The Daughters of Izdihar is Hadeer Elsbai’s debut novel. It’s the first in The Alamaxa Duology, and I raced to the second book the moment I finished this one (tune in next month for that review). It’s always a thrill to read a fantasy novel that’s not set in the Western tradition, and with aRead More
A Memoir of Anxiety, Queerness, and Figure Skating: On Top of Glass by Karina Manta Review
On Top of Glass by Karina Manta is a memoir of the author’s experiences growing up—equal parts a story about sports, queer identity, and anxiety.
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
What is Your Life Story?: In the Form of a Question by Amy Schneider Review
I’ve long since cut the cord on paying for TV, and almost the only thing I miss is Jeopardy!. (I know it’s available on streaming now, but it’s not the same.) So I’ve never actually seen most of Amy Schneider’s record-setting appearances on the show—just a few clips here and there—but I certainly know 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 Messy Love Story in Verse: Couplets by Maggie Millner
Maggie Millner’s Couplets is a novel-in-verse that explores the fierce intensity of falling in love and how it affects one’s expression, especially when the initial excitement begins to falter and fail. This debut reads like a challenge to form itself: can desire, betrayal, and queer longing be woven into the rigid dance of couplets without dulling theirRead More
Love in the Times of Seaside Horror: Providence Girls by Morgan Dante Review
In the past couple of years, I have discovered some real gems of independent and self-published sapphic literature. Last May, I read Morgan Dante’s stunning Providence Girls, which won Best Historical Fiction at the 2023 Indie Ink awards. The author pitches it as “a seaside sapphic cosmic horror romance” in the vein of The Handmaiden and The Shape ofRead More
A Literary Love Story of the Moment: Liquid by Mariam Rahmani Review
This novel has been a hard one to write a review for. Mostly because of the upheavals happening, and my subsequent desire to try and locate the text as best as I can in the current moment. Because, reader, it truly is a novel for the times, of the times. So here is the earliestRead More
Have a Fire Extinguisher Ready: All Fired Up by M. K. England Review
Nicole Wells left Seattle two years ago for a master’s in fire dynamics and some much-needed space. Now she’s back, ready to hit reset on her life…and take one last chance on best friend/unrequited love Skylar Clark. But Nic’s plans crumble when Skylar announces she’s quitting her job and moving to Fiji. Kira McKinney steppedRead More
Not-So-Dark Academia: The Incandescent by Emily Tesh
I was very excited to get an ARC for The Incandescent by Emily Tesh, because Some Desperate Glory was one of my top books of 2023. Magical boarding school is a jump from space dystopia redemption arc, but Emily Tesh continues not to disappoint. The Incandescent is a zippy, fresh perspective of a boarding school story that sucked me from the beginningRead More
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