Run Away With Me by J.L. Simmonds is a realistic YA novel about two teenage girls, classmates but not friends, who end up together on a desperate road trip filled with secrets and hidden dangers. The main character, Jessie, is quiet, uncertain, and on the run from her abusive stepfather’s corpse. Brooke is self-assured, outgoing, andRead More
Grief and Found Family in Alexis Henderson’s Young Adult Debut
Newly released this month, Alexis Henderson’s young adult debut, When I Was Death, brings the author’s signature fantastical horror to a meditation on grief and coming of age. In the year since protagonist Roslyn lost her sister, Adeline, she’s almost completely disconnected from her life. The mysterious circumstances surrounding Adeline’s loss have cast an even longerRead More
Large Format Photograph as Novel: Housemates by Emma Copley Eisenberg
Some of my favourite books can be accurately described as “slow.” In fact, I so enjoy a character-based story that when I hear “nothing happens in this book,” it bumps it up my TBR. So, it was a surprise to me to find myself slogging through Housemates feeling like nothing was happening. If it wasn’tRead More
A Sentimental Romance That Takes You for a Ride: Whenever You’re Ready by Rachel Runya Katz Review
Despite not reading reviews about Whenever You’re Ready by Rachel Runya Katz, I set my expectations high for this contemporary romance. Estranged childhood friends-to-lovers, a road trip, siblings, grief and healing, a dual timeline, and third person present tense? Maybe I have some specific selling points, but consider me sold.
How Much Would You Sacrifice for Fame?: Every Time You Hear That Song by Jenna Voris
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! I won’t be able to get through this review without mentioning The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, so let me get the comparison out of the way now. Like Evelyn Hugo, this cover likely doesn’t scream “queer story,” but it is—twice over, actually. LikeRead More
A Lesbian Road Trip Romcom About Death: Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! I read Alison Cochrun’s previous book, Kiss Her Once for Me, and liked it, but I was not expecting to love this one quite as much as I did. Some of that is for reasons that will translate to many other readers, and someRead More
Supremely Steamy Slow Burn: Losing Control by J. J. Arias
Amazon Affiliate Link For my first romance of 2024, I decided to read Losing Control by J. J. Arias. I had heard so many great things about this author (shout out to the Strictly Sapphic podcast) and knew that I really wanted to check her work out sometime. So when my friends gifted me aRead More
Danika reviews Melt With You by Jennifer Dugan
Amazon Affiliate Link | Bookshop.org Affiliate Link This is a sapphic YA romance with an ice cream truck road trip, and if that doesn’t intrigue you, we have very different tastes in books. To be more specific, it’s a friends-to-lovers-to-enemies?-to-lovers? ice cream truck road trip sapphic YA romance. Fallon and Chloe were best friends practicallyRead More
Shannon reviews Trouble Girls by Julia Lynn Rubin
Amazon Affiliate Link | Bookshop.org Affiliate Link I’m always on the lookout for a good road trip book, especially during those hot summer months, and so, I was beyond delighted to run across Julia Lynn Rubin’s Trouble Girls, part YA thriller and part coming of age story. It features teenaged best friends who head outRead More
Marieke reviews Daughter Of The Sun by Effie Calvin
Amazon Affiliate Link | Bookshop.org Affiliate Link Anybody who gets me talking about books in any amount of time will swiftly learn there are a few niche genres I’m an absolute sucker for: weird murder mysteries (see: Jane, Unlimited, Meddling Kids, The 7 ½ Deaths Of Evelyn Hardcastle), atmospheric fairy tale retellings (see: Blanca & Roja, The Girls At TheRead More