Queens of Geek

I love this book. LGBT representation, Autism representation, women supporting women, AND it’s about geeks at a con. Did I mention I love this book?

Great discussions and representation of anxiety, autism, mental illness + a cute contemporary. However, I just didn't connect with the characters all that much, they sounded a bit to teenager-y for me. So I would say they are great characters, but maybe for a younger audience.

Theres a lot of good themes in this book: Friendship, growing and changing even though it might be scary, nerdiness, feminism, supporting others, having fun, and not letting others define you.

This is the first book I’ve ever read that really centers around comic cons and fandoms and I’ve always enjoyed that stuff in real life but this book just didn’t do it for me. I think the fandom aspect was what made this so unenjoyable for me, I just couldn’t help but cringe at some of the stuff. I don’t want to bash this book because I like what it was trying to do, but it just wasn’t for me.

“Besides, there's no one way to be a girl, Tay. You don't need to fit yourself into what society tells us a girl should be. Girls can be whoever they want. Whether that's an ass-kicking, sarcastic, crime-solving FBI Agent or a funny, gorgeous, witty beauty queen--or both at the same time." I honestly hate myself because I put off reading this book for so long for no real reason and I have so much regret. Because this was everything I was expecting and so much more. And I wish I had read it sooner so I felt all this happiness sooner because honestly? This is the kind of book everyone needs in their life. Queens of Geek is about a trio of friends who attend Supacon (basically Comic Con) in Los Angeles. There's Charlie - a Chinese-Australian girl who's a youtuber and recent movie star, her best friend Taylor who's a fandom blogger and their friend Jamie who's just moved to Australia and loves Marvel comics. There is plenty of drama going down at this con though! Charlie is trying to escape her ex-boyfriend and is growing closer to her crush Alyssa Huntington. Taylor is dealing with her severe anxiety and desperately wants to meet her favourite author. Jamie has a crush on Taylor and is dealing with homesickness and not feeling like he fits in in Australia. This is such a happy, light feel good book. It has so many cute moments, and the romance is soo cute. As in, "I physically need to throw my face into a pillow to deal with the cute" type of fluff. My absolute favourite thing in this book, and one of the major reasons I picked it up, is the representation. For me, representation for marginalised groups in books means SO MUCH and I loved loved loved the representation. Charlie as a bisexual woman stood out to me especially, I'm bi myself and I thought the representation was just SO WELL DONE. Charlie’s bisexuality comes under-fire from other characters, who make problematic and untrue assumptions about her and bisexuality but she counters them with grace and I loved that it allowed people reading who may not know about bisexuality to also learn with the ignorant character. However, I also liked that Charlie’s bisexuality was not the sum of her being - there were so many elements that made up her characterisation before that - and this made her a complete and rounded character. On top of that, her romance with Alyssa was cute, well written and didn't sexualise them as wlw like soo many books tend to do. They were so solid together and I absolutely adored them. I've also heard that the representation of the other characters is accurate as well as honestly and respectfully portrayed. Taylor is fat, and has severe anxiety - and many people who also experience this have said the portrayal is respectful and good. Jamie is latinx and while there has been less discourse on him, I've seen nothing bad. So to have a book which takes so many issues and writes them correctly and respectfully is so nice. I really liked Jamie's character ! People don't talk about him much but he was such a good character? Super supportive, and a male character who doesn't fit into the "Nice Boy" or "Best Friend" kind of tropes we see all the time in ya. by mydarlinginej on tumblr “But how could you possibly know you’re bi? Have you ever been with a girl?” “How did you know you were straight before you were with a girl, Reese?” I also liked that this book was such a warm homage to fandom, pop culture and all things geek. These sorts of books are becoming more and more widespread, but I really like that because I very much feel a little like "these are my people" when I read them. This is one of those sweet books which makes you feel all warm and nice inside and I think we can all relate to the excitement Taylor feels at meeting her favourite author, or Charlie meeting her favourite youtubers. On a kind of personal note, I really liked that the characters were Australian because I am too and we are so rarely in books! Australian's neverr get represented so it was nice to see some for a change. I also really liked lots of the themes and messages set up in this book - self acceptance and validating your own experiences, putting your needs on top, the way that abusive relationships can function and effect people, a little critique of the bad sides of fandom, self love, doing things at your own pace, and being kind. “That's what we do. We walk a tightrope every day. Getting out the door is a tightrope. Going grocery shopping is a tightrope. Socializing is a tightrope. Things that most people consider to be normal, daily parts of life are the very things we fear and struggle with the most, and yet here we are, moving forward anyway. That's not weak.” My criticism of this book, and the reason it doesn't get five stars, is that the characters weren't well written in my opinion. What I mean is, all of them were caricatures. Every main character is basically the perfect representation of what a non-problematic person would be but it's unrealistic. All people have elements to them which make them problematic, it's a by-product of growing uo in a racist/sexist/homophobic/ableist society. Making perfect characters who never do wrong isn't realistic. I think I'm making it sound worse then it is, all of them had personality and things that made them interesting - but often their dialogue felt forced and like it was coming from the author and not the character which really irked me. It felt condescending and preachy. In some scenes it worked - like the bisexuality talk with Reese because he was an ignorant character, but in other places it felt forced and a little cringey. But there are other things about these characters that make them great. I've already mentioned the representation - but I also wanted to mention the other good stuff. I loved the female friendships, and the way the women supported eachother. I also loved the friendship between the main trio in general and how they cared for eachother and had eachothers back. Charlie and Taylor were strong character who stood up for their beliefs and acted with agency and individuality. They also are constantly dealing with their own issues and struggled but continue at working and overcoming them. “To the girl who hid in the shadows and tried to body-shame me, I’m sorry you thought that was a good use of your time and energy. I hope you find happiness within yourself. You deserve that. We all do.” But genuinely I don't want my criticisms to put you off this book because it is GREAT. The story is so cute and fluffy, the relationships are well developed and written and the representation is SO GOOD. It is so, so rare to find a good bisexual character in a fairly mainstream book so this was so nice to read. Queens of Geek was everything it promised to be and more - it’s such a fun and light book, with solid friendships and plenty of fandom, both imagined and real. But it’s also about learning to believe in yourself, being brave. It's about and for all the Geeks out there, and if you want your nerdiness to be validated READ THIS. To the weirdo's, the geeks and the fandom queens. To the outcasts, the misfits and everything in between. The days of playing the sidekick are over. You are the superheroes now. You are my people, and this is for you

not the bets book but i enjoyed the rep and the themes. it just wasn't mindblowing but it was a nice time

I had been itching to get my fat fingers on a copy of this book for A WHILE. It seemed like so many (predominately) YA book reviewers were going absolutely bonkers over this, and I was excited! Now, I’ve just finished the book and I’m... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Let’s start with this, I thought the premise was nice and cute. Nerds go to convention to meet favourite author? Yup, cute premise. My IRL goal, so there’s a tick for relatability. But uh... yeah. From there on, I’d say my favourite parts were the fact that they were Australian (save for Jamie), and also, Jamie, a good, wholesome, YA love interest. I found the writing in the book to be good. It was easy to understand, but I did feel like there was a lot of kind of, ‘rambling’. And during a few points in the book (mainly during from just after the middle to the end) was frankly boring. The plot read like it had been conceived, then forgotten, then remembered hastily many chapters later. I feel that if the book had been longer, that maybe it would have been, overall, a better book to read. I wish there was more exploration of character in this, aside from ‘oh, Jamie’s from Seattle’, ‘Oh, Charlie is Chinese-Australian’, and ‘Oh, Taylor has anxiety!’ Because whilst I am grateful for the Chinese-Australian representation and that a protagonist in a YA novel has a mental health issue, their characters kind of stopped there? A considerable chunk of the book was just flat out whining, and dear gods was that annoying. Another thing was that everything moved so quickly, and everything really solved itself and the ‘conflicts’ present didn’t really seem like conflicts, since they literally sorted conflicts out 99% of the time with just an immediate, either too brief, or too long heart-to-heart. Also, the villain? Reese Ryan? Charlie constantly talks about how she saw something in him once, and how he was good once. We never see anything redeemable in him. He’s constantly just being a dirtbag. It’s his only trait. Boring. As someone who loves happy endings, even I thought that the ending to this was WAY too anti-climactic and ‘neat’. If I were a character in this book, it would have been an extremely satisfying ending as everything came together practically last minute. But as a reader? Bro, throw me a bone resembling at least on not-so-great outcome. PLEASE. I stopped caring about these characters the second I finished the book — scratch that, I stopped caring by just before the middle of it. But that ending was literally just the cherry on top. All in all, I did not enjoy this book. I felt that the two and a half hours I spent reading this were somewhat wasted. However, I would still like to thank the author for writing something about fandom life, because it is so intriguing to see how fandoms are perceived by other people. The writing in this boom was good, and so was the premise. But I believe it was let down by the execution ... and definitely the rambling. That being said, many other people enjoyed this book and sung nothing but praises for it, so maybe this just wasn’t my cup of tea. 2.5 stars

this was a cute and fun read filled with pop culture references, and characters that are quite relatable in terms of their geekiness.

3 stars | This book is cute and super geeky :) I love the strong friendship between the 3 main characters. The plot is interesting (i was invested in the story) and I love the messages the author is trying to communicate, but I think it could have been executed a little better? Less awkwardly? Some of the dialogues were a bit clunky/cringy. LGBTQ+ rep: bisexual MC. Other rep: MC with Asperger's (and anxiety)

Me ha gustado mucho este libro jo. Sabía desde el principio que no iba a ser el libro de mi vida and I was right, pero hacía tiempo que no leía uno de estos libros light-hearted y que te ponen de buen humor. Además toca temas como la ansiedad social y perderse a uno mismo después de una ruptura, y lo hace super bien, lo cual gana muchísimos puntos. I don't know, I just really enjoyed it. ♥️ 8/10

It is 3 am and I just finished this book. I. Freaking. Loved. It. It was so good, dealing with so much things at once that a lot of people experience every single day. I don’t have any kind of anxiety, but I feel like i know more about it now. Like I have experienced it myself while reading this book. Also, this books is about a Con and I never have been to one, I want to go so badly now. I really loved the characters, obviously not everyone (FY, Reese) and the development they went trough. I shipped them so so so hard and omg I just loved it. Also, this book f*cks up my schedule that I had for bookstagram because I need to include it. Probably as best book of 2017. Just saying. Go read it! Dear swap buddy, I hope you don’t mind that I secretly read your book, even though I bought it myself. I kept it clean and tidy because that’s how I like my books too. Enjoy it! (I know she isn’t going to read it ;))

“That's what we do. We walk a tightrope every day. Getting out the door is a tightrope. Going grocery shopping is a tightrope. Socializing is a tightrope. Things that most people consider to be normal, daily parts of life are the very things we fear and struggle with the most, and yet here we are, moving forward anyway. That's not weak. We are the brave ones.”   I thought I had grown out of fandom books, but Queens of Geek proved me wrong, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It was cute, light, and fluffy--basically, everything I needed after reading high-stakes fantasy for the past three months. It tackled a lot of serious issues really well without making the book heavy, which is pretty difficult to do, and I really appreciate all the #ownvoices rep in Queens of Geek. As expected, most of the book is pretty light with a ton of pop culture references. I'm not a comics person and frankly I have been reading far too many terrible comics lately thanks to a class I'm taking so a lot of references flew completely over my head, but I love the idea that fandom and online communities can be super supportive and connect people across the world. Charlie and Alyssa's romance made me really happy, just because it was so dang cute. There was a bit of conflict in the relationships, but it was all really easily solved, and you know, it's a romance book, so I was expecting a Happily Ever After ending. Of the two main characters, my favourite was definitely Taylor because I related to her so much. I'm also autistic and have anxiety, especially social anxiety, so seeing Taylor thrive in her own little geeky world was great. And this is #ownvoices rep, so the author is coming from personal experience too. I never knew how much I needed to see books about autistic girls until I read this; one conversation in particular between Taylor and another autistic girl, Josie, made me literally cry because it hit the nail right on the head about what I feel every single day of my life. You would think that I would get over how important representation feels because I've seen such an explosion in the past few years, but here we are. I've spent so long trying to ignore my autism diagnosis because I was ashamed, and I know books like these are going to help confront that stigma and give other autistic girls a voice. If you want a really good, well-written romance read, Queens of Geek is absolutely perfect. It's light and fun and quick and really freaking adorable.  BLOG | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER

Let me start by quickly saying how much I love this book. The diversity is so amazing, you have Charlie a bisexual Chinese Australian and Taylor who suffers from autistic spectrum disorder and major anxiety. Then there is sweet Jamie, who really gives off a peter parker vibe with his sweetness and photography. The Book revolves are them spending 3 days at SupaCon. Charlie is a Youtuber with a new movie out and brings along her two BFFs Tay and Jamie. Taylor is on Tumblr in the fandoms and so it is definitely the queen of geek. Jamie is a small time photographer. This book also deals with major issues like biphobia, “But how could you possibly know you’re bi? Have you ever been with a girl?” I remember seeing the frustration written all over Charlie’s face, and I spoke up. “How did you know you were straight before you were with a girl, Reese?” “He’s all for equality, but he doesn’t even believe bisexuality exists.” She rubbed her fingers over the space between her eyebrows like she had a headache. “You can’t pick and choose whose equality you support. That’s not equality.” And Sexism. “This is the third interviewer in a row who’s asked Reese an in-depth question about his job as an actor, and then asked me about my workout and diet regimen. I want to tell this guy to ask me something else, but I don’t want to look like a bitch or get in trouble with the studio, so I grin and bear it yet again.” It also has an f/f love story. Charlie has a huge crush on Alyssa and Alyssa has a huge crush on her. It also deals with Jamie and tays relationship. They have always had a crush on each other, but tay did not want to risk their friendship for something she didn’t know would last or not. Jamie, on the other hand, is afraid of not seeing what it would be like to be with tay. It is a very cute and so awkward for them to admit it to each other. Throughout this book I found myself laughing and smiling at it. This book had so many parts that were relatable and real. I found myself relating to tay the most, I suffer from social anxiety and personally, I could never walk out on a stage like she did. Tay is brave and by the end of the book, she knows it. I related so much to her. This will always be one of my favorite books. This is a wonderful diverse book, that will have you laughing and smiling. Making you feel all the feels, it is relatable, funny, romantic and geeky awkward at moments. I recommend this beautiful book to everyone, you need to read it.

Update June 2017: I've been thinking about this book a lot and have now decided it deserves a full 5 stars. It warms my heart thinking about it every time I do. It had an incredible impact on my life and is definitely one of, if not my one favorite book of 2017 this far. initial rating:4.75 stars I read this book in one sitting, I started around 10 pm and now at 12:10 I am done and I have felt just bout every emotion. I teared up and I laughed and I swooned. I loved the diversity in every aspect of this book. And I really needed this right now.

full + updated review on the blog HERE! I started this book not knowing anything about it, just that people seemed to really like it. I only herd about the anxiety and bisexual representation in this book, which was the main reasons i picked it up! This was such a great and enjoyable read! I related so much to Taylor's character, like honestly so much! I'm a huge nerd that has social anxiety and my version of Queen Firestone would be Shadowhunters, that's the books/world that changed my life. I even related to Charlie, but only on one thing: we're both bisexual! I was so glad with all the representation in this book, i even learned something new, something i honestly had no idea existed: Autism Spectrum Disorder. I didn't know what it was until Taylor was talking about it with Josie! I love love loved this book so much! It's a new favorite of mine!

this was really short and sweet!

I have so much love for Queens of Geek and Jen Wilde!!! This book is all things geeky and awesome!! The book is told from two POVs; Charlie, a bisexual Chinese Australian vlogger/actress and Taylor, an Aspie who's obsessed with the Queen Firestone fandom. I honestly loved both characters and really enjoyed seeing their journey over the course of the weekend at SupaCon and how they learnt and grew throughout it. So back to the story, Charlie gets an invite to SupaCon to do promotional work for her new movie and her two best friends Taylor and Jamie get to tag along. BTW, SupaCon sounds like heaven!! I really wish I had some geeky best friends that I could fan-girl with when I was growing up. Of course there is drama, romance and tears, plus lots of geeking out. This book is definitely a must read for any geeks and fangirls out there. Queens of Geek also tackles, what can sometimes be sensitive, issues such as Aspergers, anxiety, sexuality (bisexuality), body shaming and the emotional baggage that can come with them. This author really has done an amazing job with this book, it is such a relatable story for so many people and has so many positive messages for everyone!! "Sometimes I don't think I'm being a girl right. I have an undercut and wear clothes I've bought from the boys' section, and I don't wear makeup or do my nails. I watch horror movies and play video games and burp and swear and don't talk about my feelings or any of that crap. I'm like Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality, only before the makeover." "There's no one way to be a girl, Tay. You don't need to fit yourself into what society tells us a girl should be... Are you happy the way you are? Are you comfortable? Do you feel like yourself? ... Then that's all that matters. Fuck everything else." While there are some cheesy parts throughout the book, it totally works. Its such a fun, easy read that I honestly just could not put down! It is a great with with a great message, that is all about self confidence, being your self and having fun! I would love to see more of Charlie, Tay and Jamie and their lives in LA. Thank you to Alana and the team at Pan Macmillan Australia for providing me with a copy of this book.

I loved loved loved loved this book. I saw so much of myself in Taylor, both in appearance (fat, wears glasses, has an undercut) and personality (autistic geek with anxiety). Charlie was also a great character and I ended up loving her just as much. The scenes where Taylor talks about her anxiety and when another character describes what everyday life as an autistic person is like really spoke to me personally. Honestly I could gush about this book for a lot longer but I like to keep my reviews as short and spoiler free as possible so I'll just finish by saying this. If you're a hopeless romantic and/or a huge geek, like me and wish romance's were more diverse read this book!

“In one brief conversation, she made me see that there’s nothing wrong with me.” I am a fangirl myself. A geek. A bisexual. And I have anxiety. So when I read something that has a representation of me even in the slightest ways, I get excited. Ever since I was a child I always identified with the characters I was reading about or watching in TV shows or whatever. I always liked seeing similarities between us. So this book gave me that feeling again, for which I am grateful. Plus, this book is a own voices novel, so that's amazing! I think this book HAS to be read by young girls. Every girl out there, actually, whether they're a geek or now. No matter what, they're all queens and they should know it! This books has an important message. It might be an obvious one for some people, but it doesn't make it any less important. Characters. I liked that we had a very diverse cast, there can never be too many books like that. We have different races, body types, sexualities, mental health issues... I loved it quite a lot. And I loved the characters as they were. Charlie was a kick-ass heroine and I'm so glad she didn't take no one's shit and did her own thing. Taylor who was the most adorable in this book and I loved this girl to pieces. Jamie was an amazing friend, and a generally well-written male character with an actual personality. (view spoiler)[I also didn't believe in Alyssa and Charlie's instalove. Like, I know they know each other through videos and love each other like that fr years, but it still felt too quick. What I'm saying is I LOVED Tayler and Jamie's relationship, but I didn't root for Alyssa and Charlie that much, which is too bad. I'm usually easy to please with ships. (hide spoiler)] The plot wasn't very exciting, but it was fitting for the messages this book was trying to share. Plus, the book is very short and very fast-paced, if I was not busy this past week, I'd've read it in a day. In some places it felt a little bit flat and too naive. I've read some reviews that say that the YouTube part of he book wasn't really portrayed that well, and as a huge YouTube and BookTube fan (plus an ex-booktuber-newbie) I also felt it to be true. The dialog was also not really on point. Like, it was fine, sometimes too cheesy (which they addressed a couple of times, but mostly it was in jokes), but it didn't always feel like a real dialog. Anyway, despite all the disadvantages, I still enjoyed it. So I'm glad I finally picked it up and read it.

Even after a year this book is still so meaningful to me. I relate to these characters all in different ways and feel welcomed in this universe. They understand me and I understand them in a way that not many people do. Highly highly recommend as this is a book that deals with a lot of uncommon topics.

"People like us ... we're brave. We're the ones who get up and face our worst fears every day. We keep fighting." This book can be so important to so many people, and really, it should be. While the writing is average and the plot is cheesy, there are so many important messages woven into this story. From a girl with the high anxiety on the autism spectrum to the bisexual girl who was emotionally torn from an ex-boyfriend. Taylor and Charlie are two characters I hadn't thought I needed until I was presented with them. Jen Wilde did manage to write a completely and utterly adorably dorky and cheesy story set inside SupaCon, where everyone binds together with the security of their fandoms. As a self-declared "geek", whose friends are also self-delared geeks, I was drawn immediately to the plot of the story. While it seems like the culture of geeks and nerds are becoming more and more appreciated in society, there still seems to be more stories about the popular kids, or the nerdy kids who don't go into their worlds as much as this story did. I truly appreciate Wilde for bringing this world into play. The two plot lines are simple, but incredibly cute. One is with the cliched best friends, and the other with two girls who had unknowingly had crushes on each other. Both of them were done really well, while also being realistic. I wished there could have been a bit more external conflicts running a round, but since the story really only takes place over the course of two-three days, I suppose I can't be too upset about it. I orignally hadn't intended on writing a review for this, but I felt the need to gush over how well Wilde had been able to send out hte message in this book of not being ashamed of who you are. There are so many lines and conversations involving the encouragement of the individual self. And, honestly, I don't feel like I've ever related to a character more than I had with Taylor. Wilde had written her so incredibly well. I've experienced every single one of those struggles she's faced. I cannot, however, truly speak for those who do have Asperger's, as I have not been diagnosed with it and I prefer not to relate everything to my boyfriend's own diagnosis, but for the anxiety aspect alone, she did amazing. It was really nice to see a character I can sympathize with and really understand her struggles along her journey. I am unfortunate to say, I can't say too much for Taylor's story line. I am not the outgoing type, and I haven't really experienced too much with my own bisexuality. Anyway... this story is truly cute, and I really love the message that stands out among it. It's a nice little reminder to have.

"And then I feel certain that something is wrong with me for not being able to do said normal, easy things with such ease." I don't think I have ever related to a character more, than I do with Taylor! I loved this book to pieces! It was so cute! And funny! And so relatable! Definitely one of my new all time favourites!

God, 2015 me needed this book so badly. Now me still needed to hear some of the things this said though. Now me is still working through half the things 2015 me was dealing with. This is the closest I've come to crying during a book in a while. So many moments mirrored my spirals, my frustrations. I'm glad this book exists and I hope everyone who needs it finds it.

*Actually 3.5/5 stars I really didn’t like the beginning of this book, but as it went on I grew to love all of the main characters, flaws and all. Particularly I’m in love with Alyssa and the LGBTQ+ representation in this read!!