Welcome to a post I’ve been super anxious to share but I couldn’t postpone any longer, especially since Pride Month is approaching!
It’s no secret that F/F relationships are hugely under-represented, but that doesn’t mean they’re not there. What we need to do is find them, read them, recommend them as such, because it’s not enough to support authors if you’re not going to address other readers and tell them that the representation they’re looking for is right under their eyes.
Too many times I’ve read about people commenting under someone’s review or status, thanking them for stating that a specific rep is present in a book they’ve already heard about, but they didn’t know until then had it. I’ve been guilty of this (not making it clear what kind of rep is in a book) in the past and I still am sometimes, but I’m trying to do better.
Don’t get me wrong, F/F is still miles ahead if we compare it to books featuring, for example, enby/f or enby/m or enby/enby, but for some reason a lot of people tend to hide the fact that two women love each other within a book.
Anyway, this isn’t going to be a post about how deeply rooted in all of us misogyny is, so let’s move on to my recs! These are all books or graphic novels that I’ve read myself. Some of them I loved, some I liked, some I at least partly enjoyed and I felt like they deserve their place in this post. If you notice some aren’t here it’s because I either didn’t read them yet or I simply didn’t like them.
I tried to mention all the rep I could remember from each book, but as I said I didn’t always keep track of that in my past reviews and sometimes even after doing some research in other people’s reviews I still can’t find which rep is there exactly. Other times the book itself doesn’t make it explicit for whatever reason. Every book has a link to goodreads and to my review (if I’ve written one).
Contemporary:
๐ย Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
This is a rather old and one of the first explicitly queer YA novel about two teenage girls falling in love with each other and it’s also one of the best-developed relationships I’ve ever had the pleasure to read about.
Rep: lesbian MC and LI
๐ณ๏ธโ๐ย A&B by J.C. Lillis
This is technically the sequel to another YA m/m novel (and you should definitely read that one too!) but it features different MCs and the characters from the first novel are also pretty important but the central plot and relationship is about two girls who are rivals at a musical competition. One thing I loved about it other than the relationship is the discussion about artistic creativity and how the two girls approach the artistic process differently. It’s also about letting go of your idols when you realize they’re not as perfect as you thought they were. Basically, I loved everything about this book, and J.C. Lillis is an incredible writer whose writing is so clever and funny you can’t not love it.
Rep: bi MC; lesbian LI
๐ย Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli
I loved the bisexual rep and the f/f relationship in it. There is one scene that didn’t sit well with me and with others, and I acknowledge that without automatically “cancelling” the book, which is something a lot of people have done when they’re not even part of the rep portrayed here. This is not the place for a discussion about all this but basically this is one of the reasons I still haven’t reviewed this book, so all I’m saying is that I loved it but be aware of the fact that Leah at some point does try to police her love interest’s sexuality and this is not called out in the book.
Rep:ย fat bi MC; sapphic (still figuring out a label) LI
๐ณ๏ธโ๐ย Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde
This was really fun! I don’t remember the details but I know that I loved the issues it brought up and I think the con setting was so fun to read about.
Rep: Chinese-Australian bi MC, fat&autistic MC (not the queer one but the other POV character), sapphic (bi?) LI
๐ย The Melody of You and Me by M. Hollis
I love this author and this book made for a delightful and steamy contemporary read while also touching on important issues that new adults face (like the pressure to have your life completely figured out before you’re thirty).
Rep: pan MC; Filipino lesbian LI
๐ณ๏ธโ๐ย The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed
This is probably one of the absolute best contemporary YA novels I’ve read. It focuses mostly on three girls but it’s so much more universal than that, and one of the three MCs is queer and she Gets The Girl in the course of the novel.
Rep: Latina sapphic MC; queer LI
SFF:
๐ย The Abyss Surrounds Us by Emily Skrutskie
Pirate girlfriends fighting sea monsters, forbidden love and power dynamics. Do you honestly need me to say more?
Rep: Chinese, sapphic MC; sapphic LI
๐ณ๏ธโ๐ย Reign of the Fallen by Sarah Glenn Marsh
I have to say the f/f relationship didn’t start as something I loved, but I grew to like it in the end. I also found the world very interesting and the fact that some of the themes in this book aren’t usually present in YA novels, as they’re really kind of dark. So definitely make sure to check the TWs before you read it because this story doesn’t pull any punches.
Rep: bi MC; sapphic LI
๐ย The Queen of Ieflaria by Effe Calvin
The relationship was really cute and my favorite part of the book, plus there’s a lot of fun mythological creatures and a kitten.
Rep: pan-coded MC/LI
๐ณ๏ธโ๐ย Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff
This is the sequel to Nevernight and while Nevernight only hinted at Mia’s bisexuality, it is fully explored here. I will go as far as saying this was one of the best portrayals of bisexuality I’ve read so far in a fantasy novel. And the relationship itself is something I think about every day once a day at the very least. Plus, the whole book is a total mind-fuck until the very end.
Rep: bi MC; bi (?) LI
๐ย Moon-Bright Tides by RoAnna Sylver
This short story is about a mermaid and a witch falling in love and it features amazing worldbuilding. It’s really sweet and hopeful and the romance is very cute.
Rep: sapphic MC and LI
๐ณ๏ธโ๐ย Come to the Rocks by Christin Haws
This is yet another mermaid/human romance that I enjoyed very much, but it also deals with heavy themes: the MC is being stalked by her ex boyfriend and there’s a constant feel of danger that makes it impossible to classify this as a fluffy romance, even though the romance itself is really cute. So, if you’re in the mood to read a short f/f thriller with a happy ending, this is for you.
Rep: fat, bi MC; sapphic LI
๐ย Perfettoย (Trilogia di Lilac #1) by Alessia Esse
This is only in Italian so sorry if you can’t read in this language, but I’m pretty sure this was the first f/f story I’ve ever read and I couldn’t not include it. I also didn’t know going into it that it was going to be f/f and that’s because nobody ever talks about it (pretends to be shocked). Anyway, this trilogy is set in a dystopian world where only women survived a disease that wiped out all men. The disease was so devastating that talking about that time, talking about men and any piece of art where men are portrayed, is forbidden. Like with any good dystopian, what the protagonist believed to be the truth is slowly deconstructed throughout the trilogy. I’ve read this ages ago when I wasn’t as much of a critical reviewer as I am now, but I remember not being able to take my eyes off the page until I finished all three books (plus the novellas), and I even gave them to my best friend as a present and he loved them too.
Rep:ย sapphic MC and LI
Historical/Retelling:
๐ณ๏ธโ๐ย The Unbinding of Mary Reade by Miriam McNamara
This is weird because the book follows two romances, one taking place in the past and one in the present, and I weirdly enjoyed the past one (m/f) more because I thought it had more chemistry (until a certain point at least). I also didn’t love some of the tropes used when it comes to the relationships, and you can read more in my actual review, but the f/f romance is nevertheless probably worth checking out if the premise of the book intrigued you and if you can deal with the massive trigger warnings (that my friend Acqua helpfully listed in her review)
Rep: bi MC and LI
๐ย All Out by Various
You all probably already know about this anthology, it’s not only f/f but eight out of seventeen stories feature an f/f romance!
Rep: ace girls, bi girls, lesbian girls, it’s kinda hard to tell sometimes because these labels weren’t used in historical contexts
๐ณ๏ธโ๐ย Ripped Pages by M. Hollis
This Rapunzel retelling made me cry a lot in a cathartic way and I think everyone should read it.
Rep: lesbian MC, pan or bi LI, side mlm characters
Comics:
๐ย Princess Princess Ever After by Katie O’Neill
This was SO cute and it’s a middle grade queer fairy tale (which honestly should be enough for you to start reading it right now, especially since it’s free). Trigger warnings for abusive sister and fat-shaming.
Rep: fat lesbian (?) MC, pan (?) LI
Goodreadsย |ย Read hereย |ย My review
๐ณ๏ธโ๐ย Always Human by Ari Walkingnorth
Listen, this is my favorite graphic novel ever and I love it so freaking much and also my biggest accomplishment in my >20 years on this planet has been making all the gay side of goodreads and twitter read it and fall in love with it. Just read it!!!
Rep:ย sapphic MC; disabled, Chilean-Australian LI
Goodreadsย |ย Read hereย |ย My review
๐ย Rock and Riot by Chelsey Furedi
This is queer and diverse Grease and it has A LOT of different reps: aro, ace, aro-ace, pan, bi, lesbian, gay, trans, genderqueer, etc etc. I was a fool for not writing down all the specific rep for all the specific characters, but it features two f/f romances and it’s literally the greatest thing on the internet.
Goodreadsย |ย Read hereย |ย My review
Poetry:
๐ณ๏ธโ๐ย Heaven or This by Topaz Winters
This is a sapphic poetry collection and I had to include it in this post. It’s really best if you read it for yourself because I don’t know how to do poetry justice, but believe me that you need to read it.
Goodreads |ย Read hereย |ย My review
And there you have it! I actually can’t wait until I’ve read enough f/f romances to be able to write another rec post. If I got something wrong about the rep or anything else please feel free to comment and I will fix it.
I would also like to know your favorite book or comic with a f/f relationship, or your favorite f/f relationship in general. Basically, give me all your recs so I can add them to my TBR!ย
Lastly, this type of posts actually takes a lot of time and research to write. I do it because it’s my hobby and it’s something I love doing, and I would never expect anything in return other than moral support and recognition of my work. That said, I ended up creating a Ko-Fi account because it’s free and Why Not! So while I’ll leave the button down here and I would definitely appreciate any small contribution, I also definitely don’t want anyone to feel obligated to do anything!
THIS POST WAS SO GOOD THANK YOU I was looking for f/f fantasy romance for !!so long!!! And this helped me so much โฅ
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You’re welcome! I’m so glad you liked it ๐
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This is a fantastic post! So many books that I need to add to my TBR. Some of the contemporaries I’ve heard of but haven’t gotten around to reading them. This totally reminded me that I should pick them up soon. โฅ
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I’m really glad you enjoyed the post! I hope you’ll like the books when you pick them up!
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Thatโs an awesome list of recs… canโt wait to read ๐๐
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Thank you!
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I love you and this post! โค
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I love you ๐๐๐
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Love this post!! This is the F/F content that I NEED in my life rn. ๐
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I’m so glad you enjoyed the post! I hope you’ll like the books if you read them ๐
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this is an amazing post, silvia! thanks for writing it. i need to read more f/f sff so these recs are so helpful. i have the abyss surrounds us on hold at the library atm and iโm so keen to get to it
(also, just fyi – pls donโt take this as critique, this post is fantastic – iโm pretty sure that the li in queens of geek is a black american lesbian ๐๐)
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Thank you so much for telling me!!! I wasn’t sure because a lot of these books’ rep is getting mixed up in my head, I will fix this as soon as I’m able to! ๐ธ
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Oh thank you so much for taking the time to do this, I loved all of your recommendations, so many new books to check out ๐ I read and really enjoyed Queens of Geek and I really, really want to read The Nowhere Girls ๐
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I’m so glad you liked the post! โฅ The Nowhere Girls is a book I’ll never forget, I hope you’ll love it too โฅ
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Thank you sososos much for this!!! I’ve been reading so many m/m stories and I didn’t even notice until recently just how little f/f I have in my life. I’m just going to add all of the books I haven’t read yet on my TBR on Goodreads and get to them ASAP <3!
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You’re welcome! โฅ and, I wasn’t reading much f/f until last year either, and when I started I didn’t really know where to begin, that’s why I made this list. I hope you’ll enjoy them! โฅ
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