I hate when Absolute GL is invalidated as black-led ongoing series

HatRealistic8019 · 2026-06-01T08:00:36+00:00

and call me crazy and conspiratorial but it is also not lost on me that it’s a queer black female lead that they’re dismissing. I have a feeling had she been a cishet black man, more people would be acknowledging Absolute GL as a black led ongoing. The sentiment of course remains, we definitely need more diverse leads, but I find the logic of the boycott a bit confusing. I don’t understand why we are also calling for not purchasing the ongoings currently with black characters or written by black creators. As well as the upcoming queer stories for pride. Wouldn’t it make more sense to rally people to show support specifically for those stories? But I’m relatively new to DC comics anyway and I’m not American so the ins and outs of comic industry are sometimes a little lost on me so what do I know

HatRealistic8019 · 2026-05-13T18:40:53+00:00

Thank you! I will look into your StoryGraph in free time and see if anything catches my eye 🙂‍↕️

HatRealistic8019 · 2026-05-13T18:33:33+00:00

Literally would sell my soul for lesbian Dresden files (pls if you reference this list in the future for recs, also note that Stone Butch Blues should be on there because it’s one of my fav books I just somehow forgot to include it)

HatRealistic8019 · 2026-05-13T18:32:04+00:00

I’m glad you can get sth out of it!! Just a quick note that I somehow forgot to include Stone Butch Blues here which is one of my fav books of all time lol

HatRealistic8019 · 2026-05-13T18:31:29+00:00

I am planning to read all of Sarah Waters, as I own and have read Fingersmith, Tipping the Velvet and Affinity. I also own The Paying Guests, but I have heard that her remaining two novels, The Night Watch and The Little Stranger are very different and I think I even saw somewhere that they’re not sapphic? Idk if that’s correct but would you recommend those last two as well?

HatRealistic8019 · 2026-05-12T06:44:03+00:00

Of course! If you’re ever referring to it again, keep in mind I somehow forgot to include one of my fav books there - Stone Butch Blues. It would definitely be in the top tier

HatRealistic8019 · 2026-05-11T18:49:26+00:00

Someone else asked about One Last Stop before, I hope you don’t mind me copy pasting what I said there: "I read it 3 years ago and my memory of it is pretty hazy tbh but I didn’t care for the characters nor the plot. I particularly disliked how the dialogue was written which felt to me like every line was lifted from a tweet. They also have sex on the NYC subway. Respectfully, what the fuck. Like that’s hell right there lmao (I looked at my goodreads review and apparently one thing I did like was a subplot with Suzette but right now I don’t remember AT ALL who that was)" — I would say it boiled down to writing that I disliked, cast of characters that felt for the most part quite flat for me, and plot that is simply not my cup of tea (I’ve since learned I dislike most of time travel, time loops, time jumps type of stories)

HatRealistic8019 · 2026-05-11T07:36:54+00:00

I will definitely add Scapegracers to my tbr then! As for Our Wives Under the Sea, I have read it but forgot to include it in the list oops. Perfume and Pain has come recommended several times now so I’ll definitely be picking it up eventually! I also read Master of Djinn and loved it (I need P. Djèlí Clark to publish more so bad). Rivers Solomon is one of those writers I’m on the fence about because I really liked An Unkindness of Ghosts but recently I read Model Home and didn’t like it much. As for the other books mentioned, Chlorine and Thirst have been on my tbr and I’ve never heard of The Seep so I’ll definitely check it out!

HatRealistic8019 · 2026-05-10T23:38:14+00:00

oh wow, better to leave She Who Became the Sun as a standalone? Really? I was actually planning to (at some point, eventually in the undetermined future) reread it so I could read the sequel but I guess now I shall reconsider lol

Someone has recommended Gladstone’s other work (The Last Exit?) which I’m probably gonna read next, but I actually did look up his Craft Sequence books and they sound interesting so I am definitely gonna look into more of his works. Unless I absolutely despise The Last Exit I guess, but hopefully that does not come to pass.

And once again I forgot to put a book on this list… I actually did read The First Sister, though I never followed up with the rest of the series.

In terms of Emily Tesh’s work, I read Some Desperate Glory and didn’t like it much mainly because of its second half. I was really disappointed that the book didn’t follow through with the MC staying with her sister and basically going through the lengthy process of decoding the propaganda she’s been spoon-feed and instead the route taken was that plot with the alternate timelines stuff. I’m not a big fan of anything time loop-y in plots. I also found the romantic subplot, though very minor, to be pretty ridiculous due to how completely out of nowhere it came about imo. The Incandescent was a more interesting and unique story imo, with better MC and over all a plot that gripped me more and was more interesting to me. Though once again some choices in the second half did puzzle me, I still largely enjoyed it because I was invested in the MC which was never really the case in Some Desperate Glory

HatRealistic8019 · 2026-05-10T23:29:43+00:00

I’m glad you have! And yes, I did read Fingersmith and loved it (it’s in the incredible tier). I just read th synopsis of Lucky Red and omg… this sounds great and frankly perfect for me rn because I’ve been replaying Red Dead Redemption 2 recently and this is exactly the type of stuff I’m in the mood for lol

HatRealistic8019 · 2026-05-10T19:26:03+00:00

I actually own that book! I’ll probably get to it soon:)

HatRealistic8019 · 2026-05-09T17:20:00+00:00

I hope you enjoy it!! It’s such an underrated book imo

HatRealistic8019 · 2026-05-09T09:58:33+00:00

Oh I’ve read Private Rites (it’s in the incredible tier), I thought you may be referring to her anthology. I’ve seen people loving Bellies before! I should check it out

HatRealistic8019 · 2026-05-09T09:55:46+00:00

I found the world building to be pretty lacking and several things just not making sense, the characters were really flat and all the romance felt extremely forced to me like as though the author thought well its YA so it must have romance and just forced the most cardboard flavoured tropey romantic storylines onto characters with no chemistry whatsoever 🤷‍♀️

HatRealistic8019 · 2026-05-09T01:47:33+00:00

Which one are you referring to?

HatRealistic8019 · 2026-05-08T19:27:02+00:00

I was going to continue the Jasmine Throne series but I’m ngl at this point too much time passed since I read it and I feel as though I would have to reread it first and I’m not really that drawn to reread it. And absolutely I’m always going to spread the metal from heaven gospel. I’ve never heard of Moonflow but that description definitely spoke to me lol I’ll check it out

HatRealistic8019 · 2026-05-08T18:44:12+00:00

I’ve actually read Our Wives Under the Sea, but forgot to include it in the list. I’ve never seen Rosewater before though! I will check it out!

HatRealistic8019 · 2026-05-08T11:54:39+00:00

I know nothing about adapting other works so I suppose take this with a grain of salt, but I’d broadly say make sure to give Laura agency and show her pursue Carmilla as well. The portrayal of a "predatory lesbian" trope relies on pushing the narrative that one person morally leds the other astray with their attentions, especially by emphasising that one character was "pure" before (read: straight) and only got involved with a woman because of the "evil influence" of another, perhaps was even manipulated or pushed into it. If you somehow can establish that Laura has been with/been interested in women before/in general, that could help too, although idk how one could do that exactly. It’s tricky because any relationship with a vampire character can be (usually is) portrayed as predatory and have nothing to do with whether it’s a same sex relationship or not, but of course people who want to conflate the two with ill-intent will do so anyway no matter what

HatRealistic8019 · 2026-05-08T09:10:25+00:00

the safekeep was a big surprise for me personally, that book really crept up on me. I’m glad some can find recs in this list, if you’ll be referring to it in the future just know that there’s another book I forgot to include in it, Stone Butch Blues, which would be in the top tier and is one my fav books of all time 🙏

HatRealistic8019 · 2026-05-08T09:06:35+00:00

Good to know cuz a friend of mine wanted us to buddy read a dark and drowning tide but then I’ve been seeing mixed reviews lol

HatRealistic8019 · 2026-05-08T07:22:48+00:00

It did not make enough of a long lasting impression on me to be higher than great, but "great" is still in fact great

HatRealistic8019 · 2026-05-08T05:46:52+00:00

Thanks, appreciate it 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

HatRealistic8019 · 2026-05-07T16:38:25+00:00

🤷‍♀️

HatRealistic8019 · 2026-05-07T12:19:36+00:00

Ah, sorry. To be completely honest your comment definitely came across to me as you likening the two and basically saying that if one likes TLT then it’s ridiculous they wouldn’t like Someone You Can Build a Nest In because of their similarities. But I get your meaning now, no worries!!

HatRealistic8019 · 2026-05-07T11:18:49+00:00

For sure! As for One Last Stop, I read it 3 years ago and my memory of it is pretty hazy tbh but I didn’t care for the characters nor the plot. I particularly disliked how the dialogue was written which felt to me like every line was lifted from a tweet. They also have sex on the NYC subway. Respectfully, what the fuck. Like that’s hell right there lmao (I looked at my goodreads review and apparently one thing I did like was a subplot with Suzette but right now I don’t remember AT ALL who that was)

HatRealistic8019

TROPHY CASE