The BookstaGays

Welcome to season 3, loves!! We're starting off this new season and PRIDE MONTH with a bang - interviewing the author who we have spoken about continuously on our podcast and spent the first two episodes gushing about - Kristen Arnett! Author of Mostly Dead Things and as of yesterday 6/1, With Teeth. We also have on Megan from @booksnblazers because our trio of friendship began over a long and wild conversation discussing all things Mostly Dead Things.

We talk to Kristen about some wild Florida stories (a snake in a washer and a lizard in a gas station), her favorite things about Florida, both Mostly Dead Things and With Teeth, representation in her books, the importance of writing messy and realistically flawed characters, and so much more. This is an interview you do not want to miss! 

You can find Kristen Arnett on Instagram and Twitter @kristen_arnett (and trust us - you definitely want to follow her on both platforms)!

If you want to buy any of Arnett's books - consider buying it from our bookshop.org link @ https://bookshop.org/shop/thebookstagays - this is a way to support indie bookstores AND the show (we receive a very small kickback if you purchase through our affiliate link).

As always, you can find us on Instagram and Twitter @thebookstagays, and on our own accounts @thebookadvocate and @staxsonstaxs

If you want to try audio books and support your local independent bookstores and not the big bad company taking over the world - try our libro.fm code to get 2 audio books for the price of 1 - start a monthly membership for $14.99 and get the 2 audio book credits by clicking here libro.fm/redeem/BookstaGays

Cheers queers! Be gay and read books!

Today we wrap up our second official season of this podcast! We give you some sneak peeks for season 3 and some ideas we have to celebrate pride month ALL SUMMER LONG. That's right everyone - June and July we're celebrating pride and we have an amazing lineup of episodes with queer authors and queer guests talking about all the best queer things! Sam and Alex also give some book recommendations based on books you all submitted to us, a little "if you loved this book, try this one" to end our episode and season 2. We can't wait for season 3 and you all to join us for our first pride as a podcast family. Thank you for all of your continued support!

If you want to buy any of the books we talked about on this episode and see if you agree with our choices, consider buying it from our bookshop.org link @ https://bookshop.org/shop/thebookstagays - this is a way to support indie bookstores AND the show (we receive a very small kickback if you purchase through our affiliate link).

As always, you can find us on Instagram and Twitter @thebookstagays, and on our own accounts @thebookadvocate and @staxsonstaxs

If you want to try audio books and support your local independent bookstores and not the big bad company taking over the world - try our libro.fm code to get 2 audio books for the price of 1 - start a monthly membership for $14.99 and get the 2 audio book credits by clicking here libro.fm/redeem/BookstaGays

Cheers queers! Be gay and read books!

This week we're discussing Malice, a recent release that is a queer/sapphic re-telling of Sleeping Beauty ... from the villain's perspective! We had some mixed reviews for this one; Alex loved it and Sam thought it was okay. But that led to some interesting discussions on what worked/what didn't for us individually, where we would have liked more or less information, internalized standards of beauty, and how people always view 'villains' as ugly/weird/fat/disfigured, where we think book 2 will go, and more. One thing we definitely agreed on? We loved the sapphic romance and loved the open door representation!

If you want to buy this book and see if you agree with our thoughts, consider buying it from our bookshop.org link @ https://bookshop.org/shop/thebookstagays - this is a way to support indie bookstores AND the show (we receive a very small kickback if you purchase through our affiliate link).

As always, you can find us on Instagram and Twitter @thebookstagays, and on our own individual accounts @thebookadvocate and @staxsonstaxs

You can also find us on our Patreon if you want to sign up and support our show @ https://www.patreon.com/thebookstagays and you will get perks like stickers, bookmarks, and EXTRA bookstagays content, as well as helping us choose our monthly book picks.

If you want to try audiobooks and support your local independent bookstores and not the big bad company taking over the world - try our libro.fm code to get 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 - start a monthly membership for $14.99 and get the 2 audiobook credits by clicking here libro.fm/redeem/BookstaGays

Cheers queers! Be gay and read books!

This week's episode is a lot of rain and thunder and background chaos mixed in with Alex and Sam gushing about A Space Between Worlds. This book is a queer-norm, sci-fi, multiverse wonder. We both loved it and only had great things to say (with a few minor things we wish there were more of). We loved the characters, the plot, the twists and turns, and the queer storyline! We also spent some time discussing how multiverse books make our brains implode a small bit because we're always wondering how many of us are out there - and do any of the other Alex's and Sam's have a podcast together?! 

If you want to buy this book and see if you agree with our thoughts, consider buying it from our bookshop.org link @ https://bookshop.org/shop/thebookstagays - this is a way to support indie bookstores AND the show (we receive a very small kickback if you purchase through our affiliate link).

As always, you can find us on Instagram and Twitter @thebookstagays, and on our own individual accounts @thebookadvocate and @staxsonstaxs

You can also find us on our Patreon if you want to sign up and support our show @ https://www.patreon.com/thebookstagays and you will get perks like stickers, bookmarks, and EXTRA bookstagays content, as well as helping us choose our monthly book picks.

If you want to try audiobooks and support your local independent bookstores and not the big bad company taking over the world - try our libro.fm code to get 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 - start a monthly membership for $14.99 and get the 2 audiobook credits by clicking here libro.fm/redeem/BookstaGays

Cheers queers! Be gay and read books!

Today we had the honor to talk with Libby @sleeprunreadrepeat, our friend and fellow book podcast co-host (check out @booksandthecitypod and their website www.booksandthecitypod.com for some amazing book discussions and recommendations - seriously, our TBRs grow even more after listening to their episodes every Monday). Libby and Alex and Sam have some whirlwind discussions on this almost two hour episode. We talk sexting/nudes, audio book preferences, Sam's inability to not have the most embarrassing moments, etc. Then we get into the queer content - coming out later in life. All three of us had similar coming out journey's that started later in our 20s and led us through journeys (that we are still on) of acceptance, overcoming internalized shame, and recognizing that each of us are on our own path and there is no right or wrong way to be queer! 

Libby recommends Miseducation of Cameron Post, Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me, In The Dream House, Girl Woman Other, and On a Sunbeam (all can be found on our bookshop.org link)!

As always, you can find us on Instagram and Twitter @thebookstagays, and on our own accounts @thebookadvocate and @staxsonstaxs

If you want to try audio books and support your local independent bookstores and not the big bad company taking over the world - try our libro.fm code to get 2 audio books for the price of 1 - start a monthly membership for $14.99 and get the 2 audio book credits by clicking here libro.fm/redeem/BookstaGays

Cheers queers! Be gay and read books!

Today we chat with Lev Rosen about his novels, Camp and Jack of Hearts. We discuss the importance of own voices books for the queer community, sex-positivity in novels especially for the YA audience, the publishing process, representation, and intended queer audiences for his books! Lev also gave us some amazing book recommendations - all of which you can find on our bookshop.org site!

You can find Lev on social media at @levacrosen on Instagram, @LevACRosen on Twitter, and at his website: https://www.levacrosen.com/

As always, you can find us on Instagram and Twitter @thebookstagays, and on our own accounts @thebookadvocate and @staxsonstaxs

If you want to try audio books and support your local independent bookstores and not the big bad company taking over the world - try our libro.fm code to get 2 audio books for the price of 1 - start a monthly membership for $14.99 and get the 2 audio book credits by clicking here libro.fm/redeem/BookstaGays

Cheers queers! Be gay and read books!

Today we talk to another couple, Mags and Noah! Both are bisexual and having been dating since last year (a quarantine couple story and they are so cute with each other), they both share with us their experiences with bisexuality, some early celeb crushes, misconceptions they've experienced about bisexuality, stereotypes they face as a straight-assumed couple from society and others, and more. PLUS they both love to read and go on super cute quarantine bookstore dates where they choose books for each other - book lover couple's goals, right? They also come through with some amazing book recommendations (all of which you can find on our bookshop.org affiliate page here - https://bookshop.org/shop/thebookstagays). Specifically, Mags recommends Full Disclosure by Camryn Garrett, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, Take a Hint Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert, and Plain Bad Heroines by Emily Danforth. Noah recommends Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. 

You can follow Mags on Instagram at @books_and_mags and you may soon see some Noah content featured there! 

As always, you can find us on Instagram and Twitter @thebookstagays, and on our own accounts @thebookadvocate and @staxsonstaxs

If you want to try audio books and support your local independent bookstores and not the big bad company taking over the world - try our libro.fm code to get 2 audio books for the price of 1 - start a monthly membership for $14.99 and get the 2 audio book credits by clicking here libro.fm/redeem/BookstaGays

Cheers queers! Be gay and read books!

We are so thrilled to have had Emily Hashimoto on the podcast today. We read A World Between and absolutely fell in love with Eleanor Suzuki and Leena Shah and this queer-centric, diverse world. Definitely a spoiler-y episode, so be mindful of that before listening. 

We were able to ask Emily all our burning questions about A World Between, including (but not limited to) - thoughts about The L Word (specifically, does Emily like Jenny or nah?), favorite side characters in the book, favorite time period in the book, thoughts on Nasrin (if you know you know), her writing and publishing process, and more!  If you haven't read A World Between yet, WHAT are you waiting for? You can get it here (https://bookshop.org/shop/thebookstagays) at our Bookshop.org affiliate thing or wherever you buy your books. Remember to support your local indie bookstores!  

Follow Emily Hashimoto on her social media (Instagram and Twitter) at @emilyhash, and her website here - https://emilyhash.com/ 

Follow us on our social medias (Instagram and Twitter) at @thebookstagays, @thebookadvocate, and @staxsonstaxs

If you want to try audio books and support your local independent bookstores and not the big bad company taking over the world - try our libro.fm code to get 2 audio books for the price of 1 - start a monthly membership for $14.99 and get the 2 audio book credits by clicking here libro.fm/redeem/BookstaGays

Cheers queers! Be gay and read books!