In the past couple of years, I have discovered some real gems of independent and self-published sapphic literature. Last May, I read Morgan Dante’s stunning Providence Girls, which won Best Historical Fiction at the 2023 Indie Ink awards. The author pitches it as “a seaside sapphic cosmic horror romance” in the vein of The Handmaiden and The Shape ofRead More
A Haunting Gothic About Family in (Climate) Crisis: Private Rites by Julia Armfield Review
As an avid reader of all of Julia Armfield’s fiction, I was eager to pick up her newest novel. From the author of Our Wives Under the Sea (2022), Private Rites (Fourth Estate, 2024) promised to be poignant, haunting, and literary. Set in a future world where environmental disaster has flooded much of the world with ceaseless rains, threeRead More
A Sapphic Nova Scotia Gothic: A Sweet Sting of Salt by Rose Sutherland
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! I couldn’t tell you why, but I am obsessed with sapphic selkie stories. There are very few of them out there, but I leap on the chance to read any that I stumble upon. Don’t get me wrong: I like sapphic mermaids, too, butRead More
Love at First Selkie: The Girl from the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag
Buy this from Bookshop.org to support local bookstores and the Lesbrary! On a recent trip to Portland, my partner and I picked up The Girl from the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag (she/her) from Powell’s City of Books. This gorgeous graphic novel follows Morgan Kwon, a 15-year-old young woman living with her mom and younger brother on WilneffRead More
A Meditation On Grief Through a Speculative Lens: Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield
Bookshop.org Affiliate Link I’ve seen this book mainly categorised as horror but after reading it, it feels more like a speculative fiction with elements of horror and sci-fi in it. This book transcends genres: that’s the mark of a phenomenal read! I went into this story expecting an action-packed, horror-strewn plotline and found something muchRead More
Young Adult Breakthroughs in the Florida Bayou: The Immeasurable Depth of You by Maria Ingrande Mora
Bookshop.org Affiliate Link Thank you to Peachtree/Peachtree Teen and Netgalley for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. (Published March 7, 2023) I adored this YA coming of age gem! The book follows Brynn, a young bisexual teen struggling with severe anxiety, as she’s forced to spend her summer away from her home inRead More
Sea Monsters and Lesbian Pirates: The Abyss Surrounds Us & The Edge of the Abyss by Emily Skrutskie
Bookshop.org Affiliate Link The Abyss Surrounds Us and The Edge of the Abyss feel like one book that’s been split in two. And I mean that in the best way possible—one of my biggest frustrations with young adult fiction is when it doesn’t take the time to slowly and properly develop its themes, characters, narrativeRead More
Larkie reviews The Girls are Never Gone by Sarah Glenn Marsh
Amazon Affiliate Link | Bookshop.org Affiliate Link I love a good horror movie, and can never resist a classic haunted house, so when I heard that The Girls are Never Gone is about a podcast host investigating a 30 year old murder and possible haunting of a dilapidated old mansion, and it’s sapphic, I jumped on it.Read More
Rachel reviews Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
Amazon Affiliate Link | Bookshop.org Affiliate Link Stunning, poignant, and totally unputdownable, Julia Armfield’s debut novel Our Wives Under the Sea (Picador 2022) is one of my favourite queer novels of 2022! Our Wives Under the Sea is a dual-perspective narrative that follows both Miri and her wife Leah. Miri’s chapters narrate Leah’s return from a deep-sea missionRead More
Danika reviews The Girls Are Never Gone by Sarah Glenn Marsh
Amazon Affiliate Link | Bookshop.org Affiliate Link I’m very picky when it comes to horror books, mostly because I’m a wimp and get freaked out very easily. When the weather starts to get a little chillier, though, I start to crave creepy, witchy, autumn-y books, and that’s when I start eyeing the horror section. TheRead More