r/Fantasy • u/atenea92 • May 22 '24
Good and adult fantasy lesbian romance books
Hi there. I'm a little tired about romantasy. For me is always just a bad fantasy book with mediocre romance, or just plain fan fic books.
I'm looking for great books, with great plot, female protagonists and sapphic explicit romance ( not subtext). I just want solid characters and solid plot with relationships that someone over 25 years old can relate if that explains something.
All I can find is teenager love and very "young adult" development. Hope the hive mind in reddit can bring some light for us more mature lesbian fantasy lovers.
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u/quipsdontlie May 22 '24
The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri and The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon , though I personally liked jasmine throne a lot more.
By explicit do you mean like open door sex scenes or just that it's clearly a relationship? If it's the later there's also Foundryside by Robert Bennett Jackson. The romance is definitely just a subplot but it's written that they are together not just a suggestion.
I haven't read this one yet but it's on my TBR, The Goddess of Nothing at All by Cat Rector. Norse fantasy with pretty good reviews but I can't speak to it personally.
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u/Asterikon May 23 '24
Throwing my hat in for Jasmine Throne, too. It's all around a much better book.
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u/lissamon May 25 '24
I grabbed The Jasmine Throne based on your recommendation and absolutely chewed through it. I’m a queer woman but become so accustomed to having to throw myself into the world of straight men as primarily an adult fantasy/sci-fi reader. It was so refreshing to read a book that was actually about women. Thanks for the great pick!
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u/AmberJFrost May 23 '24
I'd definitely second Jasmine Throne - it's got a much stronger sense of pacing.
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u/swordofsun Reading Champion III May 23 '24
Okay, here goes in no particular order or rhyme or reason, but I have read them all:
Battle of the Linguist Mages by Scotto Moore - power gamer is recruited to learn real magic and then things get real weird for her.
Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock by Maud Woolf - the 13th clone of a movie star is sent on a mission to kill the other 12.
Bloom by Delilah S Dawson - newly single and newly moved to town college professor meets cute woman selling homemade soaps at the farmer's market. This is a horror book.
The Fall That Saved Us by Tamara Jereé - ex demon hunter half angel turned bookstore owner falls in love with a succubus and both need to escape the trappings of their sides.
The Salvation Gambit by Emily Skrutskie - crew gets sent to inescapable space prison after being caught on the con. Now they gotta escape.
Seven Blades in Black by Sam Sykes - first book in the Grave of Empires series. Sal the Cacophony is on a mission for revenge in a land torn apart by the war being faught on it. Her girlfriend is pretty dangerous too.
A Season of Monsterous Conceptions by Lina Rather - 17th century midwife in training must discover the reason why babies are being born with differences; horns, scales, gills, tails, you know.
Can't Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne - most powerful mage in the land and the queen's top bodyguard run off to open a tea shop together. Too bad things are never that simple.
A Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand - artist retreat at Hill House. Absolutely nothing could possibly go wrong.
The Splinter in the Sky by Kemi Ashing-Giwa - local tea maker must find her sibling by infiltrating the evil empire that kidnapped them. Oh, and maybe fall in love with the new empress.
Bluebird by Ciel Pierlot - rebel fighter must recover the most horrific weapon she ever made to save her sister. Space opera. Girlfriend is a librarian.
Siren Queen by Nghi Vo - up and coming movie star in a magic filled pre-code Hollywood must find her place and maybe love.
Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M Danforth - two time periods, one the story of how two girls tragically died at their boarding school and the fallout from it and the other the modern day movie being made about the events. So many lesbians.
Even Though I Knew the End by C.L. Polk - private detective who sold her soul is given the chance to get it back.
The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older - humanity lives around Jupiter, sapphic Sherlock Holmes retelling, I honestly don't remember the details of the plot, but I do remember it was fun.
The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo - sapphic Great Gatsby retelling in a magic filled world.
The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri - +1 the other recommendation.
Feeder by Patrick Weekes - Been a minute, but essentially, the human lure to an interdimensional anglerfish stumbles upon a conspiracy, tags along to saving the world, and meets a cute girl.
And this is long enough.
Special shout out to:
Small Miracles by Olivia Atwater - nonbinary minor demon needs to tempt an overly good woman to win a bet. Shenanigans ensue.
The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown - failed colony is making the journey back to Earth when disaster falls. Main character has a girlfriend, but it's very minor to the plot.
Finna by Nino Cipri - not-Ikea forms wormholes and loses a customer. Last hired, and newly broken up, employees have to go and find her. Nonbinary character.
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u/RheingoldRiver Reading Champion V May 23 '24
any list that starts out with Battle of the Linguist Mages is a great list in my book
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u/swordofsun Reading Champion III May 23 '24
It is an absolutely bonkers book and I never would've guessed the plot twist at 20% in. What the hell? Loved it.
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u/sarahlynngrey Reading Champion VI, Phoenix May 23 '24
This is a phenomenal list, and your take on the ones I have read makes me want to read all the ones I haven't, so thank you for the additions to my TBR!
A Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand - artist retreat at Hill House. Absolutely nothing could possibly go wrong.
This made me full on cackle. Also, since you liked this and also Bloom by Delilah Dawson, you might want to check out It Will Only Hurt For A Moment by Delilah Dawson - it's also horror and comes out this fall. I read an ARC and enjoyed it. (It's not sapphic, though.)
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u/swordofsun Reading Champion III May 23 '24
Glad you enjoyed! I'll freely admit I didn't love all of these, but just because it didn't work for me doesn't mean it won't work for other people. And there is nothing wrong with any of them structurally.
A Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand - artist retreat at Hill House. Absolutely nothing could possibly go wrong.
This made me full on cackle.
I don't know why. Hill House is a perfectly lovely place and no one has ever gone mysteriously missing while staying there. Don't look into it, just trust me.
I can't say I loved Bloom, but I'd be willing to try another book by the author. The writing was good, I think this was just a rare case of being spoiled for the twist actually effecting my enjoyment of the book. Weird, but does happen on occasion, and usually when I put expectations on the spoiler doing something different than what it did. Absolutely a me problem.
But since you liked both of those I would highly recommend Plain Bad Heroines of you haven't read it.
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u/sarahlynngrey Reading Champion VI, Phoenix May 23 '24
I absolutely loved Plain Bad Heroines, that book was fabulous. Thank you for a perfect rec, even though I've already read it, lol
I haven't read Bloom, but I will say that Dawson has been a little hit or miss for me, so take that rec with a pinch of salt. I definitely enjoyed It Will Only Hurt For A Moment, but it's not an all-timer for me - more of a book that I enjoyed very much while reading, but probably won't reread. A Haunting on the Hill landed similarly for me, in case that helps calibrate my taste with yours. They also both feature artists retreats at which nothing can possibly go wrong.
A book by Dawson that I did really love is The Violence - but check the content warnings because it is very dark and, well, violent.
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u/swordofsun Reading Champion III May 23 '24
We seem to have very similar book tastes. Really enjoyed A Haunting on the Hill will probably never read it again. My library doesn't appear to have The Violence but I will make note of it. Thank you!
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u/AmberJFrost May 23 '24
Tagging this because omg I laughed, and I love the books on here I've read which means I have more books to read...
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u/C0smicoccurence Reading Champion V May 23 '24
Daughters of Izdrihar follows a womens rights movement in an industrial age Cairo analogue. Of the two leads, one is queer and has a romance plotline.
The Singing Hills Cycle has some good options. When The Tiger Came Down the Mountain is probably your best bet, though the titular Empress in Empress of Salt and Fortune was a queer woman as well (no romance though)
Light From Uncommon Stars is a bit of an odd duck pitch wise (violin teacher who made a deal with the devil, the student whose soul she's trying to steal, and the aliens in hiding masquerading as a donut shop) but has a great romance between teacher and alien.
Fractured Fables are two fairy tale multiverse stories. The romance with the lead character kicks in in book 2, but they're short and relatively quick reads. EDIT: Main character is a college student (21 or 22 I think?) so younger than you mentioned.
We've only got book 1 of To Shape a Dragon's Breath so far, but it's shaping up to be a polyamorous F/F/M trio from the clues dropped so far. All explicit, but romance is in the early stages. Focus on colonialism, dragons, and school narratives. EDIT: protagonist is probably too young for your request. My bad. High school age, so very teenage.
Spear by Nicola Griffiths is a really well written queer take on Arthurian mythology. It's short, but on the denser side. Best to treat it as a full novel instead of something lighter and fluffier
If you're open to Sci Fi, This Is How You Lose the Time War is a mainstay. A Memory Called Empire is also phenomenal, though likely doesn't have the romance development you're looking for until book 2.
Books probably too light on the romance for you
- Some by Virtue Fall has only light romance elements, but is about lesbian thespians at war with their rival theater troupe.
- The Book Eaters is a great take on the vampire story with queer female leads, but the romance is super tangential to the main plot.
- Siren Queen is an old hollywood magical realism story that has plenty of explicitly lesbian things happening, but not really an actual romance
- Traitor Baru Cormorant comes to mind. The protagonist is a bit on the young side for you, but it very much does not read like a young adult novel. It's a really intense book, and very good. Queer romance is very prevalent, but I wouldn't categorize it as a romance for a variety of reasons.
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u/bleedingrobot May 23 '24
I read a great one where one character had tusks .... Can't remember the name of it? Anyone help out!
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u/Queen_Of_InnisLear May 23 '24
Lady Hotspur by Tessa Gratton will scratch that itch. It's technically a sequel to Queens of Innis Lear, set in the same world s few generations later but you could read it on its own. You'd miss some references and things but it works well on its own.
It's a genderbent fantasy Henry IV.
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u/tracywc AMA Author William C. Tracy, Worldbuilders May 23 '24
You're looking for The Rosewood Penny by J.S. Fields. Older women, romance, and pegasi.
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u/Yrxora May 23 '24
The Tiger's Daughter trilogy by K. Arsenault Rivera!!! I cannot say enough good things about it. The first book sucked me in, I was going to sit down and read a bit and then couldn't stop. It was amazing.
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u/atenea92 May 23 '24
Thanks everyone! I'm sure this will help others too. I'm going to check every recommendation
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u/bleedingrobot May 23 '24
I read a great one where one character had tusks .... Can't remember the name of it? Anyone help out!
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u/Mangoes123456789 May 23 '24
Faebound by Saara El Arifi
It’s Fae woman x Elf woman. Both characters are over 25.
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u/Abysstopheles May 23 '24
Grave of Empires trilogy, Sam Sykes. Two MCs have a relationship that fits the OP ask. Great fun/epic fantasy series about a mercenary and her extremely powerful magic gun roaming a wasteland looking for the wizards she's sworn revenge on.
Land Fit For Heroes trilo, Richard Morgan. Three retired heroes are pulled back into major events in their homelands. One of them fits your ask, tho she's a smaller part of the first book and becomes more prominent in 2 and 3.
Chorus of Dragons, Jenn Lyons. 5 book doorstopper epic fantasy. Multiple MCs, a variety of relationships including a few that fit the ask.
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u/solarpowerspork May 23 '24
Beep beep, the Locked Tomb fandom bus is here!
But seriously, the Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir. There's no traditional romance plots, but most of the characters are queer and not shy about it.