2025 Reading List

Overview

The following is a list of books I’ve read in 2025 along with some quick thoughts. It’s almost entirely comprised of sapphic romance. Book“s tagged with 🌟 are ones I think you should definitely consider reading.

Most of the links are Amazon affiliate links, just because they’re shorter and easier to deal with. Amazon refuses to give me any money anyway so I don’t really care if you use them. 😉

The books

Jan-June

• 🌟[poly][sapphic] The Homecoming (Constellation Book 4) by Sabrina Blaum Loved it. Read it again months later and loved it just as much. Told through a series of flashbacks this is the story of a mixed race, age-gap, throuple and what happens when one of them gets in a terrible car accident that leaves her in a medically induced coma. Through the flashbacks we learn how they came together. The present-day story-line is about the complexities of them all dealing with families who don’t know, and or don’t accept what they are to each other, or that they’re even gay. I love absolutely everything about this book.

• [sapphic] The Deal (Constellation Book 2) Good. Don’t remember much of it.

• [non-binary] Graceless (Grace Notes Book 2) by Ruby Landers While the author is great, and this series is great, I disliked this book because one of the characters in the relationship (Lane) is a non-binary person who’s written male as fuck. Straight girls, and bi girls may enjoy this, but their male behavior / personality was a total turn-off for me. That being said, I’d still recommend reading it if you plan on reading Book 3. Because Cassidy’s character development is huge in this and it makes Book 3 all the better.

• [sapphic] Saving Graces (Grace Notes Book 3) Good, follows the story of the female protagonist in Graceless. Unfortunately you’ll get a lot more out of it if you read book 2 first.

• 🌟[sapphic] Wolf Shirt & High Heels (Kissing At Work Book 1) by Evie Marque Loved it. Way better than the blurb suggests. I loved the depth of characters, and complexity of the relationships between the protagonist and her love interest as well as her ex and her friends.

• 🌟[poly][sapphic] Rhymes with Couple: A Carlsbad Village Lesbian Romance by Sabrina Kane Loved it. There are a lot of books where “polyamory” is just a “permission to have sex with other people”. This book doesn’t. Despite feeling like it’s 90% steamy sex scenes (🥵), it is undeniably built on a foundation of love and respect between all three characters.

• 🌟[poly][sapphic] Nanny in the Middle: a sapphic why choose romance (Love in Massachusetts) by Adrian J. Smith Three women with kids roughly the same age love each other dearly, but aren’t romantically involved. One of them has a toxic ex who keeps causing nannys to leave. New nanny comes in, stands up to the ex, and brings everyone together. It’s complicated and a little messy in all the best ways.

• [sapphic] Not in the Plan: A totally addictive and consuming lesbian romance by Dana Hawkins Had to abandon this. Great writing. Great characters who I really wanted to watch the relationship about. However, there comes a point where Mack - a writer - believes its wrong to continue using inspiration from Charlie’s stories in her book, but continues doing so, and continues not admitting it. Mack has a good reason, but I just can’t handle spending so much time in the head of someone who feels they’re doing something hurtful and continues doing it and hiding it. I’m sure it all works out but…

• [sapphic] The Princess Match by Clare Lydon Really liked it. Good believable characters. Will probably read again someday. It’s the story of an in-the-closet British princess who falls for the captain of a popular women’s football (soccer) team.

• [sapphic] The Librarian’s Gargoyle: A Cozy Sapphic Monster Romantasy by Evelyn Shine Really enjoyed this. Can’t wait for the next book in the series. The protagonist just wants to be left alone to work in the local library and tutor kids while searching for magic she knows exists. Her parents mostly ignore her until marrying her off would make for a lucrative trade alliance. She grows up spending countless hours in the arms of a stone gargoyle she doesn’t know is alive. The plot unfolds as her parents get her fired and announce she is to be wed, while shades start attacking her for reasons unknown.

  Set in 1912 Paris, this does not feel like a period piece. The time period feels more like a tool to enable the protagonist to plausibly be married off and have no real choice in the matter. Definitely deals with the idea of women being only valued for the offspring they can produce, and alliances they can buy.

  There’s a tiny bit too much action for me to call it “cozy”, but it’s almost cozy.

• [poly][sapphic][manga][yuri] There’s Weird Voices Coming From The Room Next Door! A erotic lesbian polyamorous story about falling in love with your neighbors. Fun, not too serious. My full review on Bookwyrm

• [sapphic] Conflict of Interest (Portland Police Bureau Series Book 1) by Jae I actually re-read this this year but I haven’t written about it before, so here you go.

  A psychologist is raped, and slowly learns to trust and love the female detective investigating her case. The detective’s a child of rape, and afraid of relationships as a result of childhood trauma.

  It’s a very enjoyable slow burn, with no sex until the very end. The story is all about learning to trust, support, and accept, and it’s wonderfully done.

• [sapphic] Next of Kin: A Romantic Suspense Novel (Portland Police Bureau Series Book 2) Kade’s focused on her career as an Assistant District Attorney who’s tired of dating men who don’t respect her career and see her as a beautiful trophy to win, and a way to access her family’s wealth. Lieutenant Del Vasquez is an older, down-to-earth butch Lesbian, who lets Kade know she’d love to date her, despite Kade’s claims of being straight.

  Meanwhile, Aiden - one of the main characters from Conflict of Interest - discovers she has a rebellious half-sister named Evan from the same rapist father, and her partner is the sister’s psychologist (until they find out). The sister coincidentally begins a relationship with Kade’s niece, and complications ensure when the neice’s homophobic parents catch them in the bedroom.

  The main story of Kade & Del is driven by an unknown stalker obsessed with Kade, who becomes increasingly upset with Del’s presence. The sub-plot is driven by the complicated fallout of Evan being caught, and Aiden learning to be a supportive big sister to a troubled girl.

  I love that this isn’t an “oh I was a lesbian all along” story for Kade. Once she admits to herself that she has feelings for Del she identifies herself as bisexual. Better, it’s not because of an unwillingness or fear of admitting she’s a lesbian. She’s actually, confidently bi.

  There’s lots to love about this book.

• [sapphic] Change of Pace (Portland Police Bureau Series Book 3) A ~50 page novella exploring the question of what happens when Kade’s stuck-up rich mother visits unexpectedly and has to spend a day with Kade and Del help their very normal - although mostly lesbian - friends as they help Aiden and Dawn (from Conflict of Interest and Next of Kin) move to a new place.

  Don’t bother reading this if you haven’t read the first two books in the series. If you’ve read them you’ll enjoy this.

• An Election - John Scalzi I don’t remember much of this novella beyond it being comedic and entertaining.

• [sapphic] The Song in My Heart by Tracey Richardson I don’t remember any of this, but I gave it 4 stars.

• [hetero] How I Proposed to my Wife: An Alien Sex Story ebook by John Scalzi Normally I’m a fan of Scalzi, but I didn’t really like this at all.

• [sapphic] Wrong Number, Right Woman (Unexpected Love Book 3) Shy butch lacking self-confidence is accidentally texted by an outgoing straight girl looking for her friends opinion on an outfit for a date. They end up chatting, and straight girl discovers she’s not so straight after all.

  This book is so sweet, and you’re absolutely rooting for both of the characters the whole way.

  Bonus points for trans representation in the form of a well written best friend who just happens to be trans.

• [sapphic] Lucky Yellow Shoes (Unexpected Love Book 4) by Jae A ~30 page novella follow-up to Wrong Number, Right Woman.

• [sapphic] Chemistry Lessons (Unexpected Love Book 5) by Jae Two best friends go on a date to prove to their friend group that they’re not a good match romantically. Surprise, they are.

  I enjoyed this, like I enjoy everything Jae writes. Good. Not extraordinary.

• [sapphic] The Principal’s Office (Unexpected Love Book 6) by Jae A ~20 page novella follow-up to Chemistry Lessons

• [sapphic] Bachelorette Number Twelve (Heart-to-Heart Medical Romance Series Book 1) An enjoyable, and believable enemies-to-lovers story between an ice queen doctor and one of the nurses in the same ER.

  I don’t remember a ton from this book.

• [sapphic] Impulse Buy (Heart-to-Heart Medical Romance Series Book 2) by Jae A ~40 page novella followup to Bachelorette Number Twelve that I don’t remember anything about.

• [sapphic][asexual] Perfect Rhythm (Fair Oaks Book 1) by Jae I really liked this. Famous pop star (Leo) is tired of people wanting her for her fame, and re-unites with childhood friend (Holly) when she returns to her hometown after her father has a stroke. Things are complicated by the fact that Holly’s ace, and has a hard time believing Leo could ever be happy in a relationship with someone who couldn’t fulfill her sexual needs.

• [sapphic] Not the Marrying Kind (Fair Oaks Book 2) by Jae A complicated relationship between a butch baker and a neighborhood florist who is terrified to come out of the closet and disappoint her family.

  Doesn’t need to be read after Perfect Rhythm, but is better if you do.

• [sapphic] Dreamer by Kris Byrant I abandoned this half way through. The characters are interesting, and the plot twist (happens early on) is fine but I don’t like the way the resulting complications are handled. The more elements from before the twist overlap with post-twist things the less believable I found the character responses to them.

• [gay][aliens] Earth Fathers Are Weird by Lyn Gala I loved this, and I generally can’t relate to male-male romance stories at all. Human Air-Force pilot gets saved by alien “cops” during an accidental invasion. He gets a job as a “nanny” to pay for a trip back, and starts caring for his tentacled employer, and eventually the kids they raise.

  The universal translators are crap when it comes to translating to and from English. This is a key plot point, and the resulting conversations where both sides are dealing with a limited and problematic vocabulary to communicate are very well handled.

  It’s sweet, and warm, with lots of heart, and love. And yes, there is tentacle sex. Not much, but surprisingly hot. Well, surprising for me because I’m not into tentacle sex or sex with guys.

• [sapphic] Release the Stars by Harper Bliss Good, but not particularly memorable for me. Charlie moves to Hollywood to write for a TV show after ex dumps her for a man. She vows to never date someone who isn’t “100% lesbian”, then proceeds to get seduced by a bi actress (Ava) she’s been crushing on for years. A lot of this is about Charlie’s fear of being dumped for a man again, and her hangup about only dating lesbians while being incredibly attracted to Ava who would love to have a real relationship with her.

• [sapphic] And Then She Kissed Me by Harper Bliss A sweet friend-to-lovers story with lots of moments of accepting supportive family.

• [sapphic] The Duet: A Lesbian Age-Gap Rock Star Romance by Harper Bliss Falling in love while singing a bad-ass duet on stage every night. An enjoyable age-gap romance.

• [sapphic] Still The One by Harper Bliss A friends-to-enemies-to-lovers story. I don’t remember much but I’m pretty sure it was relatively enjoyable, and on par with Harper Bliss’s other writing.

• [sapphic] Something In The Wine by Jae Annie’s brother Jake is an annoying practical joker. When he sets Annie up on a date with his friend Drew, they’re both pissed at him because Annie’s straight, and Drew’s a butch lesbian. They decide to pretend the date worked out, friendship, and then love ensue.

  This book had a lot of heart, and I really enjoyed it.

• [sapphic] Departure from the Script (The Hollywood Series Book 2) by Jae Photographer meets aspiring actress. Thank you becomes friendship, becomes love.

  A nice story.

• [sapphic] Damage Control (The Hollywood Series Book 3) by Jae Famous actress (Grace) hires PR agent (Lauren) for “damage control” when papparazi share pictures of her and another woman.

  The basic plot is that Grace’s Mom has been her agent since she was a child actress, but Grace is a closeted lesbian as a result of her Mom being a controlling homophobe who’s instilled Grace with the fear that her career and everything else in her life will fall apart if anyone thought she was gay.

  It’s a good story of Grace overcoming that fear, and breaking out of the toxic relationship with her mother.

• [sapphic] Just Physical (The Hollywood Series Book 5) by Jae Jill’s an actress with Multiple Sclerosis refuses to let anyone in her heart because she doesn’t want to doom them to a life of supporting her physically if her MS progresses. She meets a stunt woman named Crash who’s willing to love her despite everything, but can Jill accept that it’s ok to let herself be loved despite her MS?

  Duh, of course she can. But, it’s a good story.

• [sappic][autistic] The Woman Next Door by Harper Bliss Olivia is an autistic book translator happily living in the woods with her cats and routines. Marie’s a surgeon who’s not into relationships, just good sex, but her world falls apart when a patient dies on her table. She goes to her family’s summer home and meets Olivia who has no interest in one-night-stands, or anything that would change her routines. Definitely not moving back to the city with Marie.

  Overall I liked this book, but I hated that the author refused to acknowledge, or even hint at the fact that Olivia was autistic. This isn’t a character that “could be read as autistic”. This is a character who can’t be read any other way.

• [sapphic] Good Bones (A Renovation Romance Book 2) Abandoned. I couldn’t deal with the older woman’s on-again off-again feelings about dating a younger woman, or anyone. I didn’t find it believable.

• [sapphic] Twisted Lives by Ali Spooner Abandoned. The characters were good, but everything happened implausibly fast. Bet runs away from an abusive husband with her kid, and breaks down on the side of the road by Alex’s driveway. Alex finds her stranded, and offers her a place to stay for the night. 24 hours later Bet’s kid has accepted Alex as her new 2nd mom, and Bet is throughly in love with her. The characters are decent, the story is even decent, but the speed at which everything happens is completely unbelievable and made it impossible for me to stay in the story.

• [sapphic] Nothing to Loose by Clare Lydon Scarlet’s life finishes falling apart when a flood destroys her home and the mayor (Joy) takes her in. Joy’s optimism meets Scarlet’s spiraling doom, and they find they really enjoy spending time with each other.

  I really enjoyed this one.

• 🌟[sapphic] Broken Beyond Repair: A Sapphic Celebrity Ice Queen Romance (A South Downs Romance Book 1) by Emily Banting

  This one won a pile of awards and deserved every one. Beatrice is an actress who has closed off her heart and acted like a bitch to everyone around her. It’s eventually revealed that she’s had good reason, but there’s more going on than she knows.

  Sydney is her latest personal assistant, and Beatrice’s polar opposite, but she’s damn good at her job, and eventually cracks Beatrice’s protective shell.

  This is probably the best “Ice Queen” story I’ve read so far, because your heart goes out to Beatrice as the story gradually reveals why she acts the way she does.

• [sapphic] Teacher’s Pet (A Sweet Lesbian Romance) Katie’s dates keep bailing the moment they find out she has a young kid. Lana is her daughter’s teacher, who helps her out of a jam. It really is a “sweet lesbian romance”. My only complaint was that it was too short.

• [sappic][trans] The Hatchling by Vyria Durav You can buy all of Vyria’s stuff directly via itch.io.

  A fantasy story of man teased for being effeminate. He’s forced to act as the healer for an obnoxious group of hunters who go after a dragon, despite the fact he thinks dragon’s shouldn’t be hunted. Long story short, he meets the dragon, is taken in and turned into a female dragon, and takes his revenge when they won’t leave them alone.

  Like all of Vyria’s stories, my only complaint is that I wish it was twice as long as it is, with more time for everything to build in the reader’s head.

• [genderfluid] Only Mostly Dead by Allie Temple Paused reading, but intend to come back. I stopped because there was “we need to save the world” stuff happening than I was in the mood for, but it’s a well written tale of a ghost and a very genderfluid reaper. In this story reapers aren’t from our dimension and can take on any shape they want.

  Honestly it was pretty good, just not what I wanted at the moment.

• [sapphic] Thankful (A Sweet Thanksgiving Romance) by Edie Bryant Lesbian doesn’t tell straight best friend she’s into her because doesn’t want to ruin friendship. Straight best friend later discovers she’s bi after best friend moves away,but doesn’t tell her.

  Events happen, they learn they’re both into each other. And then the story falls apart for me because bi girl is like “OMG Yes my life’s dreams!” and suddenly “OMG we can’t be together because I think mom doesn’t approve of us as a couple.” Which… there was more going on but still it’s SO hot & cold for someone you’ve loved all your life that it’s hard to believe, and made her feel like a cruel jerk.

• [sapphic] Fluid Bonding: a sapphic paranormal romance by Sienna Eggler Secret telepath meets secret half-vampire. When their feelings grow they eventually admit what they are. I really enjoyed this.

• [sapphic][transgender] Gone Was the Glow: prequel (St. Acton) by Sienna Eggler This was good.

  Evangeline (Evan) is witch / half-vampire is mourning the loss of an incredible relationship with a butch werewolf who - after years together - went out one day and never came back. Svenja is the werewolf PI - born not made thank you very much - who Evan hired to figure out what happened.

  Years later the half-vampire from fluid bonding helps kick off the story, by tracking down her half-sister (Evan) and kicking off a quest to find and eliminate their evil full-vampire father. Evan calls in Svenja, who moonlights as a monster hunter, while she’s falling in love with a woman who works at Evan’s school.

  The only problem I had was with the description of Svenja’s gender. At one point I thought they were female. Then I thought they were a trans man. In the end they’re a trans-masc person who dresses like a butch female? I think? I don’t really care what they are, but the confusion around their gender wasn’t a plot point. It was just confusing writing and I wished it had been better established how I should be thinking about them early on in the story.

• [agender][asexual] The Thread That Binds: (The Eternal Library Book 1) by Cedar McCloud Abandoned 40% through. Good characters. Good writing. The problem? One of the main characters is scrying day after day through the history of a book trying to find what happened to it. When ey - the story uses e/ey/eir for most characters - finally do she discovers that it contains some dangerous power that could be terrible in the wrong hands. Instead of going and talking to the people who hid it, or asking any questions at all ey rush to tell their narcisistic boss who the story has established e doesn’t like, and doesn’t fully trust.

  The entire remaining story would be based on something that is completely unreasonable for the main character to have done.

  My full review here on Bookwyrm also discusses my problems with the author’s handling of the characters in an agender society.

• [sapphic] Heart’s Claim: A Sapphic Shifter Romance (Where Our Paths May Cross Book 1) by Issy Waldrom Our dimension collides with one of magic, fae, and dragons. Some people see the overlap, and remember. Some never saw. Our protagonist is protected from an evil character by a dragon, whom she later meets again in our world and rescues in another. Interesting things happen from there.

  It’s hard to describe, but it’s good. After reading it I have some problems related to the villain, but nothing that would make me say don’t read it.

• [sapphic][transgender] Esper And The Witch by Issy Waldrom. The cover and many of the scenes make you think this is an isekai, but I assure you it isn’t. It just happens that magic users in this world get visual status alerts when they “level” as if they were in a video game, but they’re not.

  Alex is slowly turning into a girl and doesn’t know why, but it’s also what he’s always wanted. He doesn’t know that magic exists. His coworker Selena does, and she tries to help support their transition without telling them. This story gradually intersects with the story of a kitsune named Esper who has snuck into the city and keeps waking up in someone’s bed.

  I really enjoyed this story. I loved the feel of Alex and Sabrina’s relationship. It’s sweet, and I’ll probably read it again. I’d love to see more stories in this world.

  However, at the end of the book we learn about the incident that kicked everything into motion, and it just confused me and left me wondering how Alex ended up at his job, why the kitsune went into the city, and so many more things. Also, the “Mother” of Selena’s magical family feels like an over-the-top Disney villain and I still don’t understand what her motivations are.

• [sapphic][bisexual][transgender][poly] What Lies Within by Issy Waldrom I really enjoyed this book, but the books blurb is a problem. It makes you think you’re going to be following the story of some guy who’s really unhappy with his life as a magical guardian. That’s not what the story is about at all.

  In the setup we learn that the main character Frasier is in love with his roommate and male best Uriah, who loves him back. Frasier’s teased for being effeminate and was abused by his parents at a young age when they caught him running around in a dress.

  Things rapidly escalate after Frasier’s parents try to force him into an arranged marriage with Julia. Julia’s family is in dire straits and needs this arranged marriage. After meeting him, Julia likes Frasier and thinks he and Uriah are a great couple, and hints at the fact that the three of them might all be able to be together. Uria knows Frasier is trans even if Frasier hasn’t admitted it, and is doing their best to support them accepting this.

  Magic happens. Frasier’s trans ghost friend Felicia gets bound to him. Frasier starts transforming into a woman and calls herself Callie. They get trapped in a dying world, become a happy polycule, magic things happen. A new character is added to the group. Powers are gained. Secrets are revealed.

  I’ll probably reread this one. My only complaint is that characters are way to accepting of things they shouldn’t be. For example (very minor spoiler) after knowing the Julia for like two days, a Vampire (don’t ask) offers to make Julia into a Vampire in order to give her powers (why?) but notes that she’ll only be able to feed off of Callie. Callie has no problem with being tied to someone she barely knows for the rest of her life. Julia doesn’t either once she confirms being out in the daylight isn’t a problem. Uriah doesn’t have an issue with this either. That was the biggest one but there were other “why are you just going ahead with this?” moments that you’ll just have to roll with.

  The vaguely annoying part is that all of those moments could have been given more pages between something being presented and acting on it, and it could have been believable.

• [sapphic][transgender] Dawn Weaver: A tale of Dragon Riders (Soul Flames Book 1) I abandoned this one 60% of the way through because it was becoming a story of a fantasy party who gradually gain incredible powers in order to save the world against impossible odds and it was just too much for me. I prefer things that aren’t completely over-the-top heroic fiction.

  The characters are good. It’s one of the few stories with a magical gender change that doesn’t feel like deus ex machina. If you want a D&D type story about saving the world against an evil villain give this a go. The gender transformation is honestly a minor side issue to the whole story.

• 🌟[sapphic][transgender][poly] Catnip by Vyria Durav You can buy all of Vyria’s stuff directly via itch.io.

  This is a short comfort-read for me, which I reread recently. It’s not very thinky. It’s just cute.

  The earth has been decimated by capitalism. The rich evacuate. One rich egotistical character with a cult of personality following sets up a new colony on Venus. You need to just ignore the science and go with this.

  Hundreds of years later Sol is the first person sent there in advance of the rest of his polycule to prepare for everyone else’s arrival.

  Sol meets an AI named Alexis, falls into a vat of goo, and starts turning into a catgirl. As this proceeds Sol falls in love with the AI, realizes he’s been trans the whole time and just too thick to get any of the hints the folks in his polycule have been giving him. The more Sol changes, the happier he is, until he starts accepting himself as a girl and calling herself Callie.

  Meanwhile they’re trying to reclaim Alexis’ missing memories, and unravel the mystery of what happened to the people in the colony.

  The relationship between Callie and Alexis is adorable. The story is fun. The rest of the polycule is only tangentially involved in the story via occasional video calls as they travel, and then at the very end.

• [sapphic][transgender][poly] The Dragon and Her princess by Vyria Durav You can buy all of Vyria’s stuff directly via itch.io.

  Prince Darius is miserable as a prince, and disliked by his father, until he’s kidnapped by a dragon, agrees to marry her for story reasons, and wakes up transformed into a female dragon.

  Love and joy are found. Bad men are overthrown. The poly aspect of this is only in the epilogue.

  This is a fun, enjoyable read, but like much of Vyria’s stuff it would be much better if it was at least twice as long. Everything just happens too quickly. It’s plausible, but I want more build-up, and time to enjoy.

• [sapphic] Taming of a Rebel by Eada Friesian “Ice Queen” Miranda suddenly finds herself taking care of her sister’s kid. Taking care of the kid leads to meeting Tori a mother at the child’s daycare. Tori’s determined to meet her soulmate by the time she’s 30. Miranda’s determined to not accept anyone’s help despite how desperately she needs it.

  The relationship is complicated, and nothing goes smoothly, and I love this for that. I love how the two kids get along so well, and how much Tori comes to love Miranda’s niece.

  I really recommend this.

• [hetero][transgender] Chef’s Choice by T.J. Alexander. Rich trans guy Jean-Pierre needs to have a girlfriend to be good enough to get a bigoted grandfather’s estate. In a desperate “because she was there” moment he ends up hiring Luna (a trans woman) to be his girlfriend for the duration of a phone call. This leads to hiring her to help him in some cooking challenge, which leads to them falling in love.

  They’re not at all alike, and a lot of the story’s complications center around the fact that Jean-Pierre has had zero support in his transition and has no community or found family. Luna is out and proud.

  Overall good, not great.

• [poly][sapphic][agender] Triple Sec by T.J. Alexander Mel’s a jaded butch lesbian bartender. She’s seduced by a hot femme named Bebe, who turns out to have very non-binary / agender spouse named Kade. Mel decides to give Bebe a chance despite her spouse, and their very different worlds.

  The relationship between the three of them is complex and real feeling, and I love how Mel comes to respect and stand up for Kade despite how wildly different they are.

  It’s not my favorite poly story, but there’s a lot of good things in this book.

• [sapphic] Storm In Her Heart by KC Luck Athena finds herself trapped in a winter storm with Kate, an ex-cop turned beer delivery driver who she’s been becoming close friends with. With them are Athena’s niece Lacey and her roommate love interest Max.

  The characters feel real, and I loved how different each one felt. The relationships felt nuanced and real, and the love felt earned.

• 🌟[sapphic] Not for a Moment By: Cheyenne Blue Andi doesn’t want to get involved with a woman with kids. She’s got too much trauma from her own childhood that she doesn’t want to pass on. Sarah’s Mom’s a bitch, and Andi ends up pretending to be her live-in partner to get her off her back one evening when they’re hanging out. Unfortunately she ends up needing to keep the ruse up to prevent Sara’s Mom from taking custody of her daughter Noa.

  Messy adult relationships with believable baggage, and Andi trapped in a situation she doesn’t want to be in, but also can’t walk away from because of how cruel it would be to let Noa be taken from Sarah.

• When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi Explores the question of “What would happen if the moon inexplicably turns to cheese?” Written in a series of little vignettes, this was a fun read.

• [sapphic] A Breathless Place by Harper Bliss Izzy Addler lost her voice ten years ago and no longer feels the need the need to keep living. She hasn’t let anyone know her plan. As one of her last acts she allows a writer named Leila come and help her finish her biography.

  This is the story of them falling in love, but is that enough when the only thing that ever gave Izzy life is gone?

  I’m upset that the fact that Izzy’s suicidal isn’t mentioned. That’s a hell of a trigger warning to skip, and I was not prepared for it when I started reading. That being said, it’s a really well done book that handles the subject with grace. Recommended if you can deal with the subject matter.

• [sapphic] A Family Affair by Harper Bliss Kate’s marriage is falling apart. After too many rounds of failed In Vitro Fertilization they’ve given up on their dream of ever having a baby. Kevin throws himself into the remodeling of their house, but can’t bring himself to spend any time with Kate. Kate is left alone in her stepmother’s home, spending time with her sister-in-law Stella.

  They bond, and then with the help of too much alcohol cross a line they immediately regret. Stella loves her brother. Kate loves her husband, even if their marriage is functionally dead. Neither of them wants to hurt him or their family, and yet…

  This isn’t about the taboo of an affair. This is about finding love when you’re hurting and alone.

  I’ve read this twice now and definitely recommend it.

• [sapphic] The Love We Make by Harper Bliss An interesting and complicated romance between a very autistic coded actress (Nora Levine), and the new CEO of the production company that makes the TV show she works on (Mimi St James).

  Nora is a complicated character with strict routines, hard boundaries, and family trauma. Mimi loves her family more than anything, even though all her kids are grown.

  It’s an interesting story that’s refreshingly different. Not for everyone, but I liked it.

• [sapphic] I Hope I Don’t Fall In Love With You by Harper Bliss I don’t remember any of this.

• [sapphic] Nothing Heals Me Like You Do by Harper Bliss After being kicked out of her home Justine got herself off the streets and started a homeless shelter for queer youth. Now they want to make a movie about her life story, and she’s happy to sell the rights to it if it means more funding for the shelter.

  This is an age-gap romance between Justine, and the actress playing the part of her ex at a critical point in her life. Will Justine take a chance on someone so much younger, who grew up with family acceptance, and a privileged life?

  I liked this. Complicated emotions and lives make for good stories.

• [sapphic] The entire Pink Bean series by Harper Bliss Overall Good, but not great.

  The only one I recommend against is Love Without Limits. In prior books Caitlin has been set up as a polyamorous woman who has spent years educating people about ethical non-monogamy. Unfortunately the author seems to believe that polyamory and “lets sleep with other people” are the same thing. There’s no polyamory in this book. It’s just an open relationship. Which is fine, but it feels really out of character for her partner Josephine, especially the opening sex scene, and everything about this book sits wrong with me. It feels disrespectful to poly people, and dismissive of the idea of loving multiple partners.

  I believe I also skipped Beneath the Surface because it deals with an alcoholic main character, and how that effects her relationship. Unfortunately this isn’t noted in the blurb.

• 🌟Sex at Dawn by Christopher Ryan, and Cacilda Jetha A look at the sex and the people and events that have changed our perception of it from pre-history until now.

  This is an excellent book, and I think everyone should read it, but every time I try and push a little farther through it I find myself pissed off by yet another moment in history where capitalism, male ego, and / or misogyny has fucked over women and society.

• [heterosexual][bisexual][poly] The Harmony of Falling Snow A Polyamorous Romantasy (Songs of Niaretya Book 1) by Andora Brokaw You can get this directly from the author on itch.io.

  I didn’t have high expectations of this going in for two reasons: 1. It’s a story about two guys and a girl, and I’m not into guys. 2. Stories like this tend to do a poor job of deploying magic.

  I was happily surprised with what I found. Even better, there were over 500 pages of mostly “cozy” entertaining content.

  This is the story of Maggie, a woman deported from earth back to a magical world she’s never known. Her only contact is Yuri, an ex who left her and broke her heart, and he happens to help recently deported people settle into their new lives.

  In the intervening years Yuri fell in love with Vil, who he asks to host Maggie, but it too chicken-shit to admit that she’s his ex before she’s already there.

  Maggie grew up on earth believing that monogamy was the only “right” way. Here in the new world polyamory is the default. Unsurprisingly Maggie develops feelings for both men, and struggles with accepting that maybe it’s ok to love two people at once.

  Along the way we find out about Yuri’s mental health issues, the family secret he’s magically prevented from talking about, a group fighting for democracy in their land, and much more.

  It’s a really sweet tale, where magic is never used as a crutch. It’s mostly just an element of the world until the climax when their individual powers - especially Maggie’s - become a very big deal.

  Loved the characters. Loved the writing. Can’t wait to read whatever the author puts out next.

• [sapphic][transgender] Princess Fox and Iron Wolf by Liliana Chaos You can get this directly from the author on itch.io.

  A fun tale about someone whose dumb luck finds them stumbling into their transness, accidentally becoming a villian’s minion, and totally crushing on the hot villainess who kidnapped her.

  Like many superhero books, things come a little too easily to the protagonist, but that’s kind-of the point of this book. It’s not about dark struggles, or questions of morality. It’s just some fun escapism.

• [sapphic][transgender] That Night I Got Dragged Home By A Werewolf by Autumn Wolff You can get this directly from the author on itch.io.

  I thought this was going to be a fairly normal transbian romance with a girlfriend that just happens to be a werewolf. That wasn’t even remotely true. This is way more in line with a typical urban fantasy. Magic powers, evil forces trying to kill the lovers, breaking curses, etc. It’s not bad. Some things are accepted and jumped into too quickly without any pause to think, which I wasn’t a huge fan of. Other than that, if you like typical urban fantasy stuff, you’ll like this.

  Loved the handling of the main character being a transgender woman with bottom dysphoria who still wants to have sexy-time with her lover.

• 🌟[sapphic][transgender] The Postman Becomes A Bunny Goddess In Another World by Autumn Wolff

  You can get this directly from the author on itch.io.

  The coziest of cozy novels. It’s sweet, low stakes, with characters you just want to snuggle up to. Here’s my full review.

July Update

• 🌟[hetero][furry] My Minotaur Husband by Lyonne Riley

  You can get this directly from the author in eBook or signed paperback.

  Surprisingly sweet. In this world, Humans are highly desirable, but also almost extinct. A sweet shy minotaur named Theo puts in an application to date Celeste. It’s a short, adorable tale of dating “the shy guy” and finding he’s kind and caring and everything you wanted. It’s also filled with spicy scenes as Celeste and Theo gradually work up to the point where she can be filled with Theo who is, quite literally, hung like a bull.

  I’m not generally into “boy kissing” books, but Theo is just such a sweet guy that I didn’t have a problem with it. Also, as one reviewer said “consent is sexy”.

October Update

• The Kick-Ass Writer by Chuck Wendig Meh. Didn’t really learn anything. Extremely male-centric viewpoint and filled with abelist language. Also his humor is basically to insert obviously over-the-top remarks in a way that’s funny once or twice but after the 40th time you just want him to shut the fuck up.

• [sapphic] Upheaval - As we know it by Rita Potter Pretty good, I liked the characters, but annoyed it was split into two books because absolutely nothing is resolved by the end of the first one. I have the second one but I haven’t read it.

  A bunch of lesbians are having a party in an underground bunker when something happens to cause everyone above-ground to die. They emerge, find dead bodies, try to work out what’s happening, and the book ends.

• [heterosexual][poly] Seduced by the Werewolves by Lyonne Riley I think I unknowingly stumbled into some omegaverse adjacent stuff. It’s kinda sweet but the sexual relationships are extremely hierarchical.

  I don’t remember a lot from this. A woman ends up dating four male werewolves who are already in a relationship, her boss is an ass, lots of sex, knotting. Sweet vibe overall, but hierarchy in the bedroom was a turn off.

• [heterosexual] My Ogre Husband by Lyonne Riley Abandoned it 90% through. Just lost interest. Another in her series of series about humans being endangered, and coveted by “monsters”. Egorr is a sweet guy but I was just struggling to care much about this story.

• [heterosexual?] Programmed for Love by Lyonne Riley Woman falls in love with Android despite it being taboo. Android falls in love with woman despite thinking he’s not capable of such a thing.

  They work on a long haul space-ship, starting, and maintaining a taboo relationship. Meanwhile, someone’s trying to sabotage the ship and kill them all.

  Only complaint was that it was too short.

• [heterosexual][poly] Hour of the Lion by Cherise Sinclair I have a seriously hard time believing this was written by a woman. The premise was good, but it was so much about what toxic male’s idea of relationships is that I just couldn’t keep reading.

• [bisexual][poly] Keeping the Human’s Heart by Lyonne Riley Humans and trolls are at war. A human woman is forced to fight, gets injured, runs far away, and eventually hides in a farm building belonging to a couple of troll guys. One of them sees her as a pet (initially), the other sees her more as a person, they both find their hearts - and bodies - drawn to her. They keep her around even though doing so is a risk. Complications arise.

  I liked this one a lot.

• [heterosexual] Bred by the Dragon by Lyonne Riley Human woman works at surrogate agency because humans are compatible with all “monsters”. He falls in love with her. They run away together despite it breaking all the rules.

  Ok, not great.

• [heterosexual] Winning the Orc’s Heart by Lyonne Riley Action, adventure, fantasy, magic, true love. A fun romp. Human woman gets captured and taken prisoner. Orc guy feels drawn to her, and frees her when she’s being given to someone and he can’t stand the idea of what’s going to happen to her.

  The book is basically a series of chase sequences while the two characters fall in love despite the fact they “can’t possibly be together”, but it’s well done.

• [heterosexual] So I Married an Alien by Lyonne Riley Mail order alien husband. Alien guy applies to program just to get away from his horrible life. Human woman applies because she’s tired of being lonely. They fall in love, complications ensue when she discovers why he left his home and has trouble believing he really cared.

  Good, not great.

• [heterosexual] Healing the Orc’s Heart by Lyonne Riley

  Healing the Orc’s Heart is a super steamy, hurt/comfort monster romance novella that takes place during a war between humans and trollkin, so it contains wartime themes. It features size difference, language barrier, a soft, big-hearted healer FMC, and a grumpy orc MMC.

  Pretty good.

• [sapphic] Fire and Ice by Jess Mahler

  A PI looking for a missing kid in a city of monsters is met with a fae challenge. If she wishes to find the boy, she must endure the touch of fire and ice…

  An F/f short story featuring temperature play and a prejudiced woman learning to do better.

  It’s well done, and I’d love to see more about the world but it’s basically just setup, one BDSM scene, the end.

• A Magical Girl Retires by Park Seolyeon & translated by Anton Hur My first thought was “this sounds like it’s translated”. Then I found out it was translated. The translation feels accurate, but a little… off. Not enough to hurt the reading, but it doesn’t flow as well as the translations of Banana Yoshimoto’s books.

  That being said, I don’t understand why this book exists. Girl’s about to commit suicide, is stopped by a Magical Girl, and told she’s a magical girl too. Gets her Magical Girl powers, discovers they’re interesting but come with a huge cost. Almost immediately a villain is introduced, they try and kill all the magical girls, her powers save the day, and because of the presence of many other magical girls the cost is spread. She retires. The end.

  It’s like one of those stories a small child tells you that kind-of rambles and you’re not sure what the point is, but fortunately it ends quickly.

• [enbian][nonbinary] Emerald Moon: Nonbinary Werewolf Romance by Mel E Lemon

  Jo is struggling — struggling to control their wolf, deal with their family, manage their bipolar disorder, and make macarons perfect enough to sell at their pack’s bakery. So when it’s time to go to their sister’s wedding, who better to bring to help them get through it than their new friend Cass that they may have almost kissed? But fake dating isn’t as simple as it is in the stories Jo reads. Will family tensions and confusing feelings about Cass be a recipe for disaster? Or will Jo figure out a recipe for a new romance?

  I was looking forward to this, and reread Violet Moon in advance to refresh my memory of Jo and some of the other characters. Jo deals with a lot of self-confidence issues, but I feel that it’s handled realistically and well.

• [sapphic?] Off The Beaten Path by Sienna Eggler

  Fresh out of college, Meike boarded a train for their new destination: volunteering on a small farm. Aside from dorming, it was the first time they’ve been miles away from home, and were looking forward to expanding their horizons and padding out their resume. Unfortunately for Meike, their train took a drastic detour, leaving them and a fellow passenger stranded in the world of Glasend.

  With nowhere to go but forward, Meike is determined to utilize their knowledge of botany, and eke out a living as an herbalist. Along the way, they encounter a colorful cast of characters, study magic, and tame wild beasts and monsters.

  Off The Beaten Path is a queer portal fantasy, and part of an ongoing web serial.

  It’s well written. The world they end up in is interested, but I lost interest in the story itself after a little while. I’m not sure what form the “queer” part of this takes. There was no romance even hinted at in the parts I got through.

  I’m sure this book will work for some people, but not for me.

• 🌟 [nonbinary][aromantic] Early Adopter by Sienna Eggler

  Aided by their cybernetic eyes, private investigator Ryn Casler makes a living busting cheating spouses. While they’ll occasionally dabble in fraud and other typical cases, they don’t deal with the missing.

  Until the persistent Shae Winters, a police detective, approaches them about the disappearance of a young Black woman.

  Friction flies between detective and PI, as Shae insists on tagging along during the investigation. But as their search deepens and spills into the world of furry body mods, it becomes clear there’s more to this case than meets the eye.

  Set in a near future where body-mods are common and black market surgeons can make you into the anthropomorphic animal of your dreams, Ryn is a non-binary, aromantic PI.

  Sienna is a master at writing compelling characters who are - I suspect - difficult for most people to relate to. As a person who loves being in love I found it difficult to relate to the fact that Ryn is aromantic. My brain kept expecting it to be revealed that they just have a tough emotional exterior, and that they’d eventually open up to Shae romantically, but no Ryn’s just aromantic.

  I don’t think that it’s ever mentioned that Ryn is aromantic, much like we don’t mention that we’re breathing mostly nitrogen. It’s just a thing that’s part of Ryn’s existing. I loved Ryn’s casual acceptance of sex work and sex workers. I loved the way they respects the wishes of the person they’re hired to find, and won’t reveal how to find her unless she says it’s ok.

  I love the setting. I love the obvious trans allegory that furry people exist, and are fetishized, but also shunned and not accepted by much of society because of their choice to live as the person they see themselves as. I love that they have to go through black market surgery to have the body they feel is right for them.

  I love all the characters, even the gross ones.

  I can’t wait to read the sequel.

• 🌟 [lesbian] Enemies by Nature, Shifting Nature, and Nature of Trust by Jae

  Faith is the daughter of the vocal leader of a major anti-shifter hate group. The shifter council proposes a fake relationship between her and a fox shifter named Tala because they have good reason to believe it will help them in the end. Faith’s dad encourages her to go along with it in order to spy on the shifters and reveal their evil plan.

  This is a story of overcoming internalized bigotry and learning to see an individual, and a people for who they really are. Faith learns to trust, and love Tala as well as their family, even though some members of that extended family hate Faith - and humans - just as badly as Faith’s father hates shifters.

  There are a lot of ways Jae could have fucked this up, but I was really pleased with how well they introduced, and navigated the complications of the world and the character’s relationships.

• 🌟 [sapphic][transgender] Pack of Her Own by Elena Abbott

  Natalie Donovan jumps at a friend’s offer to stay in the family cabin for a month—she desperately needs the chance to get away from, and get over, her messy breakup. She doesn’t count on the owner of the local diner making her heart pound and her body desperate to be touched.

  Wren Carne is a lone wolf. As an Alpha shifter, she has no pack and maintains her territory without causing drama, just the way she likes it. When she checks on the girl staying in a local cabin, she’s not expecting her wolf to identify the human as her One True Mate.

  As fallout from their pasts encroaches upon the sleepy town of Terabend, Wren must decide if she wants a pack of her own, while Natalie worries that her secret—she’s transgender—might be too much for Wren.

  While I’m not a huge fan of the “fated mate” trope, I really liked this story. It’s atypically well written and edited. The fact that Natalie is trans is only notable in that she’s scared that Wren won’t accept her when she finds out.

  I only have two complaints. The first is that there’s a major complication introduced that hurts both of them and could have been avoided entirely by simply fucking talking to the person. I have difficulty putting up with that bullshit.

When Natalie's transness is inevitably revealed to Wren, Wren comments that she knew all along because she could smell the difference. I have two problems with this. First, your smell is based on hormones - trust me on this - and she wouldn't be able to smell the difference if the person had been on hormones for years. Second, introducing this concept unnecessarily invalidates the idea that trans women are women by sticking a fucking asterisk on it. The author is trans, and I don't think either of these slights was intentional, or that she even thought much about the implications, so I'm willing to give her a pass on it, but both things still bothered me.

• 🌟 [sapphic][nonbinary] Mate of her Own by Elana Abbot

  Heather McKenna has no idea how to be a werewolf. Her wolf might be free from its cursed cage but has shut the door between the two of them, leaving Heather still reeling from the emptiness. When Heather discovers her mother is in the hospital, she is certain that closure from the person who cursed her in the first place will settle her wolf’s grudge and is quick to pack a bag.

  V Raines sees the problems with werewolf society all around them. Despite being a nonbinary outcast in their own pack, they still have the responsibilities of being the Alpha’s only child. When their father attempts to pair them off with a dominant male pack member, V is all but ready to abandon their pack.

  When V is called to the hospital to take care of a possible rogue shifter, they aren’t ready for the consequences of finding their true mate in Heather. V’s all in as Heather worries she’s not wolf enough to stand between V’s intense pack and her true mate. Fate just made their lives a lot more difficult.

  A good sequel to Pack of her Own, and just as well written. Heather has no self-confidence (for good reason) and is constantly self-sabotaging. Normally this is hard to read, but Elena confronted it up front by having Wren - from the prior book - explicitly state that Heather tended to do that, and that it was a problem. That, plus the way the author handled everything else made me keep reading despite Heather’s constantly pushing away anything good in her life because she can’t believe it’s real or that she deserves it.

  V’s a great character, and the fact that their non-binary is a well handled plot point.

  The “fated mate” aspect of it is what sets things in motion between V and Heather but I’m still not a fan of the trope. It makes things feel less earned - at least early on - and like the people involved don’t really have say in the matter.

  Content warning: threats of rape, and refusal to accept that V’s non-binary.

• [sapphic] Her [adjective] Dragon Mate - Crescent Lake Shifters series by Arizona Tape A 10 book series of “fated mate” novellas. The core premise is that most dragons will never feel fulfilled in their relationship unless it’s with their fated mate. Dragonkin - humans who are the progeny of dragons ? I think ? - can be happy with or without their fated mate. If a dragon and their mate jump into a specific lake at a specific time of the month, the dragon’s unique mark will appear on the mate’s skin by the next morning.

  Overall they’re a quick enjoyable read, although they really need a copy editor. Each one starting with two people who - for a different reason each time - aren’t together start to fall for each other, and eventually discover they’re fated mates. After that you get two quick chapters of “happily ever after” and it ends.

  I wasn’t a fan of how everything seemed to just cut off and end the moment the characters discover they are fated mates.

  Title adjectives are: rival, festive, fake, summer, sporty…

  She has another series about bear shifters who have the same fated mate + magic lake ritual theme.

• Hallow’s Cove series A six book series, each by a different author. They all take place in the same quiet little town mostly populated by “monsters”. All of the stories involve a human woman finding their fated mate with a monster - or two in the case of Wolves & Whipped Cream. All well written and edited,

  • [heterosexual] Vacationing with the Vampire in Hallow’s Cove by Lyonne Riley City programmer / gamer girl escapes work for a month and starts to fall for her closed off vampire who happens to own the AirBnB she’s staying in, and the bookstore downstairs.
  • [heterosexual][furry] Going Au Naturale at Hallow’s Cove by L.E. Elridge City girl falls for farmer boy who happens to be a fawn.
  • [heterosexual] Love is Trash in Hallow’s Cove Two extremely neurodivergent people find each other and realize that the other person is just as “weird” as they are and willing to accept them with all their strangeness. One of them happens to be a racoon shifter.
  • [heterosexual] Gaming with the Gargoyle in Hallow’s Cove He doesn’t tell her he loves her until it’s too late, then he gets a chance, but things are complicated.
  • [polyamorous][bisexual][furry] Wolves and Whipped Cream at Hallow’s Cove A good story but too much hierarchical Omegaverse stuff for me when it comes to the sex scenes.
  • [heterosexual][furry] Screwed by the Minotaur in Hallow’s Cove Average sized human woman meets giant minotaur. They proceed to have lots of sex and fall in love, but mostly they have sex.