Book Review for Crystal’s House of Queers
Full review for this title will be posted at: @cattleboobooks on Instagram!

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

An amazingly wonderful one sitting read. You won't want to put it down. Three generations of women come to terms with who they are and who they can be. Fighting rape, physical, mental and drug abuse they push through and raise their rainbow flags on their own terms. This story does take place during the beginnings of Covid19. Hope to read more from this author. You will not regret reading it.

Trigger warnings: Rape, Physical Abuse, Drug Use and Covid19

I enjoyed this story. It was good to see queer representation in a positive and empowered light. The characters go through tough and realistic problems, but the tone is positive. I had trouble with the timeline, which seems too compressed--the whole story takes place over the course of a few days, definitely less than a week, and in that time there are new relationships, found family, and a ton of personal and emotional growth. The teenage characters are able to take a very emotionally mature view of others and their circumstances. Not to say that it's impossible, just that given the issues they had to work through and the short timeline, I would have understood/expended more angst on the way there. I also had difficult with the opening scene, which is maybe more graphic than I would expect in a teen book, at least on the first page. Of course a page later it turns out to be a dream, but it could put off some readers (or scandalize parents, whose teens might benefit from reading the book). I'm not sure if it would fly in my small rural library, though I think those kids would appreciate the inclusiveness and depiction of rural life. I liked the way Crystal's drawings really show her talent and are incorporated into the story as illustrations. I also liked the representation of learning disabilities/differences and the rural Alaska setting (I'm from Maine, which has some similarities).