Crushing It Google Search

If you were to search “Crushing It” in Google, this is what might show up…

Not really, but these are related to the book!

Looking for a new read? “Crushing It Jen Desmarais” in the search bar reveal the following six results: “young adult romantic fantasy”, “shared hidden magical world”, “cozy romance”, “music and STEM”, “queer and diverse rep”, and “teenage shenanigans”. Under that and the cover in ebook form reads: “How good does this look? Get it here: jeneric-designs.ca/UBL-CrushingIt
Cover art by @pinkpiggy93 on Tumblr and Instagram

Crushing It by Jen Desmarais is available now!

Physical from Canadian indie bookstoresphysical from Indigo, electronic version

Winging It Google Search

If you were to search “Winging It” in Google, this is what might show up…

Not really, but these are related to the book!

Looking for a new read? “Winging It Jen Desmarais” in the search bar reveal the following six results: “young adult romance”, “shared hidden magical worlds”, “portal fantasy”, “music, STEM, and fight training”, “queer and diverse rep”, and “teenage shenanigans”. Under that and the cover in ebook form reads: “How good does this look? Get it here: jeneric-designs.ca/UBL-WingingIt
Winging It by Jen Desmarais is available June 3rd, 2025!
Cover Art by Pinkpiggy93
49th Shelf Crushing It
Indigo Books Crushing It
Archambault Crushing It
Amazon Crushing It
Rakuten Kobo Crushing It
Apple Books Crushing It

Introducing Secondary Characters

In case you weren’t aware, Winging It starts out during a wedding (which is fully portrayed in Monsters! Incidental Wedding Guests) and then the main characters go to Everdome. This book has a humungous cast of characters, and I thought it might be helpful to highlight a few of the secondary characters in both Westmeath and Everdome.

You can find a lot of the important characters from the first half of the book in the Monsters! Dream Casting: Main, Family, Other. Here are some of the missing ones:

Margery Door

Appearance inspired by Reba McEntire

Age: 78

Date of Birth: September 19, 1924

Appearance: Curly red hair with white streaks, brown eyes, mysterious, white

Job: original CEO of Door Technology, now mostly retired, but runs their summer camp

Family: daughter Ellen, 11 other children not mentioned in this book

Todd

Appearance inspired by William Zabka

Age: mid-50s

Appearance: Blondish-brown hair, grey eyes, boy-next-door-grown-up, block-party-Dad, white

Job: anything and everything

Dome: Gaulan

Es’Sem

Appearance inspired by Jessica De Gouw *Note that this character is inspired by a friend, but I couldn’t use her image here!

Age: unknown

Date of Birth: unknown

Appearance: Light brown hair with sun-dyed blond streaks, hazel eyes, extremely physically fit, mysterious, white

Job: training the Queen’s Guard

Dome: Wild Nations

Winging It by Jen Desmarais is available June 3rd, 2025!
Cover Art by Pinkpiggy93
49th Shelf Crushing It
Indigo Books Crushing It
Archambault Crushing It
Amazon Crushing It
Rakuten Kobo Crushing It
Apple Books Crushing It

Please note that Kindle links will be working on May 4! (Barring unforeseen circumstances!)

Pocket Library – Tommy and Carter edition

The Pocket Library template was made by @thebookishanimator_, and I thought it would be fun to make character editions of it! Here are Tommy and Carter’s Pocket Libraries.

Read Tommy and Carter’s books here:

Cover art by @pinkpiggy93 on Tumblr and Instagram

Crushing It by Jen Desmarais is available now!

Physical from Canadian indie bookstoresphysical from Indigo, electronic version

Winging It by Jen Desmarais is available June 3rd, 2025!
Cover Art by Pinkpiggy93
49th Shelf Crushing It
Indigo Books Crushing It
Archambault Crushing It
Amazon Crushing It
Rakuten Kobo Crushing It
Apple Books Crushing It

Pictogram of the Tropes in Winging It

Image showing the rating for the tropes in Winging It. Coming of Age Romance, Teenage shenanigans, and kissing are all about 90%, Monsters is about 75%, and Music is about 60%. At the bottom, there’s a “Vibes”, which has an image from the movie Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017).
Winging It by Jen Desmarais is available June 3rd, 2025!
Cover Art by Pinkpiggy93
49th Shelf Crushing It
Indigo Books Crushing It
Archambault Crushing It
Amazon Crushing It
Rakuten Kobo Crushing It
Apple Books Crushing It

Our tropes (2025 Books)

The tropes we use in Winging It and The Copper Tarnish:

No angst romance, hidden magical world, young adult, portal fantasy, detailed worldbuilding, dual POV, queer, STEM & music
Creature-feature, Sci-Fantasy, young adult, Canadian Gothic, detailed worldbuilding, 1st person POV, queer, snark & coffee
Winging It by Jen Desmarais is available June 3rd, 2025!
Cover Art by Pinkpiggy93
49th Shelf Crushing It
Indigo Books Crushing It
Archambault Crushing It
Amazon Crushing It
Rakuten Kobo Crushing It
Apple Books Crushing It
The Copper Tarnish by Éric Desmarais available June 3rd, 2025.

Similar books to Winging it

@jendesmaraisauthor

“Winging It” is a queer YA portal fantasy romance. A wedding and a summer camp that Tommy and Carter are never going to forget. The only way they, and their relationship, can survive is if they start Winging It! Cover artist: @pinkpiggy93 Publisher: @PressesRenaissancePress Universal book link: https://www.jeneric-designs.ca/UBL-WingingIt #WingingIt #original #pinkpiggy93 #artist #book #YA 2SLGBTQ+ #LowStakes #queer #romance #STEM #music #JenDesmarais #author #PressesRenaissancePress #Canadian #booktok

♬ Walking Around – Instrumental Version – Eldar Kedem
“Winging It” is a queer YA portal fantasy romance.
A wedding and a summer camp that Tommy and Carter are never going to forget.
The only way they, and their relationship, can survive is if they start Winging It!

Cover artist: @pinkpiggy93
Publisher: Renaissance Press

Universal book link: https://www.jeneric-designs.ca/UBL-WingingIt

#WingingIt #original #pinkpiggy93 #artist #book #YA #2SLGBTQ+ #LowStakes #queer #romance #STEM #music #JenDesmarais #author #PressesRenaissancePress #Canadian #booktok
Winging It by Jen Desmarais is available June 3rd, 2025!
Cover Art by Pinkpiggy93
49th Shelf Crushing It
Indigo Books Crushing It
Archambault Crushing It
Amazon Crushing It
Rakuten Kobo Crushing It
Apple Books Crushing It

Tropes of “Winging It”

@jendesmaraisauthor

“Winging It” is a queer YA portal fantasy romance. A wedding and a summer camp that Tommy and Carter are never going to forget. The only way they, and their relationship, can survive is if they start Winging It! Cover artist: @pinkpiggy93 Universal book link: https://www.jeneric-designs.ca/UBL-WingingIt WingingIt original pinkpiggy93 artist book YA 2SLGBTQ+ LowStakes queer romance STEM music JenDesmarais author PressesRenaissancePress Canadian booktok

♬ Powerful songs like action movie music – Tansa
Every book utilizes tropes, even if it’s to subvert them, and Winging It is no exception. This book covers: Queer, Young Adult, STEM & music, portal fantasy, Hidden magical world, Dual POV, No angst romance, and Detailed worldbuilding.
Winging It by Jen Desmarais is available June 3rd, 2025!
Cover Art by Pinkpiggy93
49th Shelf Crushing It
Indigo Books Crushing It
Archambault Crushing It
Amazon Crushing It
Rakuten Kobo Crushing It
Apple Books Crushing It

Winging It puzzle

There’s this site that allows for any picture to be transformed into a digital puzzle. For free. And you can play for free.

I used it for the cover of Crushing It. See that puzzle here.

And now, here is the puzzle for Winging It!

Winging It by Jen Desmarais is available June 3rd, 2025!
Cover Art by Pinkpiggy93
49th Shelf Crushing It
Indigo Books Crushing It
Archambault Crushing It
Amazon Crushing It
Rakuten Kobo Crushing It
Apple Books Crushing It

Winging It Dreamcasting – Protagonists

You’ve already met 3/4 of the main characters in Crushing It (here and here). The problem is, those actors have grown up. I still think they’re the perfect dreamcasting, though, and it got me thinking: People don’t like it when the movie doesn’t match the book. So why not write the movie post-Lucky in Love trilogy? It would be set when they’re in university, in Westmeath, and I think it would be super fun.

Tommy Fairfield

Maxwell Jenkins 2021 (high school/book age)
Maxwell Jenkins 2025 (university/movie age)

Age in Winging It: 15

Date of Birth: May 11, 1988

Appearance: Short blond hair, green eyes, tall, white

Grade: tail end of grade 9

Favourite class: Math or Science or Music

Parents: Lilah and Gerard Fairfield live on a farm in Parry Sound, Ontario

Siblings: Older brother Phillip, married to Sarah and has one son, Arthur (almost 2 years old). Twin older sisters Eliza and MacKenzie. Older sister Kennedy, engaged to Jason Johnson (gets married in this book) and lives in Westmeath (seen here).

More information: human, plays guitar

Carter Batudev

Max Torina 2021 (high school/book age)
Max Torina 2024 (university/movie age)

Age in Winging It: 15

Date of Birth: March 5, 1988

Appearance: Curly brown hair, grey eyes, tall, bronze skin

Grade: tail end of grade 9

Favourite class: Science and Drama

Parents: Sam and William Batudev own a bakery in Westmeath, Ontario

More information: Aetherborn rock giant, marital artist black belt first degree

Elyse Garrido

Meesha Garbett 2023 (high school/book age)
Meesha Garbett 2025 (older high school age – she’s younger than Maxwell and Max because I picked her two years after I picked them!)

Age in Winging It15

Appearance: Wavy brown hair, blue eyes, short, tan skin

Grade: tail end of grade 9

Favourite class: Math and Dance

Siblings: Older sister Rachel (seen here)

More information: Aetherborn succubus, dancer

Greg Finch

Casey West Simpson 2020
(high school/book age)
Casey West Simpson 2025 (university/movie age)

Age in Winging It15

Appearance: Blond cropped hair, brown eyes, tall, white, muscular

Grade: tail end of grade 9

Favourite class: Science and Gym

Family: Dad

More information: Blue Blood gang member, boxing champion