Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! “I no longer wish to be called resilient. Call me reckless, impatient, and emotional. Even Indigenous. Call my anything other than survivor. I am so many more things than brave.” One of my favourite books I’ve read this year is Thunder Song, LaPointe’s newestRead More
Danika reviews Slip written by Marika McCoola and illustrated by Aatmaja Pandya
Amazon Affiliate Link | Bookshop.org Affiliate Link Content warning: This review contains discussion of suicide. This is a YA graphic novel about Jade, who is preparing for her future as an artist by going to a summer art intensive. She knows this opportunity is make or break for her chances of building a portfolio, gettingRead More
Danika reviews Verona Comics by Jennifer Dugan
Because this is the Lesbrary, I’ll start by saying that this is a f/m romance with a bi+ main character (and love interest). I picked this up firstly because I really enjoyed Dugan’s previous queer YA title, Hot Dog Girl. I was also interested in the premise: two teenagers whose parents own competing comic book shopsRead More
Mallory Lass reviews Everything Grows by Aimee Herman
CW: suicide, homophobia, family trauma, parental character death (remembered) and child abuse Have you ever picked up a book and the whole time you’re reading, it feels like somehow the universe aligned and you were meant to find it, to soak in the words and glide through the pages? Well this is how Aimee Herman’sRead More
Danika reviews Fat Angie: Rebel Girl Revolution by e.E. Charlton-Trujillo
When I finished Fat Angie, I felt a bit conflicted about it. I liked the character and thought the language use was interesting, but it was so dark that I felt like I couldn’t find even a glimmer of hope. Despite the many strong elements of the novel–who can resist queer girls kissing to the theme songRead More
Mallory Lass reviews Broken Trails by D. Jordan Redhawk
Trigger Warnings: Suicide of a minor character (occurs in the past and is recounted), and alcoholism. Spoilers marked separately at the end. A gripping adventure romance, set in “Big Sky Country” Alaska at the famous Iditarod dog sledding race, features a swoon worthy protagonist and a driven but out of control (at times) love interest.Read More
Mars reviews Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
It’s hard to boil this one down. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic is a complex portrait of a complex family. Let no one tell you that graphic novels cannot be intense reckonings of literature, especially not when they have become staples of the modern lesbian literary canon and have been reproduced as a very successful Tony-awardRead More
Claire Blatter reviews The Drowning Girl by Caitlin Kiernan
This book is a very complex one. I put off doing the review for a while, letting myself absorb the content fully. It’s only three hundred something pages, but the story within is heavy. It is about some very triggering content, including a suicide attempt, many references to people who have committed suicide, and descriptionsRead More
Kelly reviews Hello Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks, and Other Outlaws by Kate Bornstein
After the success of the It Gets Better project and the recent publication of the accompanying book, I wanted to revisit another book aimed at suicidal young queers. Kate Bornstein’s Hello Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks, and Other Outlaws was first published in 2006. Bornstein is well known as a performance artist and genderRead More