In “Lonely Crowds,” we follow the complex relationship between protagonists Ruth and Maria. The two meet as children at their all-girls Catholic school in New England and become fast friends. Ruth is the only child of recent immigrants, and Maria is an orphan under the care of her mentally ill aunt, and the two are someRead More
A Cozy, Black Sapphic Love Story: The Secret Crush Book Club by Karmen Lee Review
I’ve never read a book that would fall into the “low-angst romance” category, until I picked up The Secret Crush Book Club by Karmen Lee. The book is the third in a series that takes place in a quaint small town called Peach Blossom. This Black sapphic romance follows two women in their late 20s, Dani and Zoey,Read More
A Cozy Queer Christmas Romance for Fans of The Holiday: I’ll Be Gone for Christmas by Georgia K. Boone Review
I watch The Holiday every December, so when I heard about a sapphic book coming out with the same premise—two strangers swap houses over the holidays and fall in love with people from each other’s lives—I knew I had to pick it up. As you’d expect, we have two main characters: Clover, who left herRead More
A Queer Black Holiday RomCom: There’s Always Next Year by George M. Johnson and Leah Johnson
This book feels like a teen holiday romcom movie in book form—if those movies ever starred queer Black main characters. We switch between two points of view: Dominique, who took off to New York City to chase his influencer dreams; and Andy, his cousin, who stayed in their hometown and is pursuing her career goalRead More
Love and Rocket Science: To the Moon and Back by Eve Noble
Finally, someone taps the vast romantic potential of mathematics and physics. To The Moon is a historical fiction novel set during the Space Race following two NASA employees: Katrina Ivanova, a mathematician and Soviet turncoat, and Gloria Johnson, a brilliant Black physicist stuck working as a secretary for her white peers. Katrina fled from the SovietRead More
A Lesbian Vampire Classic: The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez
I picked up The Gilda Stories a few years ago after it was published as a Vintage Classic in 2023: 32 years after its release. I was curious to see what book had been blurbed by Sarah Waters and excited by the fact it was a black lesbian vampire story. To describe it with thoseRead More
Falling in Love in a Historic Theater: If We Were a Movie by Zakiya N. Jamal Review
When I read YA, particularly contemporary YA and most especially sapphic contemporary YA, I always approach it from the perspective of my sixteen-year-old self. If this book had existed when I was a teenager, what would I have thought of it? Zakiya N. Jamal’s If We Were a Movie would have caught my attention right from the Hannah MontanaRead More
A Must Read for Fans of Carmen Maria Machado: Sympathy for Wild Girls: Stories by Demree McGhee Review
This is a collection of stories about queer Black women that is going to live in my head for a long time. The opening story is about a young woman who has been raised on stories about violence and murder of Black girls like her at the hands of men. She’s consumed by this narrative,Read More
Sci-Fi as Protest: Those Beyond the Wall by Micaiah Johnson
I don’t think I’ve ever been so pulled into a novel by the dedication, author’s note, and epigraph. (The epigraph to Part One is “i did not come to preach of peace / for that’s not the hunted’s duty.” -Danez Smith.) In the author’s note, Johnson explains the inspiration behind this book coming from her time participating in the 62-day sit in at Nashville’s Tennessee State Capitol. I found myself writing down multiple quotations, including…
A Noir Mystery with Angels and Demons: Even Though I Knew the End by C.L. Polk Review
In 1940s Chicago, a serial killer known as the White City Vampire spreads fear as everyone wonders who his next victim will be. Helen Brandt, an exiled magician deemed a warlock for her crimes against the Brotherhood, is on the case. But as the mystery unfolds, her past comes back to haunt her, and sheRead More
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