I read two books last week, and I just couldn't put either one down.

One was exciting and complex in all the right ways, and really made me empathize with the characters. The other made me want to vomit a little bit.

Her Name in the Sky by Kelly Quindlen

I read the synopsis for this book, and some reviews. I was led to believe that this one would be kinda cheesy and dumb, but otherwise up my alley. I've never read any of the Twilight series, but I imagine how I felt reading this book was very similar to what people who read Twilight feel. I just couldn't look away. Every horrific trope you can think of. Every tired cliché. It contained almost zero substance or character development. I had to skip a few parts because the overt homophobia and over-the-top drama physically hurt to read, and not in the good way. I'm not sure what synopsis or review I read before I put this on my list. While reading it, I seriously considered if the ebook I had accidentally got swapped for another. I honestly cannot imagine how anyone thought this book was okay, let alone 5/5. Like, to each their own? But this one's gonna be a YIKES from me.

I couldn't stop, though. I knew what was going to happen on every next page, but I pushed through to see if I was right. I ached for freedom, begged myself to turn off my ipad, but the gay-media-starved lesbian in me* lacked the will power. When I turned the last page, I felt two things: relief, and also more relief.

I'm not even going to tell you what this one is about. Please do not read this book, I'm begging you.

*In other words: me.

Future Leaders of Nowhere by Emily O'Beirne

A bunch of 15/16 year olds go to a summer camp designed to teach leadership and cooperation. None of them appear to be very excited about it, but some are more invested than others. Two girls in the camp, with their own host of personal life issues, get off on the wrong foot, each being the leader of one of several groups formed for a political fantasy strategy game. Inevitably, they grow a friendship, and from there, they uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yeah you get it

It was refreshing to read a sapphic story which

Last point especially—the story provides a few setups for some Classic High School Drama, but pointedly denies the follow-through. The funny thing about reading this immediately after Her Name in the Sky was that I had forgotten that sapphic YA fiction could be good. The main characters have coherent thoughts and differing personalities, including but not limited to "competent" or "interesting." Their struggles are unique to their life circumstances and do not rely on petty drama. They are also very strong-willed and well-spoken (for 16 year olds), which is a refreshing change of pace. It's not at all a "coming-of-age" novel, it just happens to be about kids who are coming of age. Claiming otherwise would betray the depth the characters have to begin with, in my opinion.

This book wrapped up nicely, I thought. The loose ends were left loose for a reason. I certainly didn't feel betrayed or unsatisfied. I wanted more, for sure, but not because there wasn't enough. Lucky for me, there's a sequel. I'd love to talk more about why I'm excited to read that sequel, but I'd rather not spoil anything. Please do read this one.

What makes a sapphic novel good?

In a way, the characters of each of the books were... believable? I guess? All of the characters of Her Name were stale and uninteresting, but believable. Like real people, I suppose, but pretty boring real people that I don't particularly want to read about. The characters in Future Leaders, however, had real depth. Real beliefs, and convictions, and admitted biases, and faults, and blind spots, and goals, and questions. It's exhausting to try to find the interesting parts of characters that just aren't; O'Beirne did me a favour, and let my mind wander to other questions about the characters.

I think to myself a lot that I don't enjoy romance—as a genre. I'm all soft and mushy on the inside, even if I tend to hide it out of embarrassment. But the genre isn't just about romance as a concept, it's a formula. I haven't read much of it, to be honest. But what I have read has just been too predictable for me (something I didn't figure would bother me, to be honest). That doesn't make the genre bad, it's just not what I want. I love stories of sapphic romance, but I only seem to want it when it's incidental.

I'd classify the first book in this list as romance, but not the second. Some of that might be my bias against the associations with the genre, but the other part of me does sincerely believe that's the most fitting. Future Leaders is... I dunno, I don't even want to label it. Yes that's cliché. But really, I can't think of a concise way to, so I won't.

What makes a sapphic novel good, to me at least, is a good story that has sapphic characters in it. I don't want to read about a tumultuous, dramatic relationship that somehow finally works on the last 5 pages. I want to read a good story about anything else, where two (or more!) of the main characters are like whoops guess I'm gay for you.

What does not make a sapphic novel good is on-again off-again breakups, fighting over petty drama, causing problems solely to hurt each other, or spooky homophobia. Maybe those can each be used on occasion, but they're cayenne and cardamom. Her Name asked me to eat a plate of it and nothing else.

I wrote this largely for myself. I needed to put the hunch about what I like and don't like into words. I'm bored of being disappointed by stories that aren't written for me! If you, dear reader, got anything out of this, then neat. Feel free to ask me for recommendations or to give me recommendations.