loved this. I love the multiple point of view. I enjoyed the characters they were so real and fun. Jamie and his support of Taylor. His crush on her that he finally gets the courage to show. Taylor and her anxieties shows us a real look at what people go through. I love how she meets people who are similar to her with her Aspie and they help her see that she isn’t different or weird but like others and they give her support and ways to cope.They help bolster her confidence. I loved watching those two support each other and how patient and kind Jamie was but also how Taylor grew and became a stronger more confident person in this book. She started to overcome her fears and see herself as such as well. Favorite scene: zombie library scene with Jamie and Taylor. Jamie sleighs me he is so so sweet throughout the book.

I loved Charlie and at the end she found the courage to be herself again and not care what others thought. she found her way back to herself. The love story there is adorable. Both are.

The fangirling was adorable and so is the setting for this book. Three friends going on a journey and adventure and all coming out more mature and gaining courage to bind themselves and grow. The video game date swoon there. Taylor and her freakouts was so amazingly real and honest. Jamie and his support and him letting Taylor know his feelings and things about him to help her feel safe and comfortable swoon. Charlie finding her voice and courage.

This is written in a lighthearted and entertaining way but tackles some very real issues. We see friendship grow and how it is loyal and supportive. We see how friends are there for one another and honest with each other. How friendship gives you courage and strength. We see journeys to finding out what you want and who you are. We see courage to overcome fears and say its okay to freak out and also to be myself. People like me for me and if they don’t oh well. Great female characters who are true to themselves and we get some body positivity as well. I love Jamie after Taylor hears the horrible things that were said about her how he made her feel loved and desired. The only character who didn’t grow was Reese. He was just a idiot but he was our idiot and helped Charlie see and realize things.

A wonderfully written, sweetly entertaining and empowering book about friendship, finding yourself and love.

Rating: 4.75/5 Penguins

Quick Reasons: super important morals/lessons; these characters are quirky and lovable; LOVE the love happening here; authentic, real-life reactions and interactions; awesome character growth; THIS is a coming-of-age done well; beautifully endearing

HUGE thanks to Jen Wilde, Swoon Reads, Xpresso Book Tours, and Netgalley for providing me a free digital ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review! This in no way altered my read of or opinions on this book.


---"I'm like Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality, only before the makeover."

"So?" Charlie shrugs. "Gracie Hart rocks. 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."---


I just can't even with how adorable this book was, penguins. Seriously?! it wins my week. Let's just talk about that cover to start with, okay? That pink! That pink is EVERYTHING. Honestly, the pink hair on the cover was the very first reason I knew I needed this book in my life--for one, because at the time I had never seen a cover like it before. For two...I mean, that hair makes a statement, okay?! And it was a statement I was desperate to hear. Having finished the book... I have to admit I was totally right about that.

Which brings us to...the morals. There are some heavy subjects running through this read, including mental health. Jen Wilde approached each obstacle with a clear "end goal" in mind...and came out on top of this journey, in my opinion. The subjects are approached in sensitive, subtle ways...only to be body-slammed by the moral message later on. Like the cover, this book makes a loud and important series of statements--and comes out with head held high and chin up. The character growth and "coming-of-age" journey within these pages will have readers viewing the world--and themselves!--in new, confident ways. And that, in my opinion, is such an important thing to have achieved.


---Fat. Chubby. Overweight. Plus-size. Whatever you want to call it.

Those words don't have to be insults.

I'm not offended by the word 'fat,' even though you said it like it was the worst thing ever.

I don't care what some random person thinks about my body.

I like my body.

But it's not the most interesting part of me.

If you judge me based on the way I'm shaped, then you miss out on how awesome I am.---


The characters are complex, endearing, and believable. I was rooting for these three from the very beginning--and laughing, crying, hurting, celebrating right along with them. This read sucked me in from page one, and refused to let me loose. I am only a little bit disappointed that we didn't get to see the world from Jamie's perspective. Headed into this, I was rather expecting it to be split into three POVs. Instead, I only got to glimpse things from two. Still, Jamie came to life for me regardless--and I adored his interactions with Tay just as much as I adored watching Charlie fall for Alyssa. Each relationship was realistic and adorable, so it wasn't hard to love the characters as much as I loved their journey.

Overall, this was an amusing read filled with pop and nerd culture. I really loved all the references played throughout the pages. The characters are adorable, their relationships are realistic, and I had an absolute blast watching them grow and come into their own throughout this book! I cannot WAIT to pick up another Jen Wilde book in the future! I definitely recommend this to lovers of pop culture, diverse reads, and books with some heavy-handed subjects. Don your mask and meet me at midnight, penguins; we'll take the world by storm yet!

This is exactly the kind of book I have been needing. I feel as if Jen took every important part of my identity and created this book solely for me. Not only was this such a fun read, but it also had wonderful discussions about important topics. The characters felt so real that at times I felt like I was reading about my own friends.

The story follows two friends as they travel from Australia to LA, to attend SupaCon:
-Charlie, a youtube star who recently starred in her first film and ended a year long relationship with her douchebag costar Reese
-Taylor, who has autism spectrum disorder with severe anxiety and is trying to cope with the pressure that comes with starting a new chapter in life and her feelings towards her best friend Jamie

I seriously can't believe how much of myself I saw in both Charlie and Taylor.

Reading about Taylor's struggle with anxiety was like looking in a mirror. It was so obvious to me that Jen Wilde understands anxiety. There were so many passages in here that made me cry because they describe feelings that I have never been able to put into words.

I also loved the relationship between Taylor and Jamie. I was rooting for them to be together from page 1. The romantic tension between them was so strong and I was just screaming for someone to make the first move!
I fell every more in love with Taylor when she overheard a girl make a rude joke about her weight. I expected Taylor to be crushed and probably cry. But instead it lit a fire within her. I felt so proud of her for being confident in herself and not letting a mean girl take that from her.

Charlie was incredible. I related to her so much. She is a youtube star and it was so fun hearing her talk about youtube culture and making videos. Also Charlie is bisexual. While at SupaCon she meets a girl she's been crushing on and they start a romance. And while this was Charlie's first experience with a girl, I loved how her story wasn't about her being bisexual. She was comfortable in her sexuality. There was one instance of biphobia, from her asshole ex, but it was immediately shot down.

The friendship between Taylor and Charlie is hands down my favorite female friendship I've ever read. They both have so many of their own problems happening but that doesn't stop them from dropping everything and being there for the other. They are so supportive and don't judge one another. They really reminded me of my best friends.

Another thing that I loved was that Charlie is the daughter of Chinese immigrants. And there was this beautiful moment when she is playing a video game version of her movie, and she sees herself as a character in the game. It's such a pure moment and she is so proud to be represented in that way.

The setting in this book is what knocked it out of the park for me. It gave me flashbacks to when I have attended conventions with my friends. Which is why it felt so real to me. SupaCon seems like such a fun event, I really wished I was there with them. The nerd culture was so amazing to read about. From running for their lives in a zombie maze to participating in cosplay contests, this book was such a fun ride.

I really don't have anything negative to say about this book except that I'm sad I finished it. Please please please do yourself a favor and read this!

This is everything that I could have wanted from a geeky book which featured LGBT+ rep., racial diversity, and incorporated pop-culture aspects (like SupaCon-which is similar to ComicCon). I laughed out loud dozens or times, bawled my eyes out at other times, but overall it was a spectacular reading experience where my eyeballs stayed connected to the book and I couldn't put it down or notice my surrounding until I finished my one-sitting runthrough.

In this story we follow the mega-million YouTuber, Charlie, our Chinese bisexual MC who gets invited to attend this convention to showcase her new movie that came out. Along the way she has an opportunity to bring her two best friends, also complete geeks at heart who are coming all the way from Australia and the biggest fangirls at my heart.

Although yes, I did find one relationship in this book a bit insta-lovey, I also feel like I could brush past that to get to the awkward adorable romantic drama that went on every page in this story. It's a lighter fluffy romance, which makes you want to make puppy eyes and swoon at every page. Not to downgrade the enormous value here; there were some heavy conversations with communications boundaries set up that were necessary to the development of the romantic subplot.

The intersectional feminism in this book was absolutely on pointe in my opinion. There was girls supporting girls, strong female friendships, girls who stand up for eachother in the acting industry, and an f/f romance. Sexism, racism, homophobia were directly addressed in the text which happens so rarely that when it does, it really jumps out at you. Most of the characters in this book were a diverse cast of... girls, my favorite thing to be a focal point in YA contemporary romance.

Also, there was a character with anxiety and autism-spectrum represented on page! And there was a bisexual MC who discussed biphobia and other issues with the public's perception of her sexuality on page! Which is all it takes to have me stand up and say "I'm sold!"

**Thanks to NetGalley the publisher for providing me with a copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.**

SWOONS. SQUEALS. SCREAMS. AAAAH ALL THE HEART EYES AND LOVE TO THIS BOOK. Lo and behold, this is my first 5 stars rated fiction book of the year, so it’s something to celebrate. I’m completely and irrevocably in love with this book, the characters, their romances, the issues it discusses. It does everything right. It’s an #Ownvoices book at its finest. I really felt the authenticity and honesty of it. I want to talk about all the things this book stands for but my words are failing me, they jumble up in my head, collide and combust into fairy dust, rainbows and unicorn poops.
The writing is fun, fast paced and very quotable. I genuinely want to get myself a physical copy just to tab all the parts I loved. Queens of Geek is written in duel POV through Charlie and Taylor’s eyes and it was fantastic because both girls are very different and still manage to have a beautiful friendship. Aside from the classic formatting of the text, the book also has text conversations as well as Tumblr posts that Taylor types on the spot.
Queens of Geek is the book all of us proud nerds have always wanted but never knew we needed. I can’t begin to describe how happy this book made me, it is so heartwarming that just thinking about it puts the biggest smile on my face. So many pop cultures references and relatable fangirling moments that I’m pretty sure everyone can relate with, especially if you’ve been to a convention -I haven’t- because the vibe is so well encompassed in the pages of the book.
The romances are INCREDIBLE. Both of them. Both are two of my favorite tropes. The first one being bestfriends to lovers, Taylor and Jamie have been friends for years, in love for years as well and everyone knows it but them. They act like this adorable old couple but without the coupley stuff, and I lived for the awkward moments each time they started getting too intimate, it was so real, relatable and just funny. I specifically loved seeing them through Charlie’s eyes, she had this “KISS ALREADY” attitude that was hilarious. The second one is an F/F fan to lover type romance, except that both girls having been fans of each other for years, harvesting these innocent crushes that developed into more once they met. I must admit that this one evolves much more quickly and can feel like instalove but it isn’t because the girls knew each other beforehand.
Taylor is such a smart, kind and strong girl who’s into everything book related. She’s a neuro-diverse character on the autism spectrum (Asperger’s to be more specific) who has anxiety and what I loved most of all is how none of it defined her, her story wasn’t about it, it was about her being a fangirl, going to a convention, having a crush on her bestfriend and spending a great time with her friends. Her anxiety was always there and so well explained and dealt with. As she put it:
“Anxiety isn’t an attack that explodes out of me; it’s not a volcano that lies dormant until it’s triggered by an earth-shattering event. It’s a constant companion.”
but she kept challenging it as best as she could, meeting new people, doing things she wouldn’t normally do and I honestly loved that. I also adored the body-positivity in this book, how Taylor was totally and utterly comfortable with the way she looked and didn’t care one bit what people might think. Also, this might seem weird to you but SHE WEARS GLASSES, do you know how rare that is in books?
Charlie is a force of life. She’s a proud Chinese-American bisexual youtuber and rising actress with pink hair (hence the cover) who’s confident, empathetic and sensitive. What I admired is how she wasn’t portrayed as this almighty, fearless creature. She had her doubts too, was scared of falling in love after a tough break up and needed her friends as much as they needed her. I liked how through Charlie, the author addressed biphobia in the form of her ex-boyfriend who was a total tool and couldn’t wrap his head around how her  being with him and being bisexual could coexist. On the other hand, Alyssa, her crush, was so patient and reassuring, and made sure to hear her and make her comfortable, she also planned the most perfect date for the two of them.
Jamie is the softest, most caring boy ever, he’s quite frankly redefined the meaning of book boyfriend. He was inseparable from Jamie and had -figuratively- “protect Taylor at all costs” written on his forhead. He knew when to be there for her and when to give her space, he was just honestly perfect.
The three of them make such an amazing trio of friends who plan their futures while making sure to always be around each other. I lived for their banter and healthy friendship, how they understood when one of them -aka Charlie- needed to go off and spend time with her crush and encouraged it instead of getting mad because she didn’t spend all her time with them. I especially loved Charlie and Taylor, they had such a supportive friendship when despite of having their own problems, found time to listen to each other and be there.
All in all, this book is the perfect mix of cheesiness, adorable banter and dealing with important issues. I adored it and would recommend it to everyone, their mom, their neighbor and their neighbor’s dog. GO GET IT AS SOON AS IT IS OUT. You won’t regret it.

I really liked all the characters (except the one I wasn't supposed to :) ), and both love stories were really cute. I also appreciated the fact that the queer and straight romances were given similar weight. It was also good to see a non-neurotypical character (with Asperger's and moderate anxiety) who just dealt realistically with living with it, and wasn't coded as unassailably "brave" or "heroic".

On the down side, the prose was a bit clunky in spots--mostly in the first half, which would have benefited from one more editing pass--and there was one conversation with a side character that was clearly stuck in as an info-dump vehicle. Overall, though, geek pride wins out and I'm glad I read it!

I loved the absolute nerdery in this book and how the characters embrace it. The diversity, including one of the main characters, is fantastic. They are all shades of weird, dorky, awkwardness and it was wonderful. There were times I felt that certain situations were solved too easily but overall, I enjoyed this book.

When BFFs Charlie, Taylor and Jamie go to SupaCon, they know it’s going to be a blast. What they don’t expect is for it to change their lives forever.

Charlie likes to stand out. SupaCon is her chance to show fans she’s over her public breakup with co-star, Jason Ryan. When Alyssa Huntington arrives as a surprise guest, it seems Charlie’s long-time crush on her isn’t as one-sided as she thought.

While Charlie dodges questions about her personal life, Taylor starts asking questions about her own.

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 Jamie—no matter how much she may secretly want it to. But when she hears about the Queen Firestone SupaFan Contest, she starts to rethink her rules on playing it safe. (via Goodreads)

I received an eARC of Queens of Geek courtesy of the publisher, Swoon Reads, and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Queens of Geek was absolutely wonderful. Like, had me in tears of happiness in the empty office kind of wonderful. That is so rare that I can’t remember the last time it happened.

I also can’t remember the last time I identified with a character as much as I did with Taylor in this book. I think this is the first time I’ve ever read a character who felt so much like me, and I can’t even begin to explain what that meant. Taylor’s anxiety experience was so like my own, and it’s so rare for me to find that in fiction. Not to mention finding other women with autism, which the author is as well.

Anxiety isn’t an attack that explodes out of me; it’s not a volcano that lies dormant until it’s triggered by an earth-shattering event. It’s a constant companion.

BOY does that sound familiar. I kept picturing Queen Firestone as Pearl from Steven Universe, which I know isn’t accurate, but that’s what my brain gave me.

In an unrelated but funny note, two of my best friends from college are named Charlie and Taylor. They both cosplay, Charlie is bi, Taylor is also bi, plus sized and anxious as hell. I didn’t make the connection with the character names until after I finished the book and was recommending it…. to both of them.

We had a good giggle about that, and I’m still gonna make both of them read this book because they will love it.

Each of the characters in this novel felt intensely real to me, and for me, that’s the mark of a great novel. I hated Reece, I loved Alyssa and her forthrightness, and I adored Jamie (who also reminded me a lot of my partner.)

This book is all about girls helping girls, girls loving girls, and girls kicking ass. I honestly cannot recommend this enough if you like those things. You can preorder a copy, because it comes out in just a few days! Check out Amazon, Indiebound, or your other favorite bookseller! Queens of Geek is a five star read for me, hands down.

Five stars

This book was a lot of fun - being a convention geek myself I found parts of this book so relatable. It's nicely written, fast paced and has a great message for not just teens but anyone who feels they don't fit in.

Queens of Geek is really an uplifting story of three friends going to a convention and really finding out who they truly are. In the span of only a few days.

Charlie is a rising star and youtube Vlogger. Going to SupaCon for the very first time. The POV is through Charlie and Taylor. So you get a really good sense of who these girls are. Wilde touches on a lot of topics throughout this story and in a really great way. Inspiring girls/women of any age. To be exactly, who they were meant to be.

I’ve never read a book written by Wilde before and I was really surprised. I highly enjoyed this. She brings to life these characters and their world. I loved the diversity of the characters as well.

Overall, I give this FOUR Boundless Stars.

My review can be viewed from 9 minutes into the wrap up video linked below:

First of all, this book was initially published via WattPad, and I am not sure how much the story changes (if it does change at all), so my review will not make any reference to the WattPad version, just the eARC that I was provided via NetGalley.

Queens of Geek is the Disneyland book for geeks! (Specially if you’re Australian, because the MCs are Autralians!) The book takes place during a weekend long convention, called “SupaCon”! Think about Comic Con, but 10 times better. 😉

The book is told from different POVs, of course, our BFFs trio have different experiences at SupaCon, and the book covers each experience pretty well. The diversity is this book is ON POINT! Autistic MC, Chinese-Australian MC, f/f romance, an openly bi character, and my favorite diverse area is that one of the MCs suffers anxiety and the way it’s described is 100% me. I even felt like crying just because I could SEE MYSELF in that character! This book is full of fantastic representation!

Anyway… the book takes place in a convention, this is a first for me, and I LOVED IT! This book is full of pop culture references, which ranged from hilarious to plain geeky (and I loved every second of it!). TV shows, movies, Harry Potter, Supernatural, Youtubers, Tumblr, bloggers, etc etc etc… this book HAS IT ALL. Also, one of the MCs is a total fangirl for an author of her favorite book series, and I know we can all relate to that!

Another of the MCs is openly bisexual, and at one point the book touches the topic of how she discovered it.This author managed to talk about many diverse topics and make them all feel genuine. There’s even a character who is “all for equality” but doesn’t believe in bisexuality. (Lol… I know people like that IRL and it makes me sick.)

“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.”

Oh my God! Reading this gave me life! You can feel her frustration.

Also, there’s an autistic book inside this book… #bookception! How awesome is that? There’s representation inside the book with representation! I just… wow… this book is amazing.

My favorite thing about the book, is how anxiety is represented and talked about. I’ve never read a book that touched the topic in such an authentic way. It really moved me. It made me feel better because, for once, I felt understood.

“I’ve lost count of the times people have called me a bitch or a snob, misinterpreting my shyness or lack of eye contact as disrespect or rudeness.”

“My anxiety is invisible to others, but often it’s the focal point of my mind. Everything that happens on a day-to-day basis is filtered through a lens colored by anxiety. That nervousness that makes your pals sweat and your heart race before you get up and make a speech in front if an audience? That’s what I feel in a normal conversation at a dinner table.”

Another amazing thing this book brought up is the sexism in the acting/movie industry. Which is clearly visible by the dumb and/or superficial questions women are given in interviews, when compared to men.

“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.”

I feel like I can easily quote ten more things, but I tend to quote one or two things only, so I’ve passed my usual limit. But trust me… this book is SO GOOD! The only reason I’m not giving the book 5 stars is because there is some romance that felt too “insta-love”. I mean… I’m all in for romance, but don’t make it all happen too quick (you know?). I might be asking for too much, since the book DOES take place in just one weekend… *sigh* I’m conflicted. BUT, there’s also another romance that’s just PERFECT! So I guess that evens it out?

Overall, this book is great. It’s a fun, quick read, with great representation and some good call-outs of things people say and do on the daily *winks*

Such a feel good novel! Everything positive diverse read.

Queens of Geek follows three friends who travel to the USA for SupaCon, very geeky, full of fandom convention. Our two main characters are Charlie and Taylor. Charlie is a popular YouTuber and actress, she's confident and energetic. Taylor is shy and passionate about her favourite book Queen of Firestone. They travel also with a guy friend Jamie, but we never get his POV.

I'm truly impressed how easily author incorporated all the modern and diverse themes into this book. It's so natural that one main character is bisexual. It's natural that one character has anxiety issues and is on the autism spectrum. Those characteristics of those two girls are not the only things that define them and are not the focus of the book. The focus of this book is love, friendship, overcoming difficulties and getting stronger.

What I like the most about this book, and the thing that brings a smile to my face when I think about the book is how positive it is. I think it's a great book for teens to help them see the beauty within them and in others. The story paints a great picture of a modern culture tackles many issues that teens are familiar with and have to struggle with themselves. I believe that so many young people will find in this book something that they also had difficulty with, many will see themselves in those characters.

Queens of Geek is adorkable. Read it, you will definitely enjoy it.

You know it's the perfect book for you when you see yourself in one of the main characters. In this case I saw bits of myself in both Charlie (bisexuality) and Taylor (anxiety/panic attacks). This book focuses so much in friendship that made the story so pure and fresh. The writing is lovely and it was fast-paced in a good way.
All characters felt so genuine and REAL which is something that some books lack.
As for the biphobia, I was shocked by it but the quick reaction to it by the bisexual character and her best friend was something that made me feel better right away. I immediately thought "THIS is how you deal with problematic stuff. You need to put ON PAPER a character confronting it!". This is the only way I accept reading about problematic subjects.
Overall I really enjoyed this book and it's definitely one I'd recommend to everyone!
(adding blog review soon)

I feel like a lot of the contemporary books I've read in the last year has dealt with a lot of issues regarding mental health and race, and I LOVE it.
In Queens of Geek, we follow two girls: Charlie and Taylor.
Charlie is hellbent on spending her time at SupaCon showing her fans that she is a person outside of her relationship with her ex. She faces, while not many, but some racial slurs for being a Chinese American (most of these comments came from her ex, though, and she's incredibly proud about being the first Chinese American female lead in a movie.) Through her SupaCon journey, she has many run-ins with her favorite YouTube star and romance blossoms, but as always, there are hardships she has to face.
Taylor is excited to be at her first con ever, cosplaying as her favorite movie heroine and her one wish is to meet the actress who plays the character. Taylor has severe social anxiety and, while she doesn't talk about it much, she has Aspergers. Taylor pushes herself into scenarios where she usually would not, given confidence from the con and a small push from her best friend who she's in love with, Jamie. Taylor meets a fellow girl with Aspergers who gives Taylor even more confidence to get in front of a crowd and enter contests, and Taylor recognizes the signs of a panic attack in somebody else and talks them through it, growing so much as a character.
Not only does this book show many different aspects of a normal society (nobody is perfect!) but it was a nice read with so many great fandom references. You won't want to miss this book.

I’m not usually fond of stories revolving around love or strictly about love stories. But this one is about such nice and geeky people, I had a really great time. I mostly loved all the discussions about society issues and subjects you encounter often when you’re active on the internet and want to understand other people better. Subjects such as intersectional feminism, body shaming and body positivity, being on the autism spectrum, bisexuality and more!
The strengh of this novel is in the characters, so here’s a little presentation for each of them:

The Main characters (The novel is told in a dual POV) :

Charlie is a bisexual Chinese-Australian girl who has been posting vlogs on youtube for a while. She dyed her hair pink recently and the indie movie she was in suddenly became super hyped so she is invited to SupaCon in the US. She’s in her final year of high-school and brings her two best friends with her to the Con, Taylor and Jamie.

Taylor is neurodivergent (Asperberg’s syndrome), has social anxiety and is what she calls a “round” girl. She also shaved a part of her hair but what defines her is how she loves her friend and is the biggest fan of The Queen Firestone, a huge book series. In the same way Cat is in the novel Fangirl, kinda mirroring the Harry Potter fandom. She has a large audience on twitter and tumblr where she talks about Queen Firestone and about her life.
“How do they manage to do everything they need to do and go out in the world and be human without feeling the weight of it all crushing them into oblivion?”

The Side characters (or the love interests) :

Jamie came to their school after the girls were already friends but their shared love of everything pop culture led to their friendship. I loved how supportive he was of them, and how he reacted to a “macho dick” (quoting him!) bothering and insulting his friends at the Con.

Alyssa is a brown girl with tattoos. She also films vlogs about women around the world, science and everything she’s passionate about. She is like Charlie’s “personal hero”.

“One of the fans starts running toward us, and then everyone follows. Suddenly I’m having flshbacks to the stampede scene in The Lion King.”

This is an #ownvoices novel, meaning Jen Wilde is autistic like Taylor and bisexual like Charlie. I found those info on her twitter bio (@jenmariewilde) but first on a review that I read on goodreads.

It was a short novel (184 pages on my ereader) but a lovely story, with a great cast of characters and important discussions. It was cute and heart wrenching at times. The diversity of voices felt like a breath of fresh air and I was sad to leave the characters so quickly. But it didn’t felt too rushed, maybe the end a little bit but that didn’t bothered me that much. The story is set during one weekend at a convention and how it will affect them, mostly revolving around their love life and acceptance of who they are. All the pop culture references where well placed and didn’t felt “too much” at all. It was kinda more “tell” than “show” for the case of Taylor but it wasn’t a problem, because she talks about how it is to be like her and I feel it is very important. Those were my favourite parts because she talked about her anxiety in a very open and true way, also talking about how to manage panic attacks. Leading to another thing that I loved in this book : girls supported other girls all the times! No rivalry or petty fight like you usually see in YA to create tension ; even during a cosplay contest, it was really nice.

I would totally re-read this novel once it is out, I had a lot of fun with these geeky romance and really felt like the author wrote this with the best of intentions. Her dedication at the beginning of the novel made me smile and I’d like to share it with you:
“To the weirdos, 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.”

Charlie, Taylor, Jamie... oh the fun of this book! I loved the concept and I loved the timeliness of this story. In a world of youtube fame and glory and indie movies and cons, this was a super fun romantic read focused on three relatable characters! This story was quick to read and dealt with some great relationship issues. I loved how the author paced it and complexity of the characters. Looking forward to more from this author!

It was okay. Not quite what I expected. I was hoping for a bit more fun and a little less drama.

This was such a terrific con story! Just delightful and geeky and heartfelt, full of positive representation and characters who felt like real people.

Hello, Firefly reference in the first chapter. I am so here for this book.

Lots of "geeky" books are just nerd service without anything of substance. But Queens of Geek completely breaks that mold. I was cheering for Taylor and Charlie on every page.

Taylor's characterization was incredible. Reading about someone on the spectrum (with an extremely accurate portrayal of anxiety) who finds solace and bravery in fandom? Just, yes. Taylor is my hero.

And the internet-famous Charlie with insecurities of her own? Seeing her navigate what it's like to date after a very public heartbreak? Often "celebrity" characters can be hard to relate to, but Charlie was well-painted and lovable with her own realistic flaws.

Full of con-related dilemmas, romantic tension, and small victories that will make you want to scream for Girl Power, this is a fun story that I'll recommend to all the fangirls I know.