This post is a little different. These are my favorites. I’m going to list them, give them a capsule review, and link them to a longer review, but really, you should just go read them.
That Summer Feeling, by Bridget Morrissey
You’re going to love this book. It’s funny and sweet and empowering and the characters are adorable and there’s almost nobody you won’t root for. They’ve been through it, and yet they all come to summer camp an adults to… find something. And they do, and it is a wonderful ride. That said, this book also breaks me every time I read it. This review has some angsty bits at the end, but you don’t have to read them! You can stop when I tell you to in the review! Please do! My (longer) review. Goodreads link (3.81 stars, wtf?)
Set the Record Straight, by Hannah Bonam-Young
Audiobook read by Lori Prince and Jenn Lee
This is comfort Sapphic romance. This is for those of us who are here for the wlw relationship. This is sexy and soft and you get to see them in love almost from the get go. But it’s also real, and their lives aren’t perfect, and they have family trouble, and jobs, and worries, and all that. It’s just, their worries aren’t about each other, and when they are, they fucking talk about them like adults. You know those romances where they fight to be together, and then finally, at the end, they are, and then the book ends? That is not this book. Leave your cynicism at the door. My (longer) review. Goodreads link (3.93 stars, better)
Song of the Huntress, by Lucy Holland
I described this book to a friend as “strong women making impossible choices,” and that fits it well. It’s an ancient Britain story (with glints of the Matter of Britain), with a strong Welsh/Fae element to it. The love story is a triangle, but it’s not romantic love at all the vertices, but rather long term love, and familial love, mixed with the century-spanning, death-defying passionate romantic love. Come for the love story, stay for the feels, revel in the sword fighting, and settle in for the ride. This book made me cry at the end, in a good way. Not everyone gets what they deserve. Impossible choices. Goodreads link (3.86 stars feels like a crime, but ymmv I guess)
Spear, by Nicola Griffith
Easily a favorite, and my favorite Arthurian book, and a book I own, too. It’s short, and is a Sapphic retelling of the story of Percival. Griffith is a historian (she’s more famous for her book, Hild, than for this), and it shows in the careful historical details she uses to ground the story amidst all the magic and ill-fated lives. So very worth it, imho. Goodreads link (4.09 stars, seems right)
Addendum: I just listened to the audiobook version, read by Nicola Griffith herself. and it is pretty glorious. The pace is slower than I expected, but that makes it more lyrical, more fable-like, and I settled into it easily. It felt more like mythology and truth. I absolutely loved it.
This is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
I love this book so much. It’s allegorical, short, science fiction, time travel, and two unforgettable characters in Red and Blue, and a pining, yearning love story. I can’t say enough good things about this book. Goodreads link (3.92 stars, seems low, but whatevs)
Leave a Reply