Liz Lighty has a lot to deal with. Her mother is dead, dad left long ago, and her brother has sickle cell. She doesn’t have wealth like the other rich kids she goes to school with and her town, and the school’s history is primarily white. When she doesn’t get the scholarship into the schoolRead More
Shana reviews Once Ghosted, Twice Shy by Alyssa Cole
Once Ghosted, Twice Shy is a novella about a second chance romance between Likotsi, an African woman visiting New York City, and Fabiola, the Haitian-American femme from Brooklyn who she can’t stop thinking about. The story is part of Alyssa Cole’s Reluctant Royals series, which primarily features straight couples. Likotsi was my favorite character fromRead More
Rachel Friars reviews Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron
Kalynn Bayron’s Cinderella is Dead is the queer fairy-tale retelling we needed in 2020. Bayron’s novel is doing amazing things for queer fiction, fantasy, and YA. If there’s anything we need more of, it’s books like this, and more from Bayron herself. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a Cinderella with queer girls.Read More
Danika reviews Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
Papi was a man split in two, playing a game against himself. But the problem with that is that in order to win, you also always lose. Yahaira and Camino are half-sisters, but they don’t know it. Yahaira lives in New York City with her mother and father, though he goes to the Dominican RepublicRead More
Mo Springer reviews The Dawn of Nia by L. Cherelle
This review contains minor spoilers. Nia’s life and self have been shaped by her friendship with her mentor Pat and is grief stricken when she dies. At the funeral, she meets a mysterious woman who turns out to be none other than Pat’s estranged daughter, Deidra. Nia is left feeling confused and betrayed–why did PatRead More
Danika reviews Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde
Images of women flaming like torches adorn and define the borders of my journey, stand like dykes between me and the chaos. It is the images of women, kind and cruel, that lead me home. Audre Lorde is a name that looms large in lesbian literature, in Black history, and in her legacy in poetry.Read More
Maggie reviews Treasure by Rebekah Weatherspoon
In these trying times, the romance stories I am drawn to most right now involve two characters taking one look at each other and going “Oh.” Enemies to lovers or any variation thereof has its place, and is a trope I do enjoy, but right now what I want is two characters just being intoRead More
Black Sapphic 2020 Releases
Black authors and anti-racist books have recently began to get possibly more attention than ever before, despite the recent protests being only the latest in a long history of Black people speaking out against police violence and systemic racism. I’m glad that these books are getting attention now, but it’s important that this isn’t aRead More
Let’s Talk About Racism in Lesbian Publishing
As we continue to have an international conversation about anti-blackness and systemic racism, it becomes more and more obvious how racism exists in every industry, and needs to be rooted out and addressed. Recently, KD Williamson, a Black f/f romance author, brought this discussion to the forefront in lesfic. [Edited to add: of course, BlackRead More
10 Poetry Collections by Black Queer Women
Poetry has always been an artistic expression. From declarations of love to contemplating the meaning of life, poetry has a way of putting the human experience into words. It’s also an effective way to take a political stance or spark compassion for others’ cultures and ways of life. Here are 10 poetry collections that delveRead More