Michelle DiCeglio

My first book by this author, and the first book I’ve read wherein the main character is a drag person. I’ve read at least one series where a main character had a . . . I think cousin, who was a drag queen, but this is the first main character. And I say person instead of queen, because the main character is a drag king not queen (those unfamiliar with the concept could probably get it from the word choices – drag queen –> man dressing up as a woman and performing on stage; drag king -> woman dressing up as a man and performing on stage).

Okay – first off, where does this book fall, where does it line up shelving/genre wise? Well, it’s not a romance. Unless I misunderstood some of the ages, it’s neither a young adult nor a new adult book. It’s not a thriller, mystery, suspense, fantasy, or horror book. The best I can come up with is that it is ‘Slice of Life’. A concept I believe I first encountered while reading plays. And have run across once or thrice in books. So, a slice of life book starring a lesbian (slice of life being a term used to convey that the book is a dip into someone’s life, or, as wiki puts it “mundane realism depicting everyday experiences”).

The book starts with Lauren, the main character, sitting in a nearly empty lesbian bar in a town with basically two such bars. Boredly looking around, vaguely distracted by a bachelorette party nearby, hit on by one of the drunken women . . . until she’s snapped out of her boredom by the entrance of a new person. Who steps up to the bar and begins handing out a flyer. Lauren watches her walk around, giving her spiel. She finds this woman quite captivating. She may or may not be drooling – Lauren that is. Finally, this woman approaches. Offers up a flyer, does her little speech. This Friday there’s going to be a performance at a nearby bar. A performance by the Friday Night Players.

Lauren had seen a performance about five years ago and thought it was quite dumb. She more or less conveys this, somewhat by accident, to the gorgeous woman. Siren, the name of this woman, notes that things have changed under new management. Once Lauren learns that Siren will be there she indicates that she might be there.

Lauren then spouts out the first thing that comes to her mind to try to get Siren to stay a little longer at her table. She asks how people could join the performers. And thus does a drag king’s origin story begin. By being aroused by a woman and wanting to be near her. And finding an excuse to do so through joining the group. Well, asking to do so. I’m leaping ahead here.

So, Siren invites Lauren to stop by the bar one night to meet some of the performers. Lauren does, gets talked to, etc. Shortly thereafter she learns one unsettling bit of information – Siren is actually in a long term relationship with the star of the show, one Spencer Love (ETA: this is what happens when I do a review involving people who take on the aspects of men, but I forget to convey certain information; Siren is a lesbian, Spencer (Spenser?) is a woman who performs as a drag king). Lauren isn’t sure if she should continue down this performer path, since Siren is unattainable, but decides to stick to it a little longer because Siren has been assigned to be her ‘mentor’ for an upcoming performance called ‘University of Drag’ – an event designed to allow outsiders to participate and, potentially, join the Friday Night Players.

The book is a very interesting look into a world that I have no experience of, though have known about for a while. The story is intriguing, good, and solid. Those looking for a romance book should look elsewhere. Those looking for anything other than a slice of life story about a performer, should look elsewhere. There’s cheating, there’s angst, there’s scandal, there’s a tiny bit of sex (more mentioned than explicit, though there might have been one explicit scene, I forget now how graphic things got), and characters grow and change before the readers eyes.

I’ll mention one bit of negativity – the description on GoodReads says ‘drag king novel series 1 of 3’ (ETA2: this is a fully formed novel, a stand-alone, there is not a cliff-hanger ending). Right above the published date of 2013. The end of the book, or the ending section on the Kindle after the end of the book, mentions looking for the sequel, ‘Friday Night Players: Showstopper’, spring of 2015. It’s now December of 2015. You know what came out instead of the sequel? A mystery book, and that came out in November not Spring. Through a publisher, which might be important to note, since ‘Friday Night Player’ and ‘Till Dreams Do Us Part’, the two books by this author that came out in 2013, were self-published. So it’s possible that any further books involving these Friday Night Players have been pushed to the side in favor of material pushed through a publisher. Hmms. The two self published books are 500+ pages each. ‘Sight Lines’, the mystery, is 138 pages. Hmms.

Right, so, I enjoyed and liked Friday Night Players: Big Fish, and recommend it. I initially gave this book 4 stars, with the intention of adding it to the 4.5 shelf. Thinking about the book a day later, and after writing whatever you might call this babbling above, and I’ve decided to push it up to 5 stars. The only ‘ding’ against it, the only reason why it might have lost ½ a star would be the cheating aspect. It’s the only real negative I can think of, and it was presented in a lot better way than normal. That was an awkward sentence conveying a not fully developed idea. People cheat. One for bad reasons. One for . . . still bad reasons, but a certain amount of . . . something (strong feelings that might be love, plus when the event occurred the other party might have been broken up – at least she, Siren, conveys the idea that she’s done with Spenser (crap, is it Spenser or Spencer?); no break up had occurred, though, before sex). And there are strong negative consequences for the cheating. So I tentatively mark this 5 stars, though wish I could mark it something like 4.75 stars, or the like. And fully reserve the option to push the book down to 4 stars.… (mehr)

(actual rating 3.5)

At first I didn't know what to think about Sight Lines. I didn't get into the story and then there was a part where Lacey's 'gaydar' works on a dead body.

But she somehow grew on me and the story itself got interesting. Maybe because there was no sexual motive? And I had no idea who the murderer was.

This book's mostly your usual crime novel, but I wasn't bored reading it and the detective is far more interesting then most - Gary/Mary sue seems to be the prototype for police workers? Sadly the ending was a little bit too easy.

Disclaimer: I was provided through NetGalley with a free copy in exchange for an honest review. Thank you.… (mehr)