• All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Scribd LGBT Starter Pack

    13 April, 2020

    It’s quarantine day 2839394, you already baked your sourdough bread, learned how to embroider, cleaned all the grout in your flat, and – in a ideal world – finished all the books on your bookshelves. What to do now, you ask? Read more, of course!

    Because we’re all tight on funds right about now, I would like to remind you that Scribd is offering a 30 days free trial on their whole library. If you’re not familiar with the website, this post would be a good place for you to get going. I tried to include a variety of genres in this list, but like it says in the title, it literally is just a starter pack.

    (And if you’ll use my invite link, you will actually get two months off and I will get one, too. It’s a win-win situation.)

    Final note: I very much encourage you to leave reviews of the books you’ll read on amazon and/or goodreads, and buying your own copies, if you can afford it. Or requesting them at your local library once it’s open again!

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  • Book of the Month,  Literature

    Book of the Month: Clap When You Land

    8 April, 2020

    Big news this month, as we’ve decided to scrap the book club (which, really, was just a series of failed buddy reads), and replace it with something new. A Book of the Month feature!

    This, honestly, is in part because of how uncertain everything is right now. We want to use this middling-size platform we have to highlight some upcoming (or backlist at times) books that have, perhaps, gone under the radar (or, simply, people don’t realise are gay).

    So, here’s how it’ll go. Each month we’ll post here and on twitter with information about the book, and order links. And hopefully raise your awareness of another amazing book!

    Related: Don’t forget all releases can be found in our monthly lists here.
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  • All Reviews,  Literature

    ARC Review: The Stone of Sorrow

    6 April, 2020
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    In a land of myth and ice, seventeen-year-old Runa Unnursdóttir is not the runecaster her clan has been hoping for. She spends her days daydreaming of sailing away and exploring the world instead of studying the runes and learning her spells. The villagers consider her odd, in looks and in manner. She’s nothing like her talented sister, Sýr, keeper of the sacred moonstone that ensures the village’s continued survival. But when a rival clan led by an evil witch raids the village and kidnaps her sister, Runa is forced to act. With a fallen Valkyrie by her side, and the help of a gorgeous half-elf Runa is not quite sure she can trust, the apprentice must travel to the site of an ancient runecasting competition to try to win back the magical gem. But the journey will not be easy; the three unlikely companions encounter malevolent and supernatural creatures at every turn. Somehow, Runa must summon the courage and strength to face her destiny, a destiny she never wanted. Or die trying.

    The Stone of Sorrow

    Brooke Carter

    Published: 7th April 2020
    Goodreads
    Rep: nonbinary character, wlw characters

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  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Twitter’s Favourite Sapphic Romances

    5 April, 2020

    The other day I asked people on book twitter to list 5* of their favourite books with best sapphic romance and this is what happened. I got so many great responses, I couldn’t just leave it as a tweet and let it disappear forever! Which is why I decided to turn all those recs into a post.

    *Yes, Charlotte was allowed ten books because she’s my co-blogger and gets special treatment.

    Some books appear multiple times on this list, yes, I know! But that only shows the bookish community loves them a lot. And I mean, a lot. And if they shower those books with love like that, then you definitely want to read them as well!

    (As always on this blog, ownvoices books are marked with a 🌈 emoji.)

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  • Wrap Ups

    Wrap-up: March 2020

    2 April, 2020

    March sure was a very weird month for all us, not just readers and bloggers. We all deal with the current situation in different ways; some of us (like Charlotte) used the lockdown to read a ridiculous amount of books, others (like me) found it kinda difficult to actually do anything productive at all. Whatever was the case for you, if you’re looking for some recs, here’s all the LGBT media we managed to consume last month!

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  • Book Club,  Literature

    Book Club: April Read

    29 March, 2020

    It’s obviously a very uncertain time at the moment, and all you really want to do is lose yourself in a good book. And what better genre to do that than romance? So this month, we picked what will hopefully be an excellent choice for escapism.

    Check it out below.

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  • All Releases,  Book Releases,  Literature

    Book Releases: April 2020

    27 March, 2020

    In these weird times, all of us could use something nice to read. Especially if wanting to read books means pre-ordering them and helping out authors who are debuting in upcoming months. And hey!, if you can afford it, consider using an indie bookstore for all your orders! Which should be plenty, given how many great books are coming out next month, just saying.

    So, without further ado, here are 85 (!) LGBT April releases!

    (As always, the rainbow emoji indicates that the author is LGBT.)

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  • Interviews

    Author Interview: Valentine Wheeler

    23 March, 2020

    Amidst the pandemic we want to bring you guys a little bit of joy in a form of a new interview! Hopefully, just like us, you never get tired of getting to know new LGBT authors!

    Today our guest is Valentine Wheeler, whose first full novel – No Parking – just came out last month. Valentine talked about the importance of worldbuilding even in contemporary novels, the difference between writing adult lit & YA, and why she always includes bi characters in her stories. And a lot more, so dive in!

    Of course, remember to follow Valentine Wheeler on twitter!

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  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Mysteries

    20 March, 2020

    I’m a simple reader: give me a good mystery and I will be satisfied. Make it gay and I will be over the freaking moon. And I’ve finally read enough excellent mysteries that I can make a rec list of them!

    I have fairly high standards for mysteries, I’ll admit. I mean, I want something where I could potentially guess the culprit myself for a start. But not too easily. Basically I have to be able to follow along but also have some element of actual mysteriousness. I told you it was high standards.

    But that, of course, means that all the books on this list are especially excellent (not that they wouldn’t be otherwise but. Stringent criteria and all).

    So, onwards.

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  • All Releases,  Music,  Music Releases

    Music Releases: LGBT songs of October 2019

    18 March, 2020

    Guys, look, I almost made it to the end of the year with my posts! I am so close to being up to date, I can nearly taste it!

    And anyway, here are 10 of my absolutely favourite songs that came out in October and even more songs in the Spotify mix. You can it at the bottom of the post!

    And if you have never been here before, you can catch up on my previous posts here!

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  • All Reviews,  Literature

    ARC Review: Queen of Coin and Whispers

    15 March, 2020
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    ‘She loved me as I loved her, fierce as a bloodied blade.’

    When teenage queen Lia inherits her corrupt uncle’s bankrupt kingdom, she brings a new spymaster into the fold … Xania, who takes the job to avenge her murdered father.

    Faced with dangerous plots and hidden enemies, can Lia and Xania learn to rely on each another, as they discover that all is not fair in love and treason?

    In a world where the throne means both power and duty, they must decide what to sacrifice for their country – and for each other …

    Queen of Coin and Whispers

    Helen Corcoran

    Published: 23rd April 2020
    Goodreads
    Rep: lesbian mcs, lesbian, gay & bi side characters

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