Emerjas

Out Now: Queer We Go Again! is a follow-up anthology to All Out featuring 17 new stories by queer YA authors about queer characters. There was a good mix of fantasy and contemporary stories in there.

Like most anthologies, it was a mix of stories that I really liked, ones I thought were okay, and ones I didn't like. Overall, more than half of the stories were 3 stars or more from me, and the average rating for all the stories was a little over 3 stars.

My particular favorites were:

Lumber Me Mine by CB Lee - It was a cute romance between the girls who met in their woodshop class. The love interest was ace, which was nice. I wouldn't have minded more of this.

Victory Lap by Julian Winters - This was more focused on the father/son relationship, although there was a minor cute romance for the son. But it was the father/son relationship that was wonderful. The son found out that his dad figured out he was queer and had been researching how to be properly accepting and had joined groups and everything. It was so sweet.

A Road of One's Own by Kate Hart - A group of girls go on a road trip and one of the them calls the group the GROSS Club after Calvin and Hobbes, but has it stand for Get Rid Of Sexist guyS. That made me smile, as did the rest of the story. There was a cute romance between two of the girls.

Starcrossed in DC by Jessica Verdi - The daughter of the president finds herself in a difficult position when she suddenly finds out her dad is supporting an anti-LGBTQ+ bill when she herself is bisexual, although only her best friend and the girl she likes know it. The story focuses on her struggle on what to do. With a little focus on her relationship with her crush.

One Spell Too Many by Tara Sim - The main character works in a bakery where you can order baked goods with spells in them. She gets in a bit of trouble when she agrees to help a friend by baking her a cupcake with a love spell, but gets it mixed up with another classmate's order. It's a cute story.