A great sequel to New Kid! It was similar to New Kid in the sense of still seeing the racism Jordan and Drew deal with at their school. We follow Jordan's friend, Drew but I liked seeing Jordan, Drew, and Liam's lives and how the boys grew closer in their friendship and learned about their differences. It also teaches the lesson of money doesn't buy happiness. 

 

I loved this novella so much. Seeing a cast of trans and gender non-conforming characters in their mid-30s and 40s IS SO REFRESHING!! I loved Ernest's character and the conversations around his gender dysphoria and how fat trans men are discriminated against for top surgery and binding. This showed a different trans experience and I loved that so much. This has demiromantic and #Ownvoices autism, Jewish, and fat trans/non-binary/genderqueer representation, & disability rep - diabetes.

Plus, strong queer found or chosen family and a lot of musical and show tunes references!

This was a great novella and I HIGHLY recommend it. The afterword made me tear up knowing about the passing of Xan West. I'm definitely going to read the rest of their backlist.

 

A great slice of life book about grief! Really enjoyed it. 

Camryn does it again with a spectacular sophomore novel following Josie, a 17-year old Black girl who loves writing and journalism. She wins a writing contest and spends 2 weeks traveling with the cast of a movie featuring a Black boy who is sent to conversion therapy. As a part of the contest, Josie has to write a profile piece of the main actor, Marice Canet. Josie spends a lot of time with him and we get to know both characters pretty well. Both Josie and Marice are bisexual and I loved seeing a blossoming romance between two bisexual leads. This is such an important story about sexual assault and harassment and also starts the conversation of any gender being harassed or assaulted. Off the Record talks about the power imbalance male directors have over their talent and the disgusting behavior that goes on behind the scenes and how they easily get away with it. I also really enjoyed and could relate to Josie's anxiety. The anxiety rep was done very well and I loved the line of Josie saying her anxiety never leaves, even if it feels at ease. Anxiety levels vary day to day and we really go to see that through Josie. Garrett also writes a complicated and messy sister relationship and I loved how it developed toward the end and that she and her sister, Alice still bicker and it isn't fully resolved. Highly recommend this! However, do see the trigger warnings because of the subject matter. 

I read this for the Queer Lit Readathon. Prompt: Superheroes

This comic has a transmasc superhero, Koi Boi and it just made me so happy to see a trans dude fighting off the bad guys. 

It was just okay. I thought Doreen was funny and her character was interesting. I also liked the nods to Stan Lee and Iron Man and the part where Doreen tells Galactus to use more gender-neutral language, like "they" instead of saying he or she. I was really impressed by that part. But, overall it was just ok!

 Some formatting issues cut off some of the words. Overall, I think it was a good introduction to pronouns and gender identity for children 

 Really enjoyed this. A beautifully written story about a biracial Asian American woman learning about her mother's heritage - Okinawan. As a teenager, she expresses disdain for her mother and untangles her internalized racism. In her thirties, Brina realizes she can relate to her mother and feels guilty.

 I really enjoyed the last section of the book where Elizabeth and her parents go to Okinawa to visit her
mother's family. 

Really loved this poetry collection! My only minor issue was with the text slang used in the poems, I didn't catch on until later on in the collection that Pico was incorporating text slang, but once I realized, I really enjoyed that addition. 

Each comic gets better and better. I cried so hard in this one and I'm really loving the conversations around ED and Nick's coming out story.