Love Devours: Tales of Monstrous Adoration

by Sarah Diemer

We're all afraid of monsters. They coil in our subconscious, slither along the edges of thought. Still we creep to the crackling fire to whisper their stories.

Love Devours is a collection of new fables for queer women, extracted from the bones of the dark: ominous fairy tales, sinister myths, dystopias rife with nightmares. But in the midst of monsters, love still struggles to find the light.

A witch traps a beast of the sea; a corpse is reanimated out of love; a muse drains her supplicant; a priestess worships in a church of wolves. Six monster stories lurk within these pages. Six heroines, sometimes monsters themselves, unearth romance, rebuild worlds, shatter spells. Their courage unveils the secret faces of humankind's greatest compulsions: fear and love.

Come into the dark and be devoured.

Love Devours: Tales of Monstrous Adoration is Sarah Diemer's first anthology, a collection of queer dark fantasy and science fiction stories. It will be released in both print and eReader formats in August, 2012.

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, LGBT, Romance, Queer, Lesbian, Anthologies

181 pages, Paperback

First published August 22, 2012

About the author

I write about heroic, magical girls who love girls. YA author of Golden Crown Award-winning THE DARK WIFE (the lesbian, YA retelling of the Persephone myth) and TWIXT and co-author, with my amazing wife, author Jennifer Diemer, of Project Unicorn: A Lesbian YA Extravaganza.
http://www.MuseRising.com

Reviews

[Dev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lesbian fairytales! Who doesn't love lesbian fairytales? I had already read The Witch Sea on its own because it was free on Kindle, but all the other stories were new to me and I really enjoyed this collection. Although there is a place for directly retelling famous fairytales I'm starting to enjoy things like this better, where the author writes their own fairytales using some of the themes and styles we're already familiar with but ultimately creating a new and unique story. This book features six stories: 4 general fantasy, 1 urban fantasy, and 1 sci-fi. The switch in genres for the last two stories was maybe a bit jarring for me, but they still fit the overall theme nicely and were very good. This is my second Sarah Diemer book [read The Dark Wife ages ago] and I really enjoy her stuff. I think I'll check out Twixt next.

[ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

want something gay to read this halloween? here you go.

this book contains 6 stories about sapphic monsters, witches, goddesses and regular humans living in terrifying times. it celebrates being monstrous, or more accurately being something that people misunderstand and therefore label as being monstrous. the sapphic romances in every story are beautiful and well crafted, and it’s so lovely to see WLW characters in fantasy stories and stories like the fairytales and fables we all know and love. these stories are not about being queer, they are simply fairytales and tales of monsters that happen to feature queer girls. I loved each one of the stories, which were wonderfully varied but tied together well by similar themes. it was impressive how attached I became to each of the characters in such short stories, i may have even shed a tear at the beautiful ending of the final story. truly wonderful.

[Lör K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Please note, I only read the Kindle sampler, so far

Update below

I'm in love with this. Diemer has brought to life a maliciously dark world, of stealing souls from the afterlife, complete with the sweet romance of a lesbian love story that just is not romanticised or sexualised. I have just sat and devoured the sampler of this, and never before have I just slipped into a book so quickly. I was so annoyed when it came up I had reached the end of the sampler and I'm even more annoyed at the fact I have to wait for five weeks to buy this in full. Utterly beautiful already, and I just cannot wait to sit and read this through all the way. Diemer may be on the ranking for one of my favourite LGBT authors. We'll just have to wait and see.

Update: I was reading the sample over again here and there to wonder whether to recommend it to my boyfriend and I realised I forgot to mention. I absolutely adore Diemer's writing. She has such skill and talent with a pen, and I really just slipped into this all over again. Truly wonderful skills. A talented author. I'd recommend her works just from this small sample. She truly has a gift.

[Sandra★ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ★

[Charli · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of deliciously horrific tales that cause the reader to curl your toes and at the same time, fill them with warmth of queer romance. The writing was beautiful and the stories intriguing and complex. I hope this gets more attention because I want people to enjoy this book as much as I did!

[elli ✩ · Rating 4 out of 5]

i liked reading those sapphic, monstrous stories. and i admit that "our lady of wolves" and "the forever star" are the most adored ones by me. they made my heart clench and ache and soften.
this book was really something and i am so down for more from sarah diemer.

[Cee Jolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love Devours is a bunch of tales full of creativity and magic. The writing is wonderful, the stories are atmospheric, each of them provokes many questions and emotions. I had to wait a few minutes after each story before being able to read the next. That said, I'm giving quick thoughts about each tales, since they give me different reading experiences.

Far is solid with its setting and tone, but I wish the romance is explored a bit more. The ending is both bitter and sweet, I'm happy for the lovebirbs nonetheless. This story seems more like an opener for a much longer book, though. 3 stars.

The Witch Sea is a lovely fairy-tale. It almost reaches perfection, the only minus is the romance being underdeveloped. The girls' conversations mostly center around the curse and love swings by a bit too quick, thus lessen the impact of the ending. Other than that, I have no real complain. 3,5 stars.

Seek is experimental, paired with an interesting story to tell. But as much as I like the twist, I think it is pretty predictable. With a protagonist like that, how can you not know what's coming? The romance between the ladies isn't strong enough to be memorable, an inevitable problem of the narrative. This story is more like a passing idea than a story with real characters. All characters here are more plot-devices than beings with real emotions. Nonetheless, it's interesting for a short story. 3 stars.

Our Lady of Wolves is again enticing in settings, but not characters. While the tone is chilling and the idea is interesting, the romance happens too sudden. This story is also the weakest in the anthology. 3 stars.

We Grow Accustomed to the Dark is definitely a wonderful thriller. I love how the mysteries are kept unanswered and we are allowed to interpret the situation. Even though to me, it ends on a sad note, I'm glad it went that way for how aching it was. The only thing bothers me is the ending comes too quickly, they are in the apocalyse for like a day, I think? I would rather we did have time to, you know, grow accustomed to the dark. Maybe a passage telling that it has been weeks into the apocalypse and the girls are getting reckless. Anything to indicate that some time has passed would be fine. Apart from that, I love the thrill, the idea and the characters here. 3,5 stars.

Now, The Forever Star. It is damn perfect. Perfect, perfect, perfect. The romance is brief in this one as well, but rather than talks about current situations, the girls get to talk about themselves. It also fits with characters' personality that the romance comes quick. Not to mention, Sarah hits home with fluttering love this time. The ending is powerful and full of hope. I have never read any queer short story this wonderful. The pressure of the situation blends with the sheer eager to love, creating a bittersweet romance. The melancholy nature of the story is brightened up by the beautiful ending, which cherishes life, hope, love and every good thing that exists. Between the adorable characters and the emotional story, this tale is brilliant all the way. 5 stars.

All in all,1 I enjoy Love Devours thouroughly even at its weakest. It definitely worth a check.

[Nicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love Devours is a gorgeous little collection of stories. I got most of them separately, but I wanted to buy the full copy anyway -- handier to read as one file, really. The collection contains Far, The Witch Sea, Seek, Our Lady of Wolves, We Grow Accustomed to the Dark, and The Forever Star. The Forever Star was the only new one for me, but I still loved The Witch Sea and Seek the most on a reread. I love Sarah Diemer's writing, and the restful fact that women loving women is totally normal in her stories.

Recommended this to my sister, now she's got a tablet which has a Kindle app...

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely love getting lost in the worlds that Diemer creates. Her creativity never ceases to amaze me!

[casper · Rating 3 out of 5]

half of the stories i really liked, the other half were quite cliche and a little derivative. that being said, i really like how diemer portrays queer women and various different relationships between queer women, because you don't see that very much in literature.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn’t like this one as much as The Dark Wife. The stories were well-written but kinda all over the place. My favorite was the one about the Rapture (can’t remember the title right now).

[Tine-Schreibt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I might give it another try some time in the future.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favourite stories were definitely Far and The Forever Star!

[Annika · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed The Witch Sea, Seek, and The Forever Star, but the other three were just okay. I would recommend checking it out just for those stories though!

[verónica · Rating 2 out of 5]

not hitting idk

[Maviene Tran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super gay lmao

[Raven · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Forever Star was just my favourite out of all the tales. Elaine and Maggie deserve their tale and a happier ending. :')

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m going to review this collection of six stories individually, just because each of them are extremely different and my enjoyment of each varied.

Far -- This is the starting story, and probably one of the weakest. It’s about a girl called Mana and her unending love for Far. I don’t want to spoil any of it, so I’ll move on from the summary. The only real problem I had with this story is that neither of the leads are relatable at all. Characters don’t necessarily have to be likable – they can certainly be interesting without being likable – but you have to be able to relate, sympathize or empathize with the characters in some ways. You don’t have to understand their situation, but there has to be that reader-story-character connect, and there really wasn’t one here. It isn’t a bad story, it’s just not a great one. I feel like it’s a disappointment simply because Sarah Diemer is a fantastic writer, and the concept is interesting, so the fact that it didn’t click is somewhat sad.

The Witch Sea -- I think this one is beautiful. It’s one of my favorites in the collection. It concerns a witch, cursed by a family burden, who meets a seal-girl and finds herself suddenly wanting to break free. There’s something in it, something haunting, and Diemer really excels in the writing of this one. She’s such a great writer, and this one shows off her extraordinary talent. I loved reading her descriptions of the ocean, of all the little oceanic things, and my heart just swells with affection for this one. I adore witches and the ocean, so this one is a real winner for me. Also, the incorporation of a selkie is really lovely. I love selkies and it’s so nice to see a story of it that isn’t straight. I’ve been dying for a lesbian/queer selkie story.

Seek -- I liked this one a lot, but I didn’t love it. A vapid young woman seeks (see what I did?) out a muse, and finds herself a little too deep in. There’s nothing wrong with the story itself – in fact it’s very interesting – but I just…I wasn’t overwhelmed by love. I feel like the odd one out because of this! But it definitely hit the nail on the head with “monstrous,” and that’s one of my favorite aspects of the story. A lot of the others, I felt, didn’t really fit into the “monstrous” tales, but this one fit the bill perfectly. So why didn’t I absolutely love it? I’m not sure. There are no faults I can really point out. I think it’s just me.

Our Lady of Wolves -- This one I really loved. I’m not sure how to summarize it so I’ll just talk about it. A super, super interesting concept and one that really stuck out in my mind. The ending, for me, really made this story pop, and I found it beautiful, despite the tragedy of it. I just adore the concept. I can understand why some people might not like it – I found the romance to be a little too fast-paced for my tastes – but regardless, it’s another favorite.

We Grow Accustomed to the Dark -- Love! It’s another one that fits the “monstrous” bill pretty well, and I liked the combined ideas of the rapture, of not knowing what these things are, and fear and loneliness but also the comfort of being with someone you love. The relationship between our two main girls is really lovely, perhaps one of the strongest, because they’ve been together for a while and you can really sense not only the love and sweetness between them, but also that they’re companions, friends and lovers. I found myself surprised by the abruptness of the ending, though, and I really wish there had been more elaboration, although in a writing mindset I can understand why the openness of the ending is important.

The Forever Star -- I almost cried reading this one, to be perfectly honest. It’s beautiful and searing. I think the love “grows” a little too quickly, but that’s a big problem with short stories – there’s only a certain amount of time to build relationships, but I think Diemer generally does well. This one was crafted gorgeously. It was mythological but scientific, and it’s amazing just how well the two aspects (usually at odds) are mixed in this one. Beautiful!

[Alexia561 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short stories are one of my favorites. And fables inspired by mythological monsters? Color me intrigued! Here's a quick recap of what I thought of each story:

Far - Mana and Far are a couple, who live in a city with no name. Far is unhappy and asks too many questions, which makes Mana nervous. Mana brings Far back from the After, then disappears. Can Far find her? This one didn't really work for me, as I had to read the ending more than once to try and understand what had happened.

The Witch Sea - Meriel is a witch, tasked with maintaining a curse to protect the world. It is a lonely life, until Nor shows up on her island. Nor was sent to try to get Meriel to remove the curse. Enjoyed this one as Meriel and Nor are both interesting characters, and I really liked the ending!

Seek - Seek is a Lady Knight, on a quest to win the beautiful princess Ella. She goes to a powerful sorceress for help in getting a tale fit for a king from the Sea Muse. Really loved this one, especially the ending!

Our Lady of Wolves - Kelly's village is being attacked by shadowy monsters, so she makes her way to the abandoned church of Our Lady of Wolves to plead for help. Triste shows up the same night, when no stranger has visited the village in over 30 years. An answer to Kelly's prayers, or coincidence? Very satisfying story!

We Grow Accustomed to the Dark - The Rapture happens as Kate and Celia are walking home from school on a Tuesday afternoon. At least, they assume it's the Rapture as people simply disappeared, leaving behind little piles of clothing. But if it was the Rapture, what's going to happen to those left behind? Another good addition to the collection!

The Forever Star - Elaine is a star maker. After watching star after star burn out and die, Elaine decides to leave her sister world-makers. Maggie is a mechanic, doing her best to protect her city from her world's dying sun. The city's reactor is failing, so it's only a matter of time. Then Maggie finds Elaine, unconscious in an alley, and takes her home to protect her from the next solar flare. This one had a simple beauty that I really liked.


Overall, I really enjoyed this collection and think that Sarah is a talented writer! Even the first story wasn't bad, it was just that the ending was a little confusing for me.

These stories all feature lesbians, but there aren't any gratuitous sex scenes and I liked how the relationships are so matter of fact. Yeah, they're lesbians, but there's no preaching so I hope that doesn't stop anyone from enjoying the stories.

All of the stories are wonderfully original, but think that Seek and The Forever Star are my favorites. Glad that I gave this one a chance!

[Aine · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are six stories in this anthology. I'm going to break down the review for each story. I will go over them in the order I read them. : )

1. "Far" is a zombie story. It's told from two points of view. It's very sad and also quite lovely. It has a unique twist that I didn't see coming. And I always enjoy that.

2. "The Witch Sea" was very interesting. It had an ending I wasn't expecting. Another exciting aspect to the stories in this anthology.

3. "Seek" was probably my favorite of these six. It was twisted and fantastic and all around amazing. I think I had some wicked laughter bubbling after that ending. Mmuuaahahahahaha!

4. "Our Lady of Wolves" is about a young girl who tries to save her dwindling village from an evil in the forest. She asks for the help of our lady of wolves, a spirit who others have stopped believing in, but we find out does exist.

5. "We Grow Accustomed to the Dark" was my least favorite in this anthology. I liked the characters and their relationship, but I felt like the ending was a bit abrupt.

6. "The Forever Star" was my other favorite. It was so beautiful it made me cry.

I really enjoyed the characters. And I enjoyed the worlds. Kinda. I say "kinda" because they were all unique and interesting, but... worlds ending, the earth being destroyed, the rapture... dangerous places that are fun to read about but not to visit. Haha!

Sarah Diemer writes some of the most interesting fiction I've read recently. Interesting and unique. With YA literature, it's rare to find an author that is constantly coming out with completely unique stories. There's something about them where you can tell the author is the same, but you won't feel like you've read them somewhere before. And that is quite refreshing!

[Miranda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Far: I probably would have liked this better if it wasn’t really, really similar to Twixt. As it is, it just felt like a repeat of that book, except without the good world-building or clarity of ideas. Not bad, but not a great opener either. 2 stars.

The Witch Sea: I really enjoyed the world-building, mythological aspect to this story. Especially Meriel and Nor’s relationship, and the deconstruction of a curse being held in place by one line of women. The writing was especially lovely at times. 3 stars.

Seek: This was a wonderfully creepy fairytale. It was especially interesting that the narrator ended up where she did. One of the stronger stories in the collection. 4 stars

Our Lady of Wolves: One of the better stories, but I’m not entirely sure how well the ending sits with me. It fits in with the story, but something about it rubs me the wrong way. 3 stars.

We Grow Accustomed to the Dark: The best story in the collection. It was horrifyingly visceral, to the point where even when I wanted to put it down and take a step back, I kept reading because it was mesmerizing. I almost hope there’s a sequel to see what happens next, though the open ending does fit in with the theme of the story. 4.5 stars.

The Forever Star: A sweet closing to the collection. I like how Diemer can take a genre like science fiction and still infuse fairytales and mythology into it and make it seamless. I wouldn’t mind seeing more of that in the future. 4 stars.

Overall I enjoyed this collection, even the weaker stories in it. It’s definitely worth a look.

See more of my reviews at On The Nightstand.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

(I cannot get 'The Forever Star' out of my head).

From my Amazon review:

'Love Devours', Sarah Diemer's first anthology of short stories, is a dark and beautiful tapestry of monsters and love. Each story different but woven together masterfully in her chosen theme. There is one common theme I find in all of Diemer's work, aside from love, and it's hope. She always leaves me one gleaming spark of hope in each world and that transcends everything.

I had read each of these stories over the last few months as they were released, loving and relishing each one ('Far' in particular) and revisiting her words and worlds was no chore (and it NEVER is). However, the one that I had not had a chance to read before, 'The Forever Star', ripped me in two. Language, pacing and character blend into a story that shines brighter than the stars that Elaine creates. I truly felt like I was witnessing Diemer's "level up" in storytelling with 'The Forever Star'. I adored it.

If you're looking for a darker beauty and love in a more macabre setting, 'Love Devours' will not miss. I cannot recommend Sarah Diemer's work enough; she will enthrall you, I promise.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had an epiphany while getting the two newest Sarah (and Jennifer) books, realized I hadn't read this book and then realized it was made up of stories I half had read and half hadn't. So I had to track them down. Guys, guys, guys, Sarah blew me out of the water with so many stories in this collection.

I love best probably these three: The Forever Star, We Grow Accustomed to the Dark and the one about the muse and the knight (name of which is escaping me right now). The last one especially completely chilled my heart, gave me goosebumps and upped (as though I thought it were even possible at this point) my respect and appreciation for the scope of subjects and loves Sarah can write lesbian fiction for.

So well done. Everyone needs to get on this.

[Sherlindreah · Rating 3 out of 5]

the first stories...well I really didn't like them and I thought at that moment that I would be the only one to hate this book...But then I began "our lady of the wolves" which was definitively my favourite.
"The forever star" was great too.
I guess Sarah Diemer has a story for everyone in store even a grumpy reader like me...

[Tatyana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loooved the stories collected in this book.

[Darumaka · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is disheartening to know that, even when a book about lesbians is written by a lesbian, the lesbians in said book will still never have a happy ending.

[Shaian Noelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved a few stories, disliked a few, but overall i thought this was a really good read. My favorite was the sea witch by far.

[jjjjj · Rating 5 out of 5]

even the happiest stories made me want to cry

[Kat]

Slow and sweet buddy read with Lee, Anna and Kat.

Read:
* Far
* Our Lady of Wolves