Reviews with content warning for Acephobia/Arophobia - Role Playing

I really enjoyed this - the 45+ main characters, the queer rep (ace and bi), the gaming and nerd culture, the way that Maggie and Aiden fell for each other. It was so sweet and perfect. What I did not love was the really toxic families, how long that dragged on, and hthe horrible things they said. I know it’s realistic but it’s also super traumatic and I wish there was less of it.

Overall a great read.

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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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sdupont's review against another edition

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emotional 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

3.75

This book is a bit of a slow burn much like the romance between Maggie and Aiden. It starts off with a slow pace but once the characters meet IRL the pacing and story picks up. Aiden is a sweetheart, I just wanted to give him a hug and defend him just like Maggie did. Maggie is a bad bitch and I just loved how self assured she was. Aiden’s family was the worst and Deb was annoying af, they served their purpose in the plot but their page count was suffering. You definitely don’t need to be a gamer to enjoy this one. I recommend it for someone looking for a meaningful bond between characters in their 50’s.

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bibliomania_express's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Role Playing by Cathy Yardley is a fierce and sweet romance that features main characters in their late foeties/early fifties, standing up for yourself (and others), asexual and bisexual rep, and gaming adults.

I absolutely loved Maggie and Aiden and their slow-burn romance. Maggie deals with social anxiety and introversion, but she's also fierce and unafraid to be herself. She tells off so many people in this book and I absolutely loved it. Especially the scene at the wedding. And Aiden - he's so kind and thoughtful, but had been shit on by his family for so long. He tries to do well by his horrid, homophobic mother, and I was cheering for him as he learned to be more assertive.

This book also shows how much knowledge can help people struggling with their identities. Aiden is on the ace spectrum, but he has frequently felt like something is wrong with him since he didn't have the label. Yardley does a fantastic job showing how much having the language to speak about himself means to Aiden, even in his early fifties.

This book has been on my radar for a while now, so I'm glad I finally picked it up.

Some content warnings for homophobia/biphobia/acephobia (all challenged by the text), misogyny (also challenged), discussions of hospice care and elder care.

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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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ravenk28's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted 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

4.0

Who knew a story about two people finding each other through their love of video games would be so sweet.

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the_vegan_bookworm's review

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emotional funny lighthearted 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? No

4.0

A charming, fun read! It was a fresh take on an enjoyable premise with characters who don't need to change to be loved. I love a prickly FMC who stays prickly and is appreciated for who she is!

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petite_madeline's review against another edition

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funny hopeful lighthearted 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

3.75

Read this book if you like:

Black cat / Golden retriever pairings
Queer representation (Bi/demi)
Mature characters
Friends-to-lovers
Dual POV

Skip this book if you don't like:

Slow Burn (like really slow)
Pop culture references
Third Person narrative
A smidge of spice

I picked this up because I was excited to see a romance between two mature characters (not your usual 20-somethings). AND they're gamers?! Love!
Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was a fun and easy read. I wish there was more romantic tension spread throughout. Most of that delicious tension happened in the last 1/4 of the book. The mutual pining in the beginning and middle just didn't hit the way I usually like it to. Perhaps that made it more realistic? It did allow for a more natural friendship to bloom first.

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