Wen-yi Lee’s debut, The Dark We Know, a YA horror, was one of my favorite books of last year. So, when I learned she had an adult fantasy coming out, I was already excited, but the premise of a lesbian girl gang in 1970s Singapore (with magic!) made this one of my most anticipated releases ofRead More
Old Gods, New Cities, and An Arsonist’s Lullaby: When They Burned the Butterfly by Wen-Yi Lee
One of my favorite tropes in fantasy is magic linked to body horror. Especially more so when it is treated as a volatile resource, calling into question the price of chasing power. Naturally, I had a fantastic time with Wen-Yi Lee’s When They Burned the Butterfly (October 21, 2025): a bloody, fiery saga about the horror andRead More
Misogyny and Murder: Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll
Bookshop.org Affiliate Link In her most ambitious novel yet, crime writer Jessica Knoll—author of Luckiest Girl Alive (2015)—blends fact and fiction as she adapts the events surrounding a series of killings committed in Tallahassee, Florida in 1978. Bright Young Women (2023) begins in January 1978. Patricia Schumacher is president of her sorority at Florida State University. She takesRead More
Kayla Bell reviews Radiant Days by Elizabeth Hand
There aren’t many stories that can truly say they’ve done time travel in a unique way. Going back to the past or ahead to the future have already been done dozens of times. A fish out of water, or out of time, is going to make for an interesting story. But Radiant Days does timeRead More
Tierney reviews One True Way by Shannon Hitchcock
It is so exciting to experience the current burgeoning of middle LGBTQ fiction: it feels absolutely amazing (not to mention freeing) to have enough books out there to be able to pick and choose and categorize, and set aside what misses the mark in favor of reading the good stuff. Shannon Hitchcock’s One True WayRead More
Danika reviews Riptide Summer by Lisa Freeman
When I finished Honey Girl, I was eager to dive into the sequel–mostly because I was absorbed by the setting (1972 Californian beach culture), but also because Riptide Summer promised to break the rule that “Girls don’t surf.” I’m glad that I got see more of Nani and her life, but overall I didn’t enjoy this oneRead More
Danika reviews Honey Girl by Lisa Freeman
It’s 1972, and while Nani may not be familiar with California, she’s a Hawaiian teenage girl, and she knows the rules of the beach. Rules like: Never cut your hair. Never go anywhere without a bathing suit. Don’t let boys see you eat. Armed with this knowledge, she’s determined to break into the line up ofRead More