‘The Queering’ has to be one of the most original plotlines I have read in a while and once I got my head around the concept of Brooke Skipstone being the writer of the physical book I was holding, but the MC was an author who had penned books under the Skipstone pen name, I enjoyed this book immensely. The premise of Taylor writing her own personal tragedy for all to read is really such a powerful and driving force that addresses so many real life threats to queer people, especially in modern America.
Taylor has lived for decades with the pain of never being able to truly live and love as herself after the people that should have protected her turned against her all because she was in love with her best friend. There were moments that felt so agonisingly poignant in this novel but also there were moments of carefree joy as Taylor opens her heart again to young Grace and her grandmother.
My only issue with this story was the way that it was very extreme in some of its characterisation, Skipstone focuses almost primarily on lesbian characters and this book would have felt so much richer to include individuals from across the broader LGBTQIA+ spectrum. The pace is very fast in this story so although I felt the themes were very current and extremely important to be discussed, the speed at which things unfolded in the novel prevented me from really connecting to the plot in full. Overall a truly fresh and thought provoking story.

The Queering is an enigmatic novel, written by the (assumed) pen name Brooke Skipstone. The main character, Taylor Baird McKenzie, is an author who writes under the pen name Brooke Skipstone—the name of her best friend and lover, who has been dead for about fifty years. The character is accredited with the creation of the author’s previous works, such as Crystal’s House of Queers. The novel “The Queering” features a novel inside it, that the characters are reading called “The Life and Death of Brooke Skipstone”.

All this explanation to say, the internal readers being obsessed with with the internal author’s works, when implied that the internal author and external author are one and the same, felt very self-righteous. I would read the most stunted lack-luster dialogue and feel no particular emotion, and the internal readers would be literally falling to the ground laughing, or needing to stop reading because they’re breathing heavily. It was like reading a book with a laugh track, telling me what I am supposed to be feeling about what I’m reading. I did not enjoy that one bit. Especially because I already found the writing style and dialogue stale.

The idea for the book is intriguing, mixed with the characters’ lives and their relationships, it has the making for a compelling story. But the manner they were put together simply didn’t hold my interest. It felt like reading an LGBT book, from someone who wrote one without ever reading one before, like it’s a shiny brand new idea.

Unfortunately had to DNF this, the writing style isn’t for me. Story felt like there was a lack of nuance, honestly not sure what I feel for this. I’m queer but it also didn’t particularly feel written for me, although the premise is promising and some things relatable.
Not posting to good reads as closeted, but really appreciate being given the opportunity to explore this piece. I commend the author for their effort, I don’t wish to discourage them from an important area of society that needs more of a spotlight

This was a totally unique read with the main character being elderly and it follows two timelines in her life. Taylor has a second chance at life at an older age and a chance to speak out and change things. This covers some really needed and thought provoking topics and I think it’s a really great queer book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for this eARC.

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I did like a lot of the elements at play when going into this book. An elderly lesbian, coming out at last and fighting for her happy ending, while also trying to find a way to stop the brother that wants her dead? That sounded like a good read.

For much of it, it was an interesting read. The flashbacks were probably the most interesting Part, and they flowed better within the narrative than I expected them to. I wasn’t sure how it would go, given that they were shared as chapters from an in-universe book the protagonist was writing and sharing with other characters. It was a good idea I think, it worked once I got into it.

The pacing was a bit quick for my liking. We sped by much of the character development that would have made this book more poignant. For example, we have two characters meet for the first time, and within a few days they are in love with each other? I understand that bonds are formed quickly in fiction but this felt a bit unrealistic.

Also I have to admit, much of the feminism and queer theory displayed in this book, while being so important to share, felt shoe-horned in. It did not sit naturally in the narrative. It felt like the characters were given a script of things they needed to say throughout the piece. I wished it had been incorporated more naturally in some places, because every time something like this came up I felt like I was being pulled out of the story.

All in all, I have mixed feelings. It was wonderful to read such a hopeful story, especially with older queer people represented, but the execution didn’t sit right with me.

The Queering is a story about experiences. Specifically of the people who don't "fit in" and don't want to, because it's a useless indicator of one's worth.

The story is told in the present and the past, in the form of a book chronicling the life of Brooke Skipstone, the protagonist's murdered love, and her death.

The protagonist, Taylor Baird is an author and teacher, living a lonely life, emotionally isolated from her husband, children and grandchildren. She writes passionate novels about queer people under a pen name in a small town in Alaska when everything changes as the past and present collide. She finds new adventures and deep friendships along the way when she begins to confront the past and shed the lies she's been allowing people to believe.

It's a wonderful, emotional story. My only criticism is the story begins without sufficient opportunity for us to invest in Taylor and the situation she's in. It seems like her attitude to everything is one of false bravado. It's only much much later that I understood her and became invested in her story. I'm glad I kept reading!

Thank you to the publishers for providing this advance copy and thank you to the author for writing this touching, action-packed story.

This is the first ever book I've read from Brooke Skipstone, and I like it. However, most of the parts have too much dialogue, and sometimes I felt like I'm reading a fan fiction. Although, I started reading from fan fiction when I was younger so I kind of like it still. The whole writing style and approach of the story is kind of new to me. It's like I'm reading a book inside another book. It's like having flashbacks in a unique way. It's cool though, I have to admit. The story itself is very interesting to me, and it's nice to see how the women in Clear, support and care for each other, but sometimes I feel like I'm reading Taylor as a young woman rather than a 70+ year old woman, because how she said things, and I have some quite difficulty distinguishing the characters from one another because it seemed like they all have the same personality. But overall, I still like this story.

The concept of this book is incredibly intriguing, as is the dual narrative. This, however, is where the positives for myself as a reader end.

The author looks to show a positive relationship between a closeted queer teacher and a student she suspects is also a lesbian, however what actually occurs is grossly inappropriate. The fact that she encourages her student to read a book which engages in sapphic content is not the inappropriate part, but rather, that she encourages her student to read an explicit book about her own experience, detailing her sex life with her former girlfriend.

Between this and Grace's grandmother saying that she enjoys the sounds from the bedroom of her granddaughter and her girlfriend at night because it reminds her of a time when she and her husband engaged in swinging parties.... I'm afraid it was impossible to read what should have been a positive story about female empowerment and older queer women helping the younger generation to embrace their sexualities without feeling the older women were inappropriate and, at times, seedy. All of this, coupled with the rampant homophobia (I don't believe there is one man present in the novel who doesn't engage in homophobia of some sort) made this a tough read and ruined what should have been a wonderful sapphic tale of finding freedom and beating a male-dominated world.

so my question has been answered: this is a fiction book. now, let me tell you how much i lived this story. this is about women empowering themselves, but more specifically, queer women. how being queer affect them in their lives but also women, how those 2 things makes life what it is for them in their small town but also back in 1974. some people will criticize the absence of “good” men in this story, i think this is a story about women and their struggles and, honestly, WE KNOW not all men are bad, like not all white peoples are bad, like the world is not just black and white. my only tiny criticism would be that we get a LOT of sapphic women but not one trans woman (i mean we’ve got the drag queen who i think was trans but they get killed so yeah😭). i think it would’ve had another layer on womanhood and the discussion about society’s expectations. i still would totally recommend this book, it was amazing and it has badass women and a found family trope just so you know😉. 4.5⭐️

It's taken me awhile to review this one. I'm torn - I really wanted to love this, but I just didn't love it. I didn't hate it, but the writing wasn't quite there for me. I feel this should solidly be marketed as a teen / young adult book, which I don't normally read because the writing usually feels a bit clunky for me. It seemed choppy and not well fleshed out. There's definitely good bones there, but I had higher expectations. I do appreciate that there is a different perspective from what we typically see from this genre in that the main character is a 70-year-old previously closeted lesbian - connecting to her stories and experiences in the 70s are eye-opening I think for most of us. I will say that I"m a heterosexual cisgender female who is a strong ally for the LGBTQIA+ community. But I recognize that I cannot fully relate to some of the issues in these stories because of my own experiences. This very well might have spoken to me more if I had more similar life experiences. I'm not sure? I'm giving it 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 simply because I really want to support queer stories and authors and feel we need more of this genre. I hope this author continues to write and publish and I will continue to support them. I do recommend you give this a read if you are part of this community and continue to support this genre.

This was probably the craziest book I've ever read. It took me some time to get into it and understand the story and where it was going and let me tell you. This is It! Run, don't walk to get this book.

Oooo, I didn't quite know what to expect with this book. I think it was supposed to be a fun romcom? But I didn't have fun. The romance aspect wasn't there for me. And I found the characters unlikable, while the plot was slow-moving. I think I liked the idea of this book, but not it's actual performance.

I haven't had this experience very often with NetGalley, but probably this book just wasn't for me.

I really don't know what happened with this book. At points it seemed like entire chapters had gone missing--but even if they were there i don't know whether i would have felt any more connected to the book. As a queer educator, i was truly shocked from like the first chapter about what nightmarishly bad boundaries the MC had with a student. Sharing books about queer sex with kids as a teacher? Great! They should be able to see the whole range of possibilities for their futures and their presents. Love it. Sharing books about YOUR OWN sex life, past or present, queer or hetero, with students? ABSOLUTELY NOT. Anyway it started rough and stayed rough for me. The chaos was not fun for me. Maybe this book is a good fit for someone! It's reviewed pretty well on goodreads so i guess it must be. But i slogged through it and felt unsatisfied at almost every point.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

I enjoyed this book although it has been confusing at times with certain things not making much sense and I have found it hard to picture certain events happening in this book, as they didn’t seem realistic. However, I didn't like how this book had an element of foreshadowing because I feel like it ruined the element of surprise of what was about to happen. Also with how Taylor was written as well as how she spoke, she didn't come across as a 70 year old woman, which made me forget that she was in fact 70 years old.

This book is told in dual POVs from Taylor and Grace and I wasn't the biggest fan of how this was done, especially as in Grace's POV it would skip between what she was doing in that moment to reading Taylor's biography, which the constant switching got a little confusing for me.

I really like how this has elements of a book within a book and the author of this book being in the book, as well as her previous books she’s published (The Moonstone Girls and Crystal’s House of Queers) - that is something that I have never read in a book before.

I did like some of the characters, however there were no male characters (apart from one) that weren’t homophobic, racist or abusive which I don’t think represents males properly - there are some decent males that do not fit into these categories. I also think that a lot of the characters were developed a little bit too quickly and you didn’t really get to know them much below a surface level, as well as maybe too many characters being introduced - it was a bit confusing to keep up with who was who (I would forget who some of them were).

Thank you to NetGalley and Skipstone Publishing for giving me an ARC of this book. This book is now available as a e-book for £2.51 (or free on Kindle Unlimited) or paperback for £12.30.

This review has been posted to my NetGalley and Goodreads accounts. I will be posting this review soon to my TikTok and Instagram accounts.

⚠️ TWs: alcohol use, death, COVID death, murder, physical assault, homophobia, person with drug and alcohol problem, profanity, sexual situations, threats to shoot and kill, gun use, racism, derogatory language, child pornography and distribution (paedophilia), mentions conspiracy theories (anti semitism, Black Lives Matter, COVID, the gay agenda and immigration), child abuse, cancer, pregnancy, miscarriage, banned books (and in reference to LGBTQIA+ books), seizure, white supremacy, internalised homophobia, overdose, Nazi imagery, Nazism, cheating, transphobia, domestic abuse, car accident, drunk driving, sexual assault and stigmatisation ⚠️

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for letting me read this ahead of publication.
I love seeing queer represantation in older ages, and I also love the small town setting, and how this felt like a feel-good book throughout reading it. This is definitely a book I would reccomend around solely for these reasons, but I can't say I loved it myself.
The writing style was a bit awkward and through me off a lot. The characters were a bit exagerated at times and the way Taylor was written and her dialogue just could not pass as a 70 year old.
It was a warm book that I sadly didn't match with but I believe others will.

The Queering presents a part of queer life we don’t often see in literature: that of the elderly LGBTQ person. This was good enough reason for me to want to read it, and is good enough reason to recommend people try it, if it sounds like something they might enjoy.

That said, the novel reads kind of like a Hallmark movie: exaggerated stereotypes, and extremely dramatic dialogue and choreography. It’s not horrible, and I’m sure that many readers don’t mind it, but I just couldn’t quite gel with the style.

Grace and Taylor’s relationship seemed overly familiar, but might have made more sense if more time was spent developing their characters. I was annoyed by the way that Grace and Maddi acted in front of Grace’s grandmother, and do they have to SQUEAL so much? I also felt the depiction of Shannon as a grandmother who had zero qualms with any of her granddaughter’s behaviour to be an overly idealised character. I appreciate the idea of an adult who is open with her grandchild about sex and sexuality but… boundaries???

I couldn’t buy into the romance between Taylor and Shannon - I sensed no chemistry, and of course, Taylor just had to fall for the only other queer woman of her age in her town.

Finally, the murder/action plot was, again… unrealistic. I can suspend my disbelief for a novel, but only so far.

Ultimately, The Queering was a miss for me, but I will always be excited about books that introduce diverse characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and Skipstone Publishing for providing an eARC, in exchange for an honest review.

I am sorry for the inconvenience but I don’t have the time to read this anymore and have lost interest in the concept. I believe that it would benefit your book more if I did not skim your book and write a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience.

DNF.

Apologies to the author but I found it too hard to follow the MC switching between herself and pseudonym.

I do intend to revisit this title and once I have, I will edit this review to reflect my thoughts.

Thank you to Netgalley and Skipstone publishing for the ARC in exchange for an unbiased and honest review.

This novel was like nothing I've read before. I was immersed from the beginning and intrigued til the last page.

I love the way we followed the protagonist during two different time periods of her life. Today Taylor, a professor in her seventies, has written a book about her life and one true lost love at a young age.
I enjoyed both time lines but I was honestly much more interested in reading the story of how she fell in love with her best friend and how their relationship evolved. I found myself just wanting to get to those parts. It was fascinating reading about Taylors life in the 70's falling in love with the same sex. How they had to deal with the complexities that came with this in society.

Overall I found The Queering to be a thought provoking, emotional, interesting book.

I would like to thank Brooke Skipstone for writing a book that covers some very important issues and I think does a good job at raising awareness for some of the prejudices that we face in the LGBTQ+ community. Both today and in the past.

This was a fast-paced and emotionally riveting novel that had me on the edge of my seat. It's a queer feminist tale for the ages and I very much enjoyed the story's emotional pull and the plot itself. The women in this story are brave and endure a lot. It's definitely a solid read.