mean to "be-in-kind" with a nonhuman animal? Or in Dr. Sean Kell-Luddon’s case, to be in-kind with one of the last remaining wild wolves?

Using a neurological interface to translate her animal subject’s perception through her own mind, Sean intends to chase both her scientific curiosity and her secret, lifelong desire to experience the intimacy and freedom of wolfishness. To see the world through animal eyes; smell the forest, thick with olfactory messages; even taste the blood and viscera of a fresh kill. And, above all, to feel the belonging of the pack.

Sean’s tireless research gives her a chance to fulfill that dream, but pursuing it has a terrible cost. Her obsession with work endangers her fraying relationship with her wife. Her research methods threaten her mind and body. And the attention of her VC funders could destroy her subject, the beautiful wild wolf whose mental world she’s invading.

Friday I'm In Love - Camryn Garrnett

YA Romance

02 February 2023

It's too late for a Sweet Sixteen but what if Mahalia had a Coming Out Party? A love letter to romantic comedies, sweet sixteen blowouts, black joy and queer pride.

Mahalia Harris wants. She wants a big Sweet Sixteen like her best friend Naomi.

She wants the super cute new girl Siobhan to like her back.

She wants a break from worrying--about money, snide remarks from white classmates, pitying looks from church ladies . . . all of it.

Then inspiration strikes: It's too late for a Sweet Sixteen, but what if she had a Coming Out Party? A singing, dancing, rainbow-cake-eating celebration of queerness on her own terms.

Belle of the Ball - Mari Costa

Graphic Novel - YA Romance Romance

14 Apr 2022

A young adult graphic novel about high school wallflower Belle Hawkins, who ends up in a love triangle after tutoring the girlfriend of her crush.

High-school senior and notorious wallflower Hawkins finally works up the courage to remove her mascot mask and ask out her longtime crush: Regina Moreno, head cheerleader, academic overachiever, and all-around popular girl. There’s only one teensy little problem: Regina is already dating Chloe Kitagawa, athletic all-star… and middling English student. Regina sees a perfectly self-serving opportunity here, and asks the smitten Hawkins to tutor Chloe free of charge, knowing Hawkins will do anything to get closer to her.

Cosmoknights (Book Two) - Hannah Templer

Graphic Novel - Fantasy Science-Fiction

02 May 2023

Escape was just the beginning. The sensational “gays in space” graphic novel returns with new faces, long-awaited reunions, higher stakes, and more thrilling action!

Pan has finally escaped her dead-end planet, piecing together a new sort of family with the rebel gladiators Bee and Cass and the mysterious hacktivist Kate.

They’ve even rescued a princess… But what if this princess has her own ideas? Whatever happened to Pan’s childhood friend Tara? And if Pan and the others become galactic fugitives, will the immense pressure of life on the run threaten to tear them apart just in time for the biggest heist of their lives?

Hijab Butch Blues - Lamya H

Memoir - Non-Fiction

02 February 2023

When Lamya is fourteen, she decides to disappear. It seems easier to ease herself out of sight than to grapple with the difficulty of taking shape in a world that doesn't fit. She is a queer teenager growing up in a Muslim household, a South Asian in a Middle Eastern country.

But during her Quran class, she reads a passage about Maryam, and suddenly everything shifts: if Maryam was never touched by any man, could Maryam be... like Lamya?

Written with deep intelligence and fierce humour, Hijab Butch Blues follows Lamya as she travels to the United States, as she comes out, and as she navigates the complexities of the immigration system - and the queer dating scene.

Bianca Torre Is Afraid Of Everything - Justine Pucella Winans

YA Mystery/Thriller

27 April 2023

Murder most fowl? In this sardonic and campy YA thriller, an anxious, introverted nonbinary teen birder somehow finds themself solving a murder mystery with their neighbor/fellow anime lover, all while falling for a cute girl from their birding group . . . and trying not to get murdered.

Sixteen-year-old Bianca Torre is an avid birder undergoing a gender identity crisis and grappling with an ever-growing list of fears. Some, like Fear #6: Initiating Conversation, keep them constrained, forcing them to watch birds from the telescope in their bedroom. And, occasionally, their neighbors. When their gaze wanders from the birds to one particular window across the street, Bianca witnesses a creepy plague-masked murderer take their neighbor’s life.

This Delicious Death - Kaya Cottingham

YA Horror/Mystery

25 April 2023

Four best friends, one music festival, and a cooler filled with human organs: this summer is about to get gory. ​​​

Five years ago those impacted by the Hollowing slowly became intolerant to normal food and were only able to gain sustenance by consuming the flesh of other human beings. However, scientists were able to create a synthetic version of human meat that would satisfy the hunger of those impacted.

As a last hurrah before their graduation, four ghoul friends decided to attend a musical festival in the desert. They have a cooler filled with hard seltzers and SynFlesh and are ready to party. But on the first night of the festival Val goes feral, and ends up killing and eating a boy. Jennifer’s Body meets Riverdale in this new sapphic horror standalone.

Frontier - Grace Curtis

Science Fiction

09 March 2023

Frontier is a heartfelt queer romance in a high noon standoff with Earth's uncertain future, full of love, loss, and laser guns.

In the distant future, climate change has reduced Earth to a hard-scrabble wasteland. Saints and sinners, lawmakers and sheriffs, gunslingers and horse thieves abound.

Folk are as diverse and divided as they've ever been - except in their shared suspicions when a stranger comes to town. One night a ship falls from the sky, bringing the planet's first visitor in three hundred years. She's armed, she's scared... and she's looking for someone.

Grand Slam Romance - Olli Hicks

Graphic Novel - Sports Romance

22 June 2023

A queer graphic novel where the balls are fast, the smooches are spicy, and the girls . . . magical

In this queer graphic novel that’s equal parts romance, softball, and magical girl drama, Mickey Monsoon and Astra Maxima are best friends... and maybe more.

That is, until Astra unceremoniously dumps Mickey to become a softball wunderkind at a private girl’s school in Switzerland. Years later, Mickey is the hotshot pitcher for the Belle City Broads, and their team is poised to sweep the league this season. But Micky is thrown off their game when Astra shows up to catch for the Gaiety Gals, the Broads’ fiercest rival. Astra is flirty, arrogant, and reckless on the field—everything the rule-abiding Mickey hates.

Rosewater - Liv Little

Contemporary Fiction

20 April 2023

For fans of Queenie and Such a Fun Age comes a deliciously gritty and strikingly bold debut novel about discovering love where it has always been.

Elsie is out of options. She's exhausted from being pushed in and out of social housing, she's deflated by debt and she's disturbed by the dark reality of having bailiffs show up at her door. With nowhere to go, there's only one person left to turn to: her best friend, Juliet.

She finds friendship and safety in Juliet's flat, but when Elsie loses her bar job and all creative inspiration for her poetry dries up, she hits rock bottom.

Little Rabbit - Alyssa Songsiridej

Contemporary Fiction

03 August 2023

When the unnamed narrator of Little Rabbit first meets the choreographer at an artists' residency in Maine, it's not a match. But when he reappears in her life in Boston and invites her to his dance company's performance, she's compelled to attend.

Their interaction at the show sets off a summer of expanding her own body's boundaries: She follows the choreographer to his home in the Berkshires, to his apartment in New York, and into submission during sex. Her body learns to obediently follow his, and his desires quickly become inextricable from her pleasure. This must be happiness, right?

Back in Boston, her roommate Annie's skepticism amplifies her own doubts about these heady weekend retreats. What does it mean for a queer young woman to partner with an older man, for a fledgling artist to partner with an established one? Is she following her own agency, or is she merely following him? Does falling in love mean eviscerating yourself?

Think we've missed something great? Send us a message on Twitter @ProudGeekStore or email us at contact@proud-geek.co.uk ✌