In some ways, I have a harder time describing this book now than I did before I read it. That isn’t to say that it’s dense or confusing. But the tone is unique, which makes it hard to categorize. You could call this a sapphic monster romance, but that doesn’t feel quite right. It’s definitelyRead More
Toxic Lesbian Vampires: Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab Review
This was my first V.E. Schwab book, and I picked it up solely because she described it as “toxic lesbian vampires.” Luckily, it lived up to that promise, and it’s a welcome addition to my collection of favourite sapphic vampire novels. I appreciate a vampire novel that really digs into what it would feel likeRead More
Sci-Fi as Protest: Those Beyond the Wall by Micaiah Johnson
I don’t think I’ve ever been so pulled into a novel by the dedication, author’s note, and epigraph. (The epigraph to Part One is “i did not come to preach of peace / for that’s not the hunted’s duty.” -Danez Smith.) In the author’s note, Johnson explains the inspiration behind this book coming from her time participating in the 62-day sit in at Nashville’s Tennessee State Capitol. I found myself writing down multiple quotations, including…
Folk Horror and the Troubled Teen Industry: What the Woods Took by Courtney Gould Review
In European folk and fairytales, a journey through the woods represents the characters’ coming of age—their passage from the pastoral, relative security of familial and familiar hearths into a fraught, shadowy place where metaphors for social anxieties lurk around every corner. Only with wit and friendship can one come out the other side, though theyRead More
Queer Smuggler-Duggery: Rough Trade by Katrina Carrasco
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! (Note: This book is a sequel but can be enjoyed without reading the previous one) Fans of historical fiction with high-stakes hijinks and well-developed human characters with strong internal compasses can rejoice! Rough Trade by Katrina Carrasco opens on the early days of organized labor and careens headlongRead More
Vic reviews Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Amazon Affiliate Link | Bookshop.org Affiliate Link Ever since I discovered Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth, I have hesitated to read it for the sheer fact that it could only be a book that I loved or that I hated. It looked so tailored to my own personal tastes that if it did not deliver, itRead More
Nat reviews The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall
Amazon Affiliate Link | Bookshop.org Affiliate Link Sometimes we pick up a book with certain expectations – sometimes we also discover that those expectations are way off the mark. When I set out to read The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea I knew this: it was a YA book with romance, it was gaaay,Read More