I love the cute and inviting cover to this book. However it does make the book look more like a rom-com than it is in reality. For me I would categorize this more as (women's) fiction with a side of romance. It's 2013 and Amy (Amelia) is 25 and living in Oklahoma. She is out to her family and close friends but not at her main job. Amy is inadvertently outed and fired for being gay (which is legal) and she stumbles into creating work as a professional bridesmaid. It combines her many talents of acting (her major), baking (her love) and skills in customer service, crafting and DIY projects. But as her jobs pile up, she struggles being part of weddings in a state where marriage is not legal for people like her.

I thought the premise was fascinating. The story captures some of the arguments and feelings that were sweeping the country at the time. As a person living in the another red state, whose ban on gay marriage law was struck down one month before Oklahoma's I remember the political tensions. (Amazingly it happened less than 10 years ago.) Amy's inner conflict and trying to find her way is very realistic. I thought the author was clever to have put Amy working in weddings while trying to reconcile her feelings towards them. Amy isn't a perfect person. At times she is impetuous, and immature and other times thoughtful and giving. The weaker part of the story to me is the romance. We hardly get to know Charley who is new to Tulsa. She loves her busy work in the Oil industry. I did love their first date seeing sites in Tulsa. But because they are apart most of the book I felt the romance was secondary.

I enjoyed reading Queerly Beloved and appreciated the questions with the author at the end of the book as well. Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Amy loves baking so when she's outed to her conservative bakery boss and subsequently fired, things feel like they're falling apart. Thank goodness for her new love interest, Charley, her two best friends, Joel and Damian, and her refuge/part-time job, Ruby Red's tavern. And then there's the new job she invents: Bridesmaid for hire.

As Amy's new job fills up her schedule with heteronormative weddings, and things with Charley starting heating up, Amy starts to feel like she's not quite living as her whole self. As life crashes down around her Amy will have to decide which pieces she wants to pick up, and which pieces she should just let go to be true to herself.

A nice romance that captures the tension of living in a red state and being proudly queer.. I did want more recipes after the amazing food descriptions scattered throughout the book.