• All Reviews,  Literature

    ARC Review: In Deeper Waters

    It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say we were both very excited about this next book. And it’s no little help that the cover for it is absolutely gorgeous. And you can get your hands on it in just under a week! So, without further ado, have a read of why we think you want this book!

    A young prince must rely on a mysterious stranger to save him when he is kidnapped during his coming-of-age tour in this swoony adventure that is The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue meets Pirates of the Caribbean.

    Prince Tal has long awaited his coming-of-age tour. After spending most of his life cloistered behind palace walls as he learns to keep his forbidden magic secret, he can finally see his family’s kingdom for the first time. His first taste of adventure comes just two days into the journey, when their crew discovers a mysterious prisoner on a burning derelict vessel.

    Tasked with watching over the prisoner, Tal is surprised to feel an intense connection with the roguish Athlen. So when Athlen leaps overboard and disappears, Tal feels responsible and heartbroken, knowing Athlen could not have survived in the open ocean.

    That is, until Tal runs into Athlen days later on dry land, very much alive, and as charming—and secretive—as ever. But before they can pursue anything further, Tal is kidnapped by pirates and held ransom in a plot to reveal his rumored powers and instigate a war. Tal must escape if he hopes to save his family and the kingdom. And Athlen might just be his only hope…

    In Deeper Waters

    F. T. Lukens

    Goodreads

    Rep: bi/pan mc, mlm li
    Release: 20th April 2021

  • Book of the Month,  Literature

    Book of the Month: Meet Cute Diary

    This month’s book of the month is one you have (hopefully) heard of, but there’s never any harm in just making sure, is there? Anyway, if you’re looking for a sweet summery romance, then Meet Cute Diary will be the book for you, trust me! It’s the fake-dating romcom you’ve always been craving, only it’s even better because it’s overflowing with trans joy.

    So sit yourself down in a comfy chair, and check out why we think you should be excited about this one!

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

    ARC Review: The Sky Blues

    If you follow either of us on twitter (and were following us back in December), you probably already know how much we love The Sky Blues. Personally I would have probably chosen it as my most anticipated April release, of it wasn’t for the fact that I’ve read it last year… (But I did sneak it onto our list of fav reads of 2020!) It’s a one that will make you laugh and cry, and feel absolutely loved.

    But let’s not get into details now, when you can just read our reviews below. And listen to the mix we made for the book!

    Also follow Robbie Couch on twitter! He has more exciting things for us in the store!

    Sky’s small town turns absolutely claustrophobic when his secret promposal plans get leaked to the entire school in this witty, heartfelt, and ultimately hopeful debut novel for fans of What if it’s Us? and I Wish You All the Best.

    Sky Baker may be openly gay, but in his small, insular town, making sure he was invisible has always been easier than being himself. Determined not to let anything ruin his senior year, Sky decides to make a splash at his high school’s annual beach bum party by asking his crush, Ali, to prom—and he has thirty days to do it.

    What better way to start living loud and proud than by pulling off the gayest promposal Rock Ledge, Michigan, has ever seen?

    Then, Sky’s plans are leaked by an anonymous hacker in a deeply homophobic e-blast that quickly goes viral. He’s fully prepared to drop out and skip town altogether—until his classmates give him a reason to fight back by turning his thirty-day promposal countdown into a school-wide hunt to expose the e-blast perpetrator.

    But what happens at the end of the thirty days? Will Sky get to keep his hard-won visibility? Or will his small-town blues stop him from being his true self?

    The Sky Blues

    Robbie Couch

    Goodreads

    Rep: gay mc, mlm li, trans & gay characters
    TWs: homophobia, racism, f-slur, past car accident, past death of a parent, vomiting
    Release: 6th April 2021

  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: LGBT Found Family

    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.)

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

    Film & TV Recs: New Adult LGBT Stories

    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.

  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: High Fantasy (II)

    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…

  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Enemies to Lovers (II)

    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.

  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: College-aged LGBT Protags

    As requested by Lena on Twitter, here are ten books with “characters in college/university or that general age range”. A few are straight up taking place at uni, a few are just with protags roughly that age.

    I really wanted to include two more books, but I just featured them on my last rec list (Warm Hug LGBT Books), so I figured y’all need some more variety. Please know, though, Abroad by Liz Jacobs & Weak Heart by Ban Gilmartin also fit this theme perfectly.

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

    Film & TV Recs: LGBT Documentaries

    I don’t know if you guys are aware, but the LGBT History Month is celebrated at different times in different countries. And in the UK it’s in February. Which I figured is a perfect reason for me to recommend you some documentaries. It’s actually always a good time to learn something about our history.

    Like Larry Kramer said, “we are entitled to our history. We are entitled to know who these people were. I don’t think you can be a people until you have a history”.

    There will most definitely be a part two to this rec list, since it’s in no way comprehensive, but still: below you will find ten titles I have seen (or found) recently. Enjoy, and happy learning! (And of course, sadly, a general tw of homophobia, transphobia, violence for almost all of those titles.)

  • All Releases,  Book Releases,  Literature

    Book Releases: January-June 2021 Books With Bi Protagonists

    If you’ve followed our blog for a while, you know we like to make these releases posts and you also know that last year I’ve made two for books with bi and/or pan protagonists. So of course, here I am again, this year.

    Like before, I want to make clear that I tried my hardest to only include books where it’s very clear a character actually is bisexual (or pansexual), so that y’all get real rep. I also included books with bi and pan love interests, since those are usually rather big roles too. If I missed any books, because I only knew they feature a sapphic or achillean main character, please let me know!

    And like always, the rainbow emoji means the author is LGBT. Happy reading!

    See also: Bi books of 2020 – January-June and July-December; bi books of July-December 2021
  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Scribd, Intermediate Mode

    So, you’ve opened up Scribd. The choices are overwhelming. You’ve read everything Anna suggested on their previous post. But where do you go from here?

    Not to worry because today it’s my turn to provide you with 50* books that you can read on Scribd! I’ve done the digging so you don’t have to! So whether you’re looking for YA or adult, classics or poetry, sapphic, achillean or trans/nonbinary rep, hopefully there’s something here for you.

    A little disclaimer first though: I myself haven’t read all of these books (some of what I initially included has been taken off since, thanks for that Scribd!), but they are all, if not read, then ones I want to read sometime soon.

    *You may not actually have access to all 50 of these books, since Scribd can vary in availability depending on country.

  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum

    In desperation, two days ago, I asked for a rec list theme. The response I got was the theme of pirates, or the sea in general. Now, I’ve not read that many pirate books (not that I would feel able to rec, at least), so I went with the latter.

    So, if you’ve been listening to sea shanties non-stop for however long, in this list you’ll be able to find yourself a book that they’re the perfect soundtrack to.

  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Warm LGBT Hug Books

    We asked what rec lists you guys would like to see & got this gorgeous request that maybe, possibly we have almost fought over. Just maybe.

    So anyway, the request was: “wholesome books full of queer characters if possible, essentially just books that feel like a big queer warm hug because I cannot handle reading anything else”. You would fight to recommend people books like that, too, wouldn’t you? Enjoy then!