Five for Friday: F/F Romance

...yes, I know it's Sunday, not Friday. No, I don't care. Just this once.

I'm starting this series, hopefully to be posted roughly every Friday, in which I rec five favourites of a particular genre. I say five but, knowing me, at some point I'll end up recommending more than that because I just won't be able to choose. This is mostly an attempt to get more things going on this blog and I have some rec lists stored up, but if there's any recs you want to see in particular, let me know!

Anyway. We're kicking things off with five f/f romances (or rather 10, because I'm splitting it into 5 YA recs and 5 NA recs). Five of each, mostly because I can, but also because it's the first one in this series and I'm excited.

YOUNG ADULT

Dating Sarah Cooper by Siera Maley

Rating: 5 stars
Content Warnings: homophobia, biphobia

Synopsis: Katie Hammontree and Sarah Cooper have been best friends since the 2nd grade. Katie's welcoming, tight-knit family is a convenient substitute for Sarah when her distant parents aren't around, and Sarah's abrasive, goal-oriented personality gels well with Katie's more laid-back approach to life.

But when a misunderstanding leads to the two of them being mistaken for a couple and Sarah uses the situation to her advantage, Katie finds herself on a roller coaster ride of ambiguous sexuality and confusing feelings. How far will Sarah go to keep up the charade, and why does kissing her make Katie feel more alive than kissing her ex-boyfriend Austin ever did? And how will their new circle of gay friends react when the truth comes out?

Comments: Oh MAN, fake dating is an amazing trope, and this book does that combination of faking dating and friends to lovers just right. If you ever saw the TV show Faking It, this is very similar to that, but does everything about it better.

Prom and Other Hazards by Jamie Sullivan

Rating: 5 stars

Synopsis: Frankly, prom is a ridiculous concept. People at school treat it like its a test run for a wedding, complete with ‘promposals’. That’s not even mentioning the dresses, which look like Disney vomited tulle and sparkles onto the nearest mannequin. Sam wants nothing to do with it.

Except for the tiny fact that she’s been in love with her best friend Tash since they were ten years old, and Tash dreams of a perfect, romantic prom. Sam had given up hope, until she spotted The Suit in a shop window. Sleek, androgynous, and flat out cool—but also way out of Sam's price range.

But if she can earn the money for the suit, then surely the suit is all she needs to finally admit how she feels and see they both enjoy the perfect prom.

Comments: All good friends to lovers needs plenty of pining, and believing the feelings are unrequited, and this book, for only being 40 pages, manages to get the perfect amount in. It also has pretty much the cutest confession scene ever.

Dirty London by Kelley York

Rating: 4 stars
Content Warnings: homophobia

Synopsis: All London Noble wanted out of her senior year of high school was anonymity. The complete opposite of Jasmine, her emotionally unstable baby sister, London has worked hard to stay out of the spotlight.

Then she discovers that Wade, one of the most popular guys in school, is gay like her and their new-found closeness based around their shared secret has half the student body convinced they're hooking up...and a lot of girls aren't happy about it. Now she's been dubbed "Dirty London." Rumors are flying about her inability to keep her clothes on, and London is pretty sure she's developing a crush on the one girl who sees through it all.

If she could admit why stealing boyfriends is the last thing on her mind—not to mention find out what's going on with Jasmine and her rapidly disappearing psych medications—her life would be a much brighter place. But if her and Wade's truth gets out, and if she doesn't find a way to help her sister, London faces losing a lot more than her obscurity.

Comments: Another fake dating one, but with a twist. Wade and London's friendship just killed me, and this one also has a side friends to lovers plot going on.

Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour

Rating: 4 stars

Synopsis: A wunderkind young set designer, Emi has already started to find her way in the competitive Hollywood film world.

Emi is a film buff and a true romantic, but her real-life relationships are a mess. She has desperately gone back to the same girl too many times to mention. But then a mysterious letter from a silver screen legend leads Emi to Ava. Ava is unlike anyone Emi has ever met. She has a tumultuous, not-so-glamorous past, and lives an unconventional life. She’s enigmatic…. She’s beautiful. And she is about to expand Emi’s understanding of family, acceptance, and true romance.

Comments: I'm fairly sure this was one of the first f/f books I read, and it's probably one of the cutest too. I just love the romance in this as well as Nina LaCour's writing.

How to Make a Wish by Ashley Herring Blake

Rating: 4 stars
Content Warnings: child emotional abuse

Synopsis: All seventeen year-old Grace Glasser wants is her own life. A normal life in which she sleeps in the same bed for longer than three months and doesn't have to scrounge for spare change to make sure the electric bill is paid. Emotionally trapped by her unreliable mother, Maggie, and the tiny cape on which she lives, she focuses on her best friend, her upcoming audition for a top music school in New York, and surviving Maggie’s latest boyfriend—who happens to be Grace’s own ex-boyfriend’s father.

Her attempts to lay low until she graduates are disrupted when she meets Eva, a girl with her own share of ghosts she’s trying to outrun. Grief-stricken and lonely, Eva pulls Grace into midnight adventures and feelings Grace never planned on. When Eva tells Grace she likes girls, both of their worlds open up. But, united by loss, Eva also shares a connection with Maggie. As Grace's mother spirals downward, both girls must figure out how to love and how to move on.

Comments: This one will make you cry, and I don't say that lightly. Just make sure you have tissues with you because it's a hard hitter. But it also has the softest relationship so...

NEW ADULT

Far From Home by Lorelie Brown

Rating: 4 stars
Content Warnings: eating disorder

Synopsis: My name is Rachel. I’m straight . . . I think. I also have a mountain of student loans and a smart mouth. I wasn’t serious when I told Pari Sadashiv I’d marry her. It was only party banter! Except Pari needs a green card, and she’s willing to give me a breather from drowning in debt.

My off-the-cuff idea might not be so terrible. We get along as friends. She’s really romantically cautious, which I find heartbreaking. She deserves someone to laugh with. She’s kind. And calm. And gorgeous. A couple of years with her actually sounds pretty good. If some of Pari’s kindness and calmness rubs off on me, that’d be a bonus, because I’m a mess -- anorexia is not a pretty word -- and my little ways of keeping control of myself, of the world, aren’t working anymore.

And, if I slip up, Pari will see my cracks. Then I’ll crack. Which means I gotta get out, quick, before I fall in love with my wife.

Comments: Oh god, the slowburn in this is good. And Pari and Rachel have the cutest relationship. Plus, the angst in this isn't relationship angst, which is a bonus.

Storm Season by Pene Henson

Rating: 4 stars

Synopsis: The great outdoors isn’t so great for Sydney It-Girl Lien Hong. It’s too dark, too quiet, and there are spiders in the toilet of the cabin she is sharing with friends on the way to a New South Wales music festival. To make matters worse, she’s been separated from her companions and taken a bad fall. With a storm approaching, her rescue comes in the form of a striking wilderness ranger named Claudia Sokolov, whose isolated cabin, soulful voice and collection of guitars bely a complicated history. While they wait out the weather, the women find an undeniable connection—one that puts them both on new trajectories that last long after the storm has cleared.

Comments: Really, Pene Henson is one of my favourite NA authors, and this book is so good. It's perhaps a little instalove-y, but I can forgive that given how much I enjoyed it otherwise.

That Could Be Enough by Alyssa Cole

Rating: 4 stars
Content Warnings: mentions of period typical racism, homophobia

Synopsis: Mercy Alston knows the best thing to do with pesky feelings like "love" and "hope": avoid them at all cost. Serving as a maid to Eliza Hamilton, and an assistant in the woman's stubborn desire to preserve her late husband's legacy, has driven that point home for Mercy—as have her own previous heartbreaks.

When Andromeda Stiel shows up at Hamilton Grange for an interview in her grandfather's stead, Mercy's resolution to live a quiet, pain-free life is tested by the beautiful, flirtatious, and entirely overwhelming dressmaker.

Andromeda has staid Mercy reconsidering her worldview, but neither is prepared for love—or for what happens when it's not enough.

Comments: When authors of m/f romances you really liked make that cross into writing LGBT romances. Alyssa Cole writes really well, and does the buildup to a relationship to perfection.

The Love Song of Sawyer Bell by Avon Gale

Rating: 4 stars

Synopsis: Victoria “Vix” Vincent has only two weeks to find a replacement fiddle player for her band’s summer tour. When classically trained violinist Sawyer Bell shows up for an audition, Vix is thrilled. Sawyer is talented, gorgeous, funny, and excited about playing indie rock instead of Beethoven. Their friendship soon blossoms into romance, even though Vix tries to remember that Sawyer’s presence is only temporary.

Sawyer’s parents think she’s spending the summer months touring Europe with a chamber ensemble. But Sawyer is in dire need of a break from the competitiveness of Juilliard, and desperately wants to rediscover her love of music. Going on tour with her secret high school crush is just an added bonus. Especially when Vix kisses her one night after a show, and they discover that the stage isn’t the only place they have chemistry.

But the tour won’t last forever, and as the summer winds down, Sawyer has to make a tough decision about her future—and what it means to follow her heart.

Comments: Friends with benefits to lovers isn't my favourite trope, I'll not lie, mostly because authors tend to throw away the pining and relationship development in favour of more sex scenes, but Avon Gale does it really well in this.

Lies and Reverie by Camilla Quinn

Rating: 4 stars
Content Warnings: mentions of period typical homophobia

Synopsis: Liddy spends the majority of her life minding her father's shop and trying to keep her sister, Caroline, out of trouble. What little time she has to herself is spent largely in daydreams about kissing beautiful princesses.

Then her sister catches the eye of a nobleman, and the sisters are thrust directly into the tangled world of upper class society. Liddy crosses paths with the beautiful, compelling Lady Sophia Sinclair, the most powerful woman in Dunnshire.

But what chance would a poor shop girl ever have with a real life princess?

Comments: Period romances with LGBT characters? That's my shit. I only wish this one had been longer, but for a short story, the romance is fairly well developed.

Review - "The Poppy War"

The Poppy War, The Poppy War #1
by R. F. Kuang
rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
published: 3rd May 2018
spoilers? no

Goodreads

She was no victim of destiny. She was the last Speerly, commander of the Cike, and a shaman who called the gods to do her bidding.

And she would call the gods to do such terrible things.

Galley provided by publisher

TW: graphic descriptions of rape, violence, gore, torture; self harm; substance abuse; war related violence and gore (descriptions of desecrated corpses in particular)

You know those books where you finish them and you're absolutely speechless, like gobsmacked speechless (in a good way)? This is one of those. So, apologies if parts of this review are an incoherent mess. That's just what this book has made me.

The Poppy War tells the story of Rin, an orphan living in the Rooster Province, who shocks everyone when she comes first in her district in the Keju, a test to find the best and brightest to send to the Academies of the Empire. Rin ends up at Sinegard, an elite military school, where she discovers she possesses a talent for shamanism.

First off, this book is intense. And it only gets more so as you read along. Part one follows Rin from taking the test to the start of the war between the Federation and Nikara. One thing I really liked about this was that, while she was at school, and initially there were some detailed descriptions of lessons to set the scene, it wasn't like a lot of first books in series where not a lot happens until right at the end. The first part was gripping and moved quickly too. Based on the first part alone, I'd have probably rated this 4 stars. But then part two happened. Part two ups the ante considerably. Suddenly, they're at war, and it's brutal, and you think this book cannot possibly get more intense than this. But it does. It got so intense I needed to take a break just to calm down. It got so intense I am absolutely terrified at the thought of how the second book is going to go. Especially given that ending.

If the best thing about this book was the plot, then the characters and relationships came in close second. There's an excellent enemies to friends (to lovers? I can live in hope) relationship as well as a wonderful found family, some of whose scenes had me laughing out loud. I really don't know how to describe how I felt about all the characters, because I loved each and every one of them (or at least, each and every one of the ones I was supposed to, and the ones who grew on me). The characters in this book, particularly Rin, Kitay, Chaghan and Nezha, are probably some of my favourites I've read this year.

The one teeny tiny problem I had with this book (and it's a problem that's personal more than anything) was that occasionally the writing seemed a little clunky, particularly in the lulls between action scenes, and some things felt a little underdeveloped, like Nezha's character development (but that's probably because it mostly happened off page). But like I said, it's more personal feelings than anything major, and likely it's just because this is a debut. Anyway, the intensity of the plot more than made up for it.

Review - "Valley Girls"

Valley Girls
by Sarah Nicole Lemon
rating: ☆☆☆ 1/2
published: 3rd May 2018
spoilers? some

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

On the basis of Done Dirt Cheap, I kind of expected more of this book. That's not to say it wasn't good, or that my current fantasy/historical kick isn't behind why I didn't enjoy it as much, but it definitely contributed.

Valley Girls tells the story of Rilla Skidmore, who's sent by her mother to live with her half-sister Thea in Yosemite, after a big fight with her boyfriend. There, she falls in with a group of climbers, including Walker, the apparently gorgeous (seriously, every time Walker's name gets mentioned, you get a sentence, minimum, about how gorgeous he is) Search and Rescue worker. Most of the story revolves around the fact that Rilla wants to reinvent herself to all these new people she's met, and plans on doing so through climbing, specifically through climbing El Capitan, a 3000ft vertical rock formation.

One of my favourite things about Sarah Nicole Lemon's debut was the friendship between the two girls. While this book did have some great girl friendships, it never quite reached the level that Done Dirt Cheap did. And while the sibling conflict occasionally verged on coming to a head and being fully resolved, it never entirely managed it. Instead, it felt somewhat sidelined compared to the romance particularly, and was one of two plotpoints that seemed like it was left hanging. Similarly, there was conflict between Thea and another Ranger in competition for the same job that appeared to also go unresolved.

In contrast, Sarah Nicole Lemon's romances are one of my least favourite things about her books. They're well-written and for the most part well-developed, but they're always between an 18 or so aged girl (17 to start off with in this book) and a 20 something year old boy (20 in this book, so I'll grant you it's better than the 18 and 28 I dealt with in her other book). I mean, what's authors' problems with romances between people of the same age, especially when one of them isn't even legally an adult yet? It just makes me uncomfortable, no matter how much I like how the characters are individually written, and however well the romance is written, because the fact still remains the relationship is imbalanced. At least in this book they didn't stay together.

I think most of what made me not like this so much was the fact that all I want to read right now is fantasy or historical books, so I almost had to force myself through this one. It was one of those where once I got into it it was fine, but finding the motivation to pick it up and get into it was another matter.

Review - "The Art of Escaping"

The Art of Escaping
by Erin Callahan
rating: ☆☆
published: 19th June 2018
spoilers? yeah, some

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

Perhaps the reason that this book disappointed me so much was that I was expecting it to be wlw. But it wasn't. And instead, I got a cishet character who kept implying that keeping a secret about escapology was in any way comparable to being in the closet. But I should back up a little.

The Art of Escaping tells the story of Mattie, who is obsessed with old escapologists such as Harry Houdini and Dorothy Dietrich. Living in the same town as Mattie is Miyu, the daugther of an escapologist herself, and Mattie decides that she's going to get Miyu to teach her escapology. She also decides that this is a deep dark secret which no one must find out about. (Yeah, this bit lost me too. Because what exactly are going to be the repercussions of doing escapology? Are you going to be ostracised from your family and friends? Is anyone really going to give a monkey's? Probably not.) One night, she's performing, and sees Will, a schoolmate, in the audience. And this is the bit that annoyed me. They swap secrets in some kind of "mutually assured destruction" deal. Mattie's secret is that she does escapology. Will's secret is that he's gay. And to be blunt: these are not nearly comparable. In no way does keeping a secret about escapology measure up to keeping a secret about your sexuality. Like I said earlier, is someone finding out you do escapology possibly going to result in ostracisation, some form of abuse, or whatever else you might think of? No. It's not. So reading a book that for 81% (I counted) implied that they were comparable was a bit of a slap in the face. And I know that, yeah, she has an epiphany late on that perhaps Will's secret is a little bigger than hers, but I really didn't have the patience for it given I'd had to read almost all the book with her blandly asserting that this wasn't the case, that they were comparable.

Besides all that, there were other aspects which annoyed me. (One note: I can't work out if I was annoyed by these things because the whole "comparing escapology to being in the closet" riled me up That Much, or if these were genuinely annoying things, so. There's that.) Firstly, Mattie gives off distinct "not like other girls" vibes, despite not actually saying those words aloud, and she's fairly sanctimonious about those "other girls". Secondly, everyone in this book goddamn whines. I swear to god, every other speaking verb was whined and it made me so frustrated. If I could be bothered, I would count the number of times each character was described as having whined, but Mattie was by far the worst of them. Just please, find some synonyms or something. Or just use said. No one notices if you overuse said.

The final points are mostly surrounding Will (my favourite character, it was an absolute travesty that he only got one chapter for every four or five Mattie got). Mainly, I am so tired of having high school age gay characters in a relationship with college age characters. I know Will was 18, but he was only just 18, and an 18 year old with a 21 year old? Makes me fairly uncomfortable. I'm 21 and I wouldn't even consider 18 year olds, that's just creepy. There's also a comment that Will makes at one point about someone being "an easily identifiable member of team-QUILTBAG". Firstly, what is people's problem with avoiding LGBT as a descriptor? Why am I having to read ""QUILTBAG"" in an actual published book? Secondly, way to stereotype I guess. An "easily identifiable member". What makes them "easily identifiable"? Because unless they're wearing a gay pride flag or holding hands or something, seems to me that means there's stereotyping going on.

Finally, there's a comment that Mattie makes within the first couple of chapters, when the guidance counsellor is asking her about joining school societies.

"Gay Straight Alliance?" "I'm apolitical."

Nice to know that LGBT people's existence is still considered political in 2018, I guess.

At least Will wasn't outed for the angst though, right?

Review - "Barbed Wire Heart"

Barbed Wire Heart
by Tess Sharpe
rating: ☆☆☆☆
published: 6th March 2018
spoilers? no

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

Barbed Wire Heart is the story of Harper McKenna, the daughter of the most powerful criminal in North County. Her father's biggest rival, Carl Springfield, is starting to make moves against them, specifically with an eye on Harper herself, and if she wants to avoid a bloody and violent turf war, she must stop him at any cost.

I don't know many authors better than Tess Sharpe at writing compelling mystery thrillers. There's something about the way she writes that just keeps you on the edge of your seat, completely hooked from start to finish. She did it with Far From You and she's done it again in Barbed Wire Heart. Not only that, she manages to make you feel hugely for the characters when they're in the midst of doing some brutal things. (I say characters, I mean the women. The men - minus Will - can pretty much all choke I don't care.)

And it is a very brutal book - within the first few chapters someone is tortured and then shot, but it's never graphic violence, or violence for the sake of violence. There are points to these scenes and a lot of it actually happens away from Harper's point of view. And it doesn't romanticise these gangs, like some books veer into on occasion. It sets it up so you're in full support of Harper's mission to dismantle the whole thing.

The best thing about this book is the women. How many thrillers do you read that have a woman as the main character, let alone a capable woman who'll do anything to protect the other women in her care? Normally, the only woman involved is the love interest/person to be saved from the bad guys, and they only end up tagging along and being generally useless, so to have Harper as the main character was hugely refreshing. I think I'm going to be spoiled for thrillers from now on.

(A full list of trigger warnings for the book can be found here.)

Review - "The Belles"

The Belles, The Belles #1
by Dhonielle Clayton
rating: ☆
published: 6th February 2018
spoilers? big ones

Goodreads

Galley provided by publisher

I meant to wait a little while until I was less angry about this book, but I don't see that happening anytime soon, to be quite honest. Actually, scratch angry. I'm fucking furious. I have never been gladder to have been spoiled a character death in my life.

This book is bury your gays. There we go. I said it. It's bury your gays.

In this book, there are two (potentially three) sapphic characters. One of them is in love with one of her attendants but, this being an inadvisable and socially wrong match, nothing can happen between them. That's already a tragic gay story, so excuse me if I'm not sympathetic to anything more.

Unfortunately, a lot more happens. The princess (cruel, slightly unstable, generally just horrible and sadistic) decides that Claudine has to marry a man. And this man is a gross attempted rapist. So that's bad enough. And great, we get to see (once again) that the princess is horrible and cruel and should not be allowed to rule.

But it doesn't stop there. Oh no. The princess decides that two Belles have to change Claudine's appearance, each three times, as a competition to find this gross fuck of a man's favourite look. And they push it so hard Claudine dies. There's plenty of comments earlier in the book about how painful the Belles' work is, so essentially Claudine is tortured to death. And this happens in front of everyone.

And the only point to this scene is so those Belles, Camille and Amber, can be accused of murder. That's it. It would have been so so so easy not to have had the character be Claudine, but no. Apparently, even in this fantasy universe, LGBT characters are not allowed anything near a happy ending. Instead, they get tortured to death for a cruel princess's power kick.

What we end up with is yet another gay character being murdered (1) for cishet pain, (2) to show how cruel the villain is (and note that she's already been shown to be cruel many times over), (3) for the tragedy, and (4) FOR NO FUCKING REASON.

I am so incredibly furious at this book. But I am also glad beyond belief that I went into the book having been spoiled for this character's death. Not how, but at least that it happens. Because it was fucking awful reading about it having known it was coming, I wouldn't wish anyone to read it without foreknowledge.

Besides that, I had some more mundane problems too. The plot was kind of boring for the best part of 450 pages. Honestly, if you're going to have a book that long, get things moving a bit quicker. There was the occasional hook to keep you interested, but I really just skimread most of it. Maybe it didn't help that I knew about the spoiler beforehand, but also I read one chapter and realised I didn't actually like the premise. So it wasn't an auspicious start. The writing was occasionally purple prosey, but overall pretty good. As for the characters, I only liked three of them and they hardly really appeared (and one of them died, so thanks for that).

All that might ordinarily have lead me to rate this book 2 stars, but then that happened and I was too angry to ever rate it higher than 1. Honestly, it doesn't even deserve that many.

Review - "More Than We Can Tell"

More Than We Can Tell
by Brigid Kemmerer
rating: ☆☆☆☆
published: 6th March 2018
spoilers? no

Goodreads

We all push sometimes, just to make sure someone is on the other side, pushing back.

Galley provided by publisher

Letters to the Lost was one of my favourite books in 2017, so when I heard there was going to be a sequel, it immediately shot to the top of my anticipated books list. This all sounds like I was hugely disappointed by this book, but I wasn't. I just didn't like it so much as the first one.

It had all the same elements as Letters to the Lost: amazing writing, angsty family relationships, Rev and Declan's friendship, and it almost made me ugly cry (Letters to the Lost actually did make me ugly cry though). But it was just missing something for me. I loved Rev, and I loved his family, and his friendship with Declan was definitely my favourite part of this book. I just didn't really like Emma all that much.

I couldn't really tell you what about her I disliked - all I know is that I found myself almost just wanting to get through her parts quickly so I could get back to Rev's. I think part of that was because she felt a little unsympathetic especially given how she treated Cait and, from time to time, her mother.

That being said, it was still a really good book, and there were scenes that had me almost crying. Admittedly, they were mostly Declan and Rev scenes, because that was about my favourite part of Letters to the Lost too. I was a little disappointed not to have enjoyed it as much as that, but I still really enjoyed it.