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Changed line(s) 39 (click to see context) from:
* TheirFirstTime: Nareh and Erebuni enjoy passionate sex together the first time after the latter has read her fortune. It's clear Nareh never had slept with a woman before, and is highly satisfied, feeling she'd missing it afterward with only men before.
to:
* TheirFirstTime: Nareh and Erebuni enjoy passionate sex together the first time after the latter has read her fortune. It's clear While Nareh never had slept mentions being intimate with a woman women before, and it's not made clear if that meant full on sex. In any case, she finds this is highly satisfied, feeling she'd missing it afterward better than any sex she's ever had with only men before.men.
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Changed line(s) 14 (click to see context) from:
* ClosetGay: Nareh is not out when the story starts to her family as bisexual aside from her sister Diane (though she didn't tell too much), because of the homophobia in her community. At best her mom is of the CondescendingCompassion view initially. Nareh's not aware at first of any openly LGBT+ people who are in the Armenian community at all. She then meets Ereduni, an out bisexual woman, who also mentions a gay man named Sako who's still mostly in the closet.
to:
* ClosetGay: Nareh is not out when the story starts to her family as bisexual aside from her sister Diane (though she didn't tell too much), because of the homophobia in her community. At best her mom is of the CondescendingCompassion view initially. Nareh's not aware at first of any openly LGBT+ people who are in the Armenian community at all. She then meets Ereduni, Erebuni, an out bisexual woman, who also mentions a gay man named Sako who's still mostly in the closet.
Changed line(s) 20,21 (click to see context) from:
* FinalSolution: UsefulNotes/TheArmenianGenocide comes up in the book multiple times, as it's set in the Bay Area Armenian-American community. Nareh's tired of hearing about it since she thinks Armenians have spent so much time on this. Erebuni however says it's necessary as the Genocide still isn't acknowledged by either the US or Turkey. She's an educator who organizes lectures about the Genocide. Ereduni frequently makes references to it, if not always explicitly, and Nareh feels she brings the Genocide into everything in one way or another. When she sees how vehement some Turks are in flatly denying it and saying the ''Armenians'' had committed genocide against ''them'', Nareh gains newfound respect for Ereduni doing these talks. In her own family, it was almost never spoken about, whereas Ereduni's great-grandparents (who were [[GenocideSurvivor survivors]]) made a point of documenting their experience for posterity. When an Armenian-American Representative proposes a law that will recognize the genocide, this becomes a big story that Nareh covers as a reporter.
* ForcedOutOfTheCloset: Nareh is caught kissing Ereduni by Sona and her mother, the former of whom promptly spreads the news as a [[GossipyHens notorious gossip]]. She tries to play it off as {{not what it looks like}} at first, but no one really believes it. Ereduni is quite upset by her doing so, and it's part of why their relationship temporarily dissolves.
* ForcedOutOfTheCloset: Nareh is caught kissing Ereduni by Sona and her mother, the former of whom promptly spreads the news as a [[GossipyHens notorious gossip]]. She tries to play it off as {{not what it looks like}} at first, but no one really believes it. Ereduni is quite upset by her doing so, and it's part of why their relationship temporarily dissolves.
to:
* FinalSolution: UsefulNotes/TheArmenianGenocide comes up in the book multiple times, as it's set in the Bay Area Armenian-American community. Nareh's tired of hearing about it since she thinks Armenians have spent so much time on this. Erebuni however says it's necessary as the Genocide still isn't acknowledged by either the US or Turkey. She's an educator who organizes lectures about the Genocide. Ereduni Erebuni frequently makes references to it, if not always explicitly, and Nareh feels she brings the Genocide into everything in one way or another. When she sees how vehement some Turks are in flatly denying it and saying the ''Armenians'' had committed genocide against ''them'', Nareh gains newfound respect for Ereduni Erebuni doing these talks. In her own family, it was almost never spoken about, whereas Ereduni's Erebunii's great-grandparents (who were [[GenocideSurvivor survivors]]) made a point of documenting their experience for posterity. When an Armenian-American Representative proposes a law that will recognize the genocide, this becomes a big story that Nareh covers as a reporter.
* ForcedOutOfTheCloset: Nareh is caught kissingEreduni Erebuni by Sona and her mother, the former of whom promptly spreads the news as a [[GossipyHens notorious gossip]]. She tries to play it off as {{not what it looks like}} at first, but no one really believes it. Ereduni Erebuni is quite upset by her doing so, and it's part of why their relationship temporarily dissolves.
* ForcedOutOfTheCloset: Nareh is caught kissing
Changed line(s) 24,25 (click to see context) from:
* HotWitch: Ereduni is a beautiful young woman who practices some Wiccan traditions along with the Armenian folk magic, like [[ReadingTeaLeaves reading coffee grounds]]. Nareh is attracted to her very quickly, finding her being a witch only makes her sexier.
* InterfaithSmoothie: Ereduni was raised an Orthodox Christian like most Armenians. She also practices Wiccan magic though while taking communion and sculpting traditional cross statues, blending both.
* InterfaithSmoothie: Ereduni was raised an Orthodox Christian like most Armenians. She also practices Wiccan magic though while taking communion and sculpting traditional cross statues, blending both.
to:
* HotWitch: Ereduni Erebuni is a beautiful young woman who practices some Wiccan traditions along with the Armenian folk magic, like [[ReadingTeaLeaves reading coffee grounds]]. Nareh is attracted to her very quickly, finding her being a witch only makes her sexier.
* InterfaithSmoothie:Ereduni Erebuni was raised an Orthodox Christian like most Armenians. She also practices Wiccan magic though while taking communion and sculpting traditional cross statues, blending both.
* InterfaithSmoothie:
Changed line(s) 28,29 (click to see context) from:
* LipstickLesbian: Nareh is a feminine bisexual woman with long hair who often wears dresses. Ereduni, a bisexual woman as well, wears sexy blouses and skirts, but isn't quite as feminine, having short curly hair while more often wearing shirts with slacks. Her mom is incredulous at first that Nareh can be into women because she's so girly.
* LongingLook: Nareh shoots Ereduni many of these as she grows closer and more attracted to her, but at first tries hiding it. Ereduni soon catches on though and reciprocates her attraction.
* LongingLook: Nareh shoots Ereduni many of these as she grows closer and more attracted to her, but at first tries hiding it. Ereduni soon catches on though and reciprocates her attraction.
to:
* LipstickLesbian: Nareh is a feminine bisexual woman with long hair who often wears dresses. Ereduni, Erebuni, a bisexual woman as well, wears sexy blouses and skirts, but isn't quite as feminine, having short curly hair while more often wearing shirts with slacks. Her mom is incredulous at first that Nareh can be into women because she's so girly.
* LongingLook: Nareh shootsEreduni Erebuni many of these as she grows closer and more attracted to her, but at first tries hiding it. Ereduni Erebuni soon catches on though and reciprocates her attraction.
* LongingLook: Nareh shoots
Changed line(s) 34 (click to see context) from:
* ReadingTeaLeaves: Ereduni reads Nareh's coffee grounds to tell her fortune, seeing a stag (protector) and a woman's face. In the latter case, this is clearly Ereduni herself, who Nareh's attracted to (and vice versa). It leads to them having TheirFirstTime since both realize this.
to:
* ReadingTeaLeaves: Ereduni Erebuni reads Nareh's coffee grounds to tell her fortune, seeing a stag (protector) and a woman's face. In the latter case, this is clearly Ereduni herself, who Nareh's attracted to (and vice versa). It leads to them having TheirFirstTime since both realize this.
Changed line(s) 36,39 (click to see context) from:
* SecondActBreakup: Toward the end of the book, Nareh and Ereduni break up temporarily when the former is outed, denies she had been with her desperately to avoid social stigma while having lied as well about having a fiance. Nareh breaks up with her fiance, comes out and later apologizes to Ereduni, with them getting back together after this.
* SecretRelationship: Nareh starts dating Ereduni secretly after they act on their mutual attraction, since she's [[ClosetGay not out to her family as bisexual]] and isn't sure how they'll react.
* SexyDiscretionShot: At the end of Chapter 13, Ereduni asks Nareh if she wants to see her bedroom. Chapter 14 starts in the wake of them having fantastic sex together.
* TheirFirstTime: Nareh and Ereduni enjoy passionate sex together the first time after the latter has read her fortune. It's clear Nareh never had slept with a woman before, and is highly satisfied, feeling she'd missing it afterward with only men before.
* SecretRelationship: Nareh starts dating Ereduni secretly after they act on their mutual attraction, since she's [[ClosetGay not out to her family as bisexual]] and isn't sure how they'll react.
* SexyDiscretionShot: At the end of Chapter 13, Ereduni asks Nareh if she wants to see her bedroom. Chapter 14 starts in the wake of them having fantastic sex together.
* TheirFirstTime: Nareh and Ereduni enjoy passionate sex together the first time after the latter has read her fortune. It's clear Nareh never had slept with a woman before, and is highly satisfied, feeling she'd missing it afterward with only men before.
to:
* SecondActBreakup: Toward the end of the book, Nareh and Ereduni Erebuni break up temporarily when the former is outed, denies she had been with her desperately to avoid social stigma while having lied as well about having a fiance. Nareh breaks up with her fiance, comes out and later apologizes to Ereduni, Erebuni, with them getting back together after this.
* SecretRelationship: Nareh starts datingEreduni Erebuni secretly after they act on their mutual attraction, since she's [[ClosetGay not out to her family as bisexual]] and isn't sure how they'll react.
* SexyDiscretionShot: At the end of Chapter 13,Ereduni Erebuni asks Nareh if she wants to see her bedroom. Chapter 14 starts in the wake of them having fantastic sex together.
* TheirFirstTime: Nareh andEreduni Erebuni enjoy passionate sex together the first time after the latter has read her fortune. It's clear Nareh never had slept with a woman before, and is highly satisfied, feeling she'd missing it afterward with only men before.
* SecretRelationship: Nareh starts dating
* SexyDiscretionShot: At the end of Chapter 13,
* TheirFirstTime: Nareh and
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Changed line(s) 26 (click to see context) from:
* IWantGrandkids: Nareh is an only child, with her mother often pressuring her to marry and give her grandchildren. After she learns Nareh is dating a woman, she's disappointed by the idea she'll never have them, but then mollified on hearing that queer women do still have children and she'll have some one day.
to:
* IWantGrandkids: Nareh is an only child, with her mother often pressuring her to marry and give her grandchildren. After she learns Nareh is dating a woman, she's disappointed by the idea she'll never have them, but then mollified on hearing that queer women do still have children and she'll have give her some one day.
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Changed line(s) 26 (click to see context) from:
* IWantGrandkids: Nareh is an only child, with her mother often pressuring her to marry and give her grandchildren. After she learns Nareh is dating a woman, she's disappointed by the idea she'll never have them, but then mollified on hearing that queer women do still have children.
to:
* IWantGrandkids: Nareh is an only child, with her mother often pressuring her to marry and give her grandchildren. After she learns Nareh is dating a woman, she's disappointed by the idea she'll never have them, but then mollified on hearing that queer women do still have children.children and she'll have some one day.
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Changed line(s) 25 (click to see context) from:
* InterfaithSmoothie: Ereduni was raised an Orthodox Christian like most Armenians. She also practices Wiccan magic though while taking communion and sculting cross statues, blending both.
to:
* InterfaithSmoothie: Ereduni was raised an Orthodox Christian like most Armenians. She also practices Wiccan magic though while taking communion and sculting sculpting traditional cross statues, blending both.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 20 (click to see context) from:
* FinalSolution: The Armenian Genocide comes up in the book multiple times, as it's set in the Bay Area Armenian-American community. Nareh's tired of hearing about it since she thinks Armenians have spent so much time on this. Erebuni however says it's necessary as the Genocide still isn't acknowledged by either the US or Turkey. She's an educator who organizes lectures about the Genocide. Ereduni frequently makes references to it, if not always explicitly, and Nareh feels she brings the Genocide into everything in one way or another. When she sees how vehement some Turks are in flatly denying it and saying the ''Armenians'' had committed genocide against ''them'', Nareh gains newfound respect for Ereduni doing these talks. In her own family, it was almost never spoken about, whereas Ereduni's great-grandparents (who were [[GenocideSurvivor survivors]]) made a point of documenting their experience for posterity. When an Armenian-American Representative proposes a law that will recognize the genocide, this becomes a big story that Nareh covers as a reporter.
to:
* FinalSolution: The Armenian Genocide UsefulNotes/TheArmenianGenocide comes up in the book multiple times, as it's set in the Bay Area Armenian-American community. Nareh's tired of hearing about it since she thinks Armenians have spent so much time on this. Erebuni however says it's necessary as the Genocide still isn't acknowledged by either the US or Turkey. She's an educator who organizes lectures about the Genocide. Ereduni frequently makes references to it, if not always explicitly, and Nareh feels she brings the Genocide into everything in one way or another. When she sees how vehement some Turks are in flatly denying it and saying the ''Armenians'' had committed genocide against ''them'', Nareh gains newfound respect for Ereduni doing these talks. In her own family, it was almost never spoken about, whereas Ereduni's great-grandparents (who were [[GenocideSurvivor survivors]]) made a point of documenting their experience for posterity. When an Armenian-American Representative proposes a law that will recognize the genocide, this becomes a big story that Nareh covers as a reporter.
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Changed line(s) 20 (click to see context) from:
* FinalSolution: The Armenian Genocide comes up in the book multiple times, as it's set in the Bay Area Armenian community. Nareh's tired of hearing about it since she thinks Armenians have spent so much time on this. Erebuni however says it's necessary as the Genocide still isn't acknowledged by either the US or Turkey. She's an educator who organizes lectures about the Genocide. Ereduni frequently makes references to it, if not always explicitly, and Nareh feels she brings the Genocide into everything in one way or another. When she sees how vehement some Turks are in denying it and saying the ''Armenians'' had committed genocide against ''them'', Nareh gains newfound respect for Ereduni doing these talks. In her own family, it was almost never spoken about, whereas Ereduni's great-grandparents (who were [[GenocideSurvivor survivors]]) made a point of documenting their experience for posterity. When an Armenian-American Representative proposes a law to recognize the genocide, this becomes a big story that Nareh covers as a reporter.
to:
* FinalSolution: The Armenian Genocide comes up in the book multiple times, as it's set in the Bay Area Armenian Armenian-American community. Nareh's tired of hearing about it since she thinks Armenians have spent so much time on this. Erebuni however says it's necessary as the Genocide still isn't acknowledged by either the US or Turkey. She's an educator who organizes lectures about the Genocide. Ereduni frequently makes references to it, if not always explicitly, and Nareh feels she brings the Genocide into everything in one way or another. When she sees how vehement some Turks are in flatly denying it and saying the ''Armenians'' had committed genocide against ''them'', Nareh gains newfound respect for Ereduni doing these talks. In her own family, it was almost never spoken about, whereas Ereduni's great-grandparents (who were [[GenocideSurvivor survivors]]) made a point of documenting their experience for posterity. When an Armenian-American Representative proposes a law to that will recognize the genocide, this becomes a big story that Nareh covers as a reporter.
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Changed line(s) 17 (click to see context) from:
* DisappearedDad: Nareh's father died prior to the events of the book from a car accident while driving drunk. His presence still hangs over her as she misses him but also resents things he left them with, such as taking out a second mortgage on which her mother didn't know about.
to:
* DisappearedDad: Nareh's father died prior to the events of the book from a car accident while driving drunk. His presence still hangs over her as she misses him but also resents things he left them with, such as taking out a second mortgage on the house which her mother didn't know about.
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Changed line(s) 16 (click to see context) from:
* DCupDistress: Nareh has pretty large breasts it seems, often struggling as outfits that fit the rest of her won't fit her bust in a lot of cases, to her annoyance.
to:
* DCupDistress: Nareh has pretty large breasts it seems, often struggling as outfits that fit the rest of her won't fit also accommodate her bust in a lot of cases, to her annoyance.
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Changed line(s) 16,17 (click to see context) from:
* DCupDistress: Nareh has pretty large breasts it seems, often struggling as outfits that fit the rest of her won't accommodate her bust in a lot of cases, to her annoyance.
* DisappearedDad: Nareh's father died prior to the events of the book from a car accident while driving drunk. His presence still hangs over her as she misses him but also resents things he left them with, such as taking a second mortgage on which her mother didn't know about.
* DisappearedDad: Nareh's father died prior to the events of the book from a car accident while driving drunk. His presence still hangs over her as she misses him but also resents things he left them with, such as taking a second mortgage on which her mother didn't know about.
to:
* DCupDistress: Nareh has pretty large breasts it seems, often struggling as outfits that fit the rest of her won't accommodate fit her bust in a lot of cases, to her annoyance.
* DisappearedDad: Nareh's father died prior to the events of the book from a car accident while driving drunk. His presence still hangs over her as she misses him but also resents things he left them with, such as taking out a second mortgage on which her mother didn't know about.
* DisappearedDad: Nareh's father died prior to the events of the book from a car accident while driving drunk. His presence still hangs over her as she misses him but also resents things he left them with, such as taking out a second mortgage on which her mother didn't know about.
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Changed line(s) 13 (click to see context) from:
* CantTakeCriticism: Nareh thinks this of herself, saying her response is either shutting down and then profusely apologizing or hitting back.
to:
* CantTakeCriticism: Nareh thinks this of herself, saying her response is either shutting down and then profusely apologizing or hitting back.back if criticized.
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Deleted line(s) 40 (click to see context) :
* WriteWhatYouKnow: Taleen Voskuni is an Armenian-American like the protagonist Nareh, while the story delves heavily into the community in California where she's from, and Armenian culture overall.
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Added DiffLines:
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sorry_bro_0.jpg]]
Nareh is a young Armenian-American reporter living in San Francisco. When her boyfriend Trevor proposes at a restaurant while an obnoxious colleague of Nareh's, Mark, films it, she realizes that she's not only isn't ready to marry him, Nareh's unhappy with their relationship overall. Nareh asks for one month until she given an answer.
Reluctantly, she agrees to take her mother's advice and look into finding some Armenian men instead, attending Explore Armenia, the event for Armenian-Americans. She isn't drawn to any of her prospects though. Instead, there an interesting Armenian-American activist woman, Ereduni, attracts her deeply.
Nareh, however, is not out as bisexual, afraid her family will reject her. She starts to see Ereduni secretly despite this. As they grow closer, Nareh has to decide whether she'll stay closeted and in denial or at last be honest about her true self for her to find happiness.
Written by Taleen Voskuni, it came out in January 2023.
!Tropes:
* TwentyMinutesIntoThePast: The book came out in January 2023, but is set c. June 2015.
* AffectionateNickname: Nareh's friends usually nickname her Nar, and her girlfriend later does too.
* CantTakeCriticism: Nareh thinks this of herself, saying her response is either shutting down and then profusely apologizing or hitting back.
* ClosetGay: Nareh is not out when the story starts to her family as bisexual aside from her sister Diane (though she didn't tell too much), because of the homophobia in her community. At best her mom is of the CondescendingCompassion view initially. Nareh's not aware at first of any openly LGBT+ people who are in the Armenian community at all. She then meets Ereduni, an out bisexual woman, who also mentions a gay man named Sako who's still mostly in the closet.
* ComingOutStory: After she gets [[ForcedOutOfTheCloset forcibly outed]] and weakly tries to deny her bisexuality, Nareh later admits she's really bisexual. Her cousin, mother and grandmother take it better than she expected (the latter two especially), accepting her. Nareh tells the whole world too through her post on Instagram.
* DCupDistress: Nareh has pretty large breasts it seems, often struggling as outfits that fit the rest of her won't accommodate her bust in a lot of cases, to her annoyance.
* DisappearedDad: Nareh's father died prior to the events of the book from a car accident while driving drunk. His presence still hangs over her as she misses him but also resents things he left them with, such as taking a second mortgage on which her mother didn't know about.
* EatingTheEyeCandy: Nareh can't help but check out Erebuni and Raffi, since both are quite attractive to her.
* ExperimentedInCollege: People who knew about them thought Nareh's past sexual experiences with women were only this usually. Even she tried to tell herself it was. Most of the women whom she'd been intimate with were straight and for them it really was just experimenting. She's really bisexual though, and knew this from very early on (age seven) by having crushes on boys and girls.
* FinalSolution: The Armenian Genocide comes up in the book multiple times, as it's set in the Bay Area Armenian community. Nareh's tired of hearing about it since she thinks Armenians have spent so much time on this. Erebuni however says it's necessary as the Genocide still isn't acknowledged by either the US or Turkey. She's an educator who organizes lectures about the Genocide. Ereduni frequently makes references to it, if not always explicitly, and Nareh feels she brings the Genocide into everything in one way or another. When she sees how vehement some Turks are in denying it and saying the ''Armenians'' had committed genocide against ''them'', Nareh gains newfound respect for Ereduni doing these talks. In her own family, it was almost never spoken about, whereas Ereduni's great-grandparents (who were [[GenocideSurvivor survivors]]) made a point of documenting their experience for posterity. When an Armenian-American Representative proposes a law to recognize the genocide, this becomes a big story that Nareh covers as a reporter.
* ForcedOutOfTheCloset: Nareh is caught kissing Ereduni by Sona and her mother, the former of whom promptly spreads the news as a [[GossipyHens notorious gossip]]. She tries to play it off as {{not what it looks like}} at first, but no one really believes it. Ereduni is quite upset by her doing so, and it's part of why their relationship temporarily dissolves.
* GossipyHens: Sona is a gossipy older woman who instantly spreads the news that Nareh was kissing a woman after she catches them at it.
* HeteronormativeCrusader: A lot of the Armenian-American community are homophobic, especially the older people. This is why Nareh kept her bisexuality secret from most people for so long. Her mother, who she thought was homophobic too, it turns out really was more worried that they would harm Nareh after having grown up in Lebanon, where this would be a real danger toward out queer people, and this is the reason she was initially upset at her bisexuality.
* HotWitch: Ereduni is a beautiful young woman who practices some Wiccan traditions along with the Armenian folk magic, like [[ReadingTeaLeaves reading coffee grounds]]. Nareh is attracted to her very quickly, finding her being a witch only makes her sexier.
* InterfaithSmoothie: Ereduni was raised an Orthodox Christian like most Armenians. She also practices Wiccan magic though while taking communion and sculting cross statues, blending both.
* IWantGrandkids: Nareh is an only child, with her mother often pressuring her to marry and give her grandchildren. After she learns Nareh is dating a woman, she's disappointed by the idea she'll never have them, but then mollified on hearing that queer women do still have children.
* {{Jerkass}}: Nareh's colleague Mark is an ass-kissing weasel who's constantly undermining her to further his career. Her boss Richard also never lets her do anything except fluff pieces, and eventually fires Nareh for her understandably defying this. She retaliates by writing an article on how she'd been treated by him, with it clearly having a sexist motive.
* LipstickLesbian: Nareh is a feminine bisexual woman with long hair who often wears dresses. Ereduni, a bisexual woman as well, wears sexy blouses and skirts, but isn't quite as feminine, having short curly hair while more often wearing shirts with slacks. Her mom is incredulous at first that Nareh can be into women because she's so girly.
* LongingLook: Nareh shoots Ereduni many of these as she grows closer and more attracted to her, but at first tries hiding it. Ereduni soon catches on though and reciprocates her attraction.
* QueerEstablishingMoment:
** Nareh reflects privately that she would be open to a relationship with a man or woman, thus revealing she's bisexual and explicitly references her bisexuality internally later. Soon after this, she expresses attraction to both men and a woman after meeting them (privately at first again).
** Erebuni's ex Sheila being mentioned later tells Nareh she isn't straight, which delights her as she's attracted to Erebuni. Later it turns out she's bisexual like Nareh, mentioning her attraction to men too.
* QuirkyCurls: Erebuni lets her curly hair hang loose, unlike lots of Armenian women, as a sign of her laidback and freespirited personality.
* ReadingTeaLeaves: Ereduni reads Nareh's coffee grounds to tell her fortune, seeing a stag (protector) and a woman's face. In the latter case, this is clearly Ereduni herself, who Nareh's attracted to (and vice versa). It leads to them having TheirFirstTime since both realize this.
* RejectedMarriageProposal: Nareh's boyfriend Trevor proposes to her in the opening chapter, but this makes her realize their relationship isn't very good, and she doesn't accept the proposal later after thinking about it.
* SecondActBreakup: Toward the end of the book, Nareh and Ereduni break up temporarily when the former is outed, denies she had been with her desperately to avoid social stigma while having lied as well about having a fiance. Nareh breaks up with her fiance, comes out and later apologizes to Ereduni, with them getting back together after this.
* SecretRelationship: Nareh starts dating Ereduni secretly after they act on their mutual attraction, since she's [[ClosetGay not out to her family as bisexual]] and isn't sure how they'll react.
* SexyDiscretionShot: At the end of Chapter 13, Ereduni asks Nareh if she wants to see her bedroom. Chapter 14 starts in the wake of them having fantastic sex together.
* TheirFirstTime: Nareh and Ereduni enjoy passionate sex together the first time after the latter has read her fortune. It's clear Nareh never had slept with a woman before, and is highly satisfied, feeling she'd missing it afterward with only men before.
* WriteWhatYouKnow: Taleen Voskuni is an Armenian-American like the protagonist Nareh, while the story delves heavily into the community in California where she's from, and Armenian culture overall.
----
Nareh is a young Armenian-American reporter living in San Francisco. When her boyfriend Trevor proposes at a restaurant while an obnoxious colleague of Nareh's, Mark, films it, she realizes that she's not only isn't ready to marry him, Nareh's unhappy with their relationship overall. Nareh asks for one month until she given an answer.
Reluctantly, she agrees to take her mother's advice and look into finding some Armenian men instead, attending Explore Armenia, the event for Armenian-Americans. She isn't drawn to any of her prospects though. Instead, there an interesting Armenian-American activist woman, Ereduni, attracts her deeply.
Nareh, however, is not out as bisexual, afraid her family will reject her. She starts to see Ereduni secretly despite this. As they grow closer, Nareh has to decide whether she'll stay closeted and in denial or at last be honest about her true self for her to find happiness.
Written by Taleen Voskuni, it came out in January 2023.
!Tropes:
* TwentyMinutesIntoThePast: The book came out in January 2023, but is set c. June 2015.
* AffectionateNickname: Nareh's friends usually nickname her Nar, and her girlfriend later does too.
* CantTakeCriticism: Nareh thinks this of herself, saying her response is either shutting down and then profusely apologizing or hitting back.
* ClosetGay: Nareh is not out when the story starts to her family as bisexual aside from her sister Diane (though she didn't tell too much), because of the homophobia in her community. At best her mom is of the CondescendingCompassion view initially. Nareh's not aware at first of any openly LGBT+ people who are in the Armenian community at all. She then meets Ereduni, an out bisexual woman, who also mentions a gay man named Sako who's still mostly in the closet.
* ComingOutStory: After she gets [[ForcedOutOfTheCloset forcibly outed]] and weakly tries to deny her bisexuality, Nareh later admits she's really bisexual. Her cousin, mother and grandmother take it better than she expected (the latter two especially), accepting her. Nareh tells the whole world too through her post on Instagram.
* DCupDistress: Nareh has pretty large breasts it seems, often struggling as outfits that fit the rest of her won't accommodate her bust in a lot of cases, to her annoyance.
* DisappearedDad: Nareh's father died prior to the events of the book from a car accident while driving drunk. His presence still hangs over her as she misses him but also resents things he left them with, such as taking a second mortgage on which her mother didn't know about.
* EatingTheEyeCandy: Nareh can't help but check out Erebuni and Raffi, since both are quite attractive to her.
* ExperimentedInCollege: People who knew about them thought Nareh's past sexual experiences with women were only this usually. Even she tried to tell herself it was. Most of the women whom she'd been intimate with were straight and for them it really was just experimenting. She's really bisexual though, and knew this from very early on (age seven) by having crushes on boys and girls.
* FinalSolution: The Armenian Genocide comes up in the book multiple times, as it's set in the Bay Area Armenian community. Nareh's tired of hearing about it since she thinks Armenians have spent so much time on this. Erebuni however says it's necessary as the Genocide still isn't acknowledged by either the US or Turkey. She's an educator who organizes lectures about the Genocide. Ereduni frequently makes references to it, if not always explicitly, and Nareh feels she brings the Genocide into everything in one way or another. When she sees how vehement some Turks are in denying it and saying the ''Armenians'' had committed genocide against ''them'', Nareh gains newfound respect for Ereduni doing these talks. In her own family, it was almost never spoken about, whereas Ereduni's great-grandparents (who were [[GenocideSurvivor survivors]]) made a point of documenting their experience for posterity. When an Armenian-American Representative proposes a law to recognize the genocide, this becomes a big story that Nareh covers as a reporter.
* ForcedOutOfTheCloset: Nareh is caught kissing Ereduni by Sona and her mother, the former of whom promptly spreads the news as a [[GossipyHens notorious gossip]]. She tries to play it off as {{not what it looks like}} at first, but no one really believes it. Ereduni is quite upset by her doing so, and it's part of why their relationship temporarily dissolves.
* GossipyHens: Sona is a gossipy older woman who instantly spreads the news that Nareh was kissing a woman after she catches them at it.
* HeteronormativeCrusader: A lot of the Armenian-American community are homophobic, especially the older people. This is why Nareh kept her bisexuality secret from most people for so long. Her mother, who she thought was homophobic too, it turns out really was more worried that they would harm Nareh after having grown up in Lebanon, where this would be a real danger toward out queer people, and this is the reason she was initially upset at her bisexuality.
* HotWitch: Ereduni is a beautiful young woman who practices some Wiccan traditions along with the Armenian folk magic, like [[ReadingTeaLeaves reading coffee grounds]]. Nareh is attracted to her very quickly, finding her being a witch only makes her sexier.
* InterfaithSmoothie: Ereduni was raised an Orthodox Christian like most Armenians. She also practices Wiccan magic though while taking communion and sculting cross statues, blending both.
* IWantGrandkids: Nareh is an only child, with her mother often pressuring her to marry and give her grandchildren. After she learns Nareh is dating a woman, she's disappointed by the idea she'll never have them, but then mollified on hearing that queer women do still have children.
* {{Jerkass}}: Nareh's colleague Mark is an ass-kissing weasel who's constantly undermining her to further his career. Her boss Richard also never lets her do anything except fluff pieces, and eventually fires Nareh for her understandably defying this. She retaliates by writing an article on how she'd been treated by him, with it clearly having a sexist motive.
* LipstickLesbian: Nareh is a feminine bisexual woman with long hair who often wears dresses. Ereduni, a bisexual woman as well, wears sexy blouses and skirts, but isn't quite as feminine, having short curly hair while more often wearing shirts with slacks. Her mom is incredulous at first that Nareh can be into women because she's so girly.
* LongingLook: Nareh shoots Ereduni many of these as she grows closer and more attracted to her, but at first tries hiding it. Ereduni soon catches on though and reciprocates her attraction.
* QueerEstablishingMoment:
** Nareh reflects privately that she would be open to a relationship with a man or woman, thus revealing she's bisexual and explicitly references her bisexuality internally later. Soon after this, she expresses attraction to both men and a woman after meeting them (privately at first again).
** Erebuni's ex Sheila being mentioned later tells Nareh she isn't straight, which delights her as she's attracted to Erebuni. Later it turns out she's bisexual like Nareh, mentioning her attraction to men too.
* QuirkyCurls: Erebuni lets her curly hair hang loose, unlike lots of Armenian women, as a sign of her laidback and freespirited personality.
* ReadingTeaLeaves: Ereduni reads Nareh's coffee grounds to tell her fortune, seeing a stag (protector) and a woman's face. In the latter case, this is clearly Ereduni herself, who Nareh's attracted to (and vice versa). It leads to them having TheirFirstTime since both realize this.
* RejectedMarriageProposal: Nareh's boyfriend Trevor proposes to her in the opening chapter, but this makes her realize their relationship isn't very good, and she doesn't accept the proposal later after thinking about it.
* SecondActBreakup: Toward the end of the book, Nareh and Ereduni break up temporarily when the former is outed, denies she had been with her desperately to avoid social stigma while having lied as well about having a fiance. Nareh breaks up with her fiance, comes out and later apologizes to Ereduni, with them getting back together after this.
* SecretRelationship: Nareh starts dating Ereduni secretly after they act on their mutual attraction, since she's [[ClosetGay not out to her family as bisexual]] and isn't sure how they'll react.
* SexyDiscretionShot: At the end of Chapter 13, Ereduni asks Nareh if she wants to see her bedroom. Chapter 14 starts in the wake of them having fantastic sex together.
* TheirFirstTime: Nareh and Ereduni enjoy passionate sex together the first time after the latter has read her fortune. It's clear Nareh never had slept with a woman before, and is highly satisfied, feeling she'd missing it afterward with only men before.
* WriteWhatYouKnow: Taleen Voskuni is an Armenian-American like the protagonist Nareh, while the story delves heavily into the community in California where she's from, and Armenian culture overall.
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