queerafictionado's reviews
353 reviews

Quiver by Rachel Spangler

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emotional inspiring lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Cottage by Gerri Hill

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emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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My Shadow Is Purple by Scott Stuart

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hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Oh my goodness! This book was so wonderful! Sweet and kind and full of wonderful pictures with an incredible message. I love how approachable the author made this topic. Our gender reflected by the color of our shadows and how the world splits us into two categories when so many of us don’t fit in either of them. And how even the things we ascribe to each can also be true of the other. And that everything is so much better when everyone is able to freely show the true color of their shadow.
Cross My Heart And Never Lie by Nora Dåsnes

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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A Million to One by Adiba Jaigirdar

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adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

The Tea Dragon Society by K. O'Neill

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lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

the space between heartache and healing by Erin Zak

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emotional hopeful inspiring fast-paced

5.0

Words. It is truly an amazing thing how a simple set of words strung together and placed on a page can evoke within us a profound sense of being seen. Of being understood. Of connection. Connection to another person whose story we don’t know, but with whom we can relate to on an existential level…because of the parts of themself they poured so openly and honestly onto those pages. No masks. No walls. No apologies. No shame. Just raw, unfiltered emotion. Heartache, love, pain, grief, longing, fear, hope. 

I have always been a poetry lover for this reason. And that is exactly what Erin Zak did with this collection. She poured her heart and soul into these pages. Whether the poem was two pages or two lines, you could feel the depth of meaning behind the words. And if, like me, you sometimes live more in the darkness than in the light, you will feel seen and understood reading her poetry. You will know that you aren’t alone in that darkness. And maybe even feel empowered to open yourself up as well. To be vulnerable. To give voice to all those emotions the world so often tries to silence. 

Thank you, Erin, for the ARC! But most of all - thank you for your words, for your vulnerability, for letting your heart bleed onto every single page.
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Serpentine Valentine by Giana Darling

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dark emotional inspiring tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Serpentine Valentine was poetry in prose. Words strung together that paint pictures in your mind and dance around in your soul. Captivating. Alluring. It will take you on a journey through the whole range of human emotions. It will rip your heart out, smash it to pieces, and string it back together. Broken. Bruised. Changed. Just like the characters on the pages. I have so many highlights in my ebook - sometimes entire paragraphs! I devoured this book, just like the twin snakes in the ouroboros devouring themselves. 

This story wrenched itself in my heart and gave me words for feelings I hadn’t yet been able to name for myself. And Lex and Luna’s bond - the way the light and darkness in them commingled and pulled pieces of themselves out that might have otherwise remained hidden in the shadows of darkness or been blinded by the light of other’s expectations. Their story was tragic and beautiful and raw. And I found bits of myself in each of them. But especially Lex as she struggled to see anything good as real, instead waiting for the ticking time bomb to explode in her face. As she grappled with the darkness inside her and what it meant about who she was and her worthiness for love. As she clawed her way out of that darkness and slowly let the light that was Luna seep into her weary soul.

This was a narrative about feminism, and female empowerment. But also female rage. And the lengths women identified people must go to in order to be heard and seen and taken seriously. About why silence is so often the answer in a world that vilifies victims and parades them around as pariahs, while the real monsters wander free- their crimes covered, their reputations protected. It was powerful and heart wrenching and it will burn the fires of rage within your soul. Because the truth is…this might be a fictional story, but it is rife with truth and there are far too many real stories like this in our world. 

I wanted to be able to give this book 5 stars. But there were just some parts that were problematic for me. The Harry Potter references for one. I would be engrossed in some part of the story and then an HP reference would jar me and pull me out of my reverie. They just weren’t needed, and I wish people (especially writers of queer books) would stop referencing the works of a blatant transphobe. The other big one was the whole premise of Lex using Luna as a pawn in her revenge while simultaneously claiming to be protecting women. It was contradictory to everything she stood for. I think the story could have been just as powerful if that part of the story had been written differently. There were some other cringy things but they were minor and didn’t impact my feelings on the book as a whole in the same way these two things did.

TRIGGER WARNINGS! Please read the trigger warnings. This book is a Medusa retelling and as such involves rape and sexual assault. There are some on page (not a lot of graphic details) and some off page accounts, but it is also an overarching theme of the whole book. Read with caution and check the other trigger warnings as well.

🏳️‍🌈Rep: Lesbian FMC, Bi FMC, queer and POC SCs

📝Tropes/Themes: Dark Academia, Medusa Retelling, Revenge, Found Family, Coming Out, Sapphic Romance, Feminism, Female Empowerment
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You Had Me at Merlot by Melissa Brayden

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

 
This is my first Melissa Brayden book and I really enjoyed her writing style! She has been on my TBR for awhile and I definitely want to check out more of her books, especially knowing that some of the side characters in this book are from her other published novels. 

The connection between Leighton and Jamie was evident from the start. They had so much chemistry! I truly loved the beginning of this book and watching those initial sparks light up. I was hooked and couldn’t wait to read more of their story. I knew based on the description alone that this book was going to be rife with drama - and I was not wrong! However the drama was not quite what I expected it to be and I love that Brayden took some of these familiar tropes and packaged them up in a different way.

This was a unique book in that it was kind of almost two stories in one. The first 1/4 or so is not quite insta love, but definitely insta connection, but then the story skips ahead 3 years and becomes more of an enemies-to-lovers, second chance, slow burn kind of romance. So you get the opportunity to see both their first and second chance at love which was kind of cool. But it was also very jarring when the time skip happened and it pulled me out of the story and took me a bit to get reinvested. 

I really liked Jamie and Leighton as people, but when it came to their relationship I found myself more frustrated with them than anything! Jamie is a big grudge holder and I felt like she reacted way harsher than the situation warranted. And the lack of honesty and communication about feelings was killing me at times! There were moments where I wanted to NOT want them to get back together, but they were just so dang good together that I couldn’t help but root for them even when they were driving me up a wall!

I loved getting to see their connection rebuild and their friendship blossom, but I wish we would have gotten to see them as an actual couple more. I don’t mind a good slow burn romance, but because I’d already gotten to see how good they were together I didn’t like having to wait so long for that spark to reignite. But I did love the way the story wrapped up! 

I also truly enjoyed a lot of the side characters, especially the regulars at  Bordeauxnuts - Genevieve in particular. That woman was spicy and had some great one liners!

I’ll definitely be checking out more of Brayden’s books, and I think I need to start with Kiss the Girl so I can get to know Jessica Lennox and Brooklyn Campbell! 

I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books. This is my honest and voluntary review.


🏳️‍🌈Rep: Lesbian and Bi FMCs, queer SCs

📝Tropes/Themes: Femme/Femme, Second Chance, Enemies to Lovers, Slow Burn, Coffee/Wine Bar, New York, Sapphic Romance
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Messy Roots: A Graphic Memoir of a Wuhanese-American by Laura Gao

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emotional funny inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.5

A moving and powerful graphic memoir about growing up and finding yourself when you are caught between different worlds and identities and don’t know quite where you belong.
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