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REVIEW: Double Booked by Lily Lindon


Genre: Queer Fiction | Adult Fiction | Romance

Release Date: 9th June 2023

Publisher: Aria

Georgina is a sensible 26-year-old with a routine: 1) schedule dates with long-term boyfriend, 2) teach piano to inept children, and 3) repeat until dead. Perfect.

But when one night she deviates from her usual timetable and sees the indie lesbian pop band Phase, Georgina realises: 1) she longs to play her own music again, 2) she wants to be just like them, and 3) their drummer is really hot...

Scared of losing her happy straight life, but feeling a new sense of belonging in the gay scene, she does what any rational person would do: she splits herself in two. She'll be Gina by day, George by night. It's going to take painstaking scheduling, a versatile wardrobe, and an ambiguous haircut, but maybe Georgina really can have both?

"Meanwhile, I'm the stereotype of an indecisive bisexual, not even sure I'm allowed to call myself that."

Witty, warm and wickedly funny; Double Booked is a painfully relatable coming out story full of queer chaos. 

Georgina was a marvellous narrator - funny and dry, but deeply troubled and lost. She reaches out and connects with the parts of us that feel trapped but scared to find a way out. Her daily life is regularly scheduled TV time, sex, meals - stable and safe predictability, suddenly juxtaposed by the sudden glamour and excitement of her life as George. Of course, we don't always like Georgina or agree with her, she hurts people and makes bad choices but she isn't a bad person under it all. 

I adored her best friend, Sophie - the person who knows her very soul but was never afraid to call her out and push her towards greatness. Their relationship was beautiful - playful and silly but meaningful and sweet. Sophie seems superficial at first, but it's clear there's so much heart and authenticity behind her polished exterior. 

This story moves a mile-a-minute, jumping between stage lights and candles in the living room - slowly descending into absolute, out of control chaos. Yes, it's a love story, but not the one you're expecting; nothing is straightforward or storybook - it's real, raw and messy in the most spectacular ways.

Now at first, I had the same feeling as many readers of this book; I hated how Georgina played into every stereotype of a queer woman - but I'm glad I kept reading. Lindon plays with these stereotypes with a lot of nuance and care, showing a person who is mirroring the stereotypes she's seen, copying those around her because she isn't 100% confident in her own identity yet. But as Georgina learns more about herself and the people around her, she comes into her own and shakes off the idea of what she thinks she should be.  It makes bold statements about bi-erasure and biphobia both in hetero and queer spaces, about internalised homophobia and the need for more queer education.

Double Booked is a joyously queer story not just about coming out, but coming into yourself.

"No one knows who they are. Everyone is contradictory. Everyone's lived a bit of a double life sometimes, even if only in their imagination. You're so worried about how the different parts of you don't belong together that you're ignoring the obvious. They must belong together. Because they're all a part of what makes you you."

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to Tandem Collective and Aria for gifting me a copy of this title. 

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