Vera’s Will is a beautifully-told queer family saga, one that is by turns heart-wrenching and heartwarming, and at every moment an entrancing read. Ettinger tells the tragic story of Vera’s life, from her family’s flight from Russia after anti-Jewish violence at the turn of the 20th century to her lonely death in the 1970s, withRead More
Shira Glassman reviews Marian by Ella Lyons
One way to describe Marian by Ella Lyons is that it’s a kiddie version of Heather Rose Jones’s Daughter of Mystery — both are costume dramas featuring a traditionally feminine lesbian with a nurturing personality and a lesbian swordfighter living in a world where it’s not customary for women to participate in combat, both feature father figures who aRead More
Shira Glassman reviews Sideshow by Amy Stilgenbauer
If you’ve been craving midcentury f/f, if you want that old-timey vintage movie aesthetic– I mean the sweet, wholesome type rather than noir — Sideshow by Amy Stilgenbauer is a solid example, with fade-to-black scenes of intimacy that to me added to the period-appropriate feel (since m/f romance from that era wouldn’t have been graphic, either.) IRead More
Rachel reviews The Witch of Stalingrad by Justine Saracen
Justine Saracen has written many historical novels featuring homosexual and transsexual protagonists. The Witch of Stalingrad is a lesbian adventure/romance novel set in the last years of World War II. It’s 1941, and the Russians are trying to push back the German soldiers from their country. Marina Raskova, a respected pilot, starts three differentRead More
Elinor reviews The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters
Set in London after the end of World War I, The Paying Guests is a gorgeous and haunting novel. It begins with Frances Wray, a single woman in her mid-twenties, and her widowed mother waiting for their new lodgers. The loss of Frances’ father and the discovery of his poor financial decisions has reduced theRead More
Danika reviews Marian by Ella Lyons
How’s this for an elevator pitch?: Lesbian YA Robin Hood retelling. If you’re anything like me, that immediately added Marian by Ella Lyons to your TBR. There’s just one problem: that’s not exactly what Marian is. This novella (135 pages) follows Marian, a daughter of a knight, who finds herself thrust out of her country home into theRead More
Marthese reviews Sword of the Gladiatrix by Faith L. Justice
“This has nestled between my breasts, lifted with my breath and listened to my heart.” Sword of the Gladiatrix by Faith L. Justice is a historical fiction set during the time where ancient Rome controlled most of the Mediterranean and beyond. I love a good historical fiction set in ancient Rome, but there areRead More
Danika reviews Orlando by Virginia Woolf
Orlando is the book that I’ve been most ashamed of never having read. It’s a queer classic! So when I was picking out which book should be my first read of 2016, it seemed the obvious choice. The funny thing about reading the classics is that I always go in thinking that I have a generalRead More
Marthese reviews Frog Music by Emma Donoghue
Emma Donoghue is a phenomenal writer take is able to make you related to her narrative. So when I heard about a new book, I knew that I will someday buy it and read it especially one with such a nice cover! Frog Music is a historical fiction with some basis in reality as itRead More
SPONSORED REVIEW: Danika reviews The Apprentice Queen by Nel Havas
The Apprentice Queen is a story about how an ordinary person becomes a monster. Mitti grew up in a happy, not particularly well-off family in ancient Egypt. When she was ten, she found herself suddenly whisked off into the royal court, a snake pit of deception, betrayal, and political games. She is trained by the queen herselfRead More