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

Such a moving book with a large and diverse cast of characters, most of whom you can't help but love. As a queer person myself, I found the story especially touching and I loved the different types of love that it celebrated. This is one of the first fiction books I've read that addressed Covid 19 so that was pretty cool!

Thanks to Skipstone Publishing and NetGalley for a copy to review.

The three storylines of each girl are woven together masterfully. This was a pleasantly surprising read!

crystals House of Queers was fun to read. Some of the writing was a bit flat but I overall had a great time reading it.

smut-lgbt It makes me so happy that this book delivered from the first page to the last. I adore sapphic relationships, and I had a great time getting to know the characters and their surroundings.

The beginning very much hooked me! Set in Alaska in 2020 still in the middle of the COVID19, is a teenage girl trying to figure herself out and care for her family. Check trigger warnings since there is abuse from previous family members. New girls come to the school and soon the main character questions her sexuality and what fully being queer in a small town Alaska means in a pandemic when everything around her is crashing. A good story and viewpoint of those newly an adult and figuring out what being queer is and new experiences and how to find your community. Does get a bit boring in the middle since they are still in high school and lots of juvenile things happen. Not my cup of tea from a high school characters perspective.

What makes this book good? To be honest I have no clue I couldn’t get through this book. It was a DNF for me.
I do hope to see more from this author in the future but for right now this was a no from me sadly.

This story start at the beginning of the pandemic where everyone just thinks that Covid-19 is a lie. (Super strange to read about the pandemic) Crystal and her brother have to go back to school because they have learning disability but she is being raised by her grandparents, she is very insistant in going but certain events transpire. Their is a diverse cast of characters and they were just bouncing of the pages it was amazing to see so many different stories being told so beautifully.

Thank you netgally and the publisher for giving me a free copy of Crystal's house of Queers for an honest review.

Such a moving book with a large and diverse cast of characters, most of whom you can't help but fall in love with. As the mother of a queer child, I found the story especially touching and I loved the different types of love that it celebrated. This is one of the first fiction books I've read that addressed Covid 19 and it's handled well as are so many other heavy topics. I'm looking forward to discussing this with my kid once they've read it.

Thanks to Skipstone Publishing and NetGalley for a copy to review.

Crystal's House of Queers is one of the books who we should read before the 18 years old.

Thanks to Skipstone Publishing for this arc.

Honestly don't know what I can say about this book that hasn't already been said.
The COVID aspect was all over the place, and sort of just...cringey?
This book was constantly moving, never any downtime! Event after event kept happening, it was mental.
The writing wasn't my vibe to be honest, and I would have preferred the characters be aged up a bit more to not feel as icky, it's labelled new adult so was expecting slightly older characters and felt a bit uncomfortable as they are so young (to me).

Lots of gay/lesbian (but bi rep would have been nice instead of just nearly everyone being comphet...). Great chosen family, and coming out/be yourself message...but just lots of drama - felt like a two part season finale of a teen CW show.

Honestly, this book was a rollercoaster. I don't think i'm the biggest fan of the writing style, but that’s just my thing anyway. Something i really loved about this book is the art it contained but Im not sure whether i’d recommend it or no. why? well, it was solid plot, but i don’t think the solutions the characters had were correctly made. Everything happened so fast i couldn’t really process anything until they had already solved the problem. Talking about the characters, well, they were nice, but again, the development was kinda rushed? the trauma they must’ve gone through and how quickly they recovered, and if they didn’t get over it, i would’ve loved to see them help each other through it. However, it was a nice book & the LGBTQ+ rep was really nice and welcoming.

I liked all the different types of representation. This was a completely unique, gripping and empowering read! I’ve never read a book with so many complex and special characters, and the queer and disability representation was so honest and positive.

I received this book for free for an honest review from netgalley #netgalley

Gay love🏳️‍🌈 so loved this book with its openness and vulnerability. There are no words. We need more books like this.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I picked up the book after reading the blurb and felt that it would focus on the presentation of LGBTQ+ characters, disability and focus on a number of different difficulties. I have loved some of the character developments and enjoyed how the story developed up to a point.

Unfortunately, at one point it became a bit a lot to follow and it started feeling a bit unrealistic which made it difficult to remain engaged with the book. I also felt that the end didn't really answer all the questions I had. In particular with Mac as I felt that there was a lot of built up around him.

Overall, I found the story interesting and loved the drawings but unfortunately at parts it did not live up for me.

3.5 stars

I went into this book knowing very little other than it was set during the pandemic in rural Alaska and presumably was very queer. All of those things are true, though the pandemic was more of a footnote with commentary about masks in schools in the beginning and Crystal's grandparents/caregivers getting exposed early on removing them from the rest of the story.

Overall, I found the book enjoyable as a New Adult family drama, and I think the message of being true to yourself regardless of what others think is incredibly important. Also I loved that the author included Crystal and Payton's artwork throughout the book! It was absolutely gorgeous.

That being said, I had some issues with the pacing. The events of the story take place over like 2 days and that felt really unrealistic, especially considering the gravity of some of them. The short time span also made some of the character interactions feel sort of hollow. For example, on Day 1 Crystal is lusting after Haley, who had been her childhood friend but they grew apart, and Payton and her little sister move to town. Then by the end of Day 1 Crystal and Haley are in love and Payton and Sydney have become "part of the family". The last few chapters also felt a little redundant to me. Yes, they serve a purpose in tying up a loose end and cementing the found family, but for me the story felt over before (view spoiler) and adding on those last few chapters, especially with Ainsley in the last chapter, just made the story drag.

Also I loved that the author included disability rep as well as queer rep, but it would have been nice to see more than just lesbian (and a small side of gay) representation, especially considering many of the women had been in relationships with men in the past. It would have been really easy to make at least one of women bi/pan, but instead the author chose to make all of their exes horrible and ignore any multi-gender attraction. And there was not even a hint of trans anything in the book. Really if it wasn't for Mike and Danny the book would be better titled "Crystal's House of Lesbians".

4.5

Do you want
Sapphic love
Plot with lots of spice/smut
Found family
New adult (18+)
Multigenerational queers
Autistic main character
Then read this book.

However, if you feel...
It’s too soon to read about life during covid
icky reading barely legal smut*
then this is not the book for you

Cuuuuuute story about baby sapphics fighting for space in the world while some are tangled up in family drama others are getting away from abuse.

*This is a new adult book, but the characters are still 18 and in the beginning of their senior year of high school. It almost feels like the “barely legal” category. Then again, this is meant for New Adults. So, maybe it’s perfect.

My favorite quote from this book reminds me a lot of my own life
I think the past should be like an old movie you’ve found hidden in a box. You remember it made you sad or happy or afraid but it’s old and there are much better movies to see now. Then you close the box and put it away. Pretty soon, you forget where you put the box and stop caring that you lost it

I liked all the different types of representation, but the plot felt convoluted and forced in places.

This was a story about divergence from the norms and the consequences, both positive and negative. It showed the power of determination and self acceptance in the face of bigotry and cruelty. One thing I really liked was that it didn't end with every battle won but with many battles left to fight. The book was a short read but packed full! There was a little too much erotica for me personally, but nice to see unapologetic queer romance and sexuality featured

This was a completely unique, gripping and empowering read! I’ve never read a book with so many complex and special characters, and the queer and disability representation was so honest and positive. There was also some amazing artwork included in it that added to the very special feeling. Some parts were perhaps a bit too unrealistic for this book to be fully as gripping as it could have been, but it was overall a very entertaining and emotional read.

The story follows 18-year-old Crystal, who lives in rural Alaska with her grandparents and brother after having been abandoned by her drug-addicted parents at a young age. Both Crystal and her brother JD were affected by their mother’s drinking and drug use during pregnancy and have special needs. But Crystal isn’t just struggling with her disability, she’s also secretly in love with her best friend Haley, and suffering from the small town’s toxic masculinity with bullying and constant harassment and on top of that, her grandparents are hospitalized with Covid. Haley is repeatedly abused by her boyfriend, and when Crystal gets enough one day and reports him, she triggers a chain of events that will change her life and both bring back her past and help her create a new future for herself and her loved ones.

I loved the queer representation and the complex characters. I’ve never read a book with main characters dealing with special needs, where the disability was described in such an honest yet positive way. Both Crystal and JD struggle in school and with being bullied, and Brooke Skipstone never tried to shy away from their challenges, but she also did a brilliant job showing how gifted and talented they were in other ways and how brave, strong, kind and artistic Crystal was. The artwork included in the book that Crystal draw was so beautiful and added so much to the narrative.

Some things were a bit unrealistic and the dialogues were at times sassy and brilliant, but at other times the writing style lacked in flow and felt a little bit too much tell rather than show. There was also so much going on that the story felt slightly overloaded. The story took place during a week, showing all things happening after Crystal saves Haley from the abuse, but there were enough things and drama happening that easily could have lasted a month, or even a year.

But overall, Crystal’s House of Queers was a heart-wrenching and unique queer coming of age story full of friendship, love, acceptance and forgiveness, sexual discovery and the creation of a queer safe haven for others suffering from abuse and harassments. I loved the positive undertone even though there were so many difficult topics (abuse, addiction, disability, teenage pregnancy, homophobia and more) and how strong and able all female characters were portrayed, which in the end really made it such an empowering story!

3.5 stars rounding up to 4.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC and opportunity to read this unique book! All opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.