Calendar Girls: Happy Pride!

Hosted by Katie @ Never Not Reading and Darque Reader Reads, “Calendar Girls is a monthly blog event created by Melanie at MNBernard Books, and Flavia at Flavia the Bibliophile, and will now be hosted by Katie. It is designed to ignite bookish discussions among readers and was inspired by the 1961 Neil Sedaka song, Calendar Girl. Just like the song, each month has a different theme. Each blogger picks their favorite book from the theme, and on the first Monday of the month reveals their pick in a Calendar Girls post. Make sure to post back to the hostess’s post, and I will make a master list for the month. The master lists allow everyone to see the other Calendar Girls’ picks and to pop on over to their blogs. Thus, we all get to chat about books and even make some new friends!” — Katie

I blanked out and totally forgot to post this yesterday. Shame! Go me! Anyway…this month’s theme is my favorite book that features a LGBTQ+ pairing. Happy Pride ya’ll! This was hard for me to pick because there’s been a lot of books with a lot of LGBTQ+ couples that I haven’t read yet. Shame on me! I’ll go do a walk through King’s Landing with the Septa behind me with a bell whilst chanting ‘Shame’. Except King’s Landing is rubble and the Septa is dead…so…accept this gif as my penance, haha.

I really do need to catch up on my reading though. I read a lot of the books I get for review, but then I don’t get a chance or I forget that I want to read some just, y’know, for fun.
Sooooo my choice this month is…

I have read one really good one and that, once again, is ‘A Girl of Paper and Fire.‘ Lei and Wren are such a beautiful pairing and I honestly just loved their relationship. I wish it didn’t have to be secret, of course, but by the end of the book? Everyone knows. (Spoiler, sorry!) I am looking forward to where life takes them next because if you’ve read the book, you know things got chaotic at the end there. I want to see if all the pressure they’re under will bring them closer or if it will cause rifts; if their love is strong enough to burn down prejudices and the archaic as hell castes that they live under. I liked how they would challenge one another, but also did their best to raise one another up. They’re a strong pairing, truly.

OTP? Absolutely. ❤ ❤

Other books I need to read are The Priory of the Orange Tree and also We Set The Dark on Fire. I have read there is representation in there as well. I have both books, so I need to get on that!

Anyway, enjoy PRIDE Month, everyone! And enjoy this video of Panic! At The Disco singing Girls/Girls/Boys. Check out the end with the Rainbow Hearts, and just pure love. It’s fantastic. Since I’ve got you here–whatever you identify as, whomever you are, I accept you. I love you, I think you’re brave for living your truth–and even if you’re still closeted, I still admire and love you. I stand with the community 100% and I always will. Not just because I am bi, but because there’s enough hate in the world; I want to share the love. ❤ Don’t forget to take a moment to remember Stonewall and those who came before. Without their efforts, this would be a very different world.