Wrap-up: January 2021

One month down, only eleven more to go… This year won’t be so bad, will it?

As always with us, I (Anna) watched more stuff than Charlotte, but Charlotte read way more books than I did. At this point, I don’t suppose anyone is ever surprised to see that. But hey, at least I read more than in December, this is clearly progress! And hopefully y’all have read more than me!

What we read

Anna

I’ll Be Home For Christmas by Mason Deaver (nonbinary mc with anxiety & depression, Black bi li, Bahraini pan nonbinary Muslim sc) – 4 🌈
Master of One by Jaida Jones & Danielle Bennett (mlm mc, mlm li, disabled characters, trans character) – 3 🌈 tw torture, blood, murder, mention of parental abuse
A (Fake) Boyfriend for Christmas by Sean Ashcroft (gay mcs, side sapphic characters) – 3 🌈
Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell (mostly poc cast, bi mc, gay mc, wlw, mlm & nonbinary side characters) – 3.5 🌈 tw past domestic abuse, past rape, mental torture, murder [review]
In Deeper Waters by F.T. Lukens (bi/pan mc, mlm li) – 3 🌈 tw blood, murder, panic attacks [review]

Charlotte

His Lordship’s Secret by Samantha SoRelle (gay mcs) – 3 🌈 cw period typical homophobia
We Now Return to Regular Life by Martin Wilson (gay mc) – 3.5 🌈 cw child abduction, paedophilia, sexual abuse, homophobic slurs, violence
What They Always Tell Us by Martin Wilson (gay mc with depression, biracial Indian American gay li) – 2.5 🌈 cw attempted suicide, car accident, casual racism & homophobia, homophobic slurs
🔥 Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng (Chinese American gay mc) – 5 🌈
From Darkness by Kate Hazel Hall (wlw mc & li) – 3 🌈

The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo (Vietnamese bi mc, bi side characters) – 3 🌈
Alan Cole is Not a Coward by Eric Bell (gay mc) – 3 🌈 cw domestic abuse, child abuse, emotional abuse, abuse apologism
A Dark and Hollow Star by Ashley Shuttleworth (pan mc, lesbian mc, bi mc, gay mc, genderfluid side character) – 4.5 🌈
A Tip for the Hangman by Allison Epstein (gay mc & li) – 4 🌈 [review] cw death, violence, execution (beheading, hang drawn & quartered), gore, implied domestic abuse, child abuse
Roommate by Sarina Bowen (gay mc & li) – 2 🌈 cw homophobia, homophobic slurs

Persephone Station by Stina Leicht (lesbian mc, nonbinary mc) – 2 🌈 cw torture, violence
Fiebre Tropical by Juliana Delgado Lopera (Colombian bi mc) – 3 🌈
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi (Ghanaian bi mc) – 4 🌈 [review] cw death by overdose, heroin addiction, suicide attempt
No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull (Black bi mc, Black sapphic mc, Black bi ace trans mc) – 3.5 🌈 [review] cw implied sexual abuse, drug abuse, implied domestic abuse, police brutality, gun violence
Dead Space by Kali Wallace (lesbian mc, nonbinary li, gay, lesbian & pan side characters) – 5 🌈 [review]

The Library of the Unwritten by A. J. Hackwith (Black pan mc, bi mc, gay mc) – 3 🌈
Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett (sapphic mc & li) – 5 🌈
The Archive of the Forgotten by A. J. Hackwith (Black pan mc, bi mc, gay mc) – 3 🌈 [review]
Sweet & Bitter Magic by Adrienne Tooley (lesbian mc, bi mc) – 4 🌈 [review]
The Velocity of Revolution by Marshall Ryan Maresca (pan mcs, polyamory) – 4.5 🌈 [review]

Knit, Purl, a Baby and a Girl by Hettie Bell (bi mc, lesbian li) – 3 🌈 [review]
The Favourite by Ophelia Field (nonfiction) – 3 🌈
Sisters of the Vast Black by Lina Rather (lesbian mc & li) – 3 🌈

What we watched (and listened to)

Charlotte

Ideal Home (2018) dir. Andrew Fleming (gay mcs) – 3.5 🌈 cw implied domestic violence, mentions of drug addiction and associated death, alcohol abuse, homophobic slurs
Tangerine (2015) dir. Sean Baker (Black trans mcs) – 2.5 🌈 cw prostitution, transphobic slurs, homophobic slurs, misgendering, racist slurs

Anna

Rhys Nicholson: Live at the Athenaeum (2020), dir. Toby Parkinson (stand-up comedy; gay comic) – 4 🌈
Freaky (2020), dir. Christopher Landon (gay side character) – 2 🌈
Breaking Fast (2020), dir. Mike Mosallam (Muslim gay mc, gay li, Muslim gay characters) – 4 🌈 tw homophobia
The Broken Hearts Gallery (2020), dir. Natalie Krinsky (lesbian character, Black gay side character) – 3.5 🌈
Tiny Pretty Things (S1), cr. Michael MacLennan (Latina sapphic mc, gay mc, Latino bi mc, gay mcs) – 2.5 🌈 tw islamophobia, eating disorder, medicine addiction, parental abuse, relationship between an adult and a minor, drugs, alcohol, sexual assault, mention of rape, murder, sexual harassment, homophobia, internalised homophobia, fatphobia, emotional abuse, military glorification, past domestic abuse, incarceration

Dash & Lily (S1), cr. Joe Tracz (half-Japanese American gay sc, Puerto Rican-American gay sc) – 3 🌈
It’s a Sin (S1), cr. Russell T Davies (gay mcs, Indian gay mc, Nigerian gay mc, gay characters) – 4.5 🌈 tw homophobia, death, epilepsy

On the blog

• Our January book of the month.
• Best books we’ve read in 2020 & best movies/shows/podcasts we’ve watched and listened to.
• Our most anticipated releases of the first half of this year.
• LGBT YA books of the first half of 2021.
• Trans and otherwise non-cis books of 2021.
• Sapphic books of the first half of 2021.
• Interviews with Jonny Garza Villa & Nuno Freitas.
• Rec lists for Warm LGBT Hug Books, Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum, and songs from December.
• Review of Night Tide by Anna Burke.
• All of February’s releases.

On other blogs

• Dahlia @ LGBTQReads shared January Deal Announcements, a cover reveal of Hard Sell by Hudson Lin, and a guest post by Maxine Kaplan (author of Wench).
• Kappa @ Kappa Reads recommended 26 LGBT books.
• Louise @ Foxes and Fairy Tales reviewed Lava Red Feather Blue by Molly Ringle and The Forever Sea by Joshua Phillip Johnson.
• Rach @ Anxious Nachos wrote a review of Winter’s Orbit.
• Alex @ Almost, Almost wrote some more bite-sized reviews of LGBT books (it’s a series, keep your eyes out each week!).
• Michelle @ Magical Reads shared her thoughts on Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard.
• Jess @ A Lesbian and Her Laptop talked about how to be a sapphic writer.

So, how was January? What did you read and watch?

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