As part of our Pride month celebrations, we decided that we weren’t going to write any posts for this blog. So, instead, we decided to hand it over to you guys! This first guest post is from Emma and features her favourite underrated books, so dive right in!
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ARC Review: If You Still Recognise Me
You may recall a few months back, we revealed the (gorgeous) cover for Cynthia So’s If You Still Recognise Me. Well, today’s finally the day that you can read it! But if, for whatever (foolish) reason, you’re not convinced yet, let us help you out!
And don’t forget, you can follow Cynthia on twitter.
Elsie has a crush on Ada, the only person in the world who truly understands her. Unfortunately, they’ve never met in real life and Ada lives an ocean away. But Elsie has decided it’s now or never to tell Ada how she feels. That is, until her long-lost best friend Joan walks back into her life.
In a summer of repairing broken connections and building surprising new ones, Elsie realises that she isn’t nearly as alone as she thought. But now she has a choice to make…
If You Still Recognise Me
Cynthia So
Rep: British Chinese bi mc, British Chinese lesbian side character, British Indian sapphic side character, biracial Black sapphic side character, Vietnamese nonbinary bi side character, Chinese side characters, Chinese gay side character, gay & sapphic side characters
CWs: past toxic relationship, homophobia
Release: 9th June 2022 -
Book Recs: Anna’s Favourite Love Confessions
A long time ago Charlotte made a rec list of her favourite love confessions in LGBT books, and I decided it’s high time for me to make one as well. Let’s be honest, don’t we all read book just waiting for characters to make a beautiful romantic speech? Give us reasons to happy-cry!
Also, I just want to be clear that I absolutely agree with all of Charlotte’s choices (the ones from books I’ve read, that is), and especially The Pursuit Of… & Midnighter and Apollo. They would be on my list, as well, but I don’t wanna repeat her.
Related: Charlotte’s Favourite Love Confessions
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Book Recs: LGBT Graphic Novels (IV)
We’re switching it up a little with the graphic novel rec posts now. Anna’s taken care of the previous three, so now it’s my turn to rec you a few things that they haven’t read (yet). If you want to take a look at what they put in those posts, you can see them here: one, two, three. And if you’re interested in what I have to add to that, scroll on!
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ARC Review: Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor
Buckle up folks because Xiran Jay Zhao is back with another book, their middle grade debut, and they’re back with a bang! If Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor wasn’t on your radar before, make sure it’s there now. If you like books in the vein of Percy Jackson, this is one for you.
And don’t forget, you can follow Xiran on twitter.
Zachary Ying never had many opportunities to learn about his Chinese heritage. His single mom was busy enough making sure they got by, and his schools never taught anything except Western history and myths. So Zack is woefully unprepared when he discovers he was born to host the spirit of the First Emperor of China for a vital mission: sealing the leaking portal to the Chinese underworld before the upcoming Ghost Month blows it wide open.
The mission takes an immediate wrong turn when the First Emperor botches his attempt to possess Zack’s body and binds to Zack’s AR gaming headset instead, leading to a battle where Zack’s mom’s soul gets taken by demons. Now, with one of history’s most infamous tyrants yapping in his headset, Zack must journey across China to heist magical artifacts and defeat figures from history and myth, all while learning to wield the emperor’s incredible water dragon powers.
And if Zack can’t finish the mission in time, the spirits of the underworld will flood into the mortal realm, and he could lose his mom forever.
Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor
Xiran Jay Zhao
Rep: Hui Chinese American Muslim gay mc
Release: 10th May 2022 -
Book Recs: High Fantasy (III)
With no clue what new rec list to possibly do, I turned back to an old(er) one to refresh. I last did a high fantasy rec list back in March 2021, and before that, April 2019, both of them before a number of books I now consider favourites were even released. So, what better time to do an update than now? And here we are, with 10 high fantasy recs for your delectation and delight!
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.)
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Book Recs: LGBT Contemporary or Literary Fiction
Contemporary and/or literary fiction is, I’ll admit, a genre I struggle with. On the whole, I find it bores me so finding books within it that I enjoy is… occasionally a futile-seeming exercise. However. I thought I’d challenge myself for you today and put together a rec list of the genre so, here we are! If you’re as little enamoured by this genre as I am, let me suggest these few exceptions to maybe change your mind.
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Film & TV Recs: LGBT Short Features
Listen, okay, lets be real. Sometimes you just have like 15 minutes to spare. Or sometimes 15 minutes is all that your attention span affords you. But don’t worry! Even with that limited time, you can watch amazing LGBT movies!
Related: Gay Short Features
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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.)
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Book Recs: Indie, Small Press & Self Published Books
This is a post I’ve been meaning to do for a while. We all know about all of the Big 5 books, the ones that appear on most rec lists most often, that get more marketing (comparatively speaking) and which more people know about. So, today’s rec list is specifically the opposite of that. Today, I’m reccing you books by independent publishers, small presses, and self-published authors.
For ease, the definition of indie here that I’m using is “not Big 5 or an imprint of Big 5”. That is, not Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, or Hachette. Since the indies range in size beyond that, I’ve split those into two sections: smaller and larger (generally decided by output).
A little key before we start:
💛 = sapphic
💚 = achillean
💙 = trans or nonbinary
🌻 = contemporary
🌿 = historical
🐚 = fantasy
🌺 = mystery/thriller
🍂 = paranormal/horror
🍃 = science fictionFor this list, I stuck to a single book by each author (although there are many where I’d rec multiple books) because I figured, hey, this can be a series! So, check back later this year for more, I guess!
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Film & TV Recs: Achillean Coming of Age Movies
Movies about gay teenagers just hit differently, don’t they? Which is why I am here with this list of ten coming of age movies where the main character is achillean. The list is a little bit chaotic, but I think that’s a good thing? It means you will find some more serious movies here, some more romance heavy, some with very little romance at all… A little bit for everyone!
Related: Sapphic Coming of Age Movies
