Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Role Playing by Cathy Yardley

17 reviews

mels_reading_log's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced
  • 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? It's complicated

5.0

10 out of 10, no notes!

This is a friends to lovers romance where the people in the couple are 50ish year old introverts who met through an online gaming guild. I love a romance novel that gives me a couple that’s not just young, hot and cis! This book is all about accepting yourself and finding your people who will love you no matter what. 

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annahamburger's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25


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amy_in_the_city's review

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emotional funny hopeful medium-paced
  • 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

I loved this book so much! Introverts finding the one person that doesn't drain them is literally my dream! It was funny at times, heartbreaking at others. I liked that it didn't romanticize small towns and acknowledged small towns aren't a good fit for everyone. It also had some LGBTQIA+ representation, with a biromantic demisexual main character. The scene where Maggie tears into Aiden's biphobic relatives was one of the most satisfying things I've ever read, as was seeing Aiden stand up for himself. 

As someone on the ace spectrum, I appreciated that this book had a main character, especially an older character, discovering that they were demisexual. However, the book got some things wrong about asexuality. At one point, Maggie explains that "Ace is also called 'graysexual.'" A quick Google search would have confirmed that those two terms don't mean the same thing and that "graysexual" is actually just one of many different types of asexuality. It's clear from other terms used in explaining asexuality that the author did research various terminology. It just seems like she got confused at some point with a couple of terms, but I wish there had been a sensitivity reader or an editor that could have caught this before it made it into the final book. I also thought Aiden seemed pretty clearly demiromantic as well, but this was never brought up and his demiromantic traits were lumped in with his demisexual traits. Terminology issues aside, I thought the demisexuality was represented well, and Aiden felt authentically demi in how he experienced the world and in how he reacted to learning there was a word for how he was.

Overall, this was a cute romance, and I had a great time reading it!

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callidoralblack's review

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emotional funny lighthearted
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0


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ajalexanderreadsromance's review against another edition

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funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced
  • 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

4.5


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nina_readsbooks's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad tense medium-paced
  • 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


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rickireadss's review against another edition

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5.0

i LOVE maggie and aiden so much. i want to give aiden the biggest f*cking hug because he put up with way too much from his family. ughhhh they all made me so mad, but especially his brother
like how can you just sit there and be so ignorant and oblivious or simply just not give a flying f*ck what your brother is doing and putting up with. like GROW TF UP bro.
but omfg, aiden realizing that he's bi and demi?!?!? MY HEART WAS SO FULL. i think this is great rep, it made me cry, and i just loved how they talked about it together. ALL THE FEELS!!!! i loved the gaming aspect of this a LOT and love that that's what brought them together. i think the miscommunication/misunderstandings of each other's true ages was hilarious! i also just loved that they were older MCs, 48f 50m, and actually acted their ages. hands down a great book and i honestly want to reread it again!

⚠️: biphobia, homophobia, outing, emotional abuse, death of parent (cancer), acephoba/arophobia, racism, cancer, grief, misogyny, gaslighting, bullying, death of parents (car accident), religious bigotry

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kylieqrada's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad medium-paced
  • 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

Pure trope candy for me. Nerdy romance, Asian unlikable female character, demi bi fat MC, older protagonists, low spice. I'm LIVINGGGGGGGGGG

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reign_kaur's review

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challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective relaxing sad medium-paced
  • 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

Oh my goodness, the family drama is on point. So accurate and inspiring. I'm in a similar situation to the main characters and this helped me to confirm I am doing the right thing and to ignore the gaslighting. 

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krystalanddogs's review

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I'm not sure if I actually feel this is 4 or 5 stars but it's so sweet. It's fun to read a story that isn't about 20 somethings and I really liked the journeys of both MCs. Aiden is chest clutchingly sweet and I identify a lot with Maggie. This was just nice. It's been on my shelf for a while and I'm glad I finally picked it up. 

Be aware there is some homophobia/biphobia and ace/aro denying/shaming, as well as some family tension around those facts. Mostly hinted at being in the back story but there is a little bit of direct dialogue. 

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