My 2018 Favorite Reads
Lesbian and bi-women fiction is my primary interest, so that’s the recommendations you’ll find here.
Here’s two lists that got me thinking about this topic. My personal recommendations follow.
- Autostraddle (ranking) “50 of the Best LGBT Books of 2018”
- Goodreads (listing) “2018 Lesbian Releases”
My Favorite Reads of 2018
(in no particular order)
- Magic, Murder, and Mistletoe by Ellen Jane. This lesfic mystery-romance story read just like a holiday Hallmark movie in many ways. The leads were just delightful and the mystery was just at the right level of suspense and revelation. Sweet, sweet fun. Loved how the magical element was portrayed, both unusual (to the practitioner of magic) and yet wholly accepted by the non-practitioners once it was revealed. That made the whole thing for me.
- Cinnamon Blade: Knife in Shining Armor by Shira Glassman. Queer superheroes, and intersectional with several other minority representations. The challenge for the superheroine was not “I can’t let my love interest know” actually (which is a plus). And the challenging villain wasn’t some sanctimonious stand-in for mainstream social mores, but a “run of the mill” superheroes villain. Refreshing, light adventure (with a little romance mixed in).
- Cythera by Jo Graham. This queer (lead reads as pan/bisexual) science fiction story contains the best elements of science fiction — interplanetary conflict, ordinary people caught in the middle, called upon to attempt extraordinary things, challenged mores. At the heart of the solution is Cythera,basically an interstellar courtesan who must teach about sex and love to completely inhibited youth. The story was paced incredibly well, the stakes driven higher and higher and complicated at every turn. Blew me away.
- By Any Other Name by Natasha West. This “Hatfields and McCoys” and “Romeo and Juliet” mashup deftly portrayed English countryside life for two single lesbians who find themselves attracted to one another. I was instantly drawn in by the premise because I love when authors adapt “classics” and enjoy reading how they flip an angle or a premise to make the original theme reveal something “updated” about society and self to a modern audience.
- The Road Ahead by A.E. Radley. A “road trip” romance that put a pretty pair of ladies in the same car together and then contrasted all their differences in every scene on their LONG road home (the route is a rather neat triptych from southern Spain all the way to the north of France and the English Channel).
I did read a few other stunners, but they were “behind the times” as it were, published in 2017. I only had a lot of reading time in the second half of the year, so some were older books I had picked up and only finally got around to reading.
Lara
Don’t forget you can ask me anything. I’ll be posting the answers to all reader questions on January 15, 2019. Use the Contact Form over in the right hand column.
Lara Zielinsky 