There was a decent amount of cultural diversity while remaining mostly centered in the US; Chinatown in 1950s San Francisco, 1870s Mexico, Colonial New England, 1930s Hispanic New Mexico, Robin Hood-era Britain.
The stories were really good, I just wish they'd included a bisexual story and a transwoman. They did have an asexual girl, which is a sexuality often overlooked, so that was nice.
It's a great collection of stories, just limited in scope. They could have cut a few F/F stories and added in bisexual, nonbinary, and transwomen, and lived up to the open umbrella of the "queer" label a bit more. I really enjoyed it, I think I'm just a little disappointed because I was expecting more of the spectrum.
![Blue Billy’s Rogue Lexicon: An Historical Bawdyhouse Romance](/uploads/profile_image/168/6b9d8f14-2046-4437-9ce0-75c3b9870168.jpg?m=1679076263)
Blue Billy’s Rogue Lexicon: An Historical Bawdyhouse Romance
Book
William Dempsey was a wonder among wonders. By 18, he had risen from a gang of London street...
Historical Fiction Queer Fiction Romantic Comedy
New Feminisms in South Asia: Disrupting the Discourse Through Social Media, Film and Literature
Book
This book is a study of the resurgence and re-imagination of feminist discourse on gender and...
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All Those Strangers: The Art and Lives of James Baldwin
Book
Adored by many, appalling to some, baffling still to others, few authors defy any single critical...
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Rogue Archives: Digital Cultural Memory and Media Fandom
Book
The task of archiving was once entrusted only to museums, libraries, and other institutions that...
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Tainted Love: Screening Sexual Perversion
Book
Interrogating the recent shift towards the mainstream in the cinematic representation of previously...
![40x40](/uploads/profile_image/873/04e743b1-2ff7-4cb0-aea2-d7676fe7e873.jpg?m=1522361995)
Kristy H (1252 KP) rated Perfect on Paper in Books
Mar 11, 2021
"Why was it so much harder to answer my own relationship questions than everyone else's?"
This is a really cute and fun read. It totally stressed me out in places. I'm not good with lying, and here we have Darcy not only fibbing about "being" locker 89, but then she's using the locker to meddle with her friends' relationships? Ahh! Cue my blood pressure going up.
But I couldn't help but feel fondly for this girl who so meticulously researched her letters, who so desperately wanted to help others, but was afraid to take risks in her own world. She's starry-eyed in love with Brooke, but too scared to say anything. Who hasn't been there?
Gonzales gives us a huge handful of diverse representation--such an excellent set of queer characters. Darcy is part of the Queer and Questioning Club at her school. There's an episode at the club covering bi-phobia that made me cheer out loud and honestly is worth the read alone. I love the trend of all these YA books with such strong, positive queer messages. I could have used this as a teen, for sure. Now if we could normalize bisexuality in literary and contemporary fiction!
There's some melodrama in this one and Darcy's self-centeredness and angst got to me, at times--perhaps this book could have been just a bit shorter. But, it was probably a fair representation of the turmoil teens experience.
Overall, this is an easy read covering both serious and fun (romance! Disneyland!) topics. It offers an excellent cast, lots of cute moments, and some strong insight into bisexuality and other LGBTQIA issues facing teens today.
I received a copy of this book from Wednesday Books and Netgalley in return for an unbiased review.
![40x40](/uploads/profile_image/6b3/8b015179-73de-4ca4-ae1c-c083611236b3.jpg?m=1525721404)
Lou Grande (148 KP) rated It Looks Like This in Books
Jun 22, 2018
This is the first book to make me cry in ages. I'm not a crier by nature. There's something very effective and hard-hitting about Mittlefehldt's style. It's spare and haunting and leaves a lot of room to read between the lines. It reminded me a lot of books I had to read growing up like Bridge to Terebithia and Where the Red Fern Grows. You have the vague notion that something is going to go wrong, but it still takes your breath away when it does.
It Looks Like This is a story about small towns, religion, young love, and tragedy. In many ways, it has universal appeal: we all remember our first love and how gut-wrenching it is when it's over. But it also describes a story that many queer people know very well: what it feels like to know that this will always be harder for you than the people who "hate the sin but love the sinner."
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The Music and Sound of Experimental Film
Jeremy Barham and Holly Rogers
Book
This book explores music/sound-image relationships in non-mainstream screen repertoire from the...
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Large Animals: Stories
Book
Jess Arndt’s striking debut collection confronts what it means to have a body. Boldly straddling...
Fiction social issues