reviews, releases and recommendations of LGBT media
Y’all know the drill: all the songs by LGBT artists that came out in March and I know about, are on the mix which you can find at the end of the post. 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’re not excited about Kelly Quindlen’s next book — an f/f rivals to lovers sports romance — then I can only assume you’ve just not yet heard about it. But no matter! Consider this to be your notice of it. It’s out 20th April, so there’s still plenty of time to preorder.
But to tide you over in the meantime, here’s the interview we did with Kelly a few months back for you to enjoy!
You can, of course, also follow her on twitter.
“Once upon a time, there was a villain” is frankly the only kind of a fairy tale opening I want to read from now on. But only if the fairy tale in question is as good as what Malice offers. Because it truly has it all: great characters, magic, betrayals, and a lesbian romance. I assure you, it is the fairy tale retelling of your dreams.
So yes, we’re very excited that we’re part of the blog tour that Del Rey runs for Malice! And hey, you can actually grab yourself a signed copy of Malice right here!
Also follow Heather Walter on twitter!
Once upon a time, there was a wicked fairy who cursed a line of princesses to die, and could only be broken by true love’s kiss. You’ve heard this before, haven’t you? The handsome prince. The happily-ever-after.
Utter nonsense.
Let me tell you, no one actually cares about what happens to our princesses. I thought I didn’t care, either. Until I met her.
Princess Aurora. The last heir to the throne. The future queen her realm needs. One who isn’t bothered that I am the Dark Grace, abhorred and feared for the mysterious dark magic that runs in my veins. Aurora says I should be proud of my gifts. That she . . . cares for me. Even though it was a power like mine that was responsible for her curse.
But with less than a year until that curse will kill her, any future I might see with Aurora is swiftly disintegrating – and she can’t stand to kiss yet another insipid prince. I want to help her. If my power began her curse, perhaps it’s what can lift it. Perhaps, together, we could forge a new world.
Nonsense again. Because we all know how this story ends, don’t we? Aurora is the beautiful princess. And I-
I am the villain.
Heather Walter
Rep: lesbian mcs
CWs: past torture, lesbophobia, past suicides, blood, drug use
Release: 13th April 2021
This month’s book of the month is one you have (hopefully) heard of, but there’s never any harm in just making sure, is there? Anyway, if you’re looking for a sweet summery romance, then Meet Cute Diary will be the book for you, trust me! It’s the fake-dating romcom you’ve always been craving, only it’s even better because it’s overflowing with trans joy.
So sit yourself down in a comfy chair, and check out why we think you should be excited about this one!
If you follow either of us on twitter (and were following us back in December), you probably already know how much we love The Sky Blues. Personally I would have probably chosen it as my most anticipated April release, of it wasn’t for the fact that I’ve read it last year… (But I did sneak it onto our list of fav reads of 2020!) It’s a one that will make you laugh and cry, and feel absolutely loved.
But let’s not get into details now, when you can just read our reviews below. And listen to the mix we made for the book!
Also follow Robbie Couch on twitter! He has more exciting things for us in the store!
Sky’s small town turns absolutely claustrophobic when his secret promposal plans get leaked to the entire school in this witty, heartfelt, and ultimately hopeful debut novel for fans of What if it’s Us? and I Wish You All the Best.
Sky Baker may be openly gay, but in his small, insular town, making sure he was invisible has always been easier than being himself. Determined not to let anything ruin his senior year, Sky decides to make a splash at his high school’s annual beach bum party by asking his crush, Ali, to prom—and he has thirty days to do it.
What better way to start living loud and proud than by pulling off the gayest promposal Rock Ledge, Michigan, has ever seen?
Then, Sky’s plans are leaked by an anonymous hacker in a deeply homophobic e-blast that quickly goes viral. He’s fully prepared to drop out and skip town altogether—until his classmates give him a reason to fight back by turning his thirty-day promposal countdown into a school-wide hunt to expose the e-blast perpetrator.
But what happens at the end of the thirty days? Will Sky get to keep his hard-won visibility? Or will his small-town blues stop him from being his true self?
Robbie Couch
Rep: gay mc, mlm li, trans & gay characters
TWs: homophobia, racism, f-slur, past car accident, past death of a parent, vomiting
Release: 6th April 2021
I was so close to beating Anna on things watched this month, but, once again, they came out on top. But between us, we watched a fair variety of things…I think.
But anyway. If you want to see what we’ve read and watched and loved (or not…), then this is the post for you! Also, if you’re wanting any rec lists in particular for next month, drop a comment and we’ll see what we can come up with.
(And Happy Easter, if you celebrate it!)
My cat spent the day sunbathing, meanwhile I was putting together this post for y’all. Life is what it is. But in all seriousness, there are some fabulous books coming our way next month, so I hope you are all very excited! Surely everyone can find something out of over 100 titles…
As always, a rainbow emoji next to an author indicates they’re LGBT – if you know I made any mistakes here, feel free to let me know. And if you need some more books, you can find all our previous releases posts here.
Today’s post marks the beginning of our guest post series! We started having guest post slots way back when we celebrated our one year anniversary on here, but recently we’ve figured, why not expand that? So here we are!
This post is written by Anya Leigh Josephs, author of the upcoming Queen of All (9th June), and is a fascinating look at just what goes into fantasy worldbuilding, particularly the language used to describe your LGBT characters.
So, get yourself some lunch (or a coffee/tea/other hot beverage, depending on your time zone), and have a read of this!
Today’s post is another interview for you! A while back, we spoke with Harry F. Rey about all sorts (including our Very Important Question regarding zombie apocalypses), including Jean Cocteau, trusting yourself, and an X-Files/James Bond crossover.
You can also follow him on twitter.
Let’s be honest, we all know that there is no trope better than found family. And actually, as long as we’re being honest with each other, found family as a concept is inherently gay. There’s just something about choosing your own family, that rings true to all LGBT people.
So yeah, here I am with ten LGBT stories featuring the found family trope. Only the best for you guys!
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.)
Hopefully, you’ve all heard of this book. Hopefully, you’re all as in love with the cover (and those arms! 😍) as we are. But if you haven’t heard of it, or have only been tangentially interested in it (as inexplicable as this seems to us), let us do our best to convince you that you need to get your hands on this book.
In a political fantasy unlike any other, debut author C. L. Clark spins an epic tale of rebellion, espionage, and military might on the far outreaches of a crumbling desert empire.
Touraine is a soldier. Stolen as a child and raised to kill and die for the empire, her only loyalty is to her fellow conscripts. But now, her company has been sent back to her homeland to stop a rebellion, and the ties of blood may be stronger than she thought.
Luca needs a turncoat. Someone desperate enough to tiptoe the bayonet’s edge between treason and orders. Someone who can sway the rebels toward peace, while Luca focuses on what really matters: getting her uncle off her throne.
Through assassinations and massacres, in bedrooms and war rooms, Touraine and Luca will haggle over the price of a nation. But some things aren’t for sale.
C. L. Clark
Rep: Black lesbian mc, bi mc with physical disability due to injury, wlw side characters, mlm side character, nonbinary side character
CWs: violence, gore, past attempted rape, threats of rape, torture
Release: 23rd March 2021
This post being a day late (work has made a mess of my timing skills), I figured I would go with something easier. That is, part three of my list of books with less than 400 ratings on Goodreads.
Okay, it’s a mouthful. We’re working on it.
In the meantime, you can find the first post here and the second one here.
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!
