This novel follows generations of Cole women who maintain a lighthouse on a small island off of New Hampshire. Their family line comes with a curse. There are always two Cole women on Juniper island, and every birth comes with a death: the older Cole woman will walk into the ocean, joining the ghosts ofRead More
A Bloody Gothic Love Story: My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna Van Veen
Roos has been kept small her whole life. First, when she was five years old, hiding under the floorboards to help her mother fake seances. Then, when she got older and began participating in these seances herself, she was kept underfed to appear younger and more delicate. But while her abusive mother kept her isolated,Read More
The Perfect Queer Gothic to Read on Halloween: My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johnna van Veen
I’ve been trying to spend the fall reading Gothic fiction, and as Halloween approaches, Johanna van Veen’s queer Gothic horror novel, My Darling Dreadful Thing (Poisoned Pen Press, 2024), is the perfect book for this time of year! Veen’s debut novel follows Roos Beckman in the 1950s. Roos has a spirit companion, Ruth, has been dead forRead More
You Need to Read Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! I’m embarrassed to admit I only just read this for the first time. I’ve read every other Malinda Lo book. I’ve had a copy since it first came out—in fact, I’ve owned two copies, because I also spent $100 on a signed hardcover (itRead More
Mo Springer reviews Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
Amazon Affiliate Link | Bookshop.org Affiliate Link Lily Hu has always been at least somewhat aware of her attraction to women. But after seeing a lesbian novel in a store, a poster for a male impersonator, and her classmate Kath in the Telegraph Club, she knows she has to be honest with herself. However, thisRead More
Rachel reviews Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
Amazon Affiliate Link | Bookshop.org Affiliate Link I read Malinda Lo’s newest book, Last Night at the Telegraph Club (2021) about a month ago, and I’m still thinking about it. If you’re looking for a slice of mid-twentieth-century lesbian culture with some wonderful Chinese American representation and rich social history, Last Night at the Telegraph Club is forRead More
Carolina reviews Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
It seems apt to begin 2021, a time of reflection and introspection for many, with a YA novel that feels fresh and timeless at the same time. Malinda Lo’s new novel, Last Night at the Telegraph Club echoes with the same beats as my favorite “baby gay” first lesbian novels (e.g. Annie on My MindRead More
Danika reviews Goldie Vance: The Hocus Pocus Hoax by Lilliam Rivera
I already know and love the Goldie Vance comics, but now it is also a middle grade novel series! The premise is that Goldie Vance is a sixteen year old girl who works as a part-time valet, part-time detective at a resort her father manages. She is the assistant to the hotel’s detective–which is apparentlyRead More
Marthese reviews Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley
“We’re not allowed to touch any of them, no matter what they do to us” Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley was a difficult book to read, but an important one. While it is a fiction book, it is realistic; it could have happened. I found this book at the library. It hadn’t beenRead More
Danika reviews Pulp by Robin Talley
I have been anticipating this book for a long time. I collect lesbian pulp, and I’m fascinated by the history of this period of lesbian literature. Pulp is a YA novel from two perspectives: Abby, a modern day out and proud lesbian, and Janet, a 1950s teenager just discovering that she’s a lesbian, and what thatRead More