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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Someone's been rocking around the Christmas tree early and has already paid for it. Kris threw out her back! She's been laid up, recovering and catching up on her Netflix. Tara's on vacation and replaying Baldur's Gate 3. She also has a freckle on her damn eyeball. Happy Holidays, everyone!

Official Recommendations

From Kris: A Keller Christmas Vacation (2025)

Kris's official recommendation this week is A Keller Christmas Vacation, one of the few queer holiday movies that Hallmark put out this year. Kris had a lot of fun with this one and thinks you will too!

From Tara: Christmas Toys by Lily Seabrooke

Tara's official recommendation this week is Christmas Toys by Lily Seabrooke, an erotic, falling-for-the-roommate, Christmas romance that has a surprising amount of laughs. Tara loves Seabrooke's Christmas offerings and this is no different. Pick it up!

Works/People Discussed

• Baldur's Gate 3 (Larian Studios)
• Stranger Things (Netflix)
• Ripple (Netflix)
• The Running Man (2025)
• Canada's Drag Race (Crave)
• Bloodsport (1988)
• Asking Kate by Clare Ashton
• Breakup Buddies by JJ Arias and Bryce Oakley

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We're getting into the season here at Queerly Recommended. We're cuddling up with our pets, we're recommending angst-free Christmas books, and shows with so much chemistry they cause a tingling reaction.

Official Recommendations

From Kris: Heated Rivalry (HBO Max/Crave)

Kris's official recommendation this week is Heated Rivalry, a new TV series currently airing about two closeted (for now?) hockey players and their relationship as it unfolds over different playing seasons. Kris was really impressed by the chemistry of the leads and how hot the show is.

From Tara: Once Upon a Time in December by Alyson Root

Tara's official recommendation this week is Once Upon a Time in December by Alyson Root. It's an angst-free, charming, wealth-gap romance that, similar to Heated Rivalry, takes place over several years, during holiday parties the leads continue to meet at. Tara was utterly charmed by this novel and secondary characters are particularly notable.

Works/People Discussed

• Scandal (ABC)
• Wits & Wagers Boardgame
• Lost (ABC)
• Stranger Things (Netflix)
• RuPaul's Drag Race UK, Season Seven (BBC Three, BBC One)
• Canada's Drag Race (Crave)
• Physical: Asia (Netflix)
• The Lady and Her Dragons by bearblue

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'Tis the season! We have our first holiday recommendation of the year, folks!

Kris and Tara react to the Devil Wears Prada 2 trailer, discuss family Dungeons and Dragons time, and talk about co-workers who wear four jerseys to work (yes, at the same time). It's a short and sweet but stacked episode. Enjoy!

Editor's Note: This episode has a couple of recommendations that revolve around heavy topics like people going through cancer treatment, loss and addiction. If that's not where you're at, feel free to skip this one. Take care of yourself.

Official Recommendations

From Kris: Melissa Etheridge: I'm Not Broken

Kris's official recommendation this week is Melissa Etheridge: I'm Not Broken. This two-part docuseries came out in 2024 and follows Etheridge as she shares the stories of addiction and loss with the women incarcerated in the Topeka Correctional Facility.

From Tara: The Milkyway Hotel by Jude Silberfeld-Grimaud and Marguerite Grimaud

Tara's official recommendation this week is The Milkyway Hotel by Jude Silberfeld-Grimaud and Marguerite Grimaud. In the midst of her life falling apart in Paris, Celeste inherits her great-aunt's Milkyway Hotel in the French Alps. And wouldn't you know it, there's a sexy chocolatier there waiting to keep her company. Tara describes this as a slooooow burn, but when it gets there, it absolutely gets there.

Works/People Discussed

• Devil Wears Prada 2 (2026)
• Caleb Hearon
• Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski
• Scandal (ABC)
• The Long Walk (2025)
• The Long Walk by Stephen King (as Richard Bachman)
• RuPaul's Drag Race UK, season 7 (BBC Three, BBC One)
• Lucky Girls by GinStan
• Come See Me in the Good Light (2025)

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Kris is back and ready to talk with Tara about Women's Week, Closing Time, and the death of NaNoWriMo. The pair debate the relative merits of Canadian vs. American Thanksgiving, before celebrating Kris's new book baby, Scandalous.

It's the first podcast recorded on a Wednesday, folks! Time to learn how to "drink flat" with the expert herself!

Official Recommendations

From Kris: Boots (Netflix)

Kris's official recommendation this week is the new Netflix series, Boots. Based on the memoir, The Pink Marine by Greg Cope White, it's is a coming-of-age dramedy about a young gay man finding a place for himself in the American Marine Corps of the 1990s.

From Tara: Atramentum by MJ Duncan

Tara's official recommendation this week is Atramentum by MJ Duncan. This one has a dog! Friends, there's a dog in this one!

Seriously though, this is the story of a woman who takes an escape hatch from her epic work burnout in LA, moving to a small town to run a bookstore with a friend. There's chemistry, love, and a dog. A lady Great Dane (Dame?) named George.

Works/People Discussed

• Scandal (ABC)
• Love is Blind (Netflix)
• The Ultimatum: Queer Love (Netflix)
• RuPaul's Drag Race UK (BBC Three, BBC One)
• Hades 2 (Supergiant Games)
• John Candy: I Like Me (2025)
• A Coin of Two Sides by Navalcat (Devil Wears Prada Fanfiction series)

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It's our annual check-in with Becks Quirk, while Kris is recovering from Women's Week in P-town! Becks and Tara talk about what's changed in the last year, where they're at, what keeps them motivated, as well as Becks's reflections after Banned Books Week.

Official Recommendations

From Becks: Every Step She Takes by Alison Cochrun

In keeping with the annual nature of her visits, Becks's official recommendation this week is another Alison Cochrun audiobook, Every Step She Takes. A bout of turbulence provokes Sadie into coming out and sharing her deepest secrets with her seat companion, Mal, only to learn they're both joining the same tour of Camino de Santiago in Portugal. Becks is a sucker for physical journeys that exhaust the body and mind, leading to revelations and change.

From Tara: Ladies in Hating by Alexandra Vasti

Tara's official recommendation this week is Ladies in Hating by Alexandra Vasti. Lady Georgiana Cleeve is the author of many popular novels, which helps her support herself and her mother. When Lady Darling's books are equally popular and have details that are eerily similar to Georgiana's own books, Georgiana knows she has to unmask Lady Darling. She's in for the shock of her life when Lady Darling ends up being none other than Georgiana's teenage crush. Tara loved the emotional journeys in this one and how it plays with conventions from gothic novels.

Works/People Discussed

• Banned Books Week
• Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel (recommended in QR 064)
• Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe (recommended in QR 057)
• Flamer by Mike Curato
• They Came from Below by L Dreamer
• After All: A Sapphic Romance (Latitude & Longing Book 3) by Bryce Oakley
• Olive Oil and White Bread by Georgia Beers
• The Shape of You by Georgia Beers
• RuPaul's Drag Race UK (BBC Three, BBC One)
• Hades 2 (Supergiant Games)
• Iceberg by Gun Brooke
• Course of Action by Gun Brooke
• Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit
• Meditations in an Emergency - Essays by Rebecca Solnit
• The Fortune Hunter's Guide to Love by Emma-Claire Sunday
• Heather Rose Jones

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Tara talks school strikes while Kris explains the clean versions of the Taylor Swift phenomena.

Bring it on, people. It's sweater weather!

Official Recommendations

From Kris: Our Mothers' House by Patricia Polacco and Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery (2025)

Kris's official recommendation this week is… wait. Kris has TWO official recommendations this week? (checks notes) Well, okay!

Kris's FIRST official recommendation is the children's picture book Our Mothers' House, written and illustrated by Patricia Polacco. It's a beautiful book about two women raising children together and their encounter with the one prejudiced family on their block. It's also a banned book, which makes it even more important to shout out.

For Kris's SECOND official recommendation, we have the 2025 documentary, Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery, which tracks the late 90s women's music festival. Kris has a lot of personal connections to this festival, and the documentary was both informative in aspects of the music industry that she couldn't have understood at the time and nostalgic for all those formative memories.

From Tara: A Hexcellent Chance to Fall in Love by Ann Rose

Tara's official recommendation this week is the recently released sapphic Halloween romance, A Hexcellent Chance to Fall in Love by Ann Rose. Every year, for 70 days, the Halloween shop Pepper runs, The Dead of Night, appears in town and she gets to meet and engage with everyone who comes in. After that time? She disappears, and so does everyone's memory of her. But everything changes after Pepper comes across a woman she can't stand the thought of forgetting her. Tara thoroughly enjoyed this one and the big twist at the story's centre.

Works/People Discussed

• Jeopardy! (NBC)
• Survivor (CBS)
• Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon (AMC)
• RuPaul's Drag Race UK (BBC Three, BBC One)
• Hades 2 (Supergiant Games)
• Patricia Polacco appears at the 2012 Library of Congress National Book Festival
• Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel (recommended in QR 064)
• Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe (recommended in QR 057)

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It's been a month since Kris and Tara have seen each other's faces and they have a lot to catch up on!

Kris is in hell, physically and otherwise, dreaming of her recent relaxing, internet-free trip to the lake. Tara's kids are back in the September school rush, so everything's a blur between that and work.

They talk Jimmy Kimmel, Jon Stewart, as well as Harlequin's recent sapphic releases, which are a nice change from yesteryear.

Official Recommendations

From Kris: Can We Skip to the Good Part by Melissa Brayden

Kris's official recommendation this week is Can We Skip to the Good Part by Melissa Brayden, her first independently published book. It's a story of new beginnings, as a woman is let go from her job and starts fresh in a new town with her best friend and a new book club. This story offers love, insane chemistry, and some tricky maneuvering. If you haven't read anything by Brayden before, Kris thinks it's a great place to start.

From Tara: One Weekend in Tahoe by Jaime Clevenger

Tara's official recommendation this week is the one-night-to-forever One Weekend in Tahoe by Jaime Clevenger. It's a trope-filled erotic romance set in the worlds of philanthropy and sex parties (not at the same time) that balances enough sweetness with a little bit of the real world.

Works/People Discussed

• How to Stand Up to a Dictator: The Fight for Our Future by Maria Ressa
• Women's Week - Provincetown
• The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)
• Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon (AMC)
• The Lazarus Project (Sky Max)
• They Came From Below by Luc Dreamer
• Wylde Flowers (Studio Drydock Pty Ltd)
• The Secret Crush Book Club by Karmen Lee
• The Fortune Hunter's Guide to Love by Emma-Claire Sunday (Tara previously recommended The Duke's Sister and I by Sunday in QR 093)
• Her Fake Wedding Date in Sicily by Jenny Lane
• Sapphic World Book Club
• One Weekend in Aspen by Jaime Clevenger
• Make or Break by E. J. Noyes (recommended in QR 115)

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