In Funeral Songs for Dying Girls (2023), Cherie Dimaline has beautifully captured the yearning and loneliness of motherless teenager Winifred, who lives with her father and her pug Mrs. Dingleberry in a house located at a cemetery. Winnie has the habit of wandering the cemetery, which leads to the rumor that it is haunted. ButContinue reading “Funeral Songs for Dying Girls”
Author Archives: bbwesquire
At First Spite
At First Spite (February 13, 2024) is the incomparable Olivia Dade’s newest romance, the first in her Harlot’s Bay series, set in a fictional coastal Maryland small town. She is always explicitly fat-positive, and At First Spite is no exception. We first meet Athena Greydon at her engagement party to pediatrician Johnny Vine, where sheContinue reading “At First Spite”
Really Cute People
Really Cute People (pub. date March 12, 2024) is a queer romance unlike any I’ve read before, primarily because it was a polyamorous romance between a nonbinary single person with a queer couple–a queer trans man and a bisexual woman. I so enjoyed it! The nonbinary single person–Charlie Dee–works for a nonprofit and is burnedContinue reading “Really Cute People”
Skye Falling
Skye Falling (2021) by Mia McKenzie was both hilarious and heartbreaking in nearly equal measure. Bad things happen, as they do in the world, but Skye’s perspective and ability to find humor made me laugh through the tears. Skye owns a Black travel agency, leading groups traveling around the world, living her best life. She’sContinue reading “Skye Falling”
Big Time
I thoroughly enjoyed many things about Big Time by Ben H. Winters (publication day March 5, 2024)! Winters brought me in to the story immediately–we learn that Allie, a teacher with a young child, has been abducted by a woman who is taking her . . . somewhere. Allie escapes in Maryland, not without doingContinue reading “Big Time”
Mad Honey
Mad Honey (2022) by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan, was the library book group’s February selection, and, as sometimes happens, I started reading with no background or expectations about the book. I’ve read other Picoult books (which I generally enjoyed), but I wasn’t familiar with the second author. I was immediately hooked! We meetContinue reading “Mad Honey”
Learned By Heart
Learned by Heart (2023) is the latest beautifully-written novel by Emma Donoghue (Room. The Wonder). It’s a fictional retelling of the story of Eliza Raine and her relationship with Anne Lister. Lister kept extensive diaries, is known as “the first modern lesbian,” and is the subject of the 2-season HBO series Gentleman Jack. Set primarilyContinue reading “Learned By Heart”
Lessons in Chemistry
I loved Lessons in Chemistry (2022) by Bonnie Garmus and have no idea why it took me so long to get to it! Elizabeth Zott is a chemist in 1959, at a research firm in southern California. She meets Calvin Evans, the hotshot of the office, when she appropriates beakers from his lab because, asContinue reading “Lessons in Chemistry”
Les Be Honest
I had high hopes for Les Be Honest (Pub. Date February 13, 2024) by Sarah Robinson, a multicultural queer lesbian romance by the author of Baby Bank, which I really enjoyed. The story is told from the perspective of Yasmeen, a queer black millennial trust fund young adult with ADHD, who has just had toContinue reading “Les Be Honest”
Starling House
Starling House (2023) is Alix E. Harrow’s newest fantasy, this time a contemporary gothic featuring a former coal-mining town in Kentucky and a fictional creepy children’s book called The Underland, written by an E. Starling. Harrow describes it as a “southern gothic beauty and the beast, sort of”. It was a Reese’s Book Club selection,Continue reading “Starling House”
Reading While Fat 