lapetitepritt posted: " Hello, bookworms! Happy Saturday, I hope you had a nice week and are enjoying the weekend. I am going to spend it reading and watching TV, probably, as it's one of the last weekends where I have the house for myself before my mother, father and br" La Petite Pritt
Happy Saturday, I hope you had a nice week and are enjoying the weekend. I am going to spend it reading and watching TV, probably, as it's one of the last weekends where I have the house for myself before my mother, father and brother come back from our sea house.
I have an extremely long and extremely ambitious September TBR, because as I mentioned in my previous article, I am trying to catch up with most of my challenges this month, so that I can focus on other things in the last months of the year. Wish me luck.
Today we are here to talk about a book I have procrastinated for exactly two years: Boy Queen by George Lester, a YA contemporary novel about a boy who discovers drag.
About the book Title: Boy Queen Author: George Lester Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books Publication date: 6 August 2020 Pages: 389
Plot, as stated on Goodreads Life's a drag until you try… Robin Cooper's life is falling apart. While his friends prepare to head off to university, Robin is looking at a pile of rejection letters from drama schools up and down the country, and facing a future without the people he loves the most. Everything seems like it's ending, and Robin is scrabbling to find his feet. Unsure about what to do next and whether he has the talent to follow his dreams, he and his best friends go and drown their sorrows at a local drag show, where Robin realises there might be a different, more sequinned path for him… With a mother who won't stop talking, a boyfriend who won't acknowledge him and a best friend who is dying to cover him in glitter make up, there's only one thing for Robin to do: bring it to the runway. Boy Queen by George Lester is a sparkling debut full of big hair, big heels and even bigger hearts.
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Review Okay, let's start with a little story. I don't remember how, but I found out about this book quite long before it was published and it sounded right up my alley. I mean, I love queer YA contemporary books and drag is one of my favourite art forms, so Boy Queen seemed to be the perfect book for me. I followed the author on Instagram to be updated about book news and whatnot and sometimes I commented/replied to his story. George Lester is one of the kindest human beings on the Gram, that's for sure. So, not only was I hyping up this book for myself, but I was also growing fond of the author. I preordered the book and had it delivered almost on pub day. I took pictures with it, kept recommending it to everyone without having read it. This is what happens when I want to like a book a lot: I end up putting it off, so that it cannot disappoint me. Then I met Geogre at YALC and he recognised me, it was so sweet. Since I had Boy Queen on my 22 Books for 2022 list, I decided to read it in August. As we say in Italy "Via il cerotto, via il dolore" (Rip off the band-aid, rip off the pain). If it had to disappoint me, so be it, but I had finally to read it, it was time.
And, as you may have gathered from my rating, it was not a disappointing book! I loved it and I am so glad, I actually sighed with relief. No kidding, audibly sighed with relief.
It was a really good coming of age story, I loved Robin as a main character, because he is flawed, but trying his best to do what's good for him, while also trying (and sometimes failing) to be a good friend. I love characters with flaws, it makes them all the more human to me, and Robin is such a good example of this. His friends as well, to be honest.
In fact, I also liked the secondary characters, especially Robin's mom. As I have said before, I like it when parents are actually people in the books I read, not just names and flimsy background figures. Robin's mom was realistic, fun and interesting to read.
The plot was good and well structured. It had some classic YA tropes, but it also mixed them well. I liked that this book talked about different things, not only drag. It's a really good book for older young adults who are maybe waiting to hear from colleges or don't know what to do with their futures. I would have loved to have read this before uni started for me.
THAT GIRL
The drag aspect was definitely my favourite part about this. You could tell how passionate the author is about this subject and that he has a lot of inside knowledge of how things actually work. I would pay good money to attend one of THAT GIRL's shows (that's his drag persona), but unfortunately she is in England and I am in Italy. Heavy sad sigh. One day.
Kay Bye was 1. a great character 2. a lovely drag mother 3. one of the best drag names I ever stumbled upon. I wish I was that clever to come up with a drag name for myself, but it's been years and I still haven't decided what I would name myself if I ever did drag.
Most shockingly, however, is that I actually cared for the romance in this book. Who is she, I know. There was just something about the pairing that spoke to my soul and I shipped them from the very beginning. I wouldn't be opposed to a sequel just to get more cute scenes between the two of them, I don't know what is possessing me.
Overall, it was a super sweet YA contemporary, a perfect start if you want to know more about drag and if you are looking for a coming of age with a dash of romance and glitter. I would totally recommend this and don't do like me: buy it and read it immediately!
This is all for today, I'll talk to you tomorrow with a TV series review. Want to guess which one? I'll give you three hints: 1. It's a mystery 2. They changed the ending of the book 3. The second season is coming out in October and I have no idea what they are going to do.
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