Overall: as a reader I have trouble with short stories, because I want so much out of them and usually come away dissatisfied. Also, as with any anthology, some of these were great but others were pretty meh. But all that said, the diversity of rep is nice (though most of these are unspecifie M/M or F/F, i.e. probably meant to be read as gay, there are a few with trans or ace rep), and I appreciate that a lot (possibly all? it's not specified, though of course authors aren't obligated to be out) of the writers are themselves LGBTQ+ folx.

"Roja" by Anna-Marie McLemore
★★★★☆
rep: Mexico setting, Mexican MC, trans male LI
The writing/setting is atmospheric and the concept is really engaging; the pacing felt a little awkward though.

"The Sweet Trade" by Natalie C. Parker
★★☆☆☆
rep: pre F/F relationship (?)
Look, as a premise I adore female pirates, but this was just too insta-love-y and tropey, and I wasn't a fan of the writing style. Not to police rep, either, but you could easily read this as just two girls who meet and run away together and are (platonic) best friends who cross-dress sometimes.

"And They Don't Kiss at the End" by Nilah Magruder
★★☆☆☆
rep: Black ace MC, Filipino LI, lesbian secondary char
Ace rep is great! But the "not like other girls/teens" angle was played far harder than I like, and the MC never seemed to account for their objectively poor previous treatment of the LI. Most of the story felt like it was spent rehashing what had already happened, so there wasn't much development either.

"Burnt Umber" by Mackenzi Lee
★★☆☆☆
rep: gay MC, M/M
The setup is great, but I felt like the execution could've been better; I also wasn't comfortable with the MC's unnecessarily-detailed fantasies of self-harm/suicide to escape dealing with ~feelings~.

"The Dresser & the Chambermaid" by Robin Talley
★★✯☆☆
rep: F/F, implied minor M/M
I don't think this needed the dual POV, especially since the two narrators sounded very similar to me. And while making fun of royalty is fun, girl-on-girl hate is still girl-on-girl hate.

"New Year" by Malinda Lo
★★★★☆
rep: SF Chinatown setting, Chinese & Chinese-American main cast, Chinese-American WLW MC, F/F
Historical SF Chinatown is one of my favorite settings, and I adore the vivid cultural details. Cheers to protagonists who explore their sexuality through reading!

"Molly's Lips" by Dahlia Adler
★★★✯☆
rep: F/F
Simple and (bitter)sweet, this is a solid contribution to the anthology that exemplifies the theme.

"The Coven" by Kate Scelsa
★★★☆☆
rep: multiple F/F relationships
Not sure how I feel about the namedropping (Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, etc.), and the ending felt abrupt/incomplete. But I love sapphic witches, so.

"Every Shade of Red" by Elliot Wake
★★★★☆
rep: M/M, deaf MLM MC, trans MLM LI, aroace secondary character, Saracen (PoC) secondary character
I am a sucker for Robin Hood retellings, though I'm a little conflicted on the transformation of the infamous Merry Men into Neverland-esque Lost Boys & Girls. Well-told and exciting.

"Willows" by Scott Tracey
★★☆☆☆
rep: M/M
While I'm generally fascinated by historical witchhunts, this story just never really caught my interest; it had an interesting approach to the topic, but I felt like there wasn't much worldbuilding in the form of explanation or exploration.

"The Girl with the Blue Lantern" by Tess Sharpe
★★☆☆☆
rep: F/F
My younger self would be aghast that I am apparently "over" Gold Rush tales. But this one was almost just going through the motions to hit the right notes (tropes) and ended abruptly.

"The Secret Life of a Teenage Boy" by Alex Sanchez
★★★☆☆
rep: Cuban(-American) MLM MC, M/M, Cuban(-American) family
Solid narrative arc, and I appreciate that it ultimately subverts the

Spoiler

"running away with an older man" (because there is a significant difference between a college student and a sixteen-year-old)

trope.

"Walking After Midnight" by Kody Keplinger
★★★✯☆
rep: demisexual/grayasexual WLW MC, F/F
This is more NA than YA (which is fine; just saying). The setup is interesting and I would love to see the protagonists' future adventures, especially since the ending left me wanting.

"The End of the World as We Know It" by Sara Farizan
★★☆☆☆
rep: Turkish-American WLW MC, F/F, Turkish immigrant family
Having three national tragedies referenced in such quick succession felt like "look at this moment in history" rather than acknowledging that they were, in fact, tragedies. And as much as I like (former-)best-friends-to-lovers, I'm not into having them

Spoiler

kiss and confess feelings while one has a significant other

.

"Three Witches" by Tessa Gratton
★★☆☆☆
rep: Castile (Spain) setting, F/F
I feel like the connection between "queer" and "witch" wasn't really established; rather the two were just juxtaposed and we're supposed to assume the connection exists? Props for differentiating the three narrators, but I didn't really connect with any of them, and also I feel like you could easily interpret the last part as

Spoiler

evil witch seduces poor innocent girls into sinful sapphic urges

which seems out of place in an "out and proud" themed anthology?

"The Inferno & the Butterfly" by Shaun David Hutchinson
★★★✯☆
rep: M/M
There's no need to show off the author's vocabulary in a classic rival magicians' assistants setup, but the narrative itself is pretty solid.

"Healing Rosa" by Tehlor Kay Mejia
★★★☆☆
rep: F/F, Mexican immigrant cast
Atmospheric with lovely prose, but the plot was on the underdeveloped side.