Do you ever know that you’re going to enjoy a book so much that you just keep putting off reading it? That was me with Feast While You Can by Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta. I’m a big fan of the married co-authors’s previous work, the celebrity romance The View Was Exhausting, and the promise of their secondRead More
Heartbreak and Growing Pains in Sarvat Hasin’s Strange Girls
Sarvat Hasin’s Strange Girls delves into the complexity and fervor of the codependent female friendships that bloom, burn, and scar in adolescence. Told in two perspectives and two timelines, the novel reveals the truths behind the stories each woman told themselves about a life-altering relationship. Aliya and Ava were once inseparable, but after a ten-year silence, theirRead More
7 Transfeminine Sapphic Books I Read In 2025
It’s a tough time to be trans, more so with the socio-cultural complicity and transmisogyny one witnesses even within supposedly progressive queer circles these days. However, as a trans masc author myself, I want to emphasize that while it is alright to call for the boycott of bigoted authors, it is equally—if not more—important toRead More
Mushrooms, Magic, Pirates, and More: The Dawnhounds by Sascha Stronach
The Dawnhounds by Sascha Stronach is a Maori-inspired, queer, biopunk fantasy novel. It’s pitched as Gideon the Ninth meets Black Sun, so be prepared for very expansive and detailed world-building that doesn’t really stop to explain as you dive into it. That world-building is incredibly unique. In the port city of Hainak, metal is taboo,Read More
A Tender Romance Between Roommates: Make Room for Love by Darcy Liao
I’m always looking for romances starring trans characters, and with Make Room for Love by Darcy Liao promising a slow-burn romance between roommates, I happily picked it up. That combination implies mutual pining at all hours between people gradually learning how to share their lives, and this book delivered on that premise. With Mira in need ofRead More
Sugar, Spice, and Suffragettes: When We Lost Our Heads by Heather O’Neill
I admit, I am tired of feminist retellings. Or rather, books marketed as powerful treatises on female rage, when in reality, they are often little more than palatable, watered-down morsels of women’s empowerment, lacking any nuance. Unfortunately, even fictional empowerment remains a privilege usually afforded to classically beautiful, relatively upper-class white women, who enjoy maximumRead More
A Sizzling Polyamorous Rom-Com: Triple Sec by TJ Alexander
A jaded bartender is wooed by a charmingly quirky couple in this fresh and sizzling polyamorous rom-com, set in the exclusive world of high-end cocktail bars. As a bartender at Terror & Virtue, a swanky New York City cocktail lounge known for its romantic atmosphere and Insta-worthy drinks, Mel has witnessed plenty of disastrous dates.Read More
A Queer M/F Romance of Healing and Reconciliation: A Shot in the Dark by Victoria Lee
Bookshop.org Affiliate Link This novel is a masterful exploration of various themes, ranging from consent and communication during intimate moments to faith, substance abuse, and power dynamics. The author’s ability to delve into these topics with depth and sensitivity truly impressed me. The novel shines in its approach to consent and communication during sexual encounters.Read More
A High-Heat Heist: Double Exposure by Rien Gray
Note: While I’ve avoided major plot spoilers, this review is relatively detailed regarding the character arcs and themes. Fittingly enough, I’ve been exposed to Double Exposure by Rien Gray twice. The first time was through the Happily Ever After Collective, which releases monthly romance novellas from a variety of authors. Last year, Double Exposure released to patrons along withRead More
The Complexity of Being a Queer Refugee: From Here by Luma Mufleh
Bookshop.org Affiliate Link Trigger warnings for this book: suicide attempts and ideation, homophobia, violence Like a lot of Westerners, when I hear about countries with laws against homosexuality, I respond with instinctual aversion: “What a terrible place! I hope any queer people there can leave!” I imagine impediments like the law and its enforcers, economicRead More