What I’m Reading (6.28.23)

A Duke in Disguise by Cat Sebastian (★★★★☆)

E-Book • Owned (Amazon) • Historical Romance • 2019

Short synopsis: For years, Ash has been pining after his best friend’s sister, Verity, but he’s never felt like he could act on his feelings. When a secret is revealed that will have a major impact on his life, he decides it’s now or never.

This was a pretty cute romance, and the first m/f romance I’ve read from Cat Sebastian, who specializes in queer historical romance. Verity is a bisexual woman, though, so there was still a queer aspect to this book. This novel is a slow burn, but once it gets going, it really gets going. I love when historical romance brings us into the lives of “regular” people (it’s not all dukes and marquesses, you know!) and this novel did just that, as Verity and her brother run a printing press together and print an “alternative” newspaper that is critical of the government. Plus, Ash worked as an illustrator and the mechanics behind illustrating books and newspaper articles in the 1800s were quite interesting. (I feel like you could go down many research rabbit holes from their two careers!) There was probably more than could have been explored with Verity and Ash’s relationship, and definitely with Verity’s work, but all in all, I thought it was a good, easy-to-read romance.

Marrying the Ketchups by Jennifer Close (★★★★☆)

Audiobook • Libby • Contemporary Fiction • 2022

Short synopsis: The Sullivans are well-known in Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago, and during one fateful year, three of the cousins come together after many years apart. There’s Gretchen, tired of chasing her dreams of stardom; Teddy, who is nursing heartbreak while running their family restaurant; and Jane, the only one who seems like she has it together (husband, kids, nice house) but is unhappy with her life.

I love family stories like this, and I think they work even better for me on audiobook. There’s something about dipping in and out of a story like this as I go about my day. I found all of these characters so real and authentic. They were likable but not without their faults. They loved each other but bickered like siblings. They came together in crisis and gossiped about their family together. I enjoyed Jane’s story the most and that’s probably because she had the biggest character arc of anyone in the book and the one I was rooting for the most. But I also loved Teddy and Gretchen and all of the tertiary characters, like the matriarch of the family who lives in an assisted living facility now and the rebellious teenager who is just looking for a soft place to land. It’s a character-driven novel with characters who are just so easy to root for. (My favorite kind!) This book is set in 2016 right around the time of the election, and there is definitely a lot of politics in the novel because, well, we were all talking about it at this time. Politics is something I think and talk a lot about, so it doesn’t bother me when it’s in a book, but your mileage may vary, of course. This book was the right one at the right time, and I liked it very much!

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo (★★★★★)

Print • Owned (Barnes & Noble) • YA Lit (Historical) • 2021

Short synopsis: It’s 1954 and Lily Hu is 17. The Red Scare is omnipresent but so are Lily’s growing feelings that she may be attracted to other women, something she has to keep silent about. But then she winds up at a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club and it feels like everything she ever wanted is within reach.

This book means so much to me, and I’m so happy I read it during Pride month. There is a lot going on in this book—being queer in the 1950s, the Red Scare, female friendships, Chinese culture, etc.—and I don’t think it does everything perfectly, but still, this is a five-star read because of how it made me feel. And it made me feel so tender toward Lily and the other queer people in this novel, and so inspired by the brave people who fought to be themselves at a time when it was not okay to be anything but cis-gendered and straight. I loved Lily’s love story with Kath, which was so pure and beautiful and special. And I appreciated the way the author brought us into life as a LGBTQIA+ person during the 1950s. The Telegraph Club was a place where women were free to be themselves: free to dress the way they wanted, free to kiss whomever they wanted, free to express themselves. It was a place where they were safe, but it was also an entirely unsafe place to be (since raids were happening all the time at these kinds of clubs, and people were arrested frequently). I’m humbled by the bravery of these people because they paved the way for me to be who I am. There was some filler in this book (I don’t think we needed all the timelines and the chapters from the perspectives of Lily’s mom, dad, and aunt), and while I know the author had to include a secondary plot involving the Red Scare since it was happening at this time to the Chinese community, it didn’t exactly go anywhere or have any weight to the plot, so I was left wondering what the point was. But still, this book was perfect for me and what I needed, and it’s one I want to shove into the hands of every queer teenage girl.

What are you reading?