The Girl Who Cried Poetry

Happy Holidays!

My idea of a fun filled holiday is spending it under the covers reading a novel that gives me all the right feels without feeling the anxiety that life brings, then again, I’m just an introverted bookworm who tries her very best to avoid social interaction.

Today, I bring you my very best of 2023. This year, I actually took my time to delve into the Queer Literature world and it’s been lovely. Without the accurate knowledge, one would think there would only be very few books written about Queer life and love, but it’s the exact opposite really. They are everywhere!

While I can say I was a bit biassed by reading only MM romances, I’m making it a point of action to rectify that in the coming year, but really, who doesn’t love a good gay romance novel?

I definitely do and that’s why this blog post is written— to show off these wonderful books also serving as a point of recommendation. Read well!


1. Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin

Synopsis

Set in the contemporary Paris of American expatriates, liaisons, and violence, a young man finds himself caught between desire and conventional morality. James Baldwin’s brilliant narrative delves into the mystery of loving with a sharp, probing imagination, and he creates a moving, highly controversial story of death and passion that reveals the unspoken complexities of the heart.

Giovanni’s room is a book I hope to write an extensive review on one of these days after I reread it because I’m sure I’ve forgotten all about it. Precisely, this book opened up a theme that I don’t think is talked enough about: Internalized homophobia.

The book is set in the 1950s where Homosexuality wasn’t legalized, but it was a thing that everyone sort of understood. Our main character, David, falls into the charm of a man he meets in a gay bar and they both succumb to their very desires. The only problem is that David hates it, but he can’t help loving a man even if he tries so much to hide it.

I totally recommend this book. It’s an eye opener and like most queer stories set in that time, it’s a sort of climactic tragedy that will leave you with many thoughts.




2. Love, Hate & Clickbait by Liz Browery

Synopsis

Cutthroat political consultant Thom Morgan is thriving, working on the governor of California’s presidential campaign. If only he didn’t have to deal with Clay Parker, the infuriatingly smug data analyst who gets under Thom’s skin like it’s his job. In the midst of one of their heated and very public arguments, a journalist snaps a photo, but the image makes it look like they’re kissing. As if that weren’t already worst-nightmare territory, the photo goes viral—and in a bid to secure the liberal vote, the governor asks them to lean into it. Hard.

Thom knows all about damage control—he practically invented it. Ever the professional, he’ll grin and bear this challenge as he does all others. But as the loyal staffers push the boundaries of “giving the people what they want,” the animosity between them blooms into something deeper and far more dangerous: desire. Soon their fake relationship is hurtling toward something very real, which could derail the campaign and cost them both their jobs…and their hearts.

Enemies to Lovers, Fake Relationship trope, what more can a book lover like me ask for? Thom and Clay are two different people, but they’re caught in a mess and because of a campaign, they have to pretend to be lovers, only, pretending can start to feel very real.

I love the steam and connection between both main characters and how the conflict was resolved in the ending. It was so cute. I love how these two characters are not perfect. They are shitty, have repulsive traits and often make bad decisions, but that’s the beauty of it. I totally recommend.

3. God’s Children are Little Broken Things by Arinze Ifeakundu

Synopsis

In nine exhilarating stories of queer love in contemporary Nigeria, God’s Children Are Little Broken Things announces the arrival of a daring new voice in fiction.

A man revisits the university campus where he lost his first love, aware now of what he couldn’t understand then. A young musician rises to fame at the price of pieces of himself, and the man who loves him. Arinze Ifeakandu explores with tenderness and grace the fundamental question of the heart: can deep love and hope be sustained in spite of the dominant expectations of society, and great adversity.

One thing about me is that when I see a Nigerian Queer Literature novel, I will be there no matter what. There’s something enticing and tragic about it. It’s a sort of illicit thing, wanting to discover the depths of homosexuality in a country where it is frowned upon and that’s why authors who write about it deserve all the love.

God’s Children are Little Broken Things is everything, I can’t even lie. It even made me tear up in some parts. I absolutely recommend it to readers who enjoy African Queer Literature.


4. Call Me by Your Name by Andrè Aciman

Synopsis

Call Me by Your Name is the story of a sudden and powerful romance that blossoms between an adolescent boy and a summer guest at his parents’ cliff-side mansion on the Italian Riviera. Unprepared for the consequences of their attraction, at first each feigns indifference. But during the restless summer weeks that follow, unrelenting buried currents of obsession and fear, fascination and desire, intensify their passion as they test the charged ground between them. What grows from the depths of their spirits is a romance of scarcely six weeks’ duration and an experience that marks them for a lifetime. For what the two discover on the Riviera and during a sultry evening in Rome is the one thing both already fear they may never truly find again: total intimacy.

The psychological manoeuvres that accompany attraction have seldom been more shrewdly captured than in André Aciman’s frank, unsentimental, heartrending elegy to human passion. Call Me by Your Name is clear-eyed, bare-knuckled, and ultimately unforgettable.

The most distinguished factor in Andrè Aciman’s novel you are sure to notice first is his writing style which is profoundly beautiful. Let me spill, it might give you a bit of a headache at first because, trust me, Shakespeare isn’t even coming close, but that’s how it is.

This coming of age novel through the eyes of Elio is another sad queer novel of a boy discovering what it is to fall in love with an older man. The sexuality of it all is most lovely and the slow burn? I’m all for it.

There’s a movie adaptation that you’ll also love, but it’s not coming close to the novel, so read before you watch.


5. Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall

Synopsis

When tangentially ― and reluctantly ― famous Luc O’Donnell is forced back into the spotlight in the worst possible way, he has to think fast if he wants to save his floundering reputation. Enter Oliver Blackwood. Stunningly handsome and effortlessly put together, Oliver is successful, an ethical vegetarian, and has never appeared in a scandal mag evenonce. In other words, he’s perfect boyfriend material and exactly what Luc needs to appear respectable again. But when their fake relationship starts to feel like real romance, Luc and Oliver might have to consider whether they’re willing to fight for the truth of their new relationship…scandal, and consequences, be damned.

My best friend recommended this book, alongside The Charm Offensive by Allison Cochrun and I’m sure she thought it was just another queer novel, but they warmed my heart dearly.

When I say fictional gay men are the standard, this book is an example. We have our chaotic main character Luc and his near perfect significant other, Oliver. Luc has a lot going with him and he thinks he might never be deserving of love, but Oliver is there loving him and holding him and saying all the right words and it’s so good.

Readers would fall in love with Oliver instantly for his pretentious grammar which I approve of because life is too short to not want to exhaust words in the Oxford Dictionary and his thoughtfulness and sweetness.

There’s a book two where Luc and Oliver’s story continues and that’s what I’m currently reading. The title is Husband Material. I recommend.


6. One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

Synopsis

A new romantic comedy that will stop readers in their tracks…

For cynical twenty-three-year-old August, moving to New York City is supposed to prove her right: that things like magic and cinematic love stories don’t exist, and the only smart way to go through life is alone. She can’t imagine how waiting tables at a 24-hour pancake diner and moving in with too many weird roommates could possibly change that. And there’s certainly no chance of her subway commute being anything more than a daily trudge through boredom and electrical failures.

But then, there’s this gorgeous girl on the train.

Jane. Dazzling, charming, mysterious, impossible Jane. Jane with her rough edges and swoopy hair and soft smile, showing up in a leather jacket to save August’s day when she needed it most. August’s subway crush becomes the best part of her day, but pretty soon, she discovers there’s one big problem: Jane doesn’t just look like an old school punk rocker. She’s literally displaced in time from the 1970s, and August is going to have to use everything she tried to leave in her own past to help her. Maybe it’s time to start believing in some things, after all.

Casey McQuiston’s One Last Stop is a magical, sexy, big-hearted romance where the impossible becomes possible as August does everything in her power to save the girl lost in time.

When you read Casey’s book for the first time, you wonder what is going on and if it’s going to make sense, but you don’t want to stop, so you go on. That’s the best part — going on, because you realize that this story is going to change your life for a brief moment and you’re all for it.

She did it with Red, White and Royal Blue and now, this book that I feel most honoured to have read. First time I even read a GL and I loved it. See, you just have to love the gay.

The tropes explored here: family, grief, mystery, sci-fi, love, drag, self pity, feeling undeserving and sex. This book will knock your rocks off and you won’t even see it coming. I definitely recommend.

7. Twisted Pretty Things by Ariana Nash

Synopsis

Something wicked is moving in the shadows of London…

In the underground world of glitzy illegal auctions, fast cars, and stolen magical artifacts, John “Dom” Domenici knows he’s out of his depth. But he needs the job at Kempthorne & Co like he needs to breathe. The alternative—going back to the organized crime gangs of London’s East End—is unthinkable.

So when Alexander Kempthorne, boss of Kempthorne & Co Artifact Retrieval Agency, wants him on a special case to track down an illegal artifact dealer, Dom can’t say no.

It shouldn’t matter that Kempthorne’s world is full of deadly secrets. It shouldn’t matter that the billionaire is sexy as sin, and it really shouldn’t matter how there’s an American agent stalking Dom, an American who knows more than he should about Dom’s case, including the real reason Alexander Kempthorne hired Dom.

The only thing that really matters to Dom is solving the case and finding the artifact dealer. Because there are worse things in London than a conflicted billionaire and a trigger-happy American. Something wicked is stalking London’s streets, and if Dom doesn’t stop it, its shadows will rise and consume them all.

A friend of mine once said this book reminded him of a Wattpad novel and I still haven’t forgotten it. I mean, Daddy Kempthorne is mid? Go away.

It’s an urban fantasy novel that you’ll love and the gay is great and you’ll be pining hard for two particular characters, but don’t relent when you don’t get it in book one. Yes, it’s a series and there are five books or so, but let your love for Kempthorne and Dom carry you through. I recommend.

8. Jay’s Gay Agenda by Jason June

Synopsis

There’s one thing Jay Collier knows for sure—he’s a statistical anomaly as the only out gay kid in his small rural Washington town. While all his friends can’t stop talking about their heterosexual hookups and relationships, Jay can only dream of his own firsts, compiling a romance to-do list of all the things he hopes to one day experience—his Gay Agenda.

Then, against all odds, Jay’s family moves to Seattle and he starts his senior year at a new high school with a thriving LGBTQIA+ community. For the first time ever, Jay feels like he’s found where he truly belongs, where he can flirt with Very Sexy Boys and search for love. But as Jay begins crossing items off his list, he’ll soon be torn between his heart and his hormones, his old friends and his new ones…because after all, life and love don’t always go according to plan.

Consider this book a way of discovering the LGBTQIA+ for yourself through the eyes of our dearest protagonist, Jay. It’s a light hearted read, might seem ridiculous, will definitely have you facepalming at some point, but it’s all part of the experience.


9. Halo by Brooke Blaine and Ella Frank

Synopsis

Massive world tours. Over a hundred million albums sold. Groupies galore.
Every day is a party for Viper and the guys of TBD, the biggest rock band in the world. But it all comes to a screeching halt when the lead singer walks out of the studio one day and never comes back.

Ear-blistering vocals. Butchered lyrics. Fame chasers.
After months of lackluster auditions, Viper, the lead guitarist and resident bad boy of the group, is ready to find solace in the bottom of a bottle. Time’s running out and the pressure’s on to find a new singer, but it isn’t until an angel walks through the door that the band’s prayers are answered.

Charismatic. Talented. Magic behind the mic. Halo is everything they’ve been looking for.
With a voice to match his stunning good looks, it isn’t long before Viper’s taking notice. But there are several reasons this is a bad idea:

1. Interpersonal relationships in the band are discouraged

2. Viper has already broken rule #1—big mistake

3. Halo is straight


Too bad Viper’s body isn’t listening to his head—at least not the one on his shoulders. But you can’t fake chemistry, not onstage and certainly not off it, and Viper and Halo? They have it in spades.

As both men try to resist the fire blazing between them, and the band is forced to reinvent themselves, it’ll be a complicated rise back to the top. But from the ashes of what was, something beautiful is born. Something better. And when the world finally sees Halo stretch his wings, they’ll discover what it’s like to fall for an angel.

If you love a good gay romance that will have you checking why the room is so hot, I definitely recommend Halo to you. The steam level is so hot, the slow burn is amazing and the seduction? See, you just have to experience it for yourself. It’s a series and if you ever want to read more about Halo and Viper, you have my permission.

10. She Called Me Woman edited by Azeenarh Mohammed, Chitra Nagarajapan, and Rafeeyat Aliyu

Synopsis

“We put together this collection of thirty narratives to correct the invisibility, the confusion, the caricaturising and the writing out of queer women from history.”

This stirring and intimate collection brings together 30 captivating narratives to paint a vivid portrait of what it means to be a queer Nigerian woman. Covering an array of experiences – the joy and excitement of first love, the agony of lost love and betrayal, the sometimes-fraught relationship between sexuality and spirituality, addiction and suicide, childhood games and laughter – She Called Me Woman sheds light on how Nigerian queer women, despite their differences, attempt to build a life together in a climate of fear.

Through first-hand accounts, She Called Me Woman challenges us to rethink what it means to be a Nigerian ‘woman’, negotiating relationships, money, sexuality and freedom, identifying outside the gender binary, and the difficulties of achieving hopes and dreams under the constraints of societal expectations and legal terrorism.
These beautifully told stories of resistance and resilience reveal the realities of a community that refuses to be invisible any longer.

When we focus on what it is to be a Nigerian woman, we know it’s not just about being born in it. It’s the stories that have been told, it is the experiences we have faced and yes, even the stereotypes and societal norms that have confined us.

She Called Me Woman is one of the best queer novels I’ve read in 2023 because of how true it is, because it put me in a place where I experienced the lives of these narrators in just brief moments and my, isn’t it terrifying? This book put me in a horrible mood because it was difficult to read. I had to read experiences that left a bitter taste in my tongue, that made me weep, that made me realize there is so much we don’t know and we might never know.

It is such an educational, eye opening read that might leave you shaking, but it is worthwhile. I recommend.

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One unpopular opinion I own is that only Queer people enjoy Queer related media like BLs, GLs and queer novels to a high extent, so if you find yourself hyper fixating on Queer content, darling, I have news for you and I don’t know if you’re ready to hear it.

Also, if you read queer novels like me, do well to recommend. I will read it. I will always be there and I’ll be sure to keep you updated as well.

If you enjoyed reading my blog post, share it with your friends as well.

See you soon!
With love and poetry,
Mercy.