I shall be giving away one copy of Lesbian Crushes and Bulimia per month, in your preferred digital format (mobi, epub, PDF). For a chance to win, please leave your reason for wanting to read it in the Post a Comment section below. The book goes to my favourite answer. Enter as many times as you like.
The book
Other people’s diaries
Lesbian disordered eating
I like it when you …
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40 Comments
i’m always looking for books i can relate to, i have an ED and myself am queer, so i’m very interested in reading your book. :)
Having dealt with mental illness myself I’m always interested in reading books that deal with that kind of subject manner.
i have struggled with an eating disorder for as far back as i can remember. I’ve remained in a constant place of “who am i and what do i want” and i read so many books [especially having to do with mental illnesses] desperately hoping that i will find some answers. i became interested in this book because i grew up in a neighbourhood and in a family where it is really wrong to be gay. so i hid that giant part of me and tried to make it go away. so it sounds like i might build a relationship with this book and i want to make that happen.
I am interested in reading your book for review on my blog. I feel like I will relate to this book because I have struggled with an eating disorder as well.
I struggled with bulimia in college for nearly four years while living in the female dorms, and struggling to “fit in” in to that environment (unsuccessfully). Thankfully, a good (male) friend helped me get the ED under control, and I eventually realized most of the other girls were experiencing similar insecurities. I’ve been able to use what I learned during that time to help a few other young women over the years.
Thank you all for your replies. I am giving my book away to Cecilya this month. If you would like to, please enter again below for my February giveaway competition. The book will go to my favourite answer.
Natasha
Eating disorders are monsters. Girls can be too. And now, they’re both mixed together in a memoir with pink font on the cover. How could anyone NOT want to read this book? Bibliophiles and Natasha fans of the world, unite!
I work with queer teens and I know ED is a huge issue. While I myself do not have bulimia, I do have an ED and am queer, as well as an avid reader. It takes great strength to share your story to the world, and I think it deserves to be heard.
I deal with some kind of anthropophobia (have it under control at the moment) and sometimes I become agoraphobic. Bulimia is also among my “acquaintances” and it kept me from having a relationship with the girl I met and instantly fell in love with, because I was afraid of what she might have thought about me being diseased. I can say she was pretty much like Alex, the character in your book, and I would obviously play Natasha’s part, but I know how my story ended, I wish to find out how your book treated the problem.
There’s not enough books on queer women that I feel like I can identify with. While I don’t have an ED, I do have many of the signs and “warning signals” that some associate with an ED.
Thank you, people. Labrys is the winner of my eating disorder memoir this time. Please feel free to enter again.
Natasha
I am interested in this book for both personal and professional reasons. Personally I find that there isn’t enough story telling in the lesbian community. There are so many tools for our empowerment but the most important one is knowing we are not alone. As a professional who works with college age women, I look for places to have further insite into how to help them deal with eating disorders and negative body image, as well as being queer in the midwest.
I would love to read this book. The title in itself just explain me.
now this sounds like an interesting book! great title and subject. thx for posting, kay
author of The Last Cheater’s Waltz: Trusting Dog, Trusting Self by Kay Rutherford (kayrutherford.com or kayrutherfordbooks.com).
have a look.
peace to you.
I would love to read this because I am a lesbian and have had eating disorders so I feel like I could relate. I would love to review it because I feel like I would love reading it!
I know I just commented but I forgot to mention it would be a great LGBTQ book to add to my library for the LGBTQ safe house I am starting to help the LGBTQ youth!
Y’know, I think you should give the book to Katherine Wells, above, for March, because anybody creating an LGBTQ library is my hero.
That said, I can’t wait to read this book–my partner is queer, and I know far too many queer women with eating disorders.
By popular request Katherine Wells wins the copy of my diary book for March. Thank you to the others for entering. Starting from April, those who enter my comp but don’t win, will get a Smashwords half price coupon to buy my book. Oh yeah :-)
This book caught my eye. It sounds very interesting. I am a lesbian and have dealt with an eating disorder. It also would be great to read for the work I do. I want this book so so badly. It would be greatly appreciated.
I would love to read Lesbians Crushes and Bulimia, because I am queer, I am 18, I know lots of young queer people and young bulimic people, and having a book that explores both subjects would be a relief for all those people and would help me to help them. Besides that, and maybe more important, I am Brazilian and here in Brazil we have very few books about both subjects for our teenagers, so after reading it I could spread the word around and, perhaps, the book could even inspire Brazilians authors (including me!) to write more about what we need to read.
I’ve struggled with eating disorders all my life. I don’t know what my sexuality is – I would call myself Asexual right now – nothing happens, nothing felt. I do wonder, though, whether I would be gay were my body healthy enough to have sexual feelings. I often psychologically crush on women in my life, emotionally. They give me something men cannot.
Another reason I’d love to read your book, is that many of my friends are gay.
I am interested in reading your book because I have suffered with an eating disorder most of my life. I am also bisexual, which hard for me to come to terms with for awhile. Now I sometimes wonder if I’d be happier in a lesbian relationship. Anyway, I think your book would provide a great point of view and insight to both worlds, homosexual and eating disorders, and how they are interconnected.
So, Carolina’s won this time. Thanks, everyone. I’ve sent a half-price coupon code to purchase my book from Smashwords to Brittany, Fiona, Kerrilynn. Competition is now open for May :-)
I’d like to read the book as I have suffered from an eating disorder for many years and love to read new perspectives on it.
I have been on a personal quest of sorts to seem out new reading material and people to share it with. Sadly, the amount of good quality, lesbian literature that I have read is very limited. I’m really trying to expose myself to a wide range of books that feature gender expression and sexuality. I feel like there is a spectrum of literature that I’m missing and it separates me from my community.
As it happens, I am a recovering bulimic. Its something that has been connected stress in my life, often times from events related to my sexuality. Though it is not as reoccurring as it once was, I am still aware of the affect it has on my life. I’m very interested in this book because it seems to pertinent to my life. I would love the opportunity to read it.
I am (among other things) a queer female in recovery from anorexia. I’m also a voracious reader. When my eating disorder first came into play, I started reading more or less any book about eating disorders that I could get my hands on, but I’ve had a hard time finding authors who seem to share my experience (there are exceptions, of course!) and fewer books that are, you know, proofread. And have structure. I can count on one hand the number of books I’ve been able to find involving both sexuality and eating disorders, so…I’ve been hoping to read Lesbian Crushes and Bulimia for a while!
Catriona wins my tale of romantic and sexual misadventures this time. Competition is open again for June.
Although I do not have an ED, I work as part of a Night Time service for my university where at night we stay up late so that any person with a problem can come talk to us, gain a sympathetic shoulder and get advice. Unfortunately our service does not have a lot of funds so we can not take many courses and we have never had one covering eating disorders. I feel that this book may provide good insight and answers into dealing with this problem for the Night Time service. Also, as a queer myself I feel that I will be able to identify with part of the book. Thanks.
CJay, thank you for your entry. Very good reason for reading my book, and as the only entrant this month, you’re the clear winner ;-)
I don’t have an eating disorder and I’m not gay and that’s exactly the reason why I want to read this. I don’t want to read about my own life (how boring) – I want to learn about yours.
Love your unique answer, Brooke. Despite its being the only one for August, you’re the clear winner.
Natasha
I’ve struggled with an eating disorder since I started going through puberty and over the years my body has suffered a crazy amount of abuse by my own hands. In all honesty, I hate myself very much. I’ve been in and out of treatment ten times in my life and I’ve survived two suicide attempts. I am only 21 years old. Doctors and psychiatrists peg me as “treatment resistant.” That percentage of afflicted souls with ED’s that simply don’t get better. Since I’ve come to notice my body and define it as a body, I’ve never been able to love it for what it does because I get so wrapped up in what it looks like and what I feel that it SHOULD look like that I lose sight of everything else. My 21st birthday was in May of 2013. That was the day that my girlfriend’s funeral was scheduled. I wasn’t invited. My family (at the time) struggled with my queer identity and the relationship I had with her. Her family didn’t approve of me. And no one seemed to comprehend my devastation and utter sense of loss. She was my first kiss and my first love. I met her when I was 16. In my head, I saw her as the girl I truly wanted to devote my life to. My life feels like a tidal wave. My body continues to react but my mind feels all jumbled up and unresponsive. And I guess the reason I very much would like to read your book is because… I love to read. And books have kept me centered and grounded when nothing else can seem to penetrate me. I’m not really sure why I keep holding out. But I do. Maybe it’s the books I read, the messages I take away from them. Maybe it’s the words on the pages that remind me that I’m not alone. I’m not sure. All I know is, authors like you have kept me tied down to this Earth and they’ve fed me a constant stream of hope through their words. And just… thanks for being you. Because. Being you is keeping me going right now. And I really can’t thank you enough.
Hi Dani,
Thank you so much for sharing your story. I’m so sorry to read about your girlfriend and all the struggles you’ve been through. I’m sending you a separate message by email.
Natasha
x
i would love this book because i think i would be able to relate to it. i’m both lesbian & bulimic, and I’ve never read a book that truly relates to my life. I would have bought the book if i could but i’m 15 , with no credit card. I honestly would love to read it.
My heart is in the maelström. I have been secretly in love with my teacher, mentor, tutor, for almost ten years. I didn’t want to accept it, I lived alone, just studying, until I found the courage to tell her, it was our birthday, she’s born one day after me and several years before, so at midnight during a storm I wrote her a simple SMS: I love you and you always knew it. She called to say me: until you make laugh it is ok. It is taking all my effort going over this and not thinking anymore to her, to take my life back and be free to love. So thanks for your effort of telling your story.
N
Vanessa, thank you for your comments. My book is aimed at readers a year or two older than you. Enter my giveaway comp again in 2015! Nira, thank you for sharing a little of your story, you are the winner this time. All the best to both of you.
Natasha
xx
I’ve only recently told my mother that I’m gay at the age of 23, and I think that was a big part of accepting it myself. I now want to get more involved in the community, offering support to others when I can and trying to understand other peoples situations when I can’t.
I would love to be able to read your book, and hopefully give a review and word of mouth if I love it. :-)
Virginia, well done for coming out. And congrats for being the clear winner for May ;-) Email on its way …
N.x
Hi! I have a similar situation it would be great if I had someone to talk to.
Hi Nataly, are you on Goodreads? There’s a friendly reading group, Eating Disorder Recovery Reading Buddies, of which I am a member. Come and join us!