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by Anna Birch

Do you like enemies to lovers, sapphic romance, sapphic enemies to lovers, amazing writing, and the “we love each other online and know each other in real life without knowing each other’s identities” trope?

Well, if so, I sincerely recommend I Kissed Alice by Anna Birch.

In real life, Iliana and Rhodes hate each other a lot — 2 physical altercat

ions a lot — and their hatred for each other only increases when they find out they’ll be competing for the same scholarship to an elite art school. Online, however, I-Kissed-Alice and Curious-in-Cheshire are madly in love and planning to meet up at the competition. When the worlds collide, they have to figure out whether they can like each other in person as much as they like each other online.

Review: This is SO underrated. This book had wonderful writing and a super cute romance. The enemies to lovers part was also wonderfully done and the tension — the yearning — oh my. My heart… it couldn’t handle it. If you’re not convinced by that, here is a quote guaranteed to make you want to read this book: “She closes the distance between us in a handful of long, sweeping strides — one moment she’s standing at the doorway and the next, her breath ruffles my hair. I flinch. She doesn’t hit me, though: she simply lifts my chin so I have no other choice but to look her in the eyes. Her skin against mine, even in this small way, stands my arm hair on end. Everything in her burning: her eyes, her face, her spirit.”

WOW. The tension, the writing- beautiful *chef’s kiss*. I rated this book 4 / 5 stars and I definitely recommend it!
 Make sure to check the trigger warnings!

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by Carrie Mac

2.5 Stars

Are you in a reading slump, enjoy reading about sapphic relationships, a romance reader, figuring out your sexuality in terms of liking women as a woman/AFAB (and those who ‘appear to be a woman’), or looking for a quick read?

Well, if yes, I recommend this book: Crush by Carrie Mac. It is a 125-page novella (with big font) and takes place over the span of a week, I believe. Essentially, Hope, the main character, is left with her neglectful older sister while her hippie parents are in Thailand and she struggles with her new feelings for a girl named Nat. The book is extremely easy to follow and I promise you will breeze right through. I can’t recommend this book as a sapphic book alone because of how non-impactful it was but if you are in a reading slump and sapphic, or sapphic-questioning, I would definitely recommend it. I rated this book 2.5/5 stars but it was 5/5 for what I needed at the moment (a short, dumb, sapphic read).

Honestly, this rating will vary for each person who reads this and what they’re feeling so the only thing I can say is that you should read this book with low, very low, expectations in terms of plot, world-building, characters and basically everything else.

Representation: Bisexual/Pansexual/Sapphic main character, lesbian love interest, lesbian side representation, hippies.
 Age rating: 13+ (mentions of sex with older men and some more stuff for more mature audiences)

Jazleen H.

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by Lynn Painter

4.5 Stars

Better Than the Movies follows Liz Buxbaum and her next-door neighbour (and enemy) Wes Bennet. When Liz’s childhood crush, Michael, moves back into town, she decides that she will do anything to get him to like her. Even teaming up with Wes to get Michael to notice her. Ever since she was a little girl, Liz has been obsessed with romantic comedies. She dreams of creating a romance with Michael, worthy of a movie. As she tries to win over Michael, she begins to actually like Wes. Liz learns that maybe the boy next door isn’t as awful as she always thought. While she hangs out with both Michael and Wes, Liz must decide if she wants the picture-perfect romance she’s always dreamed of or if she’s willing to sacrifice it for something new. As Liz deals with the drama of high school, she starts to realize, maybe life isn’t always like the movies.  

The biggest reason I loved this book was all the movie references. There were so many iconic rom-coms mentioned that made the book feel much more relatable. All the characters were so enjoyable to read about. I felt that they all played a key part in the story and helped the plot move along. Something really interesting that this book had was a playlist. The author created a playlist of songs that were mentioned throughout the book and added it onto streaming platforms. This helped me further relate to the characters, and I genuinely felt like I was in the story with them. This is one of my new favourite romance books, and I definitely recommend it.

Hailey B.

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by Emma Lord

4 Stars

You Have a Match by Emma Lord

Abby Day comes from a pretty normal family where nothing out of the ordinary ever happens. When Abby decides to sign up for a DNA service with her two best friends, she doesn’t expect to find out anything particularly interesting. She is shocked when she discovers she has a sister living less than twenty minutes away from her. Her sister is Savannah Tully. An Instagram star with perfect hair and a seemingly perfect life. Savannah reaches out to Abby, and they decide to meet up at summer camp to get to know each other without telling their parents. When Abby discovers her best friend turned crush, Leo, is working at the camp, things get way more complicated.

She struggles to balance her growing feelings for Leo, bonding with Savannah and all the other trouble she gets into around camp. As Savannah and Abby uncover secrets about Savannah’s adoption, they start to become closer and work to find the truth about what happened all those years ago. They learn lessons of family, friendship and honesty as they try to navigate a summer that they’ll never forget. I was so excited to read this, and I wasn’t disappointed. I loved the dynamic between Abby and Savannah as they got to know each other. All the characters were so different, creating someone for each reader to relate to. I didn’t expect there to be as many twists and turns as there were, but surprisingly, I enjoyed all the suspense. Many different storylines were going on that all connected, creating a very enjoyable and satisfying ending.

Hailey B.

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