#˚₊‧꒰ 🤎 - Lily's recommends

[starchaser-lily]

Part II of my series, where I recommend fanfics that I'm reading/read by making a mood board of it. (Part I)

Gilded Constellations by @thebestofoneshots

Summary: You meet Sirius and Regulus at a family vacation in the Caribbean, but things don't go as planned and you end up losing contact once the trip is over. Years later your family moves to England and you get accepted at Hogwarts where you finally meet Sirius once again, along with all of his friends. One of them with a mysterious secret, that you'll uncover as you embark on your own Hogwarts adventure. Mostly canon-compliant.

Pairing: Sirius Black x Remus Lupin x Reader

Content Warnings/Tags: Slow Burn, Smut in later chapters, Poly!Marauders, throuple, graphic descriptions of violence, major and minor character death, jealousy, angst, pining, love triangle, LGBTQ+ themes, The Wizarding war 1.0, implied child abuse, possible proofreading errors, mental health struggles, hurt no comfort, hurt with comfort, period typical attitude, first war with Voldemort, canonical character's death, fluff, Requited Love, F/M/M, mostly canon-compliant.

Word Count: 5k - 7 k per chapter

[read-bi-lina]

Happy Pride🩷🤎🖤❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

Of course I celebrated by crossing off some queer titles from my TBR list! I listened to Imogen, Obviously by Becky Albertalli, Margo Zimmerman Gets the Girl by Brianna R. Shrum and Sara Waxelbaum, and Going Bicoastal by Dahlia Adler this month on Audible. My picks had a noticeable but unintentional trend given each of them are YA with Jewish representation, bi/les couples, redheaded MCs or love interests (or maybe not bc Imogen from Imogen, Obviously may be brunette judging by the artwork on the author’s Instagram…?) and 2/3 mention the movie,

which, thank goddess they did because they had me finally get around to watching it.

But this post isn’t about movies, it’s about books. So let’s get into them.

Imogen, Obviously

Imogen is surrounded by queer friends and family but she herself identifies as a straight ally. To show her support, she’s part of Pride Alliance, she loves queer pop culture, and she’s always there for her loved ones. Case in point, she’s also agreed to go along with her recently out best friend, Lili, and the lie she’s told her new, queer college friends about the two of them previously dating. It’s no problem for Imogen. Except when starts to get close with one of said friends, Tessa, and she begins to struggle with withholding the truth from her. She was never with Lili — she’s not even queer. Or is that only partly true?

TW: Biphobia, pressured/forced outing of a character, toxic friendship, gatekeeping, gaslighting, queer stereotypes

Opinion: First thing’s first, I’ll say it’s probably best to read this book for yourself rather than listen to the audiobook because there is a lot of texting. I was distracted (and slightly annoyed) by the constant mention of character initials and text timestamps within the narration. Other than that, this book resonated with me since I too was once a closeted bisexual whose sexuality was never once questioned because we were all convinced I was straight (curse comphet). Once it dawned on me I am in fact, not straight, it made so much sense looking back. It’s no surprise I’ve also experienced biphobia since coming out. I couldn’t relate to everything in the book; I’ve never found my own Tessa (I love her character) and I’ve never had a queer circle of my own. None of that stopped me from enjoying the story, however, and I can see this book making an impact on others. Especially the next generation.

Margo Zimmerman Gets the Girl

Baby, closeted lesbian, Margo, gets lessons from out-and-proud bisexual, Abbie, on how to “ace” being ✨gay✨ and discovers a new friendship with her experienced mentor, as well as her growing feelings for the girl of her dreams.

TW: Biphobia, homophobia, toxic friendship, gatekeeping, gaslighting, queer and lesbian stereotypes

Opinion: This book was my favorite of the three and I found myself relating a bit to both Margo and Abbie. There’s not much else I can say about it without giving away spoilers but I will say I loved this book and I highly recommend it!

Going Bicoastal

Follow Natalya along two different realities, one where she’s living with her father in New York City and getting to know “the redhead” she’s had her eye on. The other, she’s staying with her mother in Los Angeles and warming up to the intern she shares a desk with at her mother’s place of work.

TW: Self harm, divorce/divorced parents

(Unpopular) Opinion: As a fan of Adler’s Cool for the Summer and Home Field Advantage, not to mention a fan of this concept, I was really excited for this to release. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. While it had potential, I thought it was kind of boring. It seemed to me more care was put into the mentioning of food than the plot. I didn’t develop much of an interest in the characters, either. It was entertaining enough to finish but I wouldn’t personally recommend it. Not over Dahlia’s other works and not over Imogen, Obviously or Margo Zimmerman Gets the Girl. However, if you want to, I encourage you to give it a try yourself and develop your own opinion. There are many other good reviews out there for this one. It appears I’m the odd one out, which is fine.

[starchaser-lily]

So, I'm starting a series where I recommend fanfics that I'm reading by making a mood board about it. Because I have time lol

Power Over Me by @star4daisy

Summary: James Potter became a vampire hunter to protect humans and free the world of their bloodthirsty species once and for all. He never expected to fall in love with one, let alone three.

Pairing: Regulus Black x Barty Crouch Jr. x James Potter x Evan Rosier

Content Warnings/Tags: Smut, Polyamory, Explicit Language, Morally Ambiguous Character, Blood, Blood Kink, Explicit Sexual Contents, Happy Ending, Possessive Behavior, Blood Drinking, Depression, M*rder, Corruption Moral, Violence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort

Word Count: 34,534