#RAtR: Seasonal Reads, yes or no?

Morning! We had a quite a long rambling discussion about this topic when we were discussing what to write this month. It turns out the group is firmly divided in to “I love seasonal reads!” and “I hate seasonal reads!”.

I’m pretty firmly in the latter group; except when I started actually thinking about it, it’s more that I usually avoid stories about Christmas. This dovetails nicely with my not-much-liking-Christmas-generally thing, so I feel I understand myself better now 😊.

Summer reads though…are they books set in the summer? Or books you are supposed to read whilst lying on the beach?

I never do the latter and although I’m sat in my conservatory looking out at the garden, this British July day is full of grey drizzle, so to get in to a proper summer mood I would need to be reading something where the main characters are wearing waders and sou’westers.

I think it’s the flavour of the book that makes something reminiscent of a particular season for me. Cider With Rosie by Laurie Lee will forever be associated for me with the summer of my O-Levels where we studied it for English Lit. But also for the scene where he talks about the women bringing the men their dinner out to the fields and sitting and eating with them; and hanging the stone cider flagons in the stream before they started work to cool them down for dinner time. I don’t know why that resonated so strongly for me. But it did. I can’t remember that happening, although I can remember playing in and out of the rows of drying hay as a child—the smell, the feel of the sun on your skin, that sense of freedom—that’s the essence of summer for me.

Perhaps that’s why I find it hard to make a list of books in the queer romance genre that I can put on a summer reads list? I like my romance with some angst, generally speaking. And angst tends not to vibe with long summer evenings and swifts dipping low over the river. Although perhaps I should see that as a challenge and try and write one. You could try Taking Stock, I guess? That does have kissing by the not-quite-magical pool and sun dappling the sheep shearers through the chestnut trees and lots and lots of angst, because Laurie has had a stroke and can’t farm his own farm any more; and Phil has been set up by his ex-boyfriend to take the fall for fraud.

I’m much happier with Halloween, which seems to be the next thing in the calendar people write around. I like Gregory Ashe’s DuPage Parish Mysteries, which are satisfactorily creepy but also funny in Ashe’s inimitable style. Wendigos, anyone? I’m also keen on The Pumpkin Patch by Darien Cox and Kade Boeme, which is the only time I’ve ever voluntarily picked up something I knew to be a Halloween story before I read it, largely because the cover is smothered in pumpkins! It’s still a murder-mystery, which is why I like it. Darien Cox is an auto-buy for me, which is what overcame what I like to think of my natural reticence to engage with what’s mostly a US-ian holiday :). I’ve also got my own sapphic Sleeping Dogs, which is a short story based on the Celtic myth of black dogs. It seemed like Halloween was a good time to release something creepy. It’s just come out of KU and should be making its way wide in the next couple of weeks.

As far as Christmas is concerned. Well. Don’t get me started. I hate the drama around the whole season! And I just don’t get the whole Christmas in July thing. However, as far as Christmas-themed stories go, I make an exception for Miss Claus by J. R. Hart, which is a lovely story of Santa Claus’ daughter which also happens to have excellent trans rep. Plus…who can forget Masters in This Hall by K. J. Charles, the third in the Lilywhite Boys series? If light-fingered thieves and fake-medieval Christmases are your thing, I recommend. And also… my own sapphic Surfacing Again is set over Christmas on the island of Lindisfarne. It’s kind of sad? But also it has a happy ending. And otters.

I hope that gives you something to get your teeth in to. I’m looking forward to reading my colleague’s recommendations for their ultimate summer reads and I’d love to hear your own favourites.