reviews, releases and recommendations of LGBT media
Today I’m very excited to host another dear friend on our blog! I’ve known Amrita for about four years and can honestly tell she’s one of the most talented writers & poets I have ever met. So you can imagine how happy I was when she agreed to write about something close to her heart.
You can find some of Amrita’s writing here or just go ahead and follow her on twitter.
We’re here two days after our blog anniversary with another guest post & we’re hoping you are all still in the mood to celebrate with us.
Today, we have an essay by Gabriela Martins. I met her around a year ago, I think, thanks to the book twitter community & being friends with her has been amazing. That’s why I was thrilled when she agreed to writing something for our blog!
You can follow Gabhi on twitter @ gabhimartins or visit her writer’s website: gabrielawrites.com.
And hey, we actually interviewed her a few weeks back!
This month, we asked something different in choosing our read. Instead of genre, we wanted to know a trope you wanted to read. (And also because Anna wanted to read contemporary because they’re picky about genre like that.)
And the trope you picked was found family. At which point, me and Anna realised we don’t actually know any contemporary found family books that we haven’t yet read, so we ended up instead going for sci fi.
But this is all just an incredibly rambly way of saying, we have picked our October book, and are very excited for you to join in!
Also, don’t forget to take part in our Orientation twitter chat happening tomorrow at 4pm GMT if you read the book!
Exactly one year ago today, we started this blog. (Yeah, the time’s flown by for us as well!) And because it’s our first blogiversary, we wanted to do a little thing to celebrate that. So, for the next ten days or so, we’re hosting a series of guest bloggers, to talk about whatever topic they choose (LGBT-related, obviously), and then finishing up with a post by us, as an extra thank you for all the support you’ve shown us.
(Because, in case it wasn’t clear, we wouldn’t be doing this without that support.)
Our first guest is Shri, who blogs over at sunandchai (go follow if you don’t already!) and is on twitter @sunandchai.
This is a second blog tour I’m a part of hosted by the lovely Karina @ Afire Pages and honestly, what a joy! And like before, not only do I have for you a review of one of my most anticipated books of the year, but a giveaway as well. Check out the link at the end to win a copy!
There’s also another little surprise, and by surprise I mean a playlist for Crier’s War by yours truly.
After the War of Kinds ravaged the kingdom of Rabu, the Automae, designed to be the playthings of royals, usurped their owners’ estates and bent the human race to their will.
Now Ayla, a human servant rising in the ranks at the House of the Sovereign, dreams of avenging her family’s death…by killing the sovereign’s daughter, Lady Crier.
Crier was Made to be beautiful, flawless, and to carry on her father’s legacy. But that was before her betrothal to the enigmatic Scyre Kinok, before she discovered her father isn’t the benevolent king she once admired, and most importantly, before she met Ayla.
Now, with growing human unrest across the land, pressures from a foreign queen, and an evil new leader on the rise, Crier and Ayla find there may be only one path to love: war.
Nina Varela
Rating: 5/5 🌈
Published: 1st October 2019
Goodreads
Rep: lesbian poc mc, bi poc mc, poc cast, numerous side mlm & wlw couples
Inside her chest, in the core of her, Ayla felt her heart stretch and swell and take root.
As almost every month this year, the list of LGBT releases is too long to put in one post and overwhelm you guys. Which is why today I only listed books coming out between October 1st and 8th. Eight days and twenty five (25) books of so many different genres, y’all are bound to find a new favourite!
Just in case you’re here for the first time:
So without any further ado!
We are all aware of the ever-growing number of amazing LGBT books coming out next year (well, I hope we are & I know the list Charlotte and I curate is already almost 200 titles long…) but! Let’s not forget about books getting published in 2021! It’s never too early to show them some love.
Which is why today’s interview is with Ashley, whose book A Dark and Hollow Star will be out in 2021. It’s a YA fantasy with faes, found family & very gay romance plots. Mark your calendars, guys!!!
I am here today, entirely reluctantly it should be noted, to rec you all some f/f fantasy books. (Not reluctantly because I don’t like the genre, I hasten to add, but because sometimes it’s all I seem to be asked to rec when it comes to f/f. But anyway.)
But you asked, so here I am.
As ever, I haven’t read every single book on this list. This is just a starter pack for you. And today, because f/f fantasy is a comparatively big genre, I’m going to try rec books that I know are less popular (so if you don’t see some big names on here, that’s why! And also I feel like I end up reccing the same books over and over for this genre so…trying to branch out a little).
Again, all the previous posts are here.
Our first official Book Club review post! Yes, we originally said we will be putting those up at the end of the month, but then realised people can take the whole month to read! So it only makes sense to talk about the book after said month is finished. Which is why we’re here in the middle of September.
As a reminder, our September Book is Orientation by Gregory Ashe & you can find the TWs for it on our twitter (there are a few, yeah). We also want to hold a little chat on twitter close to the end of September or maybe in the first days of October. Just some questions about the book, so we can all actually talk. Hopefully you guys will want to participate!
But anyway, here’s our reviews of last month’s book!
The first ten days of September brought us some excellent releases (which you can remind yourself of here). But the month isn’t done with us just yet. Remember how I said there were over sixty releases in September?
Well, these are the other thirty-odd of those.
So, dig in, and enjoy!
We’re here with another amazing interview and once again we managed to get some answers out of someone whose book we both can’t wait to read! Book blogging just has some really cool perks, huh?
If, like me and Charlotte, you’re super excited for The Gravity of Us (coming out February 4th!!), read on! It’s always nice to get to know the author a little better before reading their book, especially when they’re as enthusiastic & lovely as Phil!
The other day I reread one of my favourite classic novels (Evelina by Frances Burney, which I recommend wholeheartedly, even though it’s sadly not gay) (well, if you ask me there’s a butch lesbian there but) & ever since then, I was very much in the mood for period dramas.
Naturally, I started by rewatching some favourites, as well: Pride & Prejudice (2005) and Persuasion (2007). But then I realised what I’m actually craving are gay period dramas.
So that’s why I’m here today with 10 LGBT stories taking place in the past.
Sadly, only two titles with trans characters made it to my list. And that’s because while there is a number of arguably good period dramas with trans characters, I’m not about to rec you movies in which those roles are played by cis actors (like The Danish Girl or Albert Nobbs or Breakfast on Pluto).
Also, I feel like it’s important I make something clear: I did not rec any stories with Bury Your Gays trope.
August seems like it’s lasted forever, to be quite honest (though that may in part be because of my research project, and now the final two weeks are gonna go by like nothing, but okay). We have a lot of things in this post (mostly because I read a lot and Anna watched – comparatively – a lot).
And there were some great posts we saw as well! So, without further ado, here’s our wrap-up!
I know what you’re thinking. It’s not even the end of August yet, and that’s true, there’s still a few days left on our last book club read (which was Sing the Four Quarters), but we wanted to let you know what’s up next anyway.
Again, we asked on twitter what genre you wanted to read, and this month you came up with mystery! Because we read an f/f book last month, this month we’re reading an (ownvoices) m/m one (also because, shamefully, neither of us know any mystery novels with trans or nb mcs, which was our first thought. Next time definitely though).
Before I let you know what book we’re reading, just a reminder that we are on twitter for this and we have a hashtag too (#readarainbow). And also, watch out for our review of the last month’s read!
After a couple of more relaxed months in terms of releases, September brings us 60 alone. Some of our most anticipated releases are out this month (*cough cough* lesbian necromancers *cough cough*), and we are just as excited get to them as undoubtedly you are too.
So, in the interests of not rambling too much, let’s get into it!
(And, as ever, you can find all our previous release lists here.)
