I’m getting the blog back up and running, and I’m just in time, because: It’s Pride Month! In the face of all the current awfulness in the U.S. (which I’m not going to get into here, because it’s terrifying and rage-inducing and I’m tired), let’s focus on fun things. So, as your resident Disaster Bi™, allow me to offer up some Queer Joy books for your reading pleasure!

By happy coincidence (probably not coincidence, they probably did it on purpose), a bunch of books releasing THIS WEEK are happy and gay!

Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall — Alexis Hall of Boyfriend Material fame, returns with a sapphic, Regency-era romance fantasy this time! Which is pretty much my absolute favorite combination of words in the English language. I’ve been a Regency-era nut since I was a kid, and when you combine sapphic, romance, and fantasy together, you put me smack-dab in my happy place. I am SO excited for this one! (I love these trope/tag meme book graphics! I don’t care if anyone else thinks they’re dumb. Also, look how pretty this cover is!)

We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian — the newest book from Cat Sebastian (famous for her queer books of mostly, but not only, gay man) sounds like a really great romp. You can always count on Cat Sebastian for relatable characters, engaging plots, and all the gayness. This one is set in 1950s New York, and features a scrappy newspaper writer and the son of a Newspaper Tycoon who grow close in the midst of the very dangerous anti-gay atmosphere of the 50s.

The Last Drop of Hemlock by Katherine Schellman — This book is primarily a historical mystery novel set in 1920s New York (another one of my favorite time periods!). It’s the sequel to Last Call at the Nightingale, for which I wrote a glowing review last year. Like the first, it features my fellow resident Disaster Bi, Vivian Kelly as she navigates her new job at a speakeasy, her attraction to the dangerously alluring woman who owns the speakeasy, and stumbling upon yet another murder (and, okay, this one might stretch the definition of “joy” in “Queer Joy,” as Vivian is really Going Through It™, but still…). Katherine Schellman is an instant-buy for me and I cannot recommend her work highly enough! (I couldn’t find a fun graphics version of this cover, alas.)

There are, of course, PLENTY MORE. But all three of these literally released this week so I thought it would be fun to highlight them. Hopefully, I’ll do a second post with even more options. And, of course, I’ve written about plenty of queer books in the past, such as:
“Queer Romances for Pride”
“Queer Romances Redux: The Whyborne & Griffin Series”
“Book Review: Imperfect Illusions”
“Two-For-One Book Review: Marvellous Light and Restless Truth”