June 2024 - Reading, Writing, and Randomness Monthly

The Lusty Month of May! It’s over now (because I send these out after the month obv), but let’s forget that because the tagline is catchy.

This one’s coming out a little late as I was laid up all last week with COVID. Four years, I dodged that damn virus only to come down with it in time to disrupt the two worst weeks it could — one, a work visit by our new VP, the other attending Lighthouse Writer’s Workshop’s LitFest. Fortunately, I recovered in time to be attending most of the sessions I’d booked, but I did have to drop out of two that I was really looking forward to. The important thing is that I didn’t get too sick and I recovered well.

All right, enough of illness talk, on to this month’s wrap up!

Reading

Star rating on a scale of 0 - 5. Titles in BOLD link to full review in a new page. ✨ indicates a 5 star read.

• So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole | Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

• ✨ Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez | Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

• Batman: Knightfall, Vol 1 | Not Rated

• ✨ How to Align the Stars by Amy Dressler | Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

• The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center | Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

• I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy | Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

In addition, I DNFd one ARC (no judgement on the quality, it just wasn’t right for me right now), have been in progress reading a few other books that I didn’t quite finish in May, and have been reading the new chapters of my friend Brekke Elle’s second installment in her Cully Beinn Wolves series. The first installment, Blood Curse, is now available as an ebook. The second is shaping up to be even better!

Special Section: Queer Representation Recommendations!

It’s June, which in the US is Pride Month! Because there can never be enough lists of great books featuring queer characters, I’m throwing my favorite queer representation in books at ya! This probably isn’t going to be a groundbreaking list, but hopefully there’s something on here you haven’t delved into you. And if there’s not, let me know in the comments what’s on your list that I should pick up next!

• Orphia and Eurydicius by Elyse John. I’ve already raved about this so many places, but let me rave specifically about the queer rep here. One of the best parts of this novel is the way that the titles characters discuss their fluid sexuality with each other — without judgement and with complete understanding. It’s beautiful.

• The Heartstopper series by Alice Osman. If you’ve been living under a cultural rock for the past few years, Heartstopper is a graphic novel (started as a web series and later made into a live-action Netflix series) following the lives of a group of queer English kids navigating their last years of high school. A large part of the first grouping of comics follows Nick Nelson as he navigates his feelings for Charlie Strong and slowly starts to come out as bisexual. When bi-erasure (the forcing of characters and people into boxes of gay, lesbian, or straight) is so prevalent in media and society, seeing characters decisively state “I like women, but I also like men and that’s my truth” is so welcome.

• One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston. Better known for Red, White, and Royal Blue, my preferred pick of McQuiston’s work is One Last Stop. The story of a recent Brooklyn transplant and the lesbian ghost stuck on the Q train that she falls in love with, it’s delightful, emotional, and contemporary with just that little twist of the supernatural that I adore.

• The Rule of Three by Sophie Snow. What happens when a tabloid starlet has a one-night stand with what turns out to be her new neighbor? And finds that she’s super attracted to both him and his roommate (who happens to be his ex-boyfriend)? Lots of sex but also lots of emotional fulfillment and growth for all three. This is steamy, but also a really thoughtful and non-fetishized rep for polyamorous relationships.

• The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna, Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake by Alexis Hall, You, Again by Kate Goldbeck and Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert. As one of those invisible bisexuals in a straight-passing relationship myself, I love to see that represented in the literature I read. While M/F relationships are the focus of these three sweet romances, these authors write them in such a way that it’s clear that the same sex partners that one or both sides of these pairings had prior were not phases or flings. These are fully written bisexual characters who happen to have found their HEAs with partners of a different gender. Their bisexuality is no less valid because of who they choose.

• In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado and Body Work by Melissa Febos. Ending with two non-fiction picks, these two collections of essays explore trauma and art through a queer lens and are each beautifully and devastatingly written. Take care of yourself and read the content warnings for these before delving in, but they are worth reading.

Writing

ICYMI - I wrote a “review” of my recent hysterectomy. And, to quote Jessica Day, “I hope you like feminist rants, cause that’s kinda my thing.” It’s possible I might try to expand this piece and submit it to a couple local literary journals, so if you have any feedback on it, shoot me a line at [email protected]

… and Randomness

• I saw Stevie Nicks in concert for the second time recently. Does that mean I’m officially middle aged? Do I care if it does? Does it knock a few years off if I bought a special edition Stevie Nicks Barbie while I was there?

• Late to the party (didn’t have HBO at the time), but I started watching True Blood for the first time recently. No one told me how genuinely comedic the show was. I’m, like, 99% sure that most of it the comedy is intentional.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the coming summer wherever you are!

Edit Note: Yes, I originally called HEARTSTOPPER HEARTBREAKER - Please blame my crappy proofreading on the COVID.