At the beginning of this year, I made a goal for myself. Now, I know most people don’t take resolutions seriously, but this goal was something realistic that I believed could actually accomplish. The goal? Read 50 books in one year. So far, I’ve read 43. 21 of those have been queer and 11 have been specifically about sapphic characters, sapphic meaning non-men who are attracted to non-men. This will be me listing and rating all of them.
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Ophelia After All by Raquel Marie
5/5 stars. This book is a coming of age story about a teenage girl who comes to terms with her sexuality after living life being obsessed with boys. I read this book in January, so I don’t remember all the details; however, I do remember this book being incredibly cute and well written. The overall idea of it is very realistic and heartwarming. Definitely a great recommendation. |
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Home Field Advantage
by Dahlia Adler 3/5 stars. This book was a romance between a female football player and a cheerleader. It was very “secret gay relationship between closeted girl and openly gay girl in a conservative small town,” which is a trope I am not a big fan of. The story was cute enough, but the writing was not that good, which made the reading experience less enjoyable. |
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The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes
5/5 stars. This book is about a girl who gets outed at her old public school, resulting in her having to transfer to a new rich, white, Catholic school. There she has to hide her sexuality from her mother, deal with racism, survive new crushes, and keep her brother out of trouble, all while pretending to be straight. This book was honestly one of the best representations of lesbians I’ve ever read given the ridiculously accurate thought pattern and experiences, and the romance storyline was also amazing. Overall, this book had wonderful representation and writing, which allows it to be one of the most enjoyable books I’ve read this year. |
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The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
5/5 stars. This is genuinely one of my favorite books EVER. If you were on BookTok in 2020, you’ve probably seen this book and heard about the impressive fantasy and convoluted storylines. I mean, this book is over 800 pages long! But the slowburn romance is SO GOOD. Not only is the romance amazing, but the writing, characters, world building, conflict, politics, religion, and many other aspects of the book and its impressive storytelling make this one of the most “worth the wait” books of this year. I will say, it is hard to get into—it took me two tries to read it—but once you understand the world and the story the author is telling, it’s hard not to get obsessed. |
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Flip the Script by Lyla Lee
4/5 stars. I’m not that big of a Kpop or Kdrama fan, but this book really was one of the most adorable things I’ve ever read. The book follows two teenage Kdrama costars who play enemies on screen but are falling in love off screen. There are many fake dating tropes and a possible love triangle between the two girls and the other male costar. The book itself was so, so, so cute and such an endearing story. The only true fault was the writing being just a little bit too corny at some points. Other than that, the book was amazing. |
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Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
3/5 stars. This book seems to be a staple in the books-in-verse (a story told in poetry/verse) genre, but it really didn’t do it for me. The book follows two sisters, one living in the Dominican Republic and the other living in New York City, who learn of the other’s existence only after their father dies in a plane crash. The book is a whirlwind of emotions and gets really confusing at times; however, the feelings of both sisters and their families are conveyed so beautifully through the words that I can’t rate it anything less than 3 stars. |
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The Stars and the Blackness Between Them by Junauda Petrus
5/5 stars. Another one of my favorite books of all time. This book is a spiritual, coming-of-age, romantic novel telling the story of two Black girls who become friends and grow to be more than that. The storytelling in this book is unreal. The combination of spirituality with the raw authenticity of what it means to face the unknown easily earned this book 5 stars. I would recommend this book to literally anyone who can read. |
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The Girls I’ve Been by Tess Sharpe
3.5/5 stars. This story took place completely during a bank robbery. The main character and narrator is the daughter of a con artist known throughout the criminal world. The book is very high stakes, fast paced, and intriguing. My beef with it is the ending. Some questions went unanswered, and certain aspects left underdeveloped created a sense of a false ending. Even so, the book was good! I’m definitely looking forward to the release of the Netflix movie adaptation. |
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Whiteout by Nicola Yoon, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, and Nic Stone
4/5 stars. Now you might think that, considering the amount of authors, this is a collection of short stories. In a way, it is. Each author creates a different character, a different relationship, all intertwining into one big love story. The book follows a young person trying to create a grand gesture apology to her girlfriend in Atlanta. In the middle of a blizzard. All her friends are in on it and try to help out, but because of the blizzard, they get trapped in numerous places, including the airport, mall, aquarium and more. But from this, even more love stories blossom. This book was so so cute and such a quick and easy read. Each character had such a unique voice and writing style, you could tell it was well thought out by the authors. Every love story was carefully crafted to be entangled with the next in such a comforting way. Just amazing. |
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Last Night at the Telegraph Club
by Malinda Lo 5/5 stars. This book is a historical romance taking place in the 1950s San Francisco’s Chinatown between two young girls. It tells the story of the Red Scare and what it was like for young lesbian women, especially young Chinese lesbians. It carried itself with such a profound understanding of the events that occurred in the 1950s, whose stories aren’t always told. One of the best historical romances out there. |
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6 Times We Almost Kissed [and One Time We Did] by Tess Sharpe
4/5 stars. An incredible slowburn romance with some surprisingly deeper themes. The romance is between two girls whose moms are best friends. From the description of the book, you would think it’s pretty shallow. Actually, the book dives into some pretty mature themes of dealing with grief, anxiety, maternal issues, PTSD, and how losing a family member shapes someone forever. This book was so amazing and made me both want to cry from how adorable it was and scream by how infuriating it was at the same time. |
All in all, these books have been such amazing reads and I would recommend them all. I’m so glad that I was able to read so many books this year and am looking forward to the billion other sapphic books on my bookshelf I have yet to get to.
MInali Brosnan
