A huge thank you to @readforeverpub for the gifted copy!!
I had to purchase the audio as well (narrated by THE Manila Luzon) and I enjoyed every minute. Queer stories are so important. In this time of censorship and discrimination at the federal, state, and local levels - stories like these deserve to be heard. Queer people always have and always will exist.
This novel in particular highlights how much joy drag queens bring juxtapositioned with the internal and external conflicts they endure. This book was highly entertaining and so wholesome even though it tackled some heavy issues. I laughed so hard at the jokes and I was invested in Rex as a character from the start. I loved all of the characters, they were each unique and fun. The book balanced harsh realities with entertainment and a heartwarming story so well. I teared up several times and could feel the infectious joy during others. I highly recommend this for a dose of queer joy.
Manila Luzon did a great job with the narration. The character voices were distinct and the emotions were captured perfectly! I'd love to hear Manila narrate more audiobooks.
This was absolutely a highlight among my recent reads!

I LOVED this story!! This author writes such fantastic characters-so lovable, so realistic, I just want to be their friends. Rex's mom should get Mom of the Year award-what a character he created with her. If you need a hopeful story, one with family and friends, and love, and lots of Filipino food descriptions (my mouth was watering), and DRAG QUEENS-you should pick this one up. I loved the story of the drag queens in this book, and I really think more people should read this. I loved the Easter Egg the author included if you read his first book, All the Right Notes, which I adored. Looking forward to more books that bring a smile to my face from this author.

This book was 100% absolutely perfect. A celebration of queer joy, the power of expressing yourself, and what it means to have a supportive family. I had a smile on my face the entire time I was reading this and think it is one of the most critical queer romance books to have been published in years. 100000/10.

I loved this book! Karaoke Queen was well-written, emotional, and hopeful! It was a perfect example of queer joy and I absolutely cannot overstate how important this book is for the world we live in today, where queer rights and drag culture is being attacked.

The characters were so real. The dual timeline was easy to follow and the way Lim melded the two was extremely well done.

AND UJIMA 😍 I can’t wait for them to get their own story but it was so amazing to see old friends in this story.

Lim is quickly becoming a favorite author of mine and I can’t wait to see what he puts out next!

When Rex’s college sweetheart’s karaoke bar is at risk of shutting down he wants to help. He brings back his internet famous drag queen alter ego, Regina Moon Dee to help save the karaoke bar, but no one, even his ex, can know the man behind the makeup. As he spends more time as Regina, Rex begins to find himself more and realize that true love will love all parts of him.
This book is full of joy and fun! From the gorgeous bright cover to the incredible characters, this is a book that will definitely bring a smile to your face. I loved the found family and how seamlessly Dominic Lim includes more serious topics into a world of drag queens and karaoke. This is the first romance I’ve read with a drag queen as the main character and this is something we need more of in books! I quickly fell in love with this story.
Thanks to Forever Publishing and NetGalley for the advance copy.

Other than screaming at the MC for being an idiot over his ex, I had a great time reading this. Okay, I had fun yelling at the MC too, don't let me lie. I loved Paolo and all the little tiny surprises hidden throughout this book.

Drag queens are great. Romantic comedies are great. So, a drag queen romantic comedy must be great right? Correct, it is!

I loved this! Rex was an endearing character (if ocasionally a little dense) and his journey of accepting the parts of himself he kept hidden was uplifting and relatable. Paulo was wonderfully accepting and easygoing. Aaron was rather closed-minded and I didn't like him very much, so I was glad that we mostly get Rex's ideal of him inside his head. I'm not a fan of love triangles, but this one wasn't too bad and resolved fairly quickly and painlessly.

I loved Rex's family. His mother and sister were wonderfully accepting and loving, and his father just wanted the best for him in a slightly misguided way. I liked that he wasn't portrayed as a villain and the family just clearly had so much love and closeness. Rex's uncle was also great, as was his friend Kat. And there are so many funny scenes.

I loved all the scenes with the drag queens and learning the makeup and clothing tricks. It all had a very uplifting and loving undertone that made it really fun to read.

The audiobook was performed brilliantly and the narrator really brought the characters and culture to life. I loved every second of listening to it.

*Thanks to Forever for providing an early copy for review.

dominic lim’s voice is such a refreshing one to read. a drag queen romcom??? like hello?? i’m obsessed. it included all the fun romcommy-shenanigans while also having some amazing grounded emotion. i didn’t connect with the characters as well as i did his debut, but this one was so much fun and i was happy to be along for the ride. 4 stars

4.5 Stars
After loving Lim’s debut All the Right Notes I was so excited for this one and it did not disappoint. It follows Rex, who is hoping his drag queen alter ego can help save a karaoke bar and give him a second chance at love. The story was the perfect amount of heartfelt and fast-paced and had the perfect blend of humor and nostalgia. It's such a wonderful story of self-discovery and being true to who you are. I loved Paolo! He was such a sweet book boyfriend!

All the Right Notes was one of my favorite reads of last year and while this one didn’t quite live up to All the Right Notes I still loved it! This is a perfect book if you are looking for a hallmark-esque story surrounding queer and Filipino culture. This story is so important, especially right now!

I love Dominic Lim's writing, and Karaoke Queen is a heartwarming tale of drag culture and Filipino heritage. It's swoony, and it's a romance that highlights representation that's needed now.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me.

Overall 3.75

The book looks at the experience of Black women navigating predominantly white spaces—whether in their careers or relationships. Overall, it's a delightful, powerful, and entertaining story about finding oneself, no matter how loud or quiet the journey may be.

cute! some parts of this storyline may have been suited it to be a young adult title as opposed to adult romance. that being said, it was fun and sweet and I had fun reading it.

I really wanted to love this book - it had all the ingredients to be a fantastic read… but it really fell short for me (his debut last year didn’t “wow” me, either). I hoped his sophomore release was going to be a writing and storytelling/storyline improvement, but I didn’t love this one. It was fine enough, but forgettable.

I once read a fantastic novel about a straight drag queen that three years later I still think about the brilliance of (by an Irish romance writer). I guess that is what I was hoping to find here, but Filipino and gay! Maybe I was holding it to those same standards and expectations?

I know that there will be many who connect to this one and love it so it’ll have a great following, but it wasn’t for me. It felt like it was 85% about the personal development of Rex and reconnecting to his drag past, and only 10% about his romantic relationships with the couple partners the book is about (with the other 5% about his family).

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for the early copy. This is my honest opinion.

Dominic Lim’s writing is both heartfelt and fast-paced with the perfect blend of humor, nostalgia, and consciousness. I loved Karaoke Queen for its coming-of-age air while simultaneously tackling issues in the LGBTQIA+ community. Rex’s character has you invested from the first page and all the supporting characters bring this story to life. I cannot wait for more Dominic’s work!

3.5 rounded up. Very cute story, felt rushed in some parts. If you’re into romcoms, hallmark movie style writing, Filipino food/representation, drag queens, karaoke, healing familiar relationships, and being true to yourself - this book is for you! It reads VERY YA but is an adult fiction novel. I enjoyed it.

I liked this book but it didn’t quite hit for me as much as All the Right Notes. Possibly because there was a love triangle (which is one of my meh’s)? Also I feel like Rex was a little mean (in an unintentional thoughtless way) and more than once found myself thinking‘Justice for Paolo!’.

I did very much enjoy the peek into drag culture. And Rex’s mother is the sweetest, most supportive parent a queer person could have.

I switched between print and audio and enjoyed the narration by Manila Luzon.

I had a good time with this. I liked seeing Rex fall back in love with drag. I didn't fully get the point of the Aaron plot but it was fine.

I received an arc through netgalley.

This was such a lovely story of self-rediscovery and being true to who you are. I totally understand Rex’s fears of revealing his Drag persona and Paolo was the perfect book boyfriend. He was patient, he was sweet, willing to help and also funny. Plus, I love a man who pines 😭 that speech at karaoke? SO ROMANTIC! I can see this helping so many queer boys and drag queens out there who need this story of triumph despite the hate that may be geared towards them.

I highly recommend this book! It was a celebration of queer joy and drag. The book touches on homophobia and violence against drag queens, but the ending is happy and hopeful.

This book is also a celebration of Filipino culture and explores the Filipino American immigrant experience. The food descriptions were great, and I loved learning about baklâ identity. (Part of my extended family is from the Philippines, but I didn’t learn much about Filipino culture growing up, so I’m really glad books like this exist to help me learn!)

There were a few plot twists that I was able to guess in advance, but those moments weren’t any less enjoyable to read.

Paolo (the love interest) was so great and felt like the perfect match for Rex. I loved watching the gradual development of their relationship.

Rex’s mom, sister, and uncle are all so supportive of Rex’s drag and I look reading books with such great and affirming family relationships. Overall, the side characters were interesting and fun.

Much of the book is set in a gay bar that the characters are trying to save. The setting was well-described. It felt like it was a real place and the characters’ emotional attachment to the bar was clear. I think that part of the book will be relatable to anyone who has been in a queer-normative public place where they felt at home and like they could be their true self.

Overall, I recommend this book and I’m so glad the author wrote it!

Highlights:
- achillean romance
- joy of drag & karaoke
- Filipino culture
- exploration of gender expression
- supportive family