It’s 2013, when gay marriage was still yet to be legalized in the United States as a whole, much less in Tulsa, Oklahoma of all places. 🏳️🌈
Amy works at a Christian bakery by day 🍰 and bartends at a gay club by night 🥂~ when she’s outed and fired from her day job, she finds huge success in the ultra heteronormative wedding industry as a bridesmaid-for-hire 💐. Eventually, her “people-pleasing” tendencies blow up in her face in the form of work-life imbalance, straining her relationships with everyone she cares about. She has to figure out how to be true to herself and what— or who— she wants.
TLDR: A lesbian baker living in the bible belt in 2013 infiltrates the wedding industry as a professional bridesmaid and realizes her own happily-ever-after is not too far out of reach if she stops being such a self-centered people-pleaser (yes, I know that sounds contradictory).
I initially gave this a 3 because the brainfog of finals season made me largely indifferent to everything and certain that I would forget most of the details about the book within a week.
The more I thought about it though, the more dissatisfied I became with Queerly Beloved, which is extremely disappointing because I was so excited to read and it and wanted to enjoy it! It ended up being like one of those fondant-covered cakes 🎂 that looks super cool on the outside until you bite into it to realize it’s dry and crumbly and the only flavor to be found is the barely edible sugary playdoh. Ultimately, the execution did not live up to the premise at all. 😞
Things I liked ✅
Things I disliked ❌
🤡 As someone who read this while final exams were kicking my butt, this line heavily resonated with me.
Her fourth cup of coffee had hardly made a dent in her exhaustion.
I’m involved in a lot of social advocacy/impact work, and feeling like you constantly have to fight or stand up to every single injustice you see/experience is exhausting. 🥲
Like any queer person living in a red state (even if it was 2013), she knew how to pick her battles—especially after the battle scars she’d gained along the way.