This week, Kris catches Tara up on all the news. Book deadlines, a trip to Vegas, Tiki the rescue dog, and a whole summer dedicated to working on what? Check that episode title. 

Kris is super busy and Tara is a little scatterbrained (wait for the outtake at the end to hear why). But what’s nobody too busy for? You guessed it: recommendations.

Official Recommendations

From Kris: Younger (Netflix)

Kris’s official recommendation this week is the TV series Younger (2015-2019). This is Kris’s second time watching it and she’s fallen in deep. It’s the story of a middle-aged woman who pretends to be in her 20s to work in a millennial media company. Kris describes it as queer-friendly, flirty, and fun, with characters you’d want to be friends with. She’s had a great time with it and thinks you will too.

From Tara: The Woman From the Waves by Roslyn Sinclair

Tara’s official recommendation this week is The Woman From the Waves by Roslyn Sinclair, which isn’t out yet, but will be on June 5 (here's the preorder link). It's a contemporary romantasy between a shapeshifting ocean-dwelling horse spirit off the coast of the Orkney Islands in Scotland and the nun who captures her attention. Tara loved this book, describing it as one she will return to again and again. She gives a caution for readers with religious trauma, particularly if it's rooted in Catholicism, as the nun in the book reconciles with a lot of internalized homophobia.

Works/People Discussed

• Tiki, the rescue dog
• SASS - Sapphic Action Support Squad Facebook Group
• Lambda Literary Statement on Book Bans
• The Last of Us (HBO)
• Survivor (CBS)
• Novocaine (2025)
• Death of a Unicorn (2025)
• RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars (Paramount+)
• 90 Days to Wed by Yanana 
• Sapphic World Book Club Facebook Group
• Dream a Little Dream by Melissa Brayden

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Sometimes you just gotta get away, and that’s what Kris and Tara did during their unannounced break (sorry about that). But they’re back now, and ready to report on where they’ve been, what they’ve done and, perhaps most importantly, what they recommend.

Also, Tara cheats this week. Instead of one official recommendation (which is the entire point of this podcast) Tara comes back from vacation with two. Buckle up, folks. Chaos reigns!

Official Recommendations

From Kris: The Four Seasons (Netflix)

Kris’s official recommendation this week is the Netflix series The Four Seasons. The show revolves around three couples who vacation together four times a year (each season) and what happens when one of the couples breaks up. Kris says this has it all, the funny moments and the sad, and once she started, she couldn’t put it down.

From Tara: The Princess Match by Clare Lydon

Tara’s first recommendation this week is The Princess Match by Clare Lydon. It’s a slow burn(ish), high romantic tension story between an out-and-proud athlete and an in-the-closet princess who wants to risk it all for her first chance at true happiness. Tara loved this so much she read it twice and she says it's her favourite of Lydon's books.

From Tara: Discovering Nicola by Clare Ashton

Tara’s second recommendation this week is Discovering Nicola by Clare Ashton, an enemies-to-lovers, ice queen romance, with two women in their 50s embracing a same-sex relationship for the first time. Tara said the chemistry between the leads is incredible and this book ruined her in the best way. Go get it!

Works/People Discussed

• SASS - Sapphic Action Support Squad Facebook Group
• The Last of Us (HBO)
• Survivor (CBS)
• Jeopardy! (NBC)
• Ransom Canyon (Netflix)
• Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present by Ruth Ben-Ghiat
• Closing The Distance by BelladonnaInBloom and Yanana
• The House of Black and its follow-up Cutting the Pattern by Calliopeia419
• Extinction by rubikanon

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Kris is selling football cards at a retirement home, hoping to get The Golden Girls in on the grift. Tara is happily boring and middle-aged with her triple-paned windows and kids who keep teasing her that her new glasses make her look like a Pokemon bug researcher. 

Official Recommendations 

From Kris: Straight Up (2019)

Kris’s official recommendation this week is the romantic comedy Straight Up. This movie has the dubious honour of coming out at the exact right moment to get obliterated by the onset of the covid pandemic. Thankfully, Kris is running the revival efforts and getting the news out there to the people.

Straight Up is a movie for the younger set, with a closeted gay man and woman getting into a lavenderish relationship that changes them both for the better. Kris says it’s a solid, feel-good movie that you should check out.

From Tara: Orlando, My Political Biography (2023)

Tara’s official recommendation this week is the documentary Orlando, My Political Biography. Using Virginia Woolf’s Orlando as a primary text, this documentary explores the contemporary trans experience through 26 performers, all of which play the titular Orlando. Tara found this an incredibly thought-provoking and cerebral experience.

Works/People Discussed

• 1923 (Paramount+)
• Survivor, season 48 (CBS)
• The End of Us (2021)
• The Last of Us (HBO)
• The Sunrise of the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
• Balatro by LocalThunk
• Dimension 20: Neverafter (DropoutTV)
• RuPaul’s Drag Race, season 17 (MTV)
• The Vanquishers by Kalynn Bayron
• Overtime by Tracey Richardson

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Kris has been writing and is stuck in a wild limbo where the days to her next book's deadline get smaller as the story keeps growing. Tara suggests a new trend to solve Kris’s problem, before our hosts wade bravely into the epilogue debate. They're deep, dangerous waters, but they have the nerve to say their piece. And to top it off, Tara bores the class by gushing about her upcoming triple-paned windows. You know, real adulting stuff.

Official Recommendations 

From Kris: Chasing Chasing Amy (2023)

Kris’s official recommendation this week is the documentary, Chasing Chasing Amy. It tracks director Sav Rodgers' experience with the 1997 film Chasing Amy and how important that movie was to his queer identity growing up, including that it saved his life. Filmed over five years, Chasing Chasing Amy details Sav’s exploration of the cult hit and his changing opinions of it when new information comes to light. 

From Tara: Sweet Home Alabarden Park by TJ O’Shea

Tara’s official recommendation this week is the newly released sapphic romance Sweet Home Alabarden Park by TJ O’Shea. It's a "sort of one night to forever set in the UK," which features recently cheated on and divorced Fiona and the soft butch gentlewoman Alice, who ends up being nobility. Tara loved this book and it’s already her best book of the year.

Works/People Discussed

• Survivor, season 48 (CBS)
• Paradise (Hulu)
• 1923 (Paramount+)
• RuPaul’s Drag Race, season 17 (MTV)
• The Vanquishers by Kalynn Bayron
• Scarlet Love by Gun Brooke
• Sav Rodgers: The rom-com that saved my life (TED Talk)
• Chasing Amy (1997)
• Go Fish (1994)
• All That Matters by Susan X. Meagher

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Important kitty update: the angel and the devil have switched roles and now no one is safe. Kris and Tara discuss the correct nomenclature around being a friend to cats. Labels are bandied around and a suitable title is found. In other news, Tara’s youngest turns ten and there’s some talk about milestones before, you guessed it, this week’s recommendations!

Official Recommendations 

From Kris: Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara (2024)

Kris’s official recommendation this week is the 2024 documentary, Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara. 15 years ago, Tegan's identity was stolen. This began an unending ordeal of someone pretending to be them to have secret relationships with people in and outside their lives. Kris warns that this is a rough watch, but there’s a lot to learn and it’s important to spread the message.

From Tara: The Unlikely Pursuit of Mary Bennet by Lindz McLeod

Tara’s official recommendation this week is The Unlikely Pursuit of Mary Bennet by Lindz McLeod. This sapphic historical romance takes place a few years after the events of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. After Mr. Collins dies, Lizzie sends her sister Mary to console Charlotte, and Mary is nothing like Charlotte (or anyone who's read the book) remembers. Tara thoroughly enjoyed it and will be reading it again.

Works/People Discussed

• Love is Blind, season 8 (Netflix)
• Survivor, season 48 (CBS)
• 1923 (Paramount+)
• RuPaul’s Drag Race: season 17 (MTV)
• Dimension 20: Dungeons and Drag Queens, season 2 (Dropout TV)
• Our Secret Summer by Harper Bliss

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Last episode, Tara put out the call for queer YA books and a reader did the damn thing and delivered. So this week, we start off with a handful of fantastic reader recommendations for the little people in your life.

Audiobook listening speeds, sphagnum moss, The Odyssey, and other queer topics are also discussed.

Official Recommendations 

From Kris: Prime Target (Apple TV+)

Kris’s official recommendation this week is the TV series Prime Target. A gay mathematician who's disastrously bad at relationships stumbles onto a discovery that puts him in the sights of a shadowy conspiracy.

From Tara: If It's Meant to Be by Lily Seabrooke

Tara’s official recommendation this week is If It’s Meant to Be by Lily Seabrooke. It's a "falling for the best friend’s sister" romance that's set in a cozy small town. It also has a very fun disastrous lead (sensing a theme, here) who has no idea that everyone around her can see how down bad she is for the love interest. Tara’s recommended this author before, but this is her favourite so far.

Works/People Discussed

• You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson
• Loudmouth Books in Indiana
• The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes
• 6 Times We Almost Kissed by Tess Sharpe
• Forget Me Not by Alyson Derrick
• Gay the Pray Away by Natalie Naudus
• The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
• Love is Blind, season 8 (Netflix)
• Extracted (Fox)
• The White Lotus, season 3 (HBO)
• Yellowjackets, season 3 (Showtime)
• The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu)
• The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix)
• RuPaul’s Drag Race, season 17 (MTV)
• Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit
• Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present by Ruth Ben-Ghiat
• The Odyssey by Homer
• Ulysses by James Joyce
• Ellie Engle Saves Herself by Leah Johnson
• Her Best Friend’s Sister by Meghan O'Brien
• Waiting in the Wings by Melissa Brayden

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Current Kris thanks Past Kris for being an adult and having a super low deductible. Tara shares stories from her life in the freezing north, leading to a cross-cultural exchange of their experiences with frigid temperatures. It’s cold, y’all.

Official Recommendations 

From Kris: The Traitors, season 3 (Peacock)

Kris’s official recommendation this week is the third season of The Traitors, the American version of the Dutch reality television series. Similar to other social deduction games like Werewolf or Mafia, The Traitors has a group of people, most of whom are labeled "faithful" and others as "traitors." Every night, the traitors gather to vote off someone from the group, thereby murdering them. The goal is to get to the end as either a faithful or a traitor to win the prize. Kris loves this show, especially for its queer cast.

From Tara: Number Six by Lee Winter

Tara’s official recommendation this week is Number Six by Lee Winter. The third in her Villains Series, it's an opposites-attract lesbian romance set in Hotel Duxton (from Hotel Queens), and Tara LOVED it. In addition to appreciating the excellent romance and laughs, this book made her think about the characters in a way that only the best books do.

Works/People Discussed

• The Night Agent (Netflix)
• The Recruit (Netflix)
• You’re Cordially Invited (2025)
• RuPaul’s Drag Race, season 17 (MTV)
• A Spindle Splintered, A Mirror Mended by Alix E. Harrow
• Queerleaders by M.B. Guel

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Kris and Tara talk about their different experiences with last week's Polar Vortex. Kris relates job stress and what she has to do to make sure others get the job done. Then it’s on to the recommendations!

Official Recommendations 

From Kris: Severance (Apple TV+)

This week, Kris officially recommends the critically acclaimed series Severance. 

A technology is created that can separate the memories of going to work from the rest of someone's life. This means that when the people are outside of work (outies), they reap the benefits of working without having to remember it, while they only experience going to the office when they're at work (innies). Conflict and mystery ensue!

Kris was delighted and surprised by the older queer rep in the show and, while acknowledging that it takes some time to get hooked, when it’s in, it’s in.

From Kris: I Shall Never Fall in Love by Hari Conner

Tara’s official recommendation this week is the graphic novel, I Shall Never Fall in Love by Hari Conner, a queer, regency, friends-to-lovers romance. Tara loved the art and storytelling, as well as how the book explored gender expression and the history behind the period. 

Works/People Discussed

• Smosh Reads Reddit Stories (Podcast)
• Wicked (2024)
• Gladiator 2 (2024)
• 1923 (Paramount+)
• Canada’s Drag Race, season 5 (Crave)
• RuPaul’s Drag Race, season 17 (MTV)
• Balatro (LocalThunk)
• Cozy Grove (Spry Fox)
• Murder in the Dressing Room by Holly Stars
• The Village (2004)
• Challengers (2024)
• Good One (2024)

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This isn't just any episode of Queerly Recommended. This is the hundredth episode!

To celebrate, Kris and Tara look back over the last four years and pick out the top five recommendations they each made since this whole bag of cats (black and orange) started. Of course, despite the strict format, they add some honourable mentions because limitations are for cowards.

Official Recommendations

Kris’s top five recommendations 

• Dickinson (Apple TV)
• The Old Guard (Netflix)
• A League of Their Own (Amazon Prime Video)
• Heartstopper (Netflix)
• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Honourable mention: Summerland (2020)

Tara’s top five recommendations

• Hoosier Daddy by Ann McMan and Salem West
• The Headmistress by Milena McKay
• The Subtweet by Vivek Shraya
• The Beebo Brinker Omnibus: Ann Bannon's Pulp Classics
• Truth and Measure/Above All Things by Roslyn Sinclair

Honourable mentions: The Queen (1968) and We’re Here (HBO).

Works/People Discussed

• Landman (Paramount+)
• Canada’s Drag Race, season 5 (Crave)
• RuPaul’s Drag Race, season 17 (MTV)
• Dragon Age: Veilguard (Bioware)
• Balatro (LocalThunk)

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It’s the last day of 2024, so we're looking back at our favourite recommendations of this year. These books and films moved us in a way that's lasting, whether for the message they provided or the comfort they brought.

Of course, Tara and Kris also squeeze in some Cracker Barrel discourse (What age is their target audience? What’s the deal with the sodium content?) and chat about gambling and fantasy football.

Happy New Years, everyone!

Official Recommendations

Kris’s top three recommendations for 2024:

• Consecrated Ground by Virginia Black 
• Will & Harper (Netflix)
• Good Grief (Netflix)

Tara’s top three recommendations for 2024:

• View from the Top by Rachel Lacey
• Tempting Olivia by Clare Ashton
• Loser of the Year by Carrie Byrd

Works/People Discussed

• Black Doves (Netflix)
• Survivor (CBS)
• Queer Eye, season 9 (Netflix)
• Drag Race Down Under, season 4 (Starz)
• Canada’s Drag Race, season 4 (Crave)
• Dragon Age: Veilguard (Bioware)
• Ice Queen by Gun Brooke

Support & follow the show

• Buy us a Ko-fi
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