This book was really good and pacted full of very interesting stories around each character. I listened to the audiobook and loved the fact it had a full cast. Every narrator brought something new and different to the story. Creating this really great book. Its a collection of short stories around the lives of people in the LGBTQIA community all striving to belong to a community that finds it difficult to be inclusive for different reasons. All the stories connect together in some way. The author wrote this book in an amazing way showing how people try to connect to an adverse community. Some of the connections I actually failed to see but I understood the collective. The stories actually felt like real life stories it was wrote that well. 

I would like to praise the author for this very important book to try and shed light into the lives of people from the LGBTQIA community in some difficult and very religious towns in America. 

The above review has already been placed on goodreads, waterstones, Google books, Barnes&noble, kobo, amazon UK where found and my blog https://ladyreading365.wixsite.com/website/post/under-the-rainbow-by-celia-laskey-harpercollins-3-5-stars either under my name or ladyreading365 or lady Reading365 or ladyc reading

Thankyou for giving me the chance to read in advance. Just loved it from start to finish. Had me listening until the end.

What a book this is! I love, love, LOVED it!

The town of Big Burr, Kansas, was found to be “the most homophobic town in the US”, so it’s the perfect place for a group of queer social activists to go and try to change hearts and minds. Except this town has some very outdated opinions and they’re not especially open to change. But as they get to really know their neighbours, and themselves, they soon realise that they’re all more alike than they thought…

So I don’t want to paint a picture that this is all joy and rainbows, because it is pretty heavy hitting at times. There’s some horrible homophobic and misogynistic behaviour at play in here, and it can get very emotional.

Having said that though, I mostly found this book an absolute heart-warmer which filled me with joy and hope! It has a brilliant multiple character POV which will appeal to fans of Emma Straub’s All Adults Here, and the characters are such a mixed bag - straight, queer, trans, kind, awful, funny. There’s someone for everyone to relate to here and I fell for lots of these characters.

This is definitely one of the best LBGTQIA novels I’ve read, and you certainly don’t need to be queer to love it! But no doubt there are other meanings and layers which may mean more if you’ve been through similar experiences too, which I’m not in a position to go deep on! I just really recommend picking this one up 🙌

#undertherainbow by #celialaskey was a fascinating read…. What a concept?! When a small town is #labelled as the most #homophobic place in the country. How do you tackle this? Move a group of activists in. The author starts with a child’s viewpoint and moves onto others in the town- I was disappointed as I had connected with the original narrator. As you would expect there are viewpoints that will irk and enrage, as well as some that may enlighten. I feel that there wasn’t enough depth to the characters - very much caricatures. Thank you to #netgalley for gifting me this audiobook in exchange for an honest review

When Big Burr, Kansas, is identified as the most homophobic place in the US and a queer task-force charged with promoting inclusivity is sent, the residents are outraged. They like things the way they are and don’t want big city activists coming in with their billboards and their rainbow flags promoting homosexuality, especially not in front of the children! But behind closed doors, its a very different story indeed and everyone has their own secrets to hide. The task-force quickly makes waves though that will affect them all, from the adoptive daughter who’s scared to tell her queer parents she’s straight, to the god-fearing mother with the failing marriage, to the dad who’s always wondered about his own desires. Change is coming and Big Burr, and its residents, will never be the same again.

I absolutely loved this book and keep thinking about it now, even a few months after having read it. I was first drawn in by the cover but then thought I’d made a mistake when I started reading it as the first chapter comes across as very YA (not a problem but not what I’d imagined). However I stuck with it and I’m so glad I did as the following chapters are all narrated by different characters of differing ages, so we get a good cross-section of middle-American society and a wonderfully varied portrait of life in a small US town. I loved hearing from lots of the the different residents of Big Burr, all with different attitudes and different back stories, but all intertwined. I also really liked that although we only hear from each character once many return and feature in other characters’ chapters, so we get to learn more about how their lives have progressed and their stories aren’t just left hanging. It also allows us to see a different side of each narrator, as when we see them through another character’s eyes we learn things about them that they wouldn’t necessarily share themselves. I thought this was an excellent plot device and it worked really well for this pressure-cooker situation the characters find themselves in.

Whilst I really loved it overall, I didn’t give it five stars because some of it feels a little cliched. It seems that every character is unhappy with their lot in some way and no-one really reacts that badly to any of the revelations that come out, whereas in real life I feel like someone would. It also had a relatively upbeat and fairytale kind of ending, which I guess is a great feeling to leave on but again would real life really be that kind? Especially since the community was so hostile to begin with, that didn’t ring so true for me.

That said I still really enjoyed it as a novel, so much that I listened to the audiobook too - the narrators were fab! I’d definitely recommend both versions and I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for more from Celia Laskey in the future - what a debut! Thank you to NetGalley and HQ for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review, when I really love a NetGalley book I will always buy myself a copy anyway and this is definitely one of those, it’s one of my top reads of 2021. If you haven’t already, add this to your TBR pile today!

Big Burr in Kansas is a typical closed-minded town. When it is labelled 'USA's most homophobic town', a social experiment is launched to try to open the minds of the locals, and a team of LGBTQ+ volunteers are sent to live and work there.
Teenage Avery is not best pleased at having been uprooted from her big city life and being sent to live in the backward backwater. Christine feels threatened by the newcomers, while grieving mother Linda is only pleased to welcome them.
Tensions rise and secrets threaten to spill, while the residents question what it means to be part of a community.
A humorous but deep look at small-town life, opinions and diversity in a modern world.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me listen to an advance copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest feedback.

really liked the layout of the different stories all set around one very small town, small in stature and mindset. Beautifully written and well explained for audio readers. Everyday observations on life and heartache. Thank you #NetGalley for the audiobook to review.

Wow, what a rollercoaster of a book. The book was slow to get going to start with and as an audiobook it was read by many different individuals, which helped some stories. The book centres around one town in America which would easily be seen in 2021, the town doesn’t take on anyone who isn’t “normal” and it’s interesting to see how the town feels to the individuals and by the end you get a sense change will come despite them needing the actual government to get involved! The younger characters are great

I struggled with this one. Though I really enjoyed the concept - it seems like an odd HBO show that Adam McKay would be attached to produce - I wasn't so fond of the execution. With so many characters to contend with, no one becomes particularly developed or gets much of a journey. Me being me, I also lost track after a while of just who was who. It's a novel, I think, that just skims the surface, rather than digging deeper down in, leaving much to be desired by the end. Not for me, I don't think.

One positive - I appreciated that there was a full cast for the narration. Had it just been one person, I think my brain might have exploded.

Big Burr, Kansas - deemed to be the most homophobic town in America, and where members of the 'Acceptance across America' task force are headed next.
The novel follows the next two+ years in the lives of some of the task force members; their families who have moved with them, their own lives uprooted ; some town residents who find it hard to accept the necessary changes, but all of whom have reasons of their own for this...

The interconnected stories show us those who crave to be accepted for themselves, in a town that seems to despise anything but 'the norm', and conversely those who wish for a less alternative life. We see marriages make and break and young people struggle with their identity and how they perceive others. We see those who are trying to make a difference, even when it feels like swimming against the tide and those who surprise even themselves with their unequivocal support.

There is a lot to like about this novel; I listened to the Audiobook and it is narrated really well, with clear and distinct narrators for each character. There are some really thought-provoking parts, and some which are uncomfortable but necessary.
But there are also other parts that felt a bit less than all that. One particular story line was shocking but I failed to see the real relevance of it to the story, other than the sadness value of it.
I liked the multi-faceted view of the town and the situations within, and how we would find out tidbits about other people through our current story, but as there were so many aspects and characters, it never really felt totally finished to me, as it wasn't possible to really fully flesh out everyone's story at the end. I did like the note it ended on, having said all that.
Laskey is obviously able to write a good story, and I would read her next works.

Really loved this one! Amazing audiobook with a huge cast, shows a lot of perspectives all with LGBTQ+ stories. I really enjoyed hearing about the people from Big Burr and how the homophobic town has effected their lives.