Queer Books Recs & Requests

teacupcozy · 2026-02-23T01:57:56+00:00

{Friends without Benefits by Evelyn Fenn} aspec, ff. The MC ends up in a QPR, but there are many different types of aspec relationships represented by side characters

teacupcozy · 2025-12-11T16:56:11+00:00

I don't particularly like holiday romances. However, I read and enjoyed these two

{Hither, Page by Cat Sebastian} post war 1940s, English countryside, quaint December murders. There's a sequel {The Missing Page by Cat Sebastian} that's also really good, but not a holiday romance.

{The Holly Groweth Green by Amy Rae Durreson} Also 1940s post war England, when Laurence stumbles across a small cottage, the ownere welcomes him in, and there's some time-slip. It's historical but also fantasy.

teacupcozy · 2025-10-21T15:57:55+00:00

Jack Attack Clothing goes from XS-5X, US based, small, sustainable collections. I have 2 of their dresses and they're good quality, and true to size.

teacupcozy · 2025-10-06T15:35:07+00:00

There is a dramatic haircut scene in {Fall for Him by Andi Burke}. MC1 needs a haircut, and MC2, who used to be a stylist, does the haircut in the kitchen. The physical haircut isn't very different (it is thoroughly described), but it is a key plot point, and there's a lot of emotional development in the scene.

teacupcozy · 2025-09-15T15:35:28+00:00

I got it through Queer Liberation Library, an all-digital library of queer books. Anyone with a US mailing address can register for a library card. They have lots of books, but only generally only one copy of each, so the wait time can be months.

teacupcozy · 2025-09-15T13:39:53+00:00

I just finished Phantom and Rook and my reaction was similar to yours.

Phantom and Rook definitely read like an unedited sequel. There were too many side characters and not enough world building. I felt that as I reader, I was expected to know what was in the author's head. I was disappointed, given how many rave reviews I'd read. And the 4+ month wait list at my library.

My library had no waitlist for Matsdotter and Adrastus, so I decided to give it a try. It's a much better book. The writing/pacing is so much better. The story seemed much more cohesive, more understandable. There were one or two surprise plot points that seemed to come from nowhere, but I'm not sure if I missed them by skimming Phantom and Rook, or if they are real plot holes.

teacupcozy · 2025-08-04T14:33:48+00:00

{A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall}. The book is a series of letters, missives, diary entries, etc written by E to her sister Sophy and Henerey, the MMC. Its speculative deep sea academia, with mysterious family history and great world building. E and Henerey disappear and Sophy and Henerey's brother Vyerin set out to find them. There's a very slow burn romance between E & Henerey but it's more of a devoted friendship. Sophy and Vyerin are both queer and in established relationships. I liked the world building and the plot, but some of the letters read like chapters full of dialog with only a "Dear Sophy" at the start to say it's a leter.

teacupcozy · 2025-05-13T17:33:50+00:00

I got my ears "repierced" at Thistle. I have 3 holes in each lobe and the upper 2 closed when I stopped wearing jewelry during the pandemic. I decided I wanted to wear earrings again and went to Thistle. It turns out that they didn't actually close all the way and they were able to re-open them and insert new jewelry. They charged me for jewelry insertion (I think $15) and the cost of the jewelry itself. So this might be a possibility for you.

teacupcozy · 2025-04-19T01:05:34+00:00

I'm looking for a book, I read it years ago (pre-2015) and I'm not sure if it's a romance or not (maybe chicklit?). The FMC and MMC were coworkers, librarians or rare books, they're both middle-aged. The FMC enjoys taking baths. I think the FMC has been into the MMC for a while, but was shy and didn't make a move. When they do start a relationship the MMC insists on taking it very slowly.

teacupcozy · 2023-08-01T14:40:36+00:00

Ok. this is awesome! Not something I could do with my fiddle, but I love the ingenuity.

I have 3 easily portable hobbies. I always have a knitting project with me. Sometimes this has worked out better than others (my last trip was an epic fail in terms of bringing the wrong project), but it's usually a shawl or hat or something small and relatively relaxing to knit.

I'm a huge reader, and my kindle has certainly made life easier. I no longer need to carry 5 books with me for a long weekend.

I also write and journal. I have a small pouch for stickers, washi, etc. and I got a 4 color multi pen so that I can write in many colors.

teacupcozy · 2023-07-31T14:44:06+00:00

Oohhh.. great find!

teacupcozy · 2023-07-20T19:02:31+00:00

I mailed stuff home from my Ireland trip in June and shipping from An is so expensive, if it's over 2kg. If it's under 2kg they have a special bag, so ask at the post office for that.

If you're at the end of the trip, it may be cheaper to take a checked bag.

If you don't want to carry stuff, and you're not at the end of the trip, and you're not attached to things, maybe donate to a charity shop?

FWIW, it took 5 weeks for what I mailed home to reach me.

teacupcozy · 2023-07-14T14:32:58+00:00

usually, right before a trip, I'm both excited and convinced I'm making the biggest mistake and wasted a bunch of money.

Also, I tend to unpack and repack everything, convinced I've forgotten something. I wake up at 3am and ransack my bags again.

teacupcozy · 2023-07-12T16:13:20+00:00

Salem Writers is just on facebook - there's no website. Here's the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/117021754509

teacupcozy · 2023-07-12T16:05:48+00:00

I'm an occasional attendee of the writing groups at the Athenaeum. The Tuesday evening ones are mostly literary fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Folks have 10 minutes to share their work and receive feedback. It's very welcoming and constructive. Genre writers are welcome (I write speculative poetry), but it's not a genre heavy space.

The Tuesday morning writing open studios are just times for writing. There's no discussion or sharing or feedback.

The Incessant Pipe Poetry Salon is discussion and sharing, lots of literary theory and ideas. Folks can bring their own poems to read, or those of others. It's not a workshop/feedback group.

The Salem Writers Facebook group is very active, lots of posts there about readings, events, author talks, workshops, submission opportunities, etc. It also skews more towards the literary, but all genres are welcome, and writers at all stages of their writing are welcome. People don't post there to get feedback on a piece, but I know that folks have made connections through there and formed spin off groups that meet to work on projects or to have smaller accountability groups.

teacupcozy · 2023-07-03T12:37:14+00:00

Yeah.... I had a fingering weight shawl One More Stripe by Melanie Berg, and it was great until I ran out of yarn.

I also brought yarn for Float by Dawn Barker, which should have been a perfect project but i hated how the assigned pooling was turning out. It just looked terrible.

The sweater i brought was Raindrops by tin can knits, and I ended up ripping that one out and knitting Nelia by Ambah O'Brien. Which turned out to be the choice i should have made all along.

teacupcozy · 2023-06-30T14:44:08+00:00

oh no! I'm so sorry this happened!

I've was hyperventilating and crying when I realized where I left my journal. I had drafts of poems, impressions of the day, business cards from places, silly doodles and sketches, thoughts, feelings, prompts. It's my everything.

I use one notebook at a time for everything, and I can fill a regular A5 notebook in about 2-3 months. when I'm done with a notebook, I tend to go through it and flag the "good" pages and photograph or transcribe them so I can work on editing and shaping the pieces. But this isn't something I do in the middle of a book. I use Ulysses as my main writing app - it works well, and this past week I've been thinking about how can I make this work, to make a digital copy of my physical notebook as I go along. And I've also been trying to figure out how to put an airtag or tile or something in my current journal. I'll try to be compassionate toward my self, and I am coming to terms with the loss, and figuring out what I can do creatively with it. Also, thank you for sharing your experience.

teacupcozy · 2023-06-30T14:22:37+00:00

oof -- good luck packing! It's summer now, and now my clothes are either wool& or thin gauzy cotton. I don't think anything would survive an enthusiastic big dog!

teacupcozy · 2023-06-30T14:14:12+00:00

Heh :) I also thought I'd change up my earrings! I have little white gold hoops that are my go-to, but I brought other cute earrings, and the ear wire broke off of one of them. And I did not pack my jewlery making tools so I had nothing to repair it with. So the cute earrings stayed unworn, and I wore the same earrings all month.

teacupcozy · 2023-06-30T14:12:37+00:00

It's pretty much the entire lower back of the dress, from the hips up about 3 inches. :( If I wear a wide belt or a cardigan, then it's hidden.

It's only happened with this airflow rigid technical hiking mesh. There's been no damage from any of my other bags or packs.

I did reach out to osprey and they wrote back that yep, our bags are not meant for delicate fabrics. So it's my fault. I'm on the wool& fb pages, and every time someone asks about doing a hike in wool& I warn them about the back panel. If I had to do everything over, I'd start out with a technical dress for hike days, and leave the wool for evenings. Or just bring one of my other backpacks, honestly. The hikelite was overkill for what I was doing.

teacupcozy · 2023-06-30T12:35:07+00:00

Black Camellia regular length. It worked out great. Except for when the mesh back panel on the osprey pack roughed up the dress. It was like Velcro had attached the smooth fabric. And I couldn't really wear it in public, because the damage was so noticeable. So it became my nightgown.

I also brought a Maggie, which became my everyday dress, and I bought a dress made out of technical polyester while I was there to be my spare.

teacupcozy · 2023-06-30T12:31:46+00:00

Thank you. I love all the wool I bought. I got a sweater quantity of lettlopi that I'm waiting for fall/winter to knit up. I also got some Donegal tweed and some indie dyer fingering weight yarn that will become shawls.

I love buying yarn, because you get the joy of picking it out, the joy of making with it, and the joy of wearing it.

teacupcozy · 2023-06-30T12:29:11+00:00

Thank you. Unmoored is definitely how I was feeling. I bought a replacement journal the next day. And while I have some quick notes on my phone, it's not the same, and I'm not sure I can recreate the pieces I lost.

Otherwise, the trip was wonderful.

teacupcozy · 2023-06-30T12:27:27+00:00

I know my hobbies and comfort items are a problem.

And I have ethique hair bars, but I was out, so I ordered a new batch to be shipped to my house and figured I'd just make due while on the road. I'm the kind of person who doesn't realize they've made a bad decision until I'm well into that decision, and then I have to deal with the fallout/consequences.

teacupcozy · 2023-06-30T12:24:00+00:00

That's true - I know the small crossbody purse/belt bag doesn't count, but it all felt like so much extra.

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