reviews, releases and recommendations of LGBT media
Sounds weird to use terms associated more with literature, but really, when I say “new adult characters” what I mean is characters in their early or mid 20s. Young people trying to figure adult life out.
I ended up with 11 titles, and because I cheated and am claiming the last one only half fits the theme & that’s why it can stay. I was also tempted to put And Then We Danced and God’s Own Country on here, but eventually figured you all must know about them already.
It’s been a while since I did my first high fantasy rec list on here, and I’ve read a lot more of it since so, it being Friday and I cannot come up with a more interesting theme for this list, I decided that it’s the perfect time for a sequel.
In the interests of making this list a little more, I don’t know, readable, I suppose, I’m going to only include books that are already out. So, yes, there are several upcoming I’ve read and loved, but they won’t be on here. Plenty of motivation to make a part three then though…
There are over 70 songs by LGBT artists which came out in February. That I know of. I probably missed a bunch because I’m only one person. All of them are on the mix which you can find at the end of the post, as always, and ten of my absolute favourites are featured below. Enjoy!!
And if you need even more new music, check out all my previous monthly posts right here!
If you aren’t excited about the upcoming Sweet & Bitter Magic, sadly, we must conclude that you have been living under a rock. But not to worry! Today we come prepared to extract you from that situation, with our reviews and also a mix to listen to.
And if you need any more convincing, check out the interview we did with Adrienne in 2019!
In this charming debut fantasy perfect for fans of Sorcery of Thorns and Girls of Paper and Fire, a witch cursed to never love meets a girl hiding her own dangerous magic, and the two strike a dangerous bargain to save their queendom.
Tamsin is the most powerful witch of her generation. But after committing the worst magical sin, she’s exiled by the ruling Coven and cursed with the inability to love. The only way she can get those feelings back—even for just a little while—is to steal love from others.
Wren is a source—a rare kind of person who is made of magic, despite being unable to use it herself. Sources are required to train with the Coven as soon as they discover their abilities, but Wren—the only caretaker to her ailing father—has spent her life hiding her secret.
When a magical plague ravages the queendom, Wren’s father falls victim. To save him, Wren proposes a bargain: if Tamsin will help her catch the dark witch responsible for creating the plague, then Wren will give Tamsin her love for her father.
Of course, love bargains are a tricky thing, and these two have a long, perilous journey ahead of them—that is, if they don’t kill each other first…
Adrienne Tooley
Rep: bi/pan mc, lesbian mc
Release: 9th March 2021
After a lot of discussion over just what should be our book of month for April, we finally decided*. But because there was such strife, let me mention the book that lost out (look, Anna, you can never again say I give you nothing): The Sky Blues, which Anna loves and for which our reviews will be coming next month!
And now that’s done, onto our actual book of the month.
*Read: Anna gave up arguing.
As you are (hopefully) aware, Allison Saft’s debut, Down Comes the Night, released yesterday (finally, I say, having made the glorious mistake of reading it last August and been suffering since then) so today, we have for you the interview she so kindly answered for us…just a few months back now I guess.
Down Comes the Night is a gothic fantasy mystery, featuring a maybe-haunted house and some good old-fashioned enemies to lovers — basically the book of all our dreams. And trust me when I say, if you pick this up, make sure you’re prepared to be glued to the sofa/bed/other such seating arrangement of your desire until you’ve put it down. It’s one of those.
So, get yourself comfortable, and have a read of this. And don’t forget to follow her on Twitter!
And then promise me you’ll go read the book.
February seems to have both whizzed by and also taken forever to be done, much like this past year has felt overall, really. There’s not much to add here that we haven’t said before: as ever, I read more than Anna. Anna watched more than me.
So it goes.
But we do have some great posts to highlight this month, so take a scroll and find out!
The worst* thing in the world is when your internet decides it’s going to be all buggy just as you’re working on a long post. But worry not! There was one winner here and that was ME. I defeated it, and thus can bring you today’s releases post, at the very early** time of 10pm.
*It’s probably not.
**It’s past my bedtime.
As ever, you can find all our previous releases posts here and the rainbow emoji indicates an author who id’s as LGBT.
Waaaay back when this blog was just a baby blog, I did a rec list of enemies to lovers (or otherwise hate to love) and that rec list has been probably one of the most viewed of all time. But then I went back and looked at it the other day, and was like… this is quite basic.
And hence the idea for a second part was born.
Before we begin, however, I would like to say yes I am aware that enemies to lovers and hate to love are not synonymous. No, I don’t really care, but if you want to be specific, this is more of a hate to love list.
As requested by Lena on Twitter, here are ten books with “characters in college/university or that general age range”. A few are straight up taking place at uni, a few are just with protags roughly that age.
I really wanted to include two more books, but I just featured them on my last rec list (Warm Hug LGBT Books), so I figured y’all need some more variety. Please know, though, Abroad by Liz Jacobs & Weak Heart by Ban Gilmartin also fit this theme perfectly.
If you’re not a fan of Sophie yet, I don’t know what you’re doing with your life. Personally I’m in love with her novel from last year – Only Mostly Devastated – it easily made my list of YA books with supportive parents. (You can also check out my review here.)
And so obviously I can’t wait for y’all to be able to read her upcoming novel – Perfect on Paper. It’s getting published on March 9th, and yes, I absolutely did make Charlotte include it on her rec list of m/f romances with bi mcs. Don’t forget Sophie actually has another book coming out this year, too, co-written with Cale Dietrich – If This Gets Out.
So without further ado, read on to see how openly Sophie talks about her fanfic past & how much it taught her, about zombies, and more. And don’t forget to follow her on Twitter!
Today’s rec list is one which was requested sometime in December on Twitter (and yes, we’re just getting round to it. We are a slow-moving operation). But we’re finally here! In this post you will find 10 books, each featuring a BIPOC bi mc. So get yourself a cuppa and have a look see!
I don’t know if you guys are aware, but the LGBT History Month is celebrated at different times in different countries. And in the UK it’s in February. Which I figured is a perfect reason for me to recommend you some documentaries. It’s actually always a good time to learn something about our history.
Like Larry Kramer said, “we are entitled to our history. We are entitled to know who these people were. I don’t think you can be a people until you have a history”.
There will most definitely be a part two to this rec list, since it’s in no way comprehensive, but still: below you will find ten titles I have seen (or found) recently. Enjoy, and happy learning! (And of course, sadly, a general tw of homophobia, transphobia, violence for almost all of those titles.)
If you’ve followed our blog for a while, you know we like to make these releases posts and you also know that last year I’ve made two for books with bi and/or pan protagonists. So of course, here I am again, this year.
Like before, I want to make clear that I tried my hardest to only include books where it’s very clear a character actually is bisexual (or pansexual), so that y’all get real rep. I also included books with bi and pan love interests, since those are usually rather big roles too. If I missed any books, because I only knew they feature a sapphic or achillean main character, please let me know!
And like always, the rainbow emoji means the author is LGBT. Happy reading!
So, you’ve opened up Scribd. The choices are overwhelming. You’ve read everything Anna suggested on their previous post. But where do you go from here?
Not to worry because today it’s my turn to provide you with 50* books that you can read on Scribd! I’ve done the digging so you don’t have to! So whether you’re looking for YA or adult, classics or poetry, sapphic, achillean or trans/nonbinary rep, hopefully there’s something here for you.
A little disclaimer first though: I myself haven’t read all of these books (some of what I initially included has been taken off since, thanks for that Scribd!), but they are all, if not read, then ones I want to read sometime soon.
*You may not actually have access to all 50 of these books, since Scribd can vary in availability depending on country.
