• All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Books with Black Characters

    15 February, 2019

    Like I said in my last rec list – 10 upcoming books by Black authors – I wanted to celebrate Black History Month with some appropriate recommendations. So this is why today I decided to talk about books that feature Black characters. I tried to only choose titles with Black main characters, but I will admit in the end a few of the books have a Black love interest. Which, if you think about it… those are still kind of main characters…

    Three out of ten books I’m recommending today are actually graphic novels, for some novelty. And three are novellas. There’s young adult and new adult, there’s fantasy and contemporary, and historical fiction… Today, you get a little bit of everything!!

    Okay, so let’s jump in!

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  • All Releases,  Book Releases,  Literature

    Book Recs: Upcoming Books by Black Authors

    8 February, 2019

    It’s the Black History Month so I wanted to focus my posts the next few weeks on books by and/or about Black people. As you can see from the title, today I will be recommending book written by Black authors. And specifically: books that are only about to come out. Most of them are set for this year, but there are a few 2020 titles as well.

    Two books listed here are by authors I’ve already read something by before (I wonder if you can guess which authors I’m talking about…) & you can read my reviews of their previous books here and here.

    There are some amazing stories coming our way, I can tell you that much already! So let’s dive in without any further ado.

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  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Enemies to Lovers

    4 February, 2019

    We all know how good a trope enemies (or rivals) to lovers can be when it’s done right. It has that perfect intensity and tension, and the point where they realise that actually they don’t hate each other any more and you get pining? Absolutely brilliant. So, of course, I had to do a rec list (and also, this was what was voted for on Twitter). There’s actually a lot of overlap between this list and some other ones, mostly because when a book has one of my favourite tropes it tends to hit a few more at the same time. And also. Because it’s a favourite trope, if the book is good it normally rockets onto my favourites shelf.

    So, without further ado, the list.

    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.)

    And hey, there’s now a second part to this, with ten more books!

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  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Novellas

    26 January, 2019

    We all have those days where you have an oh shit moment and realise you’re behind on your Goodreads challenge and what are you going to do??? Well. I have for you here a guaranteed way of boosting your numbers. Read loads of novellas! (Although, to be honest, I don’t really know what constitutes a “novella” and what’s a short story or even a novelette, but that’s a whole other kettle of fish.) Anyway, these are some of the best ones I’ve read (and they’re all gay, of course).

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  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: The Great Big LGBT Rec List (IV)

    10 January, 2019

    Today is the day (for better or for worse). We’ve reached the last part of our recs list (sad face). You can find the rest of the list here. I’m really not sure what to say here, because it’s all been said, and I just feel like saying more would mean talking out my arse, so like. On to the books!

    A brief reminder of the key:

    lesbians & wlw relationships: ☀️
    gays & mlm relationships: 🌿
    bisexual characters: 💎
    trans, genderqueer, non-binary, gnc characters: 🌷
    LGBT authors: 🌈
    poetry: 🌉

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  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: The Great Big LGBT Rec List (III)

    7 January, 2019

    I really hope I can say “here comes the post you’ve all been waiting for!!” and be right… Well, the post does come, so I’m already halfway there… In any case! Like the title says, this is part 3 of our very big and very great, and very much made up of books by & for the LGBT community recommendations list!

    Today I give you books number 51 all the way to 75. There’s only one post in this series left! (So far. Charlotte & I hope you guys would be interested in more posts like this when we hit our next followers milestone!)

    Question we already asked on twitter (here): would you be interested in a Q&A, to get to know Charlotte and me better? Let us know in the comments!

    Before you dive in, make sure you read part one and part two of our Great Big LGBT Rec List! And take one more look at how we mark the rep in this series:

    lesbians & wlw relationships: ☀️
    gays & mlm relationships: 🌿
    bisexual characters: 💎
    trans, genderqueer, non-binary, gnc characters: 🌷
    LGBT authors: 🌈
    poetry: 🌉

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  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: The Great Big LGBT Rec List (II)

    4 January, 2019

    It’s Friday, which means (you guessed it!) Anna is finally letting me post the second part of the Great Big Rec List! (I’m kidding, kind of. Anna keeps the posts on this blog regular.) Anna posted her first 25 here, and you can find all of the parts of this list here or by the link in the menu up top.

    So, here is a list of 25 of my favourite LGBT books. I say of my favourite because, not unexpectedly, when I tried to write down only 50 books, the list kept spilling over (so did Anna’s, which is good news for you guys because it means there might be more than 4 parts to this series). The books on here are all ones I’ve loved, and they’re also all ones which end on a, if not always outright happy, then hopeful note. (You can always trust me and Anna not to rec you tragic gay stories, or ones which end up burying their gays, just fyi.) There are some books that need trigger warnings on this list, so if you’re wondering, just drop us a comment and we can answer any questions!

    Once again, the key to the rep is:

    lesbians & wlw relationships: ☀️
    gays & mlm relationships: 🌿
    bisexual characters: 💎
    trans, genderqueer, non-binary, gnc characters: 🌷
    LGBT authors: 🌈
    poetry: 🌉

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  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: The Great Big LGBT Rec List (I)

    1 January, 2019

    We talked about this giant rec list on twitter before & if anyone thought we’re only joking… well, you guys just don’t know how serious we are about LGBT literature yet.

    100 LGBT books. Fifty from me & fifty from Charlotte. Our favourite titles that we think everyone should read. Posted in four neat parts over the first two weeks of the year, so we can start off 2019 properly.

    Of course, for this list to make sense, you have to know what rep you can expect from each book. And this time, to make things obvious right away (and also to make everything cuter), we chose to use various emojis. And so it goes:

    lesbians & wlw relationships: ☀️
    gays & mlm relationships: 🌿
    bisexual characters: 💎
    trans, genderqueer, non-binary, gnc characters: 🌷
    LGBT authors: 🌈

    And because most of the list is composed of novels and short stories, we decided to mark poetry as well: 🌉

    Let’s go!

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  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Graphic Novels

    24 December, 2018

    Let’s be real, what’s better than some graphic novels. I mean, you get a great story and great artwork! (Also, you get a nice boost to your reading challenge, if you’re a bit behind at times like me…)

    So today I’m here with ten titles, all of them featuring LGBT leads, most of them actually having way more than one character who’s not cishet. A Christmas gift for you all, if you will. :>>

    Enjoy!

    And if you need more, here’s a post about LGBT graphic novels, part II.

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  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: NA Romances

    14 December, 2018

    If you’re like me, then you’ll understand that sometimes, you really have to read a romance novel. And, of course, 99% of the time, you just can’t find a decent LGBT one – it’s all either sex-filled and lacking tension, or straight-up awful. So, the point of this list is to rec you ten of the best LGBT NA romances I’ve read (hopefully, to be the first part of many).

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  • All Reviews,  Literature

    Book Review: The Pursuit Of…

    12 December, 2018
    39962903

    What do a Black American soldier, invalided out at Yorktown, and a white British officer who deserted his post have in common? Quite a bit, actually. 

    • They attempted to kill each other the first time they met. 
    • They’re liable to try again at some point in the five-hundred mile journey that they’re inexplicably sharing. 
    • They are not falling in love with each other. 
    • They are not falling in love with each other. 
    • They are… Oh, no. 

    The Pursuit Of… is about a love affair between two men and the Declaration of Independence. It’s a novella of around 38,000 words.

    The Pursuit Of…

    Courtney Milan

    Rating: 4/5 🌈
    Published: 26th June 2018
    Goodreads
    Rep: gay mcs (lgbt author), black mc

    Henry held John’s hand throughout, clutching it as if it were the lowest rung on the ladder to heaven.

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    ARC Review: Girls of Paper and Fire

    16 October, 2018
    39898847

    Each year, eight beautiful girls are chosen as Paper Girls to serve the king. It’s the highest honor they could hope for… and the most cruel.

    But this year, there’s a ninth girl. And instead of paper, she’s made of fire.

    In this lush fantasy, Lei is a member of the Paper caste, the lowest and most oppressed class in Ikhara. She lives in a remote village with her father, where the decade-old trauma of watching her mother snatched by royal guards still haunts her. Now, the guards are back, and this time it’s Lei they’re after – the girl whose golden eyes have piqued the king’s interest.

    Over weeks of training in the opulent but stifling palace, Lei and eight other girls learn the skills and charm that befit being a king’s consort. But Lei isn’t content to watch her fate consume her. Instead, she does the unthinkable – she falls in love. Her forbidden romance becomes enmeshed with an explosive plot that threatens the very foundation of Ikhara, and Lei, still the wide-eyed country girl at heart, must decide just how far she’s willing to go for justice and revenge.

    Girls of Paper and Fire

    Natasha Ngan

    Rating: 5/5 🌈
    Published: 6th November 2018
    Goodreads
    Rep: wlw mcs (ownvoices), South-east/East Asian characters (ownvoices)

    I know it now with a certainty that has fitted into the lost core at the heart of me, as hard and angular as my hope was soft and shimmering. The King will not have me.

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    ARC Review: In The Vanishers’ Palace

    8 October, 2018
    41724928

    In a ruined, devastated world, where the earth is poisoned and beings of nightmares roam the land…

    A woman, betrayed, terrified, sold into indenture to pay her village’s debts and struggling to survive in a spirit world.

    A dragon, among the last of her kind, cold and aloof but desperately trying to make a difference.

    When failed scholar Yên is sold to Vu Côn, one of the last dragons walking the earth, she expects to be tortured or killed for Vu Côn’s amusement.

    But Vu Côn, it turns out, has a use for Yên: she needs a scholar to tutor her two unruly children. She takes Yên back to her home, a vast, vertiginous palace-prison where every door can lead to death. Vu Côn seems stern and unbending, but as the days pass Yên comes to see her kinder and caring side. She finds herself dangerously attracted to the dragon who is her master and jailer. In the end, Yên will have to decide where her own happiness lies—and whether it will survive the revelation of Vu Côn’s dark, unspeakable secrets…

    In The Vanishers’ Palace

    Aliette de Bodard

    Rating: 4/5 🌈
    Published: 16th October 2018
    Goodreads
    Rep: Vietnamese mcs (ownvoices), bi mc (fairly sure ownvoices), lesbian mc, non-binary side characters (not ownvoices)

    And then she’d wake up, gasping, trying to breathe, raising her hands to her face, remembering Vu Côn’s touch on her skin, as wet and as cold as the oily river.

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    ARC Review: What If It’s Us

    2 October, 2018
    39704614

    Arthur is only in New York for the summer, but if Broadway has taught him anything, it’s that the universe can deliver a showstopping romance when you least expect it.

    Ben thinks the universe needs to mind its business. If the universe had his back, he wouldn’t be on his way to the post office carrying a box of his ex-boyfriend’s things.

    But when Arthur and Ben meet-cute at the post office, what exactly does the universe have in store for them?

    Maybe nothing. After all, they get separated.

    Maybe everything. After all, they get reunited.

    But what if they can’t quite nail a first date . . . or a second first date . . . or a third?

    What if Arthur tries too hard to make it work . . . and Ben doesn’t try hard enough?

    What if life really isn’t like a Broadway play?

    But what if it is?

    What If It’s Us

    Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera

    Rating: 1/5 🌈
    Published: 9th October 2018
    Goodreads
    Rep: gay mcs (one ownvoices, one not), Puerto Rican mc (ownvoices), Jewish mc (ownvoices), mc with ADHD, side character with anxiety, side non-white characters

    I don’t know if we’re in a love story or a story about love.

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