Black Iris

(me, burning in hell but enjoying every second of it)

19-year-old Laney is on the hunt. And her girlfriend is her closest ally. Laney's life mission is getting revenge on all the men who have hurt her. It's fucked up, but also so sickly satisfying. What makes this work is that the characters are self-aware of their viciousness and revel in it, rather than attempt to deny it. They're completely unapologetic. Wolf girls, unafraid to use their teeth.

At times I was conflicted about the portrayal of mental illness (the main character is diagnosed borderline and her mother and girlfriend both have BPD); it can be dangerous to play into the stereotypes that already exist about the mentally ill: unstable, violent, dangerous. But I think overall the author walked on the right side of the line, showing that the ruthlessness of these women is not necessarily a symptom of their illness, but rather a reaction to their experiences and a world that hates them. But they bite back.

TW: suicide, heavy drug use, violence, homophobia/slurs. There is also explicit (consensual) m/f and f/f sex in this book.