Title: Queens of Geek
Author: Jen Wilde
Type: Fiction
Genre: YA, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Date published: March 14, 2017
Format: Paperback
Page Count: 288
Source: Publisher

A physical copy of the book was kindly provided by the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Summary: Three friends. Two love stories. One convention.

Charlie likes to stand out. She’s a vlogger and actress promoting her first movie at SupaCon, and this is her chance to show fans she’s over her public breakup with co-star Reese Ryan. When internet-famous cool-girl actress Alyssa Huntington arrives as a surprise guest, it seems Charlie’s long-time crush on her isn’t as one-sided as she thought.

Taylor likes to blend in. Her brain is wired differently, making her fear change. And there’s one thing in her life she knows will never change: her friendship with her best guy friend Jamie—no matter how much she may secretly want it to. But when she hears about a fan contest for her favorite fandom, she starts to rethink her rules on playing it safe.

Queens of Geek, an empowering young adult novel by Jen Wilde, is all about fandom, friendship, and finding the courage to be yourself.

– MY REVIEW –

 This book was a pleasure to read! The writing was easy to understand and follow along to as it was written in first person from the perspectives of the main characters. None of said characters have very complex or philosophical thoughts, which made it easy to read this book rather quickly. It also felt as if one were listening to the story being told by a friend, which is something I felt likely due to how close to my age the narrators are. The dialogue between characters, and even some of the narrators’ thoughts, felt very natural, and were even funny to read at times!

I’ve never read a book set at a convention before (and yet will have read 2 within the span of a month by mid-April), nor have I ever been to a convention, so this was all very new for me in a number of ways. Wilde’s writing made it easy to image what conventions are likely like, without providing too much detail. Maybe I would have preferred more detail because I have never been to a con, and because I am a fan of detail in general, but this did not affect my experience with this book in a negative manner.

The characters were distinguishable from one another, each with their own way of speaking and acting, unique ways of being. And I also liked that there was some diversity in race and sexuality in this book. I did not feel particularly close to any of the narrators, though, even though this book was written in the first person. I did kind of root for them, but not with as much emotion as I know I am capable of. The characters and story were fun to read about, though, and I found myself understanding social anxiety a little better.

I became very frustrated with Taylor at times due to how she let her anxiety get in her own way. But I am not sure whether my frustration was due to seeing a younger version of myself in her, and all of the regrets I have regarding social anxiety and what I have missed out on because of it, or because I did not understand her. Throughout the course of the book I found some matters regarding intense social anxiety have been cleared up for me, (and I will not say any more, since I might accidentally spoil some things that way).

Overall this book was fun, and would almost be considered fluffy if it did not address some more serious issues. I would recommend this book to those looking for a fun and quick read, those who like geeky references (I was quite proud with my geekiness when I got most of the references!), and who like diversity in characters and their romances.

– ABOUT THE AUTHOR –

Jen Wilde is a writer, geek and fangirl with a penchant for coffee, books and pugs. She writes YA stories about zombies (AS THEY RISE), witches (ECHO OF THE WITCH) and fangirls (QUEENS OF GEEK). Her debut series reached over three million reads online and became an Amazon bestseller. When she’s not writing, Jen loves binge-watching her favorite shows on Netflix, eating pizza, traveling to far away places and going to conventions in Marty McFly cosplay. Jen lives in a sunny beachside town in Australia with her husband and their cheeky pug, aptly named Heisenberg.

You can visit Jen on her website, her Goodreads page, her Facebook page, her Facebook fan club page, and on Twitter!

– PURCHASE LINKS –

– GIVEAWAY –

The blog tour host is also hosting an awesome giveaway for a print copy of Queens of Geek! So if you live in Canada or the U.S., you should definitely enter by clicking the SupaCon ticket below:

IMAGES ARE NOT MY OWN AND I HAVE EITHER BEEN GIVEN PERMISSION TO USE THEM FOR THE BLOG TOUR, OR THEY ARE MADE AVAILABLE ONLINE FOR FREE.

THANK YOU FOR READING MY REVIEW! HAVE YOU READ THIS BOOK? WHAT DID YOU THINK? AND IF YOU HAVEN’T READ IT YET, DO YOU WANT TO, OR NOT? HOW COME? LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!