Audio Book Review by Kristie: The Queen & the Homo Jock King, by TJ Klune

The Queen & the Homo Jock King, by TJ Klune
Series: At First Sight (Stand-alone)
Narrator: Michael Lesley
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

Book Release Date: February 29, 2016
Audio Release Date: August 1, 2016

Book Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Audio Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Do you believe in love at first sight?

Sanford Stewart sure doesn’t. In fact, he pretty much believes in the exact opposite, thanks to the Homo Jock King. It seems Darren Mayne lives for nothing more than to create chaos in Sandy’s perfectly ordered life, just for the hell of it. Sandy despises him, and nothing will ever change his mind.

Or so he tells himself.

It’s not until the owner of Jack It—the club where Sandy performs as drag queen Helena Handbasket—comes to him with a desperate proposition that Sandy realizes he might have to put his feelings about Darren aside. Because Jack It will close unless someone can convince Andrew Taylor, the mayor of Tucson, to keep it open.

Someone like Darren, the mayor’s illegitimate son.

The foolproof plan is this: seduce Darren and push him to convince his father to renew Jack It’s contract with the city.

Simple, right?

Wrong.

M/M Pairing
Gay Characters
Contemporary Romance
Enemies to Lovers
Fake Boyfriends
Drag Queens (obviously)
Hilarity to the point of cackling (honest)

What can I say? I mean, really, the audio for The Queen & the Homo Jock King is simply perfection. I’ve listened to 46 audio books since April of this year, and I can tell you that this has got the be the most perfect portrayal of a book in the history of audio books. Or, in the history of audio books that I’ve listened to. Why, you ask?

Michael Lesley.
(Insert fireworks, bursts of flowers and balloons, confetti, and a marching band.)

Yes, I enjoyed the story a lot. Like, really a lot. I laughed and literally cackled. I awed, and swooned. I felt my heart sink, only to bloom again with hope. I experienced a lot of feelings. All of them, to be honest. I was even grossed out a couple of times. And yes, had I only read the book, I’m pretty sure I’d have experienced all of these feelings almost the same. But there is something about listening to these words that made the experience all the more incredible. This is because Michael Lesley not only reads this book to you, he beautifully immerses himself into the characters. Not just Sandy/Helena. No. Michael puts some serious acting into his reading. Little nuances in his voice make it easy to differentiate each character. All of the characters in the audio have distinct voices, helping to keep track of the story in a way that I knew I needed.

This story is long. Very long. At times it did get a little too long for me, but thankfully, because Mr. Lesley did such a fantastic job, the length hardly phased me. I honestly think that I would have skimmed parts he book had I just been reading it. Still…

I love this book. I love the audio even more. This will definitely be on my list of books I listen to again and again. It’s great fun, totally ridiculous, completely and utterly over the top in a way that only TJ Klune can be, and simply wonderful. I can not recommend this more.

If you’re interested in a book review, El read this when it first came out. Her review is here.

When TJ Klune was eight, he picked up a pen and paper and began to write his first story (which turned out to be his own sweeping epic version of the video game Super Metroid—he didn’t think the game ended very well and wanted to offer his own take on it. He never heard back from the video game company, much to his chagrin). Now, over two decades later, the cast of characters in his head have only gotten louder. But that’s okay, because he’s recently become a full-time writer, and can give them the time they deserve.

Since being published, TJ has won the Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Romance, fought off three lions that threatened to attack him and his village, and was chosen by Amazon as having written one of the best GLBT books of 2011.

And one of those things isn’t true.

(It’s the lion thing. The lion thing isn’t true.)

You can follow TJ here:
Twitter
Facebook
Goodreads