2020-2021 Rainbow Awards: Best Debut Book
And the Rainbow Award goes to:
The Love Factor by Quinn Ivins:
- This is nicely written, with well-drawn characters (MCs Molly and Carmen in particular), and the plot kept me engaged from beginning to end.
- This was a great read. Throwback to the 90’s with a little history thrown in. Love a book where I can learn something new. Loved the interplay between the MC’s. Kind of a slow burn but so relevant to the storyline.
- Oh, this is what a debut looks like by Quinn Ivins? By all means well done! This romance is set at the brink of freedom for gay people in the late 90s - young students are coming more and more out, others who group up in the closet still practice silence. A silence which comes at great cost personally. The author does an extremely good job to capture this historic moment: an out grad student age 30 and her professor age 39. Been there done that: in a misogynistic, sexist environment it was indeed a great achievement to succeed, most lesbians wouldn’t risk coming out and get strike two against them which in many cases would have been a strike out. Very well done - although there are a few possible ahistoric references (trans woman were by no means casually regarded as woman, to ask a lesbian whether she is a lesbian or bisexual was offensive, since acceptance of bisexuality was not really there and I think yoga moms with strollers is more recent than the late 90s) - it shows how far we have come in two decades. I loved that there a two female mathematicians - yeah! The story is well done, the plot and pace appropriate and I really like - because it’s true to the characters and the times that the love story was very low key until it could come out of the closet too with a big roar.
Runners Up:
On Top of Glass: My Stories as a Queer Girl in Figure Skating by Karina Manta tied with Franklin in Paradise by John Patrick tied with The Eighth Key by Laura Weyr
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The Love Factor by Quinn Ivins:
- This is nicely written, with well-drawn characters (MCs Molly and Carmen in particular), and the plot kept me engaged from beginning to end.
- This was a great read. Throwback to the 90’s with a little history thrown in. Love a book where I can learn something new. Loved the interplay between the MC’s. Kind of a slow burn but so relevant to the storyline.
- Oh, this is what a debut looks like by Quinn Ivins? By all means well done! This romance is set at the brink of freedom for gay people in the late 90s - young students are coming more and more out, others who group up in the closet still practice silence. A silence which comes at great cost personally. The author does an extremely good job to capture this historic moment: an out grad student age 30 and her professor age 39. Been there done that: in a misogynistic, sexist environment it was indeed a great achievement to succeed, most lesbians wouldn’t risk coming out and get strike two against them which in many cases would have been a strike out. Very well done - although there are a few possible ahistoric references (trans woman were by no means casually regarded as woman, to ask a lesbian whether she is a lesbian or bisexual was offensive, since acceptance of bisexuality was not really there and I think yoga moms with strollers is more recent than the late 90s) - it shows how far we have come in two decades. I loved that there a two female mathematicians - yeah! The story is well done, the plot and pace appropriate and I really like - because it’s true to the characters and the times that the love story was very low key until it could come out of the closet too with a big roar.
Runners Up:
On Top of Glass: My Stories as a Queer Girl in Figure Skating by Karina Manta tied with Franklin in Paradise by John Patrick tied with The Eighth Key by Laura Weyr
This journal is friends only. This entry was originally posted at https://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/5431777.html. If you are not friends on this journal, Please comment there using OpenID.