Queerly Beloved

Queerly Beloved is set in Oklahoma in 2013 (aka before gay marriage equality). Amy is a lesbian and a baker who is in the closet at her Christian bakery job. Somebody outs her and she gets fired, so she starts working as a bridesmaid-for-hire since she loves wedding romcoms and is great at problem-solving. She also meets this cute lesbian engineer, Charley, but their dates are really sporadic due to Charley's demanding job, and Amy isn't sure where they stand. There's also friend drama and ex drama, and Amy struggles with her people-pleasing tendencies, being closeted at one job while bartending at the queer bar as her second job, and being true to herself. This book was not as fluffy as it looked, and there is tension with Amy having show more to go through lots of straight wedding drama while being unable to marry herself (hang in there Amy! 2015 is so close!). I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it. 🌶🌶 show less

between 3.5 and 4 stars. fun, charming, queer book that is less about the romance and more about the friendships and self discovery. i liked where the focus was here. (in fact, the main conflict is not in the romance, it's between the main character and her best friend! yes!) it's also unusual to set a book - especially a queer book - in oklahoma, when it's not about being gay in oklahoma in 2014. i mean it is, but it's about so much more than that. i really liked that this went into issues like religion and what gay marriage means to equal rights and the movement for equality in general. the debate about whether being a part of straight weddings is in some way harmful to progress in gay marriage. it was interesting and thoughtful and show more well done.

i liked spending time with amy and her friends (especially joel and damian) and while i don't feel like i knew charley all that well or understood why she couldn't have texted a few times, i didn't care all that much because the romance wasn't actually the main point here. community was and that shone through.

i enjoyed this and i'd read her again. show less

This book was marketed as a romance, but it would be more accurate to call it Queer fiction with a romance subplot. The focus of the story is truly on Amy's character and figuring out what she wants from life, and dealing with homophobia, fear of being out and discussions of assimilation, etc. While not a bad concept, the story felt rather inorganic - I simply did not believe the underdeveloped romance between Amy and Charley (nor did I even really get to know who Charley IS), and the fight with her friend felt rather forced. The book had potential, but it was not sufficiently developed nor properly marketed.

I'm conflicted about this book. It took me awhile to get into it, but eventually I did enjoy it. Some of the political conversations felt out of place to me - kind of shoe horned in. I appreciated the additional context, but they felt kind of clunky. The thing that bothered me most is that it felt like there was heavy foreshadowing for Amy to open a queer bakery or cafe that was an all ages, alcohol free space. The lack of such a space came up at least 4 times! The wedding planning business with all her friends just felt kind of ridiculous to me. Really? They all wanted to work at weddings? Especially after how conflicted some of them were about weddings for most of the book!? It just didn't feel plausible to me. I appreciate the show more fantasy of romance novels, but I guess this went to far for me lol. show less

This was a great read about Amy and her journey to discovering who she is and who she wants to be. Amy wants to help everyone and is such a people pleaser that she often gets in her own way. She has a great support group in her mother and best friends.

The chemistry between Amy and Charley was strong from the beginning and I enjoyed reading how their relationship developed through all its ups and downs. Pepper rating

Romance LGBT book. Interesting issues.