• All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: High Fantasy (II)

    12 March, 2021

    It’s been a while since I did my first high fantasy rec list on here, and I’ve read a lot more of it since so, it being Friday and I cannot come up with a more interesting theme for this list, I decided that it’s the perfect time for a sequel.

    In the interests of making this list a little more, I don’t know, readable, I suppose, I’m going to only include books that are already out. So, yes, there are several upcoming I’ve read and loved, but they won’t be on here. Plenty of motivation to make a part three then though…

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  • All Reviews,  Literature

    ARC Review: Sweet & Bitter Magic

    7 March, 2021

    If you aren’t excited about the upcoming Sweet & Bitter Magic, sadly, we must conclude that you have been living under a rock. But not to worry! Today we come prepared to extract you from that situation, with our reviews and also a mix to listen to.

    And if you need any more convincing, check out the interview we did with Adrienne in 2019!

    In this charming debut fantasy perfect for fans of Sorcery of Thorns and Girls of Paper and Fire, a witch cursed to never love meets a girl hiding her own dangerous magic, and the two strike a dangerous bargain to save their queendom.

    Tamsin is the most powerful witch of her generation. But after committing the worst magical sin, she’s exiled by the ruling Coven and cursed with the inability to love. The only way she can get those feelings back—even for just a little while—is to steal love from others.

    Wren is a source—a rare kind of person who is made of magic, despite being unable to use it herself. Sources are required to train with the Coven as soon as they discover their abilities, but Wren—the only caretaker to her ailing father—has spent her life hiding her secret.

    When a magical plague ravages the queendom, Wren’s father falls victim. To save him, Wren proposes a bargain: if Tamsin will help her catch the dark witch responsible for creating the plague, then Wren will give Tamsin her love for her father.

    Of course, love bargains are a tricky thing, and these two have a long, perilous journey ahead of them—that is, if they don’t kill each other first…

    Sweet & Bitter Magic

    Adrienne Tooley

    Goodreads

    Rep: bi/pan mc, lesbian mc
    Release: 9th March 2021

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  • Book of the Month,  Literature

    Book of the Month: Middletown

    5 March, 2021

    After a lot of discussion over just what should be our book of month for April, we finally decided*. But because there was such strife, let me mention the book that lost out (look, Anna, you can never again say I give you nothing): The Sky Blues, which Anna loves and for which our reviews will be coming next month!

    And now that’s done, onto our actual book of the month.

    *Read: Anna gave up arguing.

    Related: Don’t forget all releases can be found in our monthly lists here.
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  • All Releases,  Book Releases,  Literature

    Book Releases: March 2021

    27 February, 2021

    The worst* thing in the world is when your internet decides it’s going to be all buggy just as you’re working on a long post. But worry not! There was one winner here and that was ME. I defeated it, and thus can bring you today’s releases post, at the very early** time of 10pm.

    *It’s probably not.

    **It’s past my bedtime.

    As ever, you can find all our previous releases posts here and the rainbow emoji indicates an author who id’s as LGBT.

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  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Enemies to Lovers (II)

    25 February, 2021

    Waaaay back when this blog was just a baby blog, I did a rec list of enemies to lovers (or otherwise hate to love) and that rec list has been probably one of the most viewed of all time. But then I went back and looked at it the other day, and was like… this is quite basic.

    And hence the idea for a second part was born.

    Before we begin, however, I would like to say yes I am aware that enemies to lovers and hate to love are not synonymous. No, I don’t really care, but if you want to be specific, this is more of a hate to love list.

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  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: College-aged LGBT Protags

    23 February, 2021

    As requested by Lena on Twitter, here are ten books with “characters in college/university or that general age range”. A few are straight up taking place at uni, a few are just with protags roughly that age.

    I really wanted to include two more books, but I just featured them on my last rec list (Warm Hug LGBT Books), so I figured y’all need some more variety. Please know, though, Abroad by Liz Jacobs & Weak Heart by Ban Gilmartin also fit this theme perfectly.

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  • All Releases,  Book Releases,  Literature

    Book Releases: January-June 2021 Books With Bi Protagonists

    14 February, 2021

    If you’ve followed our blog for a while, you know we like to make these releases posts and you also know that last year I’ve made two for books with bi and/or pan protagonists. So of course, here I am again, this year.

    Like before, I want to make clear that I tried my hardest to only include books where it’s very clear a character actually is bisexual (or pansexual), so that y’all get real rep. I also included books with bi and pan love interests, since those are usually rather big roles too. If I missed any books, because I only knew they feature a sapphic or achillean main character, please let me know!

    And like always, the rainbow emoji means the author is LGBT. Happy reading!

    See also: Bi books of 2020 – January-June and July-December; bi books of July-December 2021
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  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Scribd, Intermediate Mode

    11 February, 2021

    So, you’ve opened up Scribd. The choices are overwhelming. You’ve read everything Anna suggested on their previous post. But where do you go from here?

    Not to worry because today it’s my turn to provide you with 50* books that you can read on Scribd! I’ve done the digging so you don’t have to! So whether you’re looking for YA or adult, classics or poetry, sapphic, achillean or trans/nonbinary rep, hopefully there’s something here for you.

    A little disclaimer first though: I myself haven’t read all of these books (some of what I initially included has been taken off since, thanks for that Scribd!), but they are all, if not read, then ones I want to read sometime soon.

    *You may not actually have access to all 50 of these books, since Scribd can vary in availability depending on country.

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  • Book of the Month,  Literature

    Book of the Month: The Split

    3 February, 2021

    I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that our book of the month for February is also one of my favourite sapphic contemporaries ever and I twisted Anna’s arm just a little to make sure we featured it. I read an ARC of this late last year and I’ve been thinking about it ever since.

    So, if you’re looking for a book to preorder for March, let me suggest you do so this one (with the caveat that it’s not really a suggestion). But if you do need more reasons, you’ll find them in this post.

    You can also check out my (Charlotte’s) review of it here!

    Related: Don’t forget all releases can be found in our monthly lists here.
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  • All Releases,  Book Releases,  Literature

    Book Releases: February 2021

    29 January, 2021

    We’re barely a month into this new year but it sure feels like a decade already, doesn’t it… To make everything better, though, I’m here with a list of over 110 LGBT books coming out in February! Whatever happens next, at least y’all have a lot of stuff to read.

    As always, a rainbow emoji is next to LGBT authors. And if you know I made any mistakes here, feel free to let me know.

    And if you need some more books, you can find all our previous releases posts here.

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  • All Reviews,  Literature

    ARC Review: Night Tide

    24 January, 2021
    49245102

    Tides change, but some feelings can’t be washed away.

    Lillian Lee doesn’t believe in love at first sight. Hate is a different story—and one she is intimately familiar with. Luckily, she hasn’t seen her arch-nemesis, Ivy Holden, since graduating from veterinary school five years ago. Since then, while her life isn’t going exactly according to plan, she’s happy. She has great friends, a job she loves, and the best pets in the world. Most importantly, her life is stable.

    Seal Cove, Maine, is the last place Ivy Holden anticipated ending up. But when an unexpected medical condition forces her to relocate to be closer to family, she can’t turn down the opportunity. Her new job at Seal Cove Veterinary Clinic has everything she needs: flexibility, proximity to her family’s summer home, and the chance to do the work she loves. Unfortunately, it also has Lillian Lee.

    Thrown back into each other’s orbits, Lillian and Ivy must find a way to work together, despite the treacherous emotions threatening to drown them both.

    Night Tide

    Anna Burke

    Published: 26th January 2021
    Goodreads
    Rep: bi mc, bi mc with MS, lesbian & bi side characters
    CWs: internalised ableism

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  • All Releases,  Book Releases,  Literature

    Book Releases: 2021 Sapphic Releases (January to June)

    21 January, 2021

    A mere week after I started working on this post, it is finally ready to go. If you were wondering exactly what sapphic books are upcoming in 2021, then look no further! There are over 250 for you right here, and just in time for f/f February, should you decide to take part in that.

    Undoubtedly I have missed off books (I’m already predicting that I’ll find another as soon as I hit post on this), so I will be going through the post fairly regularly and adding more that I find, don’t worry!

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  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum

    19 January, 2021

    In desperation, two days ago, I asked for a rec list theme. The response I got was the theme of pirates, or the sea in general. Now, I’ve not read that many pirate books (not that I would feel able to rec, at least), so I went with the latter.

    So, if you’ve been listening to sea shanties non-stop for however long, in this list you’ll be able to find yourself a book that they’re the perfect soundtrack to.

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  • All Releases,  Book Releases,  Literature

    Book Releases: 2021 Books With Non-Cis Protagonists

    17 January, 2021

    I didn’t want to just use an umbrella term, which is why this post isn’t titled “2021 Trans Books”, although it might have worked too. But let’s go with “non-cis” as something broader, since there will be books on this list with agender characters, genderqueer, genderfluid, sci-fi novels with approach to gender like we don’t have here & now.

    Like in my post of last year, I decided to only include books featuring main characters falling into any of those non-cis categories. I allowed myself also love interests or parents, or really major side characters. But on the whole, the idea was to have an actual rep, not a trans character mentioned in passing on page 275.

    I’m sure I have missed some books and will update the post a few times throughout the year. Please leave a comment, if you know of any books I didn’t put in yet! And as always, books by LGBT authors have a rainbow emoji next to the title.

    See also: trans books of 2020 and trans books of 2019
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