Come Out, Come Out
Natalie C. Parker
A spine-tingling LGBTQIA+ YA horror about queer teens who accidentally invoke a twisted spirit who promises help but delivers something sinister. Perfect for fans of Kayla Cottingham, Andrew Joseph Smith, and Aiden Thomas. It's never been safe for Fern, Jaq, or Mallory to come out to their families. As kids their emerging identities drove them into friendship but also forced them into the woods to hide in an old, abandoned house when they needed safety. But one night when the girls sought refuge, Mallory never made it back home. Fern and Jaq did, but neither survivor remembered what happened or the secrets they were so desperate to keep. Five years later, Fern and Jaq are seniors on the verge of graduation, seemingly happy in their straight, cisgender lives—until a spirit who looks like Mallory begins to appear, seeking revenge for her death, and the part Fern and Jaq played in it. As they’re haunted, something begins to shift inside them. They remember who they are. Who they want to love. And the truth about the vicious secrets hiding in their woods. This delightfully dark and pointed novel calls out the systems that erase gay and queer and trans identity, giving space to embrace queerness and to unleash the power of friendship and found family against the real monsters in the world.
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0**I received an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.** Natalie C Parker presents a queer YA horror with Come Out, Come Out. The story is told in altering perspectives and timelines, following friends Fern, Jaq, and Mal. When Fern and Jaq accompanied Mal into the woods five years ago, she died, but they can't remember anything else about what happened. Only that something is different. And that something is trying to kill them too. Full disclosure: I had very low level investment in this book when I tried to read it and waited for the audiobook release to be able to give it a fair chance. I fully read the book via audio, sometimes with immersion. This book also has content that could be harmful to some readers. The horror is surrounding lack of familial support for queer kids, conversion camps, homophobia, and transphobia. Please read with care. Each of the main characters have a different experience with queerness, which was welcome. I identified most with Fern as they worked through dysphoria and finding the pronouns and physical presentation they liked best. This building of queer identity, not just for Fern but for Jaq as well, was important content to include for a YA age demographic. For me, the actual story content was a bit mid as the more important or greater power of this book was in the representation. I would still recommend this book to the target age demographic and older and intend on working through reading Parker's backlist books on my shelves.
0DNF @ 25%
I wasn't feeling this one and after reading some reviews, I decided to walk away rather than lower the rating of a book that I would recommend to someone who is looking for a story about growing up having to hide your queer self. Or just learning about how to accept yourself in a society that doesn't want you.
This book would have been a fantastic contemporary look into growing up queer in an overly conservative/queerphobic world. It's the horror/mystery parts that were really lacking for me. Honestly, I was a bit bored. I can see how people are rating this highly and I understand why they are liking it but for me, it just wasn't a great execution of blending the two.
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