Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! “And keep drawing, too. Draw what you see, what happens here. It’s important. They can scare us, but they can’t make us forget.” In this simply illustrated yet poignant graphic novel, Kiku Hughes reimagines herself as a teenager who is pulled back in timeRead More
A Sweet Middle Grade Coming-of-Age: Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World by Ashley Herring Blake
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! Ivy Aberdeen’s life was already chaotic between her newborn twin brothers, her older sister’s odd behavior, and Ivy struggling with her own confusing feelings for girls that she can’t quite name. But then her family home is swept away by a tornado and Ivy’sRead More
Decadence and Decay: Thirst by Marina Yuszczuk, translated by Heather Cleary
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! Thirst by Marina Yuszczuk, translated by Heather Cleary (March 5, 2024) is a considered, sorrowful, masterfully atmospheric story about mourning and the costs of surviving outside of society’s protective frameworks. It is also the story of two women in conflict with their inherited and inherentRead More
A Painfully Realistic Teen Romance: Cupid’s Revenge by Wibke Brueggemann
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! I will admit that the cover really influenced me in picking this one up. I think it’s stunning. But I’m glad I did! Tilly is only non-artist in a house of passionate artists, and she’s always felt left out. Her parents don’t really understandRead More
A Holiday Romance with Depth: Season of Love by Helena Greer
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! Every year, I intend to read a bunch of queer holiday romances in December, but I don’t usually follow through with it. The holiday romances that I have read were often flops, which doesn’t help. This year, I gathered together my collection of sapphicRead More
Piercingly Insightful Poetry: The Delicacy of Embracing Spirals by Mimi Tempestt
Bookshop.org Affiliate Link From the epigraph to the end, this book is clear-eyed about its aims and its author’s perspective. Tempestt’s writing draws the reader in as a participant, with mentions of readers, watchers, audiences that are not confrontational, but certainly not abstracted. Reading this collection felt like watching spoken word, or another kind ofRead More
A Meditation On Grief Through a Speculative Lens: Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield
Bookshop.org Affiliate Link I’ve seen this book mainly categorised as horror but after reading it, it feels more like a speculative fiction with elements of horror and sci-fi in it. This book transcends genres: that’s the mark of a phenomenal read! I went into this story expecting an action-packed, horror-strewn plotline and found something muchRead More
#SapphicSoccerStoryGoals: You Don’t Have a Shot by Racquel Marie
Bookshop.org Affiliate Link You Don’t Have A Shot is sapphic soccer-rivals-to-lovers perfection set in present-day Southern California. If you’re still mourning the fact that the Women’s World Cup is over or you agree that “fútbol is life” a la Danny Rojas from Ted Lasso (but with a queer Latina twist), this book is for you!Read More
The Claustrophobia of Grief: Where Echoes Die by Courtney Gould
Bookshop.org Affiliate Link Grief is one of the most popular themes explored within the horror genre. From TV, to film, to literature, death is one of the human experiences that vexes us the most, and people use art and media to grapple with the aspects of our existence that are completely out of our control.Read More
Kids Can Fight Injustice Too: Sir Callie and the Champions of Helston by Esme Symes-Smith
Bookshop.org Affiliate Link “My name is Callie, and I’m not a girl. I am here as Papa’s squire, and I want to train as a knight.” Content warnings: verbal and physical abuse from parental figures; internalized homophobia/transphobia; deadnaming; bullying; queer-coded distrust of magic; parental figure with implied depression; implied suicide of SC; death of siblingRead More