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Skim by Mariko Tamaki
Who knew that I would come across something that would make me feel nostalgia for the mid-2000s? Skim is a compelling coming-of-age story that is bound to make you feel nostalgic for the mid-2000s (even if you, like me, didn’t strictly ‘come of age’ in that time). Skim captures the angst, confusion, heartache, and loneliness…
1990s, 4 STARS, age gap, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, canada, coming of age, DEPRESSION, f/f, female artist, female authors, female friendships, first love, friendships, Graphic Novels, HIGH SCHOOL, identity, japanese canadian author, Jillian Tamaki, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, loneliness, Mariko Tamaki, mental health, My reviews, nostalgic reads, occult, queer, re-reads, read in 2022, reading, sapphic, seances, Sequential Art, SEXUALITY, Skim, suicide, tarots, Toronto, unrequited love, YOUNG ADULT -
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
“The deep sea is a haunted house: a place in which things that ought not to exist move about in the darkness.” The cover, title, premise, and early hype around this novel made me think that I was going to love it. Alas, as it often seems to be the case, Our Wives Under The…
1st pov, Adult, ambiguous protagonist, arc, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, British author, cold tone, Contemporary, england, f/f, female authors, GRIEF, illness, introspective, Julia Armfield, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, MARRIAGE, MEMORY, mental health, My reviews, netgalley, Our Wives Under The Sea, psychological, purply prose, queer, reading, sapphic, science, scientists & co, sea, style over character, stylised prose, subject over characters/story, surreal -
The Dead and the Dark by Courtney Gould
“Ghosts are death, but maybe death can mean different things.” Spooky, sapphic, summery, The Dead and the Dark delivers on all of these. Fans of YA paranormal YA novels like Beware the Wild or Stiefvater’s TRC or even graphic-novels such as The Low, Low Woods, should definitely consider giving Courtney Gould’s debut a shot. The…
3.5 STARS, 3rd pov, America, American, atmospheric, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, creepy setting, f/f, family, FANTASY, female authors, gay side characters, ghosts/spirits, HORROR, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, m/m side, missing boys, MURDER, My reviews, MYSTERY, Oregon, PARANORMAL, published in 2021, queer, read in 2021, reading, sapphic, secretiveness, SMALL TOWN, Summer, summer reads, The Dead and the Dark, THRILLER, YOUNG ADULT -
Rise to the Sun by Leah Johnson
I lived for that Mack cameo! Sadly, Olivia & Toni didn’t steal my heart away like Liz & Mack did… “Loving someone is being big enough to admit when you mess up, and then doing everything in your power not to do it again.” Rise to the Sun is a summery sapphic romance that reads…
1st pov, 3 STARS, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, anxiety, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Contemporary, f/f, female authors, georgia, Indiana, insta love, Leah Johnson, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, light reads, music, musicians, My reviews, published in 2021, queer, read in 2021, reading, ROMANCE, sapphic, social issues, Summer, summer reads, YOUNG ADULT -
Love and Other Natural Disasters by Misa Sugiura
For the love of Jupiter, Nozomi was such a detestable main character. It had been a while since I so wholeheartedly hated and rooted against the main character of a novel…but here we go. Love and Other Natural Disasters is the kind of romance YA novel that pretends to critique and be self-aware of the…
1st pov, 2 STARS, America, American, ANGST, bi side characters, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, books i hate, California, Contemporary, drama, ENEMIES TO LOVERS, f/f, fake dating, female authors, japanese american author, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, Love and Other Natural Disasters, love quadrangle, MELODRAMA, Misa Sugiura, My reviews, published in 2021, queer, read in 2021, reading, rom-coms, ROMANCE, sapphic, YOUNG ADULT -
How to Find a Princess by Alyssa Cole
“A princess and her lady knight—the kind of fairy tale she’d always wanted, if she had to be a princess.” Perhaps I hyped myself so much so that disappointment was inevitable. How to Find a Princess was one of my most anticipated 2021 releases and I can’t say that I loved it. It had its…
3 STARS, 3rd pov, Adult, Alyssa Cole, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Contemporary, drama, f/f, female authors, How To Find A Princess, HUMOR, ISLAND, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, light reads, My reviews, Neurodiversity, published in 2021, queer, read in 2021, reading, RETELLINGS, road trip, rom-coms, ROMANCE, royals, sea, ship -
The Days of Afrekete by Asali Solomon
“There was so much lying all the time, particularly when you got together with people who were not Black. Bland observations about about schools, neighborhoods, and the words “kids” and “safe” and “family” tried to cover up a landscape of volcanos oozing with blood, pus, and shit.” What drew my attention to The Days of…
3 STARS, 3rd pov, academia, Adult, Asali Solomon, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, class, Contemporary, drama, f/f, female authors, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, LITERARY FICTION, MARRIAGE, mental health, My reviews, netgalley, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PRIVILEGE, published in 2021, RACE, read in 2021, reading, satire, The Days of Afrekete, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE -
Sarahland by Sam Cohen
Kinky, offbeat, and playful, Sarahland is a madcap story collection. Most of the stories focus on queer Jewish young women who are named or rename themselves Sarah. Their quest for identity and love leads them astray from traditional notions of femininity and adulthood. They become entangled in parasitic relationships, lose and regain their sense of…
Adult, America, American, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, cliques, collection of short stories, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), ennui, existentialism, f/f, female authors, feverish, HUMOR, identity, Jewish, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, LITERARY FICTION, MAGICAL REALISM, millennial, My reviews, prostitution, published in 2021, queer, read in 2021, reading, Religion, RETELLINGS, Sam Cohen, sapphic, Sarahland, sex, sexual assault/abuse/rape, SEXUALITY, short stories, surreal, trans side characters, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE, unrequited love, weird -
The Five Wounds by Kirstin Valdez Quade
“Is this what motherhood means? Being suddenly able to pity the adults in your life?” Set over the course of a year in Las Penas, New Mexico, The Five Wounds is a novel about failure and progress. Unsentimental yet moving The Five Wounds details the everyday lives of three members of the Padilla family. There…
2010s, 3.5 STARS, 3rd pov, addiction, Adult, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, catholicism, Contemporary, DEATH, f/f, family, fathers & daughters, female authors, forgiveness, identity, illness, latin american, latinx author, lgbtq+, LITERARY FICTION, motherhood, mothers & sons, My reviews, New Mexico, pregnancy, published in 2021, queer, read in 2021, reading, Religion, self-harming, SMALL TOWN, unrequited love -
She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
“Desire is the cause of all suffering. All Zhu had ever desired was to live. Now she felt the pure strength of that desire inside her, as inseparable as her breath or qi, and knew she would suffer from it. She couldn’t even begin to imagine the awful magnitude of the suffering that would be…
14th century, 5 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, Adult, ALIENATION, anti-hero, Asian Australian author, battles, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, China, court intrigue, f/f, FANTASY, friendships, gender identity, ghosts/spirits, HISTORICAL FICTION, identity, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, loneliness, MAGIC, monasteries, mongolia, myths, netgalley, political intrigue, published in 2021, queer, read in 2021, RETELLINGS, revenge, sapphic, She Who Became the Sun, Shelley Parker-Chan, terrific prose, war
luce [is reading] 