100 books like Virgin Flight

As most fans of Sarah Waters will already know, this book has a clever plot device that doubles the magic–it's told backward. It has a wide cast of characters which slowly narrows down to a doomed sapphic love affair that struggled to blossom amid the terror of the London Blitz. 

From both a reader's and a writer's perspective, this story has lodged itself firmly in my heart. It examines the why and how–what events brought these two lovers to this point when everything had otherwise seemed perfect? It's not necessarily happy, but it's intricate and untidy, and in that way, it is a realistic reflection of life and love in a time of war and its aftermath.

A book with disturbing lessons for our time. This book charts the lives of three women during the 1930s and 40s as the Nazis rise to power and use book burning as a tool to destroy culture and freedom of expression. I adored and was completely captivated by the clever way the author wove a complicated story between three women in three different cities and times. 

Almost a character in itself is the spectre of book censorship and the damage it can inflict on society. This book has some very moving scenes–a burgeoning lesbian love affair, a children's game amid the horror of war, a finale that had me reaching for the tissues, and more. The amount of research in this book is incredible!

Stockings with seams, blood-red lipstick, smokey jazz clubs, and unbelievably strong leading ladies—okay, I just said it all in that opening sentence. This book gripped me from the beginning. I could tell from the nail-biting opening that it was going to be gritty and realistic but also revel in the elegance of the time period.

Set in the US during the Second World War, this book is part of a long, slow burn of four incredible reads that I totally devoured and absolutely loved. It's an absorbing, almost infuriating mystery that can only be solved by the love between the two leads. The character of Kathryn, in particular, will stay with me forever. 

As a well-established writer of steamy but compelling sapphic romances, Emma Nichols is another auto-read on my list. This book is set in Berlin and rural France during the early 1940s, and its two main characters are studies of resilience in the face of overwhelming darkness. In the character of Johanna, Nichols examines the agony of how to be, how to love, and what to do when a good-hearted person finds themselves on the wrong side of a war simply because of their country's politics.

In the role of the oppressed and downtrodden, we meet an absolute savior–a woman who is prepared to risk everything for love and the women she holds dear. This is a difficult read at times, but ultimately a beautiful one, as love and goodness triumph at the end. 

I couldn’t write about sapphic second chance romances without including a Monica McCallan and I found it difficult to decide between two favourites, Then and Now and Back in Your Arms. She takes a different approach in each – and that’s something admire in writers too – authors who’ll play around with structure and characters.

Monica is so good at so many aspects – dialogue, characterisation, chemistry, appealing settings. It means she writes the most compulsively readable books. If you ever hear me say, “I’m just going to have a peek at this Monica McCallan book,” the next thing you’ll hear from me is, “I’ve finished it.”

And if you pick up one, many more will follow. Be warned. 

A fun enemies-to-lovers story with some well-defined characters and an interesting world. Neither Emilia nor Maria trust each other a lick, and have good cause for it, but Maria wants Emilia, as crew member, lover, and possession.

I enjoyed seeing the two warring with their feelings for each other and their mutual distrust as they struggled to be willing to so much as tolerate the other. 

It’s cruel to recommend a book with Whisper in the title because this romance hits like a hurricane. Lovers of angst will appreciate the depth of this book.

In one swoop, McKay crushes all that’s cherished until only wreckage and devastation remain. At times, I marvel at the main character’s redemption arc because it hardly seems likely. For a while, I wondered if McKay would be one of those authors who didn’t give her readers a happily ever after, but she seems to have as much love for Neve and Audrey as they do for each other. 

Talk about a book hangover. This book will wreck you, but in a good way. I walked around dazed for days. I recommend taking two Kallmakers and washing them down with a Beers. Call me in the morning.

I love books with quiet and complex characters. This one follows an audiobook narrator who loves silence and an ice queen author who needs a successful book launch for her comeback.

Both characters think they have their lives all figured out. Meeting each other opens their eyes to a brighter, less lonely world. This book has a light enemies-to-lovers vibe for those of us (me) who enjoy just a little back-and-forth before the characters figure out they’re obsessed with each other.

Sometimes, I crave a super sweet, short romance. Something that’ll be like a dopamine hit straight to the veins. This one was the perfect bite-size escape.

It is a second-chance romance set in a tattoo parlor after closing hours. The couple’s flaws and reasons for their breakup were realistic. They were nowhere near perfect, and that makes their happy-ever-after more beautiful. 

Eliza Andrews floored me with her first book in this series, and I’ve been a fan ever since. Princess Natasia starts off as one of my favorite examples of a rebellious princess and manages to grow a lot throughout the series, all while keeping her romance with her bodyguard a secret or an open secret as it develops.