• All Releases,  Book Releases,  Literature

    Book Releases: April 2021

    31 March, 2021

    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.

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  • Discussions and Guest Posts

    Guest Post: LGBT Identities in Second-World Fantasy

    29 March, 2021

    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!

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  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: LGBT Found Family

    22 March, 2021

    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.)

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  • All Reviews,  Literature

    ARC Review: The Unbroken

    20 March, 2021

    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.

    The Unbroken

    C. L. Clark

    Goodreads

    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

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  • All Recommended,  Film & TV Recs,  Film & TV Shows

    Film & TV Recs: New Adult LGBT Stories

    14 March, 2021

    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.

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  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: High Fantasy (II)

    12 March, 2021

    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…

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  • All Releases,  Music,  Music Releases

    Music Releases: LGBT songs of February 2021

    9 March, 2021

    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!

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  • All Reviews,  Literature

    ARC Review: Sweet & Bitter Magic

    7 March, 2021

    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…

    Sweet & Bitter Magic

    Adrienne Tooley

    Goodreads

    Rep: bi/pan mc, lesbian mc
    Release: 9th March 2021

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  • Book of the Month,  Literature

    Book of the Month: Middletown

    5 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.

    Related: Don’t forget all releases can be found in our monthly lists here.
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  • Interviews

    Author Interview: Allison Saft

    3 March, 2021

    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.

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  • Wrap Ups

    Wrap-up: February 2021

    1 March, 2021

    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!

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  • All Releases,  Book Releases,  Literature

    Book Releases: March 2021

    27 February, 2021

    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.

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  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Enemies to Lovers (II)

    25 February, 2021

    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.

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