Welcome back to Get Rec’d, as we creep every closer to 100 of these things!
This time, there’s a mystery and a romance for fiction options. For non-fiction, we have some kinky niche history and an essay collection by trans and gender-nonconforming writers.
Get any good recommendations lately? Let us know in the comments!
Someone you know wants to read this, right?
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Both/And
With trans and queer people and spaces under attack, this anthology focuses on celebrating joy and self-acceptance.
From Denne Michele Norris and Electric Literature, a vital anthology of essays by trans and gender-nonconforming writers of color, sharing stories of joy, heartbreak, rage, and self-discovery.
Featuring seventeen essays by trans people of color—spanning writers, scientists, actors, activists, and drag queens—Both/And explores what it means to live as a trans or gender nonconforming person of color today.
Acclaimed authors Akwaeke Emezi, Tanaïs, and Meredith Talusan share their stories alongside activist and organizer Raquel Willis and RuPaul’s Drag Race star Peppermint, as well as a host of rising literary talent. Each story is told with honesty, authenticity, and beauty. A nonbinary molecular biologist has nightmares about their estranged father transitioning. A writer revisits a casual hook-up when she discovered her womanhood. And a woman vacations with her wife in Hawaii, where she gets in touch with the fire goddess within. These stories depict real trans lives from trans points of view, at a time when these perspectives are most urgent and valuable.
Inspired by Electric Literature’s groundbreaking series and edited by the first Black, openly trans editor-in-chief of a major literary publication, Both/And uplifts and amplifies stories of queer joy, heartbreak, rage, and self-discovery.
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The Dead Husband Cookbook
The marketing I’ve seen for this has been so fun, and the more I see it, the more tempted I am to pick it up.
A deliciously wicked new thriller from New York Times bestselling author Danielle Valentine.
One husband, well done.
When infamous chef, restaurateur, and television personality Maria Capello’s husband died, the media circus was intense…and quick to cast the blame. Whispers claimed Maria murdered her husband to build her culinary empire on his bones, and that there was an all-too-grisly reason his body was never recovered. Yet for the past few decades, the Capello family maintained their stoney silence—until now.
Thea Woods has no idea why she was chosen to work with Maria on her sure-to-be-infamous memoir, but she doesn’t question her luck. Spirited away to the Capello’s rustic upstate farm, she’s soon embroiled in the mystery—and cut off from the rest of the world. It should be the job of a lifetime, but something’s not quite right with the close-knit clan, and Damien Capello isn’t the only one to go mysteriously missing over the years. As the true story of Maria’s past unfolds and the stench of rot hidden behind the kind coastal grandmother veneer rises, Thea finds herself trapped…and desperately afraid.
Because there are reasons why Damien’s body was never found…and why, in over thirty years, Maria Capello has never revealed the secret ingredient in her most famous recipe.
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Kinky History
For all my niche history nerds! I follow James on socials, so feel free to poke around her IG and TikTok accounts to get a sense of the subject matter.
A provocative journey through human sexual history, packed with fun factoids and forgotten stories, from the historian and storyteller behind Kinky History, @esme.louisee on TikTok
Contrary to popular belief, our predecessors had all sorts of obscene hobbies long before Christian Grey hit the scene. In this enlightening romp, learn about the first instances of homosexuality on record from the ancient world and the diverse history of nonbinary gender; encounter a thousand years’ worth of hilarious and horrifying contraceptive methods; consider the positive and negative effects of the widespread availability of pornography in the digital age—and how our relationship to it changed during the pandemic; take a sneaky riffle through centuries of bedside drawers; and discover the dirty little secrets of luminaries such as Julius Caesar, James Joyce, Albert Einstein, and Virginia Woolf.
Esmé Louise James also identifies the key tipping points that directly inform current beliefs around sex to place the past in conversation with the present. By educating ourselves about the weird, wonderful, and varied spectrum of human sexuality and experience, we can normalize and destigmatize sex, write people of marginalized sexual identities back into the pages of history, and build toward a more liberated future.
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Like First Love, Again
If you prefer your romances to pack an emotional punch with a bonus side of pining and yearning, add this to your TBR pile.
When the one who got away comes back…
Real estate broker Tori Cruz has spent years building a life of structure and control — keeping her heart, and her past, carefully locked away. But when Mia Falcon, her childhood best friend and secret first love, crashes back into her life after fourteen years apart, everything Tori thought she buried comes rushing back.
Mia didn’t mean to find Tori again. She definitely didn’t mean to want her. Divorcing, grieving, and lost, Mia only wanted help selling her mother’s house. She wasn’t prepared for feelings she never dared name to come rushing back — hotter, deeper, and far more dangerous than before.
Back together, and it’s like no time has passed. And when Mia realizes that home isn’t a place — it’s a person — she knows she can’t walk away again.
Old feelings resurface. New ones spark. And some loves? They never die. They wait.
A steamy, slow-burn, friends-to-lovers romance full of heart, heat, and second chances.
Someone you know wants to read this, right?
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This book is available from:
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
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English (US) · 