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lgbtqreads · 4 months

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New Releases: January 2024

The Curse of Eelgrass Bog by Mary Averling (2nd) Nothing about Kess Pedrock’s life is normal. Not her home (she lives in her family’s Unnatural History Museum), not her interests (hunting for megafauna fossils and skeletons), and not her best friend (a talking demon’s head in a jar named Shrunken Jim). But things get even stranger than usual when Kess meets Lilou Starling, the new girl in town.…

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#Arden Joy #Brian D. Kennedy #Broughtupsy #Christina Cooke #Cuckoo #Dana Hawkins #Emma R. Alban #Gabe Cole Novoa #Gretchen Felker-Martin #Kamilah Cole #Keep This Off the Record #L.L. McKinney #Meredith Ireland #Most Ardently #My Fair Brady #Naomi Kanakia #Not in the Plan #Timothy Janovsky

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stardustandrockets · 10 months

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I am so happy to be a part of the #QueerBookstagrammerTour again this year!

Leave it to me to wait until the last minute to get photos for this and then not be able to choose which to use. 😂 I picked a few of my favorite queer books to feature. Books that spoke to me on some level or were just incredibly fun reads. I'm happy to answer any questions!

Some facts about me:

• I'm panromantic asexual, but generally say I'm queer

• Rom-coms are my comfort genre, both books and movies

• I live in Texas with my partner of 8 years and our two cats, Obi and Winston (swipe to slide 4 to see Winston)

• I'm neurodivergent (most likely auDHD)

• I've gotten back into manga collecting after being bullied out of it in high school

• Audiobooks have absolutely CHANGED my reading game. The trauma of the pandemic sadly obliterated my attention span for most physical books

• Most of what I read these days is queer in some way

A huge thanks to @foreverinastory and @djreadsbooks for putting this together!

Remember: whether you are out or not, know you are greatly loved and my account is a safe space. 🌈✨️ Bigots can't and won't win.

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haveyoureadthisqueerbook · 1 month

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#never been kissed #timothy janovsky

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drackiszunk · 3 months

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While it’s another cliche fake relationship trope, every time Holden mentions his mom I cry.

He better win this show just for her.

#Zack reads #the (fake) dating game #Timothy janovsky

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alexsfictionaddiction · 3 months

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Review: The (Fake) Dating Game by Timothy Janovsky

I love gameshows and I also love queer romances, so a combination of the two was a really exciting prospect for me. I am apparently in my Mills & Boon era, as this is my second read from them in just a week. I think I was a bit more prepared for the spice level this time though.

Holden James is ready to audition for Madcap Market, the supermarket themed gameshow that he watched with his beloved late mother. However, he needs a partner to audition with and his boyfriend has just decided to leave. Desperate and heartbroken, Holden decides to go to LA for the audition anyway but now he's wasting away in his hotel room. However, the concierge Leo is seriously hot and is apparently interested in cheering Holden up.

I thought I was a gameshow fan until I 'met' Holden. I can't say I've ever recorded them and watched them again. However, I understood his reasons for doing so. The contestants aren't actors -they're real people. So, it's extra comforting to see real people who are like you on TV.

As you might expect, the humour is very camp and it made me smile so much. I was very much rooting for Holden and even when he was feeling incredibly sorry for himself, I knew he'd find the strength to get out of it. Especially once he had Leo's support.

It would have been easy to see Leo as a bit of flightly player but I really enjoyed him. I kind of wish he was straight because I definitely fancied him! He's respectful and loyal and exactly what Holden deserves. The romance does get pretty filthy in places, so that's something to be aware of, if you're not really into sex scenes.

The (Fake) Dating Game is a fun, queer romance that is sexy, cheeky and heartwarming all at the same time. Holden and Leo are great together and the unique backdrop of the gameshow gives it a little something different. I think I'd have enjoyed a bit more serious tension but if you take it as just a slice of fun, that's easy to get past.

#the fake dating game #timothy janovsky #romance #lgbtq #book review #review #books #bookworm

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aurorawest · 1 year

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Reading update:

AHH. So good. I read Timothy Janovsky’s first book in this series, Never Been Kissed, and while I enjoyed it, I didn’t love it. I loved this one. It’s about a spoiled rich boy (the titular Matthew Prince), who gets sent away to the small town where his mother was raised. There, he meets Hector, who also turns out to be his roommate (Hector is staying with Matthew’s grandparents because he can’t afford housing at the university in town). Obviously, Matthew learns to be less selfish and entitled, and he falls in love with Hector, and everything is adorable and wonderful. 5 stars.

This one was...alright. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either. Barista and rock star fall in love, overcome obstacles to be together, the standard. The barista is interesting because he’s at university but has a very young daughter with his best friend, because they got drunk and slept together, despite him being fully aware he’s gay. So he’s laser focused on school and work so he can send money back to them and also finish uni on time, so the friend can take her turn with her education. The MC’s posh family is also homophobic, and I always enjoy a good putting-the-homophobic-family-in-their-place scene. The main problem with this book is that it needed better editing. It just could have been a lot tighter. And some of the jokes fell flat, like...I felt like I was kind of missing something? It was probably funnier in Hayden Stone’s head.

This is the second in the Logan, Minnesota series. This one takes place a year after the first and focused on one of the side characters from the first, Arthur. I was...concerned, because it’s made abundantly clear in Let it Snow (the first book) that Arthur is very into BDSM. Since that can be one of my squicks, I was iffy on this book. Also Arthur was obnoxious in the first book. I ended up liking it a lot. Arthur, unsurprisingly, is less obnoxious in his own book, and I really liked Gabriel, the town library who he falls in love with. There are some BDSM elements but quite mild, so it didn’t squick me.

This was more of a novella, about a guy trying to get home for Christmas. A winter storm shuts down flights all across the country, and by the time it occurs to him to rent a car, all the rental cars are gone too...but then the person who got the very last rental car walks up to the desk and it turns out...the main character knows him! They went to high school together, and they clearly have History. A road trip ensues and of course they get together. Considering how short this book was, there was a lot of sex. Which was fine lol. You know, good for them. Again, fine, but not amazing.

Oh, and honestly, I’m pretty sure it’s the same person kissing himself on the cover?? I’ve spent too long staring at it at this point.

Roan Parrish is really turning into one of my favorite authors. I’m asking you to ignore the incredibly cheesy cover and that tagline on it. This book is about a man, Adam, who adopted his sister’s child, and eventually his partner (it’s unclear if they were married) is like, nah, I’m not interested in this. So Adam and his daughter, Gus, return to the town Adam is from—Garnet Run, WY (this is the third in the Garnet Run series). Their neighbor is this weirdo, Wes, who only comes out at night and never talks to anyone. Gus breaks into his house because she sees something interesting and is extremely taken with all his pets, especially his tarantula (Bettie). Adam is obviously horrified by his daughter’s behavior, but Gus can’t take a hint, and she keeps bugging Wes. Adam and Wes obviously end up falling in love.

The ostensible plot of this book is that because Gus is sad about her other dad abandoning her (and he legit does), Adam asks her what she wants for Christmas, and she says for their house to have the most Christmas lights ever. And it’s fine, it works, it causes the wedge between Adam and Wes before their inevitable HEA—but the characters in this book were just, ahhhh. Lovely. I loved them. We got to see Charlie and Rye from the previous book, which was fun, and River, who is Adam’s sibling, had a pretty decent role. Wes’s background and the reason he’s the way he is is pretty sad, but it worked really well, and I loved how enthusiastic and sensitive Adam was. I even loved Gus! A child character! So yeah, I recommend this one. 5 stars.

The third in the Logan, Minnesota series. This one focuses on the third friend in the trio from the first book, Paul. What we mainly know about Paul going into this book is that he was friends with benefits with Arthur, but really, he wanted a relationship—and when it became clear he wasn’t going to get one with Arthur, he moved out of their shared cabin. Turns out Paul is very shy and desperately loves Hallmark holiday movies, because everything turns out okay in the end, and that’s what he wants. He can’t find a man who wants to settle down and also his family is completely horrible and thinks him being gay is a phase (he’s 38).

His love interest is Kyle, who is 25 and has had a crush on Paul since middle school. I love an age gap romance so right away this one kind of became my favorite in the series. There’s a lot of angsting about the age gap at first (by Paul). What I liked a lot about this one was that these two guys really really want to be with someone, and they’re looking for a partner to settle down with. It was a change from the first two books.

Another Roan Parrish novel. This one has actually been in my TBR pile for months, and I didn’t realize it was a holiday book until recently. It’s very different from what she usually writes, but was absolutely gorgeous. Really lyrical and magical. It’s about Alex, a baker, and Corbin, a very strange man who lives in Alex’s Michigan hometown. Corbin is intensely, heartbreakingly lonely, because he’s been told all his life that his family is cursed, and that anyone they fall in love with will die within a year. So he doesn’t let himself get close to anyone.

Highly highly recommend this one. Definitely a 5 star read.

More Fence. Nothing really to say about it, it’s a bunch of pretty, gay boys fencing.

I’m just going to copy my review from Storygraph here, and it does contain spoilers, so if you want to read this book (please don’t, it was so bad), I guess don’t read my review:

Where to begin with this book. I'm a fan of Simmons' work—Hyperion is possibly my favorite book ever, and I really enjoyed the much-maligned The Terror. First off, I actually liked the mountain-climbing detail. Yes, it was long and technical, but that was the strongest part of the book. I probably would have given it a 3.5 star rating if not for the final section. I guess Simmons wanted to write a WWII book and a Mount Everest book, and for some reason he thought it would be a good idea to make them into the same book. The big twist is that a whole bunch of people died (and climbed Mt Everest) for photographic evidence that Hitler had sex with young boys—and we find out in the epilogue that the threat of this getting out stops Hitler from invading the UK in 1941. Absurd. Absolutely absurd. I was actually laughing. This book was written pre-2016, so I guess it wasn't as painfully obvious that people can do horrible things and still rise to and stay in power, but I couldn't suspend my disbelief. Also, Winston Churchill is in it, because of course he is. And Lawrence of Arabia and Charlie Chaplin show up. Why? Who knows! Why not. Literally the only reason I'm giving this book 1 star instead of like, 0.25 stars is because Yetis may have saved the main character from the Nazis.

And this was not in my Storygraph review but I keep thinking about it—if Hitler didn’t want these photos getting out so badly, couldn’t Churchill have, idk, stopped the whole war? And the Holocaust? As my wife put it, Mr Simmons, I am vexed by the gaping plot hole in your novel.

UGH

Current read/palate cleanser:

This is another one set in Logan, MN, but is part of a new series. I haven’t actually started reading it yet but just looking at it is soothing me after reading the trash fire that was The Abominable.

#you're a mean one matthew prince #timothy janovsky #when london snow falls #hayden stone #sleigh ride #heidi cullinan #if only in my dreams #keira andrews #the lights on knockbridge lane #roan parrish #winter wonderland #the remaking of corbin wale #fence #cs pacat #the abominable #dan simmons #the christmas fling #reading tag

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illustration-alcove · 9 months

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Monique Aimee's illustrated cover for Timothy Janovsky's You're a Mean One Matthew Prince.

#monique aimee #timothy janovsky #book covers #you're a mean one matthew prince #american literature

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demisexualnathanvuornos · 1 year

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Canon (Queer, homoromantic) Demis 21/?: Wren Roland from Timothy Janovsky's Never Been Kissed (2022)

#wren roland #never been kissed #never been kissed a novel #timothy janovsky #nocticola art #canon aspec list #ace day

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aspens-library · 1 year

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You're a Mean One Matthew Prince by Timothy Janovsky

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Overall this book was lighthearted and a cozy read. I wish Matthew Prince had deeper growth shown before the epilogue. It definitely felt like a gay, Hallmark Christmas movie in the best ways. The comfortable predictability of it all helped me relax with a glass of hot apple cider. This book will definitely put anyone into the Christmas spirit.

#book blogger #book recommendations #booklr #reading #romance books #gay romance #christmas #matthew prince #timothy janovsky #cozy reads

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queer-and-dear-books · 2 years

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Title: Never Been Kissed

Author: Timothy Janovsky

Genre: New Adult Fiction | Drama | Romance | LGBTQ+

Content Warnings: Mentioned Biphobia | Homophobia

Overall Rating: 9.4/10

Personal Opinion: One of my all-time favorite tropes is childhood friends that reconnect and become lovers. Wren and Derick give me that in this novel. They are adorable and soft and they leave me tenderhearted with almost every single one of their interactions. Another one of my all-time favorite tropes are happy endings and this serves one of the happiest epilogues I’ve seen in a book. So I highly recommend reading it if you haven’t.

Couple Classification: Wren Roland X Derick Haverford = Nerd X Prep

Do I Own This Book? Nope.

Spoilers Below For My Likes & Dislikes:

Likes:

- The most fabulous part of this book is when Wren and Derick promised to do better with their communication. That is all I’ve ever wanted in a book. And yeah, the lack of clear, honest communication at the start is tragic but the fact that they’d reached the point of wanting to do better and putting in the work to do better makes it all worth it, in my opinion. Plus, I absolutely understand why Derick chose not to tell Wren about the demolition given the circumstances. Likewise, I also understand Wren’s blow-up when he found out.

- The ending of this story is quite possibly the happiest that it could’ve been. Everyone gets what they want and it is magnificent. Wren is the new owner of Wiley’s Drive-In and he published a book! Derick reconciled with his family and was allowed to get any job he wanted (choosing to stay on as the social media manager at Wiley’s) instead of following in his dad’s footsteps. Alice was able to sell her place and she reclaimed her fame as a badass woman director. Avery and Stacia are still together, Mateo and Brandon are still together, Wren and Derick are implied to be engaged! I love happy epilogues and this was just so good.

- I’m glad Mateo’s firing wasn’t framed as something Wren did wrong. He was right and I’m so glad Mateo apologized for not doing his job properly.

- Oscar is such a great side character. He sort of exists to elevate other voices and he fulfills that role perfectly. I love when a character does one job and does it well. That sounds weird but it’s true.

- The friendship between Alice and Wren was honestly just adorable. When they watched a movie together, I was deeply moved. Just seeing Alice open up to someone after being an isolated recluse for years is just so sweet. And it makes me so happy that she was able to reclaim her fame.

- I am a sucker for childhood friends to lovers. Wren and Derick have so much history together and it is adorable. I love the flashbacks because they meld so well with the story and it gives us so much more depth to their relationship. To how much Derick means to Wren even though Derick had hurt him before.

- Their present day interactions were adorable too though. The best part was probably the cuddle session on the couch in the basement after watching a bunch of POV Disney ride videos. It’s so unique to this book and it’s so tender and soft. And the fact that Derick was upstairs in the morning making pancakes just fills me with that domestic sweetness that I love.

- Demisexual representation! I love ace rep of any kind really but that conversation between Wren and Brandon was just so insightful. And I love that there is no shame surrounding Wren exploring his sexuality in his twenties.

Dislikes:

- Wren sometimes frustrates me. Mostly when he flat out ignores Derick or tries to stop Derick from talking. He admits that he should not have done that so I forgive him somewhat. But it’s still frustrating that he did that at all. I’m actually more willing to forgive him for the second time he does it. Because the first, when Derick tries to apologize for ghosting Wren, was just unnecessary. It went on for so long and for what.

- Mateo being a bad employee just sucks because I just got so annoyed with him. It made me wonder how he was going to act like a friend to someone who got him the job when he won’t even do it properly? And how is he gonna act like it’s not his fault for almost causing an accident when he’s literally staring at his phone during work! He should’ve been reprimanded earlier but I get not wanting to cross blurred friendship/co-worker lines.

- Derick ghosting Wren sucked! I think this one is personal though. Because it is my absolute worst fear. I’m a socially anxious person and I love my friends. And it was pretty obvious that Wren and Derick were really close up until college. So the ghosting just rips my soul out and tears it into shreds. Then Derick said he didn’t feel the same way but then sent those mixed messages and it was just infuriating. He made me feel frustrated. And I do not like that in a love interest of a book. If they frustrate me, in the beginning especially, it’s difficult for me to see them as good for the protagonist. Even if Wren says they help each other be better, I just… ugh. Communicate better! Thank fuck he promised to do that.

#Booklr #Booksbooksbooks #Book Blog #Book Review #Book Recs #Never Been Kissed #Timothy Janovsky #LGBTQ #Queer Books #Queer Lit #Queer Representation #Asexuality

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casreadz · 2 years

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I recently joined Fangirlish as a Books contributor, and my first review is live!

Check out my full review of NEVER BEEN KISSED by Timothy Janovsky (May 3, 2022) at the link in my bio or in the comments.

I’m always on the hunt for a good New Adult novel, and with comparisons to Red, White & Royal Blue and Boyfriend Material, I was eager to dive into Never Been Kissed. Unfortunately, it failed to deliver.

SYNOPSIS

Wren Roland has never been kissed, but he wants that movie-perfect ending more than anything. Feeling nostalgic on the eve of his birthday, he sends emails to all the boys he (ahem) loved before he came out. Morning brings the inevitable Oh God What Did I Do?, but he brushes that panic aside. Why stress about it? None of his could-have-beens are actually going to read the emails, much less respond. Right?

Enter Derick Haverford, Wren’s number 1 pre-coming-out-crush and his drive-in theater’s new social media intern. Everyone claims he’s coasting on cinematic good looks and his father’s connections, but Wren has always known there’s much more to Derick than meets the eye. Too bad he doesn’t feel the same way about the infamous almost-kiss that once rocked Wren’s world.

Whatever. Wren’s no longer a closeted teenager; he can survive this. But as their hazy summer becomes consumed with a special project that may just save the struggling drive-in for good, Wren and Derick are drawn ever-closer…and maybe, finally, Wren’s dream of a perfect-kiss-before-the-credits is within reach.

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lgbtqreads · 2 years

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New Releases: May 3, 2022

I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston Chloe Green is so close to winning. After her moms moved her from SoCal to Alabama for high school, she’s spent the past four years dodging gossipy classmates and a puritanical administration at Willowgrove Christian Academy. The thing that’s kept her going: winning valedictorian. Her only rival: prom queen Shara Wheeler, the principal’s perfect…

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#Casey McQuiston #I Kissed Shara Wheeler #If You Change Your Mind #Jim Grimsley #Michelle Hart #Never Been Kissed #Queerly Beloved #Robby Weber #Susie Dumond #The Dove in the Belly #The Half-Filled Lives of Sam Sylvester #The Queen of Junk Island #Timothy Janovsky #Tucker Shaw #Vincent Tirado #We Do What We Do in the Dark #When You Call My Name

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stardustandrockets · 10 months

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What are some of your favorite retellings? Bonus points if they're queer.

February's trad pub pick from @rainbowcratebookbox was My Dear Henry by Kalynn Bayron—a queer Jekyll & Hyde retelling.

Some of my favorite retellings are The Once Upon a Con series by Ashley Poston, Heart of Iron/Soul of Stars by Ashley Poston, You're a Mean one, Matthew Prince by Timothy Janovsky, and The Bone Spindle by Leslie Vedder.

Synopsis:

London, 1885. Gabriel Utterson, a 17-year-old law clerk, has returned to London for the first time since his life— and that of his dearest friend, Henry Jekyll—was derailed by a scandal that led to his and Henry's expulsion from the London Medical School. Whispers about the true nature of Gabriel and Henry's relationship have followed the boys for two years, and now Gabriel has a chance to start again.

But Gabriel doesn't want to move on, not without Henry. His friend has become distant and cold since the disastrous events of the prior spring, and now his letters have stopped altogether. Desperate to discover what's become of him, Gabriel takes to watching the Jekyll house.

In doing so, Gabriel meets Hyde, a a strangely familiar young man with white hair and a magnetic charisma. He claims to be friends with Henry, and Gabriel can't help but begin to grow jealous at their apparent closeness, especially as Henry continues to act like Gabriel means nothing to him.

But the secret behind Henry's apathy is only the first part of a deeper mystery that has begun to coalesce. Monsters of all kinds prowl within the London fog—and not all of them are out for blood...

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eleftherian · 7 months

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wren roland is the homosexual version of lara jean & i will take to criticism on this

#(its bc im right)#my posts #booklr #currently reading #never been kissed #timothy janovsky #to all the boys i've loved before

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queer-books-bracket · 1 year

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#never been kissed #timothy janovsky #fire heart tiger #fireheart tiger #aliette de bodard #books #lgbt books #polls

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itachi86 · 1 year

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haha this author that i’ve been reading wrote basically a gay version of the movie 13 going on 30

#book things #new adult #timothy janovsky #idk why but i find that hilarious #i want to read that #it comes out this august

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