Full Disclosure: This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on February 6, 2024 in exchange for a potential review. I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.
Loving Safoa is the debut novella of Liza Wemakor and one of the latest in queer small publisher Neon Hemlock's 2024 Novella series. The novella is short and is in part a lesbian vampire romance - featuring a 200 plus year old vampire tattoo artist from Ghana and a black schoolteacher from New York in the modern world...and beyond. That "and beyond" is because this book is not really just a romance, but also a hopeful look at this vampire-inclusive version of our world that features growing communities for people from marginalized and colonized communities that soon grow and become prominent.
It's a lovely story in both the romance department and its hope for the future, even if it feels implausible nowadays, and is very worth your time.
Plot Summary:
In 1999 Mount Vernon, schoolteacher Cynthia has been together with her lover - the immortal Ghanaian vampire Safoa - for 8 years now. From their love, and Safoa's bite, Cynthia knows that she is near being turned herself and looks forward to it. Yet Cynthia wonders still if Safoa really loves Cynthia enough to spend the rest of her immortal life together with her...and about the tattoo of another woman's name, "Yaba", on Safoa's body. But when Safoa responds by finally telling Cynthia the story of her past, it will also reveal a future for the two of them together that is special in ways neither of them could imagine....
Loving Safoa starts as if it's going to be an F/F romance at its core. And let's be clear, Cynthia/Safoa's relationship is a major part of this story....and yet at the same time, this isn't really a romance story, as their romance never really has any conflict or major plot arc. We do get a flashback to see how the two of them meet, and their chemistry both sexually and otherwise is very apparent on page, and we also see as the story jumps forward in time how their romance progresses. And that is a really lovely and charming progression between a person who comes from a tragic past in Safoa and a younger person who has not known nearly such a hardship but who can match her and make her happy like Cynthia. It's just a really lovely relationship to read and center the story.
But Loving Safoa is also a hopeful meditation on the future, as the story begins with Safoa telling about the tragic abusive way she was turned into a vampire, contrasting with the consensual way Safoa turns Cynthia, and then the story progresses to examining the future of Cynthia, Safoa, and others like them as they move down to a commune of Lesbian Vampires (and humans who consent to be fed on by them) in Maryland. From there the story imagines a hopeful future for Cynthia, Safoa, and others from marginalized and oppressed communities, vampire or not, and a world where those communities can feel more secure and able to grow and recover from all the damage, just like Safoa has. Some readers may find this utopian future a bit too maybe optimistic, but it's too lovely for me to complain and is well worth your reading time.
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