Morgan

Another month, another round up. A damn good start to the year if I do say so myself. 95% of what I read was #sapphfic fiction, and everything was queer despite the bar graph; two were missing the tag but are most definitely in the genre. 🌈📚

Okay look. I’ve never been on a cruise, but I’ve always wanted to go on an Alaskan one. An Olivia Travel Alaskan cruise with sapphic authors? Including VIRGINA BLACK?! Ugh, money…but…I’m seriously considering it. I just need to convince my sister to come along and be my bunkmate. Anyone going?

Never fear! My son appeared and KitKat is now laid out on his favorite person’s lap (not mine, obviously 😂).

It’s a snow day here in Ohio so I’m working from home. KitKat is giving me the cold shoulder, wondering why I have this contraption on my lap preventing him from snuggling instead of my Kindle in my hand. Me too, dude. Me too.

I met up with a couple of friends at Prologue Bookshop last night. I had my hands on at least half a dozen books at various points, but walked out with poetry from @emilyraustin.bsky.social (whom I can never get enough of), and #sapphfic GN Motherlover, which I read when it was serialized online. 🌈📚

Yes, I read both last year and they were fabulous!

I regret nothing. 🌈📚

Day 31: favorite #sapphfic starting over. Ranita, paroled after 4 years for possession, leaves a lover behind, but her kids are waiting; she's determined to stay sober and get them back. Pomegranate by Helen Elaine Lee is a fierce, complex story of addiction, marginalization and incarceration. 🌈📚

I Heart SapphFic - Find Your Next Sapphic Fiction Read I Heart SapphFic is a place for authors and readers to come together and celebrate sapphic fiction.

How and where is up to interpretation, but only one book per location. iheartsapphfic.com has a great book finder, but while you can search by location that's easier said than done since it's often by region. To help with tracking and finding books I've created a StoryGraph challenge. Come join!

It's almost the new year, and that means it's almost time for new reading challenges! @iheartsapphfic.bsky.social announced their 2026 challenge today, and they're changing it up. This year, instead of focusing on tropes, it's all about showing that we sapphics are everywhere. 🌈📚

Day 30: favorite #sapphfic ARC. I went back and forth on this. I had a lot of ARCs this year, and there were quite a few I loved. Some were out because they (or the author) won another category, but it was stiff competition. Ultimately I settled on The Lone Wolf Cafe by Sydney Wilder as my fave. 🌈📚

Day 29: favorite genre-defying #sapphfic novel. I’ve seen Metal from Heaven by August Clarke described many different ways. Eco-fantasy, political fantasy, speculative, feral industrial punk rock. It's all of those, and yet none. The closest thing to how it made me feel is Chain-Gang All-Stars. 🌈📚

Oh, and Katherine Littrell does an awesome job on the audiobooks for the series!

Day 28: favorite #sapphfic fantasy. The Timeless Legion, book 2 in the Everlands Cycle by @jcrycroft.bsky.social, has dragons, intrigue, betrayal and spice (yes there's a variety of spice; the MC is bi, that doesn't mean it's not sapphic). Go check it out while I not-so-patiently wait for book 3. 🌈📚

Day 27: favorite #sapphfic friends to lovers. Might as Well Be an Ocean by Kellan McKnight is a messy single-POV story exploring childhood trauma, neurodivergence, the struggle with self worth and the importance of found family. It is quite spicy, but delivers on emotional intimacy as well. 🌈📚

Yes, this is the Allurial special edition cover, and it’s gorgeous!

I hope so, it really is lovely! If you're looking for sapphic holiday romances available in audio, some others I've enjoyed are: Merry Weihnachten by E. J. Noyes, Sleigh Bells Ring by Alyson Root, Set the Record Straight by Hannah Bonam-Young, and Under a Falling Star by Jae.

Day 26: favorite #sapphfic gothic fiction. Natasha Siegel delivers a powerfully dark and toxic Faustian bargain between demon and witch in As Many Souls as Stars. It's infused with obsessive love and longing, and oh, the loneliness and hunger that drove both was exquisitely and beautifully raw. 🌈📚

Day 25: favorite #sapphfic holiday romance. Real-life spouses @margueritegrimaud.bsky.social and @judeinthestars.bsky.social wrote a beautiful love story in The Milkyway Hotel. It's dual-POV, with each author writing one, then Jude translated both into the other. Be warned: you might get hungry. 🌈📚

Day 24: favorite #sapphfic audiobook. There were some tough competitors here, but in the end @natalienaudus.bsky.social and her narration of The Keeper of Magical Things by @julieleong.bsky.social won out. I loved the story and the characters, and the narration brought it to life. 🌈📚

Day 23: favorite #sapphfic vampires. Spanning three very different time periods and following three very different women, Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab is visceral and compelling, full of hunger and rage, and it's absolutely gorgeous. The audiobook is equally delicious. 🌈📚

Thank YOU, it was a ton of fun to read!

Right?! It’s one of my overall favorites of hers for sure.

Day 22: favorite #sapphfic ice queen. I love @leewinteroz.bsky.social and her ice queens, so it's no surprise that Hotel Queens was this year's favorite overall. I loved both Amelia (Lia for short) and her fiery counterpart Kai, but Kai's assistant Milly might have been my favorite character. 🌈📚

A computer monitor, though you’d have to fight my son for it since it’s the only thing he asked for this year. 😜

Day 21: favorite #sapphfic literary fiction. The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden intertwines mystery, intrigue, desire, obsession, and psychological suspense in a sensual, captivating story. It explores some of the darker sides of humanity and our legacies, and I couldn't look away. 🌈📚

Day 20: favorite #sapphfic age gap. Full disclosure, I worked on this one for @alysonrootauthor.bsky.social so I may be a bit biased (although age gap is NOT my fave), but I loved Welcome to Ero-TEA-Ca. It's fun (and funny), sexy, and I adore Harriet and Cass. And the found family? Beautiful. 🌈📚

Day 19: favorite #sapphfic single parent romance. @rubylanders.bsky.social had one of my top books last year (Ribbonwood), and she's back with Falls From Grace. I loved Savannah's bond with her son, it was so heartwarming and tender. And the pining? Oof. Oh, also? Quinn Riley narrates the audio. 🌈📚

Day 18: favorite #sapphfic novella. I'm a big fan of @amalelmohtar.com, and I had the opportunity to listen to her speak about The River Has Roots back in July, which only made me love it even more. It's a gorgeous, lyrical, magic-filled fairytale with sisterhood at its heart. 🌈📚

Day 17: favorite #sapphfic dual-timeline novel. Palm Meridian by Grace Flahive is bold, vibrant, unabashedly queer, filled with found family, and deeply moving. I was bawling at the end, but damn it was worth it. May I be as full of love and life when I'm in my 70s as the people of Palm Meridian. 🌈📚