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The Best (and Worst) Queer Books I Read in April

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I read a lot of queer books, and I don’t always have an opportunity to talk about them on Our Queerest Shelves. So, I thought I’d give you an update of all the queer books I read last month. In April, that was eight titles, including graphic novels. Half of those I really enjoyed. A few weren’t 100% for me, but that’s just because they weren’t my particular taste. One, though, was the rare book I actually gave one star, and I feel extremely justified in that—in fact, I can’t believe it got published at all. Let’s get into it!

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Danika Ellis

Associate Editor

Danika spends most of her time talking about queer women books at the Lesbrary. Blog: The Lesbrary Twitter: @DanikaEllis

Let’s start out with some of my favourite queer reads of the month.

cover of Awakened by A.E. Osworth

Awakened by A.E. Osworth was one of my most-anticipated books of the year: a coven of trans witches fighting an evil AI, and with that incredible cover? I couldn’t resist! I’m very happy to say it lived up to my expectations. It’s also dedicated to “Everyone who feels betrayed by JK Rowling,” and it’s sort of a reverse Harry Potter, including focusing on adults instead of children and starring all trans main characters. It has a fun, whimsical narration that I really enjoyed (“He has a nose like someone played pin the tail on the donkey with a scalene triangle stuck it wherever and called it a day”). I’ll write a full review of it soon, but suffice to say, I highly recommend it. (Content warnings for transphobia, deadnaming, outing.)

I also reread one of my favourite books, Everfair by Nisi Shawl. It’s a steampunk, alternate history of the colonization of the Congo. Even the second time around, I found it challenging: there are so many points of view, and it spans decades and continents. But I still love its ambition—not to mention the several queer women point of view characters. I reread intending to then read Kinning, the sequel, but then other books interfered, and now who knows how much I’ll remember by the time I actually pick up Kinning. Oh well.

Sympathy for Wild Girls cover

For All the Books, I read Sympathy for Wild Girls: Stories by Demree McGhee and Kiss Me, Maybe by Gabriella Gamez, both sapphic books (though of very different genres), and you can hear my full thoughts on the podcast. I will say, though, if you are a fan of Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado, you need to read Sympathy for Wild Girls—just check the content warnings first.

I read two sapphic manga volumes last month. One was a win, and one was a fail. The winning volume was The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn’t a Guy at All, Vol. 1 by Sumiko Arai, which is a really cute story about a teen girl falling for the cool guy working at the record shop—except the cool guy is actually her flustered classmate, who is absolutely flailing about this situation. I’m looking forward to reading volume two!

A couple of queer books I read last month that didn’t quite hit were Lavender House by Lev A.C. Rosen and Mismatched: A Modern Graphic Retelling of Emma by Anne Camlin and Isadora Zeferino. Lavender House is a historical gay mystery I read for book club—I don’t usually read mysteries, so it’s not a surprise this wasn’t a new favourite. Mismatched was cute enough, but I thought the romance was underdeveloped and a little abrupt.

Finally, my one star of the month was The Elegant Courtly Life of the Tea Witch Vol. 1 by Ameko Kaerudo and Yorifuji. I picked it up thinking it was a sapphic/yuri manga series, but then I assumed I was mistaken. I must be, because the “love interest” is 12 years old. Maybe them talking about going on a date together wasn’t really romantic? But nope, the description of book two is very clear that they are in love, despite the main character being about 20. NOPE. NO THANK YOU. Why was this published??

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