We are nearly halfway through Pride month and it is going by too fast for my liking! Once again, I’m recommending a great YA book that I absolutely loved. In fact, it’s a crime I haven’t read any more books by Ashley Herring Blake. I will go punish myself accordingly.
I fucking loved this book. It’s one of those books that took me far too long to read but once I did, I loved it. I bought it because I loved it so much. The story of Grace and Eva is so beautiful and I absolutely loved reading them fall for each other. Grace’s relationship with her mom was difficult to read but still sticks with me to this day.
If you haven’t read this book, please do. It’s worth your time.
Okay, it’s a crime that I haven’t talked about this already. However, nobody will be shocked that I’m talking about it since I haven’t shut up about it since I read it. I’m talking about the epic love story that put me in a year-long slump.
This book had a huge impact on me. I hesitate to say it changed my life, but I’m a fan of hyperbole so fuck it! It changed my life. I absolutely love this book and it continued to surprise me. From the hetero-baiting title to the love story between two women over decades, add in a Hollywood setting and an aging star telling the truth of her life and you have a goddamn masterpiece. Why hasn’t anyone brought this book to the screen yet?!
I guarantee if the love that was put into this book was put into a mini-series, then I would be the happiest person in the world. This book is absolutely perfect and I’m terrified to read it again because I don’t want to be let down and because the pain was so strong. It hurt more than any other book I’ve read before. Not only did I cry but I felt the anger and pain.
I honestly don’t know if a book will ever come close to how I felt about Evelyn Hugo and I’m okay with that. I think I’m a better person for having read this book.
Today is a very special day. It’s the day after the season finale of Gentleman Jack aired on HBO and now I will attempt to talk about how much I love this show. It may or may not be coherent.
When I first heard about Gentleman Jack on Twitter, HBO had my subscription. Even though the last season of Game of Thrones was going on, THIS was why I subscribed to HBO again. I find it hard to think of any shows that revolve around an openly queer character taking place in the 1800s. I’m not talking about queer side characters, but a main character who is queer.
Gentleman Jack is about Anne Lister who was a real person and the events of the show are pulled straight from her diaries. She wrote it in code and it was deciphered and revealed her attraction to the same sex. I’m positive there were queer women in history, but it is very rare that they themselves wrote about it. The fact that this show is about real people and two women, Anne Lister and Ann Walker, who did indeed get married means a lot to me.
I could talk about other shows featuring queer women and f/f relationships, but they were just laying the foundation so that this show could work. I’m in love with this show. There is so much fucking love put into it. I’ve seen the first three episodes about 3 times each and I fully plan to rewatch the season when I can. I don’t think there’s going to be a time when I’m tired of this show. My hope for the future is that this show lays the foundation for more stories like this.
Look at these angels.
I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, representation means everything. I can’t wait to see more episodes of Gentleman Jack, but in the meantime, I will be watching the episodes I do have again and again.
Once again, I’m going to tip my hat off to Youtube. Considering the rate of demonetization of queer creators, I want to promote them as much as possible. These are also people I watch on a daily basis. These creators are people I watch when I’m feeling down. I can turn to queer creators when I’m feeling alone. These are just two of my favorites.
These two are a British married couple and are #couplegoals. Their videos are hilarious and most of the time it’s just the two of them bullshitting on a sofa together. In fact, that’s pretty much all they do and I love it.
They are two of the funniest Youtubers I’ve watched and their videos don’t need a lot other than the two of them to be funny. If you aren’t careful you’ll get sucked down the rabbit hole of videos.
They also have a book coming out later this month called Overshare. I haven’t read it yet, but I will definitely be checking it out!
We all know about how tragedy is a trope in LGBTQ+ lit, movies, TV, etc. It really sucks, but when it’s done well it can be cathartic. I want to promote happy queer content as much as possible, but today I’m going to talk about something that’s not happy.
I’m going to preface this by saying that I haven’t read the book written by Christopher Isherwood. I have it and I want to read it but I haven’t. However, I absolutely love this movie. It’s beautifully directed by Tom Ford, who is a fashion designer by the way. It’s a very artistic movie and really puts the audience in the time and place of the 1960s.
It’s not a happy movie, that’s for sure. George, played by Colin Firth has lost the man he loves and as a result, is very depressed. I feel like this movie was a good portrayal of grief and depression. I thought it was beautifully filmed and well done.
It’s tragic, it’s gay, but Colin Firth did such an amazing job as George and it’s worth a watch just to see him work.
Since I completely forgot to have a post ready for Day 7, like a fool, I’m going to talk about two different shows.
I’m gonna be honest, Netflix doesn’t have the best track record with shows featuring LGBTQ+ characters. Two of my favorite shows were both canceled. The fact that they featured prominent queer characters made the blow that much worse. Whether it was intentional or not, it hurt. I really hope that the trend doesn’t continue.
First, I’m going to talk about the show Netflix hasn’t canceled (yet) and hope that if you have a subscription that you check it out because it’s really good.
If you haven’t heard about Special, I don’t blame you. Netflix chooses which shows and movies to feature and I heard about Special from Twitter. Even then, I didn’t know much about the show until I looked it up. I even heard about it from my mom. Y’all don’t even realize how rare that is.
But let me give you a summary of this show. It stars Ryan O’Connell who has cerebral palsy and is starting an internship as a blogger. He’s also gay. It’s semi-autobiographical and to me, that makes it great. Here’s a gay, disabled man who gets to tell his story the way he wants and gets a mainstream platform to do so.
The episodes are short, about 15ish minutes, and there aren’t many so binging this show won’t take up a lot of time. It’s worth it, trust me. The side characters are fun too, such as Ryan’s best friend at his job and his mother who is trying to have a life while taking care of Ryan.
If low viewership is the reason why other queer Netflix shows were canceled then I hope this show doesn’t become the third victim of this trend.
The second show I’m going to talk about is a reboot of an old sitcom with way more diversity. You may have heard of it…
If you haven’t heard of it, go watch it!
For me, this cancelation by Netflix hurt. A lot. There were so many campaigns on Twitter that were trying to make sure this show got renewed. Hell, the creator and actors are still trying to save the show.
In the most popular sitcoms, if any male character is a tiny bit effeminate they are the punchline of a joke. I’m fucking talking about you, Friends. After a while, you get fucking tired of being the butt of all the jokes. The reason I loved One Day at a Time, was the laughter was never malicious.
This show is about a Cuban-American family and I loved that. A divorced mother who had been in the military is dealing with PTSD, and trying to raise her two kids while her mother sleeps in her living room. I know that sounds kind of dark, but they deal with it well. When shows aren’t afraid to get real, even if they are a sitcom, I appreciate that.
And of course, the daughter Elena is a lesbian.
And awkward af. I can relate.Instead of laughing at her, we are laughing with her.Â
She also has a nonbinary love interest and that’s a big fucking deal. I’m pretty sure we can count on one hand the amount of nonbinary characters on TV and I hope that changes and is normalized like it was on One Day at a Time. Despite Elena being openly proud of being a lesbian, not everyone accepts her. Her mom struggles with it and her dad is not okay with it at all, but she doesn’t change who she is.
I miss this show so much and if it gets saved then I will be over the moon. However, I hope that TV networks take a look at this show and start setting examples of how sitcoms should be.
I would be lying if I said I didn’t prefer my queer books to have happy endings. That doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy books that completely rip apart my soul.
This book hit me like a ton of fucking bricks and it HURT. SO. GOOD.
I don’t have too much to say about this book that hasn’t already been said. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it. Madeline Miller is the author I wish I could be and know I never will be. She has some of the most beautiful writing of all time and when I read her books I cry.
If you haven’t read either of her books, check them out. Some authors have a fucking gift and Madeline Miller has it.
I mean, I loved Circe too and that wasn’t even gay.
Have you ever scrolled through Netflix trying to find a good movie to watch featuring queer ladies? Seriously, this is like a daily thing for me.
Anyway, I’m sure you’ve scrolled past this one at some point but let me tell you that it’s worth a watch.
Now, this movie doesn’t have much in the way of plot. I’m just putting that out there. It does feature a woman engaged to a man who ends up having an affair with a woman. However, I really enjoyed this movie. While there isn’t much plot, the two actresses have a lot of chemistry and it doesn’t feel totally sleazy like a certain other film which had comically long sex scenes.
There are a few other movies I could mention, at least one other that I will be talking about later this month but this one was the movie I enjoyed most. Which is a lot because I don’t usually seek out a movie this sexy, but if that’s something you enjoy check it out!
It’s Day 4 of June and I’d like to talk about something we rarely talk about on the blog. Youtube.
Now, I watch a lot of Youtube. One of my favorite corners of Youtube is queer Youtube. There are so many queer Youtubers on the platform who spend so many hours making content only to get demonitized. Whether it’s for having terms like “lesbian” or “trans” in their title, the fact that Youtube refuses to admit it’s a problem is absolutely frustrating.
I think some of the most important videos I watch on Youtube are about being queer. If I had Youtube in its current form when I was in high school, I would’ve felt less alone.
One of my hopes with this blog was to recommend LGBTQ+ content for someone who may not have known about it because that’s what I would’ve wanted as a teen/young adult.
Without further ado, I’m going to talk about Jessica Kellgren-Fozard; one of my favorite YouTubers who is very open about being a lesbian and being disabled.
I find a lot of the time that I live in my own little bubble. I wish I sought out more points of views that are different from mine. I think that’s how we can expand our minds.
In one of her videos, Jessica talks about the plastic straw ban from a disabled person’s point of view. I didn’t consider this point of view. She even goes into the alternatives to plastic straws and the positives and drawbacks. She talks about reusing her plastic straws to help the environment, which is something I never thought about doing. We all know that plastic is an issue, but it’s a much more complicated issue when talking about accessibility.
On a more lighter note, Jessica’s channel also features videos with her wife, Claudia which always ends up being super adorable. Something about seeing a happy couple just makes me smile.
Like this video where the two of them switch styles.
Whether her videos end up being informative or just plain adorable, I always enjoy watching Jessica’s videos when they pop up and it usually brings a little joy to my day.
I will read/watch anything if it has a queer main character. It doesn’t matter what genre, I will do anything to get my grubby gay hands on it. That’s what I did with this series! If you want me to read Mystery, make it gay.
I read Idyll Threats in 2015, it was a brand new mystery book and I was searching my local library for queer books. I was going through a rough time and reading about queer characters was a way of comforting myself. So this book and series have a special place in my heart because I read through it so fast.
When Idyll Fears came out, I got a signed, personalized copy from Stephanie Gayle herself, which meant the world to me! I appreciated it so much.
Caidyn bought Idyll Hands for me but I haven’t read it yet. Don’t worry, I’ll get to it. I love Thomas Lynch and he’s one of my favorite characters. Think Chief Hopper from Stranger Things, but gay.
BW Reviews 
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