I read primarily queer books. I love everything from basic mlm romances to classic literature to contemporary fiction. I’m slowly trying to add more non-fiction and challenging subject matter, but I don’t need any additional dystopia in my life. My spice tolerance fluctuates, so sometimes I want all the spice and sometimes I can skim over it.
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It is interesting to read this book after seeing All of Us Strangers a few weeks back. While this book is very different from All of Us Strangers, the themes of isolation and lost connections are strong in both.
I’m reading a story or two from this anthology each day. I was really impressed with the first one about a young trans girl and an aloe plant.
I’m a few chapters in. It’s pretty horrifying, but in quotidian ways. It’s really interesting to see myself reflected not in the narrator, but in the environment that surrounds her. It feels like a damning, yet valid, indictment.
Sahara’s MH fascinates me. So far only two characters names are shared with the reader. The rest are titles, descriptions, and periodically redactions.
Valerie Danners is in a cult. She just doesn’t know it yet. When she finds …
What a wonderful story of young people breaking free from religious-based hegemonic oppression. It is also heartbreaking seeing almost all of the characters suffering under it, even the believers as they get more and more entangled. It’s definitely YA romance with many of the accompanying tropes, but seeing them in this setting brings joy and liberation to a world that could have gone very dark and devastating. Sometimes you need an HEA to help you process the horrors intimated in the narrative.
Valerie Danners is in a cult. She just doesn’t know it yet. When she finds …
I’m reading this for a book club this weekend. It’s a pretty easy read so far. Valerie (FMC) is a biracial teen growing up in a culty and very white Christian nationalist denomination. She is finding it difficult to conform and repress in a way that will make her family happy and doesn’t understand what’s wrong with her. Between a book she snuck out of the library and a new friend, Riley, Valerie might have the tools she needs to understand that there is nothing wrong with her and her feelings.
It might be hard for people with religious trauma, parental trauma from a patriarchal household, or come from highly homophobic environments. It is written for a YA audience.
Found it again…with not enough time to read before book club. I’ll finish it anyway. 🫤
I misplaced the dang book. I won’t be able to finish it before book club. Hopefully I’ll find it before it’s due back.
Like with most books in this book club, it will probably break me. I might need to line up a comfort read after this one.
The Unlikely Spare is a royal romantic comedy/suspense featuring a party prince learning his place …
A fun end to this queer romance filled with political intrigue.
What happens when the Prince of Wales falls in love with the Prime Minister?
My boring life working in an …
Every day, Albert Entwistle makes his way through the streets of his small English town, …
While this book starts off really sad (why was I reading it in public?) it comes around to being a narrative about how being true to yourself will lead to finding yourself and community. Like with Heartstopper on Netflix, your worst fears are never manifested. We really did need a queer elder Heartstopper that celebrates surviving through times when being gay would lead to job loss, prison, or worse. Whether they had to live in the closet or were willing and able to take on the challenges of being out at the time, they survived when many people didn’t. If you are looking for a challenging queer narrative or one focusing on the issues queer people face today, you might be disappointed. If you want a fuzzy and easy book (after crying for the first 50 pages) you might fall in love with Albert and Nichole. I forgot to mention …
While this book starts off really sad (why was I reading it in public?) it comes around to being a narrative about how being true to yourself will lead to finding yourself and community. Like with Heartstopper on Netflix, your worst fears are never manifested. We really did need a queer elder Heartstopper that celebrates surviving through times when being gay would lead to job loss, prison, or worse. Whether they had to live in the closet or were willing and able to take on the challenges of being out at the time, they survived when many people didn’t. If you are looking for a challenging queer narrative or one focusing on the issues queer people face today, you might be disappointed. If you want a fuzzy and easy book (after crying for the first 50 pages) you might fall in love with Albert and Nichole. I forgot to mention ton her, but as a young black single mother, she too goes on a similar journey opening herself up to the people around her and standing up for her needs. She could have easily slipped into a shallow stereotype, but her characterization felt well done to my eyes.
Some of Ben Sedgwick’s favorite things:
Fun historical queer romance.
After months of planning a romantic holiday getaway in Venice, Paul is blindsided when his …
A short novella about a sweetly neurotic New Yorker divorcé named Paul traveling to Venice for a no-longer romantic Christmas trip. He sees a street dog projecting a level of confidence he has never felt and wishes to study its ways.
As usual, Rowley delivers a witty, silly, and heartfelt story. Paul’s heartbreak and feelings of failure and rejection are palpable. He feels like he can’t even do though most basic things, but he pushes himself more and more. It would be easy to make Paul into a ridiculously pathetic person, but Rowley lets us see that he’s a relatably “pathetic” person instead. Paul carries so much fear of rejection and lonelinesss and I felt it viscerally.
It’s a definite recommend for fans of Steven Rowley and those who love stories about sweet gay men who need to find their spark again.
After months of planning a romantic holiday getaway in Venice, Paul is blindsided when his …
Just started this new novella by Steven Rowley. 9 pages in and I’m already called out, despite never being in a marriage.
Red, White & Royal Blue meets The Nightmare Before Christmas in a sexy, quirky romcom …
I was hoping for a zippy little romcom, but it dragged in the middle for me. I loved th concept and it did go into a few interesting narrative places, but I probably won’t read the next book in the series unless I hear something amazing about it. The leads were good, but not exceptional. The theme of looking for joy authentically as you deal with your troubles instead as a facade of perfection spoke to me.