I must recommend these two that I read recently and loved and are not overwhelmingly white! can't stop talking about both of them
-Feast While You Can by Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta: butch/femme horror romance in '90s Italy, written by a married lesbian couple (!). the femme main character is possessed by a strange monster and conveniently, the only thing that can protect her is the touch of her brother's sexy butch ex-girlfriend. absolutely terrifying and also scorchingly hot.
-Butter Honey Pig Bread by francesca ekwuyasi: non-chronological story of a mother and her twin daughters that takes place in Nigeria and Canada. one of the daughters is queer and a chef, it's beautiful and sensual and poignant and there are lots of delicious food descriptions.
*note: I would check out the content warnings for both of these if you are sensitive to certain topics because there are some pretty graphic/violent scenes
mmm I would say I have a pretty high horror tolerance and I personally found it pretty frightening! a lot of it is psychological (the monster can eat memories and impersonate loved ones) but there are also some pretty harrowing scenes of physical violence
Feast While You Can is soooo good! I specifically came to this comment section just to recommend, hahaha. I blasted through it in a single day bc I couldn't put it down.
Love this list!! Would also add Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor, one of my fav books of all time, about a gendershifting queer protagonist in the 90s. It has explosive lesbian sex, a really interesting treatment of the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, militant dyke veganism, Provincetown.... I love it so much
For a not-contemporary option, I recommend Murder in the Collective, a 1983 murder mystery that takes place in a collectively run business that involves a lesbian awakening. There are two sequels, and I loved them all (though TW serious sexual violence in both of the sequels). I bought all three books on thriftbooks for less than 10 dollars each and they are both interesting time capsules of lefty/lesbian culture of that era and genuinely gripping mysteries!
Saving this list 💕 and gotta add The Stars and the Blackness Between Them by Junauda Petrus, which is the sexiest most tear jerking queerlove fest of a book
Maddy I gotta shout out your recommendation for a beach read from a couple summers ago: The Hotel Nantucket by Elif Hilderbrand! It was surprisingly addictive, and such a fun read! I can’t remember all the details of the book now, but I think there was a lesbian chef and maybe some other gay ppl working at the titular hotel.
I am adding all of these recommendations to my notes app or giving them a special tag on Libby!
I mostly have the focus to read comics at the beach, and recommend Sophia Dimino-Foster's Sex Fantasy or any of Sam Szabo's zines/books/instagram. The former is one of my two or three favorite comics ever & on top of being a totally gutting book it made me totally rethink the entire medium when I read it.
Thanks again for amplifying + for the reccs from everyone!
I just got back from my beach weekend- devoured Trust & Safety on the beach, started the new sapphic VE Schwab book + have Jasmine Guillory’s new sapphic romance on deck for pool reading. Went outside lit fic bc you’re right, the genre is pretty white
Just wanted to shout out the fine folks at Generous Press, who are relatively new but focused on publishing great romantic fiction written by/centering folks normally excluded from the genre: https://www.generous.press/full-catalog
They're still new, but looks like they've got more titles on the way!
I must recommend these two that I read recently and loved and are not overwhelmingly white! can't stop talking about both of them
-Feast While You Can by Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta: butch/femme horror romance in '90s Italy, written by a married lesbian couple (!). the femme main character is possessed by a strange monster and conveniently, the only thing that can protect her is the touch of her brother's sexy butch ex-girlfriend. absolutely terrifying and also scorchingly hot.
-Butter Honey Pig Bread by francesca ekwuyasi: non-chronological story of a mother and her twin daughters that takes place in Nigeria and Canada. one of the daughters is queer and a chef, it's beautiful and sensual and poignant and there are lots of delicious food descriptions.
*note: I would check out the content warnings for both of these if you are sensitive to certain topics because there are some pretty graphic/violent scenes
THANK YOU! These sound sick!! Shortly after I posted, a reader-friend texted me recommending Butter Honey Pig Bread so we all need to get a copy ASAP
yesss!!!
How scary are we talking!!!
mmm I would say I have a pretty high horror tolerance and I personally found it pretty frightening! a lot of it is psychological (the monster can eat memories and impersonate loved ones) but there are also some pretty harrowing scenes of physical violence
Ok excellent thank you I will NOT be reading but good to know about!
Feast While You Can is soooo good! I specifically came to this comment section just to recommend, hahaha. I blasted through it in a single day bc I couldn't put it down.
isn't it?? I recommended it to friends and they've all loved it too!! Jagvi 🥰
This is exactly the thread I NEED.
Idlewild by James Frankie Thomas is pretty beach read-y! More trans and gay but certainly dykey as well.
Hijab Butch Blues is full of interesting nonwhite dyke stories and can be kinda beachy??
We Both Laughed in Pleasure by Lou Sullivan is trans/gay male but like IS drama and IS sex and is so fucking good if you haven’t read.
Girls Can Kiss Now by Jill Gutowitz is maybe actually absolutely what you are looking for but in nonfiction essays.
Cantoras by Carolina de Robertis is ACTUALLY what you are looking for. DYKE DRAMA AT THE BEACH and all of them are Latina.
The Fixed Stars by Molly Wizenberg is figuring out you’re gay while married and a mom memoir and there’s plenty of drama and queer and poly dating!
Love this list!! Would also add Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor, one of my fav books of all time, about a gendershifting queer protagonist in the 90s. It has explosive lesbian sex, a really interesting treatment of the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, militant dyke veganism, Provincetown.... I love it so much
This will forever be in my top 5 novels! I can’t help but pull it out ever summer when I’m at my local city pool surrounded by queers :)
For a not-contemporary option, I recommend Murder in the Collective, a 1983 murder mystery that takes place in a collectively run business that involves a lesbian awakening. There are two sequels, and I loved them all (though TW serious sexual violence in both of the sequels). I bought all three books on thriftbooks for less than 10 dollars each and they are both interesting time capsules of lefty/lesbian culture of that era and genuinely gripping mysteries!
Saving this list 💕 and gotta add The Stars and the Blackness Between Them by Junauda Petrus, which is the sexiest most tear jerking queerlove fest of a book
Maddy I gotta shout out your recommendation for a beach read from a couple summers ago: The Hotel Nantucket by Elif Hilderbrand! It was surprisingly addictive, and such a fun read! I can’t remember all the details of the book now, but I think there was a lesbian chef and maybe some other gay ppl working at the titular hotel.
The Safekeep for historical dyke drama????
Yes! Came here to mention The Safekeep!
THIS
I am adding all of these recommendations to my notes app or giving them a special tag on Libby!
I mostly have the focus to read comics at the beach, and recommend Sophia Dimino-Foster's Sex Fantasy or any of Sam Szabo's zines/books/instagram. The former is one of my two or three favorite comics ever & on top of being a totally gutting book it made me totally rethink the entire medium when I read it.
Thanks again for amplifying + for the reccs from everyone!
I just got back from my beach weekend- devoured Trust & Safety on the beach, started the new sapphic VE Schwab book + have Jasmine Guillory’s new sapphic romance on deck for pool reading. Went outside lit fic bc you’re right, the genre is pretty white
Can confirm that Flirting Lessons was excellent on audio too!
Oh and Margo’s got money troubles on audiobook for the long drive- highly recommend!
Just wanted to shout out the fine folks at Generous Press, who are relatively new but focused on publishing great romantic fiction written by/centering folks normally excluded from the genre: https://www.generous.press/full-catalog
They're still new, but looks like they've got more titles on the way!