Sapphic Slow-burn romances
This week’s Sapphic Reading Challenge features characters who love books.
Most of them work with books for a living. They are writers, librarians, book editors, cover designers, audiobook narrators, bookstore owners/employees, comic book artists, literary agents, translators, book bloggers, reviewers, or avid readers.
It’s time for another Book Unicorn post of the Sapphic Reading Challenge. This one features sapphic time travel books.
I don’t know about you, but I love books in which the protagonist travels into the past or the future, especially if you combine it with a romance to come up with a timeless love story!
This week’s Sapphic Reading Challenge category features a trope that seems to be quite popular in women-loving women romance. I call it the “only one bed” trope. It includes two characters who are not (yet) a couple having to share the only available bed.
Usually, that leads to hilarious situations: one character clinging to the edge of the bed so she won’t give away her attraction, or they wake up in the middle of the night, cuddled up to each other. And sometimes, a whole lot more than cuddling happens.
The third category of the Sapphic Reading Challenge is a theme that I see a lot, especially in WLW & lesbian romance: books in which the protagonist returns to her hometown after years away.
Maybe it’s the fact that many queer people have to leave their hometown to be able to be their authentic selves and then have to face their past sooner or later—families that might not have reacted too well to their coming out or a first crush they left behind.
It’s time for the second category of the Sapphic Reading Challenge. This one features sapphic books with main characters who have an everyday job.
As you probably know, a lot of books—especially in WLW and lesbian romance—feature characters who are actresses, famous musicians, surgeons, or CEOs of big companies. That’s why I’d like to spotlight protagonists who don’t have glamorous jobs. Instead, they make a living as a waitress, cashier, mechanic, massage therapist, or work in another everyday job.
For the first Book Unicorn category, I’d like you to read a book about two butch women falling in love or being in an established relationship with each other.
For the unlikely case that you aren’t sure what being butch means: Stonewall defines it this way: “Traditionally, in lesbian culture, the word ‘butch’ refers to a woman whose gender expression and traits present as typically ‘masculine’.”
When I put together a list of books about a butch/butch couple, I was amazed about how few there are! I think this is pretty much the only category for which I didn’t manage to find 15 books. So if you know of any others, please leave a comment with the title and author, and I’ll add the book to the list.