Fence was starting to come out right around when I stopped regularly getting floppies for budgeting reasons. It is exactly the kind of comic I would have love and would have added to my pull list. It is still exactly the kind of comic I love now – sports romance is the genre of romance I gravitate to most and Fence fits the bill.
The comic is a nice mix of comedic, tense, and hopeful. The characters are well drawn literally and metaphorically. The pacing is solid. I look forward to future volumes!
I heard about Take Him Home by Ashlyn Harmon while attending a panel at Sports Romance Con 2026. It was a panel on LGBT+ representation in sports romances and had a stacked group of panelists. I was caught off guard by how emotional I became during the event. Being in a room of people celebrating queer joy hit me hard and left me feeling grateful. When I saw Ashlyn Harmon was looking for arc readers, I didn’t walk, I ran. Well, thanks to years of volleyball, I got weak ankles, so I walked enthusiastically.
In Take Him Home out and proud country star Wyatt steps up to the plate as a fake boyfriend when his high school crush turned the Kansas City’s star hitter Adrian is publicly outed. Wyatt promises himself he won’t let old feelings reemerge but things get complicated when it seems Adrian may want more too. Will the fake boyfriends become real boyfriends? Will they find a way to live authentically in conservative, traditional career fields? And will someone adopt that adorable pittie mix with the cute name?
It can be rare to see a story that understands the benefits and obstacles of Midwest life as a member of the LGBT+ community. The author Harmon does not shy away from the fact that Adrian and Wyatt have to deal with plenty of homophobia in their perspective fields and in their location. Wyatt recognizes he has more to learn about racism in baseball and does the work there as well. Small moments like the zip line attendant/instructor talking about one of Wyatt’s songs being her and her wife’s first dance are sweet. Finding those moments of kinship in what can be an isolating part of the world is everything.
Favorite line: “How much fiddle is too much and does that answer exist in country music?”
A couple months ago I asked my friend Caitlyn if I could borrow a flower crown for a cottage core themed birthday party. She lent me not just the flower crown but also two Abby Jimenez books. I mostly use audiobooks for nonfiction but drew the library lottery and was able to hybrid read between the physical books and audiobooks from the library. It also meant I was able to enjoy the spring midwestern weather when it cooperated.
Part of Your World – My first of Jimenez’s books. I have a deep fondness for small town romances (my favorite from last year was If It Makes You Happy) and Jimenez did not disappoint. Much like the other book it gave me big Stars Hollow vibes. The whole town felt very magical, the side characters are dynamic, and I didn’t want to leave. The character’s problems kept me tense even knowing everything would work out. Four stars.
Say You’ll Remember Me – What a great first encounter between main characters. My wife loooves escape rooms and our first escape room together was in Minneapolis, Minnesota which meant the escape room scene immediately won me over. I also have a family member with dementia so those scenes hit pretty hard too. The main characters were wonderfully balanced by the other characters and growing menagerie of pets. I loved how the audio narration worked – with the different narrators cutting into each other’s narration when their respective character was speaking. Five stars.
Just for the Summer – I love the premise that starts this book. I’m a sucker for a fanfic written in social media posts or in group chats, so starting with a reddit thread was right up my alley. I love the running theme of animal characters in these books. Brad is an excellent additional to the universe. A lot of what I liked about this one are spoilers that tie into other books in the series, so suffice it to say they’re lots for fans of other books by Jimenez.
Now I can return Caitlyn’s books (check out her bookstagram) and decide which of Abby’s books to read next. After I balance things out with more books for the Trans Readathon Challenge. Happy reading!
Set Point by Meg Jones is now the second tennis based LGBT+ romance I’ve read. The first being Thirty Love by Tom Vellner, which was one of the first books I read this year and rated four stars. Like Thirty Love Jone’s Set Point is a rival to lovers story, the hottest trope right now in sports romances. In terms of the trope I found Set Point to be an effective rivals to lovers and liked how those roles ebbed and flowed depending on the competition.
This was another time I failed to notice that a book was later installment in a series. However I found it easy to jump into the deep end, or onto the court, of this series. The main characters from the previous books are in the book I imagine enough to please fans of the series but not so much that I couldn’t keep up. I am looking forward to going back and reading the earlier installments and awaiting the next installment.
Audiobooks are my favorite format for taking in nonfiction and I was not let down by the audiobook for A Terrible Intimacy: Interracial Life in the Slaveholding South by Melvin Patrick Ely. I was provided both the ebook text and audiobook by the publisher for review and I hybrid read between the two. That said the majority of my reading was with the audiobook.
The book is formatted into following six different legal cases that demonstrate the dynamics between races in the slaveholding South. The author wanted the books to feel as if the reader and author were “walking through together.” I think this format was successful in creating that feeling. The author explains that this is a different approach than previous books and despite this I find myself wanting to read those previous books based on my experience reading this one.
The author gives the reader a window into the research process by including details about the archives, sticky volumes, and antiquated terms which he breaks down for the reader. Tips on conducting research made me, as a reader, feel like I was part of the process. Perhaps its the time I spent in special collections as an undergrad but I could practically smell the archives the author waded through.
Now I haven’t reread the original Pride and Prejudice since high school so I can not speak to whether the book is an authentic remix. That said I have rewatched the 2005 film many, many times so I have the general beats and characterizations down pat. I listened to the audiobook and Harrison Knights does wonderful character work. I cackled when I first heard Mr. Collins’ voice.
The scene with Mr. Bennet had me in goosebumps. Mr. Bennet has long been one of my favorite characters in the 2005 film, so it was lovely to see his positive reaction and wholehearted support of Oliver. Historicals with queer characters sometimes have me tense until its clear how the character will be received by their loved ones and this book gave Oliver several supportive characters almost right off the bat. This set me at ease and allowed me to relax more into the book and have fun.
I was glad to find this book worth the wait. Happy Reading!
For Audiobooks I read The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green on my commute to Indianapolis, Men Who Hate Women by Laura Bates, Anderson in Bloom by Jennifer Dugan, Masha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson by @tourmaliiine, and Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H 📚
I chose Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H to fulfill the “book recommended by a friend/bookseller/librarian” category of the Trans Rights Readathon. It is the second book I have read for the 2026 Trans Rights Readathon. I’ve been saving the memoir for this purpose since hearing about it in a video by Alex on Pucks and Paperbacks.
I love memoirs so this one was an easy sell to me. I appreciated how the memoir weaves between childhood and adulthood and between the memoirist life and the life of figures in the Quran. As with most memoirs I read I chose to listen to the audiobook of Hijab Butch Blues. It is a well preformed audiobook and was legible at the various speeds I listened to it at (1x to 1.5x).
The memoirist ventures into queerness are tender and vulnerable. The various family of birth and found family members round out a cast of dynamic personalities. To meet my goal for the March period of the readathon I need to finish one more book.
Thanks to Alex for an excellent recommendation! Happy reading everyone!
Kind: A Romance Where Nothing Bad Happens by Hannah Leigh promises that “nothing bad happens.” It delivers. That is not to say there are not stakes in the novel. Both main characters undergo tremendous character growth and face difficult, complicated choices that they help each other navigate.
The main characters, Drew and Ellis, aren’t quite opposites but do approach life in very different ways. I appreciated the ways they complimented each other and encourage each other’s growth. The book is often humorous and spicy. Recommended for a cozy day’s read.
My first read in the Trans Rights Readathon is Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson by Tourmaline. It fulfilled the category of “a book by or featuring trans elders, or a trans history book.” I highly recommend the audiobook which you can find at the Queer Liberation Library or another library near you! Remember you can read books by and about trans folks year around 🏳️⚧️💖🏳️🌈
