Crafting for Sinners by Jenny Kiefer is both a visceral survival horror and a balm to survivors of homophobic violence perpetrated by religious institutions everywhere. Once upon a time, Ruth was engaged to a man named Charlie, on track to become a picture-perfect, god-fearing, trad wife. Until, that is, Charlie becomes increasingly more involved with NewRead More
Horrifyingly Heartwarming and Wholesome: Someone You Can Build A Nest In by John Wiswell
If you’re in search of the perfect Sapphic read for spooky season, look no further. Someone You Can Build A Nest In by John Wiswell (he/him) is equal parts gruesome, heartwarming, and hilarious. It’s been on my TBR for the past year, and my only regret after reading it is that I didn’t pick it up sooner. SomeoneRead More
Femme Fatales, Homicidal Housewives and Errant Employees: The New Lesbian Pulp edited by Sarah Fonseca and Octavia Saenz Review
I love pulp fiction. I love reading it, reading about it and I especially love books collecting it. After all, I came to sapphic literature through Radclyffe Hall (by way of Sara Ahmed’s The Promise of Happiness), and Mabel Maney. In fact, I originally began visiting the Lesbrary after coming across Danika’s writing on lesbian pulp fiction andRead More
An Endearingly Gory Monster Love story: Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell
Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell is a gory monster love story about what it means to love someone and be loved. Shesheshen, Wiswell’s main character, is a shape-shifting monster who lives in a decrepit manor near a small town. The town both hates and fears her, but Shesheshen isn’t worried whatRead More
A Feminist, Latin American Vampire Gothic: Thirst by Marina Yuszczuk, translated by Heather Cleary
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! Recently translated into English, Marina Yuszczuk’s queer vampire novel, Thirst (Dutton, March 5, 2024), is partly what I’d hoped for in a vampire fiction, and at the same time, it was nothing like what I’d expected. Although it’s a Gothic, vampire novel on the surface, ThirstRead More
Gory Bisexual Horror/Fantasy: The Dead Take the A Train by Cassandra Khaw and Richard Kadrey
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! One thing about a Cassandra Khaw book: I never know what I’m getting into. Even two-thirds of the way through this, completely invested in the story, I still kept thinking, “What genre is this? And also, what’s the plot?” Julie is a 30-year-old exorcistRead More
Danika reviews Eat the Rich by Sarah Gailey, Pius Bak, and Roman Titov
Amazon Affiliate Link | Bookshop.org Affiliate Link It’s Halloween, and I know exactly which book you should read cover to cover today. Joey is meeting her boyfriend’s family, and it’s understandably stressful. They’re wealthy; she’s not. He’s worried about trying to stay sober back there. She wants to impress them. But she’s on her wayRead More
Danika reviews The All-Consuming World by Cassandra Khaw
Amazon Affiliate Link | Bookshop.org Affiliate Link Fun fact: the first Cassandra Khaw book I read was a paranormal romance called Bearly a Lady, about a bisexual werebear fatshionista. I really enjoyed it! But I found out later that this is very much not Khaw’s usual genre. They usually write horror and sci fi, andRead More