#demisexual rep

✨ BOOK REVIEW ✨

Les Normaux by Janine Janssen and S Al Sabado

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

QOTD: What’s an underrated trope you love?

I love when they kiss/make out/hook up the first time they meet thinking it’s a one off then it turns out they live in the same building or work together or something. And then the mutual pining starts. I don’t know if there’s a specific name for this but I love it and this gorgeous graphic novel has it.

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Dragon Falls (How to Tame a Husband) by Davis Lavender

Reviewed by Meghan 💜

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.5/5 | 🌶️🌶️ 2/5

GENRE: Cozy Portal Fantasy REP: mlm, achillean demi male mc, gay male mc, queer scs CW: mentions of cheating, manipulation, minor injuries LENGTH: 357 pgs

If you are looking for a sweet and funny gay romcom in a fantasy setting, I highly recommend this book! It manages to deliver an interesting isekai / transmigration narrative with a cast of incredibly lovable characters. This is exactly the sort of novel I had wanted when I was growing up looking for queer romance in a fantasy setting. Added to that just a little bit of spice and a whole lot of humor. It's technically an adult novel, but it's a lighthearted one that is also light on the smut. Also, I desperately want this to be a new au setting so fanfic writers please read this. Overall, this is a delightful indie book that I am very glad I got. I really love this Rainbow Crate @rainbowcrate edition from their Cozy Fantasy box.

Below the cut you can find my full review! You can find more reviews like this on my Storygraph or in our "meghan reviews" tag. Check out our pinned post for links!

Bi books out in July!

We have 15 books out this month!

Preorders help the authors greatly, so make sure to preorder any book(s) that catch your interest.

Here is the goodreads list of these books.

Books listed:

💕 A Guide to the Dark by Meriam Metoui 💕 In the Case of Heartbreak (Fern Falls, #2) by Courtney Kae 💕 Role Playing by Cathy Yardley 💕 The Afterlife of the Party by Darcy Marks 💕 More to Love by Georgina Kiersten 💕 Digging for Heaven by Jenna Jarvis 💕 The Guilty Twin by Holly Riordan 💕 Wanderlust by Elle Everhart 💕 Three Meant To Be by M.N. Bennet 💕 Case Sensitive by A.K. Turner 💕 I, Caravaggio by Eugenio Volpe 💕 Black Sails to Sunward by Sheila Jenné 💕 Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia 💕 Here in the Night by Rebecca Turkewitz 💕Trouble by Lex Croucher

I’m not sure if I’m doing this as a “tips to write good demisexual representation” post or “I haven’t found good demisexual representation and that's driving me crazy” post.

So I was really excited to read Radio Silence by Alice Oseman, but I did my best waiting and reading their other books in chronically order, before starting with Radio Silence, what I finally did five days ago. I was literally screaming when I started with it.

Why? Because I thought that I would finally find good demisexual representation. Key word: thought.

(Hold on the hate, let me get to the point, thanks)

I have read loads of books (on Wattpad) that promise demisexual characters. But half the time they didn’t use the label inside the book, or just on (in, at???? Please correct any grammar mistake) the epilogue. The others were one hundred percent as demiromantic as demisexual characters but they NEVER labelled the demiromantic part of the character’s experience.

So did Alice in Radio Silence. And I’m really disappointed.

Not because a character (as any people) cannot be demi in both types of attraction. Anyone can be both, anyone can experience sexual and romantic attraction in the same way.

But when talking about representation of an oppressed group, when our oppression is determined by how well allopeople can understand our experiences, it’s transcendental how well labelled are characters sold as ace/aro representation.

It's not that the demisexual part is bad written in Radio Silence, but it's not the only part written, just the only one mentioned.

So yes, if you want to write a character that is demisexual and demiromantic, that’s amazing, only if you name both labels.

So yes, Aled Last is both demisexual and demiromantic. And I know that he doesn’t care about labels, but he’s a character, not a person. He is a symbol for and of our communities. So both spectrums need to be named.

So yes, I’m tired of people who mix up sexual and romantic attraction. And still I rated Radio Silence with 5 stars ‘cause that’s my only critic, and I don’t know why these lines are constructed like this, but that’s the only part that bothers me completely about the book and how it's written.

Demisexual people do have crushes on any kind of people.

Commonly, it’s not that obvious that we don’t feel certain things, till you start noticing that you’re missing part of the experiences everyone else seems to have. But the romantic attraction (if you are just demisexual and not in the aromantic spectrum) is as everyone else’s and, since what I’ve talked with other demisexual people, commonly even more intense.

We just notice that how we have those crushes is different. Usually we don't understand how is different till we read about the split attraction model (SAM).

i would like to say i love little thieves and chef's kiss on the demisexual rep but ngl it is sooooo funny to me that their sex drives kicked in after like a week and a half. obviously there is a lot of variety in demi expenses and vanja and emeric certainly develop a close enough relationship that i absolutely buy the progression of their relationship.

but regardless, the time line is funny cause in a lot of ya fantasy there is a lot of slow burn (or there were when i was reading more of it) so it's funny to me that my demi characters hook up so quickly.