Thank you so much to TBR and Beyond Tours for allowing me to take part in this tour for Don't Be a Drag. I have not found many books with drag kings in them, so when Skye announced that their next book was featuring two of them I knew that I wanted to read it! When the cover was revealed, that desire was kicked up to a 10!
About The Book:
Author:
Skye Quinlan
Pub.Date:
May 28, 2024
Find it: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound.
Two rival drag kings competing for a crown might just win each other’s hearts.
When eighteen-year-old Briar Vincent’s mental health takes
a turn for the worst, her parents
send her to spend the summer in New York City with her older brother, Beau, also known as
the drag queen Bow Regard.
Backstage at the gay bar where Beau performs, Briar just wants to be a fly on the wall, but
she can’t sta
nd by when the cute but conceited drag king Spencer Read tries to put down
another up
-
and
-
coming performer. To prove to him that even a brand
-
new performer could
knock him off his pedestal, Briar signs up for the annual drag king competition.
There’s just
one flaw in her plan: Briar has never done drag before.
With the help of her brother and a few new friends, Briar becomes Edgar Allan Foe, a drag
king hellbent on taking Spencer down. But unless she can learn how to shake her anxiety
and perform, she doesn
’t stand a chance of winning Drag King of the Year, overcoming her
depression and inner demons, or avoiding falling for her enemy, who might not be so bad
after all.
Content Warning:
Anxiety and panic attacks, depression, suicidal thoughts and ideation,
b
ody dysmorphia, cancer (past, off
-
page), death due to AIDS (past, off
-
page), homophobia
(past, off
-
page),
intrusive thoughts, mention of queer characters’ deaths (past, off
-
page),
suicide (past, off page), transphobia and vomiting
Review:
I already knew from the getgo that I really wanted to read this book and I can honestly say that getting to read it was an absolute pleasure. I really enjoy Skye's writing style and the plot had me hooked to the story! I just needed to know what was happening in the story as soon as possible.
I will admit I was unsure going into the book. I don't always love first-person POV stories, but I was hopeful. Thankfully the first-person POV did not annoy me and I found that it rather added to the story. It allowed for me to fully experience the emotions of the main character. It was enjoyable!
I loved the characters in this book. They all felt very lifelike and absolutely brimming with personality! It was fabulous! They felt three-dimensional and I would have loved to get to meet these characters!
I thought the book was fairly well-paced and built up. I loved the plot of the book and it moved at a steady enough clip. At times it felt a bit slower or faster, but not enough that it threw off the pace of the book entirely. It just allowed for slightly different pacing at points.
I really did have a good time reading this book. Between characters that I really loved, a plot that had me invested, and really cute interactions between the cahracter I was loving life while I was reading it. It was a great time and I encourage people to check out this book if it sounds like something they'd be interested in.
Favorite Quotes:
"Fuck depression, screw your anxiety, and to hell with literally everything!"
"I'm sorry I almost mauled you."
"Beau and my parents would kill me."
"I want to do drag, like you. Knocking her off her pedestal is just a bonus."
"Exposure to drag is exposure to drag, period."
"My coping skills are literal horseshit."
About :
Skye Quinlan (they/them) is a queer, autistic author of YA fiction. They’re an avid reader, have an absurd amount of crystals and gemstones, and if
they’re not tending to their garden, you can usually find them playing Animal Crossing. Skye lives in Ohio with their wife, two dogs, a snake, and two lizards. You can find them on Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads.
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