“Putting language to something for which you have no language is no easy feat.” ★★★★★
In the Dream House is such an excellent, beautifully written book that I don’t feel capable of writing a review that does it justice.
Machado’s writing is lyrical and complex and layered, and hearing her read it aloud in audiobook form was transformative for me. She recounts the tale of her own same sex intimate partner abuse, seamlessly weaving in references to history, pop culture, and archival works. The entire time I listened I just kept getting the feeling that I was experiencing something groundbreaking and vitally important. Everyone should read In the Dream House, no matter their age, sexual orientation, race, gender, or typical reading preferences.
Synopsis: “In the Dream House is Carmen Maria Machado’s engrossing and wildly innovative account of a relationship gone bad, and a bold dissection of the mechanisms and cultural representations of psychological abuse. Tracing the full arc of a harrowing relationship with a charismatic but volatile woman, Machado struggles to make sense of how what happened to her shaped the person she was becoming.
And it’s that struggle that gives the book its original structure: each chapter is driven by its own narrative trope—the haunted house, erotica, the bildungsroman—through which Machado holds the events up to the light and examines them from different angles. She looks back at her religious adolescence, unpacks the stereotype of lesbian relationships as safe and utopian, and widens the view with essayistic explorations of the history and reality of abuse in queer relationships.
Machado’s dire narrative is leavened with her characteristic wit, playfulness, and openness to inquiry. She casts a critical eye over legal proceedings, fairy tales, Star Trek, and Disney villains, as well as iconic works of film and fiction. The result is a wrenching, riveting book that explodes our ideas about what a memoir can do and be.”
Final thoughts: In the Dream House is a brilliant piece of literature, but it is also extraordinarily heavy and difficult to read. I highly recommend you check it out, but please read with care. I found it helpful to take my time with this one and limited myself to a few chapters per day.
Note:I haven’t formally reviewed any non-fiction books yet, but the ‘at a glance’ template I use for fiction didn’t feel right for Dream House, so I’ve adjusted it slightly.
In the Dream House At a Glance:
Genre: Memoir
LGBT Rep? Yes. In the Dream House explores Machado’s personal experience of being in an abusive relationship with another woman.
Own Voices? Yes. Machado is also a WOC (woman of color).
Content Warnings (CWs): Descriptions of intimate partner abuse (both emotional & physical), trauma, gaslighting. Honestly, it’s a very heavy book and it would be impossible to fit all of the CWs into a short list. Read it, but read with care.
“They don’t let you have anything whole, you know. If you don’t follow the pattern. You have to find your happiness in bits and pieces instead. But it can still add up to something beautiful.” ★★★★☆
Like many other reviewers, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m generally not a historical romance reader, but after reading so many glowing recommendations on various platforms, I decided to giveThe Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite a shot. To be fair, I’ll give almost anything with positive sapphic representation a try, but rarely do I fall in love with these shot-in-the-dark novels the way I did with Lady’s Guide.
In fact, this novel and the relationship it chronicles was so engaging and well written that I was shocked (and disappointed, because now I have to wait for the second Feminine Pursuits novel to come out instead of binging the rest of Waite’s books) to discover that Lady’s Guide appears to be Waite’s first foray into f/f romance, because the story was devoid of the pitfalls and tropes that many first time f/f authors often fall prey to.
Synopsis: “As Lucy Muchelney watches her ex-lover’s sham of a wedding, she wishes herself anywhere else. It isn’t until she finds a letter from the Countess of Moth, looking for someone to translate a groundbreaking French astronomy text, that she knows where to go. Showing up at the Countess’ London home, she hoped to find a challenge, not a woman who takes her breath away.
Catherine St Day looks forward to a quiet widowhood once her late husband’s scientific legacy is fulfilled. She expected to hand off the translation and wash her hands of the project—instead, she is intrigued by the young woman who turns up at her door, begging to be allowed to do the work, and she agrees to let Lucy stay. But as Catherine finds herself longing for Lucy, everything she believes about herself and her life is tested.
While Lucy spends her days interpreting the complicated French text, she spends her nights falling in love with the alluring Catherine. But sabotage and old wounds threaten to sever the threads that bind them. Can Lucy and Catherine find the strength to stay together or are they doomed to be star-crossed lovers?”
Final thoughts: As I said, I’m typically not a big fan of historical fiction or straight up romance novels. Lady’s Guide is both, but I was really glad I decided to give it a chance anyway. This is a fairly quick and easy read, perfect for when you’re in the mood for something light hearted and steamy!
Lady’s Guide At A Glance: Genre: Historical Fiction/Lesbian Romance Themes/Tropes: Rich Girl/Poor Girl, Breaking the Glass Ceiling, Friends to Lovers, Coming Out, Age Gap (< 10 years) LGBT Rep? Yes! Both of the romantic leads are WLW, with allusions to other sapphic characters/relationships. Content Warnings (CW): None that I can think of!
(Note: This was meant to be the first post on my blog, but then the plague happened and everything got all topsy-turvy. Hope you enjoyed the review anyway – this is truly a gem of a book!)
If you’ve followed me on social media for more than a day, you know how much I love SD Simper‘s books. Simper is a self-described ‘writer of dark fantasy lesbian romance’ but her upcoming sapphic mermaid series Sea & Stars is anything but dark! I spoke to Simper last week about the first book in the series, The Fate of Stars, which is out May 1st aka tomorrow!!!
Join us for the Fate of Stars Launch Party (May 1st, 8-10PM EST) to win fun prizes, including an autographed, special edition copy of The Fate of Stars!
“Why do lesbians have so many feelings?” (★★★★☆, 4/5)
Don’t let the cover and synopsis fool you – Poptastic isn’t your run of the mill, fluffy celebrity romance, and, at least in my opinion, that’s a good thing! I went into Poptastic expecting a quick, lighthearted read, something totally unlike the dense, dark fantasies I’ve been reading as of late. The majority of the story fit within those bounds, but it goes to some dark places (see content warnings at the bottom of the post).
Victoria Holmes’ debut novel, Poptastic, follows Julia, a lesbian in her late twenties stuck in a job she hates. Julia spends most of her time scrolling through the sapphic dating app Kiss’er, worried that she’s already dated all the available lesbians in London. The official synopsis already focuses heavily on the bridesmaid and celebrity dating aspects, so I wanted to talk about some of the less publicized aspects of the novel, because they were the things that really sold Poptastic for me. However, the synopsis is important for context, so I’ll go ahead and share it here:
“Bridesmaiding is a tedious business at the best of times, but as Julia discovers, the task is particularly cumbersome when one of the brides is your ex and her fiancée won’t stop sulking about it.
With the wedding threatening to dominate everything for the rest of the year, a bewildering embrace with a devastatingly attractive pop star offers a welcome distraction. Dating Krisha catapults Julia away from the paltry concerns of dress fittings and hen dos, but it also takes her away from her friends, and directly leads to her most disastrous fuck up yet. Much to her surprise, she discovers that embracing the role she’d accepted so reluctantly might just be exactly what she needs.”
To me, Poptastic was primarily a story of personal growth more than anything else. From the very beginning of the book, Julia is rapidly headed towards a self-destructive breakdown. She drinks entirely too much, accomplishes nothing at work despite repeated warnings, and treats her friends like shit. For the first half of the book, I hated her, because she reminded me of myself before I got sober. I just wanted to shake her. Julia’s “relationship” with popstar Krisha Mistry made me profoundly uncomfortable, because I could see right through Krisha’s intentions from the get go and it drove me crazy that Julia couldn’t (this is just another point to Holmes in the realism category, though).
Eventually, Julia crashes and burns, hitting rock bottom. It was the moment I had been waiting and hoping for the entire book, and was worried I wouldn’t get, more from bad past experiences with books than anything Holmes did wrong. Reading as Julia suddenly became self-aware and tried to right her wrongs was honestly refreshing. Even more refreshing was the fact that her friends didn’t make it easy for her – Julia tried at least a dozen times to apologize to her best friend Kit, and the two were only finally able to make up after a shared traumatic experience (that I won’t go into because of spoilers).
In the latter half of the novel, Julia almost made a few questionable decisions that I worried would unravel all of her hard won progress, but changed her mind before she could do anymore lasting damage. The ending of Poptastic was sweet and wholesome and wonderful and made the entire wild emotional rollercoaster of the novel worth it.
In closing: this isn’t the review I expected to write, because Poptastic turned out not to be the novel I expected to read. If you’re not a fan of romance novels and find yourself tempted to give this one a pass, I’d urge you to at least download a sample. There’s so much more to this story than meets the eye. Holmes knocked it out of the park with the realism here, an – as a former alcoholic/all around nightmare of a person – I heavily related to both Julia’s toxic behavior and her transformation from garbage person into reliable friend and girlfriend.
A big thank you to Victoria Holmes for being the first author I don’t know personally to send me an e-ARC for review! I look forward to reading your future novels! Poptastic is available for pre-order here, and will be out May 7th!
Note: Please pay special attention to the content warnings listed below. Though Holmes handles the sensitive topics well and with respect, Poptastic does include some potentially triggering content, so read with care! ❤
Poptastic At a Glance:
Genre: Romantic Comedy, Lesbian Romance Themes/Tropes: Friends to Lovers, Celebrity Dating LGBT Rep? Yes – nearly everyone in this novel is gay. Julia’s best work friend is literally the token straight person. Content Warnings (CW): Intimate partner violence (emotional and physical abuse), fairly graphic suicide attempt, drug use/overdoses
Where to begin with Gideon the Ninth? Perhaps with its tagline: “Lesbian Necromancers in Space.” If that’s not enough to hook you, I don’t know what is.
Gideon the Ninth was one of the most unique, fun, and imaginative tales I’ve read in a long time. I started with the ebook, proceeded to become engrossed to the point I could accomplish absolutely nothing besides reading it, then decided to spend an Audible credit on the audiobook so that I didn’t completely wreck my GPA and could instead listen to the novel while working on graphic design homework.
I don’t buy many audiobooks, but Gideon the Ninth, narrated by Moira Quirk, was hands down the best one I’ve ever listened to! Quirk gives an amazing performance and really makes Muir’s words come to life. I’ve seen other reviewers say that they found Gideon to be dense and confusing for the first bit, but I honestly feel like listening to the book instead of reading it outright helped me circumvent that issue. It’s a lot easier to avoid getting bogged down by the spelling and pronunciations of complicated, fantastical names when someone else pronounces them for you.
That aside, I loved Gideon the Ninth to absolute (bone fragment) pieces. This imaginative tale fused two of my favorite genres (fantasy & sci-fi, aka “science fantasy”), and checked all of my boxes – lesbians, necromancy, political intrigue, witty repartee, enemies to lovers subtext, and sword play! There wasn’t a single thing about this novel that I didn’t like.
Gideon was so deliciously wild and complex that I won’t kid myself into thinking that any plot summary I could write myself could possibly do the book justice, so here’s the official blurb:
“Gideon the Ninth is the most fun you’ll ever have with a skeleton.
The Emperor needs necromancers.
The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman.
Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead bullshit.
Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth unveils a solar system of swordplay, cut-throat politics, and lesbian necromancers. Her characters leap off the page, as skillfully animated as necromantic skeletons. The result is a heart-pounding epic science fantasy.
Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won’t set her free without a service.
Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and bone witch extraordinaire, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heirs to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of wits and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds she will become an immortal, all-powerful servant of the Resurrection, but no necromancer can ascend without their cavalier. Without Gideon’s sword, Harrow will fail, and the Ninth House will die.
Of course, some things are better left dead.”
In closing: GO READ GIDEON THE NINTH!!! I don’t care who you are, or what sort of books you usually read – this is not one you want to miss. Though Gideon does include horror aspects, it isn’t particularly scary. Definitely creepy, but more fun than terrifying. This is important for me, as I’m generally not a fan of ‘scary’ books, because I’m kind of a giant weenie. So I would encourage my fellow weenies to give Gideon the Ninth a shot, because it’s seriously worth it.
If you’ve already read Gideon the Ninth and, like me, are chomping at the bit for Harrow the Ninth (The Locked Tomb #2) to come out later this year, Tor has your back! You can download the entire first act of Harrow the Ninth from their website, for free, here!
Genre: LGBT, Dark “Science Fantasy”, Action/Adventure
Themes/Tropes: Reluctant Hero, Enemies to Lovers (Subtext), Thawing the Ice Queen/Taming the Beast, Swords & Sorcery
LGBT Rep? Yes! The main character, Gideon, is a useless lesbian who essentially falls for every beautiful woman she comes into contact with.
Content Warnings (CW): Graphic violence & gore, Death (like lots of death, but that’s to be expected in a book about necromancers), multiple conversations about suicidality, in depth discussions of trauma & grief, a few instances of self-harm (as a means for necromancy rather than for its own sake, if that helps)
Hello friends! I had planned for my first ‘real’ blog post to be a regular review, but in light of recent events I’ve decided to change course. Since we’re all relegated to our homes for the foreseeable future, I’ve instead decided to do a round up of book recs for this period of social distancing. Because many people are also going to struggle financially through this crisis, I’ve also elected to focus primarily on low cost ebooks and those you read with a Kindle Unlimited subscription (or free trial), so you can read some awesome books over these next few weeks without breaking the bank!
Synopsis: “When faced with monstrosity, become the greater monster. The sting of victory will fade with time.”
Haunted by a history of horror and abuse, Flowridia, a witch with a tender heart, finds a second chance in the home of her kingdom’s royal family. With employment comes friendship, and perhaps she has finally found a place to belong—until she catches the eye of Lady Ayla Darkleaf, a woman with enticing grace and a predatory smile. The corrupt world of politics consumes her, and Flowridia falls into a toxic love affair surely doomed for heartbreak. Yet when Ayla’s legacy as a monster unfolds, Flowridia sees only the tender soul hiding beneath.
An ancient deity returns, hell-bent on restoring the world to its natural order, and Flowridia’s kingdom is tasked to stop him. Caught in the ensuing clash of gods, her loyalties will be tempted at every turn—by family, by fate, and by the woman whose claws grip her heart.
What I Like/Love About It: This is the rec that keeps on giving! There are currently three books from the Fallen Gods series available on KU, and the author has revealed that there are three more coming! Simper has created a complex, immersive world for the series and that’s not even touching on the well developed characters or the complicated, fucked up unhealthy relationship you can’t help but ship anyway. However, there’s a reason Simper added “A Dark Fantasy Lesbian Romance” subheading to the title – the novel and series do get pretty dark at times – but it’s absolutely worth reading if you can handle a little dysfunction.
Bonus: If you’d rather stick to happier books (or if you just love mermaids), you can pre-order Fate of Stars, the first book in Simper’s upcoming sapphic mermaid trilogy here! I was a beta reader for this one, so I can absolutely vouch for its quality. Can’t wait til May for sapphic mermaids? Check out Beneath the Dark Moon, a short story prequel to the series that I did the cover design for!
LGBT Rep? Yes, but not overtly. One of the main characters, Millie, is a closeted lesbian who is secretly in love with one of her fellow witches. It’s also worth noting that the author handles the topic of homophobia in the 20th century well.
Synopsis: Britain may have won the First World War, but the witches of ADAM lost.
Now an embarrassment, the Allied Directorate for Alternative Means is to be disbanded and its witches scattered, their lives overturned and shattered once again. Presented with a final chance to keep their budding coven together, it will take more than magic for them to succeed.
When Millie Brown’s best friend goes missing from the program, she must track her down and bring her home before she’s hunted down by a government that no longer wants anything to do with witchcraft. If that weren’t enough, if Millie fails, not only will ADAM be disbanded, but the beguiling witch Elise will be sent back to France. Fearing that as much as her own feelings for Elise, Millie will have to look within herself to find the truth of her magic and hold together that which is most important to her or lose it all.
And a young woman known only as November wakes up on Christmas morning in an empty grave with no memory of who she is or why she can do impossible things. With no memory of her past, she must struggle to find out just who she was and why it has come back to try to kill her. The sudden manifestation of a power she can’t understand and barely control makes it all the more urgent, for the sake of everyone around her as much as herself.
What I Like/Love About It:Remember, November is a unique, magical realism take on a bygone era (the late 1910’s, post-World War I) with great characters and a complex plotline laced with mysteries I really enjoyed unravelling. Darrow’s prose was a genuine pleasure to read, and I liked that the witches of ADAM aren’t overtly powerful from the get go – in fact, at the start of the book their sole talent is creating “witchlights” (tiny balls of light) out of thin air. I absolutely loved seeing the magic using protagonists learn and nurture their powers throughout the course of the book.
LGBT Rep? Yep! Kay (the main protagonist) is bisexual, and her love interest is a lesbian.
Content Warnings (CW): Some Biphobia
Synopsis:Go big or go home. For privateer Captain Magdalene Landon, it’s all about going big. For Kay Ellis, it’s about getting home. Together, they’re about to architect the most daring heist in the galaxy.
Kay knows too much. She knows it’s a matter of time before a Conglomerate hitman finds her. She’s desperate for safe passage back to Union space. Then Magdalene shows up, promising a way home in exchange for that information. It’s a risky bet, but Kay is out of options. So she strikes a deal: the heist of the century for her freedom.
Kay is playing a dangerous game, and she knows it. She’s made herself Enemy Number One of the Conglomerate. She’s relying on privateers for her safety. It’s a fool’s game. But the worst part is, her fool’s heart is starting to warm to the enigmatic captain. And that’s a risk for which she hadn’t planned.
What I Like/Love About It: Safe Passage is an entertaining science fiction lesfic novel with lots of action (including a heist!) and an enemies to lovers romance plotline. There is a little more angst than necessary in the latter half of the book, but the good really outweighs the bad here. Overall, Safe Passage is a fun story that works great for an afternoon of escapism!
LGBT Rep? Yep! Though Among the Hollow doesn’t really include any romance subplots, the main character, Sevila, is definitely not straight!
Content Warnings (CW): It’s honestly been so long since I’ve read this that I can’t recall any – sorry!
Synopsis: An empire steeped in cutthroat politics and black magic wavers upon the knife’s edge of civil war. The empress has been overthrown, and her only remaining heir taken into the custody of her killers, leaving the empire divided between the old imperial family and the zealous general who has seized the capital.
Meanwhile Aurel, a disemboded soul with no memory of their former self, must forge an uneasy pact with Sevila, a mysterious traveller from across the southern sands. In the hunt for Aurel’s body, strange alliances form and dark secrets emerge, threatening to plunge the empire into a crisis far greater than they could imagine.
What I Like/Love About It:Among the Hollow is unique in that it’s a high fantasy novel set in a world that couldn’t be further from your typical Euro-centric, Lord of the Rings-esque fantasy setting, which I love. Also, the primary magic system is necromancy! I am literally always here for necromancy. That aside, Ankenbrandt is an incredibly talented writer who will pull you in and not allow you to come up for air until you’ve consumed the entire story in one sitting, which makes this novel a very good choice for quarantine, especially if you’re looking for something to read that’s more plot than relationship centered!
As an added bonus, the author created this masterpost on Tumblr that links to all of the comics, illustrations, and other content they’ve created for the novel!
Themes/Tropes: Rich Girl/Poor Girl, May/December (technically, though age gap is small), Breaking the Glass Ceiling, Coming Out
LGBT Rep? Yes! Both of the romantic leads are WLW, with allusions to other sapphic characters/relationships.
Content Warnings (CW): None that I can think of!
Synopsis: As Lucy Muchelney watches her ex-lover’s sham of a wedding, she wishes herself anywhere else. It isn’t until she finds a letter from the Countess of Moth, looking for someone to translate a groundbreaking French astronomy text, that she knows where to go. Showing up at the Countess’ London home, she hoped to find a challenge, not a woman who takes her breath away.
Catherine St Day looks forward to a quiet widowhood once her late husband’s scientific legacy is fulfilled. She expected to hand off the translation and wash her hands of the project—instead, she is intrigued by the young woman who turns up at her door, begging to be allowed to do the work, and she agrees to let Lucy stay. But as Catherine finds herself longing for Lucy, everything she believes about herself and her life is tested.
While Lucy spends her days interpreting the complicated French text, she spends her nights falling in love with the alluring Catherine. But sabotage and old wounds threaten to sever the threads that bind them. Can Lucy and Catherine find the strength to stay together or are they doomed to be star-crossed lovers?
What I Like/Love About It: I’m typically not a big fan of historical fiction or straight up romance novels. Celestial Mechanics is both, but I was really glad I decided to give it a chance anyway. This is a fairly quick and easy read if you’re in the mood for something light hearted and steamy.
My name is Landice Anderson. I’m a graphic designer and marketing student from Tyler, TX. I’ve created this blog to keep track of & review books I read and enjoy. The site is currently under construction. For now you can follow my reading adventures on Goodreads, Twitter, and Instagram!
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