Tag Archives: F/F Romance

Guest Review: When Sparks Fly by Kristen Zimmer

When Sparks Fly by Kristen Zimmer
[Contemporary F/F YA/NA romance] released by Bookouture on April 28, 2021

Britton Walsh has never had a home. After a lifetime in the care system, she doesn’t expect she’ll ever find one. But beginning her senior year with new foster parents in a new city, means starting over yet again. Tom and Cate Cahill seem okay. The hitch? Their daughter, Avery.

Beautiful, popular and cool, Avery is everything Britton is not. She’s all Britton could ever ask for in a sister, or even a friend––but having survived without either for so long, Britton knows the way her heart races whenever Avery enters the room can only mean one thing…

But Avery has a secret. Something that is eating away at her and stopping her letting anyone in, least of all Britton. Will Avery’s insistence on punishing herself for a mistake in her past make Britton’s last year of high school, and finding a place to call home, impossible? Can two such different people ever find common ground, friendship, or maybe even something more?

An unforgettable new adult lesbian romance for fans of Keeping You a Secret by Julie Anne Peters, Her Name in the Sky by Kelly Quindlen, or Nancy Garden’s classic young adult coming out novel, Annie on My Mind.

New Adult novel: recommended for 17+ due to mature themes and sexual content.

Pre-pandemic I co-hosted my library’s romance book club. For June, which is Pride Month, we asked book club members to read a LGBTQIA+ book of their choosing. I selected two, one of which was The Gravity Between Us by Kristen Zimmer. It was a cute friends to lovers lesbian romance that I enjoyed quite a bit. When I heard she was publishing a second book I knew I had to read it hoping it would be as good as the first. Continue reading

SHM Pride Guest Author: Motzie Dapul on Creating the Content I Want to See in the World

We are so excited to have so many new guests to ALBTALBS for Pride month this year! Today author Motzie Dapul joins us with a beautiful post discussing two LGBTQ+ stories she has written. I’m a huge fan of romance and of comics, so when the two are combined you can’t pull me away! Please give Motzie a warm welcome! 

Creating the Content I Want to See in the World

It’s a bit odd to be talking about one’s own work when it comes to Pride, but a lot of great LGBTQ+ stories come from authors who, unable to find the kind of content they want to see in the world, create their own.

Start Here short story anthology edited by Ronald Lim and Brigitte Bautista book cover In the case of my own stories and comics, there was a list I found myself ticking off, of stories I’ve never seen in media, even in LGBTQ+ media, that I decided to create for myself. One of these things was the presence of the lesser known queer identities beyond lesbian and gay, which pushed me into writing a story between a pansexual woman and a non-binary person. Another of these things is something that’s becoming more frequently seen in media lately (in the year of our lord “20GayTeen”) is genre fiction with LGBTQ+ characters.

Which brings me to two of my works, putting F/F and F/NB fiction front and centre: Gorgeous, from the short story anthology Start Here: Short Stories of First Encounters, and BEHKomiks, a Filipino supernatural, urban-fantasy, action comics series centering on Filipino LGBTQ+ characters and their monstrous romantic partners. Continue reading

SHM Pride Guest: Tamsen Parker on The Power of the Female Default

Hi friends! I’m super excited to welcome our first Pride guest author of 2018, Tamsen Parker! A new friend to ALBTALBS, so please welcome another first timer with a fabulous post!

The Power of the Female Default: Why I Love F/F Sports Romance

Fire on the Ice by Tamsen Parker Book CoverI went to an all girls high school, and one of the best things about being at an all-female school was that all the resources were devoted to us. Classrooms and the dedication of our teachers, but also both of the gyms, the theater, all of the squash courts and tennis courts, the classrooms, and the weight room were for women. They were women’s spaces that centered women’s effort and accomplishments.

The romance genre is also a space that centers women. As a genre that is written primarily by and for women, it centers the pleasure, agency, and voices of women in a way that most genres do not.

When the worlds of sports and romance combine, it can sometimes be jarring to find most of the books in the popular subgenre of sports romance dominated by male athletes, especially those hitting the tops of the charts. Which perhaps shouldn’t be surprising. The big money sports—both professional and at the college level—feature primarily men. That’s where the money and the media and the fame are weighted. But still… Isn’t this a space for women? Why do so few sports romances feature female athletes? Continue reading

[Belated October] Team TBR Challenge Review: Romancing the Inventor by Gail Carriger

*I would like to note that all the blame goes to me for this post being tardy. Babs sent me this review on October 15th, to go live the 17th. My apologies to Babs, and to you all.

Romancing the Inventor (Supernatural Society, Book 1) by Gail Carriger
Paranormal F/F romance with steampunk elements published by Gail Carriger on November 1, 2016

A steampunk lesbian romance featuring a maid bent on seducing an imprisoned cross-dressing scientist who’s too brokenhearted to notice. Or is she?

Imogene Hale is a lowly parlormaid with a soul-crushing secret. Seeking solace, she takes work at a local hive,only to fall desperately in love withthe amazing lady inventor the vampires are keeping in the potting shed.

Parlormaid versus vampire!

Genevieve Lefoux is heartsick, lonely, and French. With culture, class, and thelady herself set against the match, can Imogene and her duster overcomeall odds and win Genevieve’s heart, or will the vampires suck both ofthem dry?

This is a stand-alone LGBTQ sweet romance set in GailCarriger’s Parasolverse, full of class prejudice, elusive equations, and paranormal creatures taking tea.

Delicate Sensibilities?
This story contains women pleasing women and ladies who know what they want and pursue it, sometimes in exquisite detail.

Supernatural Society novellas can be read in any order. Look for surpriseappearances from popular characters and the occasional strategicapplication of cognac.

I thought this was an adorable read. I read this paranormal for the TBR Challenge and because the second book in the Supernatural Society series releases in a few weeks. This is a lovely little add-on story to the Parasol Protectorate series, one of my favorites. Madame Lefoux always intrigued me and Imogene is a great partner for her. The romance is delightful and hit all the right notes for me.  Continue reading