Review of How to be a Normal Person by T.J. Klune

 by T.J. Klune

5 stars

Gustavo Tiberius is not normal. He knows this. Everyone in his small town of Abby, Oregon, knows this. He reads encyclopedias every night before bed. He has a pet ferret called Harry S. Truman. He owns a video rental store that no one goes to. His closest friends are a lady named Lottie with drag queen hair and a trio of elderly Vespa riders known as the We Three Queens.

Gus is not normal. And he's fine with that. All he wants is to be left alone.

Until Casey, an asexual stoner hipster and the newest employee at Lottie’s Lattes, enters his life. For some reason, Casey thinks Gus is the greatest thing ever. And maybe Gus is starting to think the same thing about Casey, even if Casey is obsessive about Instagramming his food.

But Gus isn’t normal and Casey deserves someone who can be. Suddenly wanting to be that someone, Gus steps out of his comfort zone and plans to become the most normal person ever.

After all, what could possibly go wrong?

We have a special place in our heart for anything TJ Klune – stories that are magical, whimsical and quirky and unusual.  How to Be a Normal person is a playful story of peculiar people and how easy it is to fall in love, and fall in love we did!

The good:

-          - The characters:  Amazing.  TJ Klune creates exceptional characters, rare characters that don’t seem to be real, but jump off the page and make us fall in love.  From Gustavo and Casey, to the friends in town, they are all one-of a-kind characters!

-          - Slow Burn:  Gosh, we love a slow burn romance, and How to be a Normal person has it is spades.  The romance is lovely, there is an ease from friendship, affection, excitement and love that is so sweet.  This is not a rip each other clothes off romance and slow-burn seems so authentic for Gus and Casey.

-          - Sexual Spectrum:  Not many books have asexual main characters and although we were a bit hesitant about how this would work for a romance, it added so much.  And honestly, it opened our mind up to a different kind of non-traditional romance and how one view of love isn’t always everyone’s view of love. 

-          The feels:  So so so many feels.  So many heart aching moments.

The meh?

-          - The quirky:  I think you have to be in the right mood to love this book.  It isn’t for everyone.  It is sweet, shy, eccentric, and unconventional; all things that make it great could leave you scratching your head.

-          The internet advice: Gus, being left of normal, googles” how to be a normal person”, and although fun we kind of got tired of the internet advice.  By the 6^th internet advice section we skimmed a bit *hides head in shame*.  We missed Gus and Casey and just really wanted to get back to their interaction.

If you are looking for an unusual love story, filled with peculiar people How to be a Normal Person is a must read.  We couldn’t get enough Gus and Casey, so we bought the audiobook!  Off to fall in love all over again.

Review of Lightening-Struck Heart by TJ Klune

 by TJ Klune

4.5 Stars

Once upon a time, in an alleyway in the slums of the City of Lockes, a young and somewhat lonely boy named Sam Haversford turns a group of teenage douchebags into stone completely by accident.

Of course, this catches the attention of a higher power, and Sam's pulled from the only world he knows to become an apprentice to the King's Wizard, Morgan of Shadows.

When Sam is fourteen, he enters the Dark Woods and returns with Gary, the hornless gay unicorn, and a half-giant named Tiggy, earning the moniker Sam of Wilds.

At fifteen, Sam learns what love truly is when a new knight arrives at the castle. Sir Ryan Foxheart, the dreamiest dream to have ever been dreamed.

Naturally, it all goes to hell through the years when Ryan dates the reprehensible Prince Justin, Sam can't control his magic, a sexually aggressive dragon kidnaps the prince, and the King sends them on an epic quest to save Ryan's boyfriend, all while Sam falls more in love with someone he can never have.

Or so he thinks

We haven’t laughed as hard in a book since the last TJ Klune we read.  If you haven’t read Lightening-Struck Heart – go now and pick it up.

There ae some anything things happening in this fantasy m/m romance, but the story is set around wizard Sam of winds, sorry, apprentice wizard!  He is a 20 year old man who is apprenticing under the King’s Wizard Morgan, after him and his family are plucked from the slums to live their new life in the Castle.  Sam is an odd fellow and seems to collect odd friends; Gary the Gay-Unicorn and half-giant Tiggy. But Sam is in love with the great Knight, Sir Ryan Foxheart who is trothed to another, sand poor Sam is left to pick up the pices of his heart.

Honestly, this is one of the funniest books we have read, we laughed so hard we sorted.  There is so much wit, humor, sarcasm and teasing we couldn’t get enough.  We were never bored during the 400 page book.  Sam is a clueless kind of fellow, and he goes through life falling into ridiculous crazy situations. 

This book reads a bit like a fairy tale, but in an alternate reality.  There is a Grand Quest, villains, and an epic love story.  Sam and Ryan are so sweet together, their bashfulness is endearing, their situation is heartbreaking and their chemistry (when the allow themselves to acknowledge each other) is enthralling. 

This is another winner by TJ Klune, and we love these characters.  Lightening-Struck Heart is a winner of a book, and we can’t wait to read the next installment. 

Review of Tell me it's Real by T.J. Klune

 by T.J. Klune

4 stars

Get ready to laugh laugh laugh!  T.J. Klune’s Tell me it’s Real is a hilarious, sweet, sexy, good-time read!

Tell me it’s Real introduces us to shy, introverted, 30-year old Paul Auster, who is surrounded by a crazy crew of his family, 2 –legged dog Wheels and his best friend, and drag queen, Sandy aka; Helena Handbasket.  Life for Paul isn’t boring; it is filled with people who love him, but one night at the club everything changes when sexy jock Vince Taylor takes notice.  Vince isn’t a very smart guy, but what he lacks in smarts, he makes up for in sweet.  There is chemistry between Paul and Vince that can’t be denied, if only Paul can get past his low self-esteem and see what is right before him.

The story here isn’t earth-shattering, don’t get us wrong, it is cute, playful and sweet, and even with a bit on angst thrown in, you can see the ending right from the start.  But what truly set’s this book apart is the humor.  At one point on public transportation last week, we laughed so hard, people asked us if we were okay, it was SO funny.  Paul is self-deprecating, and the other motley crew of characters and another level to his snark. 

There are a few things that grated a bit, we totally get that Paul has low self-esteem, but at some point all his waffling and whining becomes a bit much.  There is a point you kinda want him to stand up and get it.  The other is the cover, and probably one of the reason’s it took so long for us to read.  The cover doesn’t really match the story, one of a 30 year old looking for love and a sweet uncomplicated mega-hunk jock. Unfortunately the cover looks a bit like a YA novel.

There is so much going on in this book, we laughed, we cried, we shot water out of our nose, that Paul and Vince’s relationship is just one piece of what makes this a 4-star read.  If you want to escape into a book, Tell me it’s Real by T.J. Klune is one you don’t want to skip.