reviews, releases and recommendations of LGBT media
Our newest feature is back today! Last month we highlighted Clap When You Land as our book of the month (it’s out tomorrow but there’s still time to preorder!). This month, we’ve selected a June release to bring to your attention.
So, if you like wuxia fantasy and found families, look no further!
It’s been a while since I last did one of these, and I have since read a fair few sapphic books. So, with the second resurgence of the f/f twitter discourse in a week, obviously my only recourse is to rec posts.
And here I am.
I also figured I’d go back to YA contemporary because, duh, I know more of them. But to mix things up a little, I’ll add a couple of upcoming ones you can support!
As ever, all the previous posts are here. The previous contemporary rec list can be found here.
Also as ever, it’s actually f/f or otherwise sapphic books.
It’s quarantine day 2839394, you already baked your sourdough bread, learned how to embroider, cleaned all the grout in your flat, and – in a ideal world – finished all the books on your bookshelves. What to do now, you ask? Read more, of course!
Because we’re all tight on funds right about now, I would like to remind you that Scribd is offering a 30 days free trial on their whole library. If you’re not familiar with the website, this post would be a good place for you to get going. I tried to include a variety of genres in this list, but like it says in the title, it literally is just a starter pack.
(And if you’ll use my invite link, you will actually get two months off and I will get one, too. It’s a win-win situation.)
Final note: I very much encourage you to leave reviews of the books you’ll read on amazon and/or goodreads, and buying your own copies, if you can afford it. Or requesting them at your local library once it’s open again!
Big news this month, as we’ve decided to scrap the book club (which, really, was just a series of failed buddy reads), and replace it with something new. A Book of the Month feature!
This, honestly, is in part because of how uncertain everything is right now. We want to use this middling-size platform we have to highlight some upcoming (or backlist at times) books that have, perhaps, gone under the radar (or, simply, people don’t realise are gay).
So, here’s how it’ll go. Each month we’ll post here and on twitter with information about the book, and order links. And hopefully raise your awareness of another amazing book!
The other day I asked people on book twitter to list 5* of their favourite books with best sapphic romance and this is what happened. I got so many great responses, I couldn’t just leave it as a tweet and let it disappear forever! Which is why I decided to turn all those recs into a post.
*Yes, Charlotte was allowed ten books because she’s my co-blogger and gets special treatment.
Some books appear multiple times on this list, yes, I know! But that only shows the bookish community loves them a lot. And I mean, a lot. And if they shower those books with love like that, then you definitely want to read them as well!
(As always on this blog, ownvoices books are marked with a 🌈 emoji.)
I’m a simple reader: give me a good mystery and I will be satisfied. Make it gay and I will be over the freaking moon. And I’ve finally read enough excellent mysteries that I can make a rec list of them!
I have fairly high standards for mysteries, I’ll admit. I mean, I want something where I could potentially guess the culprit myself for a start. But not too easily. Basically I have to be able to follow along but also have some element of actual mysteriousness. I told you it was high standards.
But that, of course, means that all the books on this list are especially excellent (not that they wouldn’t be otherwise but. Stringent criteria and all).
So, onwards.
Last month, we read The Stars and the Blackness Between Them. I say “we” but Anna didn’t actually manage to read it (something called a “book slump”, they say). So what you get is just my review.
So yeah. Enjoy.
Today, I have for you a massive rec list of books by and about QPOC (and Latinx authors/characters). There are fifty books on here – though that isn’t the sum total of those I know, so if your favourite isn’t here, it’s simply because I couldn’t fit it.
It’s gonna go like this: I’ve split this post into contemporary, historical, science fiction or dystopia, and fantasy sections. In each section, half the books have been released, half are upcoming (barring sci fi, where I could only find 4 upcoming releases).
So, enjoy!
I said I want to make this a series of poetry recommendations, but the first and only post so far is from July last year… But I am here with ten more poetry collections and better late than never, right?
Like last time, I changed our traditional “Why Should I Read It?” section into a place to share my favourite quotes from a book. Or at least one of many favourites…
Let’s go then!
After both of us spectacularly failing to read December’s book, we were both back on the horse last month with The Princess Trap, chosen, we have to admit, mostly because we’d both enjoyed Talia Hibbert’s books in the past, and were hoping for another great read with this one.
So, how did we feel about it? Read on!
February brings us both Black History Month (and associated readathons) and #FFFeb. So, obviously, it made most sense for us to pick an f/f book with Black MCs, by a Black author.
And also we heard this one would make us cry, and who doesn’t want a good cry over a book.
So, without further ado, the book.
At the beginning of December, I decided (foolishly) to aim to have read 400 books in 2019 (being, at the time, only on about 325). I made it, exhaustedly sure, but I made it. And I did so by reading a lot of novellas on tor.com.
So, obviously, armed with that knowledge, I had to make a rec list. There are only my favourite 10 on here, but I also made a longer thread on twitter, with every single one I read over that time.
So enjoy!
I’m back with another sapphic rec list and just in time for #FFFeb! (If you haven’t heard, I’m running a month of only reading sapphic books on twitter and you’re welcome to join! More info is here.) Since mystery is my favourite genre (and Mahana @ Sapphic Library told me to do thrillers), this rec list is, unsurprisingly, full of mystery and thrillers.
To note first though, a fair few books on here are upcoming, so I have occasionally only been able to find limited information about them. So, apologies if I have made a mistake anywhere.
As ever, all the previous posts are here.
It’s approaching the end of December which means it’s time to announce our book club read for January! As ever, we got you to vote on twitter and you picked the genre of… (drum roll please) ROMANCE!
Read on to find out which book we selected! And look out for our reviews* of December’s read sometime next month.
*Disclaimer: we may not actually have read it by that point… oops.
Because we promised (vaguely, maybe a while back on twitter), me and Anna have some wintery rec lists for you! We’ve trawled through all the Christmas (and other winter holiday) media, just to find something gay all for you (ask Anna about her travails with Christmas films I dare you).
And here is the first of those rec lists! Ten books (mostly novellas in this one) for you set during Christmas (or another winter holiday, but mostly Christmas because it’s surprisingly difficult to find holiday novellas that are a) gay and b) not Christmas-specific. Obviously I wasn’t trying hard enough).
But anyway. Onwards.
