hotdogirl

Day 16: JOMPBPC: Cool Colours

New Releases: April 2, 2024

Middle Grade Winnie Nash is Not Your Sunshine by Nicole Melleby Winnifred “Winnie” Nash is not a senior citizen, despite what anyone thinks of her name. And she is definitely not excited to live with her grandma in New Jersey for the summer. Not only are they basically strangers, but Winnie—who’s always known she’s gay—has been pushed into the metaphorical closet by her parents, who worry what…

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Character, book, and author names under the cut

Valkyr "Kyr" Marston- Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

Chellwinark Frethylrin “Fret”- Battle Scars by Sam Maggs

Gal Ump Ember- Bonds of Brass by Emily Skrutskie

Elouise “Lou” Parker- Hot Dog Girl by Jennifer Dugan

Holly G and hetero-Jughead

All right. So it is a small change where a one off character get a color make-over. But I am curious on something in this story here -- as Holly G gets her feet wet before turning in her most famous Archie story, "Betty goes Goth".

i think the overall in Jughead chasing the girl to her new hot dog cart location lands on being more straight than everyone wants him to be these days. A little odd as these days Holly G is turning in something where Betty, Veronica, and a third "new character" who is queer form a band -- they seem to be banking something on their new character.

Hm. They could have recolored any background character. Certainly a hot dog vendor fills a recent immigrant stereotype / type. They chose the one with the "exotic" hairdo.

Going the other way, probably missing the current mark but fulfilling a gag in Chasing Amy, some vintage imagery:

Wait. What?

Some Girls Do Review

Some Girls Do by Jennifer Dugan

CW: Abusive Parent, Emotional Abuse, Physical Abuse, Homophobia, Queerphobia, Legal Struggles, College Admission Struggles, Money Problems, Swearing, Underage Drinking, Blood, Violence, Discussion of Sex, Mentioned Transphobia, Outing, Bullying, Domestic Abuse, Misogyny, Classism, Slut-Shaming

5/5

Sometimes a book will give you something you weren't expecting. In my case, Jennifer Dugan's Some Girls Do gave me closure for Hayley Kiyoko's Girls Like Girls novel. They each have a relationship with a similar dynamic, even though they're set 15 years apart. It's what Kiyoko's book should have been. Some Girls Do also made me understand why I still had a draw to Dugan's writing despite her other books (more on this later). This novel was so sweet and well written, and it also understood how to handle the heavy material included.

Some Girls Do starts when Morgan transfers to a new school near the end of the school year in her senior year of high school. Ruby runs into her that day, almost. Despite their rocky start, these two girls can't help but be interested in the life of the other. Morgan is facing a legal battle with her old school, which had discriminated against her for being a lesbian. She's a track star, but this is leaving her future in question. Ruby is seen as white trash because she's poor and does pageants at her mother's request. Except she doesn't have much control over her life at all. What she wants is to fix cars, and she might have a plan to do that. Will Morgan and Ruby be able to help each other or will they make things worse?

My first introduction to Dugan was Hot Dog Girl. I liked the book well enough, I even recommended it to a few people. Ultimately, the relationship didn't really work in it. The love interest deserved better than the main character. I tried Verona Comics next. Shakespeare, comics, and a bi dude? That absolutely sold it! Unfortunately, the relationship was so toxic that I'm not sure how I made it through the book. Despite only having read these two books by Dugan, I never swore off her writing. Her books have been on my radar. I can tell they do well because there's always a line on Libby. I'm careful about putting books on hold because I don't want them all to come in at once, but I finally put two more of Dugan's books on hold (look out for Love at First Set in the future!). I'm glad I did, as I was enamored with Some Girls Do the whole time.

It should come as no surprise by this point that the thing I valued the most in Some Girls Do was the relationship between Morgan and Ruby. Only one was out and both were experiencing queerphobia within their communities. Morgan had recently left a bad relationship and Ruby didn't feel safe enough to commit to one, no matter the gender. There were a lot of chances for their relationship to not work, but the book explored what they could do about that. It never felt like Dugan was asking us to accept a situation that felt toxic as romantic. She learned, for sure. She also included a range of queer experiences and showed the importance of queer spaces for teenagers. Other queer identities included in this novel were trans, non-binary, and pansexual. Different experiences and situations were also explored. Not everyone has the same queer experience, but we can still be stronger and safer together. 

One thing I enjoy about Some Girls Do is that not everything has to be neatly tied up or turn out the way you expect for the characters to find happiness or a good future. The book absolutely has an ending, but there's the suggestion that the story is still ongoing for Morgan and Ruby. They still have things to face and enjoy in the future, but we got to be there while they went through this part. Although the pacing was confusing at times it didn't affect my appreciation of the novel. Dugan is great with plot and world-building, and now characters too. This book was released back in 2021, so I'm excited to see how she's grown since!

If you're looking for a heavy but wholesome queer teen love story, Some Girls Do by Jennifer Dugan is a great option. You'll get rewarded with 2 whole instances of the title being said by characters, relatable queer thoughts, and lines that make you laugh out loud. Go on and give the book a try, you know that some girls do!

https://rdbl.co/47gppMi Rebubble

https://bit.ly/3uBt9JG Teepublic

Book Review: Hot Dog Girl by Jennifer Dugan

This is Dugan's debut novel, and what a great way to start your writing career. This book wasn't the first of Dugan's I've read, but I'm happy to add it to my "books by Jennifer Dugan" collection. Not to mention, it was great to see a bi MC and represented very well.

I love how the MC's voice shines through in the pages. And yes, she is kind of annoying in her schemes, even other characters point it out, but she's still fun to read. (Plus, she grows a character as you read along, and we love a good redemption ark).

I will say there were too many scenes of people getting sick, however. And it was written with too much detail most of the time for my liking. But if you take those scenes out, this book was a great read.

It did get better when you watch Lou slowly fall in love with her bestie, Seeley. You see it before she does, and you can tell Seeley wanted more than friendship all along. So, when they finally got together, I may have squealed in happiness for them. Seeley is just such a fun character to read as well, and I love the relationship (both as friends and more) between her and Lou.

I love myself a nice YA rom-com, and this was a perfect example of it. It was filled with many emotions, and as mentioned, Lou as a narrator is just really fun to read. (Even if her plans for the summer were a bit messed up, she eventually came around to being a great human being).

All in all, loved it, like all of the other books I've read by Dugan. 10/10 would recommend.

I love how Steve refuses to do Red carpet events with Eddie but will go to big Hollywood parties. Keg King Steve lives on

Look, no one has ever asked for his opinion at a party and then published it in a magazine as a ‘scathing review from friend of Eddie Munson’s.’ It’s not his fault that the movie was not as funny as he thought it was going to be.

Plus, all those flashing lights.

Every time Eddie gets papped, there’s always a picture of Steve where he’s mid-blink or he looks sweaty, and Steve is never going to forgive Eddie for the photo of him goosing him on the carpet. The one (and only) time Steve walked the red carpet with Eddie as his date, Perez Hilton had a lot of mean things to say about the shape of his head and his bisexuality.

But on the other hand, Steve loves a good party.

Steve might not be interested in being a part of most of the celebrity parts of Eddie’s life but he does like celebrities. He has a whole photo album of pictures taken with celebrities. And Steve likes when Eddie gets to do fun things with his fame. No one tells you when your boyfriend runs off with his band that a lot of the famous-people stuff that he has to deal with fucking sucks.

Plus, the only people partying harder than famous people are teenagers in a small town. Steve has experience and he excels at this.

Even if the hangovers are awful.

Eddie posts a TikTok the morning after there are paparazzi photos of him and Steve leaving a party of him, Steve, and half of Ice Nine Kills getting breakfast in the restaurant of their hotel. He pans the camera across the table but settles on Steve next to him with his head down on his arms.

He’s not just hungover. He is ‘are you sure he’s even alive’ hungover. Enough that one of the guys asks, “Is he okay?”

“Uh-huh,” Eddie says with a grin in his voice. “Baby, you got any advice for the kiddos out there?”

“Don’t get hit in the head a lot.”

“Oh-ho, no, Stevie,” Eddie laughs. “This is not a hero babysitter Steve Harrington migraine. This is a Keg King Steve hangover.”

Steve looks up, “There was a keg?”  

what if YOU were a poor little animation studio who kept straightifying the very homosexual moments between a tiger and a malnourished victorian child in order to make the anime more appealing to the general public. but THE MANGAKA HIMSELF said NO here’s a scene where said malnourished victorian child sensually bites the tiger’s neck while he’s transformed as a vampire and U HAVE TO ANIMATE IT THIS TIME BCS ITS IMPORTANT TO THE PLOT!!! now bones if you straightify that scene like you did to akutagawa telling atsushi to run you fool then you can trust that i’ll find you more than you trust in god

bring back this kind of fashion, i’m obsessed🐆🎀

Fave Five: Queer Summer YA Reads, Part II

Fave Five: Queer Summer YA Reads, Part II

For books with “Summer” in the actual title, check out Part I. Rise to the Sun by Leah Johnson Hot Dog Girl and Melt With You by Jennifer Dugan Camp by L.C. Rosen The Honeys by Ryan La Sala This is Why They Hate Us by Aaron H. Aceves

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Hot Dog Girl 🌭👧🏻 by Jennifer Dugan

"In none of the numerous despatches of the day is this suspicion mentioned, although in a private letter of Malipiero's, dated Rome, June 17, 1497, and in one of Polo Capello's reports, allusion is made to the "rumor" regarding the criminal relations of Don Giovanni and his sister. Could the fact that Lucretia never engaged in any love intrigue—at least she is not charged with having done so—with anyone else, when there were in Rome so many courtiers, young nobles, and great cardinals who were her daily companions, have given rise to these reports? It is a fact that nothing has been discovered which would indicate that this beautiful young woman ever did engage in any love affair. Even the report of the ambassador, who, writing to Ferrara, not from Rome but from Venice, states that Lucretia had given birth to a child stands alone. She had at that time been separated from her husband Sforza a whole year. But even if we admit that this rumor was well founded, and that Lucretia did engage in some illicit love affair, are not these relations and slips frequent enough in all societies and at all times? Even now nothing is more readily glossed over in the polite world." — Lucretia Borgia, According to Original Documents and Correspondence of Her Day, Ferdinand Gregorovius (January 1, 1904)