Rae Ryan (Author of The Scavengers and the Stray)

Rae Ryan rated a book really liked it Is This a Cry for Help? by Emily R. Austin (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I teeter-totter on literary fiction like two children too small to touch the ground and end up flailing in a concerning limbo until one jumps off and sends the other crashing to the ground. I'm usually the one crashing to the ground; i.e. DNFing the ...more
Aug 25, 2025 08:10PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Is This a Cry for Help? by Emily R. Austin. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Is This a Cry for Help? by Emily R. Austin <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Rae Ryan rated a book really liked it Where There's Room for Us: A Novel by Hayley Kiyoko	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
🥰 Jane Austen, but make it sapphic. 🌈 This was a sweet book. I was surprised when I saw Hayley Kiyoko had written a book. I have a very sapphic playlist I listen to when I'm writing, and it includes her song Girls Like Girls. Also, her collab with Keh ...more
Aug 21, 2025 12:24PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Where There's Room for Us by Hayley Kiyoko. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Where There's Room for Us by Hayley Kiyoko <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Rae Ryan rated a book it was amazing You Weren't Meant to Be Human by Andrew Joseph White (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
The content warnings need content warnings. I went in blind and came out in a half-comatose state. It’s one of those books that leads you down a path where the horrors persist with increasing severity, and by the time you get to the end you think you ...more
Aug 18, 2025 01:46PM · like · see review
Rae Ryan rated a book really liked it Every Step She Takes by Alison Cochrun (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Happily, I was traveling when I picked up this ARC from NetGalley. It was the perfect vacation read. Our two main characters meet on an airplane while one is having a queer crisis in her thirties. What follows is a later-in-life coming to queerness s ...more
Aug 06, 2025 11:57AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Every Step She Takes by Alison Cochrun. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Every Step She Takes by Alison Cochrun <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Rae Ryan rated a book really liked it Flirting Lessons by Jasmine Guillory (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This was a fun, cute romance with good bisexual rep. It jumps straight in, skipping any setup, which felt fast at first, but she fills in their backstories along the way. The dates were creative and the chemistry between the women was steamy. I reall ...more
May 19, 2025 07:26PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Flirting Lessons by Jasmine Guillory. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Flirting Lessons by Jasmine Guillory <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Rae Ryan rated a book really liked it The Charm Offensive (The Charm Offensive, #1) by Alison Cochrun (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I listened to this on audio, and it was very well done. The characters are easy to love in an outlandish setting that makes the whole thing fun. I don't even watch reality TV, but I love the setting for a love story. I appreciated the mental health r ...more
May 19, 2025 07:16PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Rae Ryan rated a book it was amazing The Long Run by James Acker (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
The audio version of the book was so good. Their personalities really came out, and I found myself smiling at how cute they were. The book really captured the angst of senior year and all the tough decisions you need to make. I especially liked the b ...more
May 19, 2025 07:06PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Long Run by James Acker. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Long Run by James Acker <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Rae Ryan joined the group Goodreads Librarians Group
Feb 13, 2025 05:31PM · like

Rae Ryan rated a book really liked it

Is This a Cry for Help?
by Emily R. Austin (Goodreads Author)

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I teeter-totter on literary fiction like two children too small to touch the ground and end up flailing in a concerning limbo until one jumps off and sends the other crashing to the ground. I'm usually the one crashing to the ground; i.e. DNFing the I teeter-totter on literary fiction like two children too small to touch the ground and end up flailing in a concerning limbo until one jumps off and sends the other crashing to the ground. I'm usually the one crashing to the ground; i.e. DNFing the book. This time, however, there was no crashing or jumping.

Emily Austin's Is This a Cry for Help? comes out January 13, 2026. I received an advance copy from NetGalley, and it's my first Emily Austin book. It's a queer literary fiction about a librarian who returns to work after having a mental health crisis. Darcy is 32 and married to Joy, who I'm partial to because she likes to make soup–and I love a good soup.

Darcy had a panic attack when she found out about the death of her ex-boyfriend, who she dated for five years when she was 18 and he was 28. She spent time in an inpatient facility and is now taking anti-depressants and talking to her therapist. We meet her on her first day back after a two-month break. She is still fragile but feeling better. If that wasn't enough, she hears someone watching porn on the library computers and reminds everyone to use headphones in the library. After checking that the porn wasn't illegal, she goes back to work. A library patron takes issue with the porn enthusiast, and Darcy tells her the library doesn't regulate what people search on the public computers. As you might expect, the patron doesn't like her answer and takes her story to a local right-wing journalist.

What follows is a predominantly internal journey as Darcy comes to terms with her complicated relationship with her ex-boyfriend and the guilt she feels for leaving him. We see her with her therapist, talking to her wife, who's out of town visiting family, and dealing with the handful of people demanding book bans and accusing the library of pushing a gay agenda.

The book is introspective and is a fascinating glimpse into the day-to-day life of a librarian. It was helpful for my current book, where the main character is also a librarian. From the outside, the droves of MC writers, librarians, and bookshop owners might seem over the top, but we write what we know. As a reading enthusiast, I love reading about characters who also love books. It never gets old. Austin creates relatable characters and navigates their lives with wit and humor–like someone plugging in a crock-pot full of meatballs in the bathroom.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes literary fiction, especially queer fiction. While Darcy isn't having a queer awakening, she is looking back on that time and the ways compulsive heterosexuality kept her in an unhappy relationship with a man who was flawed but overall a good person. There's a moment when she's thinking about how people don't consider two women hooking up as cheating, including women, because of internalized misogyny. This is something I've thought about, and this was one of many times Darcy was thinking about things that occupy my thoughts as well.

I read this in two days, which is kind of wild for a slow-paced book. I think that's because it was an easy read. Austin isn't hiding anything from the reader. The author doesn't encase the book's meaning and themes in hard-to-digest literary flourishes or meandering metaphors. It's straightforward, and so is the language. The subject matter is literary, but it has a slice-of-life approach.

Darcy grows through the process, and while little changes externally, I happily went on her internal journey. To be fair, there are some external changes, including a ginger cat, a rearranging of bookshelves, and a job opportunity. We aren't only banging around in her head for three-hundred pages.

If you're in the mood for a sapphic contemporary literary fiction with wit and wry humor, then pick up Is This a Cry for Help? by Emily Austin. ...more

Rae Ryan rated a book really liked it

Where There's Room for Us by Hayley Kiyoko

Where There's Room for Us: A Novel
by Hayley Kiyoko

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🥰 Jane Austen, but make it sapphic. 🌈

This was a sweet book. I was surprised when I saw Hayley Kiyoko had written a book. I have a very sapphic playlist I listen to when I'm writing, and it includes her song Girls Like Girls. Also, her collab with Keh 🥰 Jane Austen, but make it sapphic. 🌈

This was a sweet book. I was surprised when I saw Hayley Kiyoko had written a book. I have a very sapphic playlist I listen to when I'm writing, and it includes her song Girls Like Girls. Also, her collab with Kehlani on What I Need is a bop. So when I saw this book, I had to pick it up.

This takes place in 1880s England where queerness is cool, but women don't have the vote, and sapphic couples can't inherit their father's title or inheritance. I really liked that we didn't have to worry about the main characters being together from an extremely homophobic standpoint. It allowed the story to focus on their love without having to hide in dark corners, and to address women's rights.

Freya is one of four daughters of a wealthy landowner, and everyone expects her to marry a man with a title and have a bunch of boys to carry on the family name and inheritance. Two of her sisters are queer, and one is married to a man but hasn't had any boys. A lot is riding on Freya marrying well and popping out babies.

Ivy is the daughter of an American man and a Japanese woman. She's a poet and successful in her own right. Her brother inherits a house near Freya's family, and they move to England to deal with the estate. Ivy has writer's block and needs inspiration, and she has a reputation as a womanizer.

The two meet at a party, and Ivy is smitten. Freya is confused, but loves spending time with Ivy. What follows is a cute romance intertwined with societal pressures to conform and do what's best for the family. There's a tug-of-war between Ivy's American individualism and Freya's English family-first approach. Ivy is more politically minded, and Freya refuses to see her father's misogyny for what it is.

There is very little to no spice, other than some kissing and mild groping. It's all closed door, so YA readers could pick this one up. It's in keeping with the Austen style by mixing political and societal criticism with a stirring love story.

My only beef is the breakup mechanism. It's not terrible, but I think it could have been stronger if it were more intrinsically tied to Ivy's story arc and the lesson she needed to learn. It was close enough that it wasn't a big deal, but I felt that with a little effort it could have been stronger.

I didn't get worked up reading the book, but the acknowledgments had me tearing up. She wrote something similar to what I write in my books: she aspires to offer hopeful stories to the queer community. I feel you. We need a little hope in dark times when it's so hard to find.

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a sweet, sapphic Victorian romance. This Where There's Room for Us fits the bill. ...more

Rae Ryan rated a book it was amazing

You Weren't Meant to Be Human
by Andrew Joseph White (Goodreads Author)

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The content warnings need content warnings. I went in blind and came out in a half-comatose state. It’s one of those books that leads you down a path where the horrors persist with increasing severity, and by the time you get to the end you think you ...more

Rae Ryan rated a book really liked it

Every Step She Takes
by Alison Cochrun (Goodreads Author)

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Happily, I was traveling when I picked up this ARC from NetGalley. It was the perfect vacation read.

Our two main characters meet on an airplane while one is having a queer crisis in her thirties. What follows is a later-in-life coming to queerness s ...more

Rae Ryan rated a book really liked it

Flirting Lessons
by Jasmine Guillory (Goodreads Author)

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1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

This was a fun, cute romance with good bisexual rep. It jumps straight in, skipping any setup, which felt fast at first, but she fills in their backstories along the way. The dates were creative and the chemistry between the women was steamy. I reall ...more

Rae Ryan rated a book really liked it

The Charm Offensive (The Charm Offensive, #1)
by Alison Cochrun (Goodreads Author)

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1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

I listened to this on audio, and it was very well done. The characters are easy to love in an outlandish setting that makes the whole thing fun. I don't even watch reality TV, but I love the setting for a love story. I appreciated the mental health r ...more

Rae Ryan rated a book it was amazing

The Long Run
by James Acker (Goodreads Author)

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1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

The audio version of the book was so good. Their personalities really came out, and I found myself smiling at how cute they were. The book really captured the angst of senior year and all the tough decisions you need to make. I especially liked the b ...more

Rae Ryan joined the group Goodreads Librarians Group

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