Took me a little while to get into this. It feels very different to modern sapphic romance, and the frequent changes in POV were difficult to get used to.

However, it ended up being a fun romance. Will probably read more of the series.

A fun little sci-fi romp. Also, having the robot say “Mister David, sir” the the slobbish crewmate who has a pet cat, has to be a shout-out to Red Dwarf, right?

The romance aspect is actually really sweet, and the war story aspect was exciting. Could have done without the subplot about how you should shave your bush for your partner though.

A riveting but cozy historical murder mystery. Really loved it, but not getting five stars because the clearly set up clues about the thorn and the bramble patch were seemingly forgotten by the author.

Okay, so, I really like this book. I’m going to start off with things that I had some issues with though, before I get into what I loved about it.

First, the character and place names in the book were all a bit  “trying way too hard to sound overly quaint and English without really understanding British naming conventions of the linguistics history of British place names.” I could be wrong, maybe Muchelney is a perfectly acceptable surname, and Countess of Moth a real title, but I don’t think so.

Also, the characters basically solve sexism at the end of the book, which kind of took me out of it. So many times through the book, the characters would have, in reality, been sent to an asylum for their feminist opinions and the way they expressed them. I loved the fantasy of it, but didn’t feel it fit into the rest of the atmosphere of the book somehow.

Lastly, this isn’t really an issue with the book but with the cover—it’s a gorgeous cover, but why are they wearing red, when throughout the whole book, blue is a motif! Particularly blue clothes!

Okay, enough negatives, because on the whole I loved this book.

I loved the exploration of astronomy. I loved the exploration of fibre arts as real art! I loved the intersection of art and science! I loved all the strong female characters! And the romance was swoon worthy!

I can’t wait to read the rest of this series!

As a nanny romance, this didn’t really do it for me. But as a friends-to-lovers, toaster-oven, why-choose romance, it was great fun.

I really liked this book. The romance arc was really well done, very romantic. I loved the themes of serving working-class communities, they were explored in a really good and interesting way. And the power dynamic of the boss-employee relationship was handled well, in a unique and refreshing way that I haven’t really seen before in a romance novel. Definitely going to seek out more by this author.

The Woman From the Waves is the latest book from Roslyn Sinclair, one of my favourite sapphic romance authors. I’ve absolutely loved all her previous works (The X Ingredient is a personal favourite), but this is possibly the best, reaching new heights of writing style, characterisation, emotion, and scope of plot.

The story involves an American nun on a trip to a Scottish island, where she has a mysterious encounter with a naked woman who saves her from drowning, and entreaties her to “Return to me.”

I am a huge fan of The Little Mermaid, both the original fairytale and the Disney animated musical adaptation. This book appeared to be, at least in its broadest strokes, inspired by that story. (I wonder if the decision to make the character a nun was inspired by, in the original story, the prince believing his rescuer to be a nun from a nearby abbey?) Given that both Hans Christian Anderson and Howard Ashman, the creative force behind the Disney film, were gay men, it was interesting seeing a sapphic take on the story.

It seems to be a rare trope, but a personal favourite, when neither main character starts out the story identifying as sapphic. The nun, Madeleine, has been attracted to women before, but for obvious reasons has tried to ignore this fact, and coming out is simply not on in the cards for her at the start of the story. Hæra, the shapeshifting Each-uisge, doesn’t want to mate with males of her species, but nor does she even consider mating with females of her species, or humans of any gender, and the idea of love is foreign to her. This makes for a unique dynamic.

I truly loved this book and cannot wait to read it again.

This book actually made me care about American football

Love this “lesbian with asthma and chronic fatigue syndrome” representation!