DNF at about 17%. I don’t read romance genre books often (and incorrectly assumed a YA level one wouldn’t be as graphic? These are 17/18 year olds...), but I was excited to branch out because of the LGBTQIA relationships and disability representation. The book delivered on both aspects as promised.

However, I had a few issues getting into this book. Despite picking it up immediately after a different YA book, the writing was immature in a way the protagonist’s ages couldn’t fully explain. Even dialogue from older characters was riddled with cliches.

Also, the pacing was way off. I know it’s not unusual for YA books to use hot topics as a replacement for plot, but this book made a feeble attempt to solve the problem by dumping several plot points into one scene shortly before I stopped reading. From what I’ve read in other reviews, the second half is incredibly slow. So, there’s a bit of an imbalance there.

Finally, it’s just unbearably unrealistic. Even if the unoriginal prose hadn’t gotten in the way, I don’t think I would believe the way these children approach the world. Similar to the issue with the plot, emotions are either turned on or off. The characters go from 0-60 in a sentence, but stay at 0 for so long, you forget the author was trying to write about teenagers at all.

I am grateful to both the publisher and NetGalley for providing an Audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"If you come out, people hate you. If you don't, you hate yourself" (Brooke Skipstone, Crystal's House of Queers).

I just finished listening to Crystal's House of Queers by Brooke Skipstone. The story is located in small-town Alaska and centers on Crystal Rose, her love interest Haley Carson, their friend Payton Reed, and Payton's sister Sidney. After calling out Haley's boyfriend for pushing Haley into sexual acts without her consent, Crystal begins to truly understand her romantic feelings towards Haley.

After Crystal's grandparents have to rush to the hospital due to COVID, Crystal and her friends decide to stay in Crystal's house and make it a safe haven for themselves and other members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Some things I really liked about this book;
The way that Skipstone wrote small-town living: I lived in a small town for most of high school and college. With that being said, I can vividly remember dealing with the same fears that Crystal, Holly, and Payton all express feeling. Skipstone does an excellent job of expressing those emotions that many young people coming to terms with their sexuality have to cope with.
The found family aspect: I loved the way that these characters came together when they needed each other most. It shows how impactful a community can be when they come together really form a bond.
The disability representation: Crystal notes at several different points that Crystal, her brother (JD), and Payton's sister Sidney are all "special needs." Skipstone makes a point to highlight the accommodations Crystal receives but through a lens of non-judgment which I really appreciated, as it opens the door and makes discussion around learning disabilities and struggles much easier.
The honest conversations: At one point, Skipstone has Sidney Reed's character make a point about the need for complete honesty with oneself. I think that the honesty Sidney is referencing is such an important part of identity formation and self-accountability.
Some things I didn't like so much about this book;
COVID: As I first began to listen to this book, my only thought was that I am confused and a little bit uncomfortable. Part of this combination definitely stems from the fact that this book takes place in today's world, where COVID-19 is still running rampant. While I understand that COVID will most likely become a feature in many contemporary works, I still wasn't prepared to read a book with it as a central plot point.
The overt sexuality of the book: Don't get me wrong, I love a good sex scene, but when I remember that these characters are only 18 years old, I have more than a little discomfort to deal with. Even though this book is marked as "New Adult," I don't really qualify high school-aged main characters as fitting into that genre. That being said, I wasn't expecting to have such detailed, or frequent, sex scenes. Outside of the sex scenes themselves, Skipstone has Crystal showing off her nude artwork on Instagram (which is technically against the guidelines of the platform) and then later on Crystal attempting to show off the nudes in class just because she could. I think that if these characters had been having these revelations and experiences in college or post-grad, I would have been much more comfortable. With all that said, I do think that seeing/reading lesbians being intimate with one another is a very important thing for young queer people.
Trope usage: While I can appreciate Skipstone's want to include a realistic view of teenage life, I think there were too many cooks in the kitchen as far as tropes go. Between found family, the U-Haul lesbian, the family tension,
I think there was a bit of a jumble and as someone who already struggles to follow audiobooks, I was having a little bit more trouble than I wanted. However, Skipstone's writing style really made the characters come to life.

I think that this book had a lot going on and it would probably be better served if it had been split into different parts. The speed of the plot itself also felt fairly rushed, by the end of the book, I felt like I had run a marathon. There are several "hell yeah" moments (specifically in terms of sexual freedom and autonomy, LGBTQIA rights, and standing up for oneself). Despite these moments, there was still no clean way to end this novel that wouldn't fall into cliches.
I definitely recommend taking a gander at this book, as the characters are richly developed and the plot is complex enough that readers will stay engaged. However, I definitely want to warn any interested parties of the potential triggers in the book. They are; domestic violence/abuse, sexual acts/abuse, teen pregnancy, and COVID-19. I found that despite these topics, I was able to finish the book.

Overall rating: 2.5/5

Crystal's House of Queers is available for purchase now. Be sure to add it to your Goodreads shelf and see where it's available for purchase. Also, be sure to check out Brooke Skipstone's website!

I was lucky enough to be able to listen to this Advanced Reader's Copy through my partnership with NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

✍️ One Sentence Synopsis: A teen creates a safe haven for queers in a rural Alaskan town.

💭 Overall Thoughts: I’m going to start by saying I really loved the premise of this book. I loved the idea of creating a safe haven and the found family theme strung throughout the book. I loved the representation both from the queer perspective and disability perspective. I loved the romance that formed between Crystal and Haley and the friendship bonds formed between the group. The book is written with strong emotion and poignancy— there is heartache with a mix of pure joy from love.

That being said, I personally really struggled with the timeline. There is ALOT of trauma and drama in this novel (see content warnings)—- and it all takes place over a few days. It just seemed realistic that it would all happen in that time frame. It also seemed unrealistic in terms of how quickly trust was built and rebuilt between characters.

It also takes place during COVID-19. It was too fresh for me— and I also didn’t like how the pandemic was woven in but also ignored. In a way it’s probably realistic of how it was handled in Alaska but it angered me based on my personal experience with COVID.

What I Liked:
👍 Queer and disability representation
👍 Adorable blossoming romance

What I Didn’t Like:
👎 The timeframe just doesn’t fit— it’s unrealistic
👎 Then COVID-19 theme. It just didn’t work for me, and I felt the story could have been better without it.

🎧 The narrator did a nice job but at times I felt her portrayal of emotion was a little too over the top.

⚠️ Content Warnings: homophobia, teenage pregnancy, domestic violence, covid-19, body shaming, slut shaming, bullying, infidelity, drug abuse, estranged family dynamics

Thank you to NetGalley and Skipstone Publishing for the audio book with request for review.

This book has several triggering elements that I will give a heads up about: a sexual assault scene, emotional abuse, bullying, homophobia, abandonment, addiction, and COVID-19 related events (I feel that given the trauma of the pandemic it can definitely be a triggering topic).

Though brief I found the scene with the sexual assault to be rather disturbing. Not to mention the survivors ability to brush it off as though it was nothing and immediately want to engage in sexual activities with another right after. That seemed unrealistic to me, but I guess people deal with trauma differently?

One thing I really appreciated about this book, was the handling of special education and students with learning disabilities. I thought that was the most realistic and well done part of the story. As someone who works with special needs students I can be critical with how it is represented in literature but this book did it justice. Not just the characters but the education system as well.

I also liked that the adults at the school seemed to really listen to the kids and not brush off their trauma.

The struggle with figuring out your sexual identity was well represented in some instances but glossed over or sped through in others. I would have liked to see more of that.

However some of the events were too triggering for me to be able to enjoy and some of the interactions between the teenagers and their reactions to each other were a little too unrealistic for me.

Overall, I was feel sort of conflicted about this book. It was startling to read a book with COVID very present in the story, but the author really did capture the experience of Covid in a rural area very realistically. I liked the way queerness in rural Alaska is portrayed. I was TOTALLY captivated by the descriptions of Peyton and Crystals art--I want to see it and buy it and commission a piece!! There is an interesting mix of characters and eventually a really cool dynamic between them all!

While I love a good found family, coming of age, strong female protaganist story, I didn't connect so much with this one. I felt like there was something missing as all the relationships formed and evolved so quickly, conflict almost instantly resolved and it just felt a little hollow to me.

While there are some fun moments, this story covers some really serious topics (think abuse, drug use, abandonment, Covid, etc...). That combined with how much sex they have just made me a little bit uncomfortable reading this book.

This book made me want to legitimately cry 😢. This was filled with so much pain. I appreciated that it focused on current events.

<b>The story </b>

The story follows Crystal Rose a queer girl who is being raised in rural Alaska during the COVID-19 pandemic. The story takes place in the beginning of the pandemic when everyone assumed the virus was just a hoax. Crystal and her older brother JD are being raised by their grandparents. This becomes an issue because JD and Crystal have to go back to school because they have learning disabilities. The issues with have older guardians is that they can actually give them this horrible virus and this may effect them sooner than they think.

Later that week,Crystal and JD are heading to class and their grandpa 👴 is just coughing and heaving. Their grandmother is terrified that the virus may have infected everyone in the house at this point. Crystal is a complete jerk and demands to go to school and she picks a fight with her grandma. YAY !!!!! We love teens. "SIKE!!!" 😳😞
Now not only will Crystal and her brother expose the classmates to the virus. Nope, a chain of events will change the course of her life forever and she may get the person of her dreams.

Crystal is stubborn, angsty, super bad a** and she won’t stop until she gets exactly what she wants. She might just draw ✍🏽 it into existence. Crystal may have short coming when it comes to school but she can draw anything. Her drawing show the world 🌎 just how strong she is.

The narrator is awesome and I felt like I was listening to nagging teens. And the intimacy scenes are so intense and raw. 😘 😘
This was a 4 star ⭐️ read but this is a bit on the darker side. These are a few things that would typically give you pause so I have listed a few of them below.

* spoiler*

*Abuse on & off page
*assault
+ kidnapping
*body shaming
* homophobia

Special thanks to NetGalley for providing me an Audiobook ARC !!! I am leaving this review voluntarily and all thoughts are my own.

I've never read a book set in rural Alaska and the synopsis of a group of high schoolers trying to create a safe haven for marginalized/queer people made me want to listen to this one as soon as possible. The idea was there and it was great, but the execution maybe a bit less. I felt really uncomfortable by the really graphic sex scenes considering that this book is about teenagers and is set during covid. We're still living the pandemic and sometimes all the details included in it didn't feel realistic at all to my own experience with being in high school during a pandemic. I think that if it had a trigger warning I would have known what to expect and not be this surprised.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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.

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 <spoiler>Eugene came back the last time</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".

Parents, you must read this. It is essential that every adult who is tutoring a child read books like this one. It has so much facts that sometimes we all go through that is sad to realize that it doesn't matter wether you are men, women, gay, transgender, etc.
If you are not open minded, don't read it. If you are stuck in old society rules and are not willing to open your eyes please don't read it. If you are one of those parents who care more about others than your own child please don't read it.
To all of you willing to care, listen to this audio book and make a change.

What a roller coaster of a book!

Let me preface this review by saying hats off to this author for tackling a number of difficult topics, including the pandemic, teen pregnancies, sexual assault and harassment, homophobia, disability representation, abuse, addiction and absent parents. Phew, it's a lot!

I started out enjoying this book. I liked being introduced to a new setting that I've yet to read or visit - rural Alaska - with a strong queer character of Crystal who seemed really lovely. But then, the book took a bit of a turn and I started to feel really uncomfortable reading it.

For me, this started at the point where these kids (they are about 17/18 year olds) talk about really adult things in a very blasé way. For instance, sex, drugs, guns, marriage and pregnancy. It was confronting initially and then it became a little too unrealistic. I just couldn't get past how unrealistic aspects of this book were. This book features two teen pregnancies, with none of the teens batting an eye at the seriousness of this. Having a kid is not something to take lightly and ironically, they say this about marriage and how serious it is. No, in marriage you can get divorced, when you have a kid you will literally be attached for life. It's a big friggin' deal.

Additionally, these teens also discuss guns and shooting others in a very blasé way. I don’t know if it’s because I’m Australian but I found it very confronting how much they talk about guns and shooting and how normalised it is to pull out a gun to protect themselves. Is this a common thing in rural Alaska for teens to see it in this way? I highly doubt it.

I found the second half of the book to really slow down in pace. There was also a lot of angst and drama, to the point where I found that it was exhausting to read, especially as the pace was so slow. I found my eyes rolling quite a few times as they were all so young and silly.

The nail on the coffin for me was the weirdness that developed between JD (17 yo) and Sidney (12 yo) late in the book, where she starts crushing on him and the people in the house just think it's cute. It wasn't. At all. I truly wish the author shut down that conversation very early on as again, this was something else that made me feel uneasy.

In hindsight, I don't think I'm the target market for this book as a 33 year old. I thought this was more New Adult going into it, but its definitely Young Adult as they are still in High School.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Skipstone Publishing for a copy of this novel. ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

I got an ARC of this audiobook.

I just don't like it. I had issues with everything from plot to narration. There were graphic sexual assault scenes on page, there was abelism/homophobia everywhere, and constant slut shaming. Lots of drug use and alcohol use by teens and their parents. It felt flat long before the "romance" started. I didn't ship the characters and how they got together felt forced. I hated how the only characters who weren't white were immediately removed from the book. It felt like they only existed to check off a box for diversity and then written out to not actually have to deal with what that meant.

I got so excited seeing a book set in Alaska and a queer book at that, but it just didn't work for me.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book.
I was excited to read this during Pride Month and thought it sounded like a great book.
So... I actually struggled massively with this book. I barely finished it if I'm perfectly honest.
I'm just going to break it down:
The characters: Crystal is great. She seems really likeable, sensible and has a massive heart obviously with how she wants to create a safe space for all the other characters in the book.
I thought a lot of all the other characters could have been developed more but it wasn't a major negative point for me.
The message: this book has great lesbian representation and I think that's the shining light of this book. The core message is obviously important and puts an emphasis on the importance of acceptance and love. It also covers other important topics including drug abuse, sexual abuse, teen pregnancy, as well as current topics such as covid.

So that's basically where the book fell flat for me. This plot definitely tried to cover too much and felt so farfetched, there was no way I could commit to this story being any way realistic which took away from the whole book, for me. The plot seems to take place over the course of 2-3 days? And we go from Crystal and Haley being friends, to Crystal saving Haley twice from her boyfriend trying to assault her, them becoming serious girlfriends, Haley being pregnant, Crystals estranged parents both coming back with different agendas after years away, Crystals new friends who yield guns at the age of 12, Crystals grandparents essentially on their deathbeds in hospital with COVID (which I'm sorry, noone seems to really care about???) And Crystal inviting a load of people she just met to live with her.

It was just too much. There was no need for all the plot points and I think it really took away from what could have been great. Apologies if this sounds harsh but it's just my opinion, this book seems to be receiving great reviews so maybe I'm missing something.

A great queer coming of age story. A no holds barred story if queer girls in Alaska. The narration was fantastic, easy to understand and well paced.

This is a great novel, that talks about how a transphobic society can affect and damage queer lives.
The author writes in a way that made me feel like I was there with the characters and could almost see the romance between this lesbian couple. Her writing is super descriptive, almost hypnotic, that draws the reader into an unforgettable story.

What a wonderful book! This covers so many important topics. Very realistic especially with the addition of covid. I’ve been waiting for a book to address it since our lives have been upside down for over a year now. This book had me hooked from its steamy first page all the way to the end.

4.5
Woah. This book is super intense but oh so important. It's a difficult one to process but damn, I really loved it. It's set in this small town in Alaska where three queer girls are just trying to be out and proud and stand up to the abusive men in their lives. This book is SO FUCKING QUEER. It's unapologetic and amazing. Crystal is neurodivergent, as her her brother who is also physically disabled, due to negligence on their absent mothers part during pregnancy. They both live with their grandparents in the small Alaskan town where covid is a myth and queer people don't exist, supposedly. But Crystal is queer and she wants to be with her best friend Haley, except Haley is trapped in a toxic abusive relationship with her boyfriend who happens to be the mayors son. He has all the privilege and power and physically, emotionally, and sexually abuses Haley, out in the open and everyone except Crystal just accepts it. But Haley has finally had enough and she and Crystal end up at Crystals house along with a new girl in town. Payton has just come to town and is out and queer and not afraid of boys who hurt people. She and her younger sisters are on their own after leaving their own abusive situation and refuse to bow down to queerphobia and hatred. Payton is dead set on helping Crystal and Haley learn to "wave their dyke flag" and to fight against all the toxicity in their lives.

This book is heavy. There's on page sexual assault and drug use and emotional manipulation, in addition to covid, pregnancy, and hospitalization. There is a lot to cover but it's done with grace.

There is a lot of outwardly sexual content, which made me uncomfortable at times but that is my own sex-repulsion when it comes to sex scenes with vaginas. It is worth noting for my fellow asexuals that the sex scenes are frequent and detailed if that is also something you struggle with.

as a whole, I definitely recommend this book and was absolutely here for the unapologetic lesbian content. The only reason I didn't do 5 stars was because I felt the focus on sex was a little too pertinent. A casual comment about how physicality isn't necessary to be queer would've been appreciated.

TW : sexual assault, domestic abuse, addictions, abandonment, heavy drugs/alcohol use, bullying

NOTE : I listened to the audiobook edition of this book. There is also a lot of sex scenes, and yeah, I did end up skipping them. I weirdly just can't stomach them since giving birth 😅

PROS :

• Lots of queer characters
• Normalizing masturbation (at ANY age)
• Neurodiversity and disability representations
• Being a sex positive woman (especially in a rural, conservative small town)
• Artwork images included in the physical edition (according to other reviews, which sounds like such a great addition!)
• COVID (I was actually looking forward to reading a book that talks about this, since it IS the world's reality right now)
• Consent

CONS :

• I would've appreciated seeing LGBTQ+ rep other than gay or lesbian, especially since there are quite a few queer characters in the book
• Books set in Alaska are RARE but I felt like it could've legit been anywhere... else. Knowing this didn't add anything unique to the story (which I was looking forward to!)
• I wish the main characters involved weren't all white (there is mention of Native Alaskans, but they are very secondary)
• There is sooooo much happening in this book, just one thing after another... and it all happens within a day or so? I felt like weeks had passed, and it was just too much for me.
•The main characters involved are 18, but even with all the hardships they went through in their lives, they feel immature to me
• Intense flirting in front of a kid? I felt uncomfortable for her, but then again I don't remember what age she is... early teens? Still.

I devoured this beautiful book!
Crystal is a teenager living in Alaska with her grandparents and older brother, and we follow her while she navigates through many challenges, all in the middle of a global pandemic.
Crystal, Haley, and Payton are the main characters in the story.
But this book is absolutely outstanding!
This book was wonderful, exciting, entertaining, and beautifully written!
This heart-warming book which depicts the difficulties of being queer in rural Alaska is an absolute must read!
The audio version was so good! Easy to follow along with!

Now I've got to read Someone To Kiss My Scars!

Thank you so much for gifting me this ebook copy!
NetGalley and Skipstone Publishing very much appreciated.

I enjoyed this quite a bit, I love the theme of girls supporting girls. It's a mix of queer celebration, found family, and fighting back.

There's a lot of heavy topics - estranged parents, domestic violence, assault, teen pregnancy, homophobia, Covid. I was initially nervous about how Covid would be portrayed (and received on my end). I liked that it felt like a realistic portrayal of life and school during the pandemic.

I really liked Crystal from she start, I also liked seeing how the school accommodated her learning disability. I loved seeing her come into herself and her strength. She gained confidence and this fantastic support group. I liked the assortment of main characters and how they came together and protected one another.

My biggest issue with this is the extremely short timeline. It really would have benefitted greatly by taking place over weeks or months. There's a lot going on and it's all crammed into a few days, that takes away some of the believability.

The narration was fantastic. Hayley Peterson did a great job bringing out each character's personality.

This is a book of coming out and protecting the loved ones. It says about homophobia and how teenage girls feel in coming out in a very conservative small town. I quiet enjoyed the audiobook. Also this is the first book that has a representation of Covid. So that makes it a little more realistic.