Honestly, this book was forgettable. While reading it, I enjoyed the experience, but I can't even remember the characters or the majority of the plot points in the book.

It was alright. I disliked the fact that it turned into a romantic plot towards the end and just ended so abruptly. The action scenes were well don't tho. Really enjoyed those.
I believe it had an interesting plot but the execution was poor. Very poor. Except the action bits and the gayness of it, I don't think I enjoyed much.

I’m a Gay Wizard introduces Johnny and Ali, two teens on a journey of self-discovery. Their journey, however, gets much more complicated when they decide to dabble in magic, cast a spell with serious consequences, and get kidnapped by a mysterious group of people who take them to a secluded magic school. But even the magic school isn’t all it seems. Secrets hide around every corner and trying to uncover them may cost them their lives or the lives or their new friends.

I have mixed feelings about this book. First, the positive. The representation and diversity of characters was a welcome change. Johnny is openly gay; Ali is a transgender; Blake seems to be pansexual, though he never states this; and Hunter struggles with his sexuality due to the way he was raised. All of these characters and perspectives are woven in seamlessly and the sadly realistic backlash to several of the claimed identities can also be viewed by the reactions, both verbal and physical, that the side characters exhibit.

There were some aspects of this novel that I found challenging. The writing at times felt unpolished. For a debut novel, particularly one that originated on Wattpad, that is forgivable, particularly if the characters, world, and plot are able to drive the story. As mentioned above, the characters worked; however, the world and plot felt flimsy. The plot, while relatively straight forward, suffered from the fact that the world needed to be developed more. There were several groups and plot threads that could have been teased out to allow more connections to an awesome group of characters and this would have created suspense for the eventual story finale. On that note, there were other aspects that seemed extraneous and probably could have been cut to allow more space for this development.

Don’t get me wrong. I really wanted to like this novel and I think there was great potential here. But I probably should have known that it would be a bit of a struggle when I started the book, read the first five chapters, and had to put it down for nearly six months. Though there is a planned sequel, I’m a Gay Wizard had a definite ending, and a happy one at that, and I’ll most likely just leave it there since I probably won’t be picking up the next book in the series.

A wonderful story if a bit muddled. I found the characters to be rich and jump off the page full of life. The story itself lacked a bit for me. I found I could only read it a few pages at a time before having to put it down because I would lose interest.

Overall I would recommend despite the issues I had.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. A full review will be posted on Amazon and Goodreads

DNF
The few % I read so far already had major content warnings for bullying, transphobia, homophobia, extremely violent hatecrime against teenagers and kidnapping, all of which I didn't expect it such a graphic and detailed manner.

Sadly, the ARC version I got via NetGalley has ATROCIOUS formatting (I'm reading on Kindle.) It's almost unreadable with random or missing line breaks/paragraphs, page numbers in the middle of a sentence, missing chapter formatting and so on.

The premise of this sounds great, and it's #ownvoices rep for the latinx and gay protagonist! His best friend is trans and awesome, too! However, the writing was awkward, the conversations unnatural, and what happened felt over the top and disturbing. I do not think I would enjoy this title if I kept reading.

Shout out to NetGalley for providing me an eARC in return for an unbiased review.

I rarely DNF a book, but this one is one of the few. I gave it a solid shot, and had originally picked it up because it was one of the few books I’ve seen personally that were originally from WattPad. It’s not a site I often go on but I had heard of it from many people so I figured why not. Unfortunately YA hasn’t and still doesn’t speak to me. The writing style doesn’t inspire a lot in me and this book did very little to change that. I got about 40% through the book before I realized I was just grinding and wasn’t enjoying anything. The blurb is great, the cover is great, they’ll definitely catch readers, I just wonder if it will have an easy time holding said readers.

Originally, I don’t believe this book was branded YA when I first asked for it, now that I am sure it is, it doesn’t live up to the potential it described originally. 2/5 from me.

This one didn't work for me and I didn't end up finishing it for now, but there's a lot of potential here! The characters and concept are promising and I can definitely see other readers enjoying this.

I felt very conflicted when reading this book. I kept having to put it down and come back to it but I didn't want to completely give up on it.

I appreciated the characters and their development however the writing style just wasn't for me. The book and idea itself was interesting however I do not think it was executed as well as it could have been.

The blurb and cover definitely grabbed my attention, it was unfortunate that the story itself could not.

This concept had a lot of potential, but it sadly didn't live up to it. The writing was odd and although it is not branded as a YA book, it definitely feels like one at times.

I really enjoyed a great many things about this book. Characters were fleshed out and the plot was well spaced. Some of the secondary storylines could've used a bit more page space but all in all an enjoyable read!

I requested and received this ebook ARC from NetGalley.

I liked the peeks behind the scene of the how and why of the world's making, it's mythology, and I believe that means there's more to come. Johnny and Alison are the outcasts in their school - and they're wizards (yes, a term that apparently applies to genders, although that's never stated).

Primarily this novel reminded me of the Matrix and Magicians (TV show/book, recalling Harry Potter and Narnia) it's school halls are named with gods/goddesses like Apollo, Ares, Odin, Plutus and Zeus (but apparently these gods are wizards, in fact everyone has potential for magic use), but the power origins and makers are called Asuras, Devas and Maras which are a different world myth entirely. I would have preferred the origin story as it were to have been smoothed out better, it certainly doesn't run as well as the timeline written after every chapter, or the explanation for the world and the dream Everywhen.

All wizards (who are not of the Legacy of Lineage, parents having been wizards) are abducted, the memories of friends and family taken, erased. As if that's not nightmare enough, wizards aren't very progressive - and they're all being held prisoner at the Institute -it's join or be a "Defector".

What's more, in Johnny's dreams is the terrifying Sandman following, hunting, him. Luckily, Johnny isn't facing all this alone, he has Alison and Blake and Hunter -who he's falling in love with.

And Linh, who he seeks to uncover school secrets with to join the Defectors and gain his freedom before it's too late and either the Sandman or the school "Smiths" get him.

There's a few open ended questions - what happens with Linh and the Defectors, what connects Luther to Melchior and Alwina? How did a unicorn die...?

I have say tell one of the weirdest things happened while reading a fellatio scene in this book. I was at work on lunch (I often read on my phone) when one of my coworkers sits down to have their break (there's only one table in a smallish room so that's not unusual) anyway a bit of time passes- coworker kind of laughs at his phone, I look up, and he tells me he's reading a joke about this guy sending a dick pic to a man despite the man telling him like three times he's not a woman and not being believed. I am reading gay fellatio and he's sympathizing with "a poor dick-pic guy being scarred for life".

liked the concept but the writing wasn’t my cup of tea. sadly DNF :((( maybe i’ll try again some day

Received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for a honest review. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

The idea of the book is interesting, the execution nit so much. There’s a lot of homophobic slurs in the beginning, bullying and fat shaming just to named a few issues. The writing was not that great and the story felt like a let down.

*ARC received from Netgalley in return for an honest review*

Sadly, I have tried multiple times to get into this book and yet every time I just can't get very far. My main issue is that it seems to meander with out much idea of where the plot should be heading. This book has such an interesting premise that I am really sad I just couldn't get into it.

This was a fun read! I was cheering for the main couple throughout and I loved Allison a little bit too much, haha. It wasn't a five star read, and I had originally intended to read it in June (which didn't happen), but it was fun to read!

*I received a free, digital ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

I’m struggling with rating this book because I wanted to love it but, unfortunately, it fell flat to me. The premise, starring a gay, Latinx wizard, sounded incredibly awesome but the execuation was lacking.
I’m a Gay Wizard promises magic, intrigue, monsters, and the fight of a lifetime as Johnny and Ali, two best friends, are whisked away to a magical school hidden from the world. Of course there are love interests and hidden plots pushing our main characters to make choices to save themselves and others, but it all seemed quite convoluted.
On the surface, I would describe I’m a Gay Wizard as Harry Potter and The Magicians mixed with a dash of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland but I didn’t feel the same sense of magic from this book as those three. With a title including the word “wizard”, I’d expect more magic from our characters but they just seem to know how to do things without any training. “Just visualize what you want! Magic is easy!” is the mantra and that became incredibly boring throughout.
On top of this lack of magical world building, the pacing and suspense wasn’t as in depth as I’d like. More world building and character development would push this book up my list but the narrative seemed to switch from one magical fight to another without much growth or addition to my views of this fictional setting.
Despite my misgivings, I will say that this book had some amazing humor. The characters joked and cajoled each other throughout and I found those moments to be endearing. Overall, though, I was a bit let down so I’m giving this debut novel 2 out of 5 Awesome Austin Points. I want this to read less like a first copy of something on Wattpad and more like a full-fledged wizarding world with characters that grow and learn rather than just happen to get lucky.

There is not enough LGBTQ representation in YA fantasy (especially when compared with contemporary offerings), so I was BEYOND excited to get an ARC of this one. And because my students love Wattpad, I figured I needed to read it ASAP.

There are some great things about this one, for sure: diverse characters, witty dialogue, a unique look at magic, some cool magical creatures. However, I feel like the contemporary pieces of the story (romance, bullying, family issues) and the mundane "magic" school (students actually don't do magic...they go to normal classes and live in normal dorms and are basically prisoners) detracted from the overall fantasy feel of the story. And strangely enough, with the lack of magic comes an overabundance of magical story lines...like...TOO many. Weird school with "legacy" magicians and an area where wizards are reportedly experimented on, a between-dreams world where you can go spend time but also could get stuck in, a creepy Sandman monster hunting our protagonist, a resistance group working against the school, a DIFFERENT resistance group working against them...it was just a lot.

So overall it was an interesting premise with some definite high points, but overall a kind of mushed-together story that needs a lot more editing and fleshing out.

This is the story of Johnny and Alison, best friends and high school kids in Chicago. Johnny is gay, and Alison is a trans woman, and school life is not super great for either of them. Alison loves dabbling in magic, and Johnny mostly goes along with whatever she's doing, but doesn't really believe in magic... until they're actually doing magic! They cause an earthquake in Chicago though, which gets the attention of a magical organization who pull them from their lives into a world of magic and monsters. Shenanigans ensue!

Full disclosure: I DNFed this book, and it's not because I didn't like it. I think this book has a ton of promise but within the first 10% there was at least one continuity error (a levitated piece of paper that became a feather at some point further up the line), and included a scene involving 4 huge high school wrestler dudes getting out of a Miata with every intention of beating the hell out of these kids.... which is... just hilariously not a thing. I currently own a Miata (it's great!), but let me tell you, it's hard enough getting 2 people of average size in one. I'm hoping the irony of it being considered one of the gayest cars ever was deliberate, but hooo boy it is not holding 4 dudes, ever. Well, unless it is the TARDIS inside. ^_^

So, as you can imagine, my visualizing this clown car of high school jocks right before a rather serious scene of horribleness between human beings... I was just thrown right off. Adding a continuity error after that and that was just where I called it. I didn't want to be disappointed with it again, basically.

I would absolutely love to read this book after it gets a good round of professional edits for things like this. I would 10000% buy this novel for my queer high-school age niece who would *love* this book. I guarantee she would adorrrrre it. This is a book with a great premise, and a couple of likable main characters, that I think would really be fantastic after a little editing TLC!

Also that cover is *gorgeous* - and all of the high fives I could ever give for a Scott Pilgrim reference!

😬 this didn’t do it for me. I had a feeling seeing the title and synopsis that either it was going to be the most perfect book, or else horrible, and for me it just was horrible.

I could totally see people liking it, but I didn’t like the magic/world. This could’ve easily been a queer contemporary set in a boarding school and completely omitted the magic/monster and the story wouldn’t have changed all that much.