My Take on Queer Romance Month

03:48

This is the most difficult and scariest post I've written since I started my blog almost 2 years ago. As a heterosexual woman with very few queer friends in real life (not to say any) and a few more online, I see the LGTB community as something distant and unrelated directly to my life. I read mostly het romances and I've only started reading more queer romance in past couple of months. All this makes me feel like I'm taking a plunge into an unfamiliar territory and I worry of making a major faux-pas and unintentionally offending someone. In order to avoid any of this, I'll keep this post short and simple. 

I heard about QRM through Julio Alexi Genao and Alexis Hall at Goodreads. I was intrigued by this event and I followed it closely. It was an amazing experience for me where I learned a lot from the posts of authors and fans of the genre. 

In general, I don't treat queer romance as different from the other romances I read. I look for the same things I enjoy in het romances - an interesting plot, well developed and authentic characters, passionate love, authentic characters and a happy end. Sometimes I need fun and fluffy, other times I look for more angst and drama, I even go for darker reads from time to time. The gender of the characters doesn't really matter as long as the author manages to get me to care deeply for them and to believe in their love. I do realize that obstacles on the road to happiness can be different for queer characters than for het characters, yet I believe everybody's romantic challenges can be different regardless of their gender. 

As the motto of QRM says Love is Love and I loved how this event drew attention to the fact that there are all kinds of love stories out there and they all deserve to be told and appreciated for their beauty and uniqueness.

Here are just a few of the posts that have touched me the most and stayed with me in one way or another.

Personal stories:
Closets by Julio Alexi Genao- a touching personal story told as one long, beautiful poem
Why we need trans romance by E.E. Ottoman - truly heart-breaking in its honesty and eloquence
Hair, Holding Hands, Harry & Hope by Kat - a moving personal story

Short stories/fiction:
I Just Knew by Anyta Sunday - 3 lovely haikus in prose on love
Under the Bustle by Vanessa North - a cute and fluffy story of a wedding
Shimmer by L. C. Chase - a snippet of a love story that made me excited to read the full novel when it's done

General discussion posts:
Finding the universal in the particular by Joanna Chambers - a thought-provoking piece on reading (romance)
Make Room for Happily Never After by Edmond Manning - a controversial piece on HEA or lack of it in queer romance which provoked an interesting discussion
Sports, the final Frontier by Sarina Bowen - on writing m/m sports romance

On happy endings - probably my favourite topic:
Happily Ever After by Alexis Hall 
and everything by these two authors - it is a must read for me!

You can find links to all QRM posts and related musings HERE.

In principle I don't believe in telling people what they should do or read, for that matter. Instead I'm all for spreading the word and just making others aware that given books, genres and loves stories exist and whoever is curious will find their way to them
 

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