I READ 5: wlw (f/f) romances

Mina’s channel: / minareads
other sapphic faves:
Stage Dreams- Melanie Gillman
Out on Good Behavior- Dahlia Adler
becky albertalli's posts:
/ csu7kb3j_uc
/ csu8npsjaod
LINKS AND THINGS:
INSTAGRAM: / chandlerainsley
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banner & intro art by: linktr.ee/rach...
FAQS
◈ Where do you put your dust jackets?! - they're in a storage container in my closet
◈ Where are your bookshelves from? - they are ikea billy bookcases with trim pieces added to the front
◈ What's your skincare routine? - current faves are linked in my amazon shop
◈ What do you use to film on? - a canon 90D (lens info in amazon shop)
◈ Where do you get your audiobooks - library, libro.fm, audible plus

[@MinaReads]

i completely agree with what you said about steaminess in romances! to me there's a difference between something simply being explicit and something genuinely being hot, loved hearing you talk about that😁 thank you so much for the shoutout! Treasure is so underrated so I'm super happy you enjoyed it. Loved this vlog as always💝

[@chandlerainsley]

thank you friend

[@jaginaiaelectrizs6341]

AGREEED!!!! (About there being a difference between mere explicitness vs actual steaminess^-^)

[@abookishmess]

That click noise at the beginning is so damn satisfying 🤣

[@alyssanybakken]

right!! I literally look forward to hearing it haha

[@txdave]

omg its my least favorite thing ever LOL

[@aimun5255]

someone once described it as bone crack and I've never been able to hear it in the same way again

[@Classyelll]

Cannot recommend more highly This Is How You Lose The Time War - one of my all time favorite sapphic reads

[@lakshmis9772]

YES !!! I finished it yesterday and sobbed through the ending .. It was so good !!

[@MeeshaK]

I agree with all your points on Tryst Six Venom but still ended up loving it. I've just been waiting for a steamy f/f romance for so long and and PD is my steam queen. But I'm so excited to read these other sapphic stories.

[@chandlerainsley]

i'm so glad you loved it!

[@fatimapacheco4062]

Same here, the steam made up for all the unnecessary drama. The only thing I hated was the epilogue.

[@addicted2naps206]

a friend of mine sent me a copy of One Last Stop and after being in a 1yr reading slump, this was just what i needed to kick me out of it! i totally forgot about the "being stuck in time" aspect when i picked it up after having it collect dust for a bit, so i was so confused when they tried to figure out what was wrong with Jane haha

[@serenescenepack]

I recently discovered your KZbin channel and I have been obsessed with your videos ever since

[@chandlerainsley]

glad to have you here

[@CharleyBSmith]

I'm sorry girl but any time your cat is on camera I am completely ignoring you

[@chandlerainsley]

valid

[@Marie45610]

I didn't like Tryst Six Venom as much as her other books either. I felt that there wasn't enough reason for... pretty much anything between them. There's no reason given* for Clay to hate Olivia (Olivia hating Clay makes more sense, Clay is vile towards Olivia). And their attraction was purely physical. Also! As someone who has Native blood, I felt that there wasn't a reason to make Olivia and her family Native Americans. They don't live on or near the reservation, and their culture plays no part in why people hate them. Clay's "side of the tracks" hates her family because they are poor, not because they are Native. Their culture has no bearing on anything beyond a flag being stolen. But there was no significance to that part of her heritage at all. It's something that I notice that Douglas does in her books, where she makes these ethnically diverse characters, but writes them the same way she writes her white characters. Their ethnicity and culture play no real role in anything that happens in the story. Whether they are white or not, they are still written and behave exactly the same way the white characters do. I don't know, it bothered me less when Jax in her Fallen Away was mentioned to be part Native American because people weren't sure because he never met his mother and didn't know about that part of his heritage at all. Olivia and her family do, and Douglas went out of her way to say what tribe they were part of. It just gives me Stephine Meyers vibes with how she used a real tribe in her books but didn't bother to do any research into it and do it justice or add any nuance to it. (also the title doesn't make a whole lot of sense)

[@andiman44]

People shit on Twilight for the abusive, co-dependent, toxic ass relationship between Bella and Edward but not enough people mention the disrespectful representation of the Quileute tribe that Stephanie just did whatever the hell she wanted with in her books. I’m just glad that someone else noticed that bullshit because it seems to get glossed over when discussing what’s wrong with the books (the first is pretty solid though).

[@alyssanybakken]

if you’re looking for more wlw recs ‘Written in the Stars’ by Alexandria Bellefleur was one of my favs this year :) it’s definitely not the most well written but it was fun!

[@karynnthedreamer]

Yessss I loved this book! Just finished the sequel last week and I'm excited for the third in the series :)

[@alyssanybakken]

@@karynnthedreamer I didn’t even realize there was going to be a third one!! omg I’m so excited

[@karynnthedreamer]

@@alyssanybakken yesssss!! it's about Margot! it's called "Count Your Lucky Stars"

[@jaginaiaelectrizs6341]

I actually like characters... and yet DON'T like them _for each other_ / DON'T like them actually together as a couple..ALL the freaking time!😅😅 🤣

[@ehlpsarah]

thanks for highlighting wlw stories. i feel like a lot of the time on booktube the fanfare of lgbtq+ stories is always centered around mlm books and the wlw miss out!

[@sdrawkcabemdaer5]

Excited for this, I've been happy to see more and more sapphic stories getting wider buzz lately!

[@leoniesliberi]

My favourite w/w romance is actually a novella. It‘s called Party Favors by Erin McLellan and I ate it up like candy. It‘s a best friends to lovers and it‘s so damn hot, I think you might enjoy that one 😊

[@chandlerainsley]

oo i will add it to my list! thanks for the rec

[@fatimapacheco4062]

I agree with everything you said about tryst six venom wanting to do too much (I actually think even punk 57 had that whole “punk” thing that I didn’t care for), however I still really liked it. It was so hot that to me it made up for everything else.

[@ellie5560]

yesss!! gimme the ff recs😌 i can never find any throughly amazing, fleshed out ff romances so you’re doing your girl a solid here ;))

[@chandlerainsley]

there are some gems in here for sure!

[@cynthyacastro4929]

Thank you for making me feel better about not liking Tryst Six Venom! I tried so hard to get into it because it was my first F/F romance. I had to DNF at 55%. I always value your book recs so maybe I’ll find a good one with this video 💜

[@heathrdarling]

I’m dying bc when you were talking about TSV all I could hear was Shrek shouting “what are you doing in my swamp!” 😂

[@stuffimobsessedwith]

Recently I've read The Falling in Love Montage by Ciara Smyth & as much as I don't enjoy YA books anymore, I REALLY loved this book!🥰

[@chandlerainsley]

oo i will have to check it out!

[@ravensara-patchworkinterpr8211]

Good to hear Becky Albertalli being suggested and I agree that she handles the material well.

[@bebella9005]

I definitely agree with what you said about steaminess! Something being explicit doesn’t make it hot, and something being hot doesn’t necessarily mean it’s explicit. Great video!

[@Lizzie_04]

Ahhh I've been excited for this video ever since I saw on Goodreads that you had read One Last Stop for this.

[@gloriaaaaa]

the way you put ALL of my opinions of tsv into words ughh its so validating. i actually liked the beginning of the book more because it was more normal contemporary. the setting at the school was enjoyable for me and the tension on the sports field was delectable but then it went into territories and the ball was kinda weird and it went "dark" but in the way that it just lost its contemporary feel. and like you said i just didnt care about everything going on on the side. and THEN you mentioned why you liked punk 57 more and i simply couldnt agree more. hopefully penelope is able to hear this feedback somehow and in future her books will be more like punk57 and birthday girl. especially if she made a wlw one !!

[@jaginaiaelectrizs6341]

Yeaah .. if there's too much non-romance-specific plot in a Romance story .. *_IS_*_ it really even Romance-genre at all? (Or is it really just some other kinda story with a romance subplot included on the side??🤔)_ 😅😅 Idk🤷‍♀️ Individual mileage may vary, I suppose-kinda like with happy endings vs non-happy endings in romances. LOL

[@suzieboros545]

Please read Vibe and Hush from Liza James! It’s my favourite F/F romance!

[@chandlerainsley]

i REALLY want to, i'm sad it's not on ku tho :/

[@suzieboros545]

@@chandlerainsley It will be coming to KU

[@piinkprincess]

girl i’m surprised you even finished Tryst Six Venom. i DNF’d after the first 3 chapters.

[@chandlerainsley]

ngl i was tempted but wanted to see if things turned around

[@jaginaiaelectrizs6341]

Absolutely fair point about the push for own-voices, in some ways, occasionally going too far. People truly shouldn't assume that just because someone doesn't publicly announce their sexuality that means they are straight. When, in truth, it doesn't even necessarily even mean that they are in the closet. Not everyone who is out and proud has to be out & loud about it too. (Not saying that being loud about it is a bad thing at all either, just saying that there are all different kinds of people in this world and I think quieter types can be great people too! That's all^-^) Lol If someone DOES want to put their stuff out there and promote it as own voices or such, I think that is _FANTASTIC_ & absolutely worth supporting them doing! But it should also be fine if someone wants to promote their writing more than they want to promote anything personal about themself too. And sometimes writing about things that are not our own stories is [among other things ]how people learn and grow .. and some times even how people learn and/or grow the most, and that can be really fantastic too. Books, just like real people, should not all always have to be completely flawlessly perfect. (There is, or can be, merit sometimes even to consuming things that we disagree with or don't like at all.) And, yeahh, it's also flawed logic to assume that just because someone is [insert certain type of person] guarantees that they actually truly do understand all the same things that others like[ or similar to] them might...or to assume that just because someone is NOT [insert certain type of person] and/or can't personally relate to this & that particular thing necessarily or definitely means that they _don't_ genuinely understand it at all. It's not[ necessarily] actually completely impossible to understand what other people are going through, even without [necessarily ]going through anything exactly like it oneself. And just going through same or similar things to someone else, alone, does not necessarily guarantee that you will truly or at all understand what someone else was or wasn't going through while going through the same or a similar thing. I think the most important thing for people is (or should be) what we ourselves, as consumers, do or don't personally do with the things that creators have produced....NOT what the creators themselves do or don't whatever prior to their product reaching our hands. In my opinion: We should only be so concerned with others or with the past for the most part only as it is necessary for us to be concerned with it in order to consciously or mindfully shape ourselves and our present times and/or how we are or aren't interacting with others and to aim for the best we can with the future that is to come after us. (If any of that even makes any sense-idk) But maybe that's just me. ^-^

[@manvisinha5569]

Okay, I'm late but I am finally free enough to sit through an entire vlog! Yes, there was too much context in TSV. I'm not a fan of big books but I can succumb for PD. Also, thanks for the depiction of Callum and Olivia's interactions coz PD's writing can get confusing for me. Also yes to too much going on and the unwarranted(?) hatred between them. Their hatred made sense and did not make sense? But as an entirety, I really fucking enjoyed it. I loved the clichéd norm breaking aspect of a F/F romance it had. And then the fact that you can't tell at one point who is the real bully because Olivia would retaliate too instead of just bearing it and crying herself to sleep. P.S.- When I first discovered you, I used to condemn your opinions even though I always respect other's opinions (it was because, I think, you trashed a favourite book of mine at the time LOL, guilty) but then I started realising that you have valid points despite me liking it and you disliking it and then the rest is history coz I'm here to stay, baby! 😌❤️

[@isastar940]

Love this video!!! Thank you for sharing your thoughts on these books 🥰 Btw I can't find your old Sapphic book recommendation video... ☹

[@neondreamscollide]

truly obsessed with your videos!

[@chandlerainsley]

ty!

[@blackcatkai]

top tier meow sightings!! your cats are just such marshmallows I love when they do their thing in the background of your videos. so cute!♡

[@lillym.4093]

okay how have i NOT heard about tryst six venom before in my hunt for sapphic romances, it's straight(haha) up my alley!! i need to get on that soon, thanks chandler for helping a girl out with finding more of the steamy wlw reads;)

[@buttercastle]

I've been dying to watch that vlog

[@bomathys324]

Chandler: hellooo welcome back to my channel me with my fingers: TSJ TSJ

[@brittany9705]

My fav sapphic romance is Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur! It was my first read of 2021 and it was AMAZING.

[@sherrybirkin5531]

Maybe off topic, but what kind of makeup products are you using? asking bc i’m also a very pale person and everything looks so orange on my face :/

[@chandlerainsley]

i feeeeeel you, i wear the makeupforever reboot foundation in the lightest shade and it works pretty well. it's not a perfect match but nothing ever is lol

[@sherrybirkin5531]

@@chandlerainsley thank you so much!

[@enigmaticinsomniac]

Tryst Six Venom really disappointed me too! I was not impressed at all and DNFed it at like 30%.

[@crystalsbookishlife]

Oooooh I'm so interested in The Hellion's Waltz 😍 bummed about Tryst Six Venom, I was curious what your thoughts on that would be because I know you love PD.

[@PamNg]

SAPPHIC ROMANCE ABOUT UNIONIZING? I work in the labor movement and have never put a book on hold faster.

[@deeslittlecorner217]

I just finished One last stop, that's what got me here. And I understand the doubds, I didn't really like the romance aspect of the story, but I did like the development August went through and the themes like family and dealing with trust issues, so I did end up giving it 4 stars instead of 3 starts for that.

[@sheridawn5314]

Life is definitely too short to read books that you don’t like! It took me forever to get to that point but I love to read even more because I know I won’t be forcing myself to read something that sucks.

[@rustypplskillz]

Fist, I just wanted to say thank you for linking to those Becky Arbertalli posts. I really appreciated reading her thoughts. Second, love the video, as usual! You put your finger on a few of the things that made One Last Stop not a 5 star book for me. I've been struggling to formulate why I didn't love love it, so thanks for that! :D Also, very much want to read Treasure now.

[@SereneDancer]

I didn't know Olivia Waite's series had a third book, I'm gonna have to check it out.

[@northeastcity6921]

I'm extremely appreciative of this video bc finding f/f reads is so hard. Or they're all YA. Thank you!! ♡♡♡

[@mariadr7607]

Loved “Written in the stars” by Alexandria Bellefleur 🥰 it was so cute + steamy

[@chandlerainsley]

i have that on my tbr! :)

[@ruthiehawks3052]

you: heres a video about wlw romances me: [chessie from parent trap voice] you rang?

[@miquesbookvlogs372]

Can’t wait to check some of these out! Also I just discovered your booksta and I’m so obsessed with your cat 🐱 stories!! So cute! 🥺💛

[@chandlerainsley]

thanks so much!

[@mm5xo]

always excited when you upload

[@lisasmoot314]

Great video! Always happy to get some kitty appearances as well!

[@elliegrace7595]

OOOO THIS IS EXCITING

[@MarianaCrawford4u]

Love your recs! I already bought two of the books you recommended! Listen…you have influencer power! Do you know that?!

[@chandlerainsley]

haha thank you! always glad when ppl take my recs

[@LM-th7dj]

A sapphic book I highly recommend is "Catch & Cradle" by Katia Rose! I read it last week and I love it. It's a super diverse sapphic new adult sports romance and it's available on Kindle Unlimited!

[@chandlerainsley]

that sounds right up my alley, thanks for the rec!

[@JayGTheAwkwardBookworm]

I’ve still yet to read a Penelope Douglas book 😩

[@oopskye]

can you do mlm :))

[@paularodriguez726]

Loved this video ❤️ also we have our nails done the exact same shape and color, so fun

[@chandlerainsley]

yee love that

[@safiaakhter5512]

First one yesssss

[@lorenaholloway1439]

You’re my favorite booktuber

[@HurryImOnFire]

YES! thank you for the wlw content

[@HurryImOnFire]

also the cat content!!!

[@mariavaleriaperezsolis2837]

Everyone should read Those Who Wait 😭😭😭😭

[@ninjaturtles12121]

I recently read Seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo and i had the same thoughts as you mentioned here about the PD book like i don't see what they liked in each other for it to last that many decades. But fortunately, all the other characters and her life story were fascinating so I read it in one sitting and overall enjoyed it 3.5/5. Edit: it's a wlw romance despite the title. Not steamy tho and honestly the chemistry is so lacking but more of a sadder may make you cry a bit romance and v good bi representation