content warnings: anxiety attacks
representation: fat Puerto Rican lesbian main character with anxiety, asexual panromantic main character with ADHD, interracial f/f main relationship

“I bet Elena looks beautiful in the snow, Cora thought to herself, beginning to blush anew at the thought. She knew it was silly even as she thought it. Elena was beautiful no matter the weather.”

Sometimes you just need to read a sweet, conflict-free novella about sapphics slowly falling in love. Learning Curves follows law student Elena Mendez who one day lends her notes to Cora McLaughlin, a girl in her class. The two women quickly become friends and start to catch feels.

This novella is the equivalent of lighting some candles, sinking into a warm bath and just lying in the pleasant silence for thirty minutes. It touches on serious topics, like homophobia and learning disabilities, but all of it is just mentioned in passing and never focused on. The most serious the novella gets is when is explores Elena's anxiety, and even that isn't for very long.

Not every book needs to be all about dark and serious topics though! Sometimes it's good to read something that just makes you feel like maybe love is real because these two women are able to figure it out. Elena and Cora are absolutely adorable from the first time they meet, both clearly smitten with each other from day one but not willing to admit it. Their slow development towards a romantic relationship is so well-paced and organic feeling even though the page-count is incredibly short.

This is available on Kindle Unlimited, so if you want a fun, easy read that's guaranteed to improve your day, check it out!