Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

If you know me at all, then you'll know that I am currently on a quest to find good books with both dragons and queer characters, so naturally I was very excited for this one. And it definitely delivered on the sapphics + dragons front, but I'm not totally sure it delivered as a book.

When Women Were Dragons is mostly the fictional memoir of a girl named Alex who grows us just after the Mass Dragoning of the 1950s, when thousands of women spontaneously turn into dragons, many of them burning down their homes and/or eating their husbands.

Dragoning is a vehicle for female rage and for these characters to find freedom, and I thought that the actual dragon parts of the book were fascinating and compelling. Alex's story is interspersed with various news articles and studies about the dragons, and I found all of them more compelling than her actual fake memoir stuff.

It wasn't that I disliked Alex as a character. I thought that her whole arc was a fascinating study in internalized misogyny and parental abuse and gaslighting. I loved her relationship with her sister. I liked that she was a sapphic woman in STEM. If this book had been straightforward historical fiction, I probably would have liked Alex's stuff more, but I cannot express how frustrating it was to read a book about dragons where the main character doesn't believe in dragons until about 3/4 of the way through. Alex was also very Not Like Other Girls, but that was definitely the point.

I very much think the author accomplished what she set out to with this book. I just also think that it could have done a lot more.

Misc things I liked:

Misc things I did not like:

Anyway, just don't expect this sapphic dragon book to actually be about the dragons and instead expect it to be about a teen girl who loves math and has massive amounts of internalized misogyny.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

I honestly enjoyed most of this one. The stories span a wide range of genres and vibes, so there's something for everyone. The opening story was definitely one of the strongest. The alien one was absolutely wild. I enjoyed the diversity of perspectives, genres, character dynamics, and types of sex. There were threesomes and LARPing situations and nonhuman characters. There were contemporary, historical, and fantasy settings. There were a couple sapphic and trans characters. There was a woman dom in an orgy situation (actually one of the better stories, I think). Obviously none of these stories have developed characters or settings or anything like that, but I was impressed with several authors' ability to create a vibrant world and then write a fun sex scene and then leave it at that.

Anyway, if all you want is a short sexy story with a bit of fun window-dressing (and then another one and another one and another one), definitely give this anthology a go.

It’s good but I’m not in the vampire mood right now. I’ll come back to it when I am.

NOTE: I listened to an abridged version of the book that cut out seemingly several side characters, all subplots, and a lot of exposition and character development, so I just won’t be discussing those aspects of the book.

I’m a self-proclaimed dragon book enthusiast, which makes it slightly ridiculous that I hadn't read a single Pern book before now. And there are SO MANY! I will probably be reading more.

Anyway, the worldbuilding is absolutely fascinating. I understand now why people tend to insist that these books are sci-fi (though they definitely do have fantasy elements as well). I can see a LOT of this world in dragon books I read as a child, including the telepathic communication and the randomly gendered element of things.

Speaking of that, this book was extremely patriarchal. I hope later books in the series are less so. 

Lessa and F’lar were definitely interesting characters, minus the slightly predatory relationship dynamic. I’ll be interested to see where Lessa’s ambition and scheming nature leads things in future installments.

I tried to read this book twice. Didn’t make it very far either time. I think it’s time to just throw in the towel.

He started stalking her and calling his penis “Charlie.” I can’t deal with this. It’s a shame cause the book as a whole has potential and the aunties are fun, but no. Absolutely not.

This is officially vying with The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics to be my favorite historical romance.

Here are some general things that I enjoyed:

Sex- and relationship-specific things that I liked:

Things that I didn’t like as much:

I liked this more than book one and would read more books featuring this band of chaotic queer highwaymen. If Betty doesn’t get her own book with a sapphic love interest I will riot (please Cat Sebastian, prove that you are capable of writing a full novel that’s sapphic. I believe in you and will like you less if you don’t).

Part of me think that She Gets the Girl should actually be called Mommy Issues: the Book. Alex's mom is a manipulative alcoholic, and Molly's mom is clingy and is dealing with a TON of internalized anti-Asian racism.

Other than the massive mommy issues and Alex's awful sort-of girlfriend Natalie, this book is relatively light and fluffy.

I enjoyed Alex and Molly as point of view characters. They both felt real and flawed without being too complicated. I definitely related to both of them in certain ways.

I wish some of the side characters had been fleshed out a little more and that the book had maybe been a bit longer, but I definitely think it accomplished what it set out to do.

Overall, if you’re looking for a sapphic college story written by a very adorable wife/wife duo (and inspired by their own college romance), I definitely recommend She Gets the Girl.

Didn't love it as much as A Psalm for the Wild-Built, but Dex and Mosscap are still delightful and philosophical and I thought and felt a lot of things. Much more aimless than book one. SIbling Dex gets laid. It took me several weeks to finish despite it being very short. Loved the polyamory. Will read more if Becky Chambers writes more.

This was such an excellent conclusion to the series, and I'm very glad to have read it.

Things I loved:

Things to note so that you go into this book properly prepared:

What didn't work for me as much:

Amnesty wasn't as absolutely incredible as Amberlough was, but it was a great book and a wonderful conclusion to a unique and wild series that captured my heart, and the plot and characters worked much better for me in this one than in book two (which I did also thoroughly enjoy, to be clear).