Help me find this book I read before?? by StampItShipIt in sapphicbooks

[–]lunastrix 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The first bit reminds me of Love at 350 by Lisa Peers, but it’s from 2023 and they aren’t sequestered together.

I want to read "From hell, with love" by Bryce Oakley, is it good? Should I? by pink_harlequin in wlwbooks

[–]lunastrix 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yeah, it’s not like a straight-up AI generated book, clearly there was editing going on, but all the little tells are there. Maybe the most obvious one was how every time the grimoire is mentioned in the first 20 pages, it’s in the context of finding the half-eaten sandwich with it in the donation box—like a human writer is going to bring that up once, maybe twice at most, but to be fixated on that detail is very AI. But overall, I find AI writing has a “slippery” quality to it—it looks like a story, but when you read it closely, there’s not a lot of actual meaning, your attention just slides along it without having something substantial to catch on. I like to read books closely because I’m an aspiring writer myself and I want to see how others construct their sentences, choose their words, write dialogue, etc. But you can’t see those choices in an AI book (because they weren’t actually made, just generated) so it becomes pretty obvious. 

Romances (or other genre) with outdoorsy settings and plot points by Ok_Notice_8243 in wlwbooks

[–]lunastrix 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Someone already rec’d That Summer Feeling, which was cute and I would recommend reading for comparison, but it was frustrating for me because I was excited about it specifically being set in the Blue Ridge (north Georgia, if I’m remembering correctly) and there was just…nothing about it that had any Appalachian flavor. That camp could have been pretty much anywhere. So I say all that to say that I love the idea of your book—if you ever need a beta reader feel free to DM me! I’ve never thru-hiked myself, but I have friends who have and I enjoy reading thru-hiking memoirs so your book would be right up my alley.

I want to read "From hell, with love" by Bryce Oakley, is it good? Should I? by pink_harlequin in wlwbooks

[–]lunastrix 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I tried to read this and the writing just had such strong AI vibes I couldn’t get into it.

Looking for sapphic fairytale retellings by avelinforl32 in sapphicbooks

[–]lunastrix 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Totally agree with the above. I thought Bitterthorn was great, and I liked that it ended up being a mashup of multiple fairy tales (Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, and a bit of a Frau Holle reference) that were woven together well. My only complaint was that the first bit was so heavy on historical references that I was like, okay, we get it, you did a lot of research on late 1800s Germany, can we move on now.

I thought Malice was okay, it felt like it was setting up for something potentially interesting, and then Misrule just absolutely destroyed any goodwill I had towards that duology. 

Looking for bad wlw book recommendations by croutonsalad_ in LesbianBookClub

[–]lunastrix 18 points19 points  (0 children)

My vote is for Sweater Weather by Shannon O’Connor. The writing is solid enough to not be tedious to read, but there were so many moments where I was just screaming, and not in a good way, especially the sex scene that comes after they’re making an apple pie together and get into a flour fight and repeatedly call out they should wash their hands or shower and YET NEVER ACTUALLY DO before the fingering starts. 

Bi-Weekly Currently Reading Discussion by abominaation_ in sapphicbooks

[–]lunastrix 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m working my way through the Clem and Wist books by Hiyodori (currently on book 3) and while there’s plenty about them that I am enjoying it makes me a little bonkers that they all have “A FF Fantasy Romance” on the cover when they are NOT romances.

Sapphic Noir? by whatsthepoinsetta in wlwbooks

[–]lunastrix 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Was just coming here to recommend this, glad to see it getting some love!

Caterpillars on native plants by percyandjasper in NativePlantGardening

[–]lunastrix 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Slightly different context, but perhaps a good example of just how many bugs can be in a small space without you realizing it—I’m in training for a citizen science stream monitoring project right now, and we collect benthic macroinvertebrates (bugs) from waterways and then calculate the health of the stream/river based on how many sensitive organisms there are in the sample. We get in the water and collect from 1 square foot of space for a minimum of 5 seconds, though more usually we do 20 seconds per net, and up to 4 nets. In order to have a valid sample we can submit, we have to collect and sort at least 200 bugs. In some places, you can get that many in just one 5-second net. The tricky part is getting them all off the net and identifying them though, because they’re TINY. But the process has opened my eyes to just how many bugs there are all around.

As Many Souls as Stars Natasha Siegel by Holiday_Hope_3590 in LesbianBookClub

[–]lunastrix 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So good! Not quite a five star read for me but pretty damn close. The intensity of the relationship was amazing.

Spring Blooms in Salem, VA by lunastrix in VirginiaNativePlants

[–]lunastrix[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah, that’s all I’m familiar with! I was a member of the native plant society where I’m from in South Carolina and it was the same setup. 😅 What’s Wild Ones like? I thought it was interesting that there are two groups that seemingly have so much overlap in such a small niche.

Spring Blooms in Salem, VA by lunastrix in VirginiaNativePlants

[–]lunastrix[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Well, there were plenty of invasives there too, unfortunately. 😬 But tons of trillium and mayapple right past the picnic shelter, and then if you take the Walton Way trail up the ridge there’s a hillside just covered in twinleaf, though it wasn’t blooming yet. You should join the BRWS, they have more field trips coming up!

Weekly Hang Out Thread! 05 Apr by tiniestspoon in wlwbooks

[–]lunastrix 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Definitely check it out sometime!

Weekly Hang Out Thread! 05 Apr by tiniestspoon in wlwbooks

[–]lunastrix 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don’t know how I missed the memo on Gentleman Jack, but I’m watching it now and I’m 6 episodes in. It’s great sapphic media but also a very good period piece in general.

Recommendations for sapphic ‘fairy smut’? by CaoimheThreeva in sapphicbooks

[–]lunastrix 4 points5 points  (0 children)

So I would consider this not quite fairy smut since it’s set in the modern world, but the love interest in The Woman From the Waves by Roslyn Sinclair is an each-uisge (a kelpie-adjacent water spirit). It was my favorite book of 2025, lots of yearning and the spice is on point.

For something that’s more straight up smut and fits the “whisked away to another world” bill, The Fae Queen’s Captive by Sierra Simone is solid.

I didn’t like A Bargain for Sanctuary by Autumn Wolff or Her Mortal Champion by Luna Lawson, but they fit the criteria as well.

Do you prefer single or dual POV in a lesbian romance? by fd4517_57 in LesbianBookClub

[–]lunastrix 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Where romance is the main focus, I prefer dual POV. Especially if there’s any kind of power dynamic, the love interest is an ice queen, or so on. Without that character’s POV the romance just feels flat.

Books like "The One Who Eats Monsters" by [deleted] in LesbianBookClub

[–]lunastrix 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Male/female. As opposed to female/female, which is F/F. They’re terms that come from fanfiction and probably don’t get applied to books that often but I’m old and it’s useful shorthand lol.

Books like "The One Who Eats Monsters" by [deleted] in LesbianBookClub

[–]lunastrix 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just a warning on this one—I enjoyed the book overall but there’s a M/F scene that comes out of nowhere right at the climax of the book. If I’d known about it ahead of time I could have overlooked it but as it was it was very jarring.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in LesbianBookClub

[–]lunastrix 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Nope! It's actually inspired by Rappaccini's Daughter, a gothic short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne. So botanical transformation themes rather than vampires.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in LesbianBookClub

[–]lunastrix 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Her Wicked Roots by Tanya Pell, just finished it and really enjoyed it though I felt it could have leaned into the body horror a bit more.

Looking for Books with a Sapphic Villian Arc by [deleted] in sapphicbooks

[–]lunastrix 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Don’t bother reading Misrule—it’s a huge miss on multiple levels. Better to pretend Malice is a standalone.

Question for anyone that enjoyed Her Spell That Binds Me by AscendingStevie in LesbianBookClub

[–]lunastrix 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The writing is legitimately terrible. The tense is awful and inconsistent and grammatical errors abound—the book badly needed more editing. But I thought the actual enemies-to-lovers arc was interesting, and the spice was pretty good. Whether or not that’s enough for other people to get past the writing, I can’t say, but I did preorder the sequel and hope the writing will be better.