Queens of Geek, from Jen Wilde

Hiii, there! I’m back from the dead and disappeared to talk about a book that I found out about thanks to the lovely Beth, at the Betwixt the Pages (go follow her, she’s awesome! Plus, she also read this book, giving you two different visions of it!), and that I couldn’t wait to start! I’m talking about Queens of Geek, from Jen Wilde ❤ I received my copy from Xpresso Book Tours in exchange for an honest review during their book tour for Queens of Geek and here we go! Thanks, guys!!! (And a special hug to awesome Giselle <3)

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.

Me after finishing this book:

The Quartermaster & The Marquis’ Son, by A. E. Kendall (Clash at Sea #1)

Hello, there! It’s me, again, back with a pirate romance review! Er, gay pirate romance, of course. You can’t expect less of me, right? Haha! It took me a shameful month to read The Quartermaster & The Marquis’ Son, first book in the Clash at Sea series, and I know why: BECAUSE I INSIST ON CHEATING MY MONTHLY TBR’s! Instead of taking 3 to 4 days as this book would require of me, I’d sneak it in every day that I had free time that wouldn’t be used reading another book. Last Saturday I decided to end this madness and properly finish the book. Poor Kendall had her mailbox full of fangirlings and hysterical attacks from me all month long and for that, I apologize, haha! And all of this after she being kind enough to send me this book in exchange for an honest review. Thanks so much, Kendall, and I’m sorry for being a pest!! HERE IS SAID REVIEW!

Michel is a nobleman in a quest. After a series of unfortunate events on his life (you saw what I did there), Michel decides to run off his comfortable and wealthy home in search of his older brother Alain, the only person on his family that acted the part. His brother was sent off to Porto Prince for allegedly bad behavior in society, but Michel is sure that their father was wrong about it and sent Alain off to make both Alain and Michel miserable.

Nothing would stop the French youth in his pursuit, not even a never-ending fever, seasickness during his trip from France to Porto Prince. Not even a tall, dark and handsome pirate that assaulted his ship. If he had to die fighting and desiring the man, so be it.

Galen is a pirate in a quest. After being wronged and humiliated (among other worse things) by another awful pirate captain, Galen is hell bent in pursuing the bastard all over the seas until he gets his revenge and peace of mind back. He knows he is doing the right thing for himself and nothing will stop him from getting back at the bastard.

Not even a very skillful and dashing Frenchman found at one of their targeted ships. If he had to die fighting and desiring the youth to save him and have him, so be it.

Just remembering that those were my impressions and opinion as a reader 🙂

So, I took my sweet time reading this book. It was so intense and packed with adventure, action, romance and longing that I could have been found sighing and giggling every time I had my hands on The Quartermaster & The Marquis’ Son. I loved the characters’ construction, the writing style, the historical accurate setting, the plot, the twists, EVERYTHING! While I think it could have been shorter in some parts and wished we could have seen more about Galen’s past (like we did with Michel), it still was a 5 full stars read for me! ❤

The narrative style was my favorite kind: third person with switching points of view between Michel and Gale. This was crucial for us to understand and not hate Gale, as he is those silent, deadly and shy types, haha! You know, shy regarding feelings and demonstrations. Michel, in the other hand, is passionate, naïve and very forthcoming about any desire that he may have, so both completed each other and the story with the help of the switching povs.

The plot almost killed me, to the point that I e-mailed Kendall asking if I would have a heart attack on the end or if I could just grab a paper bag and wait for it to get better, haha!

Poor Kendall having to put up with me, but the plot was complex, detailed and full of twits and turns. Some expected, others completely mind blowing. I found it the perfect combination, as those twists made me second-guess myself during the reading. I thought I could predict the outcomes, but could I? I had already been right and wrong before – not to mention all the times that I was simply swept out of my feet by not seeing things coming, haha! It was very nice to live on the edge with this book and made me feel like I had a breath of fresh air among my historical romances. Don’t get me wrong, I love the downward sugared ones, but this one was so different *–*

As this is the first book in a series, it doesn’t make sense to talk about loosing ends, so moving on 🙂

The characters were one of my favorite parts on this book! They were so real and alive that I wanted to hug many and punch many, haha! I loved Galen’s crew and friends, that consisted of Phillip ( ❤ ), John, Alex, Erich (I’m almost sure that is his name, I’m awful with names, haha!) and Davey. I also loved Captain Jack, I hope to see him again on the next book and loved Alain. I even sympathized with the guy that was Galen’s captain’s mate and plaything, Marcus. It’s so new to me to love and remember so many characters as I finish a book that I’m a bit emotional right now.

Also, I felt these guys weren’t mere sidekicks. They were relevant and necessary to the story’s unfolding and I loved Kendall even more for that! ❤ Also, I got some new book boyfriends to add to my ever growing list *–*

Now, the main characters. OMG, WHAT WAS ALL THAT CHEMISTRY, ANGST AND LUST?! OMG, IT WAS SOO HOT!

I loved to see how Michel and Galen’s feeling developed on their adventure and how there was no kind of instalove, only curiosity and lust in the beginning. Michel was a strong and stubborn bottom that would never allow Galen to stomp on him and Gale was always worrying about Michel’s well being and what was best for him. Seriously, I fangirled and squeaked  a lot over them *–*

I feel on the duty to inform that every sex scene present in this book was meaningful, beautiful, needed and carefully executed to always express how much the parties involved cared for each other and wanted the act. No vulgarities, no endless fucking for no reason. Just love. In all kinds and forms ❤

Also, I need to point out how amazingly well the historical settings were described and presented by Kendall. She always worried about all the small details, increasing a lot my knowledge on a typical day in a buccaneer’s life. It was a most pleasant way of learning!

Overall, if you like pirate books, hot sex scenes well positioned, a swoon worthy romance and awesome twists, PLEASE READ THE QUARTERMASTER & THE MARQUIS’ SON! *–*

Thanks so much for reading my review 😀 Also, I’d like to thank Kendall for being a sweetie and having gifted me with a copy of Alain & The Duke, a novella that works out as a prequel to The Quartermaster & The Marquis’ Son! *–* Can’t wait to read more about Alain!! And, of course, also thank you for this book in the first place, haha! ❤ I loved it and I’m sure many other gay book fans will love it too!!

Top 10 Tuesday: Books that made me cry

Hi, there! Good AFTERNOON! I DID IT, IT IS ON TIME AND EARLIER! I DESERVE A BIG HIGH FIVE!

Ahem.

It’s Tuesday, so it’s Top 10 Tuesday day! This meme is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and my theme today is Books that Made me Cry because I can’t seem to follow everyone else and do the right theme of the week lol

So, I’d like to start this post by saying that I usually don’t cry reading. No, I haven’t got an heart of ice or anything like that. I just purposefully avoid reading books that I’m sure that will leave me utterly miserable and struggling to keep breathing between my sobs.

You see, when I was 14, I had a severe case of depression due family problems. One of the things that helped me going back on track and learning how to cope with my mind was reading – a pastime that has accompanied me since my birth, may I add. Ever since, I started to avoid obviously sad books like The Fault on Our Stars and such. It’s nothing personal, it is just one of the things I had to do to keep myself sane at the time and it is a habit that stuck up. I can deal with some depressing parts in a book, sad moments and deaths. But downward tragedy all the time hits too close to home, so no, thanks 🙂

All that being said, I still cry in books, a lot! And not only tears of sorrow, so I divided by ten books by type of crying – because I’m that much of an organizer freak 🙂

Sad tears

 1) The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak

This was the only purposeful sad book that I read knowing that it may end badly and I don’t regret it. I read it on 2007, when I was 12 or 13, and it was a recommendation of a sales’ guy from one of my favorite bookstores at the time, so I loved it. I don’t see myself re-reading it, though.

 2) The Last Olympian, by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson #5)

You know, the series was ending, one of the most awesome characters died and I was feeling too overwhelmed by all the twists and awesomeness. And I still didn’t know that The Lost Hero was a kind of sequel to Percy Jackson series lol

 3) Daughter of Darkness, by L. J. Smith (Nightworld #2) [REVIEW HERE!]

Again, the fault is on the twist in the end. There isn’t anything downward sad about this book, but I thought the choice of the protagonists so tragic, brave and beautiful that it got me tearing up a bit for their destiny. Again, no deaths, no tragedy. I JUST FELT LIKE CRYING, I’M A REBEL!

Agony tears

Since I watched Into The Woods, I was DYING to use this gif, haha!

4) All In With The Duke, by Ava March (Gambling On Love #1) [REVIEW HERE!]

Yes, you have read it correctly. My diva, my muse, made me cry. I just couldn’t see a happy ending for Max and Tristan in the first time that I read this book and I WAS DYING. Sometimes, I still cry near the end, haha!

5) Cambridge Fellows series, by Charlie Cochrane

Honestly? I don’t even know why I kept reading this series for so long. Despite being an historical gay romance series, the writing style wasn’t my cup of tea, the characters were pretty shallow and the drama got heavier and heavier. I lost count of how many times I was reading this as I was on my way to college and I started to weep in pure agony for the main couple. I just wanted to grab Charlie by her shoulders and shake her until she came back to her senses and stopped that madness, haha!

Frustration tears

Fun fact about me: when I’m very sad, I grow quiet and simply won’t speak or do anything. I become numb. When I’m angry or frustrated to hell, I cry like there is no tomorrow. Therefore, these next books got more tears than the sad books did, haha!

 6) What Lies Within, by James Morrison [REVIEW HERE!]

I really liked this book, but I was so overwhelmed when I got to the end and there were some mysterious lose ends that I broke. I started crying and screaming and swearing, haha! After a calming shower, I couldn’t stop saying to whoever wanted to hear how good and awesome and badass this book is, haha! Strong emotions lol

7) The Heir, by Kiera Cass (The Selection #4) [REVIEW HERE!]

I almost began crying in frustration in the middle of chapter one, when I realized how Eadlyn and I wouldn’t get along. AT. ALL. And yet, Kiera Cass was forcing me to put up with the brat using my love for The Selection and for America as an excuse. Eadlyn drove me so mad that there were a lot of scenes that I read while tearing up in pure and simple frustration. I can’t wait for the nightmare to be over in The Crown…

Beauty tears

8) Chasing Rainbows, by Linda Oaks (The Chasing Series #1) [REVIEW HERE!]

This book was Linda’s debut and my first from her. I was so surprised to see her beautiful writing style, so impressed to see how much Linda seemed to understand me and how much I connected with Addie, the main character, that I found myself emotional in like 60% of my reading time. I took notes of quotes and felt tears down my cheeks. Super cheesy and super true. Just read this book – or any of Linda’s works, really – and you will understand.

9) After Death, by Jacqueline E. Smith (Cemetery Tours #3) [REVIEW HERE!]

Jacqueline’s writing is a piece of art by itself, but there was a scene near the end of this book that was my undoing. It was so emotional, beautiful and meaningful that I started crying and wouldn’t stop, haha! I just wanted to hug my iPad and never let go 🙂

Last, but not least…

PERFECTION TEARS

I searched my brain aka my goodreads read shelf for another case of perfection tears, but I think it only happened once so far.

And the Oscar goes to…

10) CARRY ON, by Rainbow Rowell! [REVIEW HERE!]

This was the first and only time that I cried because of over perfection. And I’ve read my fair of books for someone of only 21. I scared my best friend, her maid and her mom with my crying crisis and book hangover after Carry On was over. I simply couldn’t, I needed more, that was too perfect to end. AND I SWEAR THAT THE END IS SWEET AND HAPPY AND CUTE! I’m the weird one that cries over… Perfection, as it seems.

I know, I know. That’s why I’ll just thank you for reading and stop writing now, haha!

Do you also categorize your types of crying over books? 🙂