Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens

by Tanya Boteju

Perpetually awkward Nima Kumara-Clark is bored with her insular community of Bridgeton, in love with her straight girlfriend, and trying to move past her mother’s unexpected departure. After a bewildering encounter at a local festival, Nima finds herself suddenly immersed in the drag scene on the other side of town.

Macho drag kings, magical queens, new love interests, and surprising allies propel Nima both painfully and hilariously closer to a self she never knew she could be—one that can confidently express and accept love. But she’ll have to learn to accept lost love to get there.

Genres: LGBT, Young Adult, Contemporary, Queer, Fiction, Romance, Lesbian

374 pages, Hardcover

First published May 7, 2019

About the author

TANYA BOTEJU lives on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations (Vancouver, BC). Part-time, she teaches English to clever and sassy young people. The rest of her time, she uses writing as an excuse to eat pastries. Her debut novel, KINGS, QUEENS, AND IN-BETWEENS, was named a Top Ten Indie Next Pick by the American Booksellers Association, as well as selected for the American Librarian Association 2020 Rainbow List. Her second novel, BRUISED, was selected as a Gold Standard book by the Junior Library Guild. Look for another YA novel, MESSY PERFECT, and a middle grade nonfiction book about allyship in 2025. In both her teaching and writing, Tanya hopes she’s bending the universe even the tiniest bit toward justice. Visit her at tanyaboteju.com.

Reviews

[Cece (ProblemsOfaBookNerd) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This took a bit to get into but I don’t think I stopped smiling for the last 100 pages. Delightful, messy, and perfect. I cannot wait to see what Tanya Boteju writes next.

[Larry H · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

Tanya Boteju's debut novel, Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens is an unabashedly charming book about finding yourself and being true to who you are. It's a book with humor, sensitivity, and so much heart, and it definitely left me with a smile on my face. (It's much less conspicuous to smile on a plane while reading rather than cry your eyes out!)

Nima Kumara-Clark has just finished her junior year of high school, but she doesn't see much excitement on the horizon this summer outside of hanging out with her best friend, Charles. She's longing for something to shake her life up, and given that she's spent a few years nursing an obsessive love for Ginny, her straight best friend, it doesn't appear that love is in the cards for her either.

One night during the local summer festival, she has a chance encounter with Deidre, a drag queen, who takes her to her first drag show. Nima is quickly taken under Deidre's wing, and she feels tremendously comfortable for the first time in her life, which is a change from her usual awkwardness. She is also utterly unprepared for the way the show makes her feel, especially when she sees a performance by Winnow, a sexy drag king.

"With each passing moment, I'd get that feeling you sometimes have the moment you're about to flip the final page of a really good book, when your anticipation for what happens next overwhelms you, but you also know that turning the page means you're closer to an end. This was a story I didn't want to end."

It seems as if Winnow shares the same attraction and feelings for Nima once the two meet. Nima has been disappointed too many times before, and she's not sure if she's ready to fully acknowledge her sexuality or let her guard down again. But she's also unafraid to let another opportunity to find love pass her by.

As Nima's friendship with Deidre deepens, and her interest in Winnow grows (as does the number of awkward encounters between them), she also has to deal with a number of other issues—Charles' jealousy of this new "life" she has found, the confusing behavior and mood swings of a childhood friend-turned-bully, and the re-emergence of her mother, who left Nima and her father more than a year ago with no explanation. It's a lot of emotional pressure for a young woman on the cusp of embracing her true self and taking the first few steps toward self-acceptance.

Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens is a fun read, and some of the characters are so tremendously vivid that they capture your heart. There's so much spirit in this book, but there's also a lot of emotion, as the characters have to come to terms with their identity, acknowledge the pain caused by others, and find the courage to step outside their comfort zone.

I enjoyed this book very much, and read it during the course of a plane ride. I did feel there were many issues that were left unresolved, including what was going on with Gordon, and Nima's relationship with her mother. That was a little frustrating. I also wasn't really sure about Deidre—was she a drag queen, a trans woman, or something else? I can only hope that Boteju might have a follow-up book planned to provide some answers.

Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens will leave you smiling, humming, and, depending on where you are when you're reading this, dancing. This book is full of positivity and hopefully, when it falls into the right hands, may help lots of teenagers and adults begin the journey toward self-acceptance.

See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.

Check out my list of the best books I read in 2018 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2018.html.

You can follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/the.bookishworld.of.yrralh/.

[CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the depiction of drag, the first blush of meeting other queer people, and exploring your place in the LGBTQ community. At times this YA about little awkward baby dyke Nima really brought me back to that period in my life. I loved the supportive adults in Nima's life: her hippie dad, lesbian family friend Jill, and drag mentor Deirdre. But: the plot about her mom who's abandoned her was underdeveloped and the characterization of Deirdre was confused: she's constantly referred to as a drag queen but it's also clear she presents as a woman all the time and she's never referred to as a trans woman. I also thought she felt too much like a stereotypical performing Black drag queen instead of a real person? Full review on my blog!

[madeline]

WHOA WHOA WHOA. HOLD UP.

did someone just say biracial queer girl because THAT’S ME AND I’M ALL FOR IT.

[Acqua · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens is a contemporary story following Nima Kumara-Clark, a biracial Sri Lankan lesbian, as she learns the benefits of going out of her comfort zone through the local drag scene.

I have read a lot of queer books, but none of them prominently featured drag performers. In this novel, the main character, the love interest, and various side characters have been drag performers at some point. With every year we get more YA books about so many different sides of the queer experience, and I'm so glad that's the case.

This novel has a slice-of-life feel to it. It's slow-paced, it's kind of open-ended on some sides, and more than everything, it's messy. But the messiness is one of its strengths, in a way, and while me and Nima didn't have a lot in common, I could definitely understand her. She's awkward, she makes a lot of bad decisions, she is... imperfect in so many ways, and I loved her for that. If you're the kind of person who needs teen girls to be perfect, I really don't recommend this, because Nima makes so many mistakes. As teens do.

I especially liked seeing how insecure she was, how she felt what I call "queer imposter syndrome", because there are moments in which she sees herself as far too bland to even have the right to interact with other queer people. (By the way: answering that your hobby is reading and, when asked for more details, saying that your hobby is reading novels is something I've done. It's what people who have been mocked for their "boring/weird" hobbies or have this specific insecurity would do. Being vague is a shield.)
Also:

Maybe I was assuming too much. I could be making up any interest on her part. Why in the world would she be interested in me? She was probably just being friendly. She seemed really friendly.

Nima is such an awkward lesbian icon. I love her, and I loved her narrative voice, for the most part - but if you plan to go into this, keep in mind that it's often overdramatic. To make a few examples of weird, emphatic figures of speech in her narration:

"I swallowed my heart back into my chest"
"my heart played hopscotch around my chest"
"her teeth took up her entire face" (...what)
"I had a whole mob of butterflies flapping around in my stomach"
"made my heartbeat quicken until I thought she might actually be able to see it through my chest"
"I could feel a heart attack coming on"
"I woke up feeling like someone was making scrambled eggs in my stomach"

And more. It got distracting at times, especially since I don't love this kind of writing, but for Nima's personality, it made sense. But my personal favorite was this one:

That was pee-your-pants kind of nervous. This—this was shit-your-pants kind of nervous

As you can see, she's a poet, and has such a way with words. But, surprisingly, all of this ended up feeling endearing more than annoying.

As I said before, I saw this book as slice-of-life. I say this because a few aspects of this could feel lacking in closure, but I don't necessarily agree. This is Nima's story, what her mom is doing isn't relevant to her - realizing that it isn't relevant to her is one of the plot points. And I liked Gordon's storyline. He's a side character who has a lot of internalized queerphobia and is struggling because of toxic masculinity, but who is also dealing with bodily dysphoria - and it's implied that he might be trans, even though by the end of the book he's either still figuring himself out or not ready to come out to people. In any case, it wasn't Nima's business: what mattered, what gave closure to the storyline to me, is that by the end they were friends again.
In a way, the ending felt more like a hopeful beginning than an ending, and I really liked that about it. It reminded me a bit of The Gallery of Unfinished Girls: the book might have ended here, but Nima and her friends have a whole life ahead of them. Because of this, and because of how messy this book was, everything felt more real to me.

However, while the drag queen Deirdre is unambiguously a black trans woman, I would have loved if this book had used the word trans even just once. For something that is named Kings, Queens and In-Betweens, this book was surprisingly binarist at times, by not acknowledging non-binary trans people explicitly and using some binarist phrasings here and there.

Another thing I didn't love was the writing, and not for Nima's awkward metaphors, but because of the complete lack of atmosphere or sense of setting. I know she's supposed to live in boringland, but I had no idea how anything looked like.
I also had mixed feelings about the romance: the love interest, Winnow (who is biracial Japanese), is one of the less developed characters, and there's a significant age gap (3-4 years I think) that didn't make that much sense to me, especially considering that Nima reads even younger than her age at times. But as this book doesn't really focus on it - the romance is more of a motivation for Nima to get into the drag scene, in a way - it didn't bother me too much (...maybe because I've read a book with a truly uncomfortable and weird age gap a week ago and this is nothing confronted with that? I don't know.)

[Belle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh, this book took me soooo long to get through! (I guess you could say it…dragged. Sorry, I couldn’t resist!)

When I first heard about this book, I knew it was a must-read for this year's Pride Month. You don't come across many, if any, books about drag culture in YA. And not only were we getting a book about drag queens, but one with drag kings as well, which also isn't seen or discussed too often in mainstream LGBTQ+, so I was doubly excited to learn more about drag kings. Also, just look at that cover! I was so here for a YA contemporary about drag culture from page one to the very end.

... Unfortunately, to my great disappointment, the drag content in this novel was surprisingly lacking and not a hugely central part of the plot. Like, I wouldn't say this book is even about drag. The plot is more focused around our protagonist, Nima, as she faces and grapples with a host of other things: having a crush on a girl named Winnow, her friendship with Charles, her feelings toward her mother who left when she was younger, and her brooding classmate Gordon who has more to his own story than meets the eye. These are all ultimately what Nima is going through in her small town and what makes up the main plot, while the drag aspect at best is more of a plot device that helps to propel the story forward, even though it’s really not what’s at the center of the story.

Just to put this into perspective: it took until page 258 out of 369 for Nima's first real experience with drag to happen. That is way too far into the book for this to be the first pivotal drag moment! But that's what I mean: it felt like it took so long for anything relating to drag to actually happen, so I would just be reading and reading and reading, waiting for the drag aspect to inevitably enter the plot. I mean, there's a small introductory drag scene at the very beginning of this book, and then for the longest time... nothing. All that we get after that is Nima befriending a drag queen named Deidre, who basically acts as Nima's drag fairy godmother and helps Nima in times of need and ultimately helps her gain more confidence. So yeah, she's definitely a very present character throughout the novel. But again, to me it's not enough that a drag queen is just there in the story because that doesn't necessarily make a book about drag. I especially got bored of reading about Nima dealing with these other things—which were mostly very melodramatic, typical teenage miseries—when I really just wanted to read about drag culture.

I also just didn't feel that there was a very deep conversation about drag in this book? Like, yes, the presence of drag was there, and maybe they skimmed the surface just baaarely on really having an open dialogue about drag, but it could've been so much more. I wanted this book to talk about the history of drag and how drag kings/queens got to where they are today. I wanted a truly open and honest discussion of the different ways one can do drag and how gender comes into play and what it all means to that person (Again, skiiiming the surface but needing so much more). I just felt that what we did get of drag from this book was pretty... standard? It was very typical, very RuPaul's Drag Race. I felt like anyone could've written this book without having had any drag experience or even identified as a drag king/queen themselves.

One more thing I'll say regarding the drag content in this book: I didn't really see there being a strong connection between Nima and drag culture as it related to her. Like, usually when someone connects strongly to drag culture, it's because it sparks a feeling that person has regarding their own gender identity / gender presentation—whether that be someone who feels their sense of self encompasses both masculine and feminine traits, whether someone wants to come out of their shell and explore their gender expression in more masculine or feminine ways, etc. But with Nima, there wasn't really any innate part of herself that naturally gravitated toward drag as it related to her own identity. She kind of just stumbled upon it, thought, "Wow, this looks fun," and gradually found herself becoming a part of this world by association (Deidre) and gradually found the courage to perform for herself, which helped to boost her confidence as a formerly overall awkward, timid teenager.

That's basically it. I didn't get a sense that any part of her gender identity or especially sexuality (she likes girls) came into play, which sort of makes her involvement with it less meaningful? It would've been one thing if she were gay/queer and always felt there was a part of her that wasn't strictly within the confines of the gender binary—like let's say she leaned more toward masculinity and being butch—and she found drag, which gives her the push she needed to bend gender in the way that speaks to her. That would make this a whole other book, one which I kind of went in hoping it would be! But sadly, no. She just happens upon drag, it looks fun and like something that would push her out of her comfort zone, and so she does it. And because Nima doesn't really have any connections with drag in regard to gender identity/expression, it kind of comes across as Nima coming into this as an outsider, who doesn't truly know anything about drag or its history or its impact on the LGBTQ+ community. So her involvement in it doesn't hit the particular mark that it could have, had she come from a place of yearning to branch out of her typical gender expression.

Other Things
---I honestly didn’t care for Gordon. It’s one of those classic character arcs where you have the brooding, angsty classmate who presents himself to the world as the biggest jerk, but it’s clear that he has other burdens, whether it’s his home life or his own internal struggle. Then the veil lifts, you find out what these hidden parts of him are, and everything becomes so much clearer. Bam, redemption arc! But honestly, even when more of Gordon became known to us… it turned out that under that veil he was still pretty major, homophobic asshole. So like, did he really have a redemption arc..? Can you even still call it a redemption arc if said character has not redeemed themselves very much and are still basically a horrible person..? Even worse, whenever he would make a homophobic comment, it was just brushed off or met with a halfhearted “Asshole” from Nima. And at one point it almost became like an endearing thing between Nima and Gordon? Like a back and forth banter where he'd make a mean comment and she'd respond with a “Jerk” or “Asshole” but still have a faint smile on her face. Um, I'm sorry. I don't think homophobic comments should be excused so easily??

There's also just the fact that even through the end of the book, we don't get a true sense of closure out of Gordon in terms of what he identifies as and the direction he's going to take. It's hinted at that he's somewhere on the trans spectrum, as he confesses a few times that he experiences discomfort with the body he's in, which could potentially be gender dysphoria. Whether that means he's transgender, nonbinary, agender... we don't really know. And it's clear as the story progresses that he grows more and more intrigued by drag culture. But does that mean he's going to start pursuing drag? We don't know. I just feel that his character growth and what becomes of his character at the end of all of this is very lofty and not quite concrete enough for us to feel a satisfying sense of resolution with him—or at least as much satisfaction as we can get from an extremely unlikable character like Gordon.

---There were just a lot of angsty teen moments, especially between Nima and Charles, that I did not care for at all. I hated how immature Charles was about the crush he had in the book and how he essentially cut off his friendship with Nima because it didn’t go well, even though Nima was genuinely going out of her way to try to help him and even as she's going through so much more in her life beyond Charles’ stupid and fleeting high school crush. In my opinion. Charles was just exceptionally self-absorbed.

Final Thoughts: I just wanted infinitely so much more from this than I got. I craved a book that celebrates and delves into drag from cover to cover, and all areas of drag: what it represents, its history, and its impact on the world and the LGBTQ+ community. I feel like what I got instead was a very watered down YA contemporary where the protagonist deals with a host of typical teenage problems, and drag culture is more of a subplot that gradually moves from the background to the forefront but still isn't the main overarching plot. It took so long for the drag aspect of the novel to even become present, and when it finally came, it just felt "eh." My one hope at the end of this is that this novel paves the way for more books about drag culture to come and for this to inspire more writers to create stories about drag—something that is severely lacking but that we desperately need more of.

[mina reads™️ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Uhhhhhhhhh

[Basil · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book was mostly sweet, but also, in parts, very frustrating. spoilers below, but generally: if you're looking for a pretty standard coming-of-age tale, and an #ownvoices story about realizing who you truly are and who you belong with, definitely check this one out! it's very queer and very big-hearted and warm.

-will i read more by this author? yes, definitely, because #ownvoices stories are important, and i think most people will have issues with their debut. but there were some things i found very frustrating, not the least of which was the main character, who spent the entire book repeating how boring and uninteresting and normal and boring and boring she was.

OKAY, SO: SPOILERS BELOW !!!!

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS !!! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->

the good:
-side characters were very interesting and fun, especially deidre (although more on her later).
-nima's interactions with her dad felt SO real and funny; i've had such similar conversations with my dad, and in general their relationship was positive and fun.
-i also liked nima's nerdy friend charles, and winnow's apartment and roommates, which also felt very keenly realized.
-this book very much did make me want to go see a drag show. the drag scenes were definitely fun and you could tell that they were coming from a place of deep love and admiration for/from the community!

the bad:
-the main thing that really irritated me about this book was its treatment of gender. for a book called "kings, queen and in-betweens," there was only one real non-binary/gnc character: gordon grant. his treatment and general presence in this book really pissed me off, to be honest. it started with an irritatingly on-the-nose "everyone is dealing with their own stuff" kind of plotline, and then, when his gender troubles were revealed, they were brought up so briefly and vaguely that it felt sort of shoved in there for some kind of token representation.
-also, gordon was such an awful dick that it really didn't feel good to me; the one non-binary character is also a horrible bully? and nima feels like she has to be friends with him because compassion and empathy and whatever? it all felt very preachy and high-school-teacher. sometimes, if people are awful to you, you should just get yourself out of that situation. you don't owe it to people spewing slurs at you to unlock their tragic backstory!
-nima is also constantly evaluating people's gender/sex when she meets them. instead of taking drag in the spirit of like, hey, "gender and sex are constructs and we're here to tear these binaries down," i felt that she spent way too much time obsessing about whether someone was a man dressing up as a woman, or a woman dressing up as a man, or whether they were a trans woman or man, "female" or "male," etc. also, there were references to genitalia that made me, as a trans person, veerrryyy uncomfortable! nima's obsession with body parts and medical sex was just squicky, to be honest. she never really had a moment where she reflected that gender was kind of fake, or that maybe, as a lesbian, she could still be attracted to someone who wasn't a cis woman. and i really expected that to happen, because of the drag community, and the title of the book!
-nima herself was also extremely frustrating, and, in general, i would say my main problems with this book were editing problems. it reads like a debut novel, and was mostly enjoyable, but just needed more fine-tuning. and also maybe a trans/non-binary reader to suggest cutting the gordon storyline all together, or at the very least, changing it significantly.
-deidre. as a character, i loved her, but i felt like i wanted to be reading her story instead of nima's. and nima's reliance on her, and her continuing support of nima, were kind of bewildering to me. this woman is a fully-fledged adult with her own problems, yet she was constantly taking care of and fostering nima despite pretty much nothing in return. it felt like a bit uncomfortable to have a black trans woman who is constantly at the beck and call of these kids, and who is literally described in promotional material for this book as a "fairy godmother." black trans women get exoticised and tokenized enough, and it was disappointing to see her constantly get sidelined and described as "magic" and "like a goddess" and what-have-you, because that's language that has been used to fetishize black tran women, especially those who do drag.

ANYWAY. these are nitpicky complaints and that's why i wanted to put them under a cut, so to speak. because i still think you should read this book and/or give it to young queer kids that might be struggling. because it really does do good work to give a coming-of-age tale a queer spin, and that's very important for ya books! so, go forth and read it! and that's all your local cranky trans booktuber has to say.

[Brianna · Rating 1 out of 5]

ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'm sorry, but I just was not a big fan of this book. I--along with many others--was first interested in the book because of the diversity and amazing representation. This book features a cast of characters of different sexual orientations, gender identities, and ethnicities. The main character is a half-Sri Lankan queer girl, who's friends and love interest are queer people of colour. As a queer girl of colour myself, who binge-watches RuPaul's Drag Race on the regular, I was super excited for this book!

Unfortunately, the representation was the only thing it had going for it. (A few spoilers ahead!!) The writing was fine--I think decent for a debut novel. But some parts were just boring and weren't woven into the story correctly. An example that comes to mind is when Nima had to go to the car wash, and she went into the school to get supplies and spotted Gordon. Obviously, that whole scene was a set up to introduce Gordon's identity struggles, but why did the car wash have to be a thing? It wasn't needed. Scenes that barely contributed to the story were just so long (the whole festival before Winnow is introduced, everything with Ginny considering how insignificant Ginny was, etc). Also, I wasn't particularly drawn to any of the characters. It made me so so uncomfortable that Nima allowed someone literally over ten years older than her to stay at her house overnight after meeting them once! Deidre's age was never revealed until later on in the book, but I don't know, that set off a lot of red flags. I don't care how cool and understanding Deirdre was! A seventeen-year-old doesn't let a 35-year-old stay at their house after meeting them once!!

I didn't enjoy the relationship between Winnow and Nima. Similarly, with Deirdre, the age difference between Nima and Winnow made me uncomfortable. And, to be honest, it wasn't exactly the age difference (it was only four years), but the fact that Winnow was so much more experiences than Nima. The scene where Nima gets drunk with Winnow's friend because she's trying to keep up with the "cool, older kids" really stressed me out because I just felt so bad for the girl. As someone who was just coming to terms with her identity, I don't think it would be beneficial for her to date an older, more experienced girl, who is already sure of herself and her community. While I do think it's an important and common story that a lot of LGBT individuals assimilate into the community by meeting someone older, or more experienced... I really do not see that working for Nima. I think it's great to have an older mentor (like Gordon has with Deirdre), but I wish that Gordon and Nima would have maybe joined together to explore the LGBT community more, rather than Nima dating Winnow.

I knew that Gordon was going to be queer. But, I wanted more out of the whole Gordon plot. Gordon's identity issues were never addressed and quickly glossed over, as if the author hoped the audience would just understand that Gordon was trans?? I honestly don't even know if he is trans because it was not explained at all? It was kind of just hinted. It's really weird how the words "trans" or "transgender" were not used in the story at all considering two important characters are trans! And the thing was, I didn't even realize Dierdre was trans until literally 60% into the story. I don't understand why the identities of the trans people weren't just explained quickly (the readers would have understood!) and instead were just up for interpretation

Lastly, there was so much that was just not resolved. The plot line of Winnow's mother seemed like a bunch of loose ends, the fact that her dad and Jill never got closure, the fact that Ginny-who was apparently one of her best friends in the beginning- kind of disappeared throughout the book, the fact that Gordon's identity issues were not fully explained... these all just seemed like random story points that never got solved.

Besides that, what I did love was Nima's curiosity as she began to find herself and her community. I could definitely understand being in Nima's shoes, and I'm happy she found a chosen family to help her along the way!

[francis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full review: https://bookpeopleteens.wordpress.com...



Overall, I really enjoyed Kings, Queens, an In-Betweens. It was a diversely queer novel, with a fairly original concept and uniquely real characters. Tanya Boteju has a lot of talent, so her future is infinite. My hope for Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens is that it can at least change some people’s mindset regarding the benefits of drag, and introduce young people to a new art form they didn’t know they needed. Rating: three/five

For fans of: Little & Lion by Brandy Colbert, The Love & Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Khan, Tell Me How You Really Feel by Aminah Mae Safi

Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/hy6neof...

[Fadwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

CW: homophobia, homophobic slurs, bullying, parental abandonment

I picked this up on a whim having no expectations whatsoever and ended up loving it SO MUCH!! This books fills my heart with so much joy because of the wonderfully awkward and shy lesbinan black main character who opens up little by little, the inclusivity of it, the drag scene, the found family aspect and even the romance!!! Everything about it was so good and heartwarming

[Vanessa]

Maybe an “it’s not you, etc. etc.” type read for me, but I really struggled to get into this. I think I need to come to terms with the fact that, with rare exceptions (God bless you, The Perks of Being a Wallflower), I can’t do YA contemporary. Even if there’s drag in it.

[Jesse On Youtube · Rating 5 out of 5]

Synopsis:

Nima's life closely resembles a wildfire. She's in love with a straight girl, her mom split (leaving both her and her loving, goofy dad), and she's bored to death with her life - but when a chance encounter with a dazzling drag queen sends Nima head first into the drag scene, Nima discovers just how incredible - and complicated - life can truly be.

Review:

Are there even enough "wows" or "stars" for this book?! Besides the jaw dropping cover which is *truly* fab, I fell in love with the casual, comedic writing style which flawlessly carries a cast of incredible characters on their singular but conjoined journeys. We have Nima's straight best friend, Charles, who is just as awkward and misfit as Nima himself... Gordon, the sullen bully who is hiding more than anyone imagines... and Deidre, the incredible queen who nurtures and mentors all of these incredibly mixed up characters while also infusing the story with TONS of personality, wild antics, and giggles. I mean, Deidre is responsible for some of the best moments and funniest dialogue in the story. "Sugar, you will never be-lievethe dexterity of the doctor who gave me these boobs!"

Kings, Queens, and In Betweens gives us everything that is missing from many "G" and "L" stories (gay and lesbian). it gives us LGBTQ characters who are of color, questioning, nonbinary/trans, AND it normalizes use of gender neutral pronouns, along with eye opening conversations about the assumptions we make about one another and the boxes we love to squeeze people into. One of my favorite side characters is a very masculine man of ambiguous sexuality who loves to perform drag. "I just hope you understand, sometimes the clothes do not make the man"

I loved seeing rep for a masculine male character who is comfortable wearing makeup and performing femininity. I also fell pretty hard for Nima's dad - who takes it all in stride when Nima begins to hang out with trans individuals and learn about drag culture. I was fully ready for tons of triggering scenes full of transphobia, always waiting for this book to turn into one of the many "queer tragedies" I've read. Instead, it gave me meaningful and complex conversations but tons of laughter and queer characters having fun. I needed that.

I loved Nima most of all. As flawed as she is, I loved watching her figure herself out, and I live for her hilarious and sometimes self deprecating internal dialogue: "Christ in tights..." "dear god of everything gay.." But I also loved her 'real' moments and her journey. In this book, we get to see her grapple with being forcibly labeled as LGBT+ :
"That was the second time I'd heard 'dyke' over the past few days, both times in reference to me, both times making my heart stagger" but also deal with the generally MORTIFYING moments of embarrassment we all experience as teens: "I'd had plenty of time to replay the events of the previous night over and over again. Each time, I was able to remember some detail that made the whole situation even more horrifying..." The scenes in which Nima embarrasses herself in front of a crowd or the girl she likes were SO relatable that I had to physically PUT THE BOOK DOWN AND COVER MY FACE.

In short, this book is incredible and I want a sequel. I want to see what happens to Gordon - who has an INCREDIBLE development as a character and who you will love if you enjoy morally ambiguous characters. I want to see what happens to Nima and who she becomes later in life. I NEED A SEQUEL.

Representation and Themes:

1. Trans/Gender non conforming characters and of color
2. Breaking of gender roles
3. Parental abandonment
4. Coming of age
5. drag culture
6. platonic opposite sex friendship
7. healthy father-daughter relationship
8. Non masculine, cis men
9. Queer joy <3 (seeing HAPPY LGBT characters was AMAZING)

My only real critique is that Nima is 17 and is actively being romantically pursued by someone who is at least 21. 17 is the legal age of consent in many states but i still feel the age difference should have been clarified and addressed. Nima and her love interest literally never talk about the age gap and about consent and I felt that was a very important topic that should not have been left out.

Overall, this is a great story. You'll be missing out and doing yourself a great disservice if you fail to read it - so read it.

[Eloise · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
Everything about this book was good, but not quite polished enough for me. My main issue is that not much actually got resolved and left me wondering why the book stopped where it did...

Not every plot point of a story needs to be resolved, but most of the interesting ones we spent time going through in this book ended up not being even slightly talked about.
Mostly the mother's story but also Gordon's.
I am VERY interested in getting proper explanations about what's up with them, the repercussions of what they did in the second half of this book.

Also, I even wanted more of the drag scene. I wanted more interaction with Kings and Queens and every other types of people there, how they do their thing, how the shows go on... It's an interesting topic we don't often get in books, especially YA, so I was clearly left needing more of everything.

I'm happy the romance (which isn't the main focus of this book btw) got resolved but that clearly wasn't what interested me the most.
I definitely still recommend this book if you're looking for a young girl letting go of dead roads and finding the road she didn't know she needed until she found it and finally felt at home on it.
It's especially nice seeing it through the eyes of a queer biracial 17 year old girl.

[theresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really hate to give such a low rating but I just wasn’t a fan of this book. I felt misled by the summary (‘girlfriend’ being used to mean friend when the main character is sapphic?) and I really wasn’t a fan of the main character, Nima. I didn’t like the way she treated people and she came across as kind of self centred. I also wasn’t a fan of her love interests, who were mostly older, absent and undeveloped (their main quality seemed to be their attractiveness, rather than any sort of personality).

I liked some of the side characters more: Gordon and Deidre. Although Gordon was the ‘the homophobe is gay’ trope personified, I enjoyed his story a lot more than Nima’s and would have loved if he was the lead and further developed. I wasn't a huge fan of Ginny, the 'girlfriend' mentioned in the summary but I felt that there were a few real and honest moments of the sapphic experience between her and Nima, right at the beginning of the book and the moment that Nima finally gets over her later on. I listened mostly on audiobook because I was struggling with reading physically and I quite liked the narrator and honestly, probably wouldn't have been able to finish otherwise. I loved how the drag scenes were described; these were the moments where the book shone. I also loved how the book showed both trans and cis people doing drag and the discussion of gender in relation to doing drag. It just felt weighed down by the other plot lines (of which there were many). I also appreciated some of the discussions of race (the mc is biracial Sri Lankan and the main love interest is also a woc).

Overall, I didn't hate it (although this review largely focuses on the negatives, sorry!) but it just wasn't for me.

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[Amber · Rating 2 out of 5]

More of a 2.5 star rating. I want to say that my rating doesn't mean this book was bad , I just though it was O.K and didn't get the enjoyment I wanted to from it. I think The Final Empire wrecked me a bit. I felt like I needed more.

[Katie.dorny · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a enjoyable and fluffy debut from an author I am looking forward to reading more of.

Here we meet Nima, a young woman trying to expire her identity and her past in a sleepy town. It’s not an original concept by any means, but the plot was so soft and made me smile that it was enjoyable albeit coasting along at times.

The storyline just seemed to be hurried along a little too much for me, everything happened to quickly and nothing was explored regarding sexuality and identity as deeply as I wish it had been.

The ending also just cut off too harshly for me. Anyone who has read my reviews before knows I hate open ended reviews and this novel signs off on an infuriating one.

[Anniek · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story is just as messy as real life is, and that makes it very realistic. But it also made it, well, a messy read. There are so many themes and plotlines that the author could have easily filled three separate books with them, and as a result none of them get the attention they deserve. This made the book feel confusing and tiring to read at times. But I did love the way the main character gets to explore her own identity and how she fits in the LGBTQ+ community.

Rep: biracial gay MC, multiple LGBTQ+ side characters and characters of colour.

CWs: (internalized) homophobia, (internalized) transphobia, misgendering, (underage) alcohol use, puking, violence, absent parent.

[Carrie (brightbeautifulthings) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free e-copy through NetGalley from the publishers at Simon Pulse. Trigger warnings: homophobia, slurs, gender dysphoria, alcoholism, violence, bullying, abandonment, underage drinking, underage romance, vomiting.

Nima is tired of her boring life in small-town Bridgeton, tired of crushing on a straight girl who will never like her back, and tired of waiting and wondering why her mother abandoned her and her father over a year ago without a word. When she wanders into a side tent at a local carnival, she isn’t expecting a drag show or to suddenly be whisked into the colorful world of drag kings and queens by Dee Dee, the friendly queen who takes Nima under her wing. With new crushes, hilarious (and mortifying) mishaps, and some amazing friends (both new and old), Nima is ready to face the loss of her mother and discover that, maybe, there’s something of a drag king in her as well.

This is a summery, feel-good novel if I’ve ever read one, and I could recommend it on the diversity alone. Almost every major character is POC or LGBTQ+ or both, and Boteju provides a wonderful introduction into the world of drag, a lot of which was new for me. For the most part, it’s written as a safe and welcoming place for teens/new adults (despite numerous scenes of underage drinking), and I think every LGBTQ+ teenager would benefit from having a drag queen fairy godmother like Dee Dee to help them navigate.

There are a couple small things that make it read like a first novel, the first being the overuse of silly metaphors. In part, this is due to Nima’s perspective, since she prides herself on her metaphors, but it leaks into the narrative in distracting ways. The other is that it’s quite dramatic, which is also just a product of the YA genre. I remember feeling everything too strongly as a teenager, and Nima is no exception to that. She reacts in extremes at times (typically anger or embarrassment), which is probably fine for the target audience but may put off some older readers.

All dramatics aside, I like Nima. She’s endearingly awkward, so we really get a sense of how she finds herself and her self-confidence over the course of the novel. Of course, Dee Dee steals the show, as she’s probably meant to. She’s a force of nature, and her flair is matched only by her kindness. There’s also a subplot of a boy who seems to be struggling with gender dysphoria. All in all, a great cast of characters, and they’re one of the major strengths of the book. I was hoping for a little more closure on some of the plot threads (or possibly a sequel), but the novel leaves off on a high note. I’ll definitely revisit it in the future when I need to feel better about the world.

I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.

[♠ TABI⁷ ♠ · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Maybe, if I could change thing up somehow, I might be able to fill some of that blank space. And maybe, if I weren’t so blank, people would actually be drawn to me. To want me.'



Accurate rating: 2.5 stars

Despite the loose, disjointed writing and uncoordinated plot, this book evoked feelings in me. I would say that is the greatest strength of it, all the feelings spinning around like a familiar tornado of longing, confusion, and the hope that your life is important and means more than just oxygen coursing through your lungs. Yeah, I'm waxing poetic here cause, even though I really didn't connect with this book on many levels, I connected with the heart of it. It's about a girl who is young and wants to know what her life is all about. She wants to belong somewhere and isn't sure where that is just yet. She's got lots of stuff life throws at her, but through it all she keeps moving forward, keeps pushing past the awkward stage between child and adult that we've all ended up for at least two seconds of our life. And while I think Nima and the amazingly diverse cast of supporting characters could have been a little more, you can't make me deny that they made me feel their vibrancy and hopes and pain in the time it took me to read this book.

So, yeah. This isn't the greatest piece of literature. It's not a stunning example of diverse writing. But it's another shout into the void, another title on the shelf slowly being filled beyond the "normal", and you can't ignore the heart beating inside the awkwardly-developed story. And maybe you'll connect better with this than I did, but I still was glad I picked this up.

[Stella ☆Paper Wings☆ · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars
Ugh, yet another unreviewed book that slipped through the cracks. I'm just going to write out everything I can remember about this little gem. I was surprised to have enjoyed it as much as I did, since I just picked it up at the library on a whim, but I guess that just means this book is incredibly underrated.

I can't remember many of the specifics of my reading experience, but I remember just feeling so much warmth and fun with every page. Strangely, YA books set in the drag world are few and far between, and it's nice to have a story that explores the people, identities, and styles outside of what's become "mainstream" drag. This book also has a great slow-burn romance, complete with some funny teenage awkwardness.

I would definitely classify this as "older YA," but it still has lots of fun, light elements. My favorite type of contemporary is the kind that addresses deep and nuanced ideas while maintaining that classic YA fluff, and this book delivers all of that. While I can't tell you much in detail, I would definitely recommend this book as both a unique and diverse story exploring an underrepresented subculture, and just as a fun coming-of-age story.

[laurel [the suspected bibliophile] · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nima thought her summer would be spend endlessly pining after the gorgeous Ginny, but she's swept into a world of drag kings, drag queens, and everything in-between.

This was an inclusive and welcoming debut novel that I really, really wanted to love a lot more than I did.

The representation was on point and the #ownvoices aspect was apparent in every little detail, and there was so much queer rep and people of color that my heart wanted to burst. I also really loved Deidre, who really was a fairy drag queen in disguise.

However, despite all of these good points, there was something about this book that didn't draw me completely in.

I never felt swept into this world, and I feel that it's because of the tell vs show writing style, and the way it felt like major plot points were rushed through or told instead of acted, while other parts dragged on. I also kept wondering where a lot of the book's summary would come in—where was the hilarity? The world of drag? There was some, but mostly it was just Deidre...none of the other drag kings or queens were really introduced beyond Winnow, Luce and a couple others, and they all felt very much like cardboard cut-outs instead of people.

And much of this tell vs show issue had to do with the narrator, Nima, who was one of the most bland and boring characters—and she shouldn't have been. She had literally no personality—when asked what she liked, she said, she liked books. What books? Novels. Okaaaay.

Even when she decided to become a drag king (and with the drama with her mother) it was hard to get into her head and really know what she was feeling or how and why she was making her decisions—whereas there were pages and pages of her agonizing over Ginny.

She had her friend Charles, but they never really had any real conversation, and while she crushed on Winnow and was filled with angst and desire around her, Winnow felt more like an exotic panic pixie dream girl than a real person I was also super weirded out that Nima was 17 and a rising senior and Nima was described as being around 21? That's a huge age difference. The rest of the characters also felt one-dimensional and not fleshed out, even the absolutely fabulous Deidre, who was pretty much a wonderfully wise fairy dragmother to her expanding brood of reticent teens.

I think my hang-ups with the story was that it could have been so much more. Particularly if the story had been told through Gordon's head because what a character. I want his story, particularly since Nima only saw what she saw and there is definitely so much more to unpack.

Overall, the LGBT rep in this book is amazing, and I enjoyed the playing with "traditional" gender norms of what it means to be a man or woman or something else, and Nima's realization that while she might not find home in her boring town, she and her friends can go where they will feel welcome. I also enjoyed the underlying theme that you don't have to figure out what you are or where you are going right away, but can learn to enjoy the ride.

I was just a little underwhelmed by the execution.

I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publisher for an honest review.

[Enne · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars
TW: homophobia, homophobic slurs, bullying, parental abandonment, underage drinking, underage romance, violence
Rep: biracial Sri Lankan lesbian MC

i really enjoyed the relationships that were formed in this book, but i did find the main character a bit hard to connect with just because i couldn't really get into her head. i also did find that some of the things in this book were left a bit open-ended and felt a bit like queer baiting?? although im sure it was not intended to feel that way. also: i have a problem with a seventeeen year old being in a relationship with a 21 year old.

The Writing
This writing style was a bit... messy for me?? And I'm sure that at parts it was intended to feel that way but I just found that it kind of prevented me from connecting with this book in a way that I wish I could have. It felt very stream of consciousness and there would be moments where I would be like "really we're doing this again?" because the MC would be going about the same thing for the 50th time and it got old really quick.

The Plot/Pacing
I'm not really sure that there was a plot to this??? Like I think it's supposed to be character-driven for the most part and, trust me, I love character-driven stories but I just really couldn't find it in me to care about any of the characters?? Also the things that happened in this book felt very repetitive to me?? Like they go to drag bars and hang out at Deidre's house or they hang out at Nima's house and that gets really fucking boring after a while, you know??

The Characters
Like I mentioned before, this felt like it was supposed to be a character-driven story. That said, I found the main character extremely boring. I'm pretty good at remembering details about books but I read this like a month ago and I would be hard-pressed to tell you a single thing about this MC. But I did really appreciate how we got exposed to the world of drag through her and I really liked the bit about her becoming a drag king.
I also had a big problem with this romance that I haven't seen anyone else mention?? But like the main romance in this book is between a seventeen-year-old and a twenty-one-year-old and uhhh that's literally illegal?? And I've seen like maybe one review mention it??? So uhh that doesn't really sit well with me.
Also, some of the things that were left a bit open-ended when it came to a certain character felt a bit like queerbaiting to me?? But that might have just been me and the way that I perceived his character. So uhh, not really sure about that one, chief.

Overall
I really really wanted to love this book. I was excited for a book that was finally going to bring exposure to the world of drag and while that book did do that and I really enjoyed that aspect of it, I thought there were a lot of things that could have been done differently. Ultimately, I was bored for a huge chunk of this book and that's really not something that I expect going into a book.

[sol✯ · Rating 3 out of 5]

that was literally everything

I felt the characters coming alive and it was so shocking to remember that they were in fact fictional. Nima and her father and her mother and Jill(mothers best friend) have such a complicated relationship that i really enjoyed.

I enjoyed the themes of self discovery and self confidence that really shines in this story not just for Nina but for several side characters as well.

Nima is a lesbian biracial girl who is struggling to recover from her mothers abandonment and is also in love with her straight friend. Nima is trying so hard to spruce up her boring and uneventful life and she does just that as she accidentally stumbles upon the drag scene on the other side of town.

CHARACTERS
the characters in this book really made it for me. They were quirky in a realistic way that didn’t come off as the annoying “i’m not like other girls” trope.
Nimas personality really shine through her actions and thoughts and I came to care for as a character. Her relationship with her best friend Charles is one J truly enjoyed. I appreciated the love and trust that was obviously between them and the utter platonic ness of their relationship( to clarify, Charles isn’t in love with his gay friend who is a girl)

Nimas father actually grew on me. A lot. I loved his hippy pacifist way of thinking. He was so chill and cool and I wish he was my uncle because hot damn what a good person that man is. It is honestly insane.

Nima ends up making friends with a drag queen named Deidre who ends up being Nimas mentor/friend. Deirdre is an extremely important and considerate person who I absolutely love. Nima also developed a friendship with local bully and bad boy who is struggling to feel comfortable in his own skin. Literally. This part of the story isn’t as explored as I would i have enjoyed but i thought it was done respectfully and an interesting side plot.

RELATIONSHIPS
... where to even begin. Nimas father and mother are no longer together after certain EVENTS that i will refrain from mentioning because SPOILERS but i will mention that i really appreciates the role Jill played in Nimas life and in her families as a whole.

Nima and Ginny.
Ginny is the a straight girl that Nima has been in love with for years. Literal years. But it’s never gonna anywhere and it’s really sad honestly.

Some THINGS that Ginny did left a bad taste in my mouth but i will not mention these things because again SPOILERs but i didn’t like Ginny and that’s that.

Nima and Willow
Willow is a drag king that Nima meets at the first drag show she attends and she is instantly enameled and I honestly do not blame her.
Willow actually likes girls so that’s a win. WhenWillow is introduces there’s this weird little like who is she gonna end up with bit where I was just like... wtf. I actually wouldn’t have minded if Nima has ended up with no one but apparently you can’t have a YA book without a romance in there.

Overall
fuck yes to that
4.5/5 stars

[Fanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

June 29, 2020: Loved this! The main character is messy AF and I was loving every interaction involving her for all the awkwardness and slow development. The drag culture, the friendships, the romance; everything makes you so happy but only after making you feel some pretty heavy emotions. The finding-oneself aspect is PERFECT.

June 24, 2020: After more than a year of wondering when I would finally read this very anticipated book of mine from last year, I'm finally listening to an audiobook YAYY!

December 23, 2018:
|| Half-Indian MC (Biracial)
|| Macho drag kings & magical queens
|| LGBT YA Contemporary

[Shealea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is so fun and cute!!! Review to follow.

[Melanie Schneider · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ich habe mich sehr wohl gefühlt in dieser Geschichte und möchte jetzt definitiv die Neuerscheinung von Tanya Boteju lesen!

[Kazen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love this book for all of the own voices elements and the loving depiction of drag, but it doesn't escape some first book shakiness.

The good:

- Nima's father is awesome, never a given in YA. He's absent later in the book so she can do her thing, which is more usual, but yeah. At least he's awesome.

- Diedre is a fairy godmother of a drag queen. It toes the line of believability for me, but I know there are good people in the world like this, helping queer kids find their way.

- The drag scenes jump off the page. I could read Boteju describing drag shows all day, they're so full of joy and energy.

- I love love love that Nima is questioning her sexuality throughout the book. Literature often looks at coming out, completely skipping any questioning phase. The only other book I've read with decent questioning rep is Dress Codes for Small Towns, but I'm hoping for more. (The recent release Red, White & Royal Blue has good questioning rep, I've been told.)

- The characters are diverse in race, gender, and sexuality. One disabled character has a one page, non-speaking appearance.

Neither good-nor-bad:

- The plot doesn't tie up every thread neatly. It will annoy some, I'm sure, but it feels true to life. A 17-year-old figuring out her sexuality, connecting with family, trying drag for the first time, and falling into a perfect romance, all in the course of one summer? Not happening. I was fine with the loose ends but your mileage may vary.

The not-so-good:

- It's a debut and feels like it. The plot, especially, has clunky points in need of polish.

- A bunch of this is me coming to YA as an adult reader, but I have a hard time when teenagers make obviously stupid decisions and we have to cringe through both the act and the consequences. Here someone decides that getting smashed at a party would be a cool thing to do, and I quickly pushed through that part to get to the other side. I get that young people can get a lot from reading these scenes, and that seeing the results on the page is much better than experiencing them in real life, but that doesn't make me cringe any less.

All in all Kings, Queens, and In-betweens is a fun read. Normally I would sell a three star read back to the used bookstore, but I'm keeping this one on hand so I can hopefully give it to the right person at the right time.

[Seth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-read was just as great as the first time!

[Kendall · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars*

Thanks so much to Simon Pulse and Netgalley for graciously gifting me with the ARC of this one!

I wanted to love this....so much. I loved the idea of a young lesbian of color being allowed to find herself and love amongst the backdrop of drag culture. I loved the fact that we get to see so many gender and sexuality representations throughout this story. But ultimately, it missed the mark for me.

Kings, Queens, and Inbetweens follows Nima after she stumbles upon a drag show at a carnival and is captivated by one of their kings while dealing with the repercussions of her mother walking out on her and her father several months prior.

The concept was fantastic, some of the characters were quite interesting, but the plot seemed really choppy and I found the pacing weird. The romance actually didn't do anything for me...like at all. And in general, the relationships between the characters, (barring Nima and Deidre's friendship), didn't really make any sense. Charles seemed like a throwaway character, Gordon's arc didn't feel natural, and Winnow basically didn't exist. I felt like by the time I got to the end of the book, nothing had happened. I don't know. Maybe I'm missing something, but I was fairly disappointed in this one unfortunately.

Content and Trigger Warnings: Abandonment, parental separation, cheating/infidelity, homophobia/transphobia, underage drinking, and again, vomit.