Happy Pride month! 🏳️🌈 I’ve been reading some really brilliant LGBTQIA+ books recently, so I thought it was only right to share with you the books I’ve been loving to celebrate Pride!
Plain Bad Heroines, Emily M. Danforth
Our story begins in 1902, at The Brookhants School for Girls. Flo and Clara, two impressionable students, are obsessed with each other and with a daring young writer named Mary MacLane, the author of a scandalous bestselling memoir. They meet in secret in a nearby apple orchard, the setting of their wildest happiness and, ultimately, of their macabre deaths. Over a century later, the now abandoned and crumbling Brookhants is back in the news when wunderkind writer, Merritt Emmons, publishes a breakout book celebrating the queer, feminist history surrounding the “haunted and cursed” Gilded-Age institution. Her bestselling book inspires a controversial horror film adaptation starring celebrity actor and lesbian it girl Harper Harper playing the ill-fated heroine Flo, opposite B-list actress and former child star Audrey Wells as Clara. But as Brookhants opens its gates once again, and our three modern heroines arrive on set to begin filming, past and present become grimly entangled—or perhaps just grimly exploited—and soon it’s impossible to tell where the curse leaves off and Hollywood begins.
5 things I loved:
- The feminist badass themes in this book.
- This book had the perfect balance of creepy and clever, making it the ideal gothic horror.
- I loved how different the three heroines are and yet they just work so well together.
- Following the story in the past of Brookhants school did such a fab job of setting up the drama of this book.
- This was a long book, but it kept me hooked and intrigued the whole time.
Heartstopper Series, Alice Oseman
Charlie, a highly-strung, openly gay over-thinker, and Nick, a cheerful, soft-hearted rugby player, meet at a British all-boys grammar school. Friendship blooms quickly, but could there be something more…?
5 things I loved:
- Nick and Charlie are just the best!
- EVERYONE IN THIS BOOK.
- Every book in this series has such a lovely message, Heartstopper 4 being a particular favourite of mine.
- How closely we follow the story of Nick and Charlie and how they deal with coming out in their relationship.
- I love how Alice Oseman always does such a good job of representing so many fantastic people in her books.
Bingo Love, Tee Franklin, Jenn St-Onge, Joy San, Cardinal Rae
Bingo Love is a story of a same-sex romance that spans over 60 years. A chance meeting at church bingo in 1963 brings Hazel Johnson and Mari McCray together. Through their formative years, these two women develop feelings for each other and finally profess their love for one another.
5 things I loved:
- Super cute ‘meant to be’ love story
- The illustrations are so bright and colourful
- I love the overall moral of this story and the support of love is love
- Enjoyed seeing the changing times over this 60-year narrative
- Hazel and Mari are just the best, they feel real and I want the very best for them.
Felix Ever After, Kacen Callender
Felix Love has never been in love—and, yes, he’s painfully aware of the irony. He desperately wants to know what it’s like and why it seems so easy for everyone but him to find someone. What’s worse is that, even though he is proud of his identity, Felix also secretly fears that he’s one marginalization too many—Black, queer, and transgender—to ever get his own happily-ever-after.
5 things I loved:
- The first-person narrative felt like diary entries and made for a much more personal relationship with Felix and his emotions.
- Whilst this story was totally heartbreaking at times, it felt very real and very true and I was totally captivated by it.
- A passion for art and creative subjects.
- The bonds between some of the characters and their relationships.
- The openness with which Felix talks about discovering himself.
When You Get the Chance, Robin Stevenson & Tom Ryan
As kids, Mark and his cousin Talia spent many happy summers together at the family cottage in Ontario, but a fight between their parents put an end to the annual event. Living on opposite coasts — Mark in Halifax and Talia in Victoria — they haven’t seen each other in years. When their grandfather dies unexpectedly, Mark and Talia find themselves reunited at the cottage once again, cleaning it out while the family decides what to do with it. When a series of complications throws everything up in the air, Mark and Talia — with Mark’s little sister Paige in tow — decide to hit the road for Toronto. With a bit of luck, and some help from a series of unexpected new friends, they might just make it to the big city and find what they’re looking for. That is, if they can figure out how to start seeing things through each other’s eyes.
5 things I loved:
- Loved the setting of this old cottage and clearing it out to discover so many old treasures.
- Took us along on a journey to Toronto Pride which was the best time!
- Really loved Paige, Mark’s sister and how open and honest she is.
- All about healing and growing and what the future can hold and I loved this positive theme that came about as a result of something more unpleasant.
- Interesting character clashes that are really shown from the dual pov, I liked that it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows.
