Whitney Gardner

Cosplay, comic shops, and college applications collide in this illustrated novel from the author of "You're Welcome, Universe" that tackles online bullying and the pressure women have to conform in male-dominated spaces.

Chaotic Good

Beckah brooks

“How are you still standing?" "Am I? I feel like I’m falling.”
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This book was so stinkin’ good. It really helped pull me out of my reading slump. It was fast moving, cute, relatable, there was a touch of romance, and did I say relatability. 
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When I started this book I had no idea there would be a game of Dungeons and Dragons throughout. surprisingly, that didn’t deter me at all. I’m not much for role playing games so it was a whole thing I just didn’t quite get while reading. However, Whitney is such a good author that it didn’t even faze me. I still kept reading and found it really enjoyable. I never thought I’d read a book that included D&D, but here I am. Also, this book totally help inspire me to start working on my Halloween costume. 
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In Chaotic Good, Cameron is an aspiring costume designer. She has made many cosplay costumes, some of which have gotten her in hot water with the con world. And when she has a bad experience in a comic book shop she decides she has had enough and dresses as a boy to finally get a little peace while doing predominantly “boy things”. However, she gets more then she bargains for and a little peace turns into something completely different.

Cosplay, comic shops, and college applications collide in this new novel from the author of You're Welcome, Universe, perfect for fans of Adam Silvera and Noelle Stevenson! Cameron's cosplay creations are finally starting to earn her attention--attention she hopes to use to get into the CalArts costume design department for college. But after she wins a major competition, she inadvertently sets off a firestorm of angry comments from male fans online. When Cameron's family moves the summer before her senior year, she hopes to complete her costume portfolio in peace and quiet away from the abuse. Unfortunately, the only comic shop in town--her main destination for character reference--is staffed by a dudebro owner who challenges every woman who comes into the shop. At her twin brother's suggestion, Cameron borrows a set of his clothes to waltz into the shop as Boy Cameron, where she's shocked at how easily she's accepted into the nerd inner sanctum. Soon, Cameron finds herself drafted into a D&D campaign. But as her "secret identity" gets more and more entrenched, Cameron's portfolio falls by the wayside--and her crush on one of the guys in the group threatens to make a complicated situation even more precarious.

Jesse

i would be the target audience of this book if i was 13.....

Becky

** spoiler alert **
           I wasn't sure how Whitney Gardener was going to follow up the amazing YA book that was You're Welcome, Universe. It was such an amazing read that fully absorbed me and so to follow that up with a book which sounded like a cute YA romance seemed bizarre. I mean, it was an awesome sounding cross-dressing YA but it still had She's The Man vibes, how do you go from that to this? Turns out, with great ease and she did it masterfully.

This a geeky feminist read and it made me angry and happy and I adored it. I adored every page of it and I will read it again and love it just as much.

Cameron is a girl who likes to create costumes and cosplay. She sews and she designs costumes for and her friends to wear to cons. She isn't an expert on all things geeky, in fact, she sometimes has little knowledge of the characters whole words but she studies up on all the details to get her costumes just right. Who has the time to be an expert on all things geeky ever anyway? Well, turns out geek guys (and idiots on the internet) seem to have taken offence at her actions and she ends up cross-dressing as a boy just to be able to venture into a comic book shop and get a little peace instead of being interrogated to make sure she's not a 'fake' and is even allowed to be there without being dismissed to the highly offensive girl's section.

This book is a shout out to the world of geek, I mean D&D plays a major part in it, need I say more? But it's not just that, but the whole geek community from video games to comics and everything in between. The entire thing is stereotypically male, always has been and, as shown by gamergate and trolls on the internet, guys aren't happy about girls getting in on the geek action. Guys aren't happy with women in general. Throughout this book there is the familiar refrain about how girls are leading guys on and how they're fakes trying to show an interest in something to get guys interested before friend zoning them. That they have no real interest in these things are looking for attention or trying to get a guy... because that's the only reason any woman anywhere does anything. The blatant everyday sexism seen in this book is the stuff experience every day. The simple 'smile' comment you get when walking on the street. The discomfort of walking alone and getting attention from a random guy on the street. SImply having to justify your presence in a male-dominated environment was enough to make me angry and I had to cheer this book on for pointing the finger and saying it's not ok.

That's not all the book is about, though. I mean, the book is a big ball of fluff and joy as well. Cameron began cross-dressing by accident. She was doing it simply to be able to do something without getting unwanted attention and accidentally continues when playing D&D with some geeky guys might help her create some characters to inspire her. She ends up lying to genuinely awesome guys and upsets her brother along the way, but she began with harmless intentions and the lies snowballed (as lies always do). She meets Lincoln, an adorable DM in the game who is actually pretty awesome and I adored him and her panic about how to tell him and how to tell all her new found friends was pretty awesome.

I loved that this amazing feminist geeky read was packaged as a fun and easy YA contemporary. It managed to do both and do both well and it shouldn't have surprised me considering You're Welcome, Universe was the amazing YA read that shed the light on a whole community I knew nothing about and made me enjoy a YA read with no romantic plotline! Whitney Gardner is to definitely a favourite author and an author who is one to watch.

Candyce Kirk

This was a fast and fun read. It was relatable in some ways and I loved the references. While predictable in some ways. the author created something unique.

Full review to come soon on: thebookdutchesses.wordpress.com

Chaotic Good

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