• All Releases,  Book Releases,  Literature

    Book Releases: Ownvoices M/M books of January-June 2020

    13 November, 2020

    It is a truth universally acknowledged, that more m/m books come out each year compared to f/f ones. This is not to say that there aren’t a lot of sapphic books, though! And if you think otherwise, take a look at Charlotte’s posts of this year releases: part one & part two. But this is not really my point.

    My point is that a vast majority of the m/m books are actually written by women. Very often straight women. There isn’t necessarily anything wrong with that, per se, those can still be good books. (They very often don’t offer good, respectful gay representation, but that’s a whole other conversation.)

    It got me thinking, though. How many books written by mlm authors were published this year? Turns out not that many… Which only means we should support them all the more.

    See also: ownvoices m/m books of July-December 2020, of January-June 2021 & of July-December 2021.

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  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Books With Less Than 400 Goodreads Ratings (II)

    10 November, 2020

    It’s been a good few months since I did a post like this, and since I hit…uh…500 books so far this year, I figure I’ve read enough more books to do a second post. So, here we are! Once again, there is a wide range of books on this post, so hopefully you find something you’ll enjoy.

    If you want to know what I recced in the first post, take a peek here.

    And, once again, the books on this list, where possible, are not ones that only have fewer than 400* ratings by dint of being published recently (i.e. within the last month, I figure).

    *Although by some strange coincidence, none of these actually have over 204 ratings…

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  • All Releases,  Music,  Music Releases

    Music Releases: LGBT songs of October 2020

    8 November, 2020

    It sure was nice to use the first week of November to curate my playlist of the LGBT songs that came out last month instead of, you know… focusing about anything else. Good life choices, me.

    Anyway, maybe you will understand my pain of choosing only ten songs to highlight in the post itself when I tell you the mix actually is 78 songs long. A LOT of great music to choose from!!

    But if that’s still somehow not enough for you, check out all my previous monthly posts right here!

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  • Wrap Ups

    Wrap-up: October 2020

    3 November, 2020

    After six years’ worth of October, we’ve finally made it to November (whether this is a good thing remains to be seen)! As you can see, Anna had a…somewhat subdued month of reading, while I managed a single episode of a TV show which wasn’t even that good.

    At least we had the reverse luck with the others.

    And, in October, our Alternative Choice Awards opened for 2020 so

    Go Vote!

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  • Discussions and Guest Posts

    Discussion: Goodreads Awards 2020 & LGBT Books

    30 October, 2020

    We’re turning our awards into a yearly thing! Because really, if we spend all day every day promoting LGBT books, we should be able to celebrate them with awards, too! And what’s a better time to do it than the same as Goodreads’ Choice Awards.

    The rules for the Goodreads’ Choice Awards stay the same: 20 categories and 15 books nominated in each in the first round. There are of course a few books nominated in more than one category, but for ease of conversation let’s say it’s 300 books.

    Now. We know about a lot of LGBT books, but we’re aware it’s not possible we know about all of them that came out this year. Even with that in mind, and even only counting books that came out between January and October, we know about 1148. Just so you have some kind of frame of mind here.

    Below you will find LGBT books nominated in each category. This year there is only one category without any LGBT nominees and that is Science & Technology, so frankly, that’s fair enough. Everything else? Well.

    And of course! We prepared our own Alternative Choice Awards, where all the nominated books are LGBT. Below you have a link to cast your vote! Yes, you can write in your choices as well.

    Vote in our LGBT Alternative Choice Awards!

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  • All Releases,  Book Releases,  Literature

    Book Releases: November 2020

    28 October, 2020

    We’ve reached the point in the year where the number of LGBT releases starts to drop off. But, happily, all that really means is that we’ve got 58 releases for you today (which is still the equivalent of almost two per day). 2020 has been so good to us (in terms of LGBT releases. Not much else, I’ll admit).

    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,  Film & TV Recs,  Film & TV Shows

    Film & TV Recs: Movies with two QPOC leads

    26 October, 2020

    I’m sure y’all noticed that weird trend in Hollywood where if one half of a gay couple is POC, the other, without fail, is white. Yeah, we can have some diversity, but just not too much.

    So that’s why this rec list came to be. Here you will find ten gay and lesbian movies where both the main character and the love interest are QPOC. Turns out, it’s not impossible to achieve!

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  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: King and Lionheart

    24 October, 2020

    Initially, I had not a clue what my second rec list this month would be. Spooky season recs was an obvious one, but after that, I was stuck. But then along came Shri and told me to rec books that fit the king and lionheart trope.

    Before we start, though, a quick definition, courtesy of Shri, again:

    it’s like hero burdened with the main problem and person who is unconditionally loyal to them and a protector. their rock if you will.

    For want of a better example, think Merlin and Arthur from BBC’s Merlin. And since what’s better than a trope, than that same trope made gay, I come bearing recs (sometimes romantic, sometimes not).

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  • Interviews

    Author Interview: Kalynn Bayron

    20 October, 2020

    Back with another interview for you today, and it’s an exciting one! Cinderella is Dead was one of our most anticipated reads this year, so we’re absolutely stoked to be able to interview Kalynn Bayron. So, if you want to find out how exactly she’d describe her current project, which character she’d fight zombies with, and more, read on!

    And don’t forget to follow her on Twitter!

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  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Spooky Season

    17 October, 2020

    It being October, and almost Halloween, clearly the time was perfect for a rec list that combines the best of the spooky season and LGBT rep. Now, full disclosure, I’m very easily spooked (ha) when it comes to these things (especially if I’m reading late at night) – although not as easily as Anna.

    I’ve tried for variety in these recs, so it’s not going to be all horror (since I don’t read a whole lot of that, for the aforementioned reason), but anything that features something that you might see around All Hallows’ Eve/All Saint’s Day.

    So have a scroll, and let me know what else you would rec!

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  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Gay books matching the feeling of Siken poetry

    15 October, 2020

    My credentials to write this post are as follows: I have read War of the Foxes 6 times, and Crush 27 times. When I say I’m obssessed with Siken’s poetry…

    I asked people on twitter to share their favourite quotes by Siken with me. And granted, that happened a few months ago, but time flows differently in 2020. So here I am today, with gay and sapphic novels that somehow match the feelings evoked by said Siken quotes. Some of them will make you cry, as they should, but some of them are just beautifully hopeful.

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  • All Reviews,  Interviews,  Literature

    ARC Review + Author Interview: Z Jeffries

    12 October, 2020

    It’s two posts for the price of one on Reads Rainbow today as we are bringing you both an ARC review and an author interview. Chase: The Boy Who Hid is a middle grade science fiction novel, out in just a few days, and we had the pleasure of talking to the author, Z Jeffries, about it (among other things).

    So, this post starts with five reasons you should read this book, and follows on with the interview. Enjoy!

    Don’t forget, you can also follow Z Jeffries on twitter.

    40864832

    Don’t hide from your feelings. Hide from the giant robot trying to kill you.

    I always knew I’d inherited my grandad’s mind for science and technology, but when he goes missing, I get his spot in a top-secret government game of hide and seek. The military camouflage challenge, DARPA’s game where shapeshifters, mechs, and telepaths hide from a robot seeker, is also where Grandad vanished.

    To find out what happened, I’ll play along- gain the team’s trust, master the tech, and avoid catching feelings for the team navigator. If I can do all that, then maybe I can survive the dangerous game. But if it comes down to winning or finding Grandad, I’ll ditch the game and betray my team in a millisecond. Even if it means I go missing, too.

    Book One in the Hide & Seek Series, the action-packed coming of age stories of STEM-minded queer kids getting their hands on the tech of the future.

    Chase: The Boy Who Hid

    Z Jeffries

    Published: 15th October 2020
    Goodreads
    Rep: bi mc, nonbinary character, Black lesbian character

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  • All Releases,  Music,  Music Releases

    Music Releases: LGBT songs of September 2020

    8 October, 2020

    I feel like every month there are more amazing songs by LGBT artists coming out, and every month my job in choosing ten the most favourite is harder. But hey, someone has to do it. On the plus side, though, no one can stop me from making the whole playlist for the month (available at the end of the psot) 50 songs long.

    If you want even more music, check out all my previous monthly posts right here!

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