Rating & Review
Honestly, I was hoping for some 27 dresses-esqe theme for this book. What I got instead was a bunch of queer people hating on weddings and a self-centered white woman try to make everyone love them. I’m all here for the hustle Amy has to do to pay her bills. I also wish that I could like Amy more as a character. For most of the book, she’s a doormat, just letting everyone walk over her (in her relationships and her career). The rest of the book she spends all the time trying to figure out why no one loves weddings as much as she does. This book was marketed as a romance and honestly it shouldn’t have been. We spend much more time focusing on the “growth” of Amy than we do no any romance. I think my expectations were just too high and I was left disappointed. Thank you @netgalley for giving me this opportunity to read and review this book. It took me a very long time to finish and after finishing, I wish I didn’t.

While I did enjoy this book, there was something missing for me. The romance just fell a little flat and the messaging was too on point.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this free ePub in exchange for my honest feedback!

I was so excited to read Queerly Beloved by Susie Dumond because I love the representation she gives to all people groups, and out of the insane amount of romcoms I read, there is rarely a gay couple featured. It makes my heart happy to think of people coming across queer-friendly books like these while struggling with their sexuality to make them feel a little more at home in the world.

In our story, we have Amy, who works at a faith-based bakery in Tulsa. She has been passionate about baking her entire life, so she hides her queer side to fit in and get as much experience as she can from the best bakery in town. She isn't exactly unhappy because she's doing what she loves, but she can't really say she is thriving because she isn't being her true authentic self.

One day at the bakery she meets Charley, a spunky engineer that's new to town, and all of Amy's carefully laid plans are thrown out the window. Amy opens herself up to love and unfortunately gets fired from the bakery when her boss finds out that she's gay. She ends up in a desperate financial situation and ends up helping brides around town as a for-hire bridesmaid, where she still feels like she has to act straight because of the bigotry in her town. This gig pays the bills and keeps her afloat, but now Amy is doing yet another job that's forcing her to cover up who she really is.

Throughout the story, Amy is at a crossroads in her life where she has to decide between comfort and keeping the status quo or following her passions and being vulnerable about who she really is.

Final thoughts:
After finishing this one, I was honestly just really confused. Queerly Beloved was categorized as a rom-com, but there wasn't really any romance or comedy included. The story was really focused on Amy's personal development, mixed in with like four dates that were honestly so awkward and painful to read. My biggest problem was with the love interest, Charley. She treated Amy so badly throughout the book going weeks without reaching out to her, being on her phone all the time with work during their dates, standing her up at one point, sending so many mixed signals, and leading her along. Near the end, Amy tells her she loves her (after months of dating and talking about the future) and Charley leaves the bar that night without telling anyone and then texts her the next morning saying she needs space. Honestly, if Amy was one of my friends telling me about this new girl she was dating, I would tell her to RUN! All of that to say, I just really didn't enjoy their relationship, and that's obviously the core of a romcom, so I can't say I would recommend this one.

Thank you again to NetGalley and Random House for sharing this with me!

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC of this novel. The title of this novel and the cover threw me off for a moment in what this was actually about but I enjoyed it. It actually felt different than most of the other romance novels I have read because the main character made a lot of mistakes with a lot of different people rather than just the romantic interest. As a former bridesmaid, it was fun to remember some of that madness and with the difference in bridal styles in each wedding, it helped the story proceed.

Having the novel set in 2023 was also delightful because it felt like educational entertainment because I was getting a real-time view into how LGBTQ+ persons were reacting before marriage equality was established by the Supreme Court. I also agree that there is no end to the fight (because the world occasionally sucks) and that was addressed by the characters and felt authentic.

Amy did get on my nerves at times but by the end, I was more on her side. Not the fastest read but worth your time. 3 stars.

It took me a long time to get through this one. I just felt like Amy spent the whole book living two very different lives. One where she took control and one where she was a doormat. I was expecting a romance, but didn't really feel like that's what I got. I just wish she would have stood up for herself a little more in the first half of the book.

really wanted to like this book more than I did. I'm pretty late to writing this review but I even a few weeks after finishing I still can't find ~that~ much to say about it, it's just kind of middle of the road. I don't think I'll think about it again.

I liked the parts where Amy and Charley were together, but it actually wasn’t very often and the rest of the plot got heavy. It made this a bit of a slog.

This book was enjoyable enough, but not primarily a romance. It seemed to be more about the MC exploring and accepting her identity and then the romance was secondary to the story. Because of this, outside of the MC, the rest of the characters ring a little empty, more general archetypes than actual participants in the story.

In "Queerly Beloved", readers are introduced to Amy, who undergoes personal trials and tribulations throughout this story. The first begins as the story begins, with Amy working for a Christian bakery and hiding the truth about herself. As the story continues, the reader is taken on Amy's journey as she figures out what is her truth and how to love her truth. I enjoyed the friendships in this story and the realness to them. While there is some romance in "Queerly Beloved", I found the main focus to be on Amy and her personal growth. I enjoyed every moment of this story but I would suggest not reading it on an empty stomach with the various dessert and food descriptions! Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for an advanced copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own!

(This review was shared on my personal IG account @elizabeth.ann03 on 6/29/2022 along with Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookbub and Barnes and Noble)

Although it was a really awesome premise, the story overall missed the mark for me. I did really enjoy the characters but felt that this story was not a love story. While Amy did find herself in the process, the romance between her and Charley was just not there.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 4.5/5 Stars
🌶🌶 2/5 Steam Rating
📝 3rd Person POV, Sapphic Romance, with many LBGTQ representation

At first I questioned why this book was based in 2013, until I really got into the meat of this story. The main conflict of this story is Amy’s emotional struggle being a bridesmaids-for-hire, when she and her queer friends cannot marry in their conservative state of Oklahoma. These character’s struggles really hit home with the unknown ramifications of Roe v Wade now being overturned recently. It brought to light some interesting views on weddings as well.

I do want to mention that I went into this book thinking it would have more of a romance element to it, but I was pleasantly surprised that it highlighted a lot of equality issues, especially within the Bible Belt. Overall, this book had a good balance of romance and societal issues, with an amazing group of found family. The story was engaging, entertaining, and moved at a great pace.

I want to take a moment to remind everyone to look at the triggers of this book before reading it. Although Amy has a great group of friends and a supportive mother, the environment that this book takes place in is quite homophobic.

I had to dnf this at about 25% because the homophobia was just not something I could handle putting myself through. I understand this was set in the south as well as being mid 2010’s but I just found being fired for being gay so harmful and upsetting to see in a new release. Please I just need more books about queer joy and I feel like this could have easily been a hit for me if not for this.

I’m not sure this book is actually a romantic comedy. The pacing feels off even though the premise is pretty good. Many chapters in and the main characters had only been on page together once.

C U T E! disclaimer: I received an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased opinion. I really couldn’t put this book down. I read it in 2 days because I was addicted to finding out what happened next. While a bit on the cheesy, predictable side… the journey Amy takes through this book is heartwarming. The look into life as a queer individual in a red state is thought provoking— and the journey of an individual having to come out to people over and over throughout life is well told through this lens. def will recommend, the epilogue is too stinkin good.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC for an exchange for an honest review.

Excellent book and the story.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the eARC of Queerly Beloved, out everywhere now!

I felt a little conflicted reading this to be honest. The premise of this book is that Amy, a lesbian baker living in Tulsa, Oklahoma is fired from her job after being outed and starts a new line of work as a "professional bridesmaid." I thought the concept sounded cute and fun, and though I was surprised the book wasn't really a romcom I didn't necessarily mind that.

This book mostly failed for me for a couple reasons though. First, the book is set in 2013, before Obergefell. But you wouldn't have any clue that was true based on the dialogue of the characters! I found this book had a lot of continuity issues - as if the author wrote this set in 2022 and then just dropped it into 2013 pre-marriage equality. For instance, characters kept introducing themselves by their pronouns, which absolutely was not a prominent thing back in 2013. Another example was the use of the word "queer" - while that definitely was in the lexicon of the LGBT+ community back in the day, I do not think it was used with as much frequency as the author did in this book, calling everything "queer community," "queer bar," "queer person," etc. So the timeline was a little wonky for me.

Second, I just really did not like the protagonist. Other reviewers have mentioned that Amy came off as pretty self-centered despite the constant description of "selfless" being bestowed upon her. She was a bit complain-y for me and also I didn't really understand the chemistry between her and the love interest, Charley (she said she loved her after like 4 dates despite like never talking about real things...?). The other big thing for me was I didn't have a ton of empathy for her being essentially fully closeted. Hear me out on this. I am not saying that anyone should ever have to come out to someone they don't want to or put their jobs on the line or anything like that. And I recognize that Tulsa in 2013 was probably quite conservative. But Amy, despite having allegedly come out in high school and is now in her mid-20s, can't even remotely deal with her queerness in spaces that aren't her house or a lesbian bar, and that isn't good rep IMO. I felt like this was straddling a line of having a character that was definitely still 90% closeted and dealing with her sexuality while trying to play her off as this "out and proud" lesbian, which had some dissonance for me. I'm not trying to be too harsh here, I get that coming out is weird, but this felt like it had a loooot of internalized homophobia that it just didn't really deal with. And as someone who was out in 2013, I just think there's a slight difference between being subtle with PDA so you don't get hate crimed and like fully pretending you're straight in any environment where there are straight people.

So, all in all, this was a little unsuccessful for me, which I was bummed about because the premise was kind of cute.

I can't rave enough about this book. Listed as a "Queer Romance" it wouldn't have been a first pick for me because that's not a category I specifically seek out as a straight woman. I am SO glad NetGalley chose me to review this book because it's AMAZING. Susie Dumond is an amazing writer. This is a fantastic book that just happens to beer Queercentric. Clearly, it's a romance novel but there was such a good storyline taking part in the not too recent past (I kept trying to remember myself in 2013 and the music and pop culture references helped so much). Seeing the epilogue taking place a year from current times continues to keep me hopeful that we will continue to create more rights for my own Queerly Beloved in my family.

⭐️⭐️ 1/2 (rounding up to ⭐️⭐️⭐️)

This is a book I WANTED to love... In general, I think there's an outrageous lack of F/F romance, so I'm always excited to read that dynamic (especially from an Own Voices, LGBTQ+ author). While there were a number of good ideas in this book, I don't think many of them were fully-developed (that applies to the plot, characters, and theme).

Judging by the cover and the first 3-4 chapters of the book, we're led to think that Amy's passion is baking. That perhaps after being unjustly fired because of her sexuality maybe she'll go on to open a bakery of her own. One that caters to the (apparently) thriving LGBTQ+ community in Tulsa, OK? One that attracts an open-minded clientele? Nope. Instead, Amy pivots from her losing her job at the bakery to... becoming a "professional" bridesmaid. Huh... That's not to say I don't like that idea, in general. Because I do! I've read a few "bridesmaid for hire" romances and really enjoyed them. I think leaning into the bridesmaid plot line OR the bakery plot line might've worked, but it almost felt like two different books. Both... half-baked.

I wish I had great things to say about the romance itself, but again, there's not much there - which was surprising considering the fact that Amy and Charley begin their courtship very early into the book. We never get a full sense of who Charley is. Having a single POV definitely doesn't add to that either. I won't even mention Amy's best friends who more or less are stereotypical "gay best friend" characters whose sole purpose is to advise Amy.

Overall, there were a lot of pieces that I really liked... but I don't think they all fit into the same puzzle. I'll be curious to see what Susie Dumond writes next...

I adored this book! 5 cheers for this Queer HEA with a loveable, awesome MC. This book made me happy and I can’t wait to read more from this author!

This was a bit of a letdown. I was hoping for a cute gay romance but it just didn't work for me. I feel like Amy was kind of all over the place, like I never really could pin down who she was, and the rest of the characters felt underdeveloped. I think some of the social norms were too progressive for a book supposedly set in 2013 (folks were not using pronouns in introductions then). And this didn't feel like much of a romance to me. I couldn't buy into that plot. Kind of the definition of fine, not great.