I really enjoyed this one. Thank you, NetGalley for sharing this with me. I'll definitely be looking forward to reading more.

Amazing read about intersectionality between being queer and religion. The complicated relationship we have with gender and the outside world . Could not get enough of this

I love a memoir focusing on lesbians and Catholicism. I am a total sucker for this kind of book. I also and so impressed when people can write about their experiences so eloquently. I ate this up and couldn't put it down. I can not recommend this book enough. An easy 5 stars!

Very good story!! This is a new to me author and i will be checking more books out by this author. I finished it in one day

Burning Butch by R/B Mertz is a great memoir! I listened to the audiobook narrated by the author and they did a fantastic job! It’s a very compelling personal account of growing up in a conservative, religious community as a lesbian and gender nonconforming person. I applaud the bravery to be honest and share such personal experiences. I found this book a very interesting and engaging read.

This memoir took my breath away. R/B Mertz grew up in a conservative Catholic community and attended university aligned with the same mentality. Along the way, R/B discovers their identity as a non-binary butch lesbian, navigates friendships and relationships with those in positions of authority, and seeks therapy. The beauty and authenticity of this memoir, along with Mertz's soothing voice, slowly peel open your heart. I am not trans, lesbian, non-binary, Catholic, or a member of a large family, but I still found a home in this book. I am doing a poor job of giving the quality of review this memoir deserves, but suffice it to say it is one I could listen to or read time and time again.

Burning Butch by R/B Mertz is a really powerful and interesting read. Chronicling the authors struggles with sexuality and gender identity while dealing with a heavily religious community. It really hits close to home for me as a queer person who grew up in the highly religious south. I'm very glad I took the time to read it.

Highly recommend this one! I think for anyone who grew up near conservatives in the church or just in the church will find this so relatable. The end meandered a bit, but still really enjoyed listening to this author's story all the way through.

This is a bold and unflinching memoir by an author who does not pack any punches. I found it fascinating to see how Mertz has navigated life given their particular challenges of having experienced abuse at the hands of a family member as well as growing up in a very religious environment. I can identify with some of what Mertz experienced, especially when it comes to making choices to attempt to cover up their true identity. I also found it satisfying to discover that we were not going to get everything tied up in a neat bow at the end. Gender and sexuality are extremely complex and very personal issues, so the fact that Mertz still seems to be on the path to discovery added to my appreciation of this book.

I would recommend this book to anyone who has or is currently grappling with what it is to be queer in any way, as well as anyone who wants to gain greater insight into the experiences of queer people.

I was given access to the audio of this book by the publisher via Netgalley. Mertz was a good narrator and I always find it much more personal when a memoir is read by the author. However there were a lot of sections in the book when there had been obvious re-recordings of sentences or parts of sentences, which I found distracting. But it didn't impact my enjoyment too much.

Burning Butch by R/B Mertz should be required reading for everyone - regardless of your religious views, sexual orientation, or experience. This book will expand your perspective and challenge you to think outside of your own experience. HIGHLY recommend and grateful that R/B took the time to share their story. We will all be better for reading it.

Thank you to Netgalley and HighBridge Audio for the ARC - Burning Butch is out now!

~ARC provided through NetGalley~

"Burning Butch" is a deeply honest retelling of the author's painful upbringing in a Catholic family and their subsequent conservative religious education. The stories, while deeply personal and harrowing, capture exactly what it is like to be a queer woman or nonbinary person in the 21st century, especially in a conservative community. While some stories were hard to listen to, R/B Mertz had a way of breaking down and reflecting on difficult life events in a way that read, to me, as hopeful and healing. I would definitely recommend this book to folk; however, there are heavier topics so perusing the content warnings should be advised.

That being said, the TLDR is that the catholic church sucks.

First, I want to thank NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for allowing me to listen to the book in exchange for an honest review, of my favorite book of March.

So, I am French and I did not grow up close to religion so this book allowed me to discover a lot about it. It looks like the practice of religion is different in our countries, at least that’s what a (french) friend and I talked about after reading this book.

Talking about the book, it was a difficult one to read, I have different experiences than the author, and yet I felt so seen listening to them talk about their life. We follow the life of R/B Mertz, a non-binary lesbian who grew up in a conservative catholic environment, and we follow how they learn about their sexuality and their gender. How they dealt with them, their struggle, but also their joy during this process.

This book has a lot of religious bigotry, trauma, homophobia, lesbiphobia, and transphobia. It talks about incest, sexual harassment, rape, racism, classism, and pro-life… We also follow as the author learns a lot about it, and how their mind change during their lifetime.

We learn about their relationship with religion, and how they deal with it. How they did not have to choose, how they still believe, even if they took some step back. They are really brave, and their writing is great, I want to read more books about them.

This book was a lot, I cried, I felt so angry and happy sometimes. It’s an emotional, challenging, informative, reflective, but also a hopeful book. Like, people should definitely read it.

I loved the narrator but couldn't help think during the whole book how rural American Catholicism is different from French Catholicism. Not to start a religious war but from my side of the ocean it didn't sound different from rural American Protestants besides like saints.

Anyway, great memoir, although the frequent time skips lost me. I knew the author was nonbinary but had I not known that the hook would have been very confusing at times, especially towards the end.

Wow, what a powerful book. Mertz does not shy away from the difficult times in their life, but the prevailing message is that they came out the other side. This is an incredibly moving memoir that will particularly resonate with queer folks with religious backgrounds, and especially pasts of religious extremism. The audiobook was so well narrated and flowed so naturally I listened to it almost all in one sitting, I'd highly recommend it in audiobook format if that's your cup of tea.

This was a great memoir. I feel grateful to have been able to hear Mertz’s story and from their own voice. I’ve never read a book where the MC went to a college where many students studied to become nuns and priests. I appreciate the rawness of what being religious has led Mertz to do in the past. I really liked the story of Joan of Arc and how the author was able to relate it to the novel.

Great memoir on growing up queer and religious. R B Mertz as the author and narrator did an amazing job

book review
* Genre: Memoir
*Synopsis: Mertz has had to face a lot of discrimination against them and their sexuality. They grew up in a very religious catholic family that condoned homosexuality. This book is about the trials and tribulations of Mertz life and how they got through all of those hard times and managed to come through it and live a meaningful life. I cannot rate this book, as how can you rate someone's life? It was very sad at times but also inspirational at others. I marvel at the strength of character that Mertz has and I really hope the rest of their life is a lot easier and happier for them.
I would like to thank netgalley for providing an advanced reader copy via audiobook for me and all thoughts and feelings are my own.

Wow I felt a lot of things reading this book. I think this would resonate with any queer person who was raised in a religious household. I think we all know that distinct feeling of shame for being born the way we are. Mertz has a compelling way of writing and I also enjoyed listening to them narrate their work - it made the memoir even more personal. Their struggle is heart wrenching at times and I should mention a few Content Warnings - Sexual Assault/Incest, homophobia, and suicide attempts. This story is powerful and extremely brave and I hope it finds its way into the hands of those who need to hear it. Thank you NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

“I think of [Catholicism] like a language for the universe, for the mysteries. It’s the one I speak most fluently, anyway, but I don’t attend. They don’t acknowledge my moral authority and I don’t acknowledge theirs so we’re at an impasse.”

This memoir is searing and heartbreaking and so so beautifully written. As someone who grew up in conservative Catholic environment, although not as conservative as R/B’s, this resonated so much. R/B perfectly captures the complexity and reluctance to reject the church while questioning its homophobic, sexist teachings.

R/B is such a gifted writer and their poetic prose broke my heart and put it back together. Their story is so desperately lonely and sad that their perseverance is incredible. I’ll be thinking about this memoir for a long, long time.

the way the book is formatted, i.e. jumping back and forth in time, made me feel like i was inside Mertz's brain, watching them unravel and unpack their memories and their feelings about them. it's honestly one of the reasons i loved this book. being put in someone else's shoes is part of why i love literature in general, but Mertz really takes it a step further and brings you into the world of cult-like catholicism.
this memoir was so insightful and feels like a bit of a historical document in that it shows what being (a white) queer and christian is like in the states. it reinforced my opinion of christianity, in that you can't go around preaching love thy neighbour and then tell gay people they're going to hell for their "lifestyle" or let pedophiles near children. but at the same time, the author is able to show different facets of the religion as well as extend grace and empathy towards zealots.
coming from a culture that is about laicity (sometimes to a fault), the extremes to which the states view and act on their religious beliefs always boggles my mind, yet the author, instead of simply regurgitating what most liberals would say, provides a more nuanced, critical, and educated perspective than i feel like i usually get (including my own). it took me out of my little echo chamber and i feel like i got a much more human portrait of what white american queers in very catholic communities had to endure and how some of it has and hasn't changed since.
i hope this made a little sense, i'm not the best at being succinct but i really enjoyed this memoir

thank you to NetGalley for the advanced audiobook copy!