My introduction to Robin Talley's books was her most recent, Pulp. Pulp tells the story of a lesbian writing lesbian pulp-fiction in the 1950's and a present-day teen lesbian researching that publishing era and learning about herself in the process. This book broke my heart a few times and also gave me hope for the future. Talley writes queer historical and contemporary fiction, spanning time periods and conflicts, and while not all of it has a true Happily Ever After, she excels at eliciting emotions... even when they're uncomfortable.
I enjoyed this book from the very beginning. The opening line is the title! "Mom, we've been over this. Don't read the comments." —It's kind of Divya's slogan. She's got an Etsy sign and everything.
Let’s address the elephant in the room, shall we? Our unwelcome guest COVID-19. The library system I work for is closed to the public and I oversee the division that is responsible for all the delightful items you find on the physical shelves and in our digital collections. So keeping that machine running, while re-configuring staff schedules and work spaces has meant no time for reading or Romancelandia. And let me tell ya, I miss it y’all. So let’s take a collective break and enjoy looking at some new Unusual Historicals out this month. And lucky for us, it’s a bonanza!
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We already shared our list of YA Romance for January-March 2020, so here's the next three months!
Since there are way too many books for one reasonably sized post, here's how we've structured the list:
- Books that we're excited to read will have a cover and a little bit about why we're excited to read them.
- Other books that we're aware of but not rushing out to preorder are at the end. They'll have links if you want to find out more!
- This list is absolutely not any indication of quality or content. We haven't read these! Stay tuned throughout the year for reviews when we do.
- Books are listed in chronological order and include what we're aware of as of February 2020. This means more will probably be slotted in before June and this list will be out of date. So it goes.
- Every book will have a link to its page on Amazon. Yes, we'd love for you to buy the books elsewhere but the reality is that 98% of our clicks are to Amazon. In a list this size, it's just too much time to generate four links for each book instead of one. These are affiliate links, meaning we earn 4% of whatever you buy after clicking. It doesn't cost you anything extra but we have to disclose this for the feds.
Without further ado, on to the books!
Mini-reviews of three queer young adult novels and one queer contemporary polyam romance: Dark and Deepest Red, Only Mostly Devastated, In the Shadow of the Sun, and Three Part Harmony. All read as audiobooks!
Jackpot is a wild ride. Often literally! Rico and Zan spend a lot of time in the car on their way to chase only-vaguely-possible leads. There’s also a lot of family drama and a lot of feelings.
Historical fiction is my passion. The stories open a door and offer a peek into another time and place. Many readers and writers have a preferred time period. I love all things medieval and earlier! Not that I would ever want to actually go back in time—well, maybe for a few hours—but chances are if I happened upon any time travel doors, I’d be a scullery maid not a princess.
Imagine a room full of people who love books like you do. You get to effuse about books you love, meet the people who write books you love, find out how books you love come to be, and find out about more books you might love! This is what reader events are for me.
In Undercover Bromance, Lyssa Kay Adams attempts to lighten the intensity of a sexual assault plot with male camaraderie and jokes. It's not entirely successful. The book itself is not entirely successful and I admit to being greatly disappointed. This is a complicated review since my feelings are messy, but I tried to keep spoilers to the end. However, there are a few from the first 20% of the book that I've included because I don't believe setup to be spoilers.
