Thank you Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for the eARC! All opinions expressed are my own. This review does NOT contain any spoilers. :)

☆☆☆☆ Overall

Trigger/Content warnings: mentions of alcoholism, homophobia, HIV/Aids, cancer, cheating. (If I’m missing anything here that should be included, please let me know and I will edit and add! Thank you!)

I have so many big feelings about this book. I was super excited to receive this ARC, because this book has been on my TBR since it was announced.

I love weddings, romance, baking, found family aspects - and this book has all of that and more. At times, it feels like there is so much going on, which could be a good thing, but in my experience reading this book, I felt like I didn’t strongly connect with so many aspects of the world that Dumond built until around the halfway point. I like this book, but not because of the romance. I feel like the romance plot between Charley and Amy is secondary to the rest of the story, which is much stronger and relatable to me. I really wish that these two had more chemistry that we got to see firsthand in order to help us see more of how they fall in love, instead of it just being thrown together, if that makes sense.

I remember being a young queer kid and those years leading up to the marriage equality ruling in 2016. I remember how frightening it was to be living in the deep South as a young gay woman, and I related to these characters so strongly on that front. Navigating casual homophobia in schools, workplaces, etc. didn’t automatically get easier or anything, but it was a turning point in our history. Stories like these, that focus on queer perspectives in red states dealing with these common experiences, are so important because for a lot of us, this was our daily life.

Overall, I enjoyed this book, and I really loved Dumond’s storytelling and I am excited to read more of their work! I definitely think everyone who reads this book should make sure they read the author interview included toward the back of the text, because I think knowing more of the author’s perspective in this case helps you understand the voice behind the novel a lot more.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this digital ARC.

I really liked the cover and was excited by the premise. I was expecting more of a rom-com and this was much more a character driven story about the protagonist, Amy, with the love story part of it being more peripheral. Which is fine, I guess, I like regular fiction and women’s fiction, but it may be a bit misleading for those looking for a romance driven book.

Amy is a skilled baker who lives in a non-LGBQT friendly state and works in a very queer unfriendly bakery. The book follows her story, as she progresses from a somewhat chameleon-like existence that downplays and masks her queerness to someone who can be open and confident and pro-active.

There is a love interest but Charley, the nerdy engineer Amy falls for, doesn’t have a whole lot of page time and we don’t learn much about her other than her career details and some tidbits about her family—not really all that much about her as a character. And unfortunately that’s true for a fair number of the side characters in this book—they’re relevant to the story but not really fleshed out much at all. Kind of stand-in cardboard cut out best friends/co-workers etc that didn’t feel like they were more than that. We’re told they’re close to Amy but we don’t really see it all that much. Regi, who isn’t even one of Amy’s close friends, gets more development than some other characters who are more pivotal in Amy’s life.

The pacing and flow was uneven as well. I liked learning about Amy’s new job and the various wedding vignettes, but the book spends a lot of time in Amy’s head and there is a fair amount of telling rather than showing. It could have used some editing in that respect.

I think that may be why I didn’t connect with it as much as I had hoped—I think I was looking for richer character development and relationships, which I didn’t get as much of, being in Amy’s head and having her tell me so much rather than show.

The food sounded luscious and Ruby Red’s sounds like a great bar.
Daily Bread sounded like a place for spectacular food offerings, completely marred by the frankly offensive strident homophobia and bigoted attitude that permeated the establishment.

Overall a pleasant weekend or beach read. It had a lot of potential with the story idea and I think the themes of inequality and restriction of rights were well founded and important to confront. But overall this didn’t reach the potential I expected from the premise/summary.

I didn’t love it. I didn’t hate it.

Disappointing. The romance here takes a back seat to the main character’s struggles as a lesbian in conservative Tulsa. DBF about half way through.

Bridesmaid for hire: check. A lesbian bar that feels like home: check. Queer friendships: check. Champagne strawberry cupcakes: check. And a story of self discovery set against a highly conservative backdrop: check and check.

Queerly Beloved follows Amy and her journey through her “quarter life crisis” after she is fired from a job she loves in Tulsa, OK. With the help of some childhood friends, supportive family, and the intriguing Charley, Amy rediscovers her priorities and finds both love and happiness. As a queer person who grew up in the South, much of the story (the conservative relatives and friends, the conflicted inner dialogue) felt familiar. The storyline and the descriptions of mouthwatering pastries kept me hooked, but as the story drew to a close, I found myself craving more from the characters.

Queerly Beloved is the perfect beach read for any of you seeking something uplifting, light, and beautifully queer. Thank you to @netgalley and @thedialpress for an advanced reader copy of this book! Get your copy of Queerly Beloved on May 3!

I was so so excited to read this book and I am so sad that for me it just sort of fell flat. It took me a while to get into Queerly Beloved and once I was in, it didn't really hold my attention. I don't know if I didn't particularly vibe with the writing style or if it was something else. But I'm pretty sure that this book was just not for me.

Apparently, I'm a sucker for baking-themed rom-coms because this isn't the first I've read this year. A baker/bartender turned bridesmaid-for-hire, while being closeted to her work and clients but out to her friends, family, and fellow queer community, there is a lot of tension throughout the novel with Amy debating if doing the THING that she loves is going against the PEOPLE that she loves. I could picture Charley so clearly in my mind and am already ready for this to be a Netflix movie!

(Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!)

I wanted to love this book SO badly! Everything about it sounds heartwarming and so sweet, but this book fell a bit short for me.

I think a big issue is that the book is marketed as a rom-com. I went into the book expecting exactly that, and I was disappointed when I didn't get a lot of romance or comedy. The characters are well-written, and it is a very character-driven story. It just seemed lacking because I wanted more romance and more development in the relationship!

I'm not a huge fan (okay- not a fan AT ALL) of insta-love, and this book had too much of that trope for my liking. Had it not been marketed as a rom-com, I know I would have enjoyed it more!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book is an incredibly character driven story centering around Amy in Oklahoma in 2013 and 2014. Amy goes by Amelia when she works at a very religiously conservative bakery. She is Amy to her friends and family, she is openly out in certain circles and is proud to be a lesbian in the Bible Belt.

She is outed from her job at the bakery and in a desperate attempt to make ends meet she decides to become a professional bridesmaid. She handles everything and anything the brides needs to have done and she gets paid well to do it. She feels happy making money but she’s unsatisfied not being completely out to her clients.

Amy spends a lot of this book feeling guilt for not being out in her professional life. She has a hard time rectifying her love of weddings and the love they entail for the happy couples when she knows that the people in the queer community can’t be legally married. There’s a lot of shame from her (and sometimes her friends) for openly supporting straight weddings which adds a lot of weight to her conscience.

Throughout all of this Amy meets Charley, a hot lesbian who just moved from Texas. They are polar opposites: Amy being a sweet feminine baker and Charley being a more masculine engineer. Sparks fly almost instantaneously between the two and it’s easy to tell that Amy has fallen very hard.

Here’s my issue with their relationship: it’s hard to fall for a love interest when they aren’t in the story very much. Charley pops up periodically but they go for weeks at a time without speaking or seeing each other. More often than not things end on a weird note and I just didn’t feel the over powering chemistry between these two. Amy definitely felt more interested and invested than Charley ever did. Charley just showed up when it was convenient and easy and never put in the extra work, that doesn’t work for me.

I want time to fall in love with characters and this book just didn’t give me the time to really let me love them as a couple. Amy was delightful but I never felt like I got to know anything about Charley. What are her hobbies? Who are her friends? What are her dreams and aspirations in life? I never got to know anything besides her job and that she has 4 siblings. I need more from a romantic interest than this book gave me.

This book has a lot of great information for people starting out their journey trying to become more educated in LGBTQ+ rights. There’s a lot of talk about rights, privileges, and queer people in general and it spend a lot of time discussing issues that are unique to the queer community. Because of this, sometimes it felt like I was reading a manual instead of a badass love story between lesbians finding their way together in a place that doesn’t make them feel wanted or accepted.

I think this book will have a huge impact on young queer kids as they are coming out and trying to rectify their past beliefs with who they are now. I think it shows the power of found family and how people can find happiness if they choose to be their authentic selves. However I wouldn’t necessarily brand this as a romance novel.

I enjoyed this book. The plot was easy to follow and the characters were well developed. I would recommend this book and author to others.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for the ARC & opportunity to read this book.

It didn't work for me. DNF at 40%. This really needed to be advertised as fiction. Hardly any romance...the love interest is not mentioned/forgotten for chapters upon chapters. I hate to say it but it was also quite boring. I do very much appreciate the message the author was trying to convey, but I just feel like the way the book was marketed (as a romcom) was detrimental. Had I gone into this book knowing what to expect (NOT a romcom), I probably would have enjoyed it more.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I went into this book with semi-high expectations, as the premise sounded fun and like an interesting setup. And it was. However, the characters besides Amy were fairly two dimensional, and that made it difficult to get invested in the story overall.
An example of this are Amy’s friends, Joel and Damian, who were relegated to the encouraging best friend role for most of the story. When there was conflict between them and Amy, my investment was on behalf of Amy, when these two characters were literally main characters for the 70% of the book before then.

There were also points where I felt like the writing was doing a lot of telling rather than showing, which also made it difficult to get into the story.

Overall, these two complaints were not enough to make me dislike the book, but instead have an incredibly neutral opinion.

It’s great to read queer romance, especially set in the more conservative towns in America. Ilove the queer chosen family aspect, it was very relatable to my own queer experience. I also loved the gay bar as a gathering place feel. I remember going to my local gay bar when gay marriage was passed like they did in the book. But the story felt a little predictable, and took a bit to get into. There were also a lot of scenes that felt like a debate instead of dialogue or queer theory lecture instead of plot. A lot of those topics are familiar to me, though, so I can see how it would be more beneficial for someone who isn’t a progressive queer person to hear the ideas. Overall, it was a decent weekend read and would be a good beach read.

Posted on GoodReads

There were a lot of things I liked about this book. I love the representation, I loved that it showed lgbt characters in the the mid west or south of the American (because those are places that don't usually accept anything different--such as different ethnicities or sexual orientation), and I ending up really liking that this didn't take place in what would be today (2022) but in the mid 2010's. That was an aspect I didn't think I'd care for but I liked it. I loved the family aspect and the authenticity the characters beliefs or way of life was. I think this an eye opening book and I hope people really enjoy it.

I think the mismarketing of this book will ultimately be its biggest downfall, as the cover and description make it seem super romcom-y, but the book isn't really like that. it deals with hard hitting topics many older queers will find painfully relatable, about being queer before marriage inequality in a conservative place, which is a much heavier plot that what I was expecting based off the cover and synopsis. I also think the characters beside the main character weren't given much depth, and reminded me of stereotypical, 1 dimensional caricatures with little interesting background/personality traits. I think the romance lacked depth. Overall this needs to be marketed as women's fiction--I think more people will enjoy it that way and it will find the right audience.

Special thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the e-arc of this book.

Ok so i went into this expecting a romcom but it is definitely not that. The romance is there but it definitely takes a back seat to personal growth and acceptance, friendship, and what it was like to be queer before marriage equality in the Bible Belt. I struggled with Amy. She was a people pleaser but also extremely self-centered. The only part of the book that felt truly romcom was the epilogue.

DNF.

I’m always excited to find a sapphic romance, but I just couldn’t get into this. It seems cute enough, though the characters all struck me as a bit stereotypical. Much too insta-love for my taste, and definitely felt like it was trying to be too serious despite being advertised as a rom-com.

Thank you for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I had high expectations for this book, and I was extremely disappointed. The romance lacked chemistry. Charley was your stereotypical suave, butch lesbian. Which I’m not complaining about, but she had no storyline or development whatsoever. The gay side characters were just your typical GBFs. They were too stereotypical. And our main character’s storyline just didn’t feel relatable. It felt as though she was forcing the commentary, yet it wasn’t even well done. Yes, there needs to be books written about those who have experienced homophobia, especially before gay marriage was legalized. Those stories do need to be uplifted. But this just lacked for me. This book needs a million trigger warnings for church trauma and homophobia. This book needs to be reworked. It also needs to stop being advertised as a fun, queer romcom, when I just felt awkward and depressed the whole book. I would’ve much rather read a queer romcom than whatever this was.

Thought this was going to be more romancey. Characters were all over the place or very under-developed and shallow. Promising idea but the executions was not there for me.

⭐️.25 stars (rounded down to 1)

The cover was so cute and super interesting premise, but that’s where my liking ended. This book was a HUGE let down. I would categorize it more as women’s fiction than romance. The book did not give 2013 until the author said it, so that says a lot. The romance was unbelievable, Lacked chemistry and was insta-lovey. Chock full of stereotypes and thrown in identities, and just way too long. The author attempted to tackle some important convos surrounding being queer in Tulsa and the institution of marriage as a queer person but the discussion was poorly executed.

Thanks to NetGalley and RandomHouse for sharing this book with me in exchange for my honest review!

This one just missed the mark for me. It did have some romance, some personal growth, some commentary on important issues but fell flat at all those. I don't judge a likability of a book but the characters but I had a hard time connecting with any of these characters. Mostly the editing and pacing of this book felt off - the reader wouldn't have known it was 2014 until midway through the book, and if legalizing gay marriage was a central part of the specific state policy status of that should have been introduced before nearly the end. Time skipped around at random for what scenes to include, or which to brush over. For example ending a section with Amy having to kiss a stranger while playing straight was a great lead into another chapter but the author skips over it and we don't get to feel Amy's anxiety about that, instead focusing a hurt ankle from dancing on the bar. Also not super important but the throwaway line about "Did Betty White die" was ill-timed.

I think this author has crafted a good plot and has something to say with their unique perspective, I just wish this story was a little more refined.