Amazon Affiliate Link | Bookshop.org Affiliate Link If you like dark, historical novels with a brooding mystery at the center, you’ll love Jane Healey’s The Animals at Lockwood Manor. A queer novel set at a remote country estate in England at the beginning of World War II, the twists and turns of this novel—like theRead More
Rachel reviews A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson
Amazon Affiliate Link | Bookshop.org Affiliate Link If you’re a fan of paranormal retellings, historical fiction, and poetic writing, S.T. Gibson’s A Dowry of Blood is the perfect read. The novel is an innovative and refreshing retelling of Dracula, told from the perspective of one of Dracula’s three brides—infamous in the novel as the licentious, erotic, lust-filled womenRead More
Rachel reviews The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue
Amazon Affiliate Link | Bookshop.org Affiliate Link Emma Donoghue is one of my favourite lesbian writers, and one of my favourite genres is historical biographical fiction. Donoghue’s The Sealed Letter (2009) is a masterfully paced, well-plotted literary novel with a lesbian twist. And it’s based on real events! The Sealed Letter is told from three perspectives. The firstRead More
Rachel reviews Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth
Amazon Affiliate Link | Bookshop.org Affiliate Link A dark, haunting, gothic novel, Emily M. Danforth’s Plain Bad Heroines (2020) is a delightfully dark queer book with a complex and fun premise that was right up my alley. Set across two separate timelines, the first begins in 1902 Rhode Island at the Brookhants School for Girls. Two students,Read More
Rachel reviews Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
Amazon Affiliate Link | Bookshop.org Affiliate Link I read Malinda Lo’s newest book, Last Night at the Telegraph Club (2021) about a month ago, and I’m still thinking about it. If you’re looking for a slice of mid-twentieth-century lesbian culture with some wonderful Chinese American representation and rich social history, Last Night at the Telegraph Club is forRead More
Rachel reviews The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue
Emma Donoghue’s newest novel, The Pull of the Stars (Harper Avenue 2020), is perhaps one of her most compelling historical fictions to date. A fast-paced, stunning novel, I was unable to put down The Pull of the Stars until the early hours of the morning. It drew me into its world in a way that was so riveting andRead More
Rachel reviews The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
Amazon Affiliate Link | Bookshop.org Affiliate Link Since reading Alix E. Harrow’s The Ten Thousand Doors of January last summer, I have been anxiously awaiting the publication of The Once and Future Witches. I finally got to read it over the holidays at the end of last year, and it did not disappoint! Set inRead More
Rachel reviews The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart
Intense, expansive, and original, Andrea Stewart’s The Bone Shard Daughter (2020), book one of the Drowning Empire, was a joy to read. Its lesbian representation offers a fresh refocusing of queer desire. It’s perfect for fans of Gideon the Ninth (2019). Stewart’s novel follows multiple perspectives as she sets up the Bone Shard world. The empire is ruled by an emperorRead More
Rachel reviews Her Lady to Love by Jane Walsh
Jane Walsh’s lesbian romance novel, Her Lady to Love (2020), was released this fall from Bold Strokes Books, and it’s the perfect novel to read over the holidays if you love gorgeous writing, beautiful settings, and literal bodice ripping! Set in the Regency period, Walsh’s novel follows Lady Honora Banfield who, after spending several of her eligible seasonsRead More
Rachel reviews The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Kiran Millwood Hargrave’s novel, The Mercies (2020), is a vivid, sapphic, historical novel that I couldn’t bear to put down. I read this book in nearly one sitting and its dark, passionate story will likely have you doing the same. Hargrave’s novel is starts in Finnmark, Norway, in 1617. It follows twenty-year-old Maren Bergensdatter asRead More