Lessons in Magic and Disaster

Lessons in Magic and Disaster by Charlie Jane Anders

A young witch teaches her mother how to do magic--with very unexpected results--in this relatable, resonant novel about family, identity, and the power of love.

Jamie is the average New England academic in-training--she has a strong queer relationship, generational trauma, and an esoteric dissertation proposal. But she has one extraordinary secret: she's also a powerful witch.

Serena, Jamie's mother, has been hiding from the world in an old one-room schoolhouse for several years, grieving the death of her wife and the simultaneous explosion in her professional life. All she has left are memories.

Jamie’s busy digging into a three-hundred-year-old magical book, but she still finds time to teach Serena to cast spells and help her come out of her shell. But Jamie doesn't know the whole story of what happened to her mom years ago, and those secrets are leading Serena down a destructive path.

Now it's up to this grad student and literature nerd to understand the secrets behind this mysterious novel from 1749, unearth a long-buried scandal hinted therein, and learn the true nature of magic, before her mother ruins both of their lives.

Charlie Jane Anders is one of my favorite authors. I will read everything she publishes! This is a great book with fully formed characters. Read it today.

Anders, Charlie Jane. (2025). Lessons in Magic and Disaster. New York: Tor. 

Houseswap 101

Houseswap 101 by Jaime Clevenger is a fun lesbian romance novel.

When Devyn Lancaster comes home from a busy shift at the hospital, the last thing she expects to find is a woman weed-whacking her garden. It gets worse when she learns her ex-husband invited the woman to trade houses with him—all without telling her a thing about the plan.

Robbie Price was looking forward to a month-long vacation in San Diego. A break from the Seattle rain in exchange for doing a few home repair projects and taking a cute dog to the beach seemed well worth a house swap. Then she meets her coworker’s ex-wife.

For Robbie and Devyn, even tolerating each other feels impossible at first. And neither expect to learn to like each other. But at the end of the month, parting ways is what feels impossible.

Jaime Clevenger is a great go-to writer when looking for a great queer romance. 

Clevenger, Jaime. (2024). Houseswap 101. FL: Bella Books.

Gender: A Graphic Guide

Gender: A Graphic Guide is a great teaching tool and resource.

In this illustrated guide, Meg-John Barker and Jules Scheele travel through our shifting understandings of gender across time and space – from ideas about masculinity and femininity, to non-binary and trans genders, to intersecting experiences of gender, race, sexuality, class, disability and more. 

Tackling current debates and tensions, which can divide communities and even cost lives, Barker and Scheele look to the past and the future to explore how we might all approach gender in more caring and celebratory ways.

 Is masculinity ‘toxic’? Why are public toilets such a political issue? How has feminism changed the available gender roles – and for whom? Why might we all benefit from challenging binary thinking about sex/gender?

Barker, Meg-John & Jules Scheele. (2019). Gender: A Graphic Guide. New York: Icon.

The Candidate

The Candidate by Tracey Richardson is a lesbian / bisexual romance.

Presidential candidate Jane Kincaid--gorgeous, dynamic and extremely driven--is taking the country by storm, passionately outlining her blueprint for America. Voters quickly fall in love with her... and so, unwittingly, does Secret Service Agent Alexandria Warner.

Their mutual attraction begins to take on a fiery life of its own, and soon Jane fears that their intense feelings for each other are a tinder box that could destroy the landscape of her career... and alter the history of the country.

Jane had always expected the road to the White House would exact a high personal toll. She just never knew how high... until she's forced to choose between her heart and her political destiny.

Richardson, Tracey. (2008). The Candidate. Florida: Bella Books. 

The History of Sound

The History of Sound: Stories by Ben Shattuck is a must read.

A stunning collection of interconnected stories set in New England, exploring how the past is often misunderstood and how history, family, heartache, and desire can echo over centuries

In twelve luminous stories set across three centuries, The History of Sound examines the unexpected ways the past returns to us and how love and loss are entwined and transformed over generations. In Ben Shattuck's ingenious collection, each story has a companion story, which contains a revelation about the previous, paired story. Mysteries and murders are revealed, history is refracted, and deep emotional connections are woven through characters and families.

The haunting title story recalls the journey of two men who meet around a piano in a smoky, dim bar, only to spend a summer walking the Maine woods collecting folk songs in the shadow of the First World War, forever marked by the odyssey. Decades later, in another story, a woman discovers the wax cylinders recorded that fateful summer while cleaning out her new house in Maine. Shattuck’s inventive, exquisite stories transport readers from 1700s Nantucket to the contemporary woods of New Hampshire and beyond—into landscapes both enduring and unmistakably modern. Memories, artifacts, paintings, and journals resurface in surprising and poignant ways among evocative beaches, forests, and orchards, revealing the secrets, misunderstandings, and love that linger across centuries.

What a joy to read this book. I love the structure of each story having a companion story, connected in some way. Ben Shattuck is a beautiful writer. 

Shattuck, Ben. (2024). The History of Sound. New York: Viking. 

Hotshot

Hotshot by Clare Lydon is a lesbian sports romance.

Sloane Patterson is the ultimate hotshot: a US soccer sensation whose arrival in the UK causes quite the stir. She’s got the game, the fame, the looks, the fiancée. But looks can be deceiving.

When Sloane’s life starts to unravel, Salchester Rovers’ new hire, Ella Carmichael, helps her pick up the pieces. But as the lines between their professional and personal lives blur, tensions surface. Now, Sloane’s goal of helping the team win the league and FA Cup has a significant addition: win Ella’s heart.

Lydon is a great go-to author for lesbian romance. If you like a British accent, list to the audiobooks.

Lydon, Clare (2023). Hotshot. ?: Custard Books.

Detransition, Baby

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters is a tour du force novel about womanhood, family and so much more. This is one of the best books I have read this year.

Reese almost had it all: a loving relationship with Amy, an apartment in New York City, a job she didn't hate. She had scraped together what previous generations of trans women could only dream of: a life of mundane, bourgeois comforts. The only thing missing was a child. But then her girlfriend, Amy, detransitioned and became Ames, and everything fell apart. Now Reese is caught in a self-destructive pattern: avoiding her loneliness by sleeping with married men.

Ames isn't happy either. He thought detransitioning to live as a man would make life easier, but that decision cost him his relationship with Reese—and losing her meant losing his only family. Even though their romance is over, he longs to find a way back to her. When Ames's boss and lover, Katrina, reveals that she's pregnant with his baby—and that she's not sure whether she wants to keep it—Ames wonders if this is the chance he's been waiting for. Could the three of them form some kind of unconventional family—and raise the baby together?

This provocative debut is about what happens at the emotional, messy, vulnerable corners of womanhood that platitudes and good intentions can't reach. Torrey Peters brilliantly and fearlessly navigates the most dangerous taboos around gender, sex, and relationships, gifting us a thrillingly original, witty, and deeply moving novel.

Buy this book today. Then read everything else Torrey Peters ever publishes, she is that good a writer and storyteller.

Peters, Torrey. (2021). Detransition, Baby. New York: One World.

For the Rest of Us

For the Rest of Us edited by Dahlia Alder is a collection of short stories about holidays from various cultures.

Fourteen acclaimed authors showcase the beautiful and diverse ways holidays are observed in this festive anthology. Keep the celebrations going all year long with this captivating and joyful read!

From Lunar New Year to Solstice, Día de Los Muertos to Juneteenth, and all the incredible days in between, it’s clear that Americans don’t just have one holiday. Edited by the esteemed Dahlia Adler and authored by creators who have lived these festive experiences firsthand, this joyful collection of stories shows that there isn’t one way to experience a holiday.

With stories by: Dahlia Adler, Candace Buford, A. R. Capetta and Cory McCarthy, Preeti Chhibber,
Natasha Díaz, Kelly Loy Gilbert, Kosoko Jackson, Aditi Khorana, Katherine Locke, Abdi Nazemian, Laura Pohl, Sonora Reyes, and Karuna Riazi.

Adler, Dahlia. (2025). For the Rest of Us. New York: Quill Tree Books.