This year has been profoundly challenging on a personal level, but I am over the moon to have achieved a professional goal cherished since the age of 4. As of today, I’m a published novelist! 🥳📖💘 Strap In is available from all good booksellers: www.waterstones.com/book/strap-i...

New literary pet peeve: when a book has a Scottish protagonist and the audiobook features an English voice actor who butchers Scottish dialect, and can’t do the accent to save their life. 🤦🏾‍♀️🤦🏾‍♀️🤦🏾‍♀️🤦🏾‍♀️ Gonnae just hire someone fae Scotland?

My Audible wrap up for 2024 is in, and they couldn’t have done a better job summarising my taste in books.

This year I’m trying to cut back on book buying and focus on my unending TBR pile, but @jaeauthor.bsky.social’s Bachelorette Number Twelve is currently 99p in the UK Kindle store. A bargain too good to miss! 🏳️‍🌈📖 www.amazon.co.uk/Bachelorette...

me tap-tap-taping away on my laptop

Just been through all the books I’ve read in 2024 to fill out two Sapphic Book Bingo cards, and — for the first time — a Hidden Gems card. 🥳📚 As always, thank you so much to @jaeauthor.bsky.social for her tireless work championing the sapphic books community. ❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜

With Schmitt and Yasuda leaving Grey’s Anatomy, Grey Sloan Memorial is perilously close to deyassification. I’m going to need Amelia Shepherd to get a girlfriend yesterday. And Millin. They could even date each other, in the problematic yet compelling style of early MerDer. 🤷🏾‍♀️

I bought a hoodie from menswear yesterday. It’s the thickest, fleeciest, most comfortable hoodie I have ever owned. Plus it doesn’t cling to my boobs AT ALL. And I get it now, why the straight girls are always stealing their man’s garments. Because I am never taking this off.

Influencers are wild. There’s a whole subgenre of videos on lesbian TikTok where women post about either sneaking their straps past security or having an agent examine their toy bags. 😳 You couldn’t waterboard that information out of me, nevermind compel me to share the footage.

I DID IT! 🥳There were moments when I thought #NaNoWriMo would get the better of me this time round. My blood, sweat, and (copious) tears have gone into this manuscript. But I fucking did it. 50,000 words of passionate lesbian romance. Seasonal Depression: 0, Gay Agenda: 1.

Watching Season 8 of Game of Thrones right before NaNoWriMo turned out to be a brilliant decision, because no matter how many mistakes there are in this first draft — and believe me, I made plenty — there’s no earthly or cosmic way I can fuck up this story to the extent D&D did.

Started watching Rivals on Disney Plus. And are the people who complain there’s too much explicit sex in modern romance novels aware that Jilly Cooper A) exists? B) has been publishing scorching hot spice for forty years?

Once more we step into the breach. Good luck and godspeed to all my fellow drafters. 50,000 words, here I go!

The way I know @ylva-publishing.bsky.social is for the AO3 girlies: they list book length by word count on their website. 😌

I reviewed Loser of the Year, by @byrdwrites.bsky.social: "Though she’s a debut novelist, I’ve never read an author who executes Slow Burn even half as well. Byrd's use of this trope is masterful, the build-up so good it aches." #LousReview #BookReview #SapphicBooks #SapphFic

I reviewed The Oleander Sword, by @tashasuri.bsky.social: "Priya and Malini are fierce with one another, holding nothing back. They’re capable of cruelty as well as tenderness. And only with Priya does Malini feel safe enough to trust completely." #LousReview #BookReview #SapphicBooks #SapphFic

I reviewed I Kissed Shara Wheeler, by Casey McQuiston: "The beauty of #OwnVoices Sapphic Romance is that no female character is ever defined by male fantasy. Shara Wheeler is nobody’s romanticised Manic Pixie Dream Girl." #BookReview #Sapphic #SapphicBooks #SapphFic

I started Red, White & Royal Blue. And I get it. I completely and utterly get the hype. Also, Britain is never beating the beans on toast allegations. 🥲

Meryl Streep’s daughter, Louisa Jacobson, came out publicly and posted a picture with her girlfriend. Which is lovely. But there is no way that a 33 y/o Millennial lesbian can be 100% unaware of the spicy Mirandy fanfics her mother inspired. Moment of silence for the good sis.

Last night I dreamed that I was being Roman Roy’s Cyrano de Bergerac for Gerri Kellman. Absolutely gutted I woke up before finding out which one of us she was going to choose. 🥲

I reviewed The Deathless Girls, by @Kiran Millwood Hargrave: "For all Dracula casts a long shadow, these women find light & meaning in each other. And that is the power of a retelling – giving voice, agency, and significance to female characters previously defined in relation to men." #LousReview

Was trying to work out which squares The Love Factor, by @quinnivins.bsky.social, would hit for @jaeauthor.bsky.social’s Sapphic Book Bingo. And had the harrowing realisation that a novel set in 1997 counts as historical fiction (“takes place at least 25 years in the past”). I feel sick.

I reviewed Hotel Queens, by @leewinteroz.bsky.social: "Hotel Queens smoulders as an Opposites Attract romance, with our leading ladies’ contrast in temperaments creating steamy hot sexual tension between them as ice and fire meet." #LousReview #BookReview #SapphFic #SapphicBooks

🌈Some of my personal favorites on this list: ⭐️The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes ⭐️Forget Me Not by Alyson Derrick (especially the audio version by Natalie Naudus) ⭐️Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo One more addition💜: ⭐️You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson

#Pride should mean celebrating the full, glorious spectrum of our community. So, I've curated a list of 10 sapphic YA book recommendations, all centring young women of colour as protagonists. Happy reading! ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜 #TuesNews #PrideMonth

As we gear up for Pride Month, my lists of sapphic book recommendations are going to centre work written by and about women of colour — stories that don’t often make the Pride listicles, but are every bit as worthy of love and celebration as their white counterparts. Stay tuned!

Why is it that writing a book always leads to me Googling things that could lead government agencies and/or our tech overlords to believe I’m carrying out clandestine criminal activities? 🥲 I’m not doing anything illegal, but my characters might be.

So much coverage of Am I OK? describes the protagonist as a "late-blooming lesbian" when SHE IS 32. Late for what??? Lots of women come out in their 50s, 60s, and beyond. People need to stop acting like coming out as a teen is the only typical or valid path.

I reviewed My Own Worst Enemy, by Lily Lindon: "Given the rarity of Butch4Butch romances, I was ready to root for this couple. But, to quote Jean-Ralphio Saperstein, Mae 'is the wooorst.' Her cruelty and entitlement do real damage to Emmy." #BookReview #SapphFic #Romance #LousReview

Fully immersed in #Bridgerton. I know Princess Augusta is the villain in Queen Charlotte’s story, but you’ve got to admire the way she single-handedly solved racism in one afternoon with a few wedding invitations. All the while serving Civil Rights Leader realness. 💅👑 🫱🏾‍🫲🏻

In the run up to House of the Dragon S2, various ASOIAF TikTokers have commented on how “unrealistic” it is for Rhaenyra and Alicent to still feel a certain tenderness for each other after all that has passed. Some of you have never been in a lesbian situationship, and it shows.

I reviewed The Mercies, by Kiran Millwood Hargrave: "While they’re centuries away from terms like ‘lesbian’ or ‘bisexual’ becoming mainstream, the nature of Maren and Ursa’s connection is clear from the intensity with which they crave one another." #BookReview #SapphFic #LousReview

I reviewed Same Time Next Year, by Tessa Bailey: "Why in 2024 are we as a culture still romanticising stories where women sacrifice their dreams outside of love and family so that men can have everything? Spoiler alert: patriarchy." #BookReview #Romance #LousReview

There is a particular flavour of stress that comes from being between audiobooks and unable to choose your next one. What am I supposed to do, be alone with my own thoughts while I shower or cook dinner? 🥲

I reviewed The Jasmine Throne, by @tashasuri.bsky.social: "People unfamiliar with the genre can assume romance is always soft and fluffy, but these characters’ jagged edges fitting together just so is what makes them truly perfect for one another." #BookReview #SapphFic #SapphicBooks #LousReview

One thing people don’t realize is that up until recently — like, rise of ebooks recently — most publishers’ primary customer wasn’t a reader: it was a bookstore. They know how to market but only to middlemen. (Try searching for books on any major publisher’s website, see what I mean.)

I reviewed Hani & Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating, by Adiba Jaigirdar: "Hani and Ishu being such polar opposites creates gorgeous chemistry between out leads. The girls go from exasperation to seeing things in each other that nobody else does." #BookReview #SapphFic #SapphicBooks #LousReview

Goodreads: You've just finished The Oleander Sword! Here are some ideas on what you can do next. Me:

Me: You need to finish writing your two contemporary romance WIPs. Also me: Start a historical romance about two lesbian pirates.

I reviewed Your Driver is Waiting, by Priya Guns: "Damani’s an extreme Disaster Bisexual... And it’s a rare delight, finding this story where a woman of colour has the narrative freedom to be a true anti-heroine." #SappFic #SapphicBooks #BookReview #LousReview

The internet is full of fascinating rabbit holes. I went to add a link defining “Disaster Bisexual” in a book review and stumbled across a 12,000 word essay explaining why Jaime Lannister can be read as bi. Best believe I read to the very end.

I reviewed The Fiancée Farce, by Alexandria Bellefleur: "This fake dating caper cements her icon status within romance, leaning into everything that makes this genre such a delight. It’s playful, uplifting... a delicious balance of sexy and sweet." #SapphFic #SapphicBooks #BookReview #LousReview

You wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum where they raised me.

I reviewed House of Crimson Hearts, by Ruby Roe: "I adore the connection between Red and Octavia; the balance of power is never static between them, but continually shifting, creating both equity and novelty in their coupling." #SapphFic #SapphicBooks #BookReview #LousReview

Really enjoying the @ylva-publishing.bsky.social titles in Audible’s Plus catalogue. @jaeauthor.bsky.social and Angela Dawe is a fantastic combination. Plus, Perfect Rhythm fills the Asexual Character square for Sapphic Book Bingo’s Hidden Gems. Win-win. 🥰

Strong rec that you read this blog post.

For #LesbianVisibilityWeek, I wrote about which women are often invisible in the sapphic romance community - specifically, the erasure of women of colour. And what we can all do to support meaningful, pluralistic representation. Because we all deserve to see ourselves reflected on the page:

Couldn’t be more thrilled that a sapphic romance is being adapted for television! And with two lesbian icons at the helm! By-and-for representation makes a world of difference. Massive congratulations to Meryl Wilsner! 🥳🍾🎉🎊

Shoutout to the people who upload YouTube videos of the same song on repeat for a solid hour. Writers around the world appreciate your service to the vibes. 🫡

Parks and Recreation was wonderful in so many ways, but it could have been perfect if Leslie Knope and Ann Perkins ended up together.