Thanks to netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review. This was a great romantic read with LGBTQ characters and their chosen families, and some other family too; set in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I don’t want to spoil the read but if you like romance you won’t be disappointed!

Queerly Beloved was such an enjoyable read! Yay for queer love stories!! Taking place in 2013 Tulsa, Amy is a queer baker living in a conservative state. After being fired from her bakery for being gay, Amy stumbles into a genius new career - professional bridesmaid! Throughout the book Amy struggles with heartache, friend drama and being true to herself.

Amy’s friends are the best kind of found family and I loved all of the characters in this book. The love story between Amy and Charley was really sweet. It was so easy to feel for these characters and root for their success. All of the secondary characters felt fully developed and contributed nicely to the story. I was so glad to read the epilogue and see how far the characters were all able to go in the years that passed.

(Also, thank you to the author for including the the strawberry champagne cake recipe after the epilogue! After reading about it for a few chapters I was determined to find one.)

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the advanced copy of this book.

Thanks for NetGalley and Random House for providing with this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I will be posting this review to my Instagram and my Goodreads closer to the publication date, the week of April 25.

Queerly Beloved is the story of Amy, a young lesbian woman in Tulsa who is a baker at the best bakery in the city by day and a bartender at a gay dive bar by night. Unfortunately, the bakery she works for is owned and run by a conservative Christian couple who don’t know she’s queer. After they find out, Amy is fired from her job and decides to start a business being a professional bridesmaid—a job she struggles to reconcile with the fact that it’s 2013, and same-sex marriage is illegal in Oklahoma. At the same time, she’s navigating a fledgling relationship with a charming engineer who just moved to town.
There’s so much I want to say about this book and how much I loved it, because this is such a quintessentially queer book. It is not so much a romance as it is a book about a lesbian trying to live her most authentic life in a location that doesn’t necessarily support her.
I say this not as a criticism—I think people are often drawn to queer romances that are really just straight romances with one of the love interests replaced by a person of the same gender. There’s nothing wrong with that; when queer people have been denied romantic relationships for so long, this becomes a stepping stone. It can, however, play into more heteronormative roles (interestingly, this is a point the book brings up in the context of marriage equality). Queerness (in my opinion) is the antithesis of heteronormativity, and so the best queer stories involve not just romantic partners but also family, friends, and individual development. Queerly Beloved hits all of those marks beautifully.
The characters were all lovable and multi-dimensional; the plot, though perhaps slow sometimes, was thoughtful; the dialogue was funny; the love story was beautiful. Reading this book felt like a getting a a big gay hug. Alongside a compelling story and equally compelling cast of characters, the author did a great job bringing up serious issues without sounding like an after-school special. I especially loved the choice they made to set the book in 2013. In 2022, there’s still a lot of progress to made, but even as late as 2013, same-sex marriage was not universally legal in the US; that didn’t happen until 2015. The backdrop of marriage equality gave the book the space it needed to delve into matters like homophobia, heteronormativity, religious conservatism, American wedding culture, toxicity within queer culture itself, and just, frankly, queer existence. For example, the author does a great job addressing the queer phenomenon of “coming out,” something that is often treated as a single event in a queer person’s life but is more accurately a series of revelations that one makes throughout their life. People are almost always going to assume you’re straight or cis until you say otherwise. There’s always that risk of rejection or confusion, amplified of course if you’re living in Tulsa versus, say, San Francisco. Even when you’re pretty sure someone will fully accept you, no questions asked, you have to consider when and how would be best to tell someone; there will always be people to come out to and tension associated with that. There’s lots of coming out that takes place throughout the book: when Amy indicates to the love interest when they first meet that she is, in fact, queer; when Amy is outed and fired from her job; when Amy has to consider whether or not to tell the various brides she bridesmaids for; when Amy makes a new friend and has to find the right moment to tell them she’s gay. Each of these situations is handled very differently but still boils down to the same thing.
I know a book review is not the place for an essay on queerness. The reason I went so in-depth into the idea of coming out is because it is an example of how Susie Dumond does a great job dissecting a big idea in what is otherwise a fairly light book. She does this over and over again, and it takes a really talented writer to be able to handle heavy topics with a light hand while still doing them justice.
I recommend this book for people who are looking for a book about the joys and hardships of being queer in America; if you’re looking for a book that’s a heavy romance with steamier elements, this might not be the book for you. But if you want a thoughtful, queer story with memorable and loveable characters, then this is the book for you.

What a cute book!!! Had me smiling all throughout! My first book to read by this author but not my last! Highly recommend!

This book is truly delightful. It’s setting inOklahoma in 2013/2014 feels surprisingly dated (but that’s on purpose). Hard to believe how far marriage rights have come in such a short time!
Amy and her crew of friends are funny, warm, and real. The fears she has about coming out in a conservative place feel true and palpable.
My only criticism is that this was pitched as a romance and it felt like her romance with Charley was not central to the plot. I hoped for more of them but the book is fun and delightful overall. Just know going in that this book focuses much more on Amy and her life/growth than on her relationship with Charley.

In this queer romance set in Oklahoma in 2013, baker Amy meets a hottie customer (new-to-Tulsa Charley) and makes a bold move to ask Charley out alongside her blueberry muffin. At her next shift, Amy is unceremoniously fired from her job when the homophobic owner discovers "Amelia" is lesbian (and obviously a threat to her daughter and family values).

Amy's bartending gig is not quite enough to pay the bills or maintain her vehicle, so Amy begins moonlighting as a paid bridesmaid - not quite a wedding planner, but someone who can do emergency repairs on cakes, dresses and even relationships on what is both the most important and possibly more stressful day of one's life.

Dramatic tension is built by Amy's love for weddings (and for love) and her understanding that she lives in a red state where the governor is vocally anti-marriage and prevents legislation offering equal rights, let alone protection for the LGBTQIA+ community. Charley seems allergic to weddings, but Amy has grown up with HIV+ uncles in a LTR and knows the kind of loving commitment to aspire to when you choose to walk a path with someone. Amy and Charley's dating is slotted around Charley's crazy work and travel schedule and Amy's bridesmaid gigs. They manage a real connection and a very sweet romance between someone not all the way out who leans to the femme side, and someone rather out more to the masc side, both a little shy and scared and funny and awkward.

The wonderful details about baking, and life in a primarily Christian flyover state is balanced with strongly drawn, non-stereotypical queer characters, a supportive mom turned activist, and realistic tension with less accepting family members. The wedding details range from over the top to hilarious, and tun spur of the moment events at the Wizard of Oz themed gay bar come to life with descriptions about food, decorations, fashion and music. A Thanksgiving cooking competition among family members was a fun detail.

Following a solid and realistic progression of events, this novel is also an examination of how far we have come, even in the last 10 years or so, of accepting people for who they are and who they love, our understanding of gender identifies, and a novel where there are no assumptions and introductions just include pronouns is wonderfully refreshing.

AND a conflict between Amy and her best friend is well-resolved, with a believable amount of anger, meanness, stewing, and a strong apology scene.

Overall, Queerly Beloved is a great, solid read with a satisfying ending (and a bonus strawberry champagne cupcakes recipe!)

I received a digital arc of #QueerlyBeloved from #NetGalley

*Digital ARC given for free in exchange for an honest review*

This book was an amazing read. A girl named Amy lives in Oklahoma and works at a bakery. Despite her loving the job, she feels she can't be her true queer self in a conservative and religious state. This book is set in 2013, before same sex marriage was legalized. It deals with the issues queer folks had to deal with during this time, without making this the main point in the story. Ultimately it is about a girl discovering who she is.

The epiloue mad me squad with joy. Queerly Beloved is one of the best books I have read in a long time.

I was able to receive this book from Netgalley and I was very excited to read it since it sounded so cute, and I wasn’t disappointed!

Amy, the main character, was equal parts relatable and had me stressed when making decisions which made her all the more realistic to me. Her love of baking was balanced so well that you could tell it was an important part of her life but wasn’t mentioned so much that it became an annoyance. There were definitely a mix of lovable side characters that I enjoyed as well.

However if you are looking for a cute, purely escapism romance novel this is not it. Queerly Beloved had a lot of introspective parts and frequent discussions about gender and sexual orientation discrimination.

3.5 stars! sweet and gay, exactly how i love a book!

Definitely for you if you enjoy:
- Gay love! wooooo!
- Supportive chosen family
- Reflective gay journey

Set in 2013, Amy is a wedding lover and closeted lesbian working at a conservative bakery in Tulsa, Oklahoma when she meets Charly, a new in town engineer. When Amy is outed and fired, she’s torn on what else to do besides continue working at her other part time bartending job at the local gay bar.

Her love for baking, event coordinating and weddings comes in use when she’s asked to be a stand-in bridesmaid at a strangers wedding where they’ll pay her for it. Her one-time bridesmaid gig turns into a full service and soon all the offers roll in but between that, her friends getting engaged and her love life spirling, Amy has to chose what’s worth fighting for and how she can be who she is openly and proudly.

📚

This one was cute but wasn’t as romance novel-y as I hoped. I would say it’s more fiction than romance but all the romance bits that were in there did make me warm in fuzzy inside. The side characters were so sweet and Amy’s chosen family really were so supportive and fun to read about.

It was also interesting (and understandable) the time it was set in and though many books nowadays are just placed in the present with so many smart phone/social media moments and viral things, it was nice to step back a little in time and include that political topic of gay marriage too.

I did like this one, it just didn’t spark anything very brightly in me but I can think of a few people in my life who will really enjoy it and I can’t wait to gift them this one!

This is a light hearted queer love story . It is cute and definitely needed in the world . Not enough queer love stories out there .
Twenty somethings come to terms with who they are !

Thanks net galley for the the opportunity

So much yesssss! Queerly Beloved is about Amy who is a semi-closeted queer woman who gets fired from her job for being gay and becomes a bridesmaid for hire in this absolutely fun, open, honest, and cute romance story. Amy meets Charley, the cute newbie I’m town and things heat up in a cute, fun way. This book was easy to read, quick, and so dang cute! I loved the characters, how the author portrayed Amy’s shift in her sense of self and growth and how open and contemporary this was!

LOVED this book- I stayed up late reading it! Amy struggles with figuring out who she is and how she should represent herself to others after being fired from her bakery job for being gay. She falls into being a professional bridesmaid, and though she loves helping with weddings and seeing them uniquely represent the couples, she is struggling with the fact that she herself can’t legally get married ( the book is set in 2013 just as the marriage equity law is being debated). A wonderfully look at the queer community in flyover country and some thoughtful discussion between characters, combined with an adorable lesbian romance front and center and a fantastically queer supporting cast!

Well written story of twenty somethings coming to terms with being gay in a conservative political state before LGBTQ marriage equality.

You come out more than once - each time you start a new job, you meet a new friend.

Amy is a people pleaser - who mistakenly places her energy in self sabotaging relationships and situations. Quietly Beloved follows her growth to self awareness.

Queerly Beloved by Susie Dumond is hands down one of the best books I've read.
And 2022 can't come quick enough.
Because I'm buying this gorgeous cover for my shelf!

Oh this was such a well-crafted story!
This book is an excellent romance novel, but it’s more than that.
It's about family, friendship, and realizing who you are and to be who are, finding the courage you need and finding your self-worth as well.
The story is wonderful, the side characters were also great and added so much more to the story. And the love throughout the book is simply awesome!
Amy and Charley's relationship really is something special.
And at times I feel for Amy.... Not being able to be who she truly is around around her family!
It was super well written and had me feeling all the feels!
A wonderful, amazing, fun read! And I can't wait for this to be out in the world!

Random House|Dial Press Trade,
Thank you for this brilliant, amazing, cute eARC!
I will post and tag to my platforms closer to pub date!

Loved it! Hate that reviews must be 100 characters! Really just typing to hit that now. Please change your system to accept star ratings only!

I found this is book was such a great fun read

For anyone lokoing for a light hearted queer love story this is the book for you !

Swee and heartfelt - this is a recommended purchase for collections where lighter women's fiction and contemporary romance are popular.

Less a romance and more an ensemble cast story, Queerly Beloved tells the story of a young-20s woman figuring out her path in romance and friendship. The characters, when introducing themselves, include their pronouns as a matter of course, and the politics of marriage and gender are addressed by the characters and the situations they find themselves in.

***Thanks to NetGalley for offering a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***

This book was cute and sweet. It was definitely not the best romance or even the best LGBTQAI+ romance I have read. It was very focused on the homophobia of a small town. If you are interested in baking, weddings, and lesbian romance then this book would be perfect for you.

I love the cute and inviting cover to this book. However it does make the book look more like a rom-com than it is in reality. For me I would categorize this more as (women's) fiction with a side of romance. It's 2013 and Amy (Amelia) is 25 and living in Oklahoma. She is out to her family and close friends but not at her main job. Amy is inadvertently outed and fired for being gay (which is legal) and she stumbles into creating work as a professional bridesmaid. It combines her many talents of acting (her major), baking (her love) and skills in customer service, crafting and DIY projects. But as her jobs pile up, she struggles being part of weddings in a state where marriage is not legal for people like her.

I thought the premise was fascinating. The story captures some of the arguments and feelings that were sweeping the country at the time. As a person living in the another red state, whose ban on gay marriage law was struck down one month before Oklahoma's I remember the political tensions. (Amazingly it happened less than 10 years ago.) Amy's inner conflict and trying to find her way is very realistic. I thought the author was clever to have put Amy working in weddings while trying to reconcile her feelings towards them. Amy isn't a perfect person. At times she is impetuous, and immature and other times thoughtful and giving. The weaker part of the story to me is the romance. We hardly get to know Charley who is new to Tulsa. She loves her busy work in the Oil industry. I did love their first date seeing sites in Tulsa. But because they are apart most of the book I felt the romance was secondary.

I enjoyed reading Queerly Beloved and appreciated the questions with the author at the end of the book as well. Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC ebook in exchange for an honest review.