Taylor seeks to tell her story of life as a lesbian in the 1970s. She shares her story despite public outcry from conservative, homophobic community members.
This story was extremely heartfelt. Having grown up as a closeted member of the queer society in a conservative community, moments of this book were all too relatable. It was an eye-opening experience to read and learn about life in the 1970s. Although many things have changed, it feels like sometimes nothing has changed at all.
"The Queering" will be a valuable addition to the middle school library. It will help provide perspective to students outside of the community. More importantly, it will provide validation for those in the community who struggle under the weight of growing up in a conservative demographic.

The reason my start date and my finish dates are so far apart is because I had a lot of difficulty getting into this so I ended up putting it down to read something else for a while. When I picked it back up again, it got really fast paced and unputdownable.

A disclaimer, though, that there are a lot of trigger warnings before you pick up this book: homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, child abuse, pedophilia, racism, religious bigotry, murder…perhaps more, this is from the top of my head.

This book took a big focus on some issues within America such as toxic masculinity, white supremacy, book banning and the rise of Neo-Nazis but how holding on to who you are and the love you have for your family can get you through it, and how you should share this so others like you know they are loved.

Because it covered such a large amount of topics, it didn’t feel like it could give each one the individual amount of attention they all deserved, although they were all connected to each other. It got a bit complicated to follow in areas, especially with all the characters and sometimes not knowing who is who. Saying that, I absolutely loved the concept of a book within a book. You can really tell the author loves storytelling.

I also felt like the characters reacted in strange ways to what was going on, sometimes. They seemed too calm in some situations, and just didn’t have a very strong reaction to some of the events. One in particular stood out to me where, if the same happened to me, I would had a large reaction such as throwing up or crying or some sort of physical revulsion and, although it wouldn’t have come as a massive surprise to the character this happened to, it seemed strange to me that her response was so put together.

This book felt so heavy and so important and I really like that this book is in the world now. Despite my minor issues with the book as a whole, I would highly recommend it. I can’t wait to read more by this author (and I think one or two were referenced in this book which is really cool and I don’t think I’ve read many books that have done that!).

The Queering is an emotionally thrilling romance of love lost, new relationships found, and what it costs to live your truth, all set in conservative Alaska. Taylor Baird MacKenzie is a 70-year-old grandmother and secret queer romance author who is ready to venture into the world as her true self—a queer, lesbian woman. Preventing this quest is the imminent arrival of her vengeful brother and the revelation of Taylor’s true identity to her community and family.

The narrative seamlessly transitions between past and present, using two strong protagonists and an autobiography covering the last days of Taylor’s girlfriend in college. It treats LGBTQ+ issues with respect and honors all manner of lesbian love—all-consuming, wild and young, as well as sensual and mature.
The cast is richly developed. Taylor and her friends are united in love, bravery, and determination to shout out the truth, come what may.

I wanted to love this book. I love the concept and I appreciated learning about queer women in the 70s, but there were a lot of issues that I couldn’t get past. The biggest one was that there was not a single decent male character; I get it, men are shit, they do shit things to women, but I still would like a bit more complexity in the writing of the male characters. I also didn’t love the writing, pop culture references, or mentions of COVID (I’m not against talking about it, but I read this kind of book for escapism).

So first off, I love getting to read from the perspective of someone who was queer from the 70s. The main character has had to hide who she is for years, and with a town and world so viciously against her, she’s going in an uphill battle. The fact that the story touches on topic of issues still current in todays time is important. On a second note, I do believe that there could have been better character development.
Further from that the teamwork of likeminded women pulling together against wicked evils for the name of love, and the freedom to be who you are without bounds.
I really enjoyed this story, but I do think that dialogue, character development could be improved.
Rating : 3/5

I give this a 4.5 out of 5 as I absolutely love Brooke and Taylor’s love everything about it was so beautiful and her ending made me cry. Towards the end I struggled with the town going after them and it felt like it dragged on for pages and pages and waiting for it to end. I’m excited to see what’s in store for “Brooke” next and love finding so amazing lesbian authors!!!! Thank you to NetGalley allowing me a copy of this book to read.

I really wanted to enjoy this one, especially because this is the first book I have seen about queer women in the 70s. However I was not a fan, I did not enjoy how there was not a single decent male character. I get that maybe the author was just trying focus on women and feminism (maybe) but it was just a flop for me. I also felt that the relationships were a whirlwind and at times i felt like i missed something because things were moving so fast.

I really struggled with what rating to give The Queering. There was a lot I liked about it. It was awesome to see representation of older lesbians. The book-within-the-book was really well written and compelling--I'd give The Life and Death of Brooke Skipstone 5 stars in a heartbeat. The overall theme and message of the book is a really important one.

In the end, though, for me the negatives outweighed the positives. The characters all felt pretty flat, the villainous men especially, but the main characters as well. The actual Brooke, the "real" one written about in The Life and Death of Brooke Skipstone, felt like a run of the mill manic pixie dream girl, except she was working her magic on a girl instead of a boy. And the writing was inconsistent. At times the book felt like a piece of high school fanfiction. I really struggled with ending fatigue when it came to finishing the book; it felt like it should have ended 3 or 4 times before the actual end. I did like the ultimate, hopeful ending though.

I've also been surprised to see The Queering referred to as YA; there's some pretty explicit sex and violence, enough that I'd be uncomfortable recommending this book to any of the teens in my life (I'd feel the same if the sex was between boys and girls and written equally explicitly). As a teacher, I certainly wouldn't feel comfortable adding this to my classroom library or recommending it to my high school students.

Which is too bad, because I do think older teens probably would enjoy The Queering, and it does have an important message. I'm glad the book exists, but it just wasn't really for me.

The Queering by Brook Skipstone is a beautifully written story of love and friendship that features a complex set of characters, all struggling in some way with their identity and finding their place in the world. It is a much needed endearing story of what it means to be queer.

Thanks to Netgalley for a free copy of The Queering for an honest review.

This is the first book I have read that contains another book. The main character—Taylor Baird MacKenzie—has written an autobiography of her college years with her best friend and eventual lover, Brooke Skipstone. Why? Because her brother is out of prison and seeking revenge. Taylor wants the world to know about her life with Brooke before her brother kills her. And this book could be a separate novel. So exciting and tense and full of romance.

But it's just part of this amazing story. Taylor discovers that she isn't alone in her battle against her brother. She finds another 70-year-old grandmother, Shannon, and the awesome Grace and Maddi to help her fight against not only her brother, but the homophobic world all these women live in.

Overall, a poignant story of our times. Very timely.

The Queering by Brooke Skipstone is a story of female rage and lesbian revenge (two of my favourite things), but also a love story, a tragedy, and a happy ending.
I really enjoyed this book. It was filled with ups and downs, and I was on the edge of my seat the entire time wondering what would happen to the characters in both the past and the present. I think lovers of female rage and revenge will love this book and I think a new favourite literary character can definitely be found in Taylor Baird/Brooke Skipstone.
See my full review on Goodreads! https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5141675183

ok this has to be one of the most awesome queer book i've ever heard
i went inside with no expection
and i got EVERYTHING
like woah! this book keeps u hooked till the end. the mystery, the plotting, the characters, everything was top notch
one thing that i didn't appreciate was the lack of at least decent men
if u come here searching for decent men, there are none
not even one and that's troubling
but aside from that, this was really amazing

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️ 🌶️
Age range: 18+

Quotes:

“Okay, last night was a one-off, and I’ll keep my hands off you.” I traced her mouth with my finger. “But if you ever kiss me on the lips again, I am not responsible for what happens next.”
“Find yourself a good woman,” Grace said with a smile. “You’d be much happier with life.”
“We form our own cocoon, and for a little while, we become entirely one.”
“I loved one woman with my entire soul and might have found another to love, but I fell into a trap.”
Evil people try to tear you down. Or force you to live their way and agree with their beliefs.

Review:
How does so much happen in one book? That’s what I kept asking myself as I continued to read each chapter. As the story unraveled I was pulled in more and more. So many twists and turns that this type of book needs to be read by more than just our community. Everyone should read what happens still in 2022 to so many of our youth and this book could help with that.

Tropes:
Romantasy
Repeat History
Touch her and die
Friends to Lovers

Well.

The last quarter of the book was great, I really enjoyed it even though it was kind of unreal and almost looked like something out of Home alone.

The charactersseemed built from a checklist, becoming caricatured, especially the villains. A lot of the politically charged dialogue felt unnatural and the final relationship lacked sufficient development.

I really appreciated the opportunity to read about a queer woman in ther 70's, we need more characters in this age range.

The mystery was interesting and the plot of the past I liked a lot

I read Crystal’s House of Queers at the start of 2022 and really enjoyed it so couldn’t wait to read another of Brooke’s novels.

Flitting between the 70s and modern day Alaska, Taylor, an in the closet queer author uses the pseudonym of Brooke Skipstone, to write queer stories inspiring and encouraging others to come out and live their truth. She writes as Brooke, her best friend turned lover, who was murdered at the hands of her homophobic racist brother. With her brother released from prison and hell bent on revenge, Taylor has no choice but to come out and seek refuge with her fellow lesbians and finally face who she really is.

This was a tale bravery and pride in the face of prejudice and hatred. It’s scary how we still face persecution, judgement and danger in the 21st century and we are still not free to love and express our true selves. This novel serves as an inspiration to us all wanting to live and speak our truth. Told with honesty, this book is heart aching, awe inspiring and both parts tragic and thought provoking.

This wasn’t really what I was expecting, but I do not mean that in a bad way. I think it was a really good book, especially with the cover and the story like but I really liked the cover. I think it was written well with a lot of skill.

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for providing a free copy of The Queering.

I read this book in two sittings. It is exciting and tense and funny and deadly serious. Though it is a page-turner, The Queering also presents profound ideas. Sexual identity is not a "light switch" but rather a dial with myriad possibilities. People who hate queers are dangerous to everyone. Suppressing your real feelings to conform with a majority opinion is unhealthy. And perhaps the most important: grandmas can still be interested in sex!

The characters are unique with their own voices. And they are obviously Alaskan.

Please read this book.

What makes The Queering different from all other books is that it is explicitly, unapologetically liberal, and feminist. With twists of erotica, a book-within-a-book, and a thrilling mystery, people who love the idea of conservatives getting punched in the gut by a seventy-year-old lesbian will absolutely adore this book.

It is written by Brooke Skipstone, who, through this story, traces her real identity to an Elder living in the shadows of Alaska by the name of Taylor MacKenzie. While teaching at a high school, Taylor befriends an eighteen-year-old Senior named Grace. Grace’s father, Levi, is a right-wing podcaster, who plans on outing Taylor to the town. Unbeknownst to Levi, Grace has a girlfriend and seeks Taylor’s advice after discovering that she has authored one of her favorite queer books. What ensues is a turbulent story about loss, grief, and love in many forms. It is a coming-of-age for young and old.

This was an easy read. Once lost in the book, the reader will find it engrossing. Some content was difficult to suspend my belief in reality (70-year-old grandmas who are okay with carnal PDA are hard to come by). When coming back to the book after taking a break from it, I often found that it was hard to put off judgment toward the characters’ actions and wondered if everything was too much. That is until I was enraptured with the whodunit aspect once again. The mixture of sex and crime was clunky and not an easy transition with each other and I found myself pulling through simply to find out how the story would resolve itself. It does so with hopefulness and merriment.

Thank you Netgalley for the copy!

I'm not sure how I feel about this book. I loved some parts of it, but it was bogged down by inconsistent writing. Some moments were written beautifully, but most of the novel's flow was choppy and full of cliche dialogue. I also feel like too much happened. Twists and turns kept on piling up with little-to-no explanation, feeling forced and rushed.

What I did like about this book was its message. The author worked hard to deconstruct the gender and sexuality binary and showed LGBTQ+ (specifically lesbian) platonic and romantic relationships in a positive way. It was also a good to see an older adult exploring sexuality, which is not something that much media does.

Overall, I wish the writing was better because it takes away from the amazing parts of the book.

Thank you NetGalley for providing an ARC.

I DNF'ed this book at 36%. I really tried to continue but it just felt like such a chore. The writing style wasn't for me, the pacing was off and there was too much drama. I do want to say that the topics that are discussed (LGBTQIA+) are very important and that's partly why I'm bummed this book just isn't for me. I hope others will enjoy it more!