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    Book Recs: Superheroes

    Look me in the eyes and answer one single question: is there anything better than gay superheroes?

    No! The correct answer is no & I’m glad we all agree on that. It also means that I compiled a list of ten books with LGBT superheroes just for you guys. And a quick note – only two of those are comics! This is not to say that comics are anything less than, which is an absurd notion & one I absolutely do not want associated with me or this blog. But I wanted to showcase that superheroes are more than beautiful comics and can have their stories told through novels as well!

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    Book Recs: Adult Lit (II)

    This is part two of that really long adult lit rec list I promised you. Part one can be found here, and all the parts will be in this tag (eventually).

    You might notice as this list goes on, some genres will have fewer recs. That’s just because there’s not a lot in those genres that I’ve been able to find (as of yet!).

    Key:

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

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    Book Recs: Adult Lit (I)

    The other day I was scrolling through twitter and I saw someone make a comment that they didn’t see any rec lists of adult LGBT books. Which. Once you say it, becomes obvious, really. There are a lot of lists of YA LGBT books. In fact, those are the ones me and Anna find easiest to confirm the rep in for you. Adult books? That’s hard. Often, those are the ones where we find ourselves spending 10 minutes just trying to find a confirmation that it is LGBT, let alone how.

    So this is (probably only part one of) a list of all the adult LGBT lit we can find (read, unread, and pre-release). Where possible, we’ve added in rep as usual, but for that we’re mostly reliant on Goodreads reviewers (and you know how vague they can be). But. These are 50 confirmed LGBT novels. Sorted by genre (10 of each).

    Enjoy!

    Key:

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

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    Book Recs: Books Set at Boarding Schools

    First rec list published at my new flat! Because oh yeah, by the way, guys! I moved last Saturday. I’m still settling in, which is most obvious by the state of my bookcase – I just put books on it to get them out of boxes, but order? Never heard of her.

    Anyway. Back to why we are actually here. Books set at boarding schools! I feel like it’s one of those Hot Tropes that y’all really like, so I hope my selection won’t disappoint. Frankly, though, I’m treating it a little bit loosely, by which I mean there are also books set at a university or books that take place at a boarding school only for a while. Generally speaking, there’s some kind of dorm situation in each book, though. So I think we’re good. Let’s go.

  • All Reviews,  Literature

    ARC Review: I Knew Him

    40711378

    In his senior year of high school, Julian has one goal: be invisible. All he wants is to study hard, play basketball, and pretend he’s straight for one more year. Then, he can run away to university and finally tell the world he’s bisexual. And by “the world,” he means everyone but his mom and best friend. That’s two conversations he never wants to have.

    When he’s talked into auditioning for the school’s production of Hamlet, Julian fears that veering off course will lead to assumptions he’s not ready to face. Despite that, he can’t help but feel a connection to this play. His absent father haunts him like a ghost, his ex is being difficult, and he’s overthinking everything. It’s driving him crazy.

    The decision to audition leads Julian on an entirely different path. He’s cast as Hamlet, and the boy playing Horatio is unlike anyone Julian has met before. Mysterious and flirtatious, Sky draws Julian in, even though he fears his feelings at the same time. As the two grow closer, Julian begins to let out the secrets he’s never told—the ones that have paralyzed him for years. But what will he do if Sky feels the same way?

    I Knew Him

    Abigail de Niverville

    Rating: 4/5 🌈
    Published: 15th April 2019
    Goodreads
    Rep: bi mc, gay half-Filipino li, lesbian side character, gay side characters (bi author)

    And it didn’t matter to me who knew and didn’t. If people asked questions, I’d answer. I’d let them come to their own conclusions otherwise. I owed this world nothing. The only person I owed anything to was myself.

  • All Recommended,  Book Recs,  Literature

    Book Recs: Upcoming Releases with Excellent Tropes

    You know how there are some big tropes that are just autoread for you? But then it turns out that 9 times out of 10 that trope is just done with a heterosexual couple and you’re like please for once will someone make this trope gay (because we all know even the best tropes become a thousand times better when they’re gay).

    Well then, you’re in luck! Because this list is ten upcoming (gay) releases that use all the best tropes. Here we have fake dating, hate to love, found family, second chance romance, friends to lovers, and that one where they’re project partners.

    But, yes, they’re all as-of-yet-unreleased. Sorry.

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

    Film Recs: Short Gay Features

    Sometimes you just don’t have a lot of time, but you still want to Feel something, to make your gay heart beat faster. That’s when short movies come into play! Packing an emotional punch into a fifteen minutes long story? That’s art. And everyone can spare a quarter of an hour to watch a tiny little thing like that, right?

    I’m starting the list with a title you all hopefully already know, but it’s always good to bring back our faves! And then it’s just a little bit of everything, to be honest.

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    Book Recs: Historical

    Hello from Cornwall! Or not really, because this is a scheduled post and I am currently probably dragging my family around yet another castle (they should never have let me plan the trip, is all I’m saying). It’s probably apt, then, that my rec list is going to be full of history!

    Historical LGBT books are a bit of a minefield, I think we can all agree. You think you’ll have come across a good one, and then all of a sudden, it’s either a) tragic, b) buries its gays (because no gay people ever had a happy ending in the past, did they?), or c) does both. So, of the utmost importance on this list, is that the book isn’t overly tragic all the way through, and it absolutely does not bury its gays.

    So, with that in mind, here are ten historical LGBT books for you!

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    Book Recs: High Fantasy

    Have you ever noticed how a lot of fantasy with LGBT characters tends to be urban fantasy? Obviously, that’s no bad thing, but sometimes you just want to read about LGBT characters in high fantasy settings. (Or, let’s be real, you want to read high fantasy settings without the casual homophobia, but apparently that’s too hard for some people to write. Not that I’m bitter, but.) Because it’s fantasy, so why shouldn’t we be there too?

    So here are ten high fantasy books with LGBT mains. Brief disclaimer before I begin: there are three books on here I haven’t read, but people I trust have reviewed them highly (and also I plan to read them asap).

    Related: LGBT High Fantasy, part two
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    Book Recs: Witches (And Other Magic-Doers)

    LGBT people are magic, so obviously I had to do a rec list of LGBT books with witches (and various other magic-doers). Shamefully, I haven’t read all that many (that I’m willing to rec. There is that One Series We Don’t Talk About as well, but it’ll be a cold day in hell when I rec that), so some of the ones on here are ones people I trust have loved, or ones that aren’t yet published.

    But, because they’re about witches (and other magic-doers), and they’re LGBT, I can guarantee* that they’ll be amazing.

    *Please don’t actually hold me to this, thanks.

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    Book Recs: Favourite Love Confessions

    It’s niche rec list time! I asked, and you voted, so here it is: ten of my favourite love confessions. In LGBT lit, only, obviously.

    A good love confession can leave you with such a warm feeling inside, and make even the hardest of hearts feel almost like they don’t mind romance (disclaimer: I don’t actually know this). So, clearly, I had to spread the love (lol). And that warm feeling.

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    Book Recs: Books Taking Place in Space

    Not gonna lie, Charlotte was the one who came up with today’s theme. Bur surprisingly she only helped me choose I think one title? But yes, see, we work together to bring you only the best stuff!!

    Anyway, finding sci-fi books that specifically take place in space and not just in the future on a very different Earth… It’s not the easiest thing in the world. Especially, when one needs those books to have LGBT rep. Like one does. Always.

    But I hope I did a decent job and you will find something of interest here! Let’s dive in!

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    Book Recs: Quietly Magical Books

    I am, as ever, looking for ways to procrastinate doing work (usually reading professional practice articles, because Christ how dry can you make an already really dry subject, but anyway). So I figured I’d make a rec thread of quietly magical and gay books. Because I didn’t think I had that enough to turn into a rec list. But! Lo and behold, I did. So. That’s what you’re going to get. Books which are quietly magical (and gay, because this is a LGBT only site. No straights allowed here). (And also, this is a genre that there seem to be a lot of books where you go, hey I didn’t realise that was gay. Just trying to raise awareness here.)

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    Book Recs: Books with Black Characters

    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!

  • All Releases,  Book Releases,  Literature

    Book Recs: Upcoming Books by Black Authors

    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.