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@novelsnet event 05: romance — one last stop by casey mcquiston
and there’s certainly no chance of her subway commute being anything more than a daily trudge through boredom and electrical failures. but then, there’s this gorgeous girl on the train.
Is it snowy where you are? No need to fret! Why not grab a copy of my sapphic romance novel to have you feeling nice and cozy? It’s set in the spring time so it’s nice and warm with small town sapphic yearning.
Hearthbound
The hearth has always been a lonely place to guard.
In Hearthbound, Hestia — the quiet goddess of the hearth — finds herself reaching out to a mortal girl for help. What begins as duty becomes something warmer, something she never dared hope for.
💬 “She who guards the sacred fire found herself guarded by a gentler spark.”
Free to read on Wattpad → HERE! Support my work on Ko-fi → HERE!
Hi! Just dropping by to let y'all know that I've had a great writing night (1,000+ words), and I'm about to break 90k on my sapphic disaster queer tragiromance/litfic novel! Maybe I'll be able to finish this book this year after all!
Only 4.5 years in the making...
Currently live-posting about my writing process on BlueSky
Read about TERTIARY here.
(Yes, I'm craving the attention and validation that Twitter no longer offers... help a girl out...)
I decided going back to my slightly sapphic September and started reading The Deathless Girls by Kiran Millwood Hargrave. . . . #sapphicsaturday #sapphiclit #lgbtbooks #lgbtreads #vampirefiction #paranormalnovel #paranormalfiction #currentlyreading #currentread #trykksvertereautumnchallenge2022 #bookstagram #bibliophile #bookworm #bookdragon #weneeddiversebooks #ilovebooks #ilovereading #booksaremagic #booksareneveroutoffashion #readingiscool #readingissexy https://www.instagram.com/p/CiVQ7cHroqM/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
Here's my TBR pile for this month and it looks like I'll have a spooky and sapphic September. . . . #tbrbooks #tbrstack #tbrpile #bookstack #sapphiclit #sapphicstack #spookystack #lgbtbooks #lgbtreads #lesbianliterature #horrornovel #horrorfiction #paranormalnovel #paranormalfiction #retelling #bookstagram #bibliophile #bookworm #bookdragon #ilovebooks #ilovereading #booksaremylife #booksarelife #booksareneveroutoffashion #booksaremypassion #readingismyhappyplace #readingiscool #readingplans #readingismagic #readingissexy https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch-Yx_ZLBhO/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
One thing for sure, I look forward to reading these two back to back. . . . #gothicliterature #sapphiclit #lgbtbooks #lgbtreads #retelling #vampirefiction #paranormalnovel #paranormalfiction #tbrbooks #bookstagram #bibliophile #bookworm #bookdragon #ilovebooks #ilovereading #booksaremagic #readingiscool #readingissexy #booksareneveroutoffashion https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch4nxPKLYlN/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
since my f/f lit post is getting kind of long I just decided to paste everything i’ve read into one post under a readmore that i’ll edit and update every so often. disclaimer, they’re entirely rated by personal preference and how much i enjoyed them. nothing else. anyway... short reviews for 30+ F/F books read in 2020 under the cut:
into the drowning deep by mira grant (YA) 5/5 stars: I love horror I love women I love women who love other women… a great sci fi thriller with scary mermaids. HUGE fan and my first read of 2020.
the rise of kyoshi by f.c yee (YA) 5/5 stars: i really enjoyed it bc i’ve always loved the atla + lok universe and i was really pleased to read about kyoshi’s origins <3 also she has a hot firebending gf and that made me very happy… thanks bryke.
the lost coast by amy rose capetta (YA) 2/5: you’d think i’d be all over this bc it’s f/f teen witches but honestly it felt a little too much like a witchy polycule for my tastes bc personally i’m a repressed prude. it was cute tho! just not for me.
killing eve: die for me by luke jennings (adult) (4/5): yes I read the killing eve books yes I think I’m giving it this rating simply because it gives us the real villaneve romace that the show is still baiting us with…
what is yours is not yours by helen oyeyemi (adult) 5/5: this book was recommended to me by a girl who ghosted me. it’s a collection of short stories and it’s AMAZING. not every story is f/f but there are multiple stories with sapphic characters
the midnight lie by marie rutoski (YA) 10000/5: this is one of my favorite books this year… finally the roguish charming lesbian love interest we deserve. plus amazing worldbuilding and a fast paced plot that keeps you on your toes <3 and a ruthless girl protag we LOVE to see it.
the tiger flu by larrisa lai (adult) 3/5: very unsettling to read a book about a pandemic when one is in a global pandemic… I was disappointed that there was no f/f romance, just lesbian characters, however the feral teenage girl representation and the absolutely bananas sci fi dystopia wins it 3/5 stars.
the teahouse fire by ellis avery (adult) 2/5: simply not what I wanted out of a book. it’s a great piece of historical fiction but when i’m on an f/f binge solely for the sake of seeking out sapphic romances that satisfied me, this wasn’t it.
criers war by nina valera (YA) 5/5: she lives up to the hype! criers war pulled me in completely and i’m pretty sure i binge read it in a single day. love enemies to lovers, love the fantasy/dystopia combo
the queen of ieflaria by effie calvin (NA) 4/5: cute arranged marriage romance and lesbians in a fantasy setting. i read this authors entire breadth of work in like 2 weeks bc i’m just frothing at the mouth for fantasy sapphics
daugher of the sun by effie calvin (NA) 5/5: broody paladin and a literal chaos goddess fall in love. what more do you want?
the queen of rhodia by effie calvin (NA) 4/5: not as good as daughter of the sun but a fun sequel to catch up with the characters from book one, as well as bringing in the chars from book 2 <3 we love to see lesbian couples everywhere
the empress of xytae by effie calvin (NA) 4/5: yes I read every single one of these books. yes they’re all cute and they’re all a series of sapphic romances in a fantasy land… that’s my ideal niche
this is how you lose the time war by amal el mohtar and max gladstone (adult) 5/5: I don’t even know how to explain this one except that it feels more like poetry than prose. sci fi future with a f/f enemies to lovers story line. so beautifully written that you have to give it a 5/5
the traitor baru cormorant by seth dickenson (adult) 4/5: I liked it because I love a ruthless lady protaganist and I LOVE a ruthless lesbian protaganist but I did get a little bogged down in the heavy worldbuilding. VERY high fantasy with themes on colonization. did not get that 5/5 because the lesbians did not get a happy ending.
ice massacre by tiana warner (YA) 3/5: it wasn’t BAD it just wasn’t remarkable. mermaid vs human war with a forbidden romance between a mermaid and a human
girls made of snow and glass by melissa bashardoust (YA) 4/5: wonderful dynamics between women and lots of reflection on the relationships between mothers and daughters. I love a fairytale retelling, and one of the pov chars has a f/f romance that is very sweet <3
girl, serpent, thorn by melissa bashardoust (YA) 4/5: I just finished this today and already started another book so i’m not sure I fully absorbed it but. I really enjoyed having a protagonist struggling with morality and I did appreciate the little bisexual love triangle. also love, love the influences of persian mythology in it
blood countess by lana popovic (YA) 5/5: FINALLY some scary food! the romance in this is certainly not healthy and the narrative makes it clear but it’s a very fun sexy historical fiction read with horror elements. wish there was more creepy sapphic lit <3
witches of ash and ruin by e. latimer (YA) 4.5/5: a little bit slow and cheesy at the beginning. oftentimes rural fantasy can be that way, but it ramps up towards the end. it has a very cute enemies to lovers romance with a bisexual main, and the plotline follows serial killers and witches so i’d say it’s a great read! i haven’t checked the author’s social media etc to confirm but from the way it ended it looks like it’s going to be a series
the lady’s guide to celestial mechanics by olivia waite (adult) 5/5: sooo good why aren’t there more regency era f/f romances… this is a very traditional romance novel but it was so sweet and i loved the characters so much… it ended up making me throw down my phone (which i was reading the book on) just to yell ROMANCE at the top of my lungs. big fan of any literature encouraging women to step into their own power and confidence.
queen of coin and whispers by helen corcoran (YA) 4.5/5: this almost gets five stars because it was soooo good. i love fantasy YA so much it’s like comfort food for me and on top of that it was sapphic. the two main chars are both ambitious queer girls which does it for me! it’s about the new queen of a fantasy kingdom falling in love with her newly appointed spymaster. the only downside is the ending felt rushed… it almost feels like the author was preparing to set it up for a sequel and then instead packed a whole watered down second book in the like… last ten chapters out of a 52 chapter book.
the shadow of kyoshi by f.c yee (YA) 5/5: this is the sequel to the rise of kyoshi so i’ll hold off on details but it was so good and continued the first book beautifully. it payed such good attention to kyoshi as a character and also showed how important rangi is to her….. um. i’m soft.
the circus rose by betsy cornwell (YA) 4/5: it’s a good book but it wasn’t exactly what i wanted it to be.. going into reading this categorized as a “lesbian” book i was disappointed. it follows a pair of twins raised in a circus named ivory and rosie - ivory’s story is told in prose, and rosie’s is told in poetry. rosie is a lesbian but we get wayy less of her romance with her love interest and way more of ivory’s story. ivory is kind of ambiguous because she talks about only being attracted to men and then her love interest is a nonbinary fae person so i don’t really know whether to call it sapphic or not? ivory and tam get way more page time than rosie and rosie’s whole story is in poetry which makes it less straightforward. not a bad book! in fact, it’s wonderful and i really enjoyed it but it wasn’t what i wanted it to be when i read about it in an article calling it a lesbian book. it felt like a very queer book with a sapphic character to me.
the dark tide by alicia jasinska (YA) 4/5
a f/f retelling of tam lin! it’s an enemies to lovers romance and it’s YA fantasy so obviously it was a fun read, there’s a bisexual main and two love interests. it also revolved a lot more around individual character development than any romance overall, which was cool, and there were a multiple nuanced portrayals of complicated sibling relationships which I adored reading.
the lamb will slaughter the lion by margaret killjoy (adult) 4/5
a very quick, urban fantasy horror read about queer anarchists and an evil deer spirit terrorizing/protecting an abandoned town. honestly almost every character in this was LBGT which i loved, and i’m a sucker for horror so it got me. it’s also ownvoices - the author is a trans woman. the romance was very minor but very sweet and i enjoyed the book overall! i think it would make a great movie adaptation because it’s so short and written in such a sparse, to the point way.
the luminous dead by caitlin sterling (adult) 4/5
sci fi horror in caves. it’s like the descent (2005) but in space, and there’s only one caver. this book was crazy. It was a little slow at first, but it was definitely a slow build of terror and once I was into it I couldn’t stop reading for fear for our protagonists life. the romance here isn’t a healthy one folks, but it was really fun reading a horror novel with a queer protag and a bit of romance as a side note.
salt slow by julia armfield (adult) 5/5
a collection of short horror stories - not all of them were f/f but a few of them were. if you like carmen maria machado, you’ll like this book - it reminded me a lot of her body and other parties which is a huge compliment. the stories managed to range from terrifying to tender and both at the same time. my particular favorite was cassandra after
iron heart by nina valera (YA) 4.5/5 stars
the sequel to criers war - I won’t say too much except that it was a little slow to get back into the world of this book, but once i was in i really enjoyed it. i can’t say much else about it without spoilers but i loved crier and ayla’s development both individually and as a couple... it was incredibly well done and it warmed my heart. more typical YA love stories between two girls please.
the ascent to godhood by jy yang (adult) 2/5 stars
east asian inspired fantasy. it’s also the fourth book in a series but i read it on it’s own, so there’s probably plenty i missed. it’s told by the ex-lover of the protector and there’s a little bit about their romance but it’s mostly fantasy politics so i came away feeling kind of disappointed. it was also a really quick read.
white is for witching by helen oyeyemi (adult) 5/5 stars
miss oyeyemi never misses... SUCH a clever horror and haunted house story. i was so drawn into all the characters and their life in dover and their haunted house that i can only rate it a 5/5... if you’re interested in generational hauntings, generational trauma in women, or the haunted house as a character this is a book for you. it was amazing and i’m obsessed. while the romance didn’t take up a lot of time (really only present in the last third of the book) i loved miranda and ore together and the way their relationship ended felt like a very natural conclusion as this is a horror story and it didn’t leave me sad.
updated 9/29/20
