Emily Tesh wrote one of my favorite sci-fi novels of all time, so it’s no surprise her grown-up magic school book is also entirely my cup of tea. Doctor—not Ms., thank you—Walden is the Director of Magic at Chetwood Academy, where she divides her time between teaching, meetings, and securing the school’s protections against demonic incursions. But when the powerful demon who has long hunted the school goes after two of her students, all the carefully constructed boundaries Walden has placed between herself, her students, her coworkers, and her own history with demons come crashing down.

The author of last year’s bestselling The Teller of Small Fortunes brings us a tale of mages, magic, and finding love in the most unlikely of places. Certainty wants nothing more than to become a mage and give back to the guild that took her and her little brother in as children. But her lackluster magic keeps holding her back. An assignment to transport magical artifacts alongside the talented Mage Aurelia could be exactly the opportunity she’s been looking for. It should be an easy job. But the boring little town they’re working in turns out to be more than expected—as does Aurelia. Maybe magic isn’t meant to be sequestered away. Maybe it’s meant to be shared.

Yesterday, baronet Robin Blyth knew nothing about magic. As of today, he’s learned a secret magical society exists, become its new nonmagical liaison in the British government, and been cursed. Now, he and his disagreeable new magician coworker, Edwin Courcey, will have to work together to break the curse and find out what happened to Robin’s predecessor. Soon, it becomes clear that it’s not just Robin’s life on the line, either; it’s the fate of all of magical society.

When an accidental curse binds Leovander Loveage and Sebastian Grimm together, it could mean the end of both their careers in magic. Curses like this one are forbidden, and even if they didn’t mean for it to happen, it’s too late—and far too complicated—for them to undo now. Sebastian can only cast magic, not write it, and Leo refuses to mess with anything but the smallest spells. That means they’ll have to seek out a powerful sorcerer with the ability to undo curses rumored to live in the Unquiet Woods, a forest where monsters and outlaws lurk. They might be able to make it out alive, but will they really be able to go on a journey like this together and make it back unchanged?

A soldier with powerful shadow magic is brought back to life to carry out the whims of her immortal father’s new prodigy. Scarlet is determined to avenge the murder of her sister. Shadow, resurrected under a new name after being used as a weapon in her past life, will be her means of doing so. But Scarlet is unaware that Shadow is the one who killed her sister. Now, in order to survive and save a world on the brink of collapse, Shadow will have to hide the truth and rely on the very person who most wants her destruction.

The knight and the witch are embroiled in a centuries-old love story that is both fated and doomed. Simran and Vina know that to give in to their desires is to destroy each other, so they’re determined to resist the pull they feel. But they’re not the only ones aware of their story. A mysterious assassin is targeting people from stories just like theirs. If they can’t find some way to rewrite the story that was preordained for them, they’ll meet their destruction at another’s hand.

When school rivals Sebastian Walsh and Elethior Tourael are both selected for a prestigious research grant with the stipulation that they work together on their projects, Sebastian is certain his career prospects are over. No way will stuck-up Elethior work with him, and his job offer is sure to be rescinded once they find out he’s working with a Taurael . Not to mention Elethior can probably use his connections to get Sebastian kicked out of the program. But then Elethior turns out to be more complicated than Sebastian anticipated. Apparently, the half-elf resents his family almost as much as Sebastian does, and the more they work together, the more the growing attraction between them becomes impossible to deny—or resist.

I love Sara Raasch’s Royals and Romance series, so I couldn’t contain my excitement when I learned she was writing this magical romance. Think Travis Baldree meets Ali Hazelwood. We’re talking magic and spice.

From debut author A.M. Kvita comes a dazzling new magical romance about an outcast witch returning home to her coven. The Greenwoods are among the most powerful witches in the world. Joan Greenwood is one of them—not that the rest of the family usually remembers that. Case in point: they’ve completely forgotten her long-overdue homecoming. But when the family discovers someone has created a spell to imbue ordinary people with magic, threatening the entire magical hierarchy, Joan will have to step in to save a newly minted witch from her family, herself, and her new powers.

Dayanara isn’t so much a witch as she is a weapon for her mother, the powerful Acna, to wield in a nation of fierce brujas. So, is it really any surprise that after centuries of warfare, her mother offers her up as a bride to the neighboring vampire kingdom? The arrangement has already been sealed in magic, so Dayanara only has two choices: kill the king or embrace this new union. This could be the first step on her way to becoming Acna, but only if Dayanara can regain control of her life and her marriage in this why-choose fantasy romance with a bisexual lead.

This wonderfully cozy queer fantasy features a small-town garden witch trying to take up her grandmother’s mantle and the runaway heir to a powerful magical family who discovers that sometimes love comes when—and where—you least expect it. Yael isn’t looking for anything in particular except an escape from the life that’s been set out for them when they flee from their own graduation party. When they arrive at a bar in Margot Greenwillow’s hometown, it may be a coincidence, but it’s not a bad one. Margot could use some help in the greenhouse, too, and just because Yael was her one-time crush doesn’t mean this arrangement can’t be entirely platonic. Right?