Featured Books

Melting the Ice: 5 Must-Read Sapphic Books with Ice Queens

October 5, 2023 By Anne Hagan

Behold the Ice Queen Banner

There’s something so appealing about the “ice queen” – that emotionally distant, mysterious female character who keeps others at arm’s length. In many sapphic stories, the ice queen slowly thaws out as another woman chips away at her frosty exterior. This popular romance trope features an initially cold heroine who gradually warms up to love through the persistence and charm of another character.

The appeal is obvious – who doesn’t love a challenge? The ice queen is unattainable, her heart locked away where no one can touch it. Her love interest must carefully navigate the labyrinth of her defenses, finding cracks in the armor and proving their worth. It’s immensely satisfying to watch the ice queen’s resistance slowly melt away as she lets her lover in. We get to experience the transformative power of love along with these characters.

Beyond the tantalizing romantic tension, ice queens are also intriguing characters in their own right. What made this woman so guarded and untouchable? Her backstory and inner complexity are slowly revealed, adding more dimension. Underneath that icy surface is a passionate heart longing for connection.

I know the title says I’ll highlight 5 unforgettable sapphic books featuring compelling ice queen archetypes, but there are so many great ones…and one amazing author of sapphic ice queens. You’re going to get some bonuses! You’ll find space necromancers, demon concubines, cyborg mechanics, uptight executives, a cellist/assassin and more. Join me as I explore these frigid but irresistible heroines and the women who inspire them to thaw!

Requiem for Immortals by Lee Winter – My personal favorite ice queen book of all time, and Lee Winter is my favorite author of books featuring sapphic ice queens. While debate rages (and rages and rages) online about which of her books is her best, you can’t go wrong with this award winning book featuring cellist and assassin Natalya/Requiem and her prey, Alison/the mouse. I’m a mystery/suspense writer and reader at heart. Romance comes second for me. This book absolutely has it all. The twists Lee Winter pulls off you’ll never see coming because you’ll miss clues, but oh how genius and satisfying the twists are. Lee Winter is the Queen of authors who pen books about sapphic ice queens. Pick up any one of her books. You won’t be disappointed.

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir – Necromancers in space! The icy Ninth House cavalier Gideon has great banter with the aloof Reverend Daughter Harrowhark. This is a slow, slow burn romance in a book that’s been a TikTok star for at least a couple of years, probably longer, but I didn’t start paying any attention to TikTok until sometime in 2021 when my (now) teenager wouldn’t shut up about wanting a phone so he could watch it. Published in 2019, it still rocks all the bestseller charts.

Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur – Uptight actuary Darcy meets free-spirited astrologer Elle. Opposites attract in this cute contemporary romance with a icy corporate woman. Also a multi-award winner including a Lambda Literary Award (Lammy). This particular book falls hard into the grumpy/sunshine trope. Too, if you love the ice queen character type (grumpy) pulled into a fake relationship trope, this is your book.

The Headmistress by Milena McKay – A chance encounter, an unforgettable night. Do yourself a huge favor and DON’T read the description of this multi-award winning novel. It’s not a fantasy about dragons, trust me. I couldn’t understand why everyone raved about it until it started winning awards and I ‘made’ myself read it. I’m so sorry I waited so long. None of Milena’s books are to be missed, but this one should be first on your list.

Queen Vs Queen Ice queens are not easy to write. All those rough edges… Can you imagine writing two of them facing off against each other? I did it along with my friends Barbara Winkes and Alysia D. Evans. We created an anthology of three full length novellas, each pairing two queens. You can read all about the making of Queen Vs. Queen here. The book is on sale all through October for only $.99 US/equivalent.

Enjoy your ice!

~Anne

Sapphic Led Families

June 7, 2023 By Anne Hagan

Saturday evening I had an online chat with Erin that started out being about the ultimate demise of Women and Words which I realized when I was looking for some inspiration for a sapphic literature blog topic that hadn’t been overdone. Our conversation veered off course as they sometimes do and ended up being about our children.

Sapphic Led Families Erin and her wife are moving their kids with them as they travel the world, schooling them with some lessons and lots of experiences as they go. You can read about the family and their travels on their blog, Wha From Home. Erin says their boys are working on some blog posts of their own for the family travel blog. I can’t wait to read those.

We also talked about the special needs and schooling of the three year old girl in the legal custody of my wife and I since her birth, and the general educational needs and issues with those of the three foster children ages 4, 8, and 13, that have been in our care long term (between two and four years).

Our chat gave me pause…and a blog topic; books about sapphic led families with children. There’s some non-fiction out there. Much of it is well rated, but a few years old or more. Fiction featuring sapphic’s with children is becoming a little more common, especially in the romance genre.

I’ve featured lots of kids in my books, including some kiddos who are the biological or adopted children of sapphic characters because my personal life revolves around family and children. I’d love to put more kids in the books, but I primarily write murder mysteries, so… Let’s just say, having foster kids and dealing with the multiple trauma’s they’ve endured, doesn’t make me want to write books about children in serious harms way.

Today, I’m focusing on books that are non-fiction because I think it’s important that we all see what sapphic led families face and how they cope. Don’t worry! It’s not all doom and gloom.

Memoirs of the Happy Lesbian Housewife by Lorraine Howell. Lorrain has actually written a two book series. Both books are quite funny and insightful. At this writing, this is the second book according to Amazon and their series numbering. It was actually the first book Lorraine published. She released it in 2014. The book she numbers as ‘2’ was published in 2022.

Available for $2.99 from Amazon and other major retailers.

###

She Looks Just Like You: A Memoir of (Nonbiological Lesbian) Motherhood by Amie Klempnaur Miller, published in 2010 by Penguin Random House.

After ten years of talking about children, two years of trying (and failing) to conceive, and one shot of donor sperm for her partner, Amie Miller was about to become a mother. Or something like that.

Some themes are dated here…some are decidedly not. This is available for $15.99 from Amazon and some other major retailers.

###

A Secret I Can’t Tell: The First Generation of Children from Openly Gay and Lesbian Homes by Joe Gantz

In 1977 a law was passed in Florida banning discrimination in housing, employment, and public accommodation based on sexuality. This law was an important step towards respecting gay and lesbian civil rights. However, immediately after it was passed, a group called Save Our Children vowed to overturn the law. This group stirred up so much fear regarding the idea of a gay role model, such as a teacher, interacting with children that the gay-rights ordinance was repealed.

In 1979 Joe Gantz decided to show more realistic and positive gay role models than the distorted images promoted by the campaign, by finding families raising children in openly gay homes and asking them to tell their story. A Secret I Can’t Tell follows five families raising children in homes where one or both parents were not hiding their homosexuality.

This book was first published in 1983. It was republished in 2022 by Joe Gantz with an update from many of the children 40 years later.

Anne’s Note: This book offers valuable insight into the past because now, in 2023, LGBT rights are regressing again across the US, and most notably in Florida where even speaking the word ‘gay’ is outlawed in elementary schools.

This is available for $9.99 from Amazon and other major retailers.

###

Zak’s Safari: A Story About Donor-Conceived Kids of Two-Mom Families by Christy Tyner, illustrated by Ciaee Ching.

When the rain foils Zak’s plan for a safari adventure, he invites the reader on a very special tour of his family instead. Zak shows us how his parents met, fell in love, and wanted more than anything to have a baby—so they decided to make one.

Recommended for children ages 4 to 8.

This is available for $2.99 from Amazon or free to read in Kindle Unlimited.

###

Pride and Joy: A guide for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans parents by Sarah Hagger-Holt and Rachel Hagger-Holt

Pride and Joy is full of stories, advice, and real-life experience from LGBT parents and their children. Sometimes funny, sometimes moving, sometimes surprising, every story sheds new light on what it’s like for LGBT people raising children in the UK and Ireland today. (Published in 2017 ).

Available from Amazon and other major retailers for $9.99

###

Radical Relations: Lesbian Mothers, Gay Fathers, and Their Children in the United States since World War II by Daniel Winunwe Rivers, published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2013.

This isn’t the oldest book here, but it’s the most extensive history of lesbian and gay families in the US as the author traces LGBTQ family history back into the 1950s, after the end of the second World War, up until publication.

It’s available from Amazon and other online retailers for $9.99

###

Have a book you’d like to share, especially one that’s more current than many of these? Let us know.

10 Perfect Pride Month Sapphic Reads

May 31, 2023 By Anne Hagan

Pride month will be with us beginning tomorrow in most countries where Pride events can be openly celebrated. In the spirit of Pride, I’ve picked ten fiction books, some out of a promotion, several out of my ‘To Be Read’ (TBR) pile, I’m looking forward to reading in the next month or so. Most are romance, and most have positive themes.

Some of the books are indie and are running in said promotion where I personally have a book listed this month. Some are from publishers large and small. Most have been recommended to me (even above the promotion) as ‘must read’ stories of sapphic love and pride.

Fluid Bonding: A Sapphic Paranormal Romance was published in August of 2022 by indie author Sienna Eggler – If you know me, you know mysteries are my first love. This was suggested because it has those intrigue elements I like to see in romance too. Bonus points for having one of the leads be non-binary and neurodivergent.

$4.99 at Amazon and other major retailers.

###

Hugs and Quiches was published back in 2020 by indie author/tiny press author Candace Harper. I’m a fan of cooking competition television shows and more than a few people know this. I’m not super talented in the kitchen myself, but my family doesn’t starve either. I live my high end culinary dreams vicariously through such shows. Two people that know this have both recommended this book. It sounds like a great second chance romance for at least one of the main characters, and a thawing the ice queen trope for the other one. Yum!

Also $4.99 at Amazon and other major retailers.

###

Flipped: A Once Upon a Fangirl Book – Another book I missed back in 2020 when Caitlin Ryan self-published it caught my eye in that promo that starts tomorrow. During the pandemic I got hooked on home renovation shows that now vie for my precious few hours of aimless TV time a week alongside those cooking shows/competitions I mentioned. The model on this cover? To me, she looks a little like a longer haired, slightly younger Alison Victoria of ‘Windy City Rehab.’ That’s who I’ll be picturing the whole time I read this story about a travel agent and a ‘lesbian couple’ that remodel homes.

Currently $.99 at Amazon and available via Kindle Unlimited.

###

Sips of Her (Coffee Shops of Love Book 2) – A 2021 Sapphic romance by indie author Karmen Lee. Karmen is known for the diversity of her romances in both the multicultural aspects of them and in the sexualities/genders of her pairings. This one intrigues me because it offers both the cuteness of a romcom and some steam.

Currently $2.99 at Amazon and available via Kindle Unlimited.

###

Deus Ex Mechanic

I admit to starting this book by Ryann Fletcher when it came out in 2020…right before covid sent my wife home to work for months and my foster kids home to be homeschooled for months. I put it down ‘temporarily’ and lost track of it. It’s been waiting for me in my Kindle ever since. I’ll be starting it over gladly, and now there are four more books in the series to check out too.

At this writing this is $.99 at Amazon and at other major online retailers.

###

Swipe Right for Love This very recent release by Cyan LeBlanc (of fanfic fame) through her own small press, Posies and Peacocks, is quite the modern take on dating via apps. The format of the book is also very modern as each chapter is a date and, until it all works out in the end, it sounds like we’ll only get the viewpoint of one main character. I can’t wait to see how Cyan handles that!

Currently $3.99 at Amazon and available via Kindle Unlimited.

###

We finish with four books from large publishing houses, all well rated, and all with either intricate plots or tough themes that resolve well for the sapphics involved. No killing off your lesbians in these stories!

The Fiancée Farce – Avon published, Lammy Award winning author Alexandria Bellfleur is no stranger to sapphic book lovers, or to anyone who reads romance. This April release gives those book lovers what they love; a fake relationship book about book lovers. I can’t wait to dig into this.

$10.99 at Amazon and most other major retailers.

###

Forget Me Not Have you seen the Adam Sandler romcom movie, 50 First Dates, which was based on a true story? If you haven’t, watch it. I’ll wait. After that, lets read Alyson Derrick’s solo debut together and get the deeply emotional side of the same sort of story, but sapphic. Bonus points here from me for setting the story in small town western PA, near where I grew up and an area know well.

This was published in April by Simon and Schuster. It’s available for $10.99 from Amazon and most other retailers.

###

The Luis Ortega Survival Club Author Sonora Reyes (The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School) is back with another teen and young adult hit, this one published last week by Balzer and Bray. Trigger warning: It deals with rape as is made very clear in the blurb.

I’ll be reading it. I can’t wait to see how Sonora portrayed these young women supporting each other and standing up for themselves.

It’s available on Amazon and other major retailers from Harper-Collins for $11.99.

###

Last, but by no means least is, 6 Times We Almost Kissed and One Time We Did. This book by Tess Sharpe came out in January. Hachette has it on sale at this writing for $3.99. From the blurb, which sounds so sweet, I’d label it teen/young adult on the cusp of new adult.

Available at most majo

There you have the books on my Pride month reading list…that I know about so far. What’s on your list?

~Anne

Must Love Dogs

May 24, 2023 By Anne Hagan

Lesbians and other sapphics are cat people, right? Well, some of them. Some are definitely dog people. This post is for all the dog people among us. It includes no less than three books titled, ‘Puppy Love,’ and one entire series by the same title – thank you Georgia Beers!

Enjoy some time with this crazy group of cool canines and their people! There’s romance – of course – but also mystery and paranormal mystery.

There’s no dog on the cover of Bel Blackwood’s A Dog Named Bella, but trust me to say there are plenty of dogs in the story. You get, “One ice queen who likes solitude. One firebrand crashing into her life. One snowstorm trapping them together,” per the author, plus there are the dogs. Lot’s there to love!

***

Radclyffe has a book on pre-order right now through Bold Strokes Books, Finders Keepers, that has a whole lot of doggie goodness promise. It comes out June 13th.

***

Indie author Susie Ray has a brand new release featuring two novellas which is available right now. The first book is, Molly the Collie. You have to love the expression on that dog on the cover!

***

Georgia Beers is a well known dog lover. Any Zoom video conferences and readings you watched during the covid pandemic that featured her, often featured her newest pup (at the time) as well. It’s no surprise she’s written a Puppy Love Series of three books featuring dogs.

***

The first of our three ‘Puppy Love‘ titles is the one by Sage Donnell because I’m taking them alphabetically by last name. Boisterous little Chloe helps get Greta and Livy together in this sweet, slow burn, friends to lovers romance.

***

The second ‘Puppy Love‘ titled book comes from indie author Cara Malone as the only dog book in her Fur-Ever Veterinary Romance Series. The book features a Shiba Inu – one of the few dogs I have no experience with – as a very sick pup of Blair’s for vet, Marley to tend to. Bet you can guess what happens between Blair and Marley…

Allow me to digress for a minute: I had a hard time with this book. Great story; don’t get me wrong. The name ‘Marley’ conjures up for me that awful movie, ‘Marley and Me ‘ where the dog dies at the end. Did I forget to say spoiler alert? Sorry, not sorry. My supposedly dog loving wife drug me to that. I’ve never forgiven her. Now I check every movie she wants me to watch before I agree.

***

Finally, the third ‘Puppy Love‘ sapphic novel comes to us from Ylva author, L. T. Smith. In this story, border terrier ‘Charlie’ works on getting Ellie and Emily to build a relationship. It’s difficult for Ellie, but the pup is up to the task!

Now then, if there are this many sapphic books titled, ‘Puppy Love,’ one has to wonder how many mainstream ones there are. Someone count them and get back to me, please! Just romance books is fine.

***

I went digging in the way back files for Adan Rami’s 2016 book, ‘Rescued,’ which is all the title implies packed into a novella sized story. Stanley the Yorkie needs a lot of love in this story. Don’t worry, he gets it, but if mention of the movie, ‘Marley and Me,’ had you tearing up, I’d understand you skipping this one. I promise it has a much happier ending!

***

Bold Strokes Books author E.J. Cochran does voices…at least for her human characters! I heard the author of the Maddie Smithwick mystery series read for the first time at the GCLS conference in Pittsburgh in 2019. She’s amazing. The stories are great too, especially the first one, Sleeping Dogs Lie, which features Maddie’s rescue mutt, ‘Bart.’

***

Geonn Cannon’s ‘Underdogs Series‘ starts with the book fittingly titled, ‘Underdogs.’ That said, this is a wolf shifter action/adventure/mystery/paranormal series, not a dog series, per se. It follows the adventures of Ariadne (Ari) Willow, a canidae, a person who can shapeshift into a wolf. The series currently stands at ten books.

***

We’ll round out this part of the list with Erik Shubach’s, ‘Unleashed: Case of the Hot Dog.’ No good dead goes unpunished for Finnegan (Fin) May in this story that starts with a Dachshund rescue of sorts.

***

Is that enough dog books for you? No? How about one more? My Morelville Mysteries series and the spin-off cozy mystery series (not strictly sapphic for the cozy) feature some dogs. Most prominent is the full on dog napping story in the Morelville Mysteries book 6, ‘A Crane Christmas.’ Don’t worry! All the dogs get a happy ending here too!

Biscuit age 2 1/2 And here’s our little guy, Biscuit. He’s a 2 1/2 year old Jack Russell/Yorkie mix we’ve had since December. He was a bit much for my mother-in-law to handle, especially with her older mixed breed dog, but he’s just hyper enough for our crazy household!

Happy reading! Go love on your pooches!

~Anne

Sapphic YA Favorites of Our Readers

May 17, 2023 By Anne Hagan

In 2009, author Malindo Lo rocked the world of YA literature with her Cinderella retelling novel, Ash, published by mainstream publisher – after a bidding war – Little Brown. A hit with YA readers, the story introduced them to a lesbian main character where the romance, rather than the sexuality, was more important to the story.

Malinda would follow Ash with Huntress, a prequel to Ash, and take popular YA books with sapphic protagonists to the masses.

I had the pleasure of hearing Malinda give the Keynote address at the 2019 GCLS Conference in Pittsburgh, PA. Ten years after Ash, sapphic YA had exploded and an enthusiastic audience of young and not so young readers hung on her every word.

Now, there’s lots of sapphic YA out there to choose from, and so much of it is so good! Let’s dive in to some of our reader’s favorites besides Ash, Huntress, and Malinda’s more recent YA novel, profiled here on the blog last week with AAPI authors, Last Night at the Telegraph Club.

***

Readers on Tumblr can’t get enough of this graphic novel by Australian author and illustrator Sarah Winifred Searle, The Greatest Thing. The comic/graphic novel, featuring ‘Winifred’ as she enters her sophomore year of high school and makes some new friends is a 2023 Lambda Literary Award (Lammy) finalist.

***

Ylva Publishing author Karen Frost’s , four book YA high fantasy series, Destiny and Darkness keeps finding new readers enthralled by Aeryn who can create fire, and Lsye, the healer whose love Aeryn cannot have. The series starts with the book, Daughter of Fire: Conspiracy of the Dark.

***

A book that came up with our readers and multiple times in online forums was, The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigidar. Follow the adventures of Nishat and Flavia as they compete against each other in a school competition and fall in love along the way.

***

You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson is a ‘Teacher’s Pick’ and a ‘Time Magazine Best YA Book of all Time.” In the story, we follow Liz as she schemes to become the prom queen and get the scholarship she needs to go to the college of her dreams and get out of her small Indiana hometown. The only thing standing in her way is Mack; the girl she’s falling for who is also running for prom queen.

***

Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World by Ashley Herring Blake is a Multi-Award Winning novel full of drama and romance when a tornado erases a home and creates a private dilemma for one of it’s former inhabitants, twelve year old, Ivy.

***

The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes is a 2023 Lambda Literary Award (Lammy) Finalists in the YA category and a finalist for three additional literary awards. It is a Walter Honor Award Winner and a Pura Belpré Honor Book. It’s the “…Sharply funny and moving debut novel about a queer Mexican American girl navigating Catholic school, while falling in love and learning to celebrate her true self. ”

***

Our readers call this next YA novel just plain fun. It’s a modern reimagining of Anne of Green Gables by Mariko Tamaki, Anne of Greenville. YA readers that remember the disco era will get a kick out of this story. Oh, and it’s Disney published; one of the many reasons Disney gets targeted for boycotts for support of the LGBTQ community and it’s art.

***

This next book is a personal favorite, as is this quote from it:

“Do not be silent. Raise your voice. Be a light in the dark.”

It’s from Cinderella is Dead by Kaylynn Bayron. It’s 200 years after Cinderella found her prince, but the fairy tale is over. Teen girls are now required to appear at the Annual Ball, where the men of the kingdom select wives based on a girl’s display of finery. If a suitable match is not found, the girls not chosen are never heard from again.

***

No list of sapphic YA books would be complete without talking about author Kelly Quindlen and her string of best selling books. She started as an indie with her book, Her Name in the Sky. Her most current best seller is the book, She Drives Me Crazy, published by Roaring Brook Press, a division of Macmillan.

“High school nemeses fall in love in Kelly Quindlen’s She Drives Me Crazy, a queer YA romcom…”

***

Finally, a little YA horror to leave you with, if the Cinderella as Handmaids Tale story wasn’t enough to put some fear in you. How about The Girls are Never Gone by Sarah Glenn Marsh?

“The Conjuring meets Sadie in this queer ghost story, when seventeen-year-old podcaster Dare finds herself in a life-or-death struggle against an evil spirit.”

***

That’s a lot of great YA! And yet, there’s so much more. You’ve got your work cut out for you.

Happy reading!

~Anne