hi hello here’s a sort of random thing: i really want to start reading more wlw and i know you’re writing a queer book of your own so i thought you’d maybe have some good recs to give for a noob like me? i need some women focused queer media and i trust your judgement so (thanks in advance if you wanna help and also i hope you’re having a great day!!!)
im sorry this took me so long to get back to! the really sad truth is that i don’t read a lot of f/f media just because i’m so very picky and over-sensitive as to what i’m looking for. this is a relatively common thing with queer women, who keep encountering media that hurts them and so end up being very suspicious of media that is supposed to be for them.
so i have! a couple of recs but not as many as i’d like, and there’s sexual violence in two of them, and one of them i haven’t read but has been emphatically gestured at that i would like.
if anyone has recs they’d liked to reblog/reply with, that would be amazing!
Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan
i really liked this! it listed as a NYT’s bestseller when it debuted, and it’s from the surprisingly woke James Patterson imprint that has a couple of other books i want to look into when i have more time. it’s definitely full of your typical YA Class System Stuff, but not from your typical white/western pov. there’s a really good tension between seeking revenge while also being legitimately terrified of the situation you’ve found yourself in, and the romance is a sweet and central theme to the whole book.
there is some sexual violence and rape in the book, but it’s written from a very female/survivor perspective - it’s not gratuitous, and the book examines how different people react to similar traumas in different ways. the subject is treated thoughtfully and with care, but the nature of the book’s premise meant that it’s a pretty prevalent theme.
The Princess Affair by Nell Stark
honestly i read this in like 2015 and don’t remember anything about it, but i gave it 5 stars on goodreads, and it’s a modern gay princess romance book? give it a shot man that premise is honestly an instant seller for me lol
Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey
i remember this book being absolutely worldshaking when i read it, although it is very long and takes a while to get into the groove of things. i’ve always had a thing for books that include boxing as a means of elevating yourself/circumstances which is a wiLDLY specific thing now that i think about it? but this book is about so many things that i couldn’t possibly sum it up. from memory there is some sexual violence in it (directed more at the LI than the protag), or at least the threat of it, but it’s not to the level or extent of being a main theme or anything.
jacqueline carey has a particular skill for making you care about a story/character enough to be willing and eager to follow them through their whole life (the book literally starts with the protag’s mother lol), and this book is no exception. it tells a really touching and haunting story about both family and found family and trying to figure out what the fuck you are when the whole world is against you. like the princess affair i have nO idea how this book holds up like six years after i read it, but it holds a special place in my heart (and there is a sequel!)
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsin Muir
this is the one that i have not read but that various queers have been shrieking loudly at me to read for months now! im very excited to get my hands on it! look at this shit!
