Wrap-up: September 2020

Do you ever get the feeling that September just doesn’t feel real? Like, I feel as though it was August, I blinked, and now it’s October. That may just be me.

September, as you can see, was a productive month. Anna watched a lot, I read a lot (I don’t want to talk about it), time went by. So take a scroll through, and let us know how September was for you!

What we read

Anna

The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen (Vietnamese-American gay mc, Vietnamese mc, Vietnamese characters, wlw characters) – 5 🌈 tw cannibalism, off page death, on page death, murder, blood, homophobia [review]
CREMA by Johnnie Christmas (Brazilian wlw mc, Afro-Brazilian wlw li, Brazilian cast) – 3 🌈
🔥 Avi Cantor Has Six Months to Live by Nina Varela (gay trans Jewish mc, gay trans li, wlw trans mother, wlw mother, Black side character) – 4 🌈
Hurt/Comfort by Weronika Łodyga (gay mc with anxiety and muteness, gay li, bi side characters, gay side characters, Polish cast) – 4 🌈 tw panic attacks, homophobia, past bullying
Perfect on Paper by Sophie Gonzales (bi girl mc, trans side character, Vietnamese-American lesbian side character, bi side character, gay side character, pan nonbinary side character) – 5 🌈 tw biphobia, internalised biphobia, toxic parents, drugs, alcohol, vomiting [review]
Yellow Jessamine by Caitlin Starling (wlw mcs) – 3 🌈 tw drugs, murder, gore

Charlotte

Dear Rachel Maddow by Adrienne Kisner (lesbian mc with depression and unspecified learning disorder, bi li) – 2 🌈 cw for suicidal ideation, homophobia, ableism, abuse, drug overdose, family death, dubious consent scene, rape culture, alcohol abuse
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas (Cuban American gay trans mc, Colombian American gay li with ADHD(?), Cuban American side characters, lesbian side character, trans side character) – 4.5 🌈 cw for deadnaming, misgendering, transphobia, mentions of past gang violence
Eight Will Fall by Sarah Harian (lesbian character) – 3 🌈 cw for gore, eye horror, body horror, torture
CREMA by Johnnie Christmas (Brazilian wlw mc, Afro Brazilian wlw li) – 3 🌈
Crowded, Vol. 1 by Christopher Sebela (bi/pan mc, Black lesbian mc) – 4 🌈 cw for violence, gore, murder

Crowded, Vol. 2: Glitter Dystopia by Christopher Sebela (bi/pan mc, Black lesbian mc) – 3 🌈 cw for violence, gore, murder
All at Sea by Cheyenne Blue (lesbian mcs) – 3 🌈 cw for lesbophobia
Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden (lesbian mc & li, lesbian side characters) – 3 🌈 cw for homophobia
Shallow Graves by Kali Wallace (bi mc, gay side character) – 4 🌈
Body Language by A. K. Turner (bi mc & li) – 2 🌈 [review] cw for descriptions of autopsies, murder, drug abuse, drug overdoses, mentions of domestic abuse

Into the Crooked Place by Alexandra Christo (wlw mcs, mlm side character) – 3.5 🌈 cw for murder, gore, past child abuse, torture
Tell Me How You Really Feel by Aminah Mae Safi (Jewish Mexican American lesbian mc, Persian-Bengali American Muslim lesbian mc) – 2.5 🌈
When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo (Vietnamese coded wlw mcs, Vietnamese coded nonbinary mc) – 5 🌈 [review]
Slippery Creatures by K. J. Charles (bi mc, gay li) – 3 🌈 cw for torture, murder, descriptions of war
The Sugared Game by K. J. Charles (bi mc, gay li) – 3 🌈 cw for violence, murder, past self harm

The Winter Duke by Claire Eliza Bartlett (lesbian mc & li, bi side character, nonbinary side characters) – 2.5 🌈 [review]
The Liar’s Guide to the Night Sky by Brianna R. Shrum (Jewish bi mc with anxiety, Afro-Latino pan aro li, lesbian side characters) – 5 🌈 [review]
Kissing Ezra Holtz by Brianna R. Shrum (Jewish bi mc, bi, gay, lesbian, trans & nonbinary side characters) – 5 🌈
🔥 This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal el-Mohtar & Max Gladstone (wlw mcs) – 5 🌈
Home by Jenn Alexander (lesbian mc & li) – 2 🌈

No Man’s Land by A. J. Fitzwater (Maori lesbian mcs, mlm character, genderfluid character) – 2 🌈 cw casual racism, homophobia
Switched by N. R. Walker (gay mc, gay li) – 2 🌈
Sapphic in the Shadows: Ep 1 by Leanna Headley & Alex B. Porter (lesbian mc & li) – 2 🌈
January Embers by Hildred Billings (lesbian mcs) – 3 🌈
Charlie Sunshine by Lily Morton (gay mc with epilepsy, gay mc) – 3.5 🌈

Brighton Rock by Lily Morton (gay mc with epilepsy, gay mc) – 3 🌈
Better Be True by Andy Gallo & Anyta Sunday (gay mcs) – 2 🌈
Happy for You by Anyta Sunday (gay mcs, bi side character) – 2 🌈
Moments in Ink by Carrie Ann Ryan (bi mcs) – 3.5 🌈
The Raven and the Reindeer by T. Kingfisher (lesbian mcs) – 3 🌈

In at the Deep End by Kate Davies (lesbian mc, lesbian side characters) – 1.5 🌈 cw abusive relationship, nonconsensual BDSM, rape, self harm, threatened suicide, gaslighting
Oz by Lily Morton (bi mc, gay mc) – 3 🌈 cw past child abuse
In the Role of Brie Hutchens… by Nicole Melleby (lesbian mc, lesbian li) – 3.5 🌈
The Warrior’s Path by Catherine M. Wilson (lesbian mc) – 1.5 🌈
The Summer of Jordi Perez by Amy Spalding (lesbian mc, Mexican American lesbian li) – 2 🌈

Hollow Empire by Sam Hawke (lesbian mc with chronic pain, lesbian li, bi mc with OCD) – 4.5 🌈 [review]
Milo by Lily Morton (gay mc, bi mc) – 2 🌈
A Scot’s Surrender by Lily Maxton (bi mc, gay mc) – 3.5 🌈
A Lady’s Desire by Lily Maxton (lesbian mc, wlw (possibly bi, possibly lesbian) mc) – 3 🌈
Hurricane Child by Kacen Callender (Black lesbian mc, Black lesbian li) – 3.5 🌈 cw homophobia, bullying, past attempted suicide by a side character, parental abandonment

Lion City by Ng Yi-Sheng (Singaporean gay characters, wlw character) – 3.5 🌈
The Tiger Flu by Larissa Lai (lesbian mc) – 2 🌈 cw attempted rape, gore, eye horror, cannibalism
The Stars and Everything in Between by Victoria Lee (Jewish bi mc, gay mc with MDD, unspecified eating disorder & substance abuse disorder) – 4 🌈 cw references to past rape and child sexual abuse, past eating disorder, alcohol abuse relapse
Charon Docks at Daylight by Zoe Reed (lesbian mc, bi mc) – 1 🌈 cw lesbophobic slurs, violence, gore, attempted rape, cannibalism, drugging
Out on Good Behaviour by Dahlia Adler (pan mc, lesbian li) – 2 🌈

The Kill Club by Wendy Heard (lesbian mc, bi li) – 3 🌈 cw domestic abuse, stalking, violence, murder, mentions of rape, child abuse, homophobia
To Love and to Loathe by Martha Waters (lesbian character) – 4 🌈 [review]

What we watched (and listened to)

Charlotte

Her Story (2016) dir. Sydney Freeland (bi trans mc, lesbian li, Black trans mc, lesbian side characters) – 2.5 🌈 cw transphobia
For Nonna Anna (2017) dir. Luis De Filippis (trans mc) – 4 🌈
Midsomer Murders (19.05, 20.04, 20.05) cr. Caroline Graham (gay mc; Black gay mc, gay mc; lesbian mc) – 3 🌈
And Then We Danced (2019) dir. Levan Akin (gay mc, mlm li) – 4 🌈

Anna

My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997), dir. P.J. Hogan (side gay character) – 3 🌈
Monsoon (2019), dir. Hong Khaou (Vietnamese gay mc, Black gay li) – 4 🌈
The Strong Ones (2019), dir. Omar Zúñiga Hidalgo (Chilean cast, gay mcs) – 3.5 🌈
And Then We Danced (2019), dir. Levan Akin (Georgian cast, gay mc, mlm li, side mlm characters) – 4 🌈
🔥 Ben Platt: Live from Radio City Music Hall (2020), dir. Alex Timbers & Sam Wrench (concert; gay Jewish artist) – 4 🌈

My Big Gay Italian Wedding (2018), dir. Alessandro Genovesi (Italian cast, gay mcs) – 2.5 🌈
An Almost Ordinary Summer (2019), dir. Simone Godano (Italian cast, gay mcs) – 2.5 🌈
The Boys in the Band (2020), dir. Joe Mantello (gay mcs, gay Jewish mc, gay Black mc, gay Latino mc) – 3.5 🌈
Summerland (2020), dir. Jessica Swale (wlw mc, Black wlw li) – 3.5 🌈
🔥 Gentleman Jack (S1), cr. Sally Wainwright (lesbian mc & li) – 5 🌈