Buy this from Bookshop.org to support the Lesbrary and independent bookstores! [I] wonder if heartbreak will fuck you if you learn to love it enough. It feels unnecessary to recommend the new Casey McQuiston romance, given how incredibly popular Red, White, and Royal Blue and One Last Stop are. I’m sure this will also getRead More
A Forgotten Classic of Lesbian Literature: Olivia by Dorothy Strachey
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! I had found out about Olivia by Dorothy Strachey through the 1951 film of the same name by Jacqueline Audry. MUBI describes the film quite beautifully: “Dreamy laces, soft lighting, and longing glances induce an erotic headiness that renders this landmark lesbian love storyRead More
A Twisty Sapphic Spiritualist Con: Spitting Gold by Carmella Lowkins
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! Carmella Lowkins’s new historical novel, Spitting Gold (Atria Books 2024), is a fabulously atmospheric story with a twisting plot that keeps you guessing until the very end! Spitting Gold is set in nineteenth-century Paris. Baroness Sylvie Devereux has worked tirelessly for years to distance herself from herRead More
A Steamy Lesbian Historical Romance in France: An Island Princess Starts a Scandal by Adriana Herrera
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! “A person could live a lifetime in six weeks, Your Grace. Entire lives have been changed in less.” Picture this: it’s summer, your sunscreen is applied, and you’ve taken the day off to spend solo on the beach. You’ve already taken a dip inRead More
Colonialism and Revolution in Fantasy France: The Faithless by C. L. Clark
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! When I finished The Unbroken by C. L. Clark, I wasn’t sure I was going to continue with the series. It was brilliant, yes: thought-provoking and gut-wrenching, with commentary on colonialism and a passionate, doomed F/F romantic subplot. The strengths of the book, though—theRead More
Rachel reviews The Disenchantment by Celia Bell
Amazon Affiliate Link | Bookshop.org Affiliate Link Celia Bell’s debut novel, The Disenchantment (Pantheon 2023), is a stunning example of queer historical fiction at its finest. Set in seventeenth-century Paris, The Disenchantment follows Baroness Marie Catherine, who lives in a world of luxury, entertainment, and intrigue. However, there is also an undercurrent of darkness racing through ParisianRead More
Carmella reviews All Men Want to Know by Nina Bouraoui
Content warning: this review references sexual assault In the first chapter of her auto-fictional novel All Men Want to Know, Nina Bouraoui (translated from French by Aneesa Abbas Higgins) writes: “I want to know who I am, what I am made of, what I can hope for; I trace the thread of my past backRead More