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Lingus
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.
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.
377 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 8, 2012
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September 13, 2021
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This book made me so angry that I took an ice cream break after finishing it so my review wouldn't consist entirely of angry swear words. How does this problematic, awful book have the following that it does? I picked it up because I find the adult entertainment industry fascinating. I've read Asa Akira's memoir, and watched several interviews with big name porn actors, including Cracked's 4 Surprising Downsides to Being a Porn Star , which really gives a human face to the industry. Given Zapata's reputation for romantic "slow burn" romances, I was hoping for a similar sort of "inside look" at a much-maligned industry. Sadly, the only "slow burn" to be found here is probably going to be caused by a stupidity-induced STD, or a headache from repeatedly banging your head against a wall.
Kat Berger, the heroine, loves porn. So when her friend manages to finagle tickets to an adult entertainment convention, what does Kat do? If you thought "accept with gratitude," you would be wrong. She proceeds to drag her heels and be a major buzzkill, proclaiming her embarrassment to anyone who will listen - when she's not shaming everyone in sight, that is. If you're not a modest, young, well-groomed person, you're apparently not allowed to enjoy porn, as Kat shames the old people at the convention (women are pathetic cougars, old men are creeps), the women in revealing clothes (sluts and desperate whores), and the women with big breasts (she calls them "monstrosities").
Here are just a few choice descriptions from Kat:
The eight bitches in front of us were all dressed up like trashy versions of country girls in microscopic cut-off jean shorts. If that wasn't bad enough, the old geezers behind us were wearing enough makeup to stock Sephora for six months (4%).
I wanted to ask him which whore in line was his friend, but I didn't. I also silently wondered why such a good-looking male specimen was at a porn convention. This guy didn't need porn to get off; he could easily just flash that perfect face at any girl. I was sure they'd flock to him like a bitch in heat looking to get mounted (5%).
Some gonorrhea-infected fans might try to kiss him or grab his bubble butt. Women with loose, flapping vaginal lips that were capable of clapping would try to hug him and whisper suggestive things in his ears (77%).
Another thing that bothers me is how Kat's friend, Nicole, treats one of the porn stars at the convention, named Calum Burro. When she gets his autograph, she grabs his ass and whispers obscenities in his ear (the same thing that Kat is afraid of happening to her own porn star boyfriend at that quote I cited at 77%, funny how it's OK when Nicole does it). If you watched that video I linked to at the top, the one by Cracked, you'll have heard that one of the problems porn stars face is people assuming that porn stars are fair game because they've shared their bodies with the public, which some people - i.e. Kat and her friends - take to mean that it's okay to follow them home or touch them inappropriately. I feel like in a real life setting, behavior like Nicole's would get you thrown out on your ass from the convention, but it gets Nicole a phone number and an invitation to follow-up on what she whispered into his ear. They end up in a relationship and then a few weeks after they start dating, married. An ending like this validates such mistreatment of people in the entertainment industry, and I found it, frankly, sickening.
Kat meets the love interest, Tristan/Robby, while he's walking around at the convention, incognito. He actually catches her tugging her wedgie out of her ass, and his first line to her is, "Digging for gold?" He thinks this is so cute that he gives her the nickname "gold-digger," and then, later, just "goldie." Kat is very upset when she finds out what Tristan's profession is, and when he goes out on business while they're together, she equates it to cheating. This porn = cheating thing is a running theme in this book, and it's very disturbing. At the convention where Nicole first meets Calum, her friends have to hold her back from attacking one of his female coworkers because she's that jealous that the two of them had a scene together (keep in mind that this is before he even speaks to her or even knows she exists). When Nicole and Calum are engaged, he goes to his last job, and Nicole and Kat consider Nicole cheating on him behind his back to make it "fair," since he's cheating on her. Kat is insanely jealous of all of Tristan's past working relationships and slut-shames all of them, picking on in particular their appearance, especially their breasts.
The way Kat sees porn is highly warped and sexist, because she obviously considers it a form of slumming: something that's she's above but occasionally deigns to indulge in, like a guilty secret. The male porn stars are all admired by Kat and her friends, but the women are called sluts and whores. Kat's friend, Zoey, is also a porn star, but because she's cute and Asian and only does girl-on-girl, she isn't considered a sexual rival, so she is the sole exception to Kat's misogyny. Despite being attracted to Tristan, she still considers him "the worst type of man" at first because he has sex with women on video. Later, he gives up porn for her (as Calum does for Nicole) and Kat seems to accept this as her due. Obviously, Tristan considers her the best lay he's ever had, and one of her friends (Zoey) tells Kat that her breasts are probably the only real ones he's ever touched. This is "magic vagina" syndrome in full, because why would Tristan need to continue with his debauched ways now that he has a "good girl" to save him through sex? I wanted to throw my computer into the wall when Kat wants to "make things different" for him by not having sex with him using a condom, since he's always had sex with his partners using condoms and she doesn't want to be like his other women. Not only is this INSANE, it's also incredibly unsafe. Tristan has probably had sex with dozens of women (if not hundreds of women), and there was no mention of an STD test, just birth control. Great.
But the crowning moment of Kat's hypocrisy was when they go on vacation together and Tristan finds a video of Kat doing porn on her computer. Apparently, when Zoey was trying to make it, she needed someone to help her do a girl-on-girl scene and after several friends turned her down, the unwilling Kat reluctantly agreed to participate. Tristan is, of course, incredibly turned on, and after telling her what a selfless and special person she is (and how "not enough" people would do such a thing for their friends), they have hot sex for the first time. I was so angry. First of all, that was not selfless, that was stupid. Real friends wouldn't force their friends into doing something exploitative. Kat is an elementary school teacher, and teachers have been fired for doing less. An elementary school teacher doing porn? Even if the video was never distributed, as Kat claims, if that ever got out, it would ruin her career. Zoey was selfish and cruel to ask that, and Kat was stupid to accept.
Speaking of careers, Tristan is doing law school in addition to porn (because of course he is). He's bizarrely certain that his career will never get out because he had the sense to use hair dye. Any law firm worth its salt is going to do a background check, and I can almost guarantee that they're going to turn up his old career, and it's going to ruin him, too. Lawyers are highly reputation-bound, and as much as I hate that this is the case, nobody is going to take an ex-porn star lawyer seriously. No one.
LINGUS also shares many of the features that made Zapata's other book, RHYTHM, CHORD & MALYKHIN so unpleasant for me. There's a heavy reliance on fecal humor, which I find juvenile and gross. I don't need to hear about it whenever someone needs to go to the bathroom, and I don't want to hear Kat rant about how she apparently pees herself every time she sneezes (girl, do some kegels, seriously). There are also the same homophobic/transphobic jokes peppered in here about sex changes and people so hot they could turn gay people straight, which are comparatively harmless in the grand scheme of things, but are still harmful, because they passively perpetuate those kinds of harmful views by joking about them as if they are fact. Don't even get me started on Kat's gay best friend, who is portrayed as a total slut who sniffs out gay men like "a male dog catching a female dog's scent in heat." I kept waiting for him to say "fabulous!" He didn't, but I'm sure the author considered having him do so. Probably while farting or peeing himself, keeping in the scatological vein of this book's sense of humor. It was that bad.
I've read four of this author's books now. DEAR AARON started off charming and devolved into what I considered an unhealthy relationship. RHYTHM, CHORD & MALYKHIN was awful, and I only rounded it up because I really appreciated the musical references and that feeling of being "on tour." KULTI was absolutely wonderful, and I honestly can't believe that the author who wrote that book, which flew by because I was enjoying it so much, is the same author who wrote these three other books, because LINGUS was the worst yet. There was nothing to redeem it. It was wretched.
I guess if you're going to read a book by this author, start with KULTI. It is the only book of hers that has lived up to the hype. I still have WAIT FOR IT and THE WALL OF WINNIPEG on my Kindle, so I'm hoping that those veer more on the KULTI side of the spectrum than the LINGUS side.
Avoid.
1 star
December 21, 2021
5 stars!!!
When I first read the blurb for Lingus, I wasn’t sure if I would like it or not, so even though I had it sitting on my kindle, I never took the plunge. A few weeks a ago, a friend told me it was her favorite Mariana Zapata book so I figured I’d give it a try. I was so glad I did! OMG this book was so much fun to listen to! The narrator that reads Zapata’s books is truly fantastic. This story was different than some of the others, but no less amazing!
Kat and Tristan really hit it off from their first meet. They become fast friends, but there is something else there from the very start. I loved this friends to lovers story. It was a bit of a slow burn, but much more steamy than some of MZ’s others. I adored both of the characters and thought the story was wonderful. It kept a huge grin on my face. I give this one a full 5 stars!
When I first read the blurb for Lingus, I wasn’t sure if I would like it or not, so even though I had it sitting on my kindle, I never took the plunge. A few weeks a ago, a friend told me it was her favorite Mariana Zapata book so I figured I’d give it a try. I was so glad I did! OMG this book was so much fun to listen to! The narrator that reads Zapata’s books is truly fantastic. This story was different than some of the others, but no less amazing!
“My name is Kat Berger, and I love porn.”This story starts out at a porn convention. Kat and her best friend Nikki love porn. So when Nikki scores tickets to a convention, of course they have to attend. Kat is a sweet girl and a teacher. You’d never think of her and porn in the same sentence, but sometimes you can’t judge a book by it’s cover. While at the convention, Kat meets someone truly exceptional.
Kat and Tristan really hit it off from their first meet. They become fast friends, but there is something else there from the very start. I loved this friends to lovers story. It was a bit of a slow burn, but much more steamy than some of MZ’s others. I adored both of the characters and thought the story was wonderful. It kept a huge grin on my face. I give this one a full 5 stars!
”I'd do this all over again a hundred times as long as I met you in the end.”
March 23, 2017
4.5 stars!!!
"I'd do this all over again a hundred times as long as I met you in the end."
Well I learned a valuable lesson. When my friend Nareh recommends me a book, I shouldn't wait 2 years to read the dang thing! Because I flippin loved this gem of a book and I'm genuinely shocked that more of my book friends haven't read it! Like the bloody diamond in the rough this book is.
Kat Berger is dragged (willingly) to a porn convention by her best friend. There she meets Tristan, an attractive yet mysterious guy who she has an instant connection with. By the end of the day she's learned her new friend Tristan is also known as Robby Lingus, an adult film star. Tristan and Kat decide to continue a friendship between the two of them, and Kat doesn't hope for a relationship between them as Tristan cites his job stands in the way of that.
Over time the two become close friends, and Kat is left struggling with her feelings for Tristan. He doesn't feel like her other friends, but she doesn't dare dream for more to protect her own heart.
"No one I'd ever met made me feel a fraction of what he did. No one. I doubted I'd ever meet anyone who could even be half the man and friend he was to me."
Like Zapata's other works, Lingus is a slow burn romance. Those of you who enjoy the friends to lovers trope will love this book because Kat and Tristan really were true friends before anything else developed between the two of them. I will say I liked that the characters got to know each other before anything romantic happened. It made it that much more special between the main characters, and later when the steam came in (yes there is steam WOOT!) it meant so much more between the two of them and it showed.
This book was also a lot steamier than anything I've read by this author, most of hers have a slow burn and some steam, but that wasn't the case here. Lovers of the sexy times will enjoy this book very much, they'll just have to read the majority of the book before doing so.
I cannot recommend this book enough, and for those of you who need more convincing, it's on Kindle Unlimited OR it's 99 cents. So even if it's not your cup of tea, you don't have that much to lose. But honestly, this was an excellent book so please give it a chance!
"I've loved you way longer than you've loved me."
"I'd do this all over again a hundred times as long as I met you in the end."
Well I learned a valuable lesson. When my friend Nareh recommends me a book, I shouldn't wait 2 years to read the dang thing! Because I flippin loved this gem of a book and I'm genuinely shocked that more of my book friends haven't read it! Like the bloody diamond in the rough this book is.
Kat Berger is dragged (willingly) to a porn convention by her best friend. There she meets Tristan, an attractive yet mysterious guy who she has an instant connection with. By the end of the day she's learned her new friend Tristan is also known as Robby Lingus, an adult film star. Tristan and Kat decide to continue a friendship between the two of them, and Kat doesn't hope for a relationship between them as Tristan cites his job stands in the way of that.
Over time the two become close friends, and Kat is left struggling with her feelings for Tristan. He doesn't feel like her other friends, but she doesn't dare dream for more to protect her own heart.
"No one I'd ever met made me feel a fraction of what he did. No one. I doubted I'd ever meet anyone who could even be half the man and friend he was to me."
Like Zapata's other works, Lingus is a slow burn romance. Those of you who enjoy the friends to lovers trope will love this book because Kat and Tristan really were true friends before anything else developed between the two of them. I will say I liked that the characters got to know each other before anything romantic happened. It made it that much more special between the main characters, and later when the steam came in (yes there is steam WOOT!) it meant so much more between the two of them and it showed.
This book was also a lot steamier than anything I've read by this author, most of hers have a slow burn and some steam, but that wasn't the case here. Lovers of the sexy times will enjoy this book very much, they'll just have to read the majority of the book before doing so.
I cannot recommend this book enough, and for those of you who need more convincing, it's on Kindle Unlimited OR it's 99 cents. So even if it's not your cup of tea, you don't have that much to lose. But honestly, this was an excellent book so please give it a chance!
"I've loved you way longer than you've loved me."
January 26, 2022
have I mentioned mz is my favorite author of all time? keep that in mind while I talk about this book.
I don’t like to say that I hate anything.. so let’s just say i disliked this.. strongly. the constant slut shaming was disgusting & it pissed me off to no end. Tristan was okay, nothing too special. Kat on the other hand was just horrible. Being inside her judgmental mind was not fun. This had an interesting plot idea but I felt like it didn’t go anywhere? I didn’t click with the couple or any of the characters & by the time I finished I had completely forgotten what happened.
The epilogue was cute, I enjoyed that pov more than the rest of the book.
I still love mz with all my heart <3 out of her entire backlist there are only 2 books that weren’t 5 stars for me and that says a lot.
I don’t like to say that I hate anything.. so let’s just say i disliked this.. strongly. the constant slut shaming was disgusting & it pissed me off to no end. Tristan was okay, nothing too special. Kat on the other hand was just horrible. Being inside her judgmental mind was not fun. This had an interesting plot idea but I felt like it didn’t go anywhere? I didn’t click with the couple or any of the characters & by the time I finished I had completely forgotten what happened.
The epilogue was cute, I enjoyed that pov more than the rest of the book.
I still love mz with all my heart <3 out of her entire backlist there are only 2 books that weren’t 5 stars for me and that says a lot.
June 8, 2019
"My name is Kat Berger, and I love porn."
As soon as I saw this, I was like okay I just HAVE to read this. Apparently this a story where the girl falls for a pornstar and I got sooo excited. My inner pervert was screaming in delight ! XD yesss I'm ready for those smexy times gimme gimmee xDD
.....
Unfortunately I didn't make it very far.. At first the the MC and her BFF go to a porn convention and she's like "there is nothing wrong with sex or porn and no reason to be ashsmed" and I was like yesss gurl!!! I love openminded, non-judgy people! Turms out the MC is like the judgiest and most shallow person ever. She started calling other woman whores based on what they were wearing?? Honestly, I almost screamed FUCKKK YOU at that point. And at a porn convention?? I don't think they usually wear turtlenecks at those. She also criticizes the amounts of make-up the other women are wearing ad their age?? Apparently "older" are not welcome there either; she gets all disgusted imagining the older woman who's stsnding behind her waiting for an autograph, getting turned on and watching the same porn she watches! I mean how dare she! Older people are allowed to wank off too, you know!!!!@%$#%#What a miserable fucking asshole..
I read the Wall of Winnipeg and it was a bit of a meh for me but I was positive I was going to love this One, it sure as hell sounded like a fucking blast!! With this much slut-shaming though and other bullshit, I'm not really sure I wanna try any other of her books. I'm so disappointed. I just really hate it in real life and I sure as hell don't want to read about that shit in my books too...
As soon as I saw this, I was like okay I just HAVE to read this. Apparently this a story where the girl falls for a pornstar and I got sooo excited. My inner pervert was screaming in delight ! XD yesss I'm ready for those smexy times gimme gimmee xDD
.....
Unfortunately I didn't make it very far.. At first the the MC and her BFF go to a porn convention and she's like "there is nothing wrong with sex or porn and no reason to be ashsmed" and I was like yesss gurl!!! I love openminded, non-judgy people! Turms out the MC is like the judgiest and most shallow person ever. She started calling other woman whores based on what they were wearing?? Honestly, I almost screamed FUCKKK YOU at that point. And at a porn convention?? I don't think they usually wear turtlenecks at those. She also criticizes the amounts of make-up the other women are wearing ad their age?? Apparently "older" are not welcome there either; she gets all disgusted imagining the older woman who's stsnding behind her waiting for an autograph, getting turned on and watching the same porn she watches! I mean how dare she! Older people are allowed to wank off too, you know!!!!@%$#%#What a miserable fucking asshole..
I read the Wall of Winnipeg and it was a bit of a meh for me but I was positive I was going to love this One, it sure as hell sounded like a fucking blast!! With this much slut-shaming though and other bullshit, I'm not really sure I wanna try any other of her books. I'm so disappointed. I just really hate it in real life and I sure as hell don't want to read about that shit in my books too...
August 17, 2017
Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
“You need some cock in your life, and he knows what he’s doing!”
Mariana Zapata is an author who has popped up on my feed every now and again ever since I joined GR. Unfortunately, the porny librarian has not yet stocked any of her titles. When I saw this one shining like a beacon over on Amazon for a measly buck, I one-clicked that sumbitch lickity split. The other morning I started reading it while waiting for my morning fix to come out of the fancy barista coffee maker when I was startled by one of the senior partners asking what was the book of the day. My reaction was exactly what you would expect it to be . . . . .
Thank Jeebus he was classy enough to leave me with my smut and a response of “nevermind.” What can I say? A girl has to mix things up every once in a while.
The story here is about Kat and Tristan, two strangers who have quite the meet cute at a porn convention. While waiting on her bestie to get the porn star of her dream’s autograph, Kat’s undies start creeping so she backs herself into a nearby table in order to take care of the problem. Now I ain’t sayin’ she’s a gold digger, but Tristan just so happens to be seated at said table and makes his presence known . . . .
After recovering from their awkward meet/cute, Tristan and Kat run into each other a few times over the course of the day, and then Kat discovers Tristan’s alter ego – a porn star known as “Robby Lingus” . . . .
Tristan acknowledges he’s not really interested in a girlfriend and Kat acknowledges she’s uncomfortable dating a dude who bangs chicks for a living as we readers embark on a “friends to lovers” trope.
As with all porny selections, there’s a bit of reality that has to be left at the door. This go around, our leading male is a porn star by weekend/whenever he gets hired for a gig and an intern/law student by day. Now, if you’ve ever worked in a law firm you are fully aware that the background check they do on you before you are officially hired will dig up any and everything you’ve ever done in your life, up to and including that one time when you farted in a crowded elevator (totally a friend of mine – not me). So obviously your initial reaction will be . . . .
But you’ve gotta figure out how to just go with it.
Things that worked for me with Lingus was that it was humorous and that I’ve developed quite the obsession with a certain (more than likely) sociopath this summer while watching Big Brother with my family . . . .
So even though the description of Tristan didn’t match that of Cody, my perverted brain made it happen anyway. That pretty much amounted to my internal voice screaming . . . .
Which leads to the problems. These two did not get together until the EIGHTY-NINE PERCENT MARK. That’s a lotta blue balls. I’m sure some will disagree, but I do not pick up porn when I’m looking for a “good story.” That’s always a plus, but at some point I want to get the show on the road. I don’t want to spend nearly 500 pages waiting on some penetration FFS. All that makes me do is start focusing on things that shouldn’t even be a blip on my radar. Things like how many times these two “snorted” while laughing. In case you were wondering – there were NINETY-SEVEN references to snort laughing. Good thing I didn’t take a shot every time they did it . . . . .
3.5 Stars for being cute with enjoyable characters, but rounded down due to the aforementioned issues.
ORIGINAL “REVIEW:”
Why yes, I absolutely did just one-click this as soon as I saw the title . . . .
“You need some cock in your life, and he knows what he’s doing!”
Mariana Zapata is an author who has popped up on my feed every now and again ever since I joined GR. Unfortunately, the porny librarian has not yet stocked any of her titles. When I saw this one shining like a beacon over on Amazon for a measly buck, I one-clicked that sumbitch lickity split. The other morning I started reading it while waiting for my morning fix to come out of the fancy barista coffee maker when I was startled by one of the senior partners asking what was the book of the day. My reaction was exactly what you would expect it to be . . . . .
Thank Jeebus he was classy enough to leave me with my smut and a response of “nevermind.” What can I say? A girl has to mix things up every once in a while.
The story here is about Kat and Tristan, two strangers who have quite the meet cute at a porn convention. While waiting on her bestie to get the porn star of her dream’s autograph, Kat’s undies start creeping so she backs herself into a nearby table in order to take care of the problem. Now I ain’t sayin’ she’s a gold digger, but Tristan just so happens to be seated at said table and makes his presence known . . . .
After recovering from their awkward meet/cute, Tristan and Kat run into each other a few times over the course of the day, and then Kat discovers Tristan’s alter ego – a porn star known as “Robby Lingus” . . . .
Tristan acknowledges he’s not really interested in a girlfriend and Kat acknowledges she’s uncomfortable dating a dude who bangs chicks for a living as we readers embark on a “friends to lovers” trope.
As with all porny selections, there’s a bit of reality that has to be left at the door. This go around, our leading male is a porn star by weekend/whenever he gets hired for a gig and an intern/law student by day. Now, if you’ve ever worked in a law firm you are fully aware that the background check they do on you before you are officially hired will dig up any and everything you’ve ever done in your life, up to and including that one time when you farted in a crowded elevator (totally a friend of mine – not me). So obviously your initial reaction will be . . . .
But you’ve gotta figure out how to just go with it.
Things that worked for me with Lingus was that it was humorous and that I’ve developed quite the obsession with a certain (more than likely) sociopath this summer while watching Big Brother with my family . . . .
So even though the description of Tristan didn’t match that of Cody, my perverted brain made it happen anyway. That pretty much amounted to my internal voice screaming . . . .
Which leads to the problems. These two did not get together until the EIGHTY-NINE PERCENT MARK. That’s a lotta blue balls. I’m sure some will disagree, but I do not pick up porn when I’m looking for a “good story.” That’s always a plus, but at some point I want to get the show on the road. I don’t want to spend nearly 500 pages waiting on some penetration FFS. All that makes me do is start focusing on things that shouldn’t even be a blip on my radar. Things like how many times these two “snorted” while laughing. In case you were wondering – there were NINETY-SEVEN references to snort laughing. Good thing I didn’t take a shot every time they did it . . . . .
3.5 Stars for being cute with enjoyable characters, but rounded down due to the aforementioned issues.
ORIGINAL “REVIEW:”
Why yes, I absolutely did just one-click this as soon as I saw the title . . . .
May 2, 2016
4.5 Mag & Goldie Stars
This perfect looking person who caught me pulling my underwear out of my ass, called me a gold digger, walked me to the bathroom, referred to the bat signal for assistance, ate a hot dog with me, and said he enjoyed meeting me was a freaking porn star.
I'm kicking my own butt for not reading Lingus sooner. I thought I'd learned my lesson after the 5 star awesomeness that is Wall of Winepeg but apparently being a dumbass comes all too easily to me.
Marianna Zapata is the new queen of the slow build romance as far as I'm concerned. The build up and tension between Kat and Tristan was the perfect mix of sweet, funny and hawt! I loved the obvious fact these two had fallen hard for one another but both waited to take the leap from friends to something more. Getting to know both characters ad well as I did as a reader made all of that good stuff even sweeter.
I guessed I'd just have to weigh what was more important to me— a giant cock or a friendship that seemed as easy as breathing minus the sexual tension on my behalf. Fuck.
I love the fact no part of the story ever felt over the top dramatic and still it never dragged. There's a subtlety to this author's writting that, after two books, I've really come to appreciate. I'm already looking forward to my next read by Ms. Zapata.
"You'll always be my favorite person in the world. Always."
This perfect looking person who caught me pulling my underwear out of my ass, called me a gold digger, walked me to the bathroom, referred to the bat signal for assistance, ate a hot dog with me, and said he enjoyed meeting me was a freaking porn star.
I'm kicking my own butt for not reading Lingus sooner. I thought I'd learned my lesson after the 5 star awesomeness that is Wall of Winepeg but apparently being a dumbass comes all too easily to me.
Marianna Zapata is the new queen of the slow build romance as far as I'm concerned. The build up and tension between Kat and Tristan was the perfect mix of sweet, funny and hawt! I loved the obvious fact these two had fallen hard for one another but both waited to take the leap from friends to something more. Getting to know both characters ad well as I did as a reader made all of that good stuff even sweeter.
I guessed I'd just have to weigh what was more important to me— a giant cock or a friendship that seemed as easy as breathing minus the sexual tension on my behalf. Fuck.
I love the fact no part of the story ever felt over the top dramatic and still it never dragged. There's a subtlety to this author's writting that, after two books, I've really come to appreciate. I'm already looking forward to my next read by Ms. Zapata.
"You'll always be my favorite person in the world. Always."
December 18, 2016
4.5 Stars
So here's the thing; I actually came on here to post about the bitchin extra scenes done in Tristan's POV I just read. Much to my surprise, I soon realized I'd read and never rated this book.
In case you're wondering, I loved it and it served as a most righteous comfort re-read for me today.
The link to more Tristan awesomeness? Here you go: http://www.marianazapata.com/lingus-o...
So here's the thing; I actually came on here to post about the bitchin extra scenes done in Tristan's POV I just read. Much to my surprise, I soon realized I'd read and never rated this book.
In case you're wondering, I loved it and it served as a most righteous comfort re-read for me today.
The link to more Tristan awesomeness? Here you go: http://www.marianazapata.com/lingus-o...
January 18, 2018
I have heard nothing but amazing things about Mariana Zapata’s books and I have been wanting to read one of her books for a long time. Am I kicking myself for not trying this author sooner? I don’t think I could have kicked myself any harder. I loved Lingus! So much! It was unique, sweet and so funny.
Kat and her best friend are at an adult film convention. She can’t believe that she’s really there, but she’s determined to meet her favorite actor. While her best friend is waiting to meet another actor, Kat talks with Tristan. Tristan and Kat run into each other a few times at the convention and they always have a fun conversation. When the convention ends, they exchange phone numbers. It doesn’t take long before they meet up with each other and they become friends.
Kat and Tristan are incredible characters. I loved them from the start. Kat is sweet, funny, loving and honest. Tristan is kind, easygoing, smart, hardworking and funny. I absolutely loved Kat and Tristan together, as friends and as a couple.
I adored the secondary characters. Both Tristan and Kat have awesome friends. Nicole and Zoey are funny, supportive, feisty and outgoing. They meet up regularly and they always have an amazing time. The friends made me laugh many times. I loved their friendships.
I knew I was really reading a winner because something that I usually don’t like, didn’t bother me at all. This book was definitely a slow burn romance. It doesn’t need to be instant love, but I love it when things (and especially a kiss) don’t take long. But I kept turning the pages in this book, never wondering when something would finally happen between Kat and Tristan. Their conversations, their banter, their friendship and the things they did together were all more than satisfying. Their first kiss and them as a couple were worth the wait.
Kat and her best friend are at an adult film convention. She can’t believe that she’s really there, but she’s determined to meet her favorite actor. While her best friend is waiting to meet another actor, Kat talks with Tristan. Tristan and Kat run into each other a few times at the convention and they always have a fun conversation. When the convention ends, they exchange phone numbers. It doesn’t take long before they meet up with each other and they become friends.
Kat and Tristan are incredible characters. I loved them from the start. Kat is sweet, funny, loving and honest. Tristan is kind, easygoing, smart, hardworking and funny. I absolutely loved Kat and Tristan together, as friends and as a couple.
I adored the secondary characters. Both Tristan and Kat have awesome friends. Nicole and Zoey are funny, supportive, feisty and outgoing. They meet up regularly and they always have an amazing time. The friends made me laugh many times. I loved their friendships.
I knew I was really reading a winner because something that I usually don’t like, didn’t bother me at all. This book was definitely a slow burn romance. It doesn’t need to be instant love, but I love it when things (and especially a kiss) don’t take long. But I kept turning the pages in this book, never wondering when something would finally happen between Kat and Tristan. Their conversations, their banter, their friendship and the things they did together were all more than satisfying. Their first kiss and them as a couple were worth the wait.
November 22, 2017
A total crack up
This was a lot funnier than I thought it would be. I have had Lingus on my radar for a long time but was hesitant. How was the author going to convince me that a porn star hero could be the right man for the heroine? Well, I struggled a couple of times but found that with Tristan, there really was no question. He was a good man who just happened to have a lot of PAST experience.
The narrator does a fantastic job and I found it extremely easy to listen to. I had no issues with her doing the male and female voices.
Another winner from the Romance Package.
This was a lot funnier than I thought it would be. I have had Lingus on my radar for a long time but was hesitant. How was the author going to convince me that a porn star hero could be the right man for the heroine? Well, I struggled a couple of times but found that with Tristan, there really was no question. He was a good man who just happened to have a lot of PAST experience.
The narrator does a fantastic job and I found it extremely easy to listen to. I had no issues with her doing the male and female voices.
Another winner from the Romance Package.
May 24, 2018
TRUST ME.
It hurts me more than it hurts this book to be rating it this low.
I can't even express how disappointed I am right now.
RTC.
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Starting this book at 12 AM on a weeknight, because it's okay. I never liked sleep that much anyway. *cries*
So happy to buddy read this book with the lovely Rachelle, who is as big of a fan of Mariana Zapata as I am. 🙌💕
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I can't wait to read this!
Just as soon as I finish the other Mariana Zapata book I'm currently reading. 😁
It hurts me more than it hurts this book to be rating it this low.
I can't even express how disappointed I am right now.
RTC.
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So happy to buddy read this book with the lovely Rachelle, who is as big of a fan of Mariana Zapata as I am.
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Just as soon as I finish the other Mariana Zapata book I'm currently reading. 😁
May 27, 2024
My least favorite of MZ’s stories. It’s nice to see how much her writing (and characters) have matured over the years.
August 13, 2016
I'm going to break down what I did and didn't like here because I'm finding this one hard to rate.
●The writing - as always this author does a great job slowly building a friendship into love. She shows that you can still have that combustible passion even when theres been a slow buildup to it.
●Tristan. He was sexy and adorable. I liked how honest he was. He knew trying to have a relationship was near impossible while he was still active in the porn industry. And I never learnt WHY he choose to make porn.
■Kat. I did not like her. She was like a lost puppy hanging round Tristan's leg. It started to really annoy me. She came across desperate.
■The job. So this has actually helped in a sense because I now know that porn star story lines aren't for me. I could not get over what (or who) he did. I actually know someone in the industry and how hard it is for them to have a relationship outside the field. It may be impersonal and even unsexy to them while filming, but it's still an intimate act in my book. When I can't picture myself in the heroine's role I find it hard to fully engage in the story.
So it's a 3 star read for me.
●The writing - as always this author does a great job slowly building a friendship into love. She shows that you can still have that combustible passion even when theres been a slow buildup to it.
●Tristan. He was sexy and adorable. I liked how honest he was. He knew trying to have a relationship was near impossible while he was still active in the porn industry. And I never learnt WHY he choose to make porn.
■Kat. I did not like her. She was like a lost puppy hanging round Tristan's leg. It started to really annoy me. She came across desperate.
■The job. So this has actually helped in a sense because I now know that porn star story lines aren't for me. I could not get over what (or who) he did. I actually know someone in the industry and how hard it is for them to have a relationship outside the field. It may be impersonal and even unsexy to them while filming, but it's still an intimate act in my book. When I can't picture myself in the heroine's role I find it hard to fully engage in the story.
So it's a 3 star read for me.
June 24, 2015
Kat is dragged along to a porn convention by one of her best friends Nikki both of them like porn and watching it they even have their favourite actors. Their other friend Zoey is in the business. Nikki is there to meet and get an autograph from her favourite porn star Calum. While waiting for Nikki Kat meets a really cute guy named Tristan they get talking and strike up a rapport, they bump into each other throughout the rest of the day even sharing lunch. Kat really likes Tristan then she sees why he's there. She spots him at a booth with women surrounding him he's in his other personna Robbie Lingus! Tristan likes Kat and wants to be friends. Of course Kat wants more than friends but knows she couldn't cope with him having sex with other women, so being friends will have to be enough.
Like this author's other two books I've read this is a slow burn. I mostly liked Tristan his and Kat's scenes together were funny, at times laugh out loud funny. He told Kat he doesn't have girlfriends as that wouldn't be fair considering what he does, which was nice it's a shame he kept giving her mixed signals. Kat was fairly likeable but there were moments I wanted to shake her. As to the other characters who were Kat's friends I wasn't so keen. Nikki was a bit too aggressive, Zoey was just weird there were more than a few times I wondered if there was more going on between Kat and her. Josh their gay friend behaved like a schoolboy. Overall the supporting characters were a bit too OTT.
What I didn't like... Well there were only a few female porn stars featured but I didn't like the implication that they were just whores while any male stars Tristan included were hot, sexy, honourable upstanding guys. Why female authors are so hard on their own sex I don't get. It's annoying.
I also didn't like that for most of the story Tristan keeps Kat firmly in the friend zone, that is till her friends tell her to get her head out of her ass and stop hanging on waiting for Tristan to see her as more. Then lo and behold the minute she's got a date with another guy he doesn't like it, what a hypocrite at this point in the story he's away filming, boning goodness knows how many women. I'm sure the author didn't mean it to come across that his interest in Kat changed the minute she was going out on a date but that's how I read it. It was never explained why Tristan was in the business, he had a good job at a law firm, he was studying to be a lawyer he had an inheritance from his grandmother so he wasn't hurting for cash. I also thought it odd that he liked to keep his Robbie Lingus character a secret, he worried that his family would find out. So it didn't make sense why he was doing it.
Overall this story went on too long for me it lost its way during the middle. This would have worked better as a novella IMO.
Like this author's other two books I've read this is a slow burn. I mostly liked Tristan his and Kat's scenes together were funny, at times laugh out loud funny. He told Kat he doesn't have girlfriends as that wouldn't be fair considering what he does, which was nice it's a shame he kept giving her mixed signals. Kat was fairly likeable but there were moments I wanted to shake her. As to the other characters who were Kat's friends I wasn't so keen. Nikki was a bit too aggressive, Zoey was just weird there were more than a few times I wondered if there was more going on between Kat and her. Josh their gay friend behaved like a schoolboy. Overall the supporting characters were a bit too OTT.
What I didn't like... Well there were only a few female porn stars featured but I didn't like the implication that they were just whores while any male stars Tristan included were hot, sexy, honourable upstanding guys. Why female authors are so hard on their own sex I don't get. It's annoying.
I also didn't like that for most of the story Tristan keeps Kat firmly in the friend zone, that is till her friends tell her to get her head out of her ass and stop hanging on waiting for Tristan to see her as more. Then lo and behold the minute she's got a date with another guy he doesn't like it, what a hypocrite at this point in the story he's away filming, boning goodness knows how many women. I'm sure the author didn't mean it to come across that his interest in Kat changed the minute she was going out on a date but that's how I read it. It was never explained why Tristan was in the business, he had a good job at a law firm, he was studying to be a lawyer he had an inheritance from his grandmother so he wasn't hurting for cash. I also thought it odd that he liked to keep his Robbie Lingus character a secret, he worried that his family would find out. So it didn't make sense why he was doing it.
Overall this story went on too long for me it lost its way during the middle. This would have worked better as a novella IMO.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 9, 2017
"You're my favorite person in the world"
How does she do it?
Seriously, how the fuck does this woman do it?
FUCKING GENIUS!!!!
I’ve literally had one of the best times EVER with this book.
I had to cup myself a few times from the fear of peeing.
I had no idea what I was getting myself into when before I went into this.
I thought ‘hey, the girl loves some porn, this should be good’ – Fuck if it wasn’t so much more than that.
I’ve said it once and I’ll say it a thousand times, Mariana writes the BEST fucking heroines and Kat was nothing short of A-MAZ-ING.
She was a fucking hoot and I could listen to her talk all day.
I love friendships in book and the friendships Katherine Berger had with her sluts was just awesome.
I think everyone needs a Nicole, Zoey and a Josh in their lives.
Nicole though, that chick was my spiritual animal. I LOVED HER!
And Tristan! *sigh* so different from her other Alpha males but still as loveable.
I love this story. I couldn’t stop smiling from start to finish and I would read it all over again in a heartbeat.
Its boggles my mind that I never see this book blowing up my newsfeed!!!
It’s THAT book that I know all my book girls would love; Friends to lovers, slow-burn, hot sex and full of humour.
My 4th book by this author and she still blows my mind with her words.
I’ll miss all these characters so hard. In the two days I’ve spent with them I kind of felt like they were my friends too.
So much fucking fun!
My words will never do it justice.
Magellan & Goldie FOREVER!
February 23, 2022
1⭐️
no.
i skimmed most of it. the fact that she used the word slut 22 times says that much of ms. i'm not like other girls kat.
just bad.
no.
i skimmed most of it. the fact that she used the word slut 22 times says that much of ms. i'm not like other girls kat.
just bad.
July 16, 2017
Well, The queen of the slow-burn does it again.
**** 4 Seductive Lip Bites ****
After reading the blurb forever-ago, I thought this would just be the one Mariana Zapata book I wouldn't read.
I didn't think I could get into the whole porn star aspect of this book.
But, I was in the mood for some of that serious slow-burn sexual tension that Zapata is known for.
Woohoo... Hot damn... What a pleasant surprise I found in this book.
She made it work.
I'm telling ya, I don't know how she does it, but she just friggin' nails it.
She blows me away and I love her writing.
**** 4 Seductive Lip Bites ****
After reading the blurb forever-ago, I thought this would just be the one Mariana Zapata book I wouldn't read.
I didn't think I could get into the whole porn star aspect of this book.
But, I was in the mood for some of that serious slow-burn sexual tension that Zapata is known for.
Woohoo... Hot damn... What a pleasant surprise I found in this book.
She made it work.
I'm telling ya, I don't know how she does it, but she just friggin' nails it.
She blows me away and I love her writing.
March 11, 2021
*3.5 stars
"You're my favorite person in the world, Kat. I could never forget about you."
Lingus is a strangers-to-friends-to-lovers romance between a sassy heroine and a porn star. Funny, sweet and light, Mariana Zapata’s debut novel was a bit different from her current writing style. Even though it’s not as flawless as her following books, it was still an enjoyable reading.
"I heard my parents having sex once. I was traumatized for life," I offered him, like a moron. If I could have punched myself right then without looking like a demented fool, I would have.
"Did you say anything to them afterward?"
"Are you insane?"
"Well," he shrugged his broad shoulders up. "If you're stuck being traumatized forever, they should too. Don't you think?"
Tristan and Kat meet in a porn convention. Their connection is immediate and they start flirting -yes, flirting, your eyes are not imagining things. It’s still a MZ’s book, don’t panic!!
"Your boyfriend won't get mad, right?"
My eyes narrowed in his direction, wondering if he was trying to fish for information like I had been earlier. (...)
"Nah, but my husband will." I said, with a straight look on my face.
However, Kat doesn't know that the guy she had been teasing is the porn star Robby Lingus.
"I think you should find a younger porn star to watch from now on," he said in a husky voice before brushing his hand down the length of my ponytail and stepping away. "Bye, Kat."
But the secret doesn't last long. After telling her who he is, Tristan explains he is not looking for a girlfriend because of his job, so he proposes her just to be friends -I warned you there was a trick! ;)
Could friends have benefits?
I loved how cute and shy Tristan was when feelings were involved, yet sexy and self-confident like the star he is. It was so great to see these two together, determined to keep things platonic when both wanted to strip the other naked.
I saw his hands rest on the elastic of his underwear before he hooked his thumbs into it, and then began dragging the material down toward the floor.
Oh my God.
I didn't know whether to look at him or away, so I hissed. "What are you doing?"
"Taking a shower."
This book made me roll my eyes and smile at the same time when they were
flirting
messing with each other. Also, it was hilariously endearing to see Kat being so naïve all the time. Which maybe was not a lot realistic since she was supposed to be a porn-lover, but I didn’t care because it was so fun!
Then, I thought about those Durex XXLs sitting in his drawer again, and my face broke out in a wild blush.
He stopped at the foot of the bed, looking at me intently before a knowing, tired grin spread across his pale face. "You opened up the wrong drawer, didn't you?"
I hated him.
Another thing I loved about this book was seeing how much MZ’s writing style has improved over the years. Even though this one was all right, there were some tiny plot holes. Some things are never explained, while a few scenes don’t add anything to the story. Also, I had little issues with Kat, because sometimes her behaviour didn’t match her character and it was a bit confusing. To be clear, I’m being a picky bitch because MZ is my favourite romance author. I’m actually really pleased that her first romance has some tiny issues that her other books don’t have, because I think it shows her extraordinary development as an author.
Least but not least, for all the dog lovers: Yoga is so iconic that even appears on the cover!
It had been five days since Tristan adopted the mastiff-mix from the shelter, and the poor dog had been called everything from Sugarpop to Spot to Wesley. I finally had to tell Tristan he needed to decide on a name before the poor baby had an identity crisis.
Overall, Lingus was a solid debut novel. It’s not as perfect as other MZ’s books, but it’s sexier, lighter, sweeter. Even though it’s still a slow burn, Tristan and Kat like each other from the beginning, so it’s not MZ’s insane slow burn that has become her signature. The friendship and the secondary characters are great, plus a porn star as a hero is not easy to find. So, if you like friends to lovers and a slow-burn a bit spicy, I recommend you to give it a try.
"I'd do this all over again a hundred times as long as I met you in the end."
Thank you so much Laura for the BR!! Commenting this book, or rather agreeing about everything, made the reading experience a lot funnier. I’m so proud we were able to read a MZ’s book in more than one sitting!!😎
"You're my favorite person in the world, Kat. I could never forget about you."
Lingus is a strangers-to-friends-to-lovers romance between a sassy heroine and a porn star. Funny, sweet and light, Mariana Zapata’s debut novel was a bit different from her current writing style. Even though it’s not as flawless as her following books, it was still an enjoyable reading.
"I heard my parents having sex once. I was traumatized for life," I offered him, like a moron. If I could have punched myself right then without looking like a demented fool, I would have.
"Did you say anything to them afterward?"
"Are you insane?"
"Well," he shrugged his broad shoulders up. "If you're stuck being traumatized forever, they should too. Don't you think?"
Tristan and Kat meet in a porn convention. Their connection is immediate and they start flirting -yes, flirting, your eyes are not imagining things. It’s still a MZ’s book, don’t panic!!
"Your boyfriend won't get mad, right?"
My eyes narrowed in his direction, wondering if he was trying to fish for information like I had been earlier. (...)
"Nah, but my husband will." I said, with a straight look on my face.
However, Kat doesn't know that the guy she had been teasing is the porn star Robby Lingus.
"I think you should find a younger porn star to watch from now on," he said in a husky voice before brushing his hand down the length of my ponytail and stepping away. "Bye, Kat."
But the secret doesn't last long. After telling her who he is, Tristan explains he is not looking for a girlfriend because of his job, so he proposes her just to be friends -I warned you there was a trick! ;)
Could friends have benefits?
I loved how cute and shy Tristan was when feelings were involved, yet sexy and self-confident like the star he is. It was so great to see these two together, determined to keep things platonic when both wanted to strip the other naked.
I saw his hands rest on the elastic of his underwear before he hooked his thumbs into it, and then began dragging the material down toward the floor.
Oh my God.
I didn't know whether to look at him or away, so I hissed. "What are you doing?"
"Taking a shower."
This book made me roll my eyes and smile at the same time when they were
Then, I thought about those Durex XXLs sitting in his drawer again, and my face broke out in a wild blush.
He stopped at the foot of the bed, looking at me intently before a knowing, tired grin spread across his pale face. "You opened up the wrong drawer, didn't you?"
I hated him.
Another thing I loved about this book was seeing how much MZ’s writing style has improved over the years. Even though this one was all right, there were some tiny plot holes. Some things are never explained, while a few scenes don’t add anything to the story. Also, I had little issues with Kat, because sometimes her behaviour didn’t match her character and it was a bit confusing. To be clear, I’m being a picky bitch because MZ is my favourite romance author. I’m actually really pleased that her first romance has some tiny issues that her other books don’t have, because I think it shows her extraordinary development as an author.
Least but not least, for all the dog lovers: Yoga is so iconic that even appears on the cover!
It had been five days since Tristan adopted the mastiff-mix from the shelter, and the poor dog had been called everything from Sugarpop to Spot to Wesley. I finally had to tell Tristan he needed to decide on a name before the poor baby had an identity crisis.
Overall, Lingus was a solid debut novel. It’s not as perfect as other MZ’s books, but it’s sexier, lighter, sweeter. Even though it’s still a slow burn, Tristan and Kat like each other from the beginning, so it’s not MZ’s insane slow burn that has become her signature. The friendship and the secondary characters are great, plus a porn star as a hero is not easy to find. So, if you like friends to lovers and a slow-burn a bit spicy, I recommend you to give it a try.
"I'd do this all over again a hundred times as long as I met you in the end."
Thank you so much Laura for the BR!! Commenting this book, or rather agreeing about everything, made the reading experience a lot funnier. I’m so proud we were able to read a MZ’s book in more than one sitting!!😎
March 10, 2016
4 LINGUS stars
"My name is Kat Berger, and I love porn."
Now, that should be interesting...
oh yeah I think it's gonna be very interesting...
gotta love this gif...
and it was interesting, as I love the way this author writes, and I love the way she developes the story and builds the characters through it, but I liked it, i didn't love it.
so it was funny, sweet, and it had a nice follow up from "friends to lovers" story but I had a feeling that some things were left unsaid and I just kinda felt that smth was missing.
Loved Kat/Katherine Berger/Booger, and her friends, they were a crazy bunch and totally unpredictable combination to survive the tension they spread around, adding the hot guy, Tristan King/Robby Lingus/Magellan that had a, not so common, profession to the mix, you get a ride, literally and figuratively, where you end up questioning the things you took for granted and things you thought that mattered but never actually been classified as crucial in perceiving someone as a whole person...it about accepting, it about the challenge in perception of life and what makes it whole.
Interesting and intelligent, funny read.
and NOW, since I have read ALL of the Mariana Zapata's books, I can solemnly declare that KULTI is definitely my ALL time favorite...
July 30, 2021
really thought this had potential in the beginning, but, dare i say it, this book kinda... "problematic".
the main character is just constantly full of bullshit. like it's fine that she is at a porn convention cause sex positivity etc etc but other people being there? disgusting, honestly how dare they, true cringe. she just calls everyone (and with everyone i mean every other woman) bitch, whore and/or slut. and what for? for having the audacity for liking the same pornstars she does??? make it make sense. apparently she's the only one allowed to like porn but that's probably because it's kinda hard to slut-shame yourself so... anyway, girl on girl hate - not cute, get off your high horse and stop with the hypocrisy.
she also slut-shames women IN porn, but she also slut-shames men in porn so it's okay, i guess???
i mean, she goes to a porn convention and she is pretty open about masturbating to her fav pornstars but when she finds out that Tristan does porn she's suddenly like "yuck". so you enjoy the service but downgrade the people who provide it? cool.
she's constantly thinking about how awesome Tristan is but sadly he does porn which is honestly kinda disgusting and basically cheating, excuse me madame, it's a job. we respect sex workers here, not whatever you have going on.
as aforementioned she also thinks that women who do porn are "whores" and disgusting and degrades them at any opportunity that presents itself. but her friend zoe, who also does porn, is fine. because she does girl on girl stuff. which is not the same thing. one time she says
"Zoe was just with women while Tristan used his dick to fuck girls."
WHERE IS THE FUCKING DIFFERENCE?????????
look, i'm not asking her to shame zoe as well, i just want her to stop with her double standards.
kat isn't alone in this though, her friend's treatment of sexworkers is also appalling. when nicole meets her favourite pornstar she grabs his butt, asks him to sign her ass and says something inappropriate to him. you know what we call that nicole? sexual harrasment. i thought you're a lawyer? what do they teach in law school? apparently nothing.
but it's fine cause nicole and callum fall in love so we're cool. (not)
casual transphobia and homophobia is also not fun and quirky. kat says about nicole
"she had balls which is why we suggested she get a sex change, because she was already more man than any man could ever be"
uhu, yeah, cool. let's just ignore the struggles trans people go through and also just wildly gender stereotype because there is just no way a woman can be assertive and dominant.
nicole also apparently slept with gay men because... tbh, i couldn't quite figure that out. because of her "big balls" i guess?? idk.
i was originally going to give this 2 stars because i was kinda entertained at the beginning but now i'm thinking about how gross it is so, 1 star.
Edit: raising my rating on this because 1 star implies I hated it as much as I hate CH or PD books, which is just simply not true.
the main character is just constantly full of bullshit. like it's fine that she is at a porn convention cause sex positivity etc etc but other people being there? disgusting, honestly how dare they, true cringe. she just calls everyone (and with everyone i mean every other woman) bitch, whore and/or slut. and what for? for having the audacity for liking the same pornstars she does??? make it make sense. apparently she's the only one allowed to like porn but that's probably because it's kinda hard to slut-shame yourself so... anyway, girl on girl hate - not cute, get off your high horse and stop with the hypocrisy.
she also slut-shames women IN porn, but she also slut-shames men in porn so it's okay, i guess???
i mean, she goes to a porn convention and she is pretty open about masturbating to her fav pornstars but when she finds out that Tristan does porn she's suddenly like "yuck". so you enjoy the service but downgrade the people who provide it? cool.
she's constantly thinking about how awesome Tristan is but sadly he does porn which is honestly kinda disgusting and basically cheating, excuse me madame, it's a job. we respect sex workers here, not whatever you have going on.
as aforementioned she also thinks that women who do porn are "whores" and disgusting and degrades them at any opportunity that presents itself. but her friend zoe, who also does porn, is fine. because she does girl on girl stuff. which is not the same thing. one time she says
"Zoe was just with women while Tristan used his dick to fuck girls."
WHERE IS THE FUCKING DIFFERENCE?????????
look, i'm not asking her to shame zoe as well, i just want her to stop with her double standards.
kat isn't alone in this though, her friend's treatment of sexworkers is also appalling. when nicole meets her favourite pornstar she grabs his butt, asks him to sign her ass and says something inappropriate to him. you know what we call that nicole? sexual harrasment. i thought you're a lawyer? what do they teach in law school? apparently nothing.
but it's fine cause nicole and callum fall in love so we're cool. (not)
casual transphobia and homophobia is also not fun and quirky. kat says about nicole
"she had balls which is why we suggested she get a sex change, because she was already more man than any man could ever be"
uhu, yeah, cool. let's just ignore the struggles trans people go through and also just wildly gender stereotype because there is just no way a woman can be assertive and dominant.
nicole also apparently slept with gay men because... tbh, i couldn't quite figure that out. because of her "big balls" i guess?? idk.
i was originally going to give this 2 stars because i was kinda entertained at the beginning but now i'm thinking about how gross it is so, 1 star.
Edit: raising my rating on this because 1 star implies I hated it as much as I hate CH or PD books, which is just simply not true.
February 26, 2016
This was an oke read for me. It was funny, but unfortunately, after reading Kulti, it kind of fell flat for me. I was hoping for another awesome heroine, and eventhough this heroine wasn't too bad, she still managed to annoy me. She was nowhere near the awesomeness that was Salome :(
There were a few things that bothered me.
This is about three girlfriends visiting a porn convention. Well, two girls really because one of the friends, Zoë, is there because she actually is a girl on girl pornstar. Kat, our heroine, is a teacher and a bit more shy than her friends about being at the convention, but she loves watching porn and she wants a signature from her favorite pornstar. Nikki, the other girl, is NOT so shy. She is loudmouthed and opinionated...not that there is something wrong with that.
Nikki really wants to get an autograph from her favorite pornstar Callum and she even tries to seduce him...which she succeeds at !!
Kat while hanging around meets a really nice guy. They hit it off immediately. They have the same kind of humor and Kat thinks he's really hot. They bump into each other a couple of times, while she is at this convention. She is starting to get a bit interested in him and when it's time to leave, she bumpy into him one last time....only this time he's behind a booth, sighning shit, because he himself is a well known porn star. Kat is hurt, because he didn't tel her and also because she really likes him, but can't imagine ever wanting to be with a pornstar...which I totally understand. Apparently she needn't worry because she asks her to be her friend. Turns out having girlfriends while doing porn isn't really easy...duh
Turns out Tristan (porn name Robbie Lingus) is a friends of Callum. Since Callum is now all of a sudden dating her best friend Nikki, she is gonna see more of him anyways, so she agrees. They build a very nice and strong friendship, but Kat is still feeling all shorts of things she shouldn't.
Now, I didn't really know how I felt about the heroine. She likes the hero, but she doesn't want to be with someone, who goes off boning other women every weekend....I totally got that. But then she is upset, because he treats her like a friend/sister and nothing more and she wants him to make a pass at her ? Make up your mind woman..shit like that pisses me off. The " I want him, but I shouldn't because he's no good for me" bullshit !!
What also got to me, was the fact that her friend Nikki, met her favorite pornstar Callum at the convention, had sex with him for 4 days straight and then after 3 weeks, they decided to get married. Really? That was just so unbelievable and stupid !! This Nikki was supposed to be this smart ass lawyer...yeah to me she just sounded stupid. She was planning her freaking wedding while he was off, fucking other women for his movies. It was the last time, but still....ewwwww
Another thing that bothered me was the fact that all the pornstar women (except for Zoë, because she was only with other women) were called sluts and whores. Why ?? It was oke for the men to be doing porn and for the girls to watch all sorts of pornmovies, but the girls in those movies were sluts. Without those women, there wouldn't be any freaking movies...they were just doing there job, just like the men were !!
When Tristan and Kat finally get together, after a freaking long time, not much else happens. The book could have ended right there. I started to get a bit bored and started skimming some sappy stuff. The sex between Tristan and Kat was oke, but nothing fantastic. The first time, they do have sex, she lets him know not to weer a condom, because he always used one while doing porn and she wanted to be special and different....omg, I just couldn't believe that shit !! I think I was a bit grossed out by this time, so the whole sex between them didn't do much for me.
I was a bit dissapointed by this one, Kulti was such an awesome book and I had such high hoped :(
I do however want to say that I really like this authors writing style !! Because of that, I still enjoyed reading this one and there were some really funny parts. For this reason I am still giving this book 3 stars. I think maybe I should just stay away from pornstar themed books. Except for Amy Lanes books, I never seem to like them much.
So 3 stars from me
There were a few things that bothered me.
This is about three girlfriends visiting a porn convention. Well, two girls really because one of the friends, Zoë, is there because she actually is a girl on girl pornstar. Kat, our heroine, is a teacher and a bit more shy than her friends about being at the convention, but she loves watching porn and she wants a signature from her favorite pornstar. Nikki, the other girl, is NOT so shy. She is loudmouthed and opinionated...not that there is something wrong with that.
Nikki really wants to get an autograph from her favorite pornstar Callum and she even tries to seduce him...which she succeeds at !!
Kat while hanging around meets a really nice guy. They hit it off immediately. They have the same kind of humor and Kat thinks he's really hot. They bump into each other a couple of times, while she is at this convention. She is starting to get a bit interested in him and when it's time to leave, she bumpy into him one last time....only this time he's behind a booth, sighning shit, because he himself is a well known porn star. Kat is hurt, because he didn't tel her and also because she really likes him, but can't imagine ever wanting to be with a pornstar...which I totally understand. Apparently she needn't worry because she asks her to be her friend. Turns out having girlfriends while doing porn isn't really easy...duh
Turns out Tristan (porn name Robbie Lingus) is a friends of Callum. Since Callum is now all of a sudden dating her best friend Nikki, she is gonna see more of him anyways, so she agrees. They build a very nice and strong friendship, but Kat is still feeling all shorts of things she shouldn't.
Now, I didn't really know how I felt about the heroine. She likes the hero, but she doesn't want to be with someone, who goes off boning other women every weekend....I totally got that. But then she is upset, because he treats her like a friend/sister and nothing more and she wants him to make a pass at her ? Make up your mind woman..shit like that pisses me off. The " I want him, but I shouldn't because he's no good for me" bullshit !!
What also got to me, was the fact that her friend Nikki, met her favorite pornstar Callum at the convention, had sex with him for 4 days straight and then after 3 weeks, they decided to get married. Really? That was just so unbelievable and stupid !! This Nikki was supposed to be this smart ass lawyer...yeah to me she just sounded stupid. She was planning her freaking wedding while he was off, fucking other women for his movies. It was the last time, but still....ewwwww
Another thing that bothered me was the fact that all the pornstar women (except for Zoë, because she was only with other women) were called sluts and whores. Why ?? It was oke for the men to be doing porn and for the girls to watch all sorts of pornmovies, but the girls in those movies were sluts. Without those women, there wouldn't be any freaking movies...they were just doing there job, just like the men were !!
When Tristan and Kat finally get together, after a freaking long time, not much else happens. The book could have ended right there. I started to get a bit bored and started skimming some sappy stuff. The sex between Tristan and Kat was oke, but nothing fantastic. The first time, they do have sex, she lets him know not to weer a condom, because he always used one while doing porn and she wanted to be special and different....omg, I just couldn't believe that shit !! I think I was a bit grossed out by this time, so the whole sex between them didn't do much for me.
I was a bit dissapointed by this one, Kulti was such an awesome book and I had such high hoped :(
I do however want to say that I really like this authors writing style !! Because of that, I still enjoyed reading this one and there were some really funny parts. For this reason I am still giving this book 3 stars. I think maybe I should just stay away from pornstar themed books. Except for Amy Lanes books, I never seem to like them much.
So 3 stars from me
April 22, 2019
"No one I'd ever met made me feel a fraction of what he did. No one"
Lingus is another Mariana Zapata winning read! Katherine Berger, an elementary teacher, has always lived vicariously through her adventurous friends. When she tags along to a porn convention, she meets the man that would become the love of her life! Tristan and Kat become instant friends and when Kat discovers that Tristan is actually a famous porn star known as Robby Lingus, she is completely shocked! Although Tristan has a unique occupation, he and Kat maintain a close friendship. As Kat begins to form feelings for Tristan, she worries that he will never feel the same. As the balance between maintaining their friendship and Tristan maintaining his career status continue to battle, the stakes are high for Kat and Tristan to find their HEA!
"I've loved you way longer than you've loved me."Lingus is another slow burn read with quirky characters and a truly unique plot. I thoroughly enjoyed the transformation these characters made from friendship to romance. The connection between them was full of passion and the dialogue was full of Zapata humor and wit.
"I'd do this all over again a hundred times as long as I met you in the end.”Overall, I highly recommend Lingus to anyone who enjoys a slow burn contemporary romance! Once again, Mariana Zapata has done it again. I thoroughly enjoy her writing and cannot wait for more!
For more reviews/reveals/giveaways visit:
September 16, 2021
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Possibly the cutest meetcute in existence. Nothing says hello stranger like picking your underwear out if your ass and the fact that he dubbed her “gold digger “ from that moment on made it even better.
Imagine Kat’s surprise when she finds out her new buddy is a porn star but did I mention they met a porn convention? So yeah, maybe not that big of a surprise.
The fact that he went and bought her new underwear and pads after she suddenly started her period is adorable. Even better that he got her soda, juice and cookies because that’s what they give you when you donate blood. He’s too stinking cute not to say anything about the reason he’s a successful porn star.
Kat is a far better, more patient woman then I. I could never keep myself from watching his movies, my curiosity will always get the best of me which is why I should never date a porn star. That shit would drive me insane with jealousy.
But then everything he did for her, the way he makes her feel, his adorable personality, not to mention the fact that he’s drop dead gorgeous and known for a very large appendage. Yeah, maybe I could overlook all of that.
Possibly the cutest meetcute in existence. Nothing says hello stranger like picking your underwear out if your ass and the fact that he dubbed her “gold digger “ from that moment on made it even better.
Imagine Kat’s surprise when she finds out her new buddy is a porn star but did I mention they met a porn convention? So yeah, maybe not that big of a surprise.
The fact that he went and bought her new underwear and pads after she suddenly started her period is adorable. Even better that he got her soda, juice and cookies because that’s what they give you when you donate blood. He’s too stinking cute not to say anything about the reason he’s a successful porn star.
Kat is a far better, more patient woman then I. I could never keep myself from watching his movies, my curiosity will always get the best of me which is why I should never date a porn star. That shit would drive me insane with jealousy.
But then everything he did for her, the way he makes her feel, his adorable personality, not to mention the fact that he’s drop dead gorgeous and known for a very large appendage. Yeah, maybe I could overlook all of that.
July 23, 2016
This book was a nice surprise. I never thought I would think a relationship could be so incredibly sweet when one of the couples is a pornstar. It was very well written and handled in such a good way that I didn't hate Tristan at all, even though he was a pornstar. I did feel bad for Kat in the beginning but the ending was one of the sweetest I've read. To top it off, this book was very funny. I enjoyed the personalities of Tristan, Kat and their friends. Amazingly, there was no cheating! Really great read!
April 14, 2023
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 humour. 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.
Re-read: February 15-17, 2018
Aww, what a great re-read.
It had been a couple of years since I picked this book up, so it was like reading this story for the first time.
Tristan and Katherine are still a couple of my favourite fictional characters.
Mariana has a wonderful talent for creating unique characters who normally wouldn't meet in any other circumstance other than the one that she's set up in her book.
I loved where and how these two characters met, and how they automatically "clicked".
Some people you meet and you just know there's something special there, and that was the case for Tristan and Kat.
I had a wonderful time reading how Tristan and Kat went from being friends- to best friends- to be each other's "most favourite person in the world".
The scenes, secondary characters, and dialogue were well written, engaging, and well developed.
If you're looking for a good story that is a little different with amazing characters and fantastic bantering, then I highly recommend this book for you.
Re-read: March 6-7, 2016
After rereading this story, I've re-rated it to a 5 star rating.
I enjoyed this story, even more, the second time.
I had forgotten how quirky Katherine (Kat) and Tristen were together, and how much I enjoyed their bantering and humour.
Loved it!
FYI
Here is the link to read the Outtakes: Tristen's POV from Mariana's website :)
http://www.marianazapata.com/lingus-o...
First read: April 2-3, 2015
4.5 Stars!
This story was funny, sassy, and bold.
I really like the writing, story, and the colourful, unique characters.
Tristan and Katherine were funny as hell together!
From the first time they lay eyes on one another, there is automatic chemistry and a connection.
Their journey from acquaintance to friendship, and from friendship to lovers was amazing to read.
So many times I laughed out loud at their teasing, bantering and the situations they were in.
When they finally accepted (gave into) their attraction to one another, story went from being fun to sizzlin'!
This story is a little different from what you'd normally read in contemporary romance with funny, bold unique characters, and I highly recommend this book.
Mariana Zapata has become one of my favourite author's!
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 humour. 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.
Re-read: February 15-17, 2018
Aww, what a great re-read.
It had been a couple of years since I picked this book up, so it was like reading this story for the first time.
Tristan and Katherine are still a couple of my favourite fictional characters.
Mariana has a wonderful talent for creating unique characters who normally wouldn't meet in any other circumstance other than the one that she's set up in her book.
I loved where and how these two characters met, and how they automatically "clicked".
Some people you meet and you just know there's something special there, and that was the case for Tristan and Kat.
I had a wonderful time reading how Tristan and Kat went from being friends- to best friends- to be each other's "most favourite person in the world".
The scenes, secondary characters, and dialogue were well written, engaging, and well developed.
If you're looking for a good story that is a little different with amazing characters and fantastic bantering, then I highly recommend this book for you.
Re-read: March 6-7, 2016
After rereading this story, I've re-rated it to a 5 star rating.
I enjoyed this story, even more, the second time.
I had forgotten how quirky Katherine (Kat) and Tristen were together, and how much I enjoyed their bantering and humour.
Loved it!
FYI
Here is the link to read the Outtakes: Tristen's POV from Mariana's website :)
http://www.marianazapata.com/lingus-o...
First read: April 2-3, 2015
4.5 Stars!
This story was funny, sassy, and bold.
I really like the writing, story, and the colourful, unique characters.
Tristan and Katherine were funny as hell together!
From the first time they lay eyes on one another, there is automatic chemistry and a connection.
Their journey from acquaintance to friendship, and from friendship to lovers was amazing to read.
So many times I laughed out loud at their teasing, bantering and the situations they were in.
When they finally accepted (gave into) their attraction to one another, story went from being fun to sizzlin'!
This story is a little different from what you'd normally read in contemporary romance with funny, bold unique characters, and I highly recommend this book.
Mariana Zapata has become one of my favourite author's!
March 23, 2017
Arghhh! I loved this one! Definitely my favourite Mariana Zapata book so far ❤️❤️
July 2, 2017
Even though I've only read one (now two) books by Mariana Zapata, she has easily become one of my favorite authors. While I was definitely skeptical going into this one based on the premise, I was excited to dive in!
The last place Kat Berger expected to find herself was at a porn convention. And that was definitely the last place Kat thought she would meet a nice guy she could see herself falling for. But as she is put in the friend zone with a man who is not only beautiful on the outside but on the inside too, Kat doesn't know if she should just take what she can get or put herself first and go after what she wants.
Oh boy, this book was so much fun. SO MUCH FUN. I was laughing out loud from the moment that Kat and Tristan met and loved how open and honest they were with each other. They literally became best friends and I loved watching them grow closer and closer. Mariana Zapata is the queen of slow burn romances, so it's no surprise that this one was definitely a slow burn. Of course, Kat was without-a-doubt attracted to Tristan and wanted so much more, but she didn't want to ruin the amazing friendship they had by risking telling him her true feelings.
Not only was I completely fangirling over the relationship between Tristan and Kat, I also loved Kat's core group of friends and their banter. Zoey and Nikki were so much fun and the best of friends for Kat to have. Their monthly bowling dates were a hoot and I loved how Kat started to invite Tristan to everything and develop a friendship with him just like she had with her other friends. And Yoda was THE BEST CHARACTER. Seriously, you'll understand when you read this book!
Overall, this was another hit from Mariana Zapata. While the premise was definitely unique and a little intimidating (I, for one, have never read a book that starts out at a porn convention), the friendships and the growth of the relationship with the main couple was addicting and utterly lovable. If you haven't read anything from Mariana Zapata, you HAVE to!
The last place Kat Berger expected to find herself was at a porn convention. And that was definitely the last place Kat thought she would meet a nice guy she could see herself falling for. But as she is put in the friend zone with a man who is not only beautiful on the outside but on the inside too, Kat doesn't know if she should just take what she can get or put herself first and go after what she wants.
Oh boy, this book was so much fun. SO MUCH FUN. I was laughing out loud from the moment that Kat and Tristan met and loved how open and honest they were with each other. They literally became best friends and I loved watching them grow closer and closer. Mariana Zapata is the queen of slow burn romances, so it's no surprise that this one was definitely a slow burn. Of course, Kat was without-a-doubt attracted to Tristan and wanted so much more, but she didn't want to ruin the amazing friendship they had by risking telling him her true feelings.
Not only was I completely fangirling over the relationship between Tristan and Kat, I also loved Kat's core group of friends and their banter. Zoey and Nikki were so much fun and the best of friends for Kat to have. Their monthly bowling dates were a hoot and I loved how Kat started to invite Tristan to everything and develop a friendship with him just like she had with her other friends. And Yoda was THE BEST CHARACTER. Seriously, you'll understand when you read this book!
Overall, this was another hit from Mariana Zapata. While the premise was definitely unique and a little intimidating (I, for one, have never read a book that starts out at a porn convention), the friendships and the growth of the relationship with the main couple was addicting and utterly lovable. If you haven't read anything from Mariana Zapata, you HAVE to!
November 30, 2021
3.5⭐
Disclaimer: I'm only rating it higher based on how much I enjoyed it.
The heroine is problematic. Like Mariana woke up and decided that let's give our audience a full blown intrusive thoughts experience and we end up with this mess.
As much as Katherine was problematic, Tristan made up for it. I love Tristan. Their banters were so good! Somehow, I liked this better than The Wall Of Winnipeg And Me. I know, I know, sue me but TWOWAM heavily lacks intimacy.
Disclaimer: I'm only rating it higher based on how much I enjoyed it.
The heroine is problematic. Like Mariana woke up and decided that let's give our audience a full blown intrusive thoughts experience and we end up with this mess.
As much as Katherine was problematic, Tristan made up for it. I love Tristan. Their banters were so good! Somehow, I liked this better than The Wall Of Winnipeg And Me. I know, I know, sue me but TWOWAM heavily lacks intimacy.
April 5, 2017
I have never believed in Santa Claus, and the Tooth Fairy was highly suspect as a child. However, the idea of a fairy godmother, while not remotely realistic, has always appealed to me. Mariana Zapata is like a literary fairy godmother, able to transform the deepest of book slumps into joy simply with strokes on a keyboard. I was in a book Funk with a capital “F” after reading my last book. Zapata worked her magic with Lingus, though, and I couldn’t be more grateful.
Kat and Tristan meet at a porn convention—as people do—and her quirkiness immediately appeals to Tristan. Despite some unexpected revelations, the two hit it off and a strong friendship forms. Unfortunately, Kat’s physical attraction to Tristan seems to be one sided.
Truthfully, the last thing Kat needs is one more friend. She already has three crazy, inappropriate, hysterical, and faithful best friends. Their interactions really keep the story moving. However, there’s something about her blossoming friendship with Tristan that is even more special in many ways.
An important issue develops that Kat keeps saying she and Tristan need to talk about—later. Later never comes, and while the situation gets resolved it’s hard to imagine why they wouldn’t sit down and have an adult conversation. Still, I was happy enough with the resolution.
The slow build of their relationship is phenomenal, making this a highly enjoyable friends to lovers romance. It’s not just laughs and happy sighs though. The story gets downright naughty in places. Lingus is exceptionally hilarious, sexy, and highly entertaining.
I listened to the audio book featuring narration by Callie Dalton who is always amazing. She definitely lives up to my expectations here.
Recommended for fans of:
Porn
Friends to lovers romance
Zany best friends
Romantic comedy
Unrequited love
Kat and Tristan meet at a porn convention—as people do—and her quirkiness immediately appeals to Tristan. Despite some unexpected revelations, the two hit it off and a strong friendship forms. Unfortunately, Kat’s physical attraction to Tristan seems to be one sided.
Truthfully, the last thing Kat needs is one more friend. She already has three crazy, inappropriate, hysterical, and faithful best friends. Their interactions really keep the story moving. However, there’s something about her blossoming friendship with Tristan that is even more special in many ways.
An important issue develops that Kat keeps saying she and Tristan need to talk about—later. Later never comes, and while the situation gets resolved it’s hard to imagine why they wouldn’t sit down and have an adult conversation. Still, I was happy enough with the resolution.
The slow build of their relationship is phenomenal, making this a highly enjoyable friends to lovers romance. It’s not just laughs and happy sighs though. The story gets downright naughty in places. Lingus is exceptionally hilarious, sexy, and highly entertaining.
I listened to the audio book featuring narration by Callie Dalton who is always amazing. She definitely lives up to my expectations here.
Recommended for fans of:
Porn
Friends to lovers romance
Zany best friends
Romantic comedy
Unrequited love
April 8, 2018
Laughed my ass off. Unconventionally terrific and re-read worthy. Straight to my favorites list.
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