Welcome to Litsy!

Short of options and money, Ellie agrees to be her landlord‘s fake fiancée so he can get his inheritance and he‘ll pay her a percentage. One of the requirements of the deal was spending Christmas with his family but when Andrew‘s sister Jack arrives, she‘s the same person Ellie had a life-changing date with the year before.

Overall, pretty meh. A conversation would‘ve cleared everything up for everybody, but the grandmas were great.

Between a So-So and a Pan. It's not the funny, cute, christmas-y RomCom the German version promised to be.
1. the translation is really bad. 2. Andrew is not the nice character he is supposed to be. He does not respect Ellies boundaries, which is a no go. 3. alcohol is portraied as a problem solver, which it clearny isn't. 4. Names and brands are mentioned that do not belong in a queer novel whithout further explanation.
Some cute scenes though.

A Natalie Naudus narrated book!! I'm getting a feeling there's a theme behind the books she narrates bc this one also features a #queer asian woman and her #mentalhealth crisis. Oh, and #romance! It's told in flashbacks which made it a little confusing at times in audio format but I did enjoy the drama, the friendship, and even the pain/lessons learned. It is a little spicy and the MC is very Very thirsty/ there's a lot of ✨ pining ✨

This was a nice cozy romance to start my new year. While it was a nice light read, the plot wasn‘t really there for me. I have to agree with a lot of the criticism this book got. I‘m demisexual, and I didn‘t think the representation was really there with Ellie‘s character. I also hated how all of the other characters, but especially Jack, treated her. I felt like Jack owed Ellie a big apology, not the other way around.

My current read and I have a feeling I‘m gonna love it. ❤️

Low pick for me because everything could be solved with an honest conversation and listening to each other. It also annoyed me that everyone laid the blame on her and not the brother whose idea it was! (Fake dating)

#wintergames #hollyjollyreaders

#holidayromancereadathon #littenlisten #rushathon #adventathon #candylandreadathon - LGBTQ+ characters #gottocatchemall - Cryogonal

I loved this book so much. It is probably one of my favorites this year. It‘s perfect for Christmas time and whereas it is a little bit cliched in some ways, I still really enjoyed it because it did have some unique perspectives and it was very different than what I thought when I first picked it up. Super warm and fuzzy for a cold winter to make you feel happy.

This book‘s title is a lyric from one of my favorite Christmas songs, Holly Jolly Christmas. I read this last year and really enjoyed it!

#wintergames #photochallenge #decemberdreams #faveholidaysong #candycanecrushers

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ What a sweet Christmas romance! Two very different women meet one snowy day in Portland, have an epic day and evening together, but then a misunderstanding separated them. Full of a great supporting cast (especially the grannies) and tons of humor, this was the perfect holiday read. From airstream trailers, to a bakery called the Butch Oven, I was both swooning and snickering. Also loved that the mc broke the dysfunctional family loop.

My favourite holiday song is Tis The Damn Season from Taylor Swift‘s Evermore and I was so happy to see it discussed in detail in the tagged book I read this week. I was already in love with the book when a debate about Taylor swift‘s best album arrived and I loved it even more!

#decemberdreams @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks #wintergames #snowangels

Now this is EVERYTHING a Christmas rom com is meant to be. Silly, fun, romantic, and genuinely touching. So few rom coms get both the humour and the meaningful side of things perfectly right and this absolutely did. I loved the big silly fake dating queer love triangle (or many-gendered trapezoid) and I loved the touching material about taking risks and overcoming perfectionism. Pretty flawless!

#wintergames #snowangels

I spent a goodly portion of today buying ingredients for my contribution to the birthday feast I‘m headed to tomorrow, then assembling some of those ingredients into a potato chip pie. Now I get to eat a piece of the overflow pie I made to use up the extra filling and finish KISS HER ONCE FOR ME! It‘s extremely obvious where this book‘s gonna end up, but I‘m still enjoying the ride.

This week‘s library haul. I probably should‘ve stuck to my two holds (MORTAL FOLLIES and NETTLE & BONE), what with how slowly I‘m reading right now, but I figured I should start laying in some holiday romances; hence the tagged book. Then they had an anthology of classic queer poetry, and a manga short fiction collection, and I DID manage to resist the classic Chinese novel but lemme tell you, it was a close one.

Merry Christmas in July! This one was heavier than the cover copy made me expect, but that didn't make me enjoy it less. Ellie and Jack are both so wounded that it balances the rom-commy premise nicely, and all the side characters are the absolute best (minus Linds and Alex, but they don't count). For someone who likes their holidays with a little more heft! #christmasromance #contemporaryromance

I don‘t usually read contemporary romance, they tend to be too trendy and fluffy for my taste ( Where‘s the angst and morally grey, definitely problematic love interest??) BUT wow!! This was SO CUTE. I LOVED Ellie and Jack (Jack was 🔥) I loved all the tropes and all the quipy characters. This book made me cry, it had the feels and the sap and I really had fun reading it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #gaymay 🏳️‍🌈 #BOTM

I‘m posting one book a day from my massive collection. No description, no reason for why I want to read it (some I‘ve had so long I don‘t even remember why!) Feel free to join in!

#ABookADay2023

I should have taken a picture of Kiss Her Once For Me by Allison Cochrun with a loaf of bread instead of flowers.

Main character said love interest who was a baker smelled like bread. 16 Times! And one "the way her touch is like a lightning rod and a warm piece of bread." WTF⁉️ Don't remember baker ever making bread in this book. Cookies, waffles, pancakes, and breakfast burritos but no bread. ⬇️

Forgot to post this one! It was my last read of 2022 - perfect in the way that it‘s Christmasy and wintery in all the traditional ways. I couldn‘t quite get into it though. I‘m not a huge fan of romance books but I‘ll usually tear thru the sapphic ones… and I mean, I enjoyed parts of it… but halfway thru I just kinda got tired of it, as the plot is pretty predictable. If you‘re a hopeless romantic, go for it!

“We are two queer women, and we're going to use this drive back to the cabin to do what queer women do."
Blood pressure: rising. "And, uh, what's that?"
"We're going to talk about our feelings"
Well. That's worse than I predicted.”

Another book that I read for a book club but this time I was pleasantly surprised. A meet-cute turned love trapezoid! I loved how saucy (even though it was pretty predictable) the plot was. The story was well written and the author had me invested in all of the characters‘ lives — loved the representation in this book! I only didn‘t like how most of the characters problems could have been solved through communication 😅
My review : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5)

@willaful @Clare-Dragonfly @peanutnine @Nelnjali @BookwormAHN @Kenyazero @CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian @MoonWitch94

#LGBTbookclub

@willaful @Clare-Dragonfly @peanutnine @Nelnjali @Kenyazero @BookwormAHN @CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian @MoonWitch94

#LGBTbookclub

Sorry for the delay folks - my partner and I were both unwell and the issues keep recurring. Please enjoy last months discussion prompts!

@willaful @Clare-Dragonfly @peanutnine @Nelnjali @BookwormAHN @Kenyazero @CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian @MoonWitch94 #LGBTbookclub

Cute!

I've managed to put two books on my #LGBTQBookBingo already!

Baking: Kiss Her Once for Me
Not your usual genre: The Avant-Gards Vol. 2

#LGBTQ2023 #BookBingo #ReadingChallenge #LGBTQIA

Extremely adorable and fun to read! After trying and bailing on several Christmas romances this year, I finally found one that was a keeper. Romance can be really hit or miss with me, and I was worried that this one, which combines tropes like crazy, wouldn't fly and I'm super glad I gave it a chance! #LGBTQ #Christmas #TheOneThatGotAway #MarriageStipulation #Snow

Love this author and loved this book 💖 She writes such great characters that are flawed and relatable. The found family aspect of this was just as great as the romance.

Failing doesn't make you a failure / going for what you love is scary but worth the risk / love trapezoids are messy and not advised

#lgbtbookclub @AbigailJaneBlog
#WinterReadathon @Andrew65 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES
#WinterCosy @PuddleJumper
#HolidayBookBingo @rachelsbrittain

This was not my BOTM selection last month but I feeling a little FOMO with all the Litsy love, I listened to the audiobook hanging out in my basement on a dreary day to pack up fall and holiday decor. What a great way to get thru the task! It was a fun story and kudos to the author for creating such likable characters,

Really enjoyed this #lgbtq hooiday romance. Got surprisingly invested in the characters.

This was a cute #ownvoices queer romance that worked perfectly for the season, even being at the tail end. My library hold must have hit at the perfect time because for some reason I wasn't feeling the Christmas-ish romance vibe around actual Christmas. But I digress, I love a good flawed character, and while I wasn't nearly as obsessed as I was with Delilah Green, I still found myself rooting for everyone. Would have been a solid #botm pick!

Got my self book of the moth club subscription , already got 3 boxes ! Next year is going to be good for reading ! I have some reference code if you want ti be a member , I think comes with some discount , no idea how it work , I am here to read ❤️😂

Cutest 🏳️‍🌈 Rom-Com I‘ll definitely be adding to my favorites list. :) Characters were extremely like-able, flaws, quirks, and all! ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

My December #BOTM box arrived just before when the house fire. I contacted Book of the Month, told them what happened and they kindly sent me a Replacement. ☺️
#2023tbr #bookofthemonth

Wonderful diverse book that takes a familiar trope (fake dating) and turns it on its head. Would recommend to those still wanting to get another holiday read in. 4 stars.

Unpopular opinion. Everybody seems to love this book so don‘t read my review☺️Two persons were together for less than 24 hrs and fell deeply in love. One was suffering for this love😳Something happened and during those encounters you will see a lot of cheating and drama. Main character can be annoying. The ending made me think if that relationship is healthy. They play this “honesty game” were words can be so hard. Not for me please.Good things:⬇️

Not one but two kitties hung out with me while I read this tonight. 💗 Overall I liked this queer holiday romance novel. I think I liked the parts about friendship and found family even more than the romantic parts, but that‘s just me not being that into romance stories/sex scenes. This is my second book by this author (she‘s only written the two) and I liked both, but The Charm Offensive gets the win over this one in my opinion.

Finished this today & it was a solid holiday rom-com. Cute & fun, with diverse characters & a snowy Portland, OR setting (with Powell‘s Books of course) which is always close to my heart. There was a part where the main character‘s lines reminded me of one of my movie rom-com favorites, While You Were Sleeping & then reading the acknowledgements the author said it was once “a poorly fleshed-out, gay WYWS fanfic” & so now I am rewatching it. 😉

More reading with my buddy here. #xmas #pugsoflitsy

How I spent Christmas eve 🐶. Merry Christmas Littens!

It‘s only about 3:00 PM here so I am not jolabokafloding yet, but I have camped out on the couch mostly napping today with my mellow holiday playlist & some reading of this book because in a Christmas miracle my December #BOTM box arrived this week before the end of the month.🤗

Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday and/or their weekend!

This was worthy of all the hype! So much is covered here - dysfunctional families, fake dating, paralyzing fear, first love, taking risks, found family - and it‘s all done very well. Great #lgbtqia+ romance!

#winterreadathon
#adventathon
#bookspinbingo
#holidaybookbingo - snow day
#holidayromancebingo - snowed in
#wintercosy - holiday romance (and got a bingo!)

I read this passage aloud to my husband and he was like, "Did she write this book for you?!" Gilmore Girls (which we just rewatched) and Taylor Swift references in the same paragraph. I'm definitely the target audience. ?

I was going to read this anyway then I heard someone say they heard somewhere that the love interest is based on Jack from While You Were Sleeping. I am now devouring this Portland, OR -based, updated and incredibly relatable While You Were Sleeping minus Bill Pullman.

I can't rate this book highly enough. I just devoured it in less than 24 hours. Queer romance, set in Oregon, SO many Taylor Swift & Gilmore Girls references, romcom tropes, positive discussions regarding mental health, & such a great ending. I've already found the accompanying Spotify playlist to blast while I bake Christmas cookies. 🥰🎄

The family is all curled up & I'm enjoying a new Christmas romance 🥰

Kiss her once for me is perfect for the holidays, because it‘s set during Christmas! It also involves fake dating, first meeting, love at first sight and found family.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️,75/5

#Kissheronceforme #romance #christmas

#Two4Tuesday

🎄No! I am blessed to have always had my entire family within a 30 minute drive, so I have never had to travel for Christmas.

❄️It was going to be, but Mother Nature shifted her plans. Now it‘s going to be a high of 28 and sunshine.

✨Everyone can play! How about it: @Blerdgal_Fenix @ElizaMarie @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @StayCurious

It‘s not failure to let people see your imperfections, it‘s vulnerability.

I'm back home from Virginia and continuing my quest for holiday spirit with this #BotM pick. I loved her previous book, so hopefully this one will be just as good.