I think Molly Beth Griffin’s novel Silhouette of a Sparrow might just be the best lesbian young adult novel I’ve ever read. I don’t say that lightly. It has everything I could hope for: effortless yet beautiful writing, an authentic and lovable young heroine, a subtle and moving romance, an environmentalist sub-plot—honestly, what more couldRead More
Danika reviews Swans & Klons by Nora Olsen
Teen dystopian is a huge genre right now, and I’m used to getting engrossed in giant trilogies contained in it (like The Hunger Games, Divergent, Chaos Walking–sadly, all nonlesbian). Compared to that, a 186-page novel is practically a short story. And Swans & Klons definitely has enough going on that it could have been stretched intoRead More
Katie Raynes reviews Silhouette of a Sparrow by Molly Beth Griffin
Silhouette of a Sparrow by Molly Beth Griffin is the story of Garnet, a teenage ornithology enthusiast who spends a transformative summer in a lakeside town. Set in 1926, Silhouette of a Sparrow combines captivating historical detail with realistic characters and emotions while keeping it all on a believable, relatable scale. I was drawn in immediately by theRead More
Casey reviews Wildthorn by Jane Eagland
A nineteenth-century insane asylum seems hardly an appropriate place for a teenage lesbian romance. Jane Eagland, though, manages to make this both believable and exciting in her young adult novel, Wildthorn. This historical tale is not just a romance, though that was my favourite part; in fact, a larger portion of the book is dedicatedRead More
Jill reviews Empress of the World by Sara Ryan
There’s something special about a good teenaged summer story, which is why human beings keep making movies and writing books about them. And Sara Ryan’s Empress of the World is our very own classic summer teen story, with the added bonus of queer sexual awakening. Published in 2001, it came out long before the apparentRead More
Danika reviews The Trouble with Emily Dickinson by Lyndsey D’Arcangelo
The Trouble with Emily Dickinson is a cute lesbian teen book with a few notable features. One is that the main character, JJ, has a lesbian best friend: Queenie. They are not into each other. They’re just super close. The other is that JJ’s love interest? Straight. Or is she?! The point of view switches betweenRead More
Laura reviews Adaptation by Malinda Lo
Publisher’s Blurb: Reese can’t remember anything from the time between the accident and the day she woke up almost a month later. She only knows one thing: She’s different now. Across North America, flocks of birds hurl themselves into airplanes, causing at least a dozen to crash. Thousands of people die. Fearing terrorism, the UnitedRead More
Danika reviews Down to the Bone by Mayra Lazara Dole
2 years ago, I reviewed Down to the Bone by Mayra Lazara Dole with Rie, another book blogger. Recently, I was contacted by the author about reviewing the newly expanded, updated edition of the book published by Bella Books. Because it was a couple of years ago since I read it the first time, I wasn’t ableRead More
Erica reviews Skim (words by Mariko Tamaki and drawings by Jillian Tamaki)
When the graphic novel Skim opens, its lesbian teen protagonist, Kimberly Keiko Cameron (aka Skim), has just broken her arm on her mother’s candelabra that she was using for her Wicca altar. The broken arm isn’t really an issue except when Skim tries to photograph her cast with her left hand or writing her name.Read More
Casey reviews Dare, Truth or Promise by Paula Boock
I read New Zealand author Paula Boock’s young adult lesbian novel Dare Truth or Promise (1997) in one day, practically in one sitting. I have a soft spot for queer YA anyway, but I really loved this book for its sweet, simple style. Boock writes in a very straight-forward, deceptively plain way that is reminiscentRead More