A review by rainbowbrarian
The No-Girlfriend Rule by Christen Randall

adventurous emotional 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

 Friends... I want to keyboard mash about this book.  Is that a thing anymore?  Do the kids asdf anymore?  Please, someone tell me!  ;)  Nonsense tangent aside, I need you all to know about this book.  I love so much about it.  This is Hollis Beckworth’s story and I saw so much of my own past in her that it made me FEEL things.

Hollis is trying to find a Swords and Sorcery (Dungeons and Dragons analog) game so that she can have something in common with her boyfriend, Chris, because she feels like they’re growing apart in the year before they all graduate high school and will end up going separate ways.  But Chris’s SnS group has a “No-Girlfriends” rule so she can’t play.
Hollis finds her place in an all girls game and unexpectedly finds an amazing new group of friends.  When her in game character develops a crush on a friend Aini’s character things get a little bit more complicated.  But also so much better.

Favorite Parts - I am a fat person myself and I fell in love with my wife through our characters, in games and online RPG message boards.  We wrote so many love stories through imaginary people before we ever realized that we loved each other and so this storyline hits so close to home in such a wonderful way.  This story is a love letter to anxious geeks who are trying things out through characters and games as a way to learn about themselves in the real world.  

Read This If You - Love DnD, love queer realization moments, remember your own awkward first romances before you knew you were queer, have ever fallen for a handsome bard, or just wanted to, or if you, like me, fell in love with your beloved through games. 
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