Lesbian SFF Month - Explanation & Reading List

So, I've decided that July is Lesbian SFF Month for me, based on two releases (The Snow Queen's Shadow by Jim C. Hines and Honeyed Words by J.A. Pitts), and it's giving me an excuse to give the genre a little poke. The aim of the month is to read a small selection of books with characters who are lesbian. I'm generally going for books where that character is a major one, but I'm sure a few minor characters may crop up.

I've selected the following books based on them being parts of series I've read upto this point, that I've heard good comments about them, or for the fact they're simply sat on my shelf when I invented this reading month.

1. The Snow Queen's Shadow - Jim C. Hines
This is a book that I'd been looking forward to since last year, once I'd finished the slightly worrying Red Hood's Revenge. I was anticipating it simply because it was another Princess novel, but also because it was closure to a series I belatedly started early last year. In just two books, Jim had become one of my favourite authors, and despite the problems I had with the third book, I was certain this fourth one would prove him to be worthy of that spot.

I have actually already read this book, finishing it just before July started, but I'm counting it as part of this month. I already have a review on my Goodreads page, and I'll link to it later in the month. I will say this, though. It did prove him worthy. It's one of the best books I've read this year.

2. Honeyed Words - J.A. Pitts
Honeyed Words was less anticipated for me than The Snow Queen's Shadow, but once I'd gotten that out of the way I was very excited about getting it. I thoroughly enjoyed Black Blade Blues earlier this year, and Sarah Beauhall (The protagonist) really connected with me for various reasons, hence why I was so excited about this book. As I write this post, the book is sat on my bedside table with about 90 pages left to go... And I only started it last night.

3. Ash - Malinda Lo
An unexpected entry, I'd say. I was researching lesbian SFF for this month, and I came across Ash. It's a retelling of Cinderella, but with a lesbian twist to it. I knew I had to get it based on that alone - I was on a Princess high, I needed more fairy tales and it fitted my month's reading perfectly. I managed to read the book cover to cover in one night (Most of which took two hours of bedtime reading), and I'll be linking my review later.

4. Huntress - Malinda Lo
This is a prequel to Ash, and is the first unread book on this list for me. I'm currently waiting for it to arrive.

5. The Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi
I was scheduled to read this last month, but between a bout of the blues and a number of other reads, I never got around to it. I've learned that one of the major characters is a lesbian, however, and as such I'm going to read it this month. I've heard some very mixed things about this book, but we'll see.

6. Moxyland - Lauren Beuekes
I'm not actually sure if this has a prominent lesbian character, if I'm honest. I've heard it does have some sort of LGBT representation, but it's on my shelf and looks like a quick read, so I might as well see for myself.

So that's the list so far. It may expand, the bottom book may fall off, but it should stay fairly consistent, especially when I've read half of them already. We'll see how it goes :)