This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone is a modern sapphic classic, but I somehow I ended up reading El-Mohtar’s new novella first. It did not disappoint—in fact, it was the final push I needed to finally pick up This is How You Lose the Time War, andRead More
A Disappointing Carmilla Retelling: Hungerstone by Kat Dunn Review
Hungerstone was one of my most-anticipated books of 2025, but it ended up being a disappointment. I love Carmilla and queer Carmilla retellings, not to mention sapphic vampire stories in general, so I thought this would be an easy win. Instead, I ended up feeling like this was a novel split in two, where theRead More
A New Classic of Queer Memoirs: Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H Review
I’ve been hearing great things about Hijab Butch Blues since it was published, so I’m very glad my book club chose it and I had an excuse to finally read it. Now, I’m here to join that chorus of positive reviews. This is a thought-provoking and readable memoir that follows the author from feeling outRead More
A Revolutionary Tale: The Daughters of Izdihar by Hadeer Elsbai
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
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 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
The Beauty and Bitterness of Unrequited Love: The Italy Letters by Vi Khi Nao
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! The Italy Letters by Vi Khi Nao (August 13, 2024) reads like bitter chocolate with rich undertones that will pique the acquired tastes of readers looking for poetic experimental fiction and stories about the mid-life crises of disillusioned literary fiction writers who are not cishet whiteRead More
A Rapidfire History of Queer Women’s Spaces: A Place of Our Own by June Thomas
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! This year, I’m doing the 2024 Read Harder Challenge—well, I should hope I am, because I’m the one running the challenge and writing the newsletter this time! (You can subscribe if you want recommendations plus weekly updates on my reading, though some of itRead More
A Sapphic Nova Scotia Gothic: A Sweet Sting of Salt by Rose Sutherland
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! I couldn’t tell you why, but I am obsessed with sapphic selkie stories. There are very few of them out there, but I leap on the chance to read any that I stumble upon. Don’t get me wrong: I like sapphic mermaids, too, butRead More
A Thrilling Elemental Fantasy Debut: The Daughters of Izdihar by Hadeer Elsbair
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! Nehal has practically everything that a woman could ask for: wealth, a prestigious name, an engagement to one of the most eligible men in Alamaxa. What she doesn’t have, though, is the right to join the Weaving Academy on her own and learn howRead More