Discuss lesbian romances. What are you reading? Any new publishers or authors you've found?
Looking for book recs
Hello! I'm looking for some lesbian or bi book recs. I'm looking for new adult, mystery, fantasy, and historical romance. I won't turn down a good trashy romance novel (or bodice rippers as I like to call them). That said, I'll take all the recs from any genre if you think it's so good that I should def add it to my reading list!




I'm currently reading a historical/fantasy-setting book by Heather Rose Jones called Daughter of Mystery that's pretty good. It's a somewhat butch/femme type pairing between a young debutante/blue stocking and a professional bodyguard/duelist.
Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying it. Have you read Patience & Sarah by Isabel Miller? I read it not long ago and enjoyed it. It's a historical fiction/romance inspired by a real couple.
These are some I really like:
Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear, Jacqueline Carey's Santa Olivia series, Romancing the Inventor by Gail Carriger. The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith, Laurie R. King's Kate Martinelli series, The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner, and Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
Thanks! Ohh and I had a few of these on my list already too. I always like when I get recs that are already on my list too because that means other people enjoyed them! What did you think of Fingersmith? I read a different book by Sarah Waters last year with a friend, Affinity, and it was super slow. We still enjoyed enough to have a super long discussion about it lol.
I really like Fingersmith! I'm not sure how the pacing compares to Affinity (I picked up a copy at a secondhand bookstore a while ago but I haven't actually gotten around to reading that one yet...)
Affinity is slower than Fingersmith. Fingersmith really annoyed me for spoiler-y reasons :)
Thanks for the info! Affinity was so slow that me and my friend kept having discussions about when something is going to happen and what we thought it was going to be lmao.
@Isobel has read both and Affinity is slower! Me and my friend kept wondering when something was going to actually happen in it lol. We had so many discussions about when something was going to finally happen and what we thought it was going to be. It was actually pretty hilarious.
I preferred Fingersmith to Affinity, mainly because Fingersmith had such clever plot twists and was such a good lesbian take on a gothic novel. It's one of a dry, very small number of books I've read where I truly didn't see the plot twist/big reveal coming (but where it's done organically and with clues present from the beginning when you look back at it, i.e. Not a random assault nobody could have predicted). Also, it has a happier ending than Affinity does (at least, I felt it did - YMMV).