The Queen & the Homo Jock King

At First Sight

By: TJ Klune

Narrated by: Michael Lesley

Length: 17 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

Sequel to Tell Me It's Real

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.

©2016 TJ Klune (P)2016 Dreamspinner Press

Funny sequel - absolutely PERFECT narration!

Katie and I did a buddy read/review for this because Katie is a HUGE TJ fan and both of us absolutely ADORED Tell Me It’s Real. (MS – Morgan, KS – Katie)



Sandy: “You know when you have a dream about doing something you shouldn’t and then it turns incestuous and you think, well, that wasn’t so bad and then there are marching bands?”


MS: OMG I was so psyched to see a follow up to Tell Me It’s Real (TMIR)! To me this is TJ at his finest. This book has all the fun and only a little of the angst. There are even moments when TJ makes fun of his own angst love when Kori/Corey describes her time with Tyson at school. What did you think Katie?

KS: Sandy had a very distinct voice in Tell Me.. and Art/Breathing, in this book he sounded a lot like Bear and Paul. Which don't get me wrong, love them both, but Sandy lost some individuality for me. Helena didn't take over as much as she does in other stories.

MS: I agree, Sandy did go on a lot of “Bear-like” rants in this. Hysterical, but different from the Sandy in TMIR.

MS: So… I think anyone could read this as a standalone but… they’d miss a hellovalot! Sandy is Paul’s BFF and a SUPER FABULOUS drag queen – Helena Handbasket. Sandy is the mild mannered counter to Helena’s outlandish and sometimes snarky side. Sandy/Helena have had a run in years ago with Darren – the Homo Jock King and Vince’s half-brother. Since then Darren has attended almost all of Helena’s shows but always leaves with some twink. Sandy – who hates Darren with the fire of a thousand suns – leaves with some piece of frat/jock/anybody else not Darren.


Paul: “Because you’d fight him for the right to my nipples?” Paul asked.
Vince: “Sure,” Vince said. “I’d fight anyone for your nipples. And also because Darren wants to bone Sandy and not you.”

KS: I now love Darren, but again he’s sounding very similar to Otter, who is one of my book boyfriends - so not a bad thing. But… I didn't need to be constantly reminded that they were the Queen and Homo Jock King, it was brought up a lot.

MS: Darren did get more of a personality here, but the firm delineation of Queen v Homo Jock King did get a bit overused. I think that one of my biggest “issues” with TJ’s work lately has been a distinct lack of editing. He is SO funny but the rants are getting longer and longer.


MS: When Sandy’s friends get involved there is a suddenly a need for Darren and Sandy to act as boyfriends to get Darren’s dad to help them save the gay bar… and well... it was confusing and it’s supposed to be. While “acting as boyfriends” – their deepest desires (who everyone else already knew) come to the surface and some of the old hurts dividing them get explained and fixed.


MS: There is SO much to love about this book, besides the humor there is a lot of love. We see more of Paul, Vince, Corey/Kori and a different side of Sandy.

KS: I never thought of Sandy as slutty, but he kind of came off that way in this book, but still totally lovable.


Sandy: There comes a time in every gay man’s life where he’s asked if he got rimmed in an alley behind a Mexican restaurant. It’s almost a rite of passage.


MS: Paul and Vince are crazy as ever.

Sandy: “No one has ever had anything good to say when starting a sentence here’s the thing,” I told him.
Paul: “You don’t know that,” he said. “Gandhi could have been all, like, ‘Here’s the thing: love everyone and junk.’”


Vince: “And I know I’m right, because you can’t spell convinced without Vince.”


MS: So is Paul’s gran and Johnny Depp the parrot that hates Paul.

MS: Paul’s parents are there being their weird/kinky/strange/loving selves, too.

“So they’re just sex friends?” Larry asked.
“It would seem so,” Matty said. “Should we get a sex friend?”
Larry shook his head. “I would get too jealous over something like that. Maybe we could borrow Vince’s riding crop.”


MS: We get the help from Mike the boss, and Charlie and a back-story about Vaguyna – Helena’s mentor.


MS: My hope is that our dear Kori/Corey and maybe…. a certain bartender??? – will get a story next… Corey is too great a character to not have a book to himself.
KS: Yes! We need more Izaac! I’m hoping he's mentioned so much for a reason. I love Corey/Kori and would have liked to see some conflict there, a continuance of Art/Breathing. Maybe them together?


MS: Fans of Tell Me It’s Real will LOVE this and if you haven’t read that – GO DO IT – then read this FFS.

Sandy: "And also please find out a way to send me back in time so I never have to hear you describe the term slow-bone to me ever again. If I had to list the top five traumatizing things that have ever happened to me that would be number 4. At least"

MS: The story winds and wiggles and giggles and meanders and twists and turns for 350 pages – but it’s so damn funny the time flies. 5 of 5 stars



Audio

Katie and I collaborated again on the audio review.

Morgan: Katie, what was your favorite part of the narration to Homo Jock King?

KS: I love that Tj got the same narrator back. It was so nice to hear Paul, Vince and Sandy as I've heard them so many times before. Michael Lesley is great at going between the characters and making them each unique. I love the layering when they all shriek about something or stepping away from the mic when they're yelling from other rooms. All nice touches.

Morgan: I thought Michael Lesley did a fantastic job with keeping all the voices unique and separate. Who was your favorite character based on the voices?

KS: Not necessarily because of his voice but Paul is always my favorite. I've had the pleasure of meeting the author so when I read Paul I hear Tj's voice. So it was really hard for me to hear another voice on Paul, but I've been won over (for the most part).

Morgan: I loved how the narrator used pacing and inflection to add to the humor in this story. When he does the very many monologues he slows down, then speeds up in a way that had me laughing at loud and giggling in public! What was the funniest scene you listened to?

KS: Tj is the master of awkward dinners, so the brunch was great. I mean Tj does them often, but they are always hilarious. Nana and Paul bidding on Darren was pretty great, as well as Sandy on the phone with Paul in the bathroom while at lunch with Darren and his father.

Morgan: Is there anything you wish were done differently? Anything else that caught your attention you wanted to talk about?

KS: Name pronunciations bothered me more than I'd like. I know different narrators but I didn't like the different pronunciations of Corey/Kori. I didn't like the Izaac pronunciation either. Overall so fun, and had me struggling to not laugh out loud at work. Love these characters so much.


5 of 5 stars – absolutely recommended!

Awesome Sandy/Helena

Awesome audiobook. I really liked it. Also I loved the Michael Lesley narrated it. Loved the voices 😍 Loved everything. He put the voices to the character we love from TJ Klune 😘😍

The narrator killed it.

This story is awesome. I love the narrator so much...he really makes these stories. I laughed out loud so much I had tears in my eyes.

Perfection

This is one of the best if not the best audiobooks I have listened to .
I have listened three times now -- the words the narrator are so perfect I would give 100 stars easily .
Would recommend this audio to anyone who want to listen to the book come to life to be " real".

so good!

uggggghh, it was so good!!! TJ and Michael Lesley are a match made in heaven

Brilliant writing and perfect narration

This was on my TBR list for quite some time and I am kicking myself for not getting to it sooner. The writing is outstanding and absolutely hysterical. I have listened to more than 500 audiobooks and I can’t think of one with better narration. Michael Lesley is GIFTED. He and TJ Klune are perfect together.

Yaaaassss, QUEEN!

I'm obsessed with the At First Sight series, and The Queen & the Homo Jock King is one of my comfort reads. It is pure FUN; just outlandish, ridiculous, yet insanely heartfelt FUN. It strikes the perfect balance for me, and this book and Tell Me It's Real are my go-tos when I'm feeling down.

I won't fully recap the book because I've reviewed it before, but I will say that it is a story for lovers of the style of Tell Me It's Real. If you like a slow-burn love story that is full one one-liners, characters exploding with personality, and sexual tension like WOAH, then you MUST read this series.

However, because this series is so near and dear to me, I avoided the audiobooks for a long time.

I am a huge audio lover, but sometimes an imperfect narrator will ruin a favorite book of mine, and the book is never the same again for me. And I actually get MAD about that, and I kick myself for spoiling something that I loved.

However, there was a TON of buzz around this series in audio, and I decided to dip my toe in with Tell Me It's Real. And, truthfully, Michael Lesley simply crushed it, just absolutely owned that narration, and so I decided to take a chance and move on with the series.

Between listening to TMiR and TQatHJK, I met Michael Lesley in person, and I was a teeny, tiny bit worried that meeting him would ruin my ability to get into the story. I was concerned that I would picture Michael Lesley talking instead of, say, Helena, which would be a bummer. Honestly, I shouldn't have worried because Michael Lesley so thoroughly throws himself into each character that it is hard to picture anyone but the characters themselves talking. His voices were DIVINE! Simply inspired, and I don't say that lightly. I can't picture anyone else reading those voices, and the fact that T.J. Klune picked him was pure fate.

The audio is long and insane in the best way (I knew it would be). Don't read this book if you don't want to experience a fabulous queen who is more than just a diva, BFFs who will dress in disguise for their friends, Nanas with floggers, old people exploring their sexual preferences, and some very interesting sex in some very interesting locations.

However, if you love T.J. Klune, and I know you do, then you MUST check this audiobook out. You'll thank me later.


*Copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

Tj Klune is a rockstar

Once again Mr. Klune delivers a fun filled, sarcasmic, dramatic delight. Just as good as the first in the series. I can't wait for the next!

Just as fun as the first!

I've listened to this audiobook multiple times, and loved it each time! The premise of this book is a little bit farfetched (the old "we have to fake date each other because REASONS" trope), but that's what makes it such an enjoyable comedy. The characters are usually quite likeable, and the chemistry between all of them is what makes this book really shine.

Michael Lesley narrated the first book in this series quite well, and this one was good too - sadly, the two narrations weren't consistent with character voices. Its a bit jarring to go from book 1 (Tell Me Its Real) to this one and have the voices change, but the voice acting is still good and its still an easy listen.

This is definitely more on the "comedy" side of romantic comedy, but there's still a romance there that you want to root for, and I'm looking forward to seeing where the series goes!

Freaking great

A totally different take on a misunderstanding and enemies to lovers, and it was great. For me, there weren’t as many one-liners as book one, but the relationships were just as amazing and real. Gotta admit I wish we got more time with our Queen and King together (wink wink)… but it was all so worth it.