An asexual repair tech, a two-hundred-year-old robot and a failing Seattle tea shop. Our evidence-led review of Meredith Katz’s tender sapphic sci-fi novella, and why readers keep wishing it were longer.
Our review of The Christmas Proposal by Lisa Moreau: a cozy sapphic Christmas romance with a clever premise and a year-round Christmas town, held back by tell-heavy prose and a rushed last act.
Alexandra Benedict’s snowbound Christmas puzzle mystery has a bisexual heroine and a clever twelve-day game, but almost no romance and a killer most readers guess early.
Jennifer McMahon’s queer folk horror pairs a creepy 1919 Vermont epidemic with a secret, tragic love between two women. Atmospheric and affecting, but slow in the middle and short on answers.
Emily Austin’s novel about a lesbian librarian unravelling after her ex dies is warm, funny and true to library life — and, for a loud share of readers, too preachy. Not a romance; 1/5 heat; hopeful ending.
Is Read Between the Lines by Rachel Lacey worth reading? Our review of the sapphic You’ve Got Mail retelling — the soft heat, the third-act breakup, and the series.
Verdict: A funny, tender age-gap romance about two aunts fighting for custody of their orphaned nephew, with humour that balances real grief, let down by a miscommunication thread that a dozen readers found frustrating. Best for: Readers who want banter and heart in equal measure, an opposites-attract age gap, and a found-family story built around … Read more
Verdict: A funny, big-hearted fake-dating debut between an anxious ER nurse and an ambitious pilot, with grief and mental health handled more honestly than most rom-coms dare — undercut by a cartoonish ex, a saggy middle and an ending that leaves its biggest threads hanging. Best for: Readers who want a rom-com that also makes … Read more
Verdict: A tender, grown-up Christmas romance: Andi Palmer, fifty and fifteen months widowed after twenty years of marriage, is selling the loft she shared with her wife when Rachel Meade, a professional escort nursing a broken heart, becomes her buyer. Readers praise the handling of grief, Rachel’s redemption and the Christmas-market atmosphere; a few found … Read more
Verdict: A thoughtful, non-fluffy slow burn about grief and belonging: programmer Lauren Ashburn is stuck in Vermont after her father’s death, and autistic architect Georgia Solomon is suddenly raising her autistic daughter Hannah alone after her best friend and co-parent dies. Readers praise the characters and representation; some felt the ending was rushed. Best for: … Read more