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Danika Ellis
September 26, 2024
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A common way to market books is the comp: think “Bring It On meets How to Train Your Dragon” or “Buffy, but even more queer”. (I made those up, but I would read both.) One surprising comp I’ve been seeing a lot lately is to John Tucker Must Die
, which was a teen movie that came out in 2006 to a so-so reception. It’s about three girls who realize they’ve been dating the same guy — John Tucker, obviously — and band together to plot their revenge. The movie may not have stood the test of time, but the premise has. In fact, I have five sapphic books to recommend that more or less share that basic plot, but they improve it by having the ex-girlfriends fall in love with each other, which I think we can all agree is an upgrade.
Most of these are YA — which makes sense, since John Tucker is a teen movie — but they range from contemporary to romance to fantasy and even a vampire story. Some of them take their revenge and the threat of the ex seriously, while others are treated more as a zany plot point or background to the real action. They all came out within the last five years, with one publishing later this year. Let me know in the comments if you know of any more sapphic books with this premise!
I had to start with this YA example, which nods to John Tucker Must Die right there in the title. Meghna and Rani used to be best friends, but now they’re bitter academic rivals. When they realize that Meghna’s boyfriend and Rani’s close friend Zak has been playing both of them, they team up to get revenge. They plan to debut an app that exposes liars and cheaters like Zak at the European Young Scientist Exhibition, but working together is proving difficult, especially when they realize their feelings for each other are more romantic than adversarial.
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Second-Chance Romance is a teen reality TV show about competing for a shot at a relationship with a wealthy, famous ex. This season, Jordy is the star. Skye is hoping to win back the one who got away, but Maya is on the show to unmask him as the manipulative cheater he is. As they both advance in the competition, they begin to realize they might be finding love on this show after all — but not with Jordy.
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Despite Ari’s bold fashion, she feels invisible at school. As an autistic girl who doesn’t speak, she often finds herself overlooked. That’s why she’s so flattered when popular boy Luis starts showing her attention. When they have sex at a party, Ari isn’t sure what to think — she didn’t say no, but she didn’t say yes. Now everyone’s talking about her, and not in the way she wanted. That’s when she is invited to a group that wants to expose Luis as the predator he is. There, she finds herself falling for Luis’s ex-girlfriend. Together, they’ll risk it all to get justice and stop Luis from doing this to anyone else.
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Imagine Halloweentown as a steamy sapphic romance, then add in a magical tournament and a John Tucker Must Die-style revenge plot, and you have Payback’s a Witch
. Emmy has returned to her magical, Halloween-themed hometown of Thistle Grove for the first time in years. She’s still recovering from her breakup with Gareth Blackmoore, part of the most powerful magical family in town. As she waits for the magical tournament to start, she hits it off with the bewitching Talia, who also just had a bad breakup with Gareth. And it turns out, Linden was dating him at the same time, unbeknownst to Talia. Talia and Linden want revenge, and Emmy is all too happy to help, especially if it means spending more time with Talia…
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The tagline for this one is “Getting over Your Vampire Ex is as Easy as Killing Him and Stealing His Girlfriend.” Holly was turned by Elton back in the 1980s, but he got tired of her after a couple of decades. Now, she’s supernaturally compelled to follow him from town to town, forever a teenager. When she meets his other exes in the same predicament, they agree he needs to be killed before he turns another teenage girl. When Holly meets his new target, Parker, she begins to fall for her, making this mission even more critical.
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I can’t get enough of these books that set up women to be romantic rivals and then have them fall in love with each other instead: it’s a twist that works every time on me. I hope we see more in this microgenre soon. Let me know if you’ve read any more like this so I can add it to my TBR! And while we’re at it, tell me what queer book you’re reading right now and whether you recommend it.
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Chat about it in the comments.