LGBTQ+ stories are almost always focused on youthful romance, so this was a refreshing, interesting story. I loved the relaxed writing style and the convergence of multiple genres. This is not necessarily my genre, but I still enjoyed trying out something new with this story, and I thought the author executed their ideas well.

While I really enjoyed reading this title and appreciate the publisher and Netgalley for letting me read it, it was too inconsistent for me to truly recommend. I found the characters compelling, but the overall tone of the book was all over the place. It was hard to reconcile the darkness of the male characters with the fun and warmth of the women. The villains were believable, but the escalation of violence seemed out of step with the rest of the action of the book. It was so nice to see older queer characters find each other and fall in love, but in the midst of a harrowing attack while recounting the most traumatic events of the main character's life just felt off and hard to fully embrace. I really did think it was fun and the plot elements kept me interested, but the shift in tone throughout kept pulling me out of the narrative.

Whilst this had an interest concept, I found myself struggling my way through it because the delivery was a little bit all over the place for me.

To be honest, I still don't fully understand if this is meant to be based on a real story or not. It tells the story of an author writing under the pen name Brooke Skipstone, named after someone she loved and lost, and is written by an author writing under the name Brooke Skipstone, and includes extracts from what appear to be the RL author's other books (which I had assumed were fictional when I first started reading, as the extracts we get from them read like paradoies to me) as the on-page author's book. So I'm leaning towards yes, but it's not made super clear.

In terms of the story itself, the most interesting part to me was the book within a book, where the story of the real Brooke Skipstone (fictional or otherwise) is told.

There's a lot this story is trying to say about queer community in the face of violent homophobia, and whilst I appreciate what I think the message was supposed to be, I don't think this book truly achieved what it was aiming for.

Overall, a slightly confusing read for me that did have some highlights.

A great book full of interesting characters! I loved all the different stories of how people grapples with their identities. The story was full of friendships and love and was beautifully written!

Thank you, NetGalley, for giving me this ARC in exchange of honest feedback.

However, finishing this book was a bit of hard task for me. The story felt flat and boring, I couldn't seem to enjoy it that much.

The cast is richly developed. Taylor and her friends are united in love, bravery, and determination to shout out the truth, come what may.

A superb novel. I loved the plot and the characters. I loved the family dynamic and that a queer woman in her 70s was trying to figure out her life. I loved everything about this book.

From friends to lovers, but only for two days before a tragic death. Then 48 years of keeping secrets from her husband and kids and eventually grandkids. Until Taylor Baird MacKenzie receives notice that her brother will be released from prison in February. It is now March, and Taylor is afraid he will kill her and no one will know why. I was at the edge of my seat reading this. It was so addictive and I couldn't put it down till I had finished it.

Unfortunately I just think this may not be the book for me. I have tried many times to get started on this and the story just does not grip me and keep me interested d

This book was pretty disturbing to read. Firstly, because Taylor uses Brooke Skipstone as a pen name which is the name of this book's author. Secondly, because there was so much hate, so many insults and slurs against queer people. I know there are places where people can be so queerphobic and where it is the norm, but it still felt too much. It actually is also a problem in the book, it was all too black and white. The queerphobic podcaster is also a racist, a pedophile, a blackmailer, etc. There was no nuance in any of the characters, and the relationships between them were too quick to form.
I thought it disappointing to show queer people as a monolith: all cis women and very VERY sex positive and so open with it! I cringed so much when Shannon was like "oh yeah my granddaughter and her girlfriend are so loud during sex that the neighboors complained, aren't they a hoot!", and when she had sex with Taylor, the granddaughter and her girlfriend were almost bursting in the room. Boundaries anyone?? It didn't feel realistic. Also, I couldn't with all the squealing.

The characters talk about Taylor's other books (which are also written by the author), praising them, saying they are such a good representation of queer characters but they only talk about the smut scenes. And it was really weird that the author presented her books like masterpieces in that way. Smut scenes are really something I don't vibe with, and here there were too many to my liking. I kinda understood Taylor's sons who didn't want Taylor to share her autobiography with her grandkids. It was important that they learn their grandmother's story and true identity, but did they really need to know all the sex she had? It made me uncofortable.

The ending was nice enough, even if it was "thanks to our guns!"
I rated the book 3 stars on Goodreads, but it was more a 2 stars, I just didn't want to tank it down as I see its importance in the representation of old queer people and (queer) love between older women.

CW: a lot of smut
TW: murder, hate speech, slurs, queerphobia, transphobia, lesbophobia, racism, death threats, white supremacism, grief, alcohol, drugs, overdose, fire, blackmailing, pedopornography, conspiracy theories
Rep: lesbian MC, lesbian SC, possible bi SC, mexican SC (their ethnicity is not clear as they are described by a racist person), drag queen (maybe a trans woman, again it's not clear)

I was really excited by the prospect of The Queering as it explores queer experiences so often omitted from literature. I must admit I had quite high hopes, and unfortunately, I don’t think The Queering lived up to them. I struggled with the writing style and with the pacing – there were parts where I think it would have been nice to spend more time with certain characters, and some of the content felt a bit forced. As someone who spends a large part of their life researching sex, gender, and sexuality, I don’t think I was necessarily the target audience for this book, but I hope that some readers managed to take something away from this book.

Thanks to the publisher, Netgalley and the author for allowing me to read this ARC.
I am sorry to say but i did not get into this book and it was not for me.
I don't want to give the author a low rating just because this wasnt for me.
2/5 stars
Thankyou

I loved this book so, so much.

It was incredibly refreshing to follow an older protagonist and for her to have her own love story in the present... absolute perfection.

This book is told over two timelines with the past timeline framed as portions from our protagonist's book where she recounts what happened to the real Brooke Skipstone whilst the present timeline shows the real-world consequences of the protag's identity being revealed in her small town. This book is hard-hitting and upsetting but it also is so full of joy and there is a real sense of community as we see those around the protag fighting to protect her. There were also some moments of growth that were just wonderful to see.

I haven't seen a book quite like before and would definitely recommend it to fans of queer stories.

I was unable to read this before it was archived/removed from my shelf. I really did want to get to this story, so it is unfortunate I can’t read it anymore. Sorry about that.

Thank you to NetGalley and Skipstone Publishing for accepting me to be a pre-publication reviewer. This book was so good and I totally recommend it, I was hooked from the start and there are many messages put forward.

Basic plot summary: Taylor, a 70 year old English teacher, writes queer fiction under the pen name ‘Brooke Skipstone’ and this secret is about to come out. Her convicted brother was recently released with a target on Taylor’s back AND the local neo-nazi, racist, homophobic, [other things but that’ll be spoilers] podcaster Levi is also out to attack her for the apparent ‘Queering’ of today’s society. This is the current day storyline but there is also the narrative of the book she is currently writing titled ‘The Life and Death of Brooke Skipstone’ where she’s telling the story of her relationship with her best friend and lover and her tragic demise, how it ends will depend on what happens in the present. Feeling alone since Brooke’s death, she finally finds a group of bass ass queer women who support and protect her, and maybe some romance will come her way too.

The formatting is very good and engaging with kind of alternating chapters in third person from Taylor and a student Grace’s perspective with a first person account in the story within a story aspect. Whilst grace is reading the story, you are totally engrossed in it but also know what is going on around it. The present timeline then becomes the focus after the big event and I really loved how Skipstone put this together. The writing isn’t necessarily amazing or the most lyrical but it’s pleasant enough, easily readable and most importantly engaging. I was totally hooked with this and needed to read on and on. The themes of ‘queering’ people I think is expressed well with references to anti-LGBTQ laws and the growing far-right rhetoric which is present in the US (and worldwide), overturning the things we’ve been fighting for for decades. This was picked up on well, expressing the different sides of the argument but clearly there is a ‘right’ outcome, namely that Queer writers, musicians, actors (and so forth) are not turning people gay or bi or trans (and so forth) but are actually letting them have representation and know they are valid and perfectly normal. Such a great message and, whilst it’s not subtle, was well embedded into this mystery/thriller-esque book.

The characters are so well developed and explored. There is a one-dimensional-ness to some of the inherently unlikable ones like Tommy for example and some others but for the most part there is nuance. It’s not the shortest book but it does deal with a lot of characters and in a lot of detail too. Taylor is amazing, she goes through so much, it’s a shame thanking back on her hidden life but you root for her throughout. Grace still has some things to learn but is certainly a great spirit and will go far, the same for Maddi. Shannon was a sweetheart grandma that all queer people would love to have, so accepting and lovely… and spicy if it comes to that. Brooke broke my heart, she had so much to give but was sadly denied. Austin and Liam are horrendous, evil wastes of oxygen that I despised and continually hated as the book went on, they’re god awful but are developed well which was great to see. There are more side characters and all had a level of nuance, amazing!

I really don’t think I have many qualms with this book. Possibly the use of ‘queer’ is a bit excessive where I’d presume more people would use other terms to insult members of our community but I did like the aspect of reclaiming this word - something queer people have been doing more and more the past couple decades - and rightly so. It’s also a little too long and dragged at times with maybe a few too many plot twists/tangents but it didn’t really detract from me following along or enjoyment. The ‘meta’ aspect was slightly strange given the author creates a character with her name that was the lover of the main character who is using this as her pen name and there are references to Skipstone’s previous books as well - weird but I think it was done well and is enticing me to check some of her others works out, they sound like a blast.

Overall, I would totally recommend this book and so hope you take from it what you’re meant to do so. And if that’s how it works, continue to Queer the world my lovelies!

Yeah this was a DNF for me. I found the writing style to be really confusing. I was constantly lost and couldn't really differentiate between the different characters or the different timelines. Not to mention I didn't find the plot compelling at all.

I’m not going to lie. I did not enjoy reading this book. The characters were unnaturally dramatic - almost caricatures. The dialogue seemed forced and the content traumatic. I found myself not caring about any of them and desperately wanting it to be over. This book was so triggering, I can’t even list out all the content warnings.

TLDR: a beautiful cover slapped on an uncomfortable story. If that’s your thing, this is the book for you.

Starting this off, I’ve never read a queer book set in (kinda) the 70’s. This book had a lot going for it, I appreciated the well-written MC and the then and now type of writing. But it does touch on some heavy topics and nearly all the men in this book were shitty people. Its got some hard moments of homophobia and death and can be overwhelming. I put off reading this for quite a bit as the summary doesn’t do justice for the actual book. I also wish there were some content warnings but this book brings some great awareness to the realities of many now and then.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.

1.5 stars

I’m always down to read a queer book so I’m glad I requested this one but unfortunately it didn’t work for me at all. Everything was a little too broad – the characters never felt very lived in or real and the plot never hooked me. There was a lot of dialogue, and it was either exposition filled or very flat. I appreciated the author writing about an older queer person and their sexuality but otherwise the book did not live up to its potential.

I would like to thank Netgalley, publisher and author for allowing me to read and review this ARC.

I did not like this book at all. It promised so much but in reality it felt short. I don’t feel that the characters were very well-developed as I didn’t like them at all.

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