Bookshop.org Affiliate Link My favourite holiday of the year is Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon, particularly the October readathon. My roommate and I spend all day reading horror books and snacking. It is a delight. Last year, I read Every Heart a Doorway and really enjoyed it. The horror/fantasy novella series felt like a perfect fitRead More
The Original Sapphic Vampire: Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
Bookshop.org Affiliate Link A young girl, Laura, becomes haunted by a figure in a dream that preys on her. Ten years later, that girl, Carmilla, shows up at her home and claims to know her from the dream as well. They become fast friends, but Carmilla holds a dark secret: she is a vampire whoRead More
Sci-Fi Meets Historical Fiction Meets Classic Lesbian Vampire Novel: The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez
Amazon Affiliate Link | Bookshop.org Affiliate Link Equal parts science fiction, historical fiction, and lesbian fiction, The Gilda Stories (1991) by Jewelle Gomez is a classic queer vampire novel. The novel begins in the Southern United States in the 1850s and follows Gilda, who escapes from slavery and is taken in by two lesbian brothel proprietors whoRead 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
Rachel reviews The World Cannot Give by Tara Isabella Burton
Amazon Affiliate Link | Bookshop.org Affiliate Link Described as a cross between Donna Tartt’s The Secret History and Patricia Highsmith’s The Price of Salt, Tara Isabella Burton’s novel The World Cannot Give (2022) is a dark, Gothic, and powerful meditation on the dangers of desire and the consequences of ambition. The novel follows Laura Stearns as she arrives at St.Read More
Rachel reviews House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson
Amazon Affiliate Link | Bookshop.org Affiliate Link From the author of The Year of the Witching (Penguin 2020) comes a new queer Gothic novel about blood, power, and control. House of Hunger (Penguin 2022) was enthralling until the very last page, and I still want more! House of Hunger is set in a world where the upper class literallyRead More
Meagan Kimberly reviews White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi
Amazon Affiliate Link | Bookshop.org Affiliate Link It’s hard to summarize Helen Oyeyemi’s White is for Witching, as this is a novel less with plot and more with vibes. But to the best of my ability, a young girl, Miranda, develops an eating disorder called pica, where she eats and hungers for things that areRead More
Danika reviews House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson
Amazon Affiliate Link | Bookshop.org Affiliate Link On paper, this should have been the perfect book for me to read Halloween month. I’m fascinated by the historical figure of Elizabeth Bathory, I love a (fictional) obsessive and unhealthy sapphic relationship, and this sounds like it would be a blood-soaked, sexy Gothic in the vein ofRead More
Rachel reviews The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean
Amazon Affiliate Link | Bookshop.org Affiliate Link A fast-paced, truly unputdownable fantasy novel, Sunyi Dean’s The Book Eaters is the kind of expansive adventure novel that draws you in and keeps you there. Dean’s writing represents a fabulous new voice in fantasy literature. The world of The Book Eaters introduces us to a secret lineage of aristocratic beings whoRead More
Rachel reviews Small Angels by Lauren Owen
Amazon Affiliate Link | Bookshop.org Affiliate Link Dark, Gothic, and atmospheric, Lauren Owen’s new novel Small Angels (August 2022) is perfect for fans of spooky queer fiction and it’s out just in time for autumn! This book is definitely one to add to your Halloween TBR. Small Angels begins in a small English village with a story thatRead More