A juicy, uncomfortable look into modern lesbian culture that isn’t afraid of looking directly at some ugly truths. I honestly greatly enjoyed this, even as I cringed in sympathy with certain characters and their decisions. As a chronically-online, twenty-something gay woman myself, there were some really searing insights into the toxicity of queer spaces, along with some genuinely heart-tugging depictions of lesbian relationships and friendships. I was equally horrified and riveted. Occasionally the book stumbled into melodramatics that took away from some of the subtleties presented at others, but for the most part, this really worked for me, and was a really engaging and fun listen. The audio narrator was very enjoyable as well. A book I would definitely highly recommend to those that appreciate the genre of messy gay women and their internal lives - though it certainly won’t be everyone’s cup of tea.

Ooof I am so sorry to have to do this and dissapointed but I did not like this book and I still DNFed the last like 50 pages. I wanted to love this book so badly and was excited about it, so I am disspointed at well. I hate having a DNF.

The biggest thing that was a hurdle for me was the authors writing style, it just was not connecting with me. There was a pretentiousness about it but not in the fun dark academia style. I was confused in the beginning, but I think that is more of my own ignorance at the start.

What was frustrating was when the writing was flowing well, and I was getting into a groove with the plot with the characters it would just poof disappear, and I felt displaced with the novel again. The BIGGEST frustration is when the big thing happens the last 100 pages that messy, I heard everyone wanted from the book finally happened and the writing style was like a bad fever dream of confusion. I wanted to understand what was going on, but I couldn't and then when that didn't hook me into the story, I tried for another 30 something pages and decided I didn't even like these characters and gave up, I simply didn't care.

The characters were unlikable in a bad way, and so very bland to me and annoying.

I think this book would be perfect for the right bookclub as there is a lot to process and discuss, a lot to be familiar with. I thought that the book was worth a read and was interesting to listen t.o.

DNF @ 30%. I really tried to get into this book. I was drawn in by its title and its glorious cover, but I just can't bring myself to finish it. I *love* mess, and I love the sarcasm displayed in this story, but it all feels so cynical. Maybe I will change my mind in a few months and come back to this book, but it just feels so unhappy and grim. I will say, I did love the audiobook narration by Alex Schmidt. Their characters are all distinct and interesting, which makes the voices easy to follow. I just can't get into it around this point. I have a feeling if I stick with it, things will change and I will regret not finishing it, but as it stands right now, I can't do it.

A hilarious and incredibly enjoyable queer story that I just had a blast listening to. I would highly recommend this to all queer people you won’t regret it.

2023 LGBTQIA+ Pride Month #6 ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

I read in many reviews that this is a queer book written for queer people, so I was excited to pick it up. And I get it. So many queer books are made palatable for a straight audience.

Ekene were just talking about how a large proportion of straight women will read M/M, but not F/F. I have done absolutely zero research on the matter, so don't quote me, but is it possibly because they can't "see themselves" in the characters?

Anyway, this book is unapologetically lesbian, and I'm here for it. Sasha is inherently unlikeable as a narrator, and that's fine. What's important here, for me, because I'm sure the queer community is already familiar, is learning so many terms and nuances that go on between relationships. And that's not to say these relationships are indicative of a whole. But they're certainly not cookie-cutter. This is what I like about expanding my reading. You learn something new every day, if you let yourself.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.

Thank you to the publisher for the ALC. A new essential messy queer read that I couldn't stop listening to.

Dykette is not exactly a *fun* beach read, with an unreliable and insecure narrator, a weekend away with a group of lesbians who can't seem to get along, and lots of relationship drama, it's not light and fluffy, but it is very real and often funny, even if it is a bit of a "weekend from hell", "why is everything bad happening at once" kind of book. Honestly, this book is the Real Housewives of Lesbians, and I'm here for it.

✰ book review ✰
knock knock ✊🏽 can i come inside? no. can i pls come inside?

I am not even sure where to start. You know after your friend goes on a trip with other sexy people and you just expect the cool, fun, and sexy deets and instead you’re hit with the most wild story of the trip… maybe this situation isn’t as universal but this book felt exactly like one I’ve heard from my lesbian best friends. this book is so lesbian and written for lesbians/WLW/sapphics, not for the straight of heart.

anyways, here’s the gist. Sasha and Jesse are invited by Jules and Miranda, a pair of rich and older lesbians, along with Jesse’s best friend Lou and their current fling, Darcy, to a trip upstate for christmas break.

the story takes place over 10days, but we are well flung into the dynamics of each couple specifically through the way Sasha informs us about them.

i know i know i know sasha isn’t supposed to be a likeable character but she felt like home to me. She was a well-fleshed out character whose personality felt modeled after some of my favorite irl humans. Her insecurities, her whining, her silly little tantrums—to me she is very real and beautifully raw.

the big q i had reading was the heck is a dykette. i imagined a budding butch or stemme but actually it is someone like Chloe Sevigny (😌🫶🏼) someone who captures the attention of mascs but femmes are slack-jawed in awe.

>> will reread in december because as a mood reader, i hated being sweaty and hot in the heat of summer while reading about a sauna and snow lol

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC

3.5 stars

This was a bizarrely fascinating book. The plot wasn’t too strange at first, and the protagonist’s inner (and outer) thoughts keep the story interesting as you follow her through her self-absorbed lens. It was a wild, irritating, funny adventure of a book, and I’m still not totally sure how I feel about it.

I DNF'd this at 30%.

I tried so hard to like this because I was just drawn in by the cover and title. Unfortunately this book gives me the vibes that it was trying to be smart in a way that just didn't land.

This book wasn't for me, but maybe it's for you.

A quick round up of my thoughts:

This was a truly unique, funny and unapologetically messy novel. It follows three queer couples and their complicated relationships, while on holiday together. The narrator is highly unreliable but well done. I enjoyed the expansive look at different queer characters, their kinks and how they were discussed in the story as well as the impact of generational divide between the couples.

Overall, this was a very interesting and entertaining read. I struggled to feel totally invested until the last bit of the book but I still really enjoyed it. This is a book that definitely will not be for everyone based on the manner it is written but I think you should give it a chance!

Thank you Netgalley for an alc copy of this book!!

This book felt really pretentious to read and I just could not connect to the characters, which was really disappointing. DNF at 25%

Happy Pride! This book is so funny and weird and over the top, and I had an excellent time with it. It is unapologetically queer, in the sense that it makes no attempt to explain itself to anyone who isn't already invested in the queer community, and I found that really refreshing.

In Dykette, we follow six lesbians and bi women with a prominent social media presence, so like, some of the most insufferable people you can imagine. You probably won't come out of this book liking any of the characters, but I did end up very invested in all their ridiculous friendship and relationship drama, and personally I like when women (especially queer women) are allowed to be kind of dumb and mean and make bad choices. Also, like I said, the writing is very funny.

On a deeper level, this book examines and complicates the use of aesthetics, gender presentation and performance, all of which have had a complicated relationship with lesbian identity throughout history, and which we see play out across three generations of couples. I ended up removing one star here because I feel like this book was reaching for a thematic conclusion that it never quite reached, but I still think it raised a lot of interesting points.

This novel was a fun and gruesome exploration of a niche of queer culture and I loved it. It was refreshing to read a book that felt like it was made for queer readers. It is obvious that the author was not burdened with the need to be universally appealing or accessible to a straight audience and I wish that were the case more often. The exploration of both gender and generational divides felt both warm and nuanced. And while there were a lot of facets of this book that were intentionally uncomfortable the light prose made me revel in the ill-ease. The performance art was genuinely shocking, Miranda’s mysterious canceling was a hanging knife, and the Darcy/Sasha dynamic was horrifying (the grandfather comment in particular). However, all of the shock and discomfort felt gratifying and exuberant. Did I like these characters and applaud their choices? Absolutely not. But I did feel seen. To be fair I did performatively cry in a Prius while wearing a stupid outfit, in front of my ex just a few weeks ago so I might be biased.

This is very much a queer novel in the same vein as Detransition, Baby in that it is unlike most other queer books I have read recently. I just could not find myself connecting with any of the characters and their motivations. When I started reading, I was hoping to relate to at least one of them. There is a lot of LGBTQIA+ representation that can spark a lot of great discourse. (The Vanderpump Rules references would definitely be appreciated by two of my friends who are obsessed with the show…including one actually named Sasha, so I give bonus points for that.) The narrator of the audiobook does an excellent job. Thank you to NetGalley for the audio ARC!

I went into this book not knowing much about it and initially it seemed like it would work. The first half of this book was interesting and I enjoyed getting to know the various characters. I related to some of their thoughts and insecurities.

But then the second half of the book lost me. The Instagram live situation and its repercussions was quite difficult to get through. I thought the actual scene and the continual references to the infected butt wounds were a bit overdone. It felt like the author didn’t think that the reader was capable of recognizing how humiliating the situation was, so she had to remind them over and over again.

I will say that I did like the writing style and the characters did cause strong reactions. This book isn’t for the faint of heart, but if you enjoy quirky, character driven explorations of lesbian culture, you may like this one.

The audiobook was narrated well. I found it easy enough to follow and could easily distinguish between the different characters.

TW: Torture, Torture Porn, Sexual Content, Violence

*Thank you to Netgalley, Jenny Fran Davis, & Henry Holt for the Audio-ARC. This in no way affects the objectivity of my review.

Dykette by Jenny Fran Davis was a miss for me personally - I'm sure many readers will enjoy and connect with this one but I found it to be honestly confusing and hard to follow. Perhaps that is the point?

The performance was lovely and did not take away from the experience.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. Dykette is out now!

If I a honest this just wasn't for me. I love a messy queer story. I just didn't like the writing flow and it didn't work for an audio book for me either,

Two dysfunctional twenty-somethings in Brooklyn, Sasha and Jesse are creatives making their way through life together. When prominent rich older lesbians invite them up to their country home for the holidays, the pair eagerly accept. The time away with other people, however, tests their relationship and forces them examine themselves as well as each other.

A study in queer nonconformity, this book was fascinating, and deeply uncomfortable for me. I appreciated the characters and the story, but I cannot say I enjoyed it. I found almost all of the characters realistically unlikeable at times, and it’s definitely not a feel-good book. However, it’s very well-written and explores emotions and topics that I haven’t seen lately in other books. I recommend it if you’re looking for something different, just brace yourself for the live-stream scene. It’s intense and painful.