GS. vs. STA: Lesbian Romance

In the comments to the entry about the discrimination of the Romance Writers Ink published writers contest, DreadPirateRachel and Keri asked for a Good Shit vs. Shit to Avoid for f/f romance, or, in other words, lesbian romances.

Keri commented, “It's easy to find m/m, but I'm having a really hard time with f/f, especially fluffier kinds. I love Sarah Waters and Emma Donoghue, who are always suggested, but their writing tends to be more literary and heavy and less “romance novel”, and when I try to find others, I often just come across erotica meant for the male gaze. 🙁

(also a lot of f/f romance that I find are older YA novels that are less about the romance as they are about GLBT Issues, which is frustrating. I've seen plenty of m/m stories that aren't Issue novels and are more in the vein of what I think of as traditional romance, but not f/f. help help help! i love romance novels, but I want some that better reflect my own identity sometimes!)”

DreadPirateRachel added, “Yes, please! I'd love to read some good f/f romances, and I've been searching for some erotica (ANY erotica) that features f/f/m. It seems like all group-sex erotica is m/m/f. Not that there's anything wrong with that (far from it), but I'd like to see some quality examples of women deriving pleasure from each other.”

Book Cover Two that I can cautiously recommend, one by someone else's reading and one from my own: Ash, by Malinda Lo [ A | BN | K S] and Wildthorn, by Jane Eagland [ A | BN | K S ].

A friend of mine read Ash and really enjoyed it – it's a lesbian retelling of the Cinderella myth, though in the world in which two women fall in love, homosexuality and heterosexuality aren't dividing concepts.

I read Wildthorn awhile ago. It's a Victorian-set YA novel about a girl who is committed to an asylum because she is determined to reject the roles and limitations of women. The title character, Louisa, can be really boneheaded, but her relationship during the course of the story (I don't want to give away too much) is incredibly sweet and a beautiful thing in the middle of a hellish institution.

But both these novels are YA, and don't focus on the romance as the primary plot of the novel.

So, bring it on: which f/f romances have you enjoyed? Were there lesbian heroines or secondary characters in a book you loved recently? We need recommendations of awesome romances featuring women loving other women.

 

Comments are Closed

  1. Dee Carney says:

    A very steamy f/f/m that I enjoyed is Open Proposal by Rosemary Gunn.

  2. Just out of curiosity, does anyone read The Well of Loneliness anymore? I read it way back when it seemed you could only get lesbian fiction published if someone died tragically at the end.

  3. check out Rebecca Witherspoon.

  4. Kj says:

    I loved La Bonne. Ive been looking for another book like it but its so hard to find a decent f/f/m book. thanks

  5. DS says:

    Patience and Sarah by Isabel Miller.  The first edition I saw was from Avon with a typical (for then) historical romance cover.  I haven’t reread it in ages so I am not sure how it would hold up.  No sex.

    Also I remember liking Jane Rule’s Desert of the Heart (basis of the movie) and Against the Season although Rule was more a literary writer.

  6. Thank you SO much for including Open Proposal on your list of recommendations for f/f/m!! What a thrill!!

  7. Dee, you are an absolute angel!! Thank you SO much!!

  8. Ellie Heller says:

    “It’s easy to find m/m, but I’m having a really hard time with f/f, especially fluffier kinds. I love Sarah Waters and Emma Donoghue, who are always suggested, but their writing tends to be more literary and heavy and less “romance novel”, and when I try to find others, I often just come across erotica meant for the male gaze. 🙁


    Noble Romance has a series, Lesbians vs Zombies, which has stories predominantly on the ‘romance/female erotica’ side of the spectrum. (Full disclosure, my novella Ginny’s Capture is due out 2/27, as part of this line and is most definitely a lesbian romance geared for women readers). While they are wildly different in their approaches to the theme, I’d recommend any of the first three currently out. (The fourth in the series drops tomorrow.) Of those (The Zombie with Flowers in Her Hair, Dead Kitties Don’t Purr and Undead Reflections from a Jaundiced Eye), the one closest to a traditional romance story arc is probably Dead Kitties.

    Love the other suggestions here too. So many good ones!

  9. Mirandaflynn says:

    Sarah Dreher does a good fantasy/mystery series with a lesbian pair. Romance is mixed in.

    Miranda

  10. As a side note, a lot of people are rec’ing Sarah Diemer – she writes lesbian fantasy/fairy tales under Elora Bishop as well!

  11. Alys says:

    I loved Lily in Bloom and the Songs of Sappho series (Marie-Elise Bassett), and I’d also recommend checking out the books of KT Grant.

    And my novella, Prohibited Passion, has a lesbian heroine and f/f pairing as well.

  12. Alys says:

    Oh! and I almost forgot… though it’s more literary, Jeanette Winterson’s book The Passion has a good f/f romance thread in it.

  13. DreadPirateRachel says:

    My thoughts exactly. I know that Olivia Cunning’s upcoming entry in her Sinners series of erotica will feature a bisexual hero, but to be honest, I’m kind of dreading it, based on the blurb which says something about “leaving his bisexual ways behind,” as though it’s just a hobby that can be abandoned.

  14. EmmyG says:

    Much of the f/f I read comes from authors out of the old uber-Xena movement.

    Personal favorite would be Of Drag Kings And The Wheel Of Fate (as well as its sequel). The central relationship is very emotional but there’s LOTS of other stuff going on all around the edges, love in all shapes, sizes, and colors.

    Another I’m very fond of is Tiopa Ki Lakota.

  15. Great list so far! I’m looking forward to doing some more reading. 🙂
    I wanted to mention a few authors and resources that I haven’t seen noted above yet:
    GCLS (organization to promote lesbian literature) has an annual writing award with winners and finalists in multiple genres – http://goldencrown.org/awards
    Lambda Literary – review site + annual awards in multiple genres, including romance – http://www.lambdaliterary.org/
    Some presses which specialize in lesbian romance – Regal Crest and Blue Feather Books.  Bywater Books, Bedazzled, Lethe Press, Tiny Satchel Press and several other publish a mix of titles, some of which are romances with lesbian or bi protagonists.
    Some romance/erotica authors: Catherine Friend, Fiona Zedde, L-J Baker, Laurie J. Marks (secondary romance, but excellent fantasy novels), Sacchi Green, Trinity Tam and Nell Stark and Lee Lynch.

  16. Foxfire says:

    If you like fantasy in your romance, Tanya Huff is worth a try. The Four Quarters series in particular, though there’s also some polyamory (refreshingly drama free, for the record) in there which may or may not be your thing.

  17. SB Sarah says:

    Oooh, how did I not know about The Dark Wife? I love mythology retellings. Thank you!

  18. Jane says:

    Get ready, GS incoming:

    My favorite Karin Kallmakers are Wild Things (historian meets aspiring state politician), Car Pool (accountant and chemist vs. megacorp), and Unforgettable (scientist and singer at HS reunion);  I enjoyed her newest, Roller Coaster (actress hires cook, but they have met before).  They’re all from Bella Books now, though used copies of the older books published by Naiad are still floating around. 

    Katherine Forrest, also once of Naiad and now from Bella, wrote Curious Wine, one of those lesbian novels that every romance reader seems to have read (two of the women at a straight girls’ week out find each other).  It’s pretty dated now (encounter group games!  Trust falls!) but still sweet, I think.  Forrest also wrote An Emergence of Green, which isn’t quite as popular, but still worth it.  The latter does have adultery and domestic abuse in it, though, for those whom that might trigger.

    Two more classics in the genre are Jane Rule’s Desert of the Heart (Los Vegas divorcee meets casino employee) and Isabel Miller’s Patience and Sarah.  The latter is set in the early 1800s.  I have old copies, so I’m not sure who publishes them now.

    Marsha Miller, author of Retirement Plan (which I also loved), has an older collection of linked stories, Skin to Skin.  New Victoria published it—the subtitle is “Erotic Lesbian Short Stories” and all the women in the stories know each other.  There’s not so much HEA as HFN (or not, depending on the story).

    Yolanda Wallace has a novel about an Amish woman and her “English” BFF named Rum Spring, from Bold Strokes.

    Lorie Lake isn’t someone whose novels I have often read, but I liked As Lovers Do from Yellow Rose Books (not to be confused with Red Rose).  The owner of an apartment house has a crush on the artist who rents the penthouse.

    This novel got mixed reviews from the reading group I’m in, but Smooth Sailing by Susan X Meagher struck me as a pleasant vacationy read, and it’s about a theme park company manager and workaholic being pretty much forced to take a cruise, and then taking a hired boat ride with a happy go lucky captain and learning to relax.  Etc.

    Rip Van Dyke by Kate McLachlan from Quest Books is a first novel and shows it, but the time travel premise (woman goes 20 years forward in time on the occasion of her partner’s birthday, 1988-2008) is interesting, and this writer evidently has TOTAL RECALL of the 80s.

    Snowbound by Cari Hunter (policewoman taken hostage and doctor brought in to treat her, and no, not really a story about being snowbound) is set in England and published by Bold Strokes.

    Another good Bold Strokes is C P Rowlands’ Collision Course, about two women who lost their partners tragically before the book begins (one partner was a woman and one a man), become friends, and then more.

    Robbi McCoy’s Two on the Aisle is about a Shakespeare festival that apparently attracts people whose lives greatly resemble the goofier plots of Bill’s plays.  The couple is a goat farmer/cheese maker and a food critic incognito.  Bella publishes this one.

    Many apologies if this posts twice!  My connection went out at a crucial posting moment.

  19. Rebekah Weatherspoon says:

    It’s been mentioned, but I’ll mention it again. The Lesbrary not only reviews lesbian fiction and romance, but they list link round-ups that cover all the lesbian book reviews around the web. It’s a super handy one-stop-shop. http://lesbrary.wordpress.com/

    And here are some titles I’ve enjoyed.

    Branded Ann (lesbian pirate romance) and The Sword of the Guardian (lesbian fantasy romance) by Merry Shannon

    The Sublime and Spirited Voyage of Original Sin by Colette Moody (lesbian pirate romance)

    The Collectors by Lesley Gowan (lesbian BDSM romance, very very hot)

    After The Fall by Robin Summers (lesbian dystopian romance)

    Awake Unto Me by Kathleen Knowles (lesbian historical romance)

    Backwards to Oregon and the sequal Hidden Truths by Jae (historical lesbian romance)

    365 Days by KE Payne (YA lesbian romance, super cute fun read)

    Put Away Wet by Susan Smith (coming of age, lesbian BDSM romance with a great HEA)

    Anything by JD Glass. The woman knows her shit.

    Innocent Hearts and the sequel Promising Hearts by Radclyffe (historical lesbian romance)

    And I have a lesbian paranormal romance out, Better Off Red.

  20. cleo says:

    I reread Patience and Sarah recently and I thought it held up well. There’s more sex than i remembered but it’s still quite mild.

  21. chomiji says:

    The Northern Girl, a fantasy novel by Elizabeth Lynn, features a current f/f romance between two of the main viewpoint characters; a third viewpoint character used to be involved in a f/f romance with one of the other two.  This is an old favorite of mine, widely available as a used book.

  22. Barrett says:

    All great suggestions, I’d like to suggest http://rainbowreader.blogspot…. for some new, and very well written reviews of lesfic. There are some very talented new authors producing well written stories, some traditional and some pushing the envelope.

    Barrett

  23. JB Hunt says:

    The sequel is Saints Astray, and it’s just as good as Santa Olivia. A great romance and provocative dystopian future.

  24. Heather says:

    “Boyfriends with Girlfriends” was cute, but left me wanted more. It’s like the characters walked off into the sunset hand-in-hand as soon as they decided to be a couple.

    I haven’t read many f/f stories (“Rubyfruit Jungle” by Rita Mae Brown and “Annie on My Mind” by Nancy Garden), though I DO have “The Well of Loneliness” on my TBR pile. The one f/f story I keep going back to is “Keeping You A Secret” by Julie Anne Peters. It’s a teen title, but it’s an amazing story of love, acceptance, and self-discovery.

    Any f/f romance featuring a soldier as one of the main characters?

  25. Heather says:

    I think that my problem with f/f romance is that it all seems to be erotica (which I don’t really care for in any pairing/gender), teen fiction, or old pulp stories that, while classic, haven’t aged well (to me). I would love to read a contemporary f/f romance that isn’t a teen story or completely erotic in nature. I think I’d like f/f romances a lot more if I could find stories that I connect with on such a deep emotional level like I did with the male characters in books by Lee Rowan, Tere Michaels, and Alex Beecroft.

  26. Becky says:

    I haven’t read it yet, but Battle Scars by Meghan O’Brien was recommended to me recently.  It features an Iraqi war vet and a veterinarian.

  27. Heather says:

    Thanks for the rec! I added it to my Amazon wishlist. : )

  28. April V says:

    Not really romance per se but Ellen Kushner’s Swordspoint is a very good fantasy story that might appeal.

  29. Crysta Swarts says:

    I will second Alyssa (and thank Susan for telling me there’s a miniseries) on Sarah Waters’ Tipping the Velvet. It’s not technically a romance novel, but the characters are so engaging, their relationship so complicated (like real life), and the setting (Victorian England, the seedy side) is to die for. Highly recommended. Waters also wrote Fingersmith, which also has the f/f relationship thing going and which I also loved. And the cover isn’t so provocative so I felt okay reading it outside of my apartment (I live in a boarding school with a ton of students!)

  30. Archer34 says:

    Nicola Griffith’s “Slow River” has a lesbian romance between the primary characters, but it is a science fiction novel with a romance, not straight romance.

  31. Crysta Swarts says:

    I read it as a part of my Gay and Lesbian Lit class in college, but really had to pull myself through it. It became my go-to comparison for anything being horrible and boring. “At least it’s not The Well of Loneliness.” 🙂 But I ended up loving Rubyfruit Jungle, which we also read in there, so I guess it balances out.

  32. Shana Berry says:

    STA: Finders Keepers by Karin Kallmaker. Kallmaker’s usually good, but this was just painful. The main couple spend most of the book apart so the major plot isn’t their romance, but the protagonist’s boring weight loss attempts. She talks nonstop about dieting (sometimes includes several pages in a row of weight loss advice) and appears to have no other interests or personality.

  33. Tourmalines says:

    Has anyone mentioned the F/F section at Ravenous Romance? http://www.ravenousromance.com…

  34. “Any bisexual romances/books or bisexual hero/heroines?”

    Almost all of mine, in fact. Because I believe that most people would, in a society less obsessed with gender/sexual straightjackets, be a lot more fluid about such issues. In Remastering Jerna, the hero has – and keeps – a wife, as well as a truly loved male lover. In the Cold Front series, both men have been married, and are openly bisexual. Kei in Kei’s Gift wouldn’t turn anyone down on principle 🙂

    Leaving aside disgustingly self-centred promotion, though I can highly recommend Dragon Streets by Jeff Pearce with a bi hero.

    On the whole, however,  m/m readers are incredibly hostile to their boys having any truck with vaginas, as this discussion illustrates:
    http://kassa011.wordpress.com/

    I don’t know what f/f readers think of it. Personally I’d like to see a lot more bi protags in books. The only one who *might* be in a mainstream book that I can think of is Francis Crawford (though he may only be bi for political reasons – hard to tell.)

  35. Heather says:

    Ann—“Remastering Jerna” sounds really good. Is there an ebook version? I usually buy my m/m in ebook format to sample, then if I like the book enough for it to be a keeper I’ll splurge on a print copy.

    Agreed, more bi protags would be nice. Bi people are fairly marginalized or ignored in both the straight and gay communities. Being bi, especially if you’re a young woman, is viewed as “trendy” in mainstream culture, and therefore non-bi people think bi folks are just “trying to get attention”. I’m slowly coming to terms with the fact that sometimes, I’d rather hold hands with and kiss a woman than a man (and would always rather see a woman in the nude than a man—women are so much nicer to look at!). Why do people think you have to be either a confirmed hetero or gold star lesbian/gay? I’ll take six of one and half dozen of the other—it’s the best of both worlds. : )

  36. Ashley Leann says:

    Thank you so much for this post! As a straight girl I actually find f/f hotter then m/m or m/f and have yet to come across an f/f romance. Yeah sure every once in awhile I like to read f/f eroctica that’s obviously meant for men, but I would like to read an honest to goodness f/f romance.

  37. bookstorecat says:

    I never read _Well of Loneliness_, but it is the only book mentioned so far that I’d actually heard of before.

    _Curious Wine_ by Katherine V. Forrest is probably the only non-YA lesbian romance novel I’ve ever read, and I believe it is something of a classic, too. From what I remember of the plot, it is very much a romance novel. Two women meet at a weekend retreat and fall in love.

  38. CarrieS says:

    Re Well of Lonliness – I thought it was great, but my god it was depressing – every time I come across the title I feel an urge to sink onto the floor in fetal position whimpering.  LOVED Patience and Sarah.  Am looking forward to reading all these recs esp since so many are sci fi and fantasy!  Look out, geeky book reviews!

  39. “Is there an ebook version?”

    Sadly no, because I unfortunately signed it with the world’s shittiest publisher (PD Publishing, who suck) who is refusing – apparently because they’re worried about losing sales to piracy – to release any of their books in eformat. This despite promising several times they were about to do that, and despite the fact that they are *encouraging* piracy by stopping people accessing books in their preferred format (which is a serious issue if you live somewhere that doesn’t allow gay material to be imported, like Malaysia.)

    “Why do people think you have to be either a confirmed hetero or gold star lesbian/gay? I’ll take six of one and half dozen of the other—it’s the best of both worlds. : ) “

    Amen 🙂 I’m too old now to be bothered with sexual exploration but if I hadn’t been raised so conservatively and been such a narrow minded little bint when I was younger, I could have kissed a girl and liked it, I’m sure. Maybe a lot more.

  40. “Has anyone mentioned the F/F section at Ravenous Romance? “

    If their f/f is as repulsive as their m/m, there’s probably a reason no one has.

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