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Happy Pride Month! Our Book Club is celebrating it by sharing their favourite books and recommendations. So today, Fuzzable brings you a reading list comprising books that have characters that identify as lesbian and feature female/female romances.
Happy reading!
1) As I Descended by Robin Talley
Maria Lyon and Lily Boiten are their school’s ultimate power couple—even if no one knows it but them. Only one thing stands between them and their perfect future: campus superstar Delilah Dufrey.
Golden child Delilah is a legend at the exclusive Acheron Academy, and the presumptive winner of the distinguished Cawdor Kingsley Prize. She runs the school, and if she choose, she could blow up Maria and Lily’s whole world with a pointed look, or a carefully placed word. But what Delilah doesn’t know is that Lily and Maria ate willing to do anything—absolutely anything—to make their dreams come true. And the first step is unseating Delilah for the Kingsley Prize. The full scholarship, awarded to Maria, will lock in her attendance at Stanford―and four more years in a shared dorm room with Lily.
Maria and Lily will stop at nothing to ensure their victory—including harnessing the dark power long rumored to be present on the former plantation that houses their school.
“As I Descended” is actually a lesbian retelling of Macbeth and you can definitely see the resemblance when reading the novel which is of course one of the main goals of a retelling and Robin Talley does it perfectly here. We can also say that “As I Descended” is definitely a scary novel, it has a lot of supernatural elements and at some points, it gets really creepy and made us have to take breaks when reading!
We will say, the relationship in “As I Descended” is a pretty interesting one to read about as Maria and Lily are definitely playing the parts of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth so of course, the relationship at some points definitely isn’t healthy but the dynamic between them does make an interesting read. But, if creepy novels aren’t for you then maybe give this one a miss unless you are feeling daring like we were when we went into it! It would definitely be a good one to read around Halloween time!
Robin herself identifies as a lesbian so it’s of course an own voices novel!
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository
2) Everything Leads To You by Nina Lacour
A wonderkind 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.
“Everything Leads To You” is a novel that you will easily fall in love with, it’s a romance and a mystery woven into one and talks about Hollywood, what more could you want? Emi is such a great main character that you will sympathsize and root for the entire way through the book. All you will want is for this girl to succeed in the industry that she wants to get into. It’s such an interesting take on people wanting to work in the industry too because most books focus on the actors and actresses whereas Emi wants to be a set designer which we loved. We also love Ava of course, she’s so wonderful and is a character we wish we could be best friends for.
The story is so fun, you’ll want to read until the end to find out the mystery as well as to find out whether Emi and Ava end up together. We really think that the two of them compliment each other really well and bring out the best in each other. They’re understanding and accepting of one another and really teach each other life lessons which we loved. This book also talks about being a lesbian in the film world which was interesting and important conversation to have surrounding Hollywood and the diversity problem it has. Overall, we really loved “Everything Leads To You” and think you will too especially because it’s perfect for summer!
“Everything Leads To You” is also an own voices novel as Nina herself identifies as a lesbian.
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository
3) Far From The Tree by Robin Benway
Being the middle child has its ups and downs. But for Grace, an only child who was adopted at birth, discovering that she is a middle child is a different ride altogether. After putting her own baby up for adoption, she goes looking for her biological family, including—
Maya, her loudmouthed younger bio sister, who has a lot to say about their newfound family ties. Having grown up the snarky brunette in a house full of chipper redheads, she’s quick to search for traces of herself among these not-quite-strangers. And when her adopted family’s long-buried problems begin to explode to the surface, Maya can’t help but wonder where exactly it is that she belongs.
And Joaquin, their stoic older bio brother, who has no interest in bonding over their shared biological mother. After seventeen years in the foster care system, he’s learned that there are no heroes, and secrets and fears are best kept close in the vest, where they can’t hurt anyone but him.
“Far From The Tree” is a novel that will take you on an emotional journey between three siblings who are coming to terms with the fact they are siblings and go on a journey to find their biological family. This is a truly harrowing but beautiful novel about family and the relationships between family members. So, romance definitely isn’t something at the forefront of this novel but Maya does identify as a lesbian. But, this is definitely a novel that you shouldn’t go into expecting a beautiful romance because it focuses on the family aspect on what these three siblings are going through.
Having said that, “Far From The Tree” is definitely a novel that you should read! It’s a novel that you will want to read in one sitting because you will start to care about these characters so much and want to go in this journey with them. You may want tissues for this one though as you will cry from both sadness and happiness basically throughout the entire novel. It’s a truly beautiful exploration of the foster care system and what it means to be family.
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository
4) Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde
Charlie likes to stand out. She’s a vlogger and actress promoting her first movie at SupaCon, and this is her chance to show fans she’s over her public breakup with co-star Reese Ryan. When internet-famous cool-girl actress Alyssa Huntington arrives as a surprise guest, it seems Charlie’s long-time crush on her isn’t as one-sided as she thought.
Taylor likes to blend in. Her brain is wired differently, making her fear change. And there’s one thing in her life she knows will never change: her friendship with her best guy friend Jamie—no matter how much she may secretly want it to. But when she hears about a fan contest for her favorite fandom, she starts to rethink her rules on playing it safe.
Honestly, we could have included all of Jen Wilde’s books into this list because they all have such fantastic representation in them but we went with “Queens of Geek” as it is our favourite. This book is one that is so much fun, it talks about fandom culture, coming to terms with the future and your own identity. It features Taylor who is scared about the daunting thoughts of university and wants to tell her best friend how she feels and Charlie who is a bisexual queen that wants to show how strong she is. We have Alyssa who is an actress who isn’t scared to show that she’s a lesbian and she’s proud of it. We honestly adore all of these characters so much and think you will too.
“Queens of Geek” is another novel that you won’t want to put down once you start reading it. It’s a very fast paced novel that will have you swooning from the first page, we know we were. Another one that would be a great read this summer especially since unfortunately we won’t have any conventions, when reading “Queens of Geek” you’ll feel like you’re at the convention with these characters to help you get over your withdrawal!
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository
5) The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth
When Cameron Post’s parents die suddenly in a car crash, her shocking first thought is relief. Relief they’ll never know that, hours earlier, she had been kissing a girl.
But that relief doesn’t last, and Cam is soon forced to move in with her conservative aunt Ruth and her well-intentioned but hopelessly old-fashioned grandmother. She knows that from this point on, her life will forever be different. Survival in Miles City, Montana, means blending in and leaving well enough alone (as her grandmother might say), and Cam becomes an expert at both.
Then Coley Taylor moves to town. Beautiful, pickup-driving Coley is a perfect cowgirl with the perfect boyfriend to match. She and Cam forge an unexpected and intense friendship–one that seems to leave room for something more to emerge. But just as that starts to seem like a real possibility, ultrareligious Aunt Ruth takes drastic action to “fix” her niece, bringing Cam face-to-face with the cost of denying her true self–even if she’s not exactly sure who that is.
We know that this one is a very popular novel but it deserves a place on this list because it’s such an important read. Again, this is a book that deals with some heavy things like the loss of parents, religion and conversion therapy so if that’s something you will struggle to read then please give this one a miss. “The Miseducation of Cameron Post” is a truly harrowing piece of fiction that will completely break your heart because of the horrible situation Cameron finds herself in. You will fall in love with her character pretty quickly and that will make your heart hurt even more.
Having said that, Cameron is a character that feels so authentically teenage and that is something we love about this novel. It feels so authentic in the representation of teenagers and people from the LGBTQIAP+ community which is such an important thing especially when dealing with these heavy topics. It also feels authentic in what it would be like to be a lesbian during the 80’s. So, whilst, it is of course a heavy novel, it will also make you laugh and want some of these characters to be your best friends. Cameron Post is truly a coming of age novel that we didn’t know we needed but are so glad that we have it.
This is another wonderful own voices novel as the author identifies as a lesbian herself!
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository
