There’s only one thing standing in Chloe Green’s way of winning valedictorian: the town’s favorite and Chloe’s rival, Shara Wheeler. A month before graduation, Shara kisses Chloe, then does the most infuriating thing: vanishes. Chloe and two other boys Shara kissed are left with a series of cryptic notes; a scavenger hunt to find her.Read More
Blood, Sex, and Poetry: An Education in Malice by S. T. Gibson
“She kissed me with a martyr’s agonized desperation, like I was the only sword she ever wanted to fall on.” I’ve been eagerly anticipating this book since it was announced: I loved Gibson’s queer polyamorous take on Dracula’s wives in A Dowry of Blood, and I have written several times about my complicated relationship withRead More
Finding a New Favorite YA Contemporary Author: Ophelia After All and You Don’t Have a Shot by Racquel Marie
Recently, I got to read Racquel Marie’s debut and sophomore releases: Ophelia After All and You Don’t Have a Shot. While the two books had different focuses, they were both compulsively readable coming-of-age stories, and I think any reader of sapphic contemporary YA will find at least one of them to be up their alley. Though it isn’tRead More
Queernorm Romantasy: Faebound by Saara El-Arifi
Yeeran is a warrior in the elven army and has known nothing but violence her whole life. Her sister, Lettle, is trying to make a living as a diviner, seeking prophecies of a better future. When a fatal mistake leads to Yeeran’s exile from the Elven lands, they are both forced into the terrifying wildernessRead More
Queer Cozy Fantasy with Magical Animal Shenanigans: The Phoenix Keeper by S.A. MacLean
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! I’m animal lover who’s always looking for more cozy queer fantasy, so this book seemed tailor made for me. It follows Aila, a phoenix keeper at a magical zoo who is trying to restart their phoenix breeding program to help bring the phoenixes backRead More
Sapphic Sleepaway Camp: Wish You Weren’t Here by Erin Baldwin
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! Priya Freaking Pendley seems to have everything a girl could ask for: social media stardom, the handsome track captain boyfriend, and millions of adoring fans. Juliette might have to live with that during the school year, but at Fogridge Sleepaway Camp, Juliette reigns. It’sRead More
A Love Letter to Summer Camp: Wish You Weren’t Here by Erin Baldwin
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! Enemies to lovers is a popular trope, but most people don’t have full-on nemeses in real life. So in contemporary settings, rivals to lovers is more common: the people you compete with, argue with, and hate. Wish You Weren’t Here presents a lower stakesRead More
Cult Leader, Zealot, or Savior?: The Genesis of Misery by Neon Yang
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! Misery Nomaki (she/they) wields the power to manipulate holystone, an ability only saints or those void-touched have. She believes she is void mad, while the angel that guides her, Ruin, tells her she is the next Messiah. But regardless of what is the truth,Read More
A Rivals to Lovers Soccer Romance: You Don’t Have a Shot by Racquel Marie
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! Racquel Marie’s You Don’t Have a Shot is a YA romance that centers around Valentina Castillo-Green, a high school soccer star whose life revolves around the sport. After an abrupt end to her junior year soccer season, Vale ends up at soccer camp, co-captaining a teamRead More
Grumpy/Sunshine Behind the Bar: In Walked Trouble by Dana Hawkins
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! In Walked Trouble, Dana Hawkins’s newest novel, takes us away from the coffee shop of Not in the Plan and into Nueve’s, a Puerto Rican bar and restaurant that should totally exist. (Has anyone else noticed just how many great concepts for restaurants, bars, coffee shops,Read More