In the three and a bit years this blog has been up, I’ve made two enemies to lovers rec lists and always intended to make a friends to lovers list too, but somehow never got round to it. Well, today, I have finally got my act together! If you love the friends to lovers trope, the pining, the yearning, the belief that it’s unrequited—this rec list is for you! (And if it’s not your favourite, then I live in hope these books will convert you.) So, let’s go!
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Book Recs: Mysteries (II)
Yesterday, I asked for book rec suggestions, having completely forgotten that I had this list all ready and drafted. Handily, someone asked for more mystery recs so here we have it! My part two. Part one can be found here. If you’re looking for a good mystery to dive into, look no further!
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Book Review: The Harbinger of Freedom
In the millenary world of Taenand, the continent of Empiria is oppressed by a fifty year lasting military dictatorship perpetrated by the Army of the Harpy, the leader of which is the young General of aristocratic descent Ludwig Maximilian Eckhale who inherited the throne and became the second Emperor of his Era.
In these challenging times, Valerius Raleigh, a young noble as the Emperor himself, takes on the mission to inspire his country to break its chains and free itself from the ever more raging tyranny, first becoming a symbol and a messenger of freedom, then building an army whose purpose is to take down the reign of terror and injustice which threatens to spread all over Taenand due to the ruthless ruler’s strategic mindset and powerful alliances.
The Harbinger of Freedom is the first act of the Falling Feathers Series, a crazy mix of blood, sex, drugs, hacking, cybernetic augmentations, shamanism, fantasy creatures, artificial life and an overall retrofuturistic and cyberpunkish aesthetic. In this vast, complex world, liberty and self-determination play a pivotal role in the search for balance and justice for all, while the diverse characters are pawns in a gritty game of power, intrigues and violence in which there is no place for surrender or subjugation.
The Harbinger of Freedom
Freddie A. Clark
Published: 30th August 2021
Goodreads
Rep: bi mc, gay li, achillean & sapphic side characters, nonbinary side characters
CWs: gore, violence, implied child sexual abuse, past child abuse (for more detail, see author’s website) -
Author Interview: Jae
If you read lesbian romances, you’ve probably come across Jae’s work before. She really is an icon in the community. And if, for whatever ungodly reason, you haven’t read any of her books yet, check out this interview to learn more about her, and then buy yourself at least one novel!
And, while you’re at it, don’t forget to follow Jae on twitter!
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Film & TV Recs: LGBT Christmas movies
Christmas is just around the corner, so it’s high time for a rec list of movies to watch while you cosy up with some hot chocolate. Those are basically all new releases, since Happiest Season coming out last year gave studios a kick to bring us more LGBT Christmas movies. Finally. And no, I’m not including Single All the Way on my list, because you probably already know about it (and because, well, I didn’t really enjoy it much).
I made a part one to this, with gay Christmas movies, two years ago, and I obviously encourage you to check it out, but also I have to be honest: most of the good stuff came out since then.
There are also 11 movies on this list and that’s because one of them is a short feature, so it’s like a cute little bonus.
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Reads Rainbow Awards 2021: The Results
As you may have noticed, we ran the awards a little differently this year, allowing for a week’s worth of nominations in all categories, before taking those nominated more than once, adding a few more to reach 20 per category (although 15 in two, and 30 in debut), and then opening up voting for 3 and a half weeks. In selecting nominees, we tried out best to ensure different books were nominated in each category (debut and romance aside) and that, within each category, an author appeared only once.
But enough of that. The results of that vote, with 2320 ballots cast, are now here and I’m sure you’re all excited to see who won! First though, if you’re interested in just who made the cut in this year’s awards, below you can:
see the list of nominees!
Otherwise, happy scrolling!
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Music Releases: LGBT songs of November 2021
It’s the very end of the year and LGBT artists, like everyone else, are clearly excited for the holidays: there are quite a number of Christmas songs on the playlist below. There’s even one among the ten songs I highlight in the post itself. And those are only the November songs!
If you want more, though, I have a very long holigay mix for you & one made of only 2021 songs. (I will be updating them as more songs come out!)
That’s still not enough music for you? Try all my previous monthly posts right here!
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Book of the Month: All the White Spaces
Our last book of the month for 2021, and our first look at some of 2022’s releases! Today, we present to you Ally Wilkes‘ upcoming historical horror novel All the White Spaces. I (Charlotte) am very excited about this one, so I’m hoping that this post will make you so too!
Related: Don’t forget all releases can be found in our monthly lists here.
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Wrap-up: November 2021
Better late than never comes our wrap up post for November. This month was pretty busy for us, and December is only going to get busier. Which is… good news of a sort? Risky news for the frequency of posts on the blog, but we’ll just have to see how it goes.
But anyway! I hope your Novembers went well, and that December is good to you. Here’s a little summary of our reading, watching, and now listening habits!
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Book Releases: December 2021
Last thirty one days of the year! Who can even believe that? But also, statistically speaking, it’s basically 2 LGBT books coming out on each of those days!
No spoilers, but this is the last time we will do the releases post like this. Starting January we will be using a different method, and hopefully y’all will find it even easier to navigate!
If any books are wrongly categorised, just let me know & I can fix it. As per usual, you can find all our previous releases posts here & the rainbow emoji indicates an author who id’s as LGBT.
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ARC Review: Fools in Love
Frankly, if Fools in Love hasn’t been a book you’ve been anticipating all year, then I do not know what to say. It’s pretty much the perfect cosy read to curl up with this winter (or, equally, the perfect beach read, if December happens to fall in the summer months for you). Trust us when we say you don’t want to miss out on this one!
And, of course, don’t forget to follow Ashley Herring Blake and Rebecca Podos on twitter (along with all the other contributors)!
Fake relationships. Enemies to lovers. Love triangles and best friends, mistaken identities and missed connections. This collection of genre-bending and original stories celebrates how love always finds a way, featuring powerful flora, a superhero and his nemesis, a fantastical sled race through snow-capped mountains, a golf tournament, the wrong ride-share, and even the end of the world.
With stories written by Rebecca Barrow, Ashley Herring Blake, Gloria Chao, Mason Deaver, Sara Farizan, Claire Kann, Malinda Lo, Hannah Moskowitz, Natasha Ngan, Rebecca Podos, Lilliam Rivera, Laura Silverman, Amy Spalding, Rebecca Kim Wells, and Julian Winters this collection is sure to sweep you off your feet.
Fools in Love
ed. by Ashley Herring Blake & Rebecca Podos
Rep: sapphic mcs, achillean mcs, trans mc
Release: 7th December 2021 -
Author Interview: Casey Hamilton
Today’s post is an interview with Casey Hamilton, the author of MENAFTER10, a collection of interrelated short stories, all based around a gay hook up app. It released just a couple of months back and, if you’re a fan of contemporary fiction, you should take a look at this one. And read this interview, of course.
And, while you’re at it, don’t forget to follow Casey on twitter!
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Book Recs: LGBT Graphic Novels (III)
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Book Recs: LGBT Fake Dating
Wouldn’t be much of a stretch, would it, to say that the fake dating trope is quintessential for LGBT lit somehow. Which is why it was only a matter of time for a fake dating rec list to be posted on the blog.
At the end of this post you will find a few upcoming titles that I haven’t been fortunate enough to read an ARC of yet, but absolutely want y’all to be aware of. And if, like me, you’re constantly on the lookout for fake dating books with trans rep, we’ve been told you should keep an eye out for TJ Alexander’s projects (and follow them on Twitter).
And hey, quite a few of those titles are available on Scribd, so if you want to check out that service but don’t have an account yet, use my invite code to get 2 months for free! (This also gives me one free month.)
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Book Recs: Trans & Nonbinary Adult Fantasy
The final part of my impromptu adult fantasy rec list series is upon us! This one was, compared to the rest, pretty difficult to put together, if only because I hamstrung myself by doing almost this same rec list earlier in the year, and didn’t want to copy too many from that to here (that post was gender in SFF). You can see where I succeeded and failed in that, but I still hope I’ve given you enough different recs here that you’ll find something new and exciting.
And hey, a lot of those titles are available on Scribd, so if you want to check out that service but don’t have an account yet, use my invite code to get 2 months for free! (This also gives me one free month.)
And if you want to check out the other posts in this series, you can find them below:
Lesbian | Gay | Bi/Pan
