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F/F I Read in 2020
Dec. 31st, 2020 04:52 pmI actually got this post up in a timely manner this year!
I try to read a lot of books with f/f, and what I read ranges pretty wildly: contemporary romance to sci-fi, YA to adult, KU exclusive self-pubbed to traditionally published bestsellers. My ratings here are based on my personal enjoyment which varies pretty wildly.
Chasing Sunset by Missouri Vahn
Contemporary Romance
Rating: DNF
There was nothing particularly wrong with this book; I just got bored and returned it to the library instead of finishing it. Maybe if I'd been in a different mood, it would have been a different story.
Cinders by Cara Malone
Contemporary Romance
Rating: 3/5
A contemporary romance heavily influenced by Cinderella, where our Cinderella character is a firefighter who has never quite been able to please her overbearing stepmother and stepbrother or her timid father, and our Prince Charming character is an heiress on the cusp of inheriting a family business and property from her father. It's a bit simplistic, and I'm not really a fan of stories where one or both of the characters have been pining after the other since they were children or teenagers, but I did like Cinderella as a hot butch firefighter who got to hunt down an arsonist.
Edge of Glory by Rachel Spangler
Contemporary Romance, Sports Romance
Rating: 4/5
A sports romance in which a snowboarder nearing the end of her career and a skier recovering from a major injury train for the Olympics together. In someone else's hands, I could easily have been put off by the interpersonal conflicts that drove most of the story-- the heroines were stubborn, often refused to work together or communicate, and sometimes refused to listen to each other for petty reasons. All things that drive me crazy in many romances! But in Spangler's hands, it was clear that those were flaws, and the characters changed and grew together for the better by the end.
And, on a side note, all of the secondary characters were absolutely fantastic.
Pretend Girlfriend by Lily Craig
Contemporary Romance
Rating: 3/5
A socialite pays a normal woman to pretend to be her girlfriend at her cheating ex's wedding. It's exactly what it says on the tin-- and it's delicious. There were times when I thought the socialite character was a bit shallow or unlikable, but for the most part, I was along for the ride.
Ascension by Jacqueline Koyanagi
Science Fiction
Rating: 3/5
For about 75% of this book, this was a 5/5 book. I really loved the world that was introduced, with the tension between the scientific and the mystical. I loved Alana, our main character, her strained relationship with her sister, Nova, and her growing romance with Tev, the ship's captain. (I was a bit annoyed that it took so long for Alana to be informed that Tev and her partner were polyamorous, and that Alana definitely wasn't misreading signals, but eh. I could overlook that.)
But a lot of that was overshadowed by the ending. I'm not going to get too deep into spoilers here, but suffice to say that the author decided to get overly clever and put in unnecessary twists, and I think that put a damper on what was otherwise a fun romp.
Burning Roses by S.L. Huang
Fairytale Retelling, Fantasy, Novella
Rating: 3/5
Hmm. I think I liked the idea of this one more than the execution: Rosa (Little Red Riding Hood) and Li Hou the Archer, now middle-aged women burdened by the mistakes of their past, team up to stop sunbirds from ravaging the countryside. But the execution felt kind of weak to me. I would have liked more focus on Li Hou-- I'm not familiar with the legend she comes from-- but we spent the bulk of the novella in Rosa's head, and most of the references in her backstory are to fairytales common in the Western canon, which got a little bit trite. Both Li Hou and Rosa have wives, and one of the main threads of the story is about family and about trying to reconcile with the mistakes they've made.
It's really nicely written and I really wish I liked it more than I did.
Competence by Gail Carriger
Steampunk, Paranormal
Rating: 4/5
I've read most of Carriger's steampunk books, and every one of them is a delightful romp. And I was delighted to have a full-length one with a f/f romantic subplot!
This is actually the third in the Custard Patrol series, so I was familiar with the main cast-- and thrilled that the book mostly centers around the Tunstell twins and Prim's romance with Tasherit. But honestly, I think the romance was overshadowed by exactly how much I loved the Primrose-and-Percy show: they're very believable as twins who adore each other but also get on each other's last nerve and don't quite understand each other-- and then have complete faith in each other to outshoot or out-talk their latest enemies. Overall, it was just fun.
Doctor Aphra by Sarah Kuhn
Science Fiction, Tie-In, Audiodrama
Rating: 5/5
This is a full-cast audiodrama*, featuring a the titular Doctor Chelli Lona Aphra, and a tie-in to the greater Star Wars universe. I'd heard excellent things about Aphra's appearances in the Vader comics, and then her own run in the Aphra comics, but I still haven't had a chance to read those. But I am definitely going to check those out sooner than anticipated, because this was a great introduction to her!
Aphra is more than a little sociopathic, and above all, she's only out to get rich and make a name for herself. But she's also just plain fun, and her ruthlessness just makes her moments of vulnerability just that much more sweet. (The fact that that vulnerability is most often on display when she's talking about her ex-girlfriend, Sana Starros, is even better!)
*I feel a little weird about putting an audiodrama on this list, but it's being marketed and sold as an audiobook-- to the point that it took me a while to realize that it didn't have a print version, too.
The Fate of Stars by SD Simper
Fantasy
Rating: DNF
I really liked the idea of this one, with the dark fantasy elements and the enemies-to-lovers elements, but there was a lot of infodumping about very complicated worldbuilding that never got explained very well (despite all the dry infodumping!), the relationship seemed to develop in a rushed way, and honestly I just got bored.
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Science Fiction, Fantasy
Rating: 5/5
I put off on reading this one for a while, because I was afraid it wouldn't live up to the hype.
It absolutely lived up to the hype, at least for me. I know the narrative voice might not work for everyone, but I loved Gideon and her irreverent worldview, and her complex relationship with Harrowhark. Every twist and turn left me surprised, all the way until the ending.
In the Vanishers' Palace by Aliette de Bodard
Science Fiction, Fantasy, Novella
Rating: 4/5
I'm an absolute sucker for anything with dragons, and this definitely hit the spot. It's an enemies-to-lovers romance about a young woman who is sacrificed to a dragon by her village, and how she and the dragon fall in love. It's influenced by Vietnamese mythology, and the worldbuilding is beautiful and unlike anything I've ever encountered before. I don't think I can describe this book adequately; it has to be experienced.
The Pirate's Booty by Alex Westmore
Historical Fantasy
Rating: DNF
I was hoping for a fun, trashy romp, but this was just too badly written to enjoy-- or to understand.
Provenance by Ann Leckie
Science Fiction
Rating: 5/5
A stand-alone novel in the world of Leckie's Imperial Radch series. I haven't read Leckie's other works, but this one definitely works on its own. We start with Ingray, as she attempts to secure her foster-mother's respect (and a future for herself) by selling everything she owns to get a notorious thief out of prison-- and that's just the beginning of her plan. Ingray is audacious and clever, but most of all, she's kind. She's just a delightful person to spend a book following around.
The f/f romance is a very small subplot, in between all of the heists and plotting, but it's very sweet. Additionally, multiple characters go by nonbinary pronouns (e/em/eir), which is a normal part of society on Ingray's planet.
Seven Devils by Elizabeth May and Laura Lam
Science Fiction, Space Opera
Rating: 5/5
I love this book and I have been recommending it to everyone I know. It's basically a Guardians of the Galaxy or Firefly, but with more feminist and queer themes (but without being unfun about them; they're just there). All the main leads are women. We start with Clo and Eris, a mechanic and a soldier for the small resistance against an ever-growing empire, on a mission that quickly goes sideways, and then they accidentally meet up with some refugees from the empire searching for the resistance. The mission goes even more sideways when they discover a potential new superweapon, and they have to go dark.
Eris is my favorite, because I love her character type (stone-cold badass with a traumatic backstory? hell yes), but we also get three other POVs, and Clo, Nyx, and Ariadne are also all fantastic in their own ways.
The Tiger's Daughter by K. Arsenault Rivera
Fantasy
Rating: 5/5
I'm also a sucker for fantasy that isn't inspired by European cultures, and this is the first in a trilogy that is inspired by the Mongolian empire and by ancient Chinese empires (with bonus demon-slaying!) Most of the book takes the form of a series of letters, written from the Qorin warrior Barsalayaa Shefali to her lover, the Empress O-Shizuka, retelling the events of their past from Shefali's point of view. The writing is gorgeous and evocative, and I loved every minute of it (even when it hurt).
This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone
Science Fiction
Rating: 5/5
An enemies-to-lovers time travel romance! I'd heard a lot about this one and it didn't disappoint. Blue and Red fall in love through letters, even as they fight on opposite sides of a war and attempt to bend time to better suit their side's ends. It's beautiful and it makes excellent use of the time travel while still being tightly focused on the main relationship. It definitely lived up to the hype, for me.
Villains Don't Date Heroes! by Mia Archer
Science Fiction, Superheroes
Rating: 4/5
A fun, light-hearted story told from the point of view of the supervillain Night Terror, who falls in love with the new hero in her city, Fialux. There's not much to it, but Night Terror was a very fun protagonist and the story, though predictable, was just a fun romp.
Treasured by Poppy Woods
Fantasy
Rating: 3/5
A quick, sexy read. The plot could probably have used a bit more fleshing out, and the characters were a little cliche, but it advertised itself as a dragonshifter/princess romance and it delivered. My only other complaint was that it used the word "sapphic" way too much.
The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood
High Fantasy
Rating: 4/5
A high fantasy novel with an f/f romance starring an orc swordswoman! It's everything I ever wanted! But despite my excitement, I was semi-ambivalent about this book for much of the time I was reading it-- the pacing was uneven, especially in the first part, and it took me a long time to warm up to the main character, Csorwe. But the worldbuilding is fascinating and unique, and the secondary characters kept me reading even when I wasn't sure about Csorwe (especially Tal, who is both a complete piece of shit and also possibly my favorite character in the book). And by the time we got to know Shuthmili, Csorwe's love interest, I was more than hooked.
Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey
Dystopia, Western
Rating: 3/5
The story here was really engaging, and I really loved the main character. And while the romance started abruptly, I was really rooting for it! On the other hand, I felt like most of the book was setting up the story I would actually be interested in, and we never got to that, which I think is a problem with the length of the book-- it's really more of a novella.
The Care and Keeping of Waspish Widows by Olivia Waite
Historical Romance
Rating: 5/5
This is the sequel to last year's The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics (which I adored!), but it's what I call a "romance novel sequel", which means that while some characters and settings from the first book appear, you don't have to worry about reading in any particular order.
I've raved about Celestial Mechanics since I first read it, but I might like Waspish Widows even more: one of the heroines is bisexual, both of them are in their 40s, neither of them is a member of the aristocracy, and the entire story was set against the real politics of the Regency era. I've read a lot of Regency romances, but they're rarely this grounded; one of the two heroines in this book is a widow running her late husband's print shop, and that gives the book a good reason to engage with politics, with the idea of direct action, and with the idea of exactly what regular people can do.
But of course, the real heart of this story is the romance. I loved both Penelope and Agatha, and while I often wanted to shout at them to hurry up and get together already, I understood both of their actions perfectly, and they were both delightful leads.
Heart of Gold by Luci Dreamer
Historical Romance
Rating: 2/5
After her father attempted to arrange an unwanted marriage for her, Thomas(ina) Miller left home and began passing as a man in order to live her life as she wants it. Now, she is on her way to the Yukon for the gold rush, and she meets Rachel, a young woman travelling with her husband and hoping to stake a claim, and the sparks immediately fly.
The book was pretty predictable, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The problem was that it was kind of boring-- I didn't feel a strong connection to either Thomas or Rachel, and every problem thrown in their path sort of seemed to resolve itself.
And a quick note: I'm putting this book on the list because it's marketed as lesfic, but I do feel a little weird about that. Thomasina refers to herself as Thomas throughout the book, and is perfectly fine with being perceived as a man, and it's unclear whether this is due to her dislike of traditional women's roles, her preference for women, a general desire to be understood as a man, or some combination of all of the above. If more thought had gone into this part of the narrative, I think it could have been a lot more compelling.
How to Talk to Nice English Girls by Gretchen Evans
Historical Romance
Rating: 4/5
I absolutely loved this one! There are not enough romances set in the 1920s, and this one is from the POV of Marian, the daughter of an English lord, dealing with the aftermath of the Great War. It's largely about Marian's internal conflict and growing into herself, as well as her romance with Katherine, a scandalous young woman from America. One of the reviews I saw called it "fanficcy"-- and it is, but in the best ways. It's sexy and fun and absolutely a must-read.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Historical Fiction
Rating: 5/5
I'm not entirely sure I have words for how good this book is. We first meet Evelyn near the end of her life, when she grants an interview to up-and-coming reporter Monique Grant, and from there, we flash back through Evelyn's life, with each of her seven husbands as signposts. But the husbands, of course, are not the point of the story; some barely even figure into Evelyn's life at all. The point of the story is both the real love of Evelyn's life, and of Evelyn's scramble to make it in a world that only ever valued her for her beauty. It's gorgeous and it's haunting and I read it in a single day because I couldn't put it down.
Beyond the Ruby Veil by Mara Fitzgerald
YA Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Horror
Rating: 4/5
Emanuela, the main character, is self-centered, self-serving, and driven only by her search for power. She's petty and she regularly lashes out at the few people who actually care about her. Most of her problems are of her own making. And yet she is incredibly compelling.
There's no f/f relationship in this book, but Emanuela is gay, and the main relationship is the friendship between her and her gay best friend-slash-fiance, Alessandro, which is charming and heartbreaking by turns.
Blood Countess by Lana Popović
YA Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Horror
Rating: 4/5
The titular countess is Countess Elizabeth Bathory, and the story is told from the point of view of Anna, a local girl who becomes her chambermaid. The story is more psychologically horrifying than anything: Anna is first drawn in by the countess, fascinated by her; then falls in love with her, believing she can change or soften Elizabeth's difficult edges; then realizes that she's in too deep and has to fight desperately to escape. The connection between Anna and Elizabeth is tense and compelling, and I loved every minute of it-- even when Anna was clearly in over her head.
Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron
YA Fantasy, Dystopia
Rating: DNF
I wanted to love it! I love YA, I love YA dystopias, I love fairytale retellings, and a queer, dystopian retelling of Cinderella sounded exactly up my alley. Like, there could not be anything more tailor-made for my id.
But the protagonist insufferable-- she was both naive about the world she lived in to the point that I couldn't quite understand how she had survived that long, and also the only person who truly understood how oppressed they all were. Not a combination I was willing to put up with for a whole book.
Crier's War #1: Crier's War by Nina Varela
YA Fantasy, Dystopia
Rating: 5/5
Everything is beautiful and it hurts. The worldbuilding is amazing-- I love how we were given bits of history about the Automae and the War of Kinds-- and Ayla and Crier were both compelling leads. There were moments when I wanted to shake them and get them to talk to each other, but the personal stakes for both of them were always so high that I understood why they didn't.
As I read, the stakes kept getting higher and higher, and I felt more and more on edge with every page, until I didn't want to continue because I was so worried, but I didn't want to put the book down either. And when everything did come to a head in the climax, it was awful and wonderful and I needed the sequel immediately.
Crier's War #2: Iron Heart by Nina Varela
YA Fantasy, Dystopia
Rating: 5/5
Thankfully, the sequel came out this year, so I got to read it almost immediately!
I absolutely loved this book. I was worried it wouldn't be able to follow up to Crier's War, but it absolutely did. I loved how Crier and Ayla's relationship was able to grow and change as they did, and I loved that Varela didn't fall into the trap of making the book about the growing revolution instead of about Crier and Ayla-- the revolution is happening, and we see a little bit of it, but this book is about a few individuals and how they change. And aaaaah, I love it so much.
Ice Massacre by Tiana Warner
YA Fantasy
Rating: DNF
From my Goodreads review:
Her Royal Highness by Rachel Hawkins
YA Contemporary Romance
Rating: 4/5
A breezy romance in which an American attends a posh Scottish boarding school on scholarship, ends up rooming with a princess, and they fall for each other. It's all very standard, but it was very cute, the characters were very likable, and it was exactly what I was hoping for from the summary.
The Rise of Kyoshi by F.C. Lee
YA Fantasy, Tie-In
Rating: 4/5
I really loved Kyoshi's origin story-- she's a very different Avatar than Aang or Korra, living in a very political landscape. Most people don't even believe that she's the Avatar, at first, and she's nearly consumed by her anger and her need for revenge. And all along the way, she's joined by her best friend (and later, girlfriend), the firebender Rangi. I still need to pick up the sequel, but I'm looking forward to doing that next year!
The Winter Duke by Claire Eliza Bartlett
YA Fantasy, Political Fantasy
Rating: 5/5
I have a special fondness for stories where circumstances force a particularly unprepared person to take a throne or other position of power and they have to contend with the realities of their new position, and this one definitely fit the bill perfectly. (The Goblin Emperor and The Collapsing Empire are two other books I've enjoyed in this vein.) In this case, Ekata is frighteningly unprepared to be the Grand Duke when the rest of her family are struck down by a curse; she's more interested in her books and science experiments than in politics, but now she is surrounded on all sides by potential enemies, searching for a cure for her family, and hoping that if her family members ever wake up, they won't decide that this was an attempt at a coup on her part and murder her. The f/f romance is a subplot, but it's one of my favorite parts of an already fantastic story-- it involves Ekata taking her brother's potential bride as her own in a desperate political gambit. The whole book, from the politics to the characters to the magic, is super fun!
If you have any thoughts or further recs, please let me know! And if you want, feel free to add me on Goodreads; just make sure to let me know where you know me from.
I try to read a lot of books with f/f, and what I read ranges pretty wildly: contemporary romance to sci-fi, YA to adult, KU exclusive self-pubbed to traditionally published bestsellers. My ratings here are based on my personal enjoyment which varies pretty wildly.
Contemporary Romance
Chasing Sunset by Missouri Vahn
Contemporary Romance
Rating: DNF
There was nothing particularly wrong with this book; I just got bored and returned it to the library instead of finishing it. Maybe if I'd been in a different mood, it would have been a different story.
Cinders by Cara Malone
Contemporary Romance
Rating: 3/5
A contemporary romance heavily influenced by Cinderella, where our Cinderella character is a firefighter who has never quite been able to please her overbearing stepmother and stepbrother or her timid father, and our Prince Charming character is an heiress on the cusp of inheriting a family business and property from her father. It's a bit simplistic, and I'm not really a fan of stories where one or both of the characters have been pining after the other since they were children or teenagers, but I did like Cinderella as a hot butch firefighter who got to hunt down an arsonist.
Edge of Glory by Rachel Spangler
Contemporary Romance, Sports Romance
Rating: 4/5
A sports romance in which a snowboarder nearing the end of her career and a skier recovering from a major injury train for the Olympics together. In someone else's hands, I could easily have been put off by the interpersonal conflicts that drove most of the story-- the heroines were stubborn, often refused to work together or communicate, and sometimes refused to listen to each other for petty reasons. All things that drive me crazy in many romances! But in Spangler's hands, it was clear that those were flaws, and the characters changed and grew together for the better by the end.
And, on a side note, all of the secondary characters were absolutely fantastic.
Pretend Girlfriend by Lily Craig
Contemporary Romance
Rating: 3/5
A socialite pays a normal woman to pretend to be her girlfriend at her cheating ex's wedding. It's exactly what it says on the tin-- and it's delicious. There were times when I thought the socialite character was a bit shallow or unlikable, but for the most part, I was along for the ride.
Fantasy/Science Fiction
Ascension by Jacqueline Koyanagi
Science Fiction
Rating: 3/5
For about 75% of this book, this was a 5/5 book. I really loved the world that was introduced, with the tension between the scientific and the mystical. I loved Alana, our main character, her strained relationship with her sister, Nova, and her growing romance with Tev, the ship's captain. (I was a bit annoyed that it took so long for Alana to be informed that Tev and her partner were polyamorous, and that Alana definitely wasn't misreading signals, but eh. I could overlook that.)
But a lot of that was overshadowed by the ending. I'm not going to get too deep into spoilers here, but suffice to say that the author decided to get overly clever and put in unnecessary twists, and I think that put a damper on what was otherwise a fun romp.
Burning Roses by S.L. Huang
Fairytale Retelling, Fantasy, Novella
Rating: 3/5
Hmm. I think I liked the idea of this one more than the execution: Rosa (Little Red Riding Hood) and Li Hou the Archer, now middle-aged women burdened by the mistakes of their past, team up to stop sunbirds from ravaging the countryside. But the execution felt kind of weak to me. I would have liked more focus on Li Hou-- I'm not familiar with the legend she comes from-- but we spent the bulk of the novella in Rosa's head, and most of the references in her backstory are to fairytales common in the Western canon, which got a little bit trite. Both Li Hou and Rosa have wives, and one of the main threads of the story is about family and about trying to reconcile with the mistakes they've made.
It's really nicely written and I really wish I liked it more than I did.
Competence by Gail Carriger
Steampunk, Paranormal
Rating: 4/5
I've read most of Carriger's steampunk books, and every one of them is a delightful romp. And I was delighted to have a full-length one with a f/f romantic subplot!
This is actually the third in the Custard Patrol series, so I was familiar with the main cast-- and thrilled that the book mostly centers around the Tunstell twins and Prim's romance with Tasherit. But honestly, I think the romance was overshadowed by exactly how much I loved the Primrose-and-Percy show: they're very believable as twins who adore each other but also get on each other's last nerve and don't quite understand each other-- and then have complete faith in each other to outshoot or out-talk their latest enemies. Overall, it was just fun.
Doctor Aphra by Sarah Kuhn
Science Fiction, Tie-In, Audiodrama
Rating: 5/5
This is a full-cast audiodrama*, featuring a the titular Doctor Chelli Lona Aphra, and a tie-in to the greater Star Wars universe. I'd heard excellent things about Aphra's appearances in the Vader comics, and then her own run in the Aphra comics, but I still haven't had a chance to read those. But I am definitely going to check those out sooner than anticipated, because this was a great introduction to her!
Aphra is more than a little sociopathic, and above all, she's only out to get rich and make a name for herself. But she's also just plain fun, and her ruthlessness just makes her moments of vulnerability just that much more sweet. (The fact that that vulnerability is most often on display when she's talking about her ex-girlfriend, Sana Starros, is even better!)
*I feel a little weird about putting an audiodrama on this list, but it's being marketed and sold as an audiobook-- to the point that it took me a while to realize that it didn't have a print version, too.
The Fate of Stars by SD Simper
Fantasy
Rating: DNF
I really liked the idea of this one, with the dark fantasy elements and the enemies-to-lovers elements, but there was a lot of infodumping about very complicated worldbuilding that never got explained very well (despite all the dry infodumping!), the relationship seemed to develop in a rushed way, and honestly I just got bored.
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Science Fiction, Fantasy
Rating: 5/5
I put off on reading this one for a while, because I was afraid it wouldn't live up to the hype.
It absolutely lived up to the hype, at least for me. I know the narrative voice might not work for everyone, but I loved Gideon and her irreverent worldview, and her complex relationship with Harrowhark. Every twist and turn left me surprised, all the way until the ending.
In the Vanishers' Palace by Aliette de Bodard
Science Fiction, Fantasy, Novella
Rating: 4/5
I'm an absolute sucker for anything with dragons, and this definitely hit the spot. It's an enemies-to-lovers romance about a young woman who is sacrificed to a dragon by her village, and how she and the dragon fall in love. It's influenced by Vietnamese mythology, and the worldbuilding is beautiful and unlike anything I've ever encountered before. I don't think I can describe this book adequately; it has to be experienced.
The Pirate's Booty by Alex Westmore
Historical Fantasy
Rating: DNF
I was hoping for a fun, trashy romp, but this was just too badly written to enjoy-- or to understand.
Provenance by Ann Leckie
Science Fiction
Rating: 5/5
A stand-alone novel in the world of Leckie's Imperial Radch series. I haven't read Leckie's other works, but this one definitely works on its own. We start with Ingray, as she attempts to secure her foster-mother's respect (and a future for herself) by selling everything she owns to get a notorious thief out of prison-- and that's just the beginning of her plan. Ingray is audacious and clever, but most of all, she's kind. She's just a delightful person to spend a book following around.
The f/f romance is a very small subplot, in between all of the heists and plotting, but it's very sweet. Additionally, multiple characters go by nonbinary pronouns (e/em/eir), which is a normal part of society on Ingray's planet.
Seven Devils by Elizabeth May and Laura Lam
Science Fiction, Space Opera
Rating: 5/5
I love this book and I have been recommending it to everyone I know. It's basically a Guardians of the Galaxy or Firefly, but with more feminist and queer themes (but without being unfun about them; they're just there). All the main leads are women. We start with Clo and Eris, a mechanic and a soldier for the small resistance against an ever-growing empire, on a mission that quickly goes sideways, and then they accidentally meet up with some refugees from the empire searching for the resistance. The mission goes even more sideways when they discover a potential new superweapon, and they have to go dark.
Eris is my favorite, because I love her character type (stone-cold badass with a traumatic backstory? hell yes), but we also get three other POVs, and Clo, Nyx, and Ariadne are also all fantastic in their own ways.
The Tiger's Daughter by K. Arsenault Rivera
Fantasy
Rating: 5/5
I'm also a sucker for fantasy that isn't inspired by European cultures, and this is the first in a trilogy that is inspired by the Mongolian empire and by ancient Chinese empires (with bonus demon-slaying!) Most of the book takes the form of a series of letters, written from the Qorin warrior Barsalayaa Shefali to her lover, the Empress O-Shizuka, retelling the events of their past from Shefali's point of view. The writing is gorgeous and evocative, and I loved every minute of it (even when it hurt).
This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone
Science Fiction
Rating: 5/5
An enemies-to-lovers time travel romance! I'd heard a lot about this one and it didn't disappoint. Blue and Red fall in love through letters, even as they fight on opposite sides of a war and attempt to bend time to better suit their side's ends. It's beautiful and it makes excellent use of the time travel while still being tightly focused on the main relationship. It definitely lived up to the hype, for me.
Villains Don't Date Heroes! by Mia Archer
Science Fiction, Superheroes
Rating: 4/5
A fun, light-hearted story told from the point of view of the supervillain Night Terror, who falls in love with the new hero in her city, Fialux. There's not much to it, but Night Terror was a very fun protagonist and the story, though predictable, was just a fun romp.
Treasured by Poppy Woods
Fantasy
Rating: 3/5
A quick, sexy read. The plot could probably have used a bit more fleshing out, and the characters were a little cliche, but it advertised itself as a dragonshifter/princess romance and it delivered. My only other complaint was that it used the word "sapphic" way too much.
The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood
High Fantasy
Rating: 4/5
A high fantasy novel with an f/f romance starring an orc swordswoman! It's everything I ever wanted! But despite my excitement, I was semi-ambivalent about this book for much of the time I was reading it-- the pacing was uneven, especially in the first part, and it took me a long time to warm up to the main character, Csorwe. But the worldbuilding is fascinating and unique, and the secondary characters kept me reading even when I wasn't sure about Csorwe (especially Tal, who is both a complete piece of shit and also possibly my favorite character in the book). And by the time we got to know Shuthmili, Csorwe's love interest, I was more than hooked.
Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey
Dystopia, Western
Rating: 3/5
The story here was really engaging, and I really loved the main character. And while the romance started abruptly, I was really rooting for it! On the other hand, I felt like most of the book was setting up the story I would actually be interested in, and we never got to that, which I think is a problem with the length of the book-- it's really more of a novella.
Historical
The Care and Keeping of Waspish Widows by Olivia Waite
Historical Romance
Rating: 5/5
This is the sequel to last year's The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics (which I adored!), but it's what I call a "romance novel sequel", which means that while some characters and settings from the first book appear, you don't have to worry about reading in any particular order.
I've raved about Celestial Mechanics since I first read it, but I might like Waspish Widows even more: one of the heroines is bisexual, both of them are in their 40s, neither of them is a member of the aristocracy, and the entire story was set against the real politics of the Regency era. I've read a lot of Regency romances, but they're rarely this grounded; one of the two heroines in this book is a widow running her late husband's print shop, and that gives the book a good reason to engage with politics, with the idea of direct action, and with the idea of exactly what regular people can do.
But of course, the real heart of this story is the romance. I loved both Penelope and Agatha, and while I often wanted to shout at them to hurry up and get together already, I understood both of their actions perfectly, and they were both delightful leads.
Heart of Gold by Luci Dreamer
Historical Romance
Rating: 2/5
After her father attempted to arrange an unwanted marriage for her, Thomas(ina) Miller left home and began passing as a man in order to live her life as she wants it. Now, she is on her way to the Yukon for the gold rush, and she meets Rachel, a young woman travelling with her husband and hoping to stake a claim, and the sparks immediately fly.
The book was pretty predictable, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The problem was that it was kind of boring-- I didn't feel a strong connection to either Thomas or Rachel, and every problem thrown in their path sort of seemed to resolve itself.
And a quick note: I'm putting this book on the list because it's marketed as lesfic, but I do feel a little weird about that. Thomasina refers to herself as Thomas throughout the book, and is perfectly fine with being perceived as a man, and it's unclear whether this is due to her dislike of traditional women's roles, her preference for women, a general desire to be understood as a man, or some combination of all of the above. If more thought had gone into this part of the narrative, I think it could have been a lot more compelling.
How to Talk to Nice English Girls by Gretchen Evans
Historical Romance
Rating: 4/5
I absolutely loved this one! There are not enough romances set in the 1920s, and this one is from the POV of Marian, the daughter of an English lord, dealing with the aftermath of the Great War. It's largely about Marian's internal conflict and growing into herself, as well as her romance with Katherine, a scandalous young woman from America. One of the reviews I saw called it "fanficcy"-- and it is, but in the best ways. It's sexy and fun and absolutely a must-read.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Historical Fiction
Rating: 5/5
I'm not entirely sure I have words for how good this book is. We first meet Evelyn near the end of her life, when she grants an interview to up-and-coming reporter Monique Grant, and from there, we flash back through Evelyn's life, with each of her seven husbands as signposts. But the husbands, of course, are not the point of the story; some barely even figure into Evelyn's life at all. The point of the story is both the real love of Evelyn's life, and of Evelyn's scramble to make it in a world that only ever valued her for her beauty. It's gorgeous and it's haunting and I read it in a single day because I couldn't put it down.
Young Adult
Beyond the Ruby Veil by Mara Fitzgerald
YA Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Horror
Rating: 4/5
Emanuela, the main character, is self-centered, self-serving, and driven only by her search for power. She's petty and she regularly lashes out at the few people who actually care about her. Most of her problems are of her own making. And yet she is incredibly compelling.
There's no f/f relationship in this book, but Emanuela is gay, and the main relationship is the friendship between her and her gay best friend-slash-fiance, Alessandro, which is charming and heartbreaking by turns.
Blood Countess by Lana Popović
YA Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Horror
Rating: 4/5
The titular countess is Countess Elizabeth Bathory, and the story is told from the point of view of Anna, a local girl who becomes her chambermaid. The story is more psychologically horrifying than anything: Anna is first drawn in by the countess, fascinated by her; then falls in love with her, believing she can change or soften Elizabeth's difficult edges; then realizes that she's in too deep and has to fight desperately to escape. The connection between Anna and Elizabeth is tense and compelling, and I loved every minute of it-- even when Anna was clearly in over her head.
Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron
YA Fantasy, Dystopia
Rating: DNF
I wanted to love it! I love YA, I love YA dystopias, I love fairytale retellings, and a queer, dystopian retelling of Cinderella sounded exactly up my alley. Like, there could not be anything more tailor-made for my id.
But the protagonist insufferable-- she was both naive about the world she lived in to the point that I couldn't quite understand how she had survived that long, and also the only person who truly understood how oppressed they all were. Not a combination I was willing to put up with for a whole book.
Crier's War #1: Crier's War by Nina Varela
YA Fantasy, Dystopia
Rating: 5/5
Everything is beautiful and it hurts. The worldbuilding is amazing-- I love how we were given bits of history about the Automae and the War of Kinds-- and Ayla and Crier were both compelling leads. There were moments when I wanted to shake them and get them to talk to each other, but the personal stakes for both of them were always so high that I understood why they didn't.
As I read, the stakes kept getting higher and higher, and I felt more and more on edge with every page, until I didn't want to continue because I was so worried, but I didn't want to put the book down either. And when everything did come to a head in the climax, it was awful and wonderful and I needed the sequel immediately.
Crier's War #2: Iron Heart by Nina Varela
YA Fantasy, Dystopia
Rating: 5/5
Thankfully, the sequel came out this year, so I got to read it almost immediately!
I absolutely loved this book. I was worried it wouldn't be able to follow up to Crier's War, but it absolutely did. I loved how Crier and Ayla's relationship was able to grow and change as they did, and I loved that Varela didn't fall into the trap of making the book about the growing revolution instead of about Crier and Ayla-- the revolution is happening, and we see a little bit of it, but this book is about a few individuals and how they change. And aaaaah, I love it so much.
Ice Massacre by Tiana Warner
YA Fantasy
Rating: DNF
From my Goodreads review:
The things that attracted me to this book (a romance between a warrior and a mermaid) did not seem to be what the actual focus of the book was on (why are we spending so much time with them as children? this is not what I'm here for + reviews indicate there is not as much focus on romance as I'd hoped).
DNF'd at about 20% of the way through.
Her Royal Highness by Rachel Hawkins
YA Contemporary Romance
Rating: 4/5
A breezy romance in which an American attends a posh Scottish boarding school on scholarship, ends up rooming with a princess, and they fall for each other. It's all very standard, but it was very cute, the characters were very likable, and it was exactly what I was hoping for from the summary.
The Rise of Kyoshi by F.C. Lee
YA Fantasy, Tie-In
Rating: 4/5
I really loved Kyoshi's origin story-- she's a very different Avatar than Aang or Korra, living in a very political landscape. Most people don't even believe that she's the Avatar, at first, and she's nearly consumed by her anger and her need for revenge. And all along the way, she's joined by her best friend (and later, girlfriend), the firebender Rangi. I still need to pick up the sequel, but I'm looking forward to doing that next year!
The Winter Duke by Claire Eliza Bartlett
YA Fantasy, Political Fantasy
Rating: 5/5
I have a special fondness for stories where circumstances force a particularly unprepared person to take a throne or other position of power and they have to contend with the realities of their new position, and this one definitely fit the bill perfectly. (The Goblin Emperor and The Collapsing Empire are two other books I've enjoyed in this vein.) In this case, Ekata is frighteningly unprepared to be the Grand Duke when the rest of her family are struck down by a curse; she's more interested in her books and science experiments than in politics, but now she is surrounded on all sides by potential enemies, searching for a cure for her family, and hoping that if her family members ever wake up, they won't decide that this was an attempt at a coup on her part and murder her. The f/f romance is a subplot, but it's one of my favorite parts of an already fantastic story-- it involves Ekata taking her brother's potential bride as her own in a desperate political gambit. The whole book, from the politics to the characters to the magic, is super fun!
If you have any thoughts or further recs, please let me know! And if you want, feel free to add me on Goodreads; just make sure to let me know where you know me from.
