Title: Lingus
Author: Mariana Zapata
Publication Date: February 8th, 2012
Shelves: New Adult; Contemporary; Romance
Format: Kindle Edition (275 pages)
Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 2/2.5 stars
Goodreads Synopsis:
Most people would describe Katherine Berger as a responsible girl with a big heart, a loyal friend who takes care of those close to her, and the possessor of a wicked sense of humor. There was something about her that most people didn’t know. “My name is Kat Berger, and I love porn.”
When twenty-five-year-old Kat is dragged to a porn convention by her best friend, she’s both embarrassed and nervous. The last thing she ever expected was to meet someone who makes her laugh like no other. This is a story about acceptance and friendship, and a love born out of the most unexpected of places.
I chose to read this novel because it was a comedy romance and I needed to read a funny novel for the NA Reading Challenge I’m taking part in this year. I’ve also wanted to read a Mariana Zapata novel for such a long time, and since Lingus is one of their shorter novels, I gave it a go.
This book to me was equal parts entertaining and infuriating… It was a light-hearted read and it did make me laugh at times, but there were so many things that made me actually mad, I had to bump down the rating.
I (mostly) liked Kat and her small group of friends who really are what make this novel fun. They’re silly and immature but I thought they were entertaining.
Kat and Tristan’s relationship was also really sweet. They have an awkward-meet and I really liked them together, both as friends and as lovers, though he does lead her on for about two-thirds of the novel…
My main issue with this novel however, was that Kat contradicts herself so many times in this novel and it really bothered me. She was supposed to be this young, fun, relatable new adult character but in reality she was really shitty at times and it just spoiled this novel for me.
Let me have a mini rant:
So the novel starts off seemingly sex positive with Kat and her friends (one of which is a porn star), attending a porn convention. Kat mentions early on in her narrative that, even though she is embarrassed to be attending a porn convention, sex isn’t something to be ashamed of:
We blamed society for making sex seem so dirty and wrong. There was nothing wrong with sex.
But then following that it was just a mess of misogynistic, hateful, slut-shaming comments, most coming from Kat and her friend Nicole.
Yes. Slut-shaming… at a porn convention… Here’s just a couple of quotes:
He wasn’t scheduled to come out and do autographs for another ten or fifteen minutes, but there were already eight people ahead of us and at least another ten behind. The eight bitches in front were all dressed up like trashy versions of country girls in microscopic cut-off jean shorts.
I looked at him, and then back at the poster again before turning on my heel and marching away from the table of sluts as quickly as I could […] there was no way I’d want to stand there like a moron and stare at the parade of women embarrassing themselves.
Should mention that Kat’s friend gets her ASS autographed by her favourite porn star and Kat finds it really funny, but she calls these other women sluts for behaving in a similar way. Yawn.
Kat also says that she hates the way people judge her friend Zoey for doing porn. But she is so judgemental toward other female porn stars?? I am so confused over this.
Zoey had started getting recognized more often but every once in awhile, the appreciative looks she usually received were replaced by ugly, mean sneers courtesy of people who didn’t understand.
She’s also pretty judgemental toward some of the men attending the porn convention, being kinda rude toward a guy for being into sex toys, and then later in the novel, she buys her gay, male friend a giant blow up doll for his birthday…
I just don’t understand why porn/sex and attitudes towards these things were a huge part of the novel, and we get this really judgemental, hypocritical heroine who doesn’t change her attitude at all throughout. There were other things Kat said that just ruined the mood for me – for example, there are a couple of jokes made in this novel that were just flat out offensive.
I thought the pacing of this novel was also really odd. After Kat and Tristan get together, which is quite late into the novel, nothing much happens other than another porn convention. I had to force myself to finish this because I got pretty bored toward the end. There was no real moment of conflict between the MC and the love interest which I’m so used to seeing in romance novels.
I feel kinda disappointed with this book. I would have given it a higher rating if it weren’t for these numerous infuriating contradictions from some of the characters.
Would you read this novel again? No, but I want to read more Zapata novels because I really did like the writing. I’ll give one of their massive slow-burn romances a read in the future.
Who would I recommend this novel to? NA romance readers wanting something silly to read.
