Lesbian fiction Archives - Page 2 of 13

sapphic books out of your reading comfort zone

Sapphic book that is out of your comfort zone (Sapphic Book Bingo #10)

July 20, 2022May 12, 2022

For this week’s Sapphic Book Bingo category, read a sapphic book that is a bit—or a lot—out of your reading comfort zone.

It can be a genre or subgenre you don’t usually read, a trope or topic you normally avoid, or a format you don’t usually read. If you stick to reading novels most of the time, you could try a short story, a biography/memoir, poetry, nonfiction, or a graphic novel. If you normally read ebooks, you could read a paperback or try an audiobook. If you mostly read contemporary romances, you could try a historical romance, a paranormal romance, a mystery, or book of another genre.

If there’s a certain point of view that you usually avoid, you could search out a book written from that point of view for this category–that’s what I might be doing.

Below, I’ll give you some resources and suggestions.

Sapphic books – author’s pick (Sapphic Book Bingo #5)

March 6, 2023March 3, 2022

This week’s Sapphic Book Bingo post features a special category: author’s picks.

For this category, choose an author and have them suggest one of their books to you to read.

You can either email the author of your choice and ask for their pick, or you can choose a book from the list of 185 authors I asked for you. You’ll find the list below.

Award-winning sapphic book (Sapphic Book Bingo #2)

August 21, 2022January 20, 2022

This week’s Sapphic Book Bingo post features the “award-winning sapphic book” category. Read a sapphic book that won a literary award. It doesn’t matter which award the book won, when, or in which category. It could be an award for LGBT+ literature or a mainstream award.

For awards celebrating LGBTQ books, check out the Golden Crown Literary Society Award (affectionately called “Goldie”), the Lambda Literary Award (“Lammy”), or the Rainbow Awards.

Sapphic book that is part of a series (Sapphic Reading Challenge #43)

March 6, 2023November 4, 2021

For this week’s Sapphic Reading Challenge, pick a sapphic book that is part of a series.

It doesn’t have to be book 1; it can be a book later in the series.

Some series have the same main characters in each book, while others are more loosely connected and feature a different protagonist in every book.

Most series will have the same author, but there are a few series that are a collaboration of different authors, e.g., Ylva Publishing’s Superheroine Collection or The Village Romance Series by T.B. Markinson, Clare Lydon & Harper Bliss.

Some books aren’t even marketed as a series, even though they clearly are, e.g., my novels Just for Show and The Roommate Arrangement. When in doubt, contact the author and ask if the books are considered a series or not.

Books set in a country you don’t live in (Sapphic Reading Challenge #42)

March 6, 2023October 28, 2021

This week’s Sapphic Reading Challenge features sapphic books set in a country you don’t live in.

One of the great things about books is that they allow you to “visit” new places, even during a time when you might not be able to travel. For this category, choose a sapphic book that takes place in a country that you don’t currently live in. Depending on where you live, that could mean a book set in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, etc. Maybe pick a book set in a place that you’d like to visit or one that takes place in a country you don’t know much about.

Mistaken identity in a sapphic book (Sapphic Reading Challenge #41)

August 21, 2022October 21, 2021

This week’s Sapphic Reading Challenge features sapphic books with a mistaken identity theme.

A character is mistaken for someone else for at least a part of the book. Usually, it’s misunderstanding (or at least it starts out that way), rather than one character intentionally lying or disguising herself. The misunderstanding can be cleared up quickly or the other character can play along and start pretending to be someone she isn’t, but the situation didn’t start out as an intentional disguise.

Sapphic body-positive books (Sapphic Reading Challenge #32)

August 21, 2022August 19, 2021

This week’s Sapphic Reading Challenge category features body-positive books that celebrate women of all sizes and shapes, e.g., a plus-sized protagonist.

The romance novel industry has a reputation for abiding by Hollywood’s standard of beauty. It’s rare to find plus-size characters in f/f romance novels (or any romance, for that matter). Most of the main characters are portrayed as slim, with perfectly sized breasts, and if they are a bit chubby, their goal in the story is probably to lose weight.

So let’s break with that tradition and search out diversity when it comes to how the main characters look.

By the way, body positivity includes not just fat or plus-sized characters; it also refers to characters who are skinny or flat-chested such as Eliza from Wrong Number, Right Woman or who otherwise deviate from society’s beauty standards.

I hope that going forward, there’ll be more body positivity in romance novels and that women of all shapes and sizes will find themselves represented in a positive way.

Book starts with the first day of a new job (Sapphic Reading Challenge #29)

July 29, 2021

This week’s Sapphic Reading Challenge features sapphic books that start with the first day of a new job.

For the book to count for this category, pick a novel in which the main character starts a new job in the first three chapters.

Character rocks a power suit (Sapphic Reading Challenge #28)

March 6, 2023July 22, 2021

This week’s Sapphic Reading Challenge features books with a main character who rocks a power suit.

Nowadays, women’s business attire is a little more casual and leaves room for individuality, but if the main character works in certain professions–as a lawyer, CEO, executive, or politician, for example–she might still be regularly seen wearing a pantsuit or a skirt suit, looking self-assured and in control.

Shy or socially awkward character (Sapphic Reading Challenge #27)

July 15, 2021July 15, 2021

This week’s Sapphic Reading Challenge post features sapphic books with a shy or socially awkward character.

Note: Being shy isn’t the same as being introverted, although there might be some overlap. Introverted characters (and people) can be very confident…or they can by shy or uncomfortable in social situations.