Welcome to a new year with the Queer Lit Review blog! To start the year off, let me introduce our reviewers and what we're all excited for before we get into the reviews.
Tali L. - West Roxbury, Generalist Librarian
I'm looking forward to summer! The darkest, coldest time of the year always has me daydreaming about beach season.
Ana - Librarian
This year I plan to learn to crochet, so I'm looking forward to starting a new hobby!
Laura B. - Central Library, Collection Librarian
I'm looking forward to 2026 being yet another year of me attending an unreasonable amount of hockey games!
Puck (Robin G.) - Central Library, Cataloger and Classifier II
I'm attending Intercon, a LARP convention, for the first time and I got into most of my top choice LARPs! I'm particularly excited to participate in Desaparecides, opens a new window, a LARP exploring life under the military dictatorship in Argentina in the '70s through mechanics involving actually dancing Argentine tango. I haven't danced tango since before the pandemic.
Logan H. - Central Library, Reader Services Librarian
I’m very much looking forward to the new Animal Crossing New Horizons 3.0 update! After years of no updates this is so exciting!
Jordan D. - Central Library, Reader Services Specialist
I might not be much of an artist, but I'm looking forward to taking a beginner mandala drawing class in January! I've also taken a few crochet classes recently, but have yet to complete anything more than a few granny squares, so I'm hoping to dive into crochet as well this year.
And now onto the reviews! This month we have two high school girls falling in love, teen enemies to lovers over a series of hexes, and a queer retelling of Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher.
These titles may be available in other formats or languages. Check our catalog for availability.
DISCLAIMER: We do not review books by author request.
Happy Reading!
Title/Author: Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden
Reviewer: Tali
Summary: When high schoolers Liza and Annie meet by chance at an art museum, they strike up a friendship that quickly blossoms into love. But can their romance survive the need for secrecy – and the consequences of being discovered?
Year of Publication: 1982
Genre: Young adult fiction
Format: Physical book
Length: 233 pages
LGBTQ+ Orientation: Lesbian main character and love interest, lesbian side characters
Content Warnings: Characters forced out of the closet, homophobia from authority figures and peers
Well-Written/Editor Needed: Well-written
Would I Recommend?: Yes
Personal Thoughts: “I went downstairs to Dad’s encyclopedia and looked up HOMOSEXUALITY, but that didn’t tell me much about any of the things I felt. What struck me most, though, was that, in that whole long article, the word “love” wasn’t used even once. That made me mad; it was as if whoever wrote the article didn’t know that gay people actually love each other. The encyclopedia writers ought to talk to me, I thought as I went back to bed; I would tell them something about love.”
This classic of young adult literature broke new ground by being the first in its genre to end happily for its lesbian protagonists. Though it’s more than 40 years old, Annie on My Mind largely still holds up. On an emotional level, it’s a beautiful portrayal of young love. The scenes showing the growing attraction and feelings between Liza and Annie are very sweetly written and feel deeply real. The book is also an enjoyable snapshot of teen courtship in the era before smartphones and the Internet, as Liza and Annie arrange meetings via landline phones and write letters to communicate their feelings.
Beyond the romance plotline, I found Liza to be a likable protagonist in general. I appreciated reading about her efforts to be true to herself, to understand the adults and authority figures in her life, and to do the right thing even when she isn’t sure how. Though her circumstances as a private school student are specific, I think many teens can relate to her challenges even if they are facing them in different settings.
In all, while some aspects of the book may come across as dated, Annie on My Mind will still resonate with many teen and adult readers today.
Title/Author: No Charm Done by Tori Anne Martin
Reviewer: Laura B.
Summary: Lily and Chrys have been enemies ever since newcomer Chrys out magicked Lily. When the girls start hexing each other back and forth, they create a curse that threatens their whole town and are forced to work together to stop it.
Series/Standalone: Standalone
Genre/Sub-Genre: YA Fantasy/Romance
Book Format: Physical Book
Length: 384 Pages
LGBTQ+ Orientation: Lesbian
Content Warnings: Nothing major
Well-Written/Editor Needed: Well-written
Would I Recommend?: Not particularly
Personal thoughts: I am not a big cozy subgenre reader, and this leaned much more cozy fantasy than I expected, so I might just not be the target audience. But I honestly found it to be kind of boring. The curse didn’t feel like it had big enough stakes even though it was supposedly threatening the town, and I never felt like Lily and Chrys were in real danger. Which does all track for cozy fantasy! I would definitely be interested to know if readers who like the subgenre more than I do find this book more compelling.
Outside of that, I also didn’t really feel the chemistry between Lily and Chrys. When they were rivals, there weren’t any simmering feelings – they just flat out didn’t like each other. Because of this, I didn’t feel any real desire for them to get together once they started hanging out. If you’re going to write an enemies-to-dating story, I want them to have heavy romantic tension when they’re enemies, or else the falling for each other part isn’t as satisfying.
Overall, there was nothing about this book that was bad or offensive; to me it was just forgettable and not very compelling. Even just a few days after reading it, I have already forgotten a lot about it which is a clear sign it wasn’t holding my attention. But if the plot interests you and you love low-stakes fantasy, you might really enjoy it – I think this was a case of “it’s not you, it’s me” more than anything else!
Title/Author: What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
Reviewer: Ana
Summary: In this retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, a non-binary former soldier returns to the home of childhood friends when one of them falls ill. Once they arrive, though, it becomes clear that something is very wrong – with their friends, the house, the wildlife, and even the land itself.
Series/Standalone: The first novella in what’s currently a trilogy.
Genre/Sub-Genre: Gothic Historical Horror
Book Format: eBook
LGBTQ+ Orientation: Non-binary
Content Warnings: Death (including animals), gore/dissection of an animal, body horror/possession (including animals), mentions of war and PTSD, fire, illness, alcohol consumption
Well-Written/Editor Needed: Extremely well-written!
Would I Recommend?: YES!
Personal thoughts: I’m about 3 years late to the game, but this was an absolute masterpiece. Edgar Allan Poe is very special to me – he was the first “classics” author that I fell in love with, putting me on the path to librarianship – so I devour any book based on his work. If you’re also familiar with him, you’ll enjoy all the little Easter eggs scattered throughout this.
The worldbuilding, character development, atmosphere, pace, and humor make it really stand out from other retellings I’ve read. Despite its setting in a fictional country, it does take place in 1890s Europe and references true events. I learned about Balkan wars, which I hadn’t previously heard of, and there are nods to the American Civil War and author Beatrix Potter. The entire cast of characters is delightful: curious, thoughtful, and genuinely funny. I caught myself laughing out loud multiple times! Even the characters who start out strangers care deeply for each other in touching ways. Kingfisher strikes an excellent balance between all that and the spookiness. Usually I’m not much of a Gothic Horror person (I adore the vibes, it just tends to move a bit too slow for my taste), nor do I scare easily. But multiple parts creeped me out enough to give me goosebumps.
Kingfisher has my lifelong respect for creating such a fleshed-out world. Her descriptions make the setting come to life, and her attention to detail is among the best I’ve encountered. She creates entire new sets of pronouns with specific instances for the usages! This makes the fictional country – and its language, history, and customs – feel like it actually exists. She expands on it with each addition to the series, and I’m happy to report that I found both of them to be just as excellent.
What Moves the Dead is genuinely one of the best books I’ve ever read. Here’s hoping that the series continues!
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