Two Sentence-ish Sometimes-Horror Reviews

Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth**: 4. A coming-of-age story through a queer lens, as Cameron— expert swimmer, not so expert at hiding her desires— falls in-love with her best friend and betrayed by her, ending up in a conversion camp. This feels like a good story for teenagers to see queer people in their many different forms keep the cores of their beings intact.

The Widow of Pale Harbor by Hester Fox*: 3.5. She’s a possible witch who was married to and widowed by the town patriarch; he’s a wanna-be preacher with a dead wife and baby. Together, they fight crime. It was a lot of fun, and I think anyone looking for romance and mystery will enjoy it.

Cantoras by Carolina De Robertis**: 4. Several lesbians find a retreat by the sea in a regime-led Uruguay, and this story follows their lives as they choose wisely, poorly, and even tragically in cases of love, oppression, and freedom; Cantoras means singers in Spanish. I enjoyed realistic and flawed characters who wanted to be the best version of themselves, but struggle with what that means.

A Lullaby of Witches by Hester Fox*: 3. Two witches are drawn together from across the centuries, connected by a common bloodline; but what does the ghost really want from the descendent of flesh and bone: just to be remembered or something more? It’s slightly less gothic than its predecessors due to a modern protagonist, and it’s an okay story and romance with a predictable ending.

Strange Creatures by Phoebe North**: 3.  A young woman recreates and loses herself the fantasy world she once shared with her missing brother; reality and fantasy become one as she explores her feelings, including those about the girl her brother used to date. A lot of people like this book, and the themes of damage as this exponential force and the desire for a fantasy often resonate with me as well. This just didn’t catch me like that, even if textually sound.

*All of Hester Fox’s work that I’ve read focuses on a heroine during a specific time period (which varies but is always “Gothic” in tone). The protagonist is usually an outcast for some reason, and public opinion of her is not very high. There’s also a romance, and so far it’s all been with males who have a reason to be an insider. The ending is always at least sorta happy. Add some dark secrets and mix liberally with elements of the supernatural.

**There was a meme going around that listed a series of Lesbian/Queer novels for every mood. I read every one of them, except for Salt Fish Girl as I had to order a hard copy. I replaced it with a novel, The Tiger Flu, from the same author which was also focused on queer relationships.