I usually love memoirs, however this book seemed extremely sexual for a book that did not need to be. I liked the message and Lorka's stories, but even so it was a bit too crude for me. 3/5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for giving me an advanced copy of this book to read and review.

The author takes us into her life with humor and honesty. This is a quick read that will have you laughing in some parts of the book. I commend the author for writing about her life with some humor and honesty. I did not want the book to end. Can we get part 2 please? Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the arc of the book in return for my honest review. Receiving the book in this manner had no bearing on this review.

This book had me literally laughing out loud right from the beginning.
Holly Lorka is very blunt, very open and crude as hell - I think we would be great friends in real life!
This book tells the story of her life, as a child that felt as though she was a boy trapped in a Girls body, to accepting she was gay, to then not wanting gender realignment surgery because she had accepted who she was.
It was a real journey, that I thoroughly enjoyed reading about, and thanks to Holly, I feel like I am a pro when it comes to dildos, and i have been educated in what happens EXACTLY in gender reassignment surgery from female to male!!
This book definitely isn't for prides or for people that aren't very open minded, but for everyone else, I highly recommend

I really enjoyed this book! This book was generously provided to me through NetGalley. Highly Recommended!

Handsome is probably the best book I read in 2020.

Some stories take a while to get into. This one had me hooked from the opening dedication (to both Lorka's father and George Michael). By about page 16, I was screaming with a mixture of laughter and shock.

Told in a series of very entertaining essays, Lorka's memoir explores their lifelong journey through... everything: gender, partners, family, careers. You know, the usual stuff. But the thing is, Lorka can really write. I would happily read about them going cushion shopping, that's how much delight they manage to infuse the page with. I honestly don't want to give a single second of it away, so I'll simply say this: read it.

I get the impression they are cheeky as all hell (and probably a bit of nightmare to date at times) but there is so much heart in this book that you can't help but love them. I'm really looking forward to re-reading this book at some point in the future and getting to enjoy it all over again.

Utterly hilarious, wonderfully personal, and a complete surprise, from the moment I picked up HANDSOME I did not want to put it down. This book had me hysterically laughing from the start, and then getting teary eyed as it progressed. Lorka's ability to share such personal stories is amazingly powerful and really drew me in as a reader. From the awkward moments growing up to adulthood when she was able to love and appreciate all parts of herself, I loved the honesty and openness that Lorka wrote with. This book is a must read for anyone that has struggled with parts of themselves or has ever questioned where they fit in the grand scheme of things. Go get a copy today!

Holly Lorka has done an amazing job with this book and it is one of my favourites of the year and one I already can’t wait to return too. It is a honest and raw look at the discovery of yourself and sexuality. A look at the way in which define ourselves and how our choices make and define us. There some very funny moments where I actually laughed out loud and tender moments that made me cry. Hearing of Holly speak of her time nursing is one of those moments and really add heart to the book.
A great book that I would recommend to all.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a cope of this book I exchange for an honest review.

I was really excited to read this book, because I feel like it's so rare to see books written by non-binary authors. This was a perspective I really wanted to read - and to be honest, the book left me wanting a bit. I really enjoyed it and thought Holly's style was warm and welcoming, making for an easy read - but most of the pieces were short and snapping and felt like they didn't really have much of a story to tell. I felt like towards the end of the book, the pieces got more interesting, but I still didn't feel like I got quite as much as I expected from this read.

Lorka’s Handsome is primarily a collection of short stories about one’s relationship with gender, sexuality, and body parts. This year I aimed to read more books about gender and this delivered! Although the topic was what initially interested me, in my opinion the pieces that shone the brightest were those about Lorka’s relationships with others, be them friends, family or dazzling classmates.

Wow. “Handsome” took me on a roller coaster of emotions. Just as soon as I was laughing my ass off, I went down to a darker place, and then back up again. Author Holly Lorka’s twists and turns were impeccably timed. And she kept me glued to my itty bitty Kindle phone app from start to finish. I couldn’t put it down.

This is a full-on complicated adventure, and I was down for the 3-hour ride.

Nurse by day, comedian by night, Holly’s humorous mini-memoir essays are about all the complicated things in life. She gets real about sex, shame, sadness, feeling “other” and wanting more. And she’ll educate you on what it’s like to grow up with gender dysmorphia. Plus, all of the issues one must face in the quest to become their true selves. It was heartbreaking to witness parts of Holly’s journey, but liberating to read her happy-ever-after ending.

Basically I loved everything about her stories about being an awkward girl boy. I especially love her self-deprecating references about growing up in the 1970s and 80s. She had me rolling on the floor as she was talking about humping her giant Barbie and finding her vagina. Then I felt for her as she was humiliated and bullied on the bus. And then I was shocked a few times and wanted to look away (hello, harvesting eyeballs and buying strap-on black penises).

Speaking of sex toys… This is a fair warning to the prudes and tender-hearted. “Handsome” will make you blush, and it will make you think. If you are uptight or unaccepting in any way, then this is a hard pass.

As you can likely tell, I’m a fan. This is an especially poignant read for the LGBTQI community as well as friends and supporters. If you’re like me and haven’t been exposed to many people who are transgender or who have gender dysmorphia, this is a beautiful, brilliant start.

We are all just wandering around this planet, looking for a way to belong, to fit in. It starts by truly knowing ourselves. And then sharing our deepest secrets, and admitting to others who we really are.

Special thanks to She Writes Press, via NetGalley, for a gifted electronic copy in exchange for my honest review.

I read a lot of biographies and autobiographies when I was younger - across a wide range of different topics - but I never really had the opportunity to access many, if any, queer voices. The younger adult me would definitely have appreciated the existence of this book and I definitely appreciated it now - especially as someone who has experienced some similar feelings at times to Lorka.

Lorka covers a number of topics, many in a humorous way, but their exploration of gender and sexuality and their relationship to both are the things that really stands out, and act as the thread for the collection of stories. The topics covered are definitely adult in nature, varying from sex toys to teddy bears and top surgery to life as a nurse. I found some of the stories genuinely heart wrenching, whilst at other times I was laughing out loud.

I can partially understand the decision to mix up the chronological narrative of the chapters, but I needed something to tie things together to make it a little easier to read. If the chapters had all been bunched together in the same general topic I might have found it a bit easier if chronology was to be avoided - but instead I was often left at times wondering where in Lorka’s life this fit, which girlfriend were they dating, where were they living etc. Perhaps in the long run none of things actually mattered, and maybe that was the point, that irrespective of those markers in life, these things still happened, but it’s the lack of chronology or grouping standing between me and a five star rating.

Lorka was definitely an interesting person to spend time learning about, and I’m definitely interested in learning more. If you like memoirs I’d recommend you pick this one up and give it a go.

I received an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.75 Stars. This was a good memoir. I like to take a break from time to time from my normal reading to pick up something non-fiction. Memoirs especially are my go to when I need to mix things up since they are normally pretty entertaining. And if I can learn a little something too than that is pretty perfect for me. While I studied sociology in college and learned about gender dysmorphia, a lot has changed in sexuality and gender in the 15 years since I was in school. And while popping open a text book might tell you what something means, it doesn’t explain what the person feels. And what better way to truly understand than to read about those feelings from the person that actually has them.

This was a bit different than the normally more linear storylines often seen in a memoir. The book itself was more of a bunch of essays that covered most of Lorka’s life. While I liked the feel of many different stories, so that if one wasn’t that interesting you knew a new one was coming up soon, I did wish the stories didn’t jump around the timeline so much. I didn’t always know which stage this was in Lorka’s life, which city was she living in, and even which girlfriend she was dating because it jumped around so much. Again, the little stories were great I just wished there were in chronological order.

I had a feeling some of the stories might be little tough to read, but when I realized that Lorka was a retired stand-up comedian I was hopeful the book would have a really nice balance to it. I’m happy to say that it did. While I didn’t find it to be overly funny, I found myself laughing out loud more than once. I also found myself tearing up a couple times and I was also embarrassed for Lorka. We all have embarrassing stories but poor Lorka sure has more than her share of them.

I would recommend this to memoir fans and people wanting to know more about what it feels like to be born with the wrong body parts. I don’t know how you could read this and not think that Lorka should have been born differently. A book like this might help educate people who just don’t understand. It is written in a way that is very real and not at all preachy. This was a good debut for Lorka and a good read.

Handsome is a memoir by Holly Lorka. It is a collection of essays full of authenticity and raw honesty about growing up in the “wrong body”. I got a digital arc from NetGalley and I have to say it was really clunky. Words out of place, images covered, just not great quality for an ARC. But that was okay, I was still able to get through it with ease.

This memoir is searingly funny, witty, and unfiltered. Holly made me laugh, cry, and cringe equally. A nurse by day, a comedian/writer/storyteller by night, Holly provides a unique perspective I was engrossed in from the start. What a gift to provide such an inside view unto coming to terms with their gender, and sexuality in such a public way. For those of us who grew up cisgendered, this is a story we didn’t live and can only understand when someone bares their soul and story the way Holly did.

Holly is quirky, devilishly funny, and at times a little cringeworthy. But I think that is what makes them so real and readable. I would recommend this to some friends for sure. I will say I did not like what was said about pit bulls, and the part about telling jokes about Mexicans during a stand up act. Those are my only complaints about this book. Otherwise, it was fantastic.

Thank you to NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This is the first memoir I ever read and didn't know what to expect. Maybe I was thinking about something written in chronological order so it took a while to get used to it. There are both funny and emotional parts, I liked it.

A heartfelt collection of essay from Holly Lorka exploring sexuality, gender and ...just being a weird horny kid. I laughed! I cried! I celebrated Holly's honestly and openness with her struggles and her triumphs.

Thanks to netGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This was an incredibly honest; beautiful; funny; and wonderfully raw read!

In "Handsome", Holly Lorka tells the story of finding herself and her sexual identity using a great mix of humor and honesty. I'm in awe of her amazing spirit - and I really hope there's a second book in her future!

The only tiny complaint that I have any this book is that the chapters/tales are rather short - and while this seemed to be Lorka's style, it left me wanting to know so much more!

Thank you to Netgalley; the publisher; and to Holly Lorka herself for giving me the chance to enjoy this one!

I always feel strange rating memoirs or autobiographies because it feels like I’m judging the author’s life. I want to say that this rating is a reflection of my *experience* reading this book and has nothing to do with the author themselves. In fact, I think this was a case of “It’s not you, it’s me” because most of the reviews I see for this book are very highly rated.

I really misunderstood what this book was going to be about. I thought it was going to be a more traditional memoir with a mostly linear storyline and focus more on Holly’s experience with identity. It’s actually a lot of humorous and anecdotal short stories that jump around the timeline. I found this confusing sometimes because I couldn’t tell when certain events happened, like “Was this before or after she moved to Texas? Is this the same girlfriend from before?” I actually don’t mind non-linear storytelling, but I need a frame of reference to know when in time it’s happening. Unfortunately, this was also not my kind of humor. Holly used to be a stand-up comedian, so perhaps hearing some of these stories out loud would have been a different experience.

As an ally to the LGBTQ+ community, I read books to grow my understanding and learn from the experiences of those in the community. I think in this case though, this might be better enjoyed and more relatable to someone in the community.

Thanks to Lorka's memoir, I know now that *at least* four Austinites (including my wife and I) dislike Mumford and Sons. Thank goodness.

Lorka's memoir was very relatable to this queer person. I laughed at the funny parts, gravely contemplated the serious parts, and squirmed uncomfortably at the frank truths within. (Like..."Fourth grade is easy for no one". Being raised Catholic and not understanding why you feel more tender toward girls than boys? So awkward.)

I largely connected with the geographic similarities (Woo, Austin!) between the author and I, as well as Lorka's raw admission of self-hatred and confusion during "2012 Bedpost Confessions". I actually wondered why that story wasn't at the end until I made it to the end. Very powerful.

On a lighter note, who but a Texan (native or transplant) understands how AWFUL it is to have your scooting (or skating) impeded by Texas Live Oak acorns??

Lastly, Lorka's story about the stuffed animal sorta broke my heart in a good way.

This is a beautiful and fulfilling book, one definitely worth reading!

This isn't my normal type of read (memoirs) but I actually really enjoyed it.

It was a very honest, witty, detailed and poignant look into what it was like for Holly, growing up in the wrong body, experimenting, her sexual awakening, and her journey of discovery and acceptance.

Holly made me laugh out loud on so many occasions throughout this book.
I have to warn you this book is sexually explicit in places which some readers may find difficult to read.
My only niggle was at times it felt a little disjointed, but I think that's just because I'm not used to reading this style of book.

But overall Handsome is a heartfelt, inspiring, thought provoking, insightful and very humorous story that certainly opened my eyes.