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bookobsessedmommy's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Biphobia, Toxic relationship, and Outing
Moderate: Gaslighting
Minor: Death of parent
nina_readsbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Biphobia and Homophobia
Moderate: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting
Minor: Grief and Abandonment
inkandmuses's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Biphobia, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Outing, and Homophobia
Minor: Sexual harassment and Cancer
cheye13's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
There's a fatal flaw of focusing on the negative at the expense of the positive. All of the side characters are loathesome, creating endless conflict for both leads and edging out the supportive voices in their lives. Maggie's bffs get barely a page each, and Aiden's closest friend isn't even on-page once.
As a simple romance story, it's decent. I appreciate the older characters and the unexpected queerness. I have been begging for a woman!grump/man!sunshine forever, and this does deliver that well enough. But those tropes aren't enough to carry the story for me.
If you're dipping a toe into the romance genre, want to read about older characters, and know next-to-nothing about online communities, you'll probably enjoy this. If you read a lot of romance, have firsthand experience with online communities, and/or picked it up for the RPG angle, you'll likely be disappointed.
Graphic: Outing, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Biphobia
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Body shaming, Death of parent, Classism, Cancer, and Racism
emotional blackmail, broken bone, toxic masculinitybooksandteatime's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Death of parent, Biphobia, and Cancer
beepbeep101's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Outing, Biphobia, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Dementia, Abandonment, Cursing, Homophobia, and Body shaming
Minor: Car accident, Panic attacks/disorders, and Death of parent
rickireadss's review against another edition
5.0
⚠️: biphobia, homophobia, outing, emotional abuse, death of parent (cancer), acephoba/arophobia, racism, cancer, grief, misogyny, gaslighting, bullying, death of parents (car accident), religious bigotry
Graphic: Death of parent, Biphobia, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Racism, and Outing
Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia, Misogyny, Cancer, Grief, and Gaslighting
Minor: Bullying, Religious bigotry, and Car accident
kylieqrada's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Homophobia, Biphobia, and Outing
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Acephobia/Arophobia
Minor: Cancer, Grief, and Racism
reign_kaur's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Biphobia, Homophobia, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Grief, Body shaming, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, and Outing
bookcheshirecat's review against another edition
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
“Some people might think this erratic, possibly a cause for concern. She preferred to think of it as not giving a single, solitary fuck.”
➽ Role Playing was such a sweet, nerdy Romance! I love that the story follows two older adults (48 & 50), as I feel like we don't see that nearly enough in Romance! Maggie and Aiden both meet through an online gaming guild, but have no idea who the other is in real life. Maggie's a bit of a hermit (very relatable), so she's pushed by her son to engage with others. Since she's not really interested in talking with anyone from her small town, she turns to her favorite hobby: gaming. I loved Maggie a lot as she was so relatable and probably how I'll turn out in the future! It's always lovely to see someone older still being passionate about their hobbies. I also appreciated that she has a close bond with her son, who's off to college and kind of like a friend to her. Maggie can be a bit grumpy but is very caring and loyal to her friends. As a fellow introvert, I could relate to her need for personal space!
➽ Aiden is also a sweetheart! He runs the online gaming guild that Maggie joins with a few of his friends. He's moved back home after his father's death to take care of his ailing mother. He had a nursing business with his best friend, so Aiden knows how to be a caretaker. He's got such a big heart, so it hurt to see how manipulative and bigoted his mother was. Aiden was never her favorite and he does everything to take care of her, but his mother constantly berates him. I understood that she struggled with getting older and not wanting to believe it might be time to make changes. However, her behavior was still unacceptable and made me so sad for Aiden, who's left to deal with her. His brother's MIA as he doesn't want to deal with it, so Aiden truly is the main caretaker.
➽ I loved how Aiden and Maggie connected through gaming! Both of them are in desperate need of a friend and they immediately hit it off. Originally, they misjudge each other (Aiden thinks Maggie's an old grandmother, while she thinks he's a college student) but later meet in real life as they live in the same town. I loved how fiercely protective Maggie was of him and how furious she was at his family for treating him so badly. Their relationship was realistic but also very sweet and I was rooting for them the entire time!
Graphic: Homophobia, Biphobia, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Outing
Moderate: Mental illness
Minor: Cancer, Terminal illness, Death, and Sexism