Who's Writing Who (Post Pride Month Reflection)

So, Pride Month is over and what a fun month it was, I read nothing but queer stories and it was a lot of fun. However, with my two most recent reads I feel like I could now speak on a larger topic in the community which is who tells our stories.

Let me start off by saying that anyone can write, there are many different queer stories from people who identify on all parts of the spectrum and even outside of it. However, there are some stories that get sanitized and watered down to the point the characters do not seem real. While on the other end of things, sometimes MM romance is highly fetishized which should not happen either. It all comes back to representation, and queer people deserve to see themselves on the pages just like everyone else. Now let's get into the books!

So my two most recent reads were Flirty Dancing by Jennifer Moffatt and Honor and Heresy by Max Francis.

In terms of representation Flirty Dancing was fine. It was just so tame, it felt like the author just wanted to write a different version of Dirty Dancing. If that was the case then mission accomplished, but it left me wanting more. The two leads Archer and Mateo basically just followed the same plot points as the movie with slightly less interaction because most of the B-plot was taken up by the messy side character in Caleb. Caleb is even responsible for causing the problem in the final third of the book... miscommunication! I know the romance genre loves this trope but even after all of that the two leads just share a kiss at the end and it fades to black. It was kind of frustrating to read but I guess if the author was going for a beat for beat rewrite of the movie, then good job. Final Rating- 3 of 5 stars.

Now onto Honor and Heresy, I felt like it really shines because how deep I got to go into the depths of the two leads Roy and Percival. Both men are deeply flawed and are distrustful of each other at first but as time grows on they begin to trust each other and work on discovering the mystery of the Basilica in which the story takes place. Each of them had some great character moments such as when Percival reveals his drinking, among other things as a way to cope with being alone in the massive structure for who knows how long before Roy arrived; and when Roy had to choose between his budding new romance with his fellow scholar or leave to save his sister Briar who he had left behind at the beginning of the book was exquisite character work. Final Rating- 4.8 of 5 stars.

If you couldn't tell, I definitely enjoyed Honor and Heresy more since the characters were allowed to exist in their messiness. I do enjoy a happy ending every once in a while, but I know that doesn't always happen. This is why I think that many writers should write what they know because that will allow for more readers to connect to the story they are telling.

Thanks for stopping by the Nest and remember you can read queer stories all year long, not just Pride Month. See you guys real soon, I have some awesome posts I can't wait to put together for everyone. Now back to the TBR I go!