Reviews with content warning for Cancer - Queerly Beloved

I rather hated this book. I don’t think that is the book’s fault though. This was sold to me as a romance, and while I think it technically qualifies for the genre, the romance is such a tiny portion of this book. Despite the characters all being mid/late 20’s this is a coming of age book way more than a romance. And a coming of age story filled with uniquely queer trauma I was entirely unprepared to read. The book is well written and interesting cover to cover, but if you are looking for a happy queer romance this isn’t the book for you. There is an incredibly satisfying happily ever after, but the queer trauma it takes to reach that point is a lot.

Sometimes she felt guilty for staying closeted at the bakery, both because she was pretending to be someone she wasn’t and because she was allowing her colleagues’ homophobia to go unchecked. (6)

This book is in a way a love story to Tusla. Tulsa has never been on my radar as a place with lots of cool stuff or somewhere I wanted to visit, but this book genuinely made me want to go. As a southerner along the Arkansas river the depiction of Tulsa’s queer community in the book felt so authentically familiar to me. That sense of small city tight knit southern queer community added a whole other layer to my new Tulsa appreciation. The way Tulsa and the character’s love of Tulsa shines in this book is one of it’s biggest strengths.

She picked apart each outfit in the mirror, trying to guess what kind of girl Charley might like. … Something simple would have to work until she figured out Charley’s type. (65)

The queer trauma in this book is overwhelming. Add to that the interpersonal conflict Amy experiences with her best friend in the book and this book felt like a chore to finish rather than an entertaining pleasure. While everything in this book ends happy Amy and her best friend Joel have a falling out in the book. Not only was that falling out painfully emotional, but felt horribly unrealistic for decade long best friends to literally not talk for months, rather than any kind of conflict resolution. Ultimately just not the read for me.

Amy worked so hard to always be positive and helpful, to make the day a little brighter for everyone she encountered. Joel and Damien were some of the only people around whom she’d felt like she could drop the act. Did that mean the true Amy was negative and draining to her loved ones? (279)

Book is oddly pro-oil/pro-fracking which felt weird for such an otherwise conscious queer book.

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mlindsay27's review

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I found this book very boring. It's described as being a romcom but the love interest has only been it for maybe 5% of what I did read. It also stereotypes the gay male characters as the "gay best friends" and stereotypes the love interest as a lesbian who has short hair and wears suits. and gives the message that someone NEEDS come out in order to be considered valid in the LGBTQ+ community. The book mentions that it takes place in 2013 but then references things that weren't common then (introducing yourself using pronouns). The one plus side to the physical copy of the book is that it has a recipe for cupcakes at the back.

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kat468's review

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emotional lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

The short review: I’m bored. I’m so bored and I don’t care, and I didn’t like the message, and also, I’m bored.

The longer review, broken down into the biggest issues I had with the book:

The messaging: I’m happy the MC (Amy) figured out how to be authentically herself at work, in a way that benefited her business and helped her feel better about herself, but the journey to get there was a bit sanctimonious and pressure-y. The MC spends a lot of page space on internal monologues explaining that she’s not being authentic/honest/“faithful to the queer community” by not being out at work or super loud and proud with her (homophobic) extended family. The resulting narrative implied that it’s imperative for queer people to be out, and that they’re doing something wrong if they aren’t. Sure, there was some caveats for not outing yourself in unsafe situations, but other than that, the book seemed pretty adamant that queer people should be OUT. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge advocate for queer representation, think people should be able to be out, and celebrate when people do come out — but coming out is never something queer people owe others (not straight people, and not even other queer people). If you believe coming out isn’t an obligation, but a choice, this book will likely rub you the wrong way.

The romance: The relationship happened very off-page — readers don’t actually get to read many interactions between the MC and the LI (Charley). Plus, the LI traveled a lot which almost seemed to be a very convenient way to not write as much of them together. When they were together, there was NO chemistry. I thought the LI was a very flat, boring character; I can’t tell you a single thing about her likes and dislikes, outside of her job. Honestly, one of the brides the MC works for/befriends (Regi) is a more developed character than the LI. I wasn’t invested enough in the relationship, so when they had their big moment in the end, it felt very rushed and unnatural and insta-lovey. There wasn’t the foundation to justify the ease with which they made up, or how far they jumped in the relationship (spoiler:

Spoiler

jumping from not even defining the relationship before the break up, to exchanging “I love you” after the makeup

The writing: The author is definitely a “teller” not a “shower”. There were SO MANY PARTS where the author gave a couple sentence (or even couple paragraph) summary of a scene instead of writing it out — sometimes even writing a sentence summarizing one sentence of dialogue in a conversation, rather than writing out the dialogue. As a result, I felt really detached from the ongoings in the book and wasn’t emotionally invested. Also, I skimmed. A lot.

The “drama”: At 60% of the way through this book, there was basically no drama happening. Early on (like page 40) she gets fired from her job, and then pretty quickly starts the bridesmaid business. And then there’s approximately 200 pages of her just building the business and living her life. It was not an interesting 200 pages. And then, kind of out of the blue, a bunch of things go wrong — her best friend gets mad at her (for reasons I didn’t feel the previous 200 pages supported) and the relationship with the LI implodes. Plus, the whole time, the MC is whining to the reader about feeling like she’s lying to brides because she’s not coming out to them, and worried that she’s a people pleaser because she’s doing whatever she can to make the brides happy (…even though that’s literally what they’re paying her for: to make their events go smoothly and help them be happy).

Queer rep: lesbian MC, sapphic main pairing, background mlm relationships & gay men, background non-binary character, background other lesbian & gay characters

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stephsbooktalk's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective

3.5

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Susie Dumond & Dial Press Trade Paperback for an advance copy of this!

This will be published on May 3rd, 2022.

Taken place in the mid 2010s in Tulsa, OK where being part of the LGBTQIA+ is frown upon and Amy a baker has to remain closeted at her employer. She works at the local bakery called the Daily Bread where she goes by Amelia. While working one day a new customer comes in and turns her world upside down. She meets Charley and they hit it off immediately. After getting fired from her baking job due to the homophobic owners finding out her secret, Amy is left in a tailspin trying to figure out her next move. During her cousin's wedding, one of the guests asked Amy to be a fill in bridesmaid at her wedding. The light bulb went off on what her next job should be. Amy became a bridesmaid superwoman catering to the needs of brides on their day.

It felt that things were being thrown in for the sake of throwing in.
Examples:
Underage teen sneaking into a bar? check
Equality rally? check
Sex toys? check

Amy Amy Amy, I am also conflicted in how I feel about her. I absolutely loved her heart & loved how she gave 10000% into everything she does. I loved her hustle and she never gave up. I also was surprised at how fast Amy fell for Charley. They did not spend that much time together before she was head over heels. I think I am so used to main characters being more perfect & Amy was far from perfect.

I am not sure how I am supposed to feel about Charley. I'll be honest throughout most of this book, I did not like Charley. I understood where she was coming from at the end but being mysterious and wishy washy just wasn't my jam.

I did love the other relationships throughout this book. I love how close to her friends and how they have become her chosen family. I love how close to her mom she was. I also resonated with her fight with her friend. That felt the most realy in this book. I felt their pain.

I would still recommend this book as I enjoyed the different representation. Plus it really made me hungry for cupcakes and pretty much any baked goods.
For those wondering the steam is level is almost at a closed door level.

One of my favorite quotes from the book is: "Good intentions don't excuse bad behavior. But letting that anger fester doesn't fix anything; it just poisons you."

Also just out of pure irony that I had two books in a row that referenced "My Best Friend's Wedding." No complaints from me as its one of the greatest rom coms.

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applejacksbooks's review

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emotional lighthearted 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

3.25

I received a copy of this from NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group.

TW: Homophobia, lesbophobia, outing, Toxic relationships, sexual content, religious bigotry.

So here's the good news with this book. It takes place in a time period when a lot of gays were on the edge of their seats about whether or not gay marriage would be legalized (the story takes place in 2013) and I think (based on my memories of the time) it portrays that time period well. Being out and proud about it was becoming more and more prevalent at the time and I think that this story portrays that well, especially since it takes place in Oklahoma, which is generally super conservative (thanks bible belt). Do I wish that there was less homophobia? Yes, but I also understand why it's in the book. It adds nuance to the story that in the post-2015 we sometimes forget about. I also really enjoyed Amy's business venture with being a bridesmaid. I think throughout the story she really took the lemons life gave her and ran with it and that was very much appreciated.

Now here's what I didn't like. I didn't like the love interest at all. After that first meeting (which was adorbs as heck), Charley's characterization fell flat to me. I think that could have been remedied by having dual POVs or seeing more of their (Amy and Charley's) conversations on the page together. I think that if this is going to be marketed as a romance, there should be significantly more romance in it. It felts like there was like 10% of the book focused on the relationship between Amy and Charley and it should have been more.

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caseythereader's review

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emotional funny hopeful reflective sad 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

5.0

Thanks to The Dial Press for the free advance copy of this book.

- QUEERLY BELOVED is a joy. It's a romcom with a delightfully screwball premise that also digs deep into some really hard, complicated feelings around queerness, assimilation, found family and more.
- I didn't live in the Midwest, but I remember having so many of these exact conversations and arguments in the pre-marriage equality days. It's cathartic to see so much of these tangled thoughts hashed out here.
- I love Amy and Charley. They're wonderful complements to each other, and it's fantastic to see a sapphic pairing that isn't two femmes.
- It's also lovely to see a queer story set somewhere that isn't traditionally thought of as gay-friendly, and showing that there is still vibrant queer life there, and not everyone is desperate to escape to a bigger city.

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