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Pride Pages
E.J. She/Her. Lesbian. Here, queer, and ready to talk about the spectrum of LGBTQ+ books! CURRENTLY READING: “Here We Go Again” by Alison Cochrun.
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eARC Review: Napkins and Other Distractions
RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
AMAZON SYNOPSIS: On paper, they’re a disaster. In the sheets, they’re a perfect match.
Kent Lester is proud of the joyful, thriving learning community he’s created as principal of Lear Elementary School. But seven years after his divorce, he’s ready to focus on his personal life and spread his bisexual wings. Things get off to a rocky start when Kent’s first date is an uptight control freak — although that doesn’t stop them tangling some sheets.
Vincent Manda never seems able to move past the friend zone, and besides, he’s not sure anyone can handle his OCD. But that night with the bearded, older Kent revealed a side of Vincent he’d never experienced before. And he’s equal parts scared of and desperate for a repeat.
When Lear’s test scores take a nosedive, Kent finds himself under the microscope. Forced to implement new software to monitor and collect school data, he’s horrified to discover that Vincent is working on the project. With his last install ending less than ideally, Vincent’s job depends on this one succeeding — and butting heads with the principal won’t help.
Vincent and Kent need to view each other in a new light, but that could change their futures forever.
RELEASE DATE: June 4, 2024
See my full review under the cut!
The lead couple of Napkins and Other Distractions are unlikely romance heroes. They're both solidly middle-aged, separated by a fifteen-year age gap. One is divorced. One is perpetually single, isolated by the severe OCD that most people cannot understand.
But Kent and Vincent are about to discover that sometimes even the 'well-seasoned' could use a little spice!
Wardell is frank about his open-door sex scenes. He wants to be known as a 'spicy' writer, and with each new book he turns up the heat.
These guys are kinky! Even if that's not your personal taste...
...you have to love how open they are to self-discovery.
It's so easy to become set in your ways. As you pass those early, tumultuous years and start to settle into adulthood, you start to think that you've discovered everything there is to learn about yourself. But that sort of thinking sets boundaries--it keeps your world small. Being alive should be about experiencing everything you can: trying new things, meeting new people, and embracing change. Living is all about learning.
Learning how to love is the education in this book. Unlike the other books, the secondary storyline about what's happening in the school is...uncompelling. Part of the problem is that there's no heart in a storyline about data-gathering. There's an attempt to get us to care by injecting the stakes of Kent's job being at risk, but... My prevailing feeling was that this story didn't need to be set in a school the way Teacher of the Year and Mistletoe and Mishigas needed to be to serve their narratives. the more thoughtful lessons aren't set in any classroom--they're in the interactions between Kent and Vincent as they learn how to fit into each other's world.
I really appreciated how much nuance went into each of their arcs. The takeaway wasn't "Vincent needs to get better" or "Kent needs to change." Both of them had to learn how to make space for each other and how to fit together. Kent learns how to make Vincent's world feel safer in little ways like remembering his preference for even numbers and in big ways like sitting together through episodes of intense compulsion. In turn, Vincent learns how to ride out the chaos that comes with loving a messy, klutzy man. Watching them figure out how to communicate, adapt, and do the work of loving--the work that makes you feel more instead of less--is the lesson.
Napkins and Other Distractions is a chili pepper dipped in a sugar glaze--the kind of sexy book that feels accessible to real people not because it's tame, but because it invites the reader to see themselves in it. It's the kind of book that makes you feel good because you leave it believing that you too may contain multitudes. You too may still have adventures ahead.
You too may have a person.
Even if it takes you another decade or two to find them.
#mlm#gay#bisexual#teachers in love#napkins and other distractions#ma wardell#earc review#romance#spicy books#lgbtqia#lgbt reads#queer lit
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Several Sentence Sunday
Well, it’s that day again! Thank you to @heysweetheart-writes and @suseagull04 for the tag…
You’re never too old to need—or be embarrassed by—your parent. Particularly when said parent is ACD…💜❤️
Alex shrugged. “Then you change. That’s what we do—living means changing. And it’s like your Gramma Ellen always says, ‘if you’re not gonna get busy living—”
Cat’s lips twitched. “You’d better get busy dying,” she finished.
Alex squeezed her hand. “So maybe you’re not a butterfly,” he mused. “But you’re not a caterpillar either. You know when they’re in the chrysalis and they melt into goop?”
Cat gagged. “Oh my god—“
Alex grinned, gently elbowing her. “It’s okay. You can be goop for as long as you need.”
He fully expected her to roll her eyes. But instead, she let her head fall onto his shoulder. “Thanks, Papa.”
Caterpillar. Butterfly.
Life meant change. But some things never would.
“Te amo, mija,” Alex murmured. “Siempre.”
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These are my favourite books with bi representation.
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oh, isn't that one of the loveliest things ever?
—Dev and Charlie, from The Charm Offensive
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Several Sentences Sunday
Thank you to @heysweetheart-writes and @sophie1973 for the tag!
Family sticks together…💜❤️
“This guy bothering you?”
Alex jumped. The bartender was now glowering at him, thick arms folded.
Cat snorted. “Not like you think!” She waved a hand between them. “Dave, this is my father.”
That shocked a surprised “Oh,” out of big, burly Dave, who gave them a look they’d all gotten used to over the years—reframing the picture of the brown man beside his snow-white daughter.
Alex smiled tightly, biting his anger between his back teeth. But it was Cat who said coldly, “Don’t be an asshole.”
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HELLO
Can I tell you about a book with
art heists entirely fueled by spite and complicated father/son dynamics
soft gay touch starved yearning
teens who want to save each other, who are inherently good and full of love
tragic yet hopeful love that you have to believe will be enough
a Greek mythology inspired plot because it's GAY ICARUS
remember this poem that went around tumblr?
it's basically this vibe but for a FULL NOVEL and you will feel so many things
#icarus#k ancrum#gay mythology#mlm#achillean#gay books#books to watch#book recs#lgbt reads#queer lit
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I wish it didn't have to be so complicated. But I guess an easy life would be boring, right? If I was so scared of failing, there'd be so many things I never would've tried.
--Ander Martinez, Ander and Santi Were Here by Jonny Garza Villa
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"The pause stumbled execrably, fell down the stairs, and lay in a tangle at the bottom in full view of all listeners, who had to watch it bleed out in embarrassment."
Tamsyn Muir, Harrow The Ninth (Chapter 8, pages 111-112)
I love this book.
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It's that time of week! And all I can say is: the more things change, the more they stay the same...💜
(tags under the cut)
She looked up.
Fuck. Alex couldn’t see her face clearly enough in the low light to read her expression. (He could practically hear Henry’s exasperated reminder to “wear glasses. Honestly, Alex, your eyesight’s getting worse,” like he was getting old or something. He’s not even forty! Yet. Fuck.) But he did see her flag the bartender and mutter something while still looking his way.
The bartender grabbed a bottle of Maker’s Mark. He poured a drink, then brought the glass over to Alex. “For you,” he nodded down the bar. “From the lady. She says, and I quote, ‘Don’t be fucking weird.’”
“Right,” Alex muttered. But he took the damn glass. He had a feeling he was going to need it. Taking a fortifying sip, he slipped down the row to where she sat waiting for him—the hint of a smile playing at her mouth. The sight of it gave him more than liquid courage. “Mary Catherine Fox,” he drawled. “How dare you curse out your old man!”
She rolled her eyes, and like turning a kaleidoscope, the colors shifted. Time blending and blurring—
Beautiful, bewildering stranger became his beloved girl.
Cat said, “You’re not old—”
“I wasn’t fishing for that,” Alex insisted.
“You were. And you’re also the one who taught me at least half the curses I know!”
“The best half!”
Cat smirked. “No question.”
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I'm tagging my usual suspects @heysweetheart-writes @saturntheday and @sophie1973, but I invite anyone else to play along and show us what you're working with!
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"Whether it’s because of the fucked chemicals in my brain that I ignored or the lack of self-worth I had, or maybe a little bit of both, I spiraled, and it wasn’t for a lack of support. I just didn’t know how to live. I still don’t, but I’m getting better. I’ve asked for help and everything. Where I was going with this, is that I know when it feels like the end. But I can promise you, there’s always another road. Don’t give up yet.”
🌈📚🦉
When I'm having a hard day, I visit Arlo.
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I am unwell after this…
And I’m like… so gay
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There is nothing better than a cheese tour through time and space except. . .
It's cover reveal day for @ellebeaumontbooks & I's first co-author project Benvolio & Mercutio Turn Back time!
BLURB:
Verona has 99 problems—including a time machine.
All Benvolio has ever desired is a peaceful life alongside his spirited—albeit quarrelsome—roommate, Mercutio. But as the story goes, the course of true love never did run smooth, and when tensions between the Montagues and the Capulets reach a boiling point, Benvolio and Mercutio are dragged into the mess Romeo makes of all their lives.
Then an older version of Benvolio crashes into their lives, offering the opportunity to change fate, Mercutio does as he always does—seizes the chance. There's just one problem: no deal is without strings, and this one involves a deadly secret that Mercutio is determined to take to the grave.
What follows is a lively adventure through the ages, replete with love and heartache. Amidst the chaos, this inseparable duo will unravel the true depth of their friendship.
A riotous romp of a retelling of Romeo & Juliet. Side effects of reading may contain laughter, heartache, and a need for more. This light, sci-fi fantasy is the perfect shelf companion to The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian, Something Fabulous by Alexis Hall, and The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting by KJ Charles.
Publication day: July 31, 2024
Genre: Adult Sci-fi Fantasy Romcom
Tropes: Friends to Lovers, time travel, retelling, and they were roommates, deal with the devil
Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/bmturnbacktime
Pre-order a Copy w/ a signed bookplate: https://forms.gle/qtTcP2Tgh6Vfbw3u8
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/193907562-benvolio-and-mercutio-turn-back-time
Cover Artist Credit: @oblivionsdream
Tag for: @jokeringcutio
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Several Sentence Sunday
Thank you to @heysweetheart-writes for the tag! Hope you’re feeling better.
Something special to share today: a glimpse of someone I’m bringing back to the page…
She slumped gracefully over the bar, golden curls pulled away from her face to spill over her sloping shoulder. Her ankle boots were crossed, folding her long legs into the cramped space. Her black skirt fanned across the dark leather seat. It matched the black waistcoat buttoned over a simple white top. An artful genderbend—an ode to a tuxedo with feminine flair. One elegant piano player’s hand cupped a glencairn glass like a tulip blossom. She stared into the whiskey, long lashes lowered to veil her eyes.
Alex knew her. And yet he didn’t—not this her. Not this woman who made just sitting over a drink look like a work of art. Not this woman who made you look and wonder—
Who are you when you’re not with me?
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“How do you do that?” Celia said.
“Do what?”
“Act so cavalier about things that are sacred to other people?”
“Because other people have got nothing to do with me.”
Celia scoffed, somewhat gently, and looked down at her hands.
“Except you,” I said.
I was rewarded with the sight of her looking up at me.
#the seven husbands of evelyn hugo#fanart#evelyn hugo#celia st james#tshoeh#taylor jenkins reid#bisexual#lesbian#sapphic#wlw#lgbt reads#queer lit
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I’m falling hopelessly head-first into this kiss, holding back nothing, showing her that I want, I yearn. That I want and yearn for her.
--Ellie Oliver, Kiss Her Once for Me by Alison Cochrun
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Books I've Read This Year
Lies We Sing to the Sea || Sarah Underwood
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WIP Wednesday
Thank you to @sophie1973 for the tag!
Happy WIP Wednesday on a Thursday. Sometimes life gets the better of us and the words come slower. Still, we persevere…
Henry eyed the kettle for a moment. He sighed, pouring the dregs of his tea down the “I think I’m for bed. Just might…sit up with a book.”
Alex glanced back at his phone. “I’ll be up in a bit. Something I need to do first.”
After over a decade of marriage, he knew most shades of his husband’s moods. But from time to time, a look he couldn’t read would cross Henry’s face…
“Sure, Love,” he pressed a quick kiss to Alex’s lips. “I’ll see you later.”
Henry whistled to call their dog (Freddie, after Mercury. The natural successor to David-after-Bowie), who trotted eagerly after him.
Alex glanced back down at his daughter’s text. He turned the words over, weighed the odds—
Fuck it.
He grabbed his jacket and his keys, careful to close the brownstone’s door quietly behind him.
#firstprince#rwrb fanfiction#rwrb fic#wip wednesday#wip#alex claremont diaz#henry fox mountchristen windsor#rwrb au#ej writes
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