So… we skipped a week and didn't tell anyone. Sorry about that, folks. Life got in the way in a big way, but we're back with stories to tell.

Kris and Tara share COVID stories. Kris dives into her experience at ReadOUT. And of course, we've got those tasty, tasty recommendations.

Official Recommendations

From Kris: Best in Show (2000)
Kris's official recommendation this week is the film Best in Show, in honour of the late, great, and very much missed Catherine O'Hara. It's a mockumentary set in the wild and wacky world of competitive dog shows and the people who devote their lives to it. And, it turns out that the film aged fairly well. If you haven't seen it before, check it out.

From Tara: When She Flies by Lee Winter
Tara's official recommendation this week is When She Flies by Lee Winter. Despite a humiliating first encounter that only one of them remembers, Jasmine and Sienna reconnect later in life by chance and their relationship churns up a lot of things that need changing in their personal lives. Tara thinks this book would make an awesome mini-series.

Works/People Discussed

• ReadOUT 2026
• EF5 by Kris Bryant
• Bridgerton (Netflix)
• Queer Eye (Netflix)
• 60 Days In (A&E)
• The Traitors (Peacock)
• His and Hers (Netflix)
• RuPaul's Drag Race (World of Wonder)
• RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs. the World (BBC Three)
• Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man! (2026)
• This Love is Undeniable by MJ Duncan

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We talked about this! New year. NEW. Different. Better. Not (waves hands at the world) all of this.

Oh well, at least there's puppies, blurbs, and recommendations on tap. Pull up a chair, fellow sapphic fiction readers. We've got what you've been looking for.

Official Recommendations

From Kris: Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Kris's official recommendation this week is a historical novel set in the distant past of the 1980s, when dinosaurs and other creatures still walked the earth. Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid is the story of a female astronaut coming to understand herself as she prepares to go to space. Kris says that this book helped fill in the emotional gaps that last year's recommendation of Sally, the documentary about astronaut Sally Ride, didn't provide.

From Tara: Greta Gets the Girl by Melissa Marr
Tara's official recommendation this week is Greta Gets the Girl by Melissa Marr. Similar to Kris's recommendation, this book reaches back to a previous recommendation by the same author, Toni and Addie Go Viral. This book has that sweet, sweet one-night-to-forever trope that Tara craves. The book comes with a trigger warning because one of the leads is a sexual assault survivor, although no assault happens on the page. (Note: Tara forgot about the trigger warning when discussing this aspect of the book and how it's not mentioned in the blurb.)

Works/People Discussed

• 11.22.63 (Hulu)
• The Traitors (Peacock)
• Canada's Drag Race (Crave)
• RuPaul's Drag Race (World of Wonder)
• The Good Place (NBC)
• 10 Dance (2025)
• Baldur's Gate 3 (Larian Studios)
• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• Sally (2025)
• Toni and Addie Go Viral by Melissa Marr

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It's a new year and we're already full of surprises here at Queerly Recommended. Kris reveals that she's never seen the sitcom Arrested Development. Tara drops more personal lore that connects her with an infamous Canadian serial killer. We have updates on Daryl Dixon the cat and the newest QR pet, Henry Rollins, Tara's little black schnoodle who hadn't yet arrived by the time of recording but is home now and thriving.

This episode, instead of looking forward, Kris and Tara look back at their favourite recommendations of 2025. They are, in no particular order.

Top Recommendations of 2025

Kris's top three

• Incendiant by Virginia Black
• Younger (Netflix)
• The Hunting Wives (Netflix)

Tara's top three

• Number Six by Lee Winter
• The Woman from the Waves by Roslyn Sinclair
• Discovering Nicola by Clare Ashton

Works/People Discussed

• Stranger Things (Netflix)
• Robin Hood (MGM+)
• The Christmas Baby (2025)
• Canada's Drag Race (Crave)
• Kickboxer (1989)
• Group Therapy (2024)
• Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025)
• The Science of Sex by charlottepriestly (note: you have to be signed in to an Ao3 account to read it)

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