• All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: LGBT Books That Make You Feel Feral

    Specifically, I mean, they make you the personification of this gif:

    Because sometimes that’s what you want from a book, right? You want it to make you feel ever so slightly (or maybe not slightly at all) insane. Well I have good news for you! Each of the 10 books here will provide just that. So, enjoy!

    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.)

  • All Reviews,  Literature

    Book Reviews: Gay Books for the Soul

    A while back, I did a post titled lesbian books for the soul. Well, it just so happened that I had 3 books to review (two backlist, one out in May), which all happened to be gay, and so was born this post. These are all books that I enjoyed reading, so I really hope that this post convinces you to pick at least one of them (if not all of them!) up. And feel free to let me know if you do!

  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: LGBT Books With the Vibe of The Raven Cycle

    There comes a time (usually after you’ve read all the fics) when you want to read a book similar in feeling to your favourite, but also different enough that it doesn’t just seem like a reread. Something to hit you right in that nostalgic spot.

    That’s what I have here today: 10 LGBT books that kind of feel like The Raven Cycle. A lot of different themes going on, so let’s explore!

    Related: quietly magical LGBT books & LGBT found family
  • All Reviews,  Literature

    ARC Review: The City of Dusk

    Today’s post is a review of a book we know you all must be chomping at the bit for. The City of Dusk is out in just over a week, and you don’t want to miss it. But if, for whatever reason, you’re still on the fence about things, check out our review for why you shouldn’t be!

    And we’re running a giveaway of the book over on twitter, so head on over for a chance to win!

    The Four Realms—Life, Death, Light, and Darkness—all converge on the city of dusk. For each realm there is a god, and for each god there is an heir.

    But the gods have withdrawn their favor from the once vibrant and thriving city. And without it, all the realms are dying.

    Unwilling to stand by and watch the destruction, the four heirs—Risha, a necromancer struggling to keep the peace; Angelica, an elementalist with her eyes set on the throne; Taesia, a shadow-wielding rogue with rebellion in her heart; and Nik, a soldier who struggles to see the light— will sacrifice everything to save the city.

    But their defiance will cost them dearly.

    The City of Dusk

    Tara Sim

    Goodreads

    Rep: lesbian mc, bi mcs
    Release: 22nd March 2022

  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Sapphic Science Fiction (II)

    Earlier, I ran a quick Twitter poll to ask the question of what genre of sapphic recs people would prefer and so, here we are! 20 science fiction recs (and some dystopia) just for you! If you’re interested in what I recced last time, that list is here. And if you’re interested in all the other sapphic posts I’ve done, those can be found here. Otherwise, enjoy!

  • Book of the Month,  Literature

    Book of the Month: Mamo

    When we made a shortlist of our potential books of the month, Mamo won for two reasons: fewest adds on Goodreads (a travesty), and Anna’s love of it. But, really, this was always going to be our pick, for obvious reasons: gorgeous art, a wonderful story, and a sweet romance. If you’re not excited about this graphic novel, then we can only conclude you hadn’t heard of it before. So take a look at why we think this is the book for you!

    And as always, you can, of course, also follow Sas on twitter.

  • All Releases,  Book Releases,  Literature

    Book Releases: 2022 Middle Grade & Picture Books

    This is the last of our big releases posts of the first half of the year. Here you will find 62 middle grade releases, and 25 picture book releases, all of which feature LGBT main characters! Everything I know at this point in time (give or take a couple that I’m waiting for clarification on). This list will get updated as I find more books, so if there’s one you know that’s not on here, feel free to mention it.

    And as ever, 🌈 means the author IDs as LGBT.

  • All Releases,  Book Releases,  Literature

    Book Releases: Ownvoices Achillean Books of January-June 2022

    A list of ownvoices m/m books in the sense that they’re all written by achillean authors. They’re not even all strictly m/m romances, some have little to no romance. But they all have achillean main characters.

    Also worth noting is that last year’s post had barely 69 books, but this year it’s over 100! Let’s hope this number keeps growing with each year.

    There are no rainbow emojis, since all the authors are achillean. But there are plant emojis for nonbinary authors.

    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.)

    See also: ownvoices achillean books of January-June 2021 & of July-December 2021; releases by rep
  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Adult LGBT Books with YA Crossover Appeal

    You know when you want to read a YA book, but actually you don’t want to read about teenagers, because you just got back home from your day job & you’re in a different head space? I got you!

    Just so we’re clear, though, I’m not saying those books should be shelved as YA, I’m not saying those authors didn’t know what they were writing, I’m not saying those authors have no idea how to write adult books… I’m not here to infantilise anyone, I’m simply offering you books with the vibes you’re looking for.

  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Sapphic Fantasy (II)

    About two years back now, maybe nearer three, I started a rec series of posts of sapphic books split by genre. Then, sometime early 2020, I got bored, and stopped. Now, though, I’ve decided to come back to it, partly because I’ve read so much more since then I feel I have more content to rec. Partly because of recent dumbass twitter discourse. So yeah.

    It’s been a while, though. It’s been so long, in fact, I decided I had to expand how many books I included in here, just so none of my favourites would have to miss out! I upped it to 25 and there are still more that I haven’t added, so keep an eye out for a third post sometime soon…haha…

    As ever, all of the previous posts can be found here.

  • Book of the Month,  Literature

    Book of the Month: The Shadow Glass

    Another month, another book of the month. This one is one I’m very excited about, an urban fantasy that honestly sounds absolutely wild and I’m so very here for that. Puppets come to life? A quest to save the world from one of your own father’s creations? Tell me more.

    You can, of course, find out more by following Josh Winning on twitter. And don’t forget to have a look at why we think this is the book for you!

  • All Reviews,  Literature

    ARC Review: Devotion

    Today is the (long awaited, in my view) UK release day of what is undoubtedly one of the best books I read last year. Hannah Kent’s Devotion is a gorgeous historical tale, that spans lives and loves. If you’ve never read one of her works before, this is the perfect place to start. But if you’re somehow not convinced by the blurb alone, you can find my review for it in this post.

    And you should also go ahead and follow Hannah on twitter and instagram!

    1836, Prussia. Hanne is nearly fifteen and the domestic world of womanhood is quickly closing in on her. A child of nature, she yearns instead for the rush of the river, the wind dancing around her. Hanne finds little comfort in the local girls and friendship doesn’t come easily, until she meets Thea and she finds in her a kindred spirit and finally, acceptance.

    Hanne’s family are Old Lutherans, and in her small village hushed worship is done secretly – this is a community under threat. But when they are granted safe passage to Australia, the community rejoices: at last a place they can pray without fear, a permanent home. Freedom.

    It’s a promise of freedom that will have devastating consequences for Hanne and Thea, but, on that long and brutal journey, their bond proves too strong for even nature to break . . .

    Devotion

    Hannah Kent

    Goodreads

    Rep: lesbian mc, lesbian li
    Release: 3rd February 2022

  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

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

    As ever, when I run out of rec list ideas, I turn back to this one. Books which I consider underrated (where “underrated” is specifically defined as “less than 400 ratings on Goodreads. Yeah, Goodreads is not the be all and end all, yeah, 400 is pretty harsh comparably, but it’ll do. At least until I run out of books and need to increase the number haha). I’ve done this 3 times already, so this rec list marks the 76th-100th books (round of applause please). Hopefully, there’s something here for everyone.

    And don’t forget, you can also check out the previous posts: find the first post here, the second one here and the third one here.

  • All Releases,  Book Releases,  Literature

    Book Releases: January-June 2022 Books With Bi Protagonists

    January on Reads Rainbow means big releases posts (big as in long & time-consuming to draft; not big as in only about big books!). And today it’s time for books with bi and/or pan rep.m

    Those posts have been going for a few years, but just as a reminder: I only include books where there’s no doubt that a character actually is bisexual (or pansexual). That means the character either uses a label or the narrative makes it abundantly clear (especially in case of sff novels). Also, I include books with bi/pan main characters and love interests, and sometimes really major side characters.

    If you know any books I missed or mistakes I made, please let me know in the comment! And like always, the rainbow emoji means the author is LGBT. Happy reading!

    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.)

  • All Releases,  Book Releases,  Literature

    Book Releases: 2022 Books With Non-Cis Protagonists

    It’s the fourth year in a row of me making a list of trans & nonbinary books, so I’m lowkey hopeful we all know the drill by now. The post itself is titled “non-cis books” to make sure it’s true for all the books included in it (especially novels with Indigenous gender identities, or simply sci-fi ones with no labels). And also because that’s what I used in my first post…

    This post only allows rep in the form of a main character, a love interest, or a truly major side character (usually a parent or someone like that). So you can be sure it’s not small or insignificant.

    If you know of any books I’ve missed or caught any mistakes I’ve made, please leave a comment! And as always, books by LGBT authors have a rainbow emoji next to the title.

    Also, 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.)