Reviews tagging 'Outing'

Queerly Beloved by Susie Dumond

26 reviews

amberinpieces's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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books4em's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Overall, this was good. I wouldn’t call it a romance, the love story is definitely a subplot and honestly I didn’t fully see the chemistry between the two characters. The book centers around being gay in the Bible Belt in the early 2010s. There’s a lot of homophobia, but it centers around queer characters. So the representation is good, but it might be triggering for many people. The growth of the main character is a main plot point as well, and there were so many facets of it that it’s almost too much going on in 350 pages. Not bad for a debut, and I will read further stories by this author but I think this was trying to do too much.  
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rockyroadbutch's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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marissasa's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This cute midwest lesbian romance was so sweet and had a lot of found family and character development. I enjoyed seeing the main character's journey through navigating her sexuality while being closeted in certain places, figuring out what she wants to do with her career, and learning how to be a better friend and person. It sometimes felt like the romance took a backseat to her growth, and I was okay with that because she and all her family and friends were interesting and contributed a lot to the plot. Overall it was a lovely little well-written contemporary romance read that the queer community, and specifically lesbians, deserve to have more of within our current heteronormative literary space. 
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internationalreads's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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beth_s98's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

There’s a lot to love about this book! As a mostly in the closet queer person myself, there were moments that were harder to read, but the main focus of the story is love and community! Setting the story in 2013 creates an interesting dynamic, especially knowing that gay marriage was legalized in the USA two years later, and as someone who can remember the pre-legalization homophobia. Honestly it was just really well done. 
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rbjennings's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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kitaface's review

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  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I know romance novels are meant to be read with brain closed and heart open. But while this book started off cute, the focus of this book wasn't romance. The majority of the book was about the ever present fear of outing, homophobia, and the desire for marriage equality. 

Besides being selfish and self-centered, the main character is also very White Feminist. She monologues often in the book about how life is tough for her, a cis white lesbian, and needs other characters to point out their own struggles that she has not cared to pay attention to. 

This book just didn't work for me (including the mostly non-existent romance) but I am willing to chalk it up to bring a rocky debut. I was lucky enough to read the author's second novel first, and it was much better overall.

TLDR: Skip this one and read Looking For A Sign instead.
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stacy837's review against another edition

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hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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tetedump's review against another edition

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hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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