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This was a cute romance about two Gen X introverts who meet online while playing a RPG together. Due to assumptions made on each side, they don’t realize they’re talking to someone their own age but they form a friendship regardless while going on quests together with the rest of their guild. Eventually they realize the truth but both are romantically cautious due to their pasts so the friendship continues to grow. ⁣
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I loved Aiden so much. He’s a cinnamon roll good guy who gave up everything to try and take care of his aging parents without much support. He hasn’t had much of a romantic history outside of a few relationships when he was young and I loved the journey he went on to discover why that is (hint: he’s not straight). I love how clearly written and well explored his demisexuality is, a lot of times this is just hinted at or skirted around but it was a major plot point here, integral to his story. ⁣
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Also, he’s described as chunky and PLEASE I am begging you give us more big boy MMCs because I love it. ⁣
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I loved how unapologetically grumpy Maggie was. She was completely out of fucks to give and it was honestly so refreshing to read a character who didn’t care what people thought about her. She was a borderline hermit, leaving her house only when truly necessary and mostly avoiding other people (I can relate). She was also so supportive and accepting of Aiden when not a lot of people in his life were. ⁣
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I really enjoyed this but at times it was a bit too much of a slow burn for me personally because not a lot of tension was being built. Some of the game stuff was also boring for me but I can see that being interesting if you’re into gaming!⁣
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Overall though I thought it was a good story with great representation and it was a great change of pace to read about characters that skewed older than we normally see in romance! ⁣
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I did the audio on this one, I liked the flow but didn’t think either narrator’s accent was a great fit for the characters. The male narrator especially has a southern twang which didn’t fit the MMC who was born and raised in Washington. This isn’t a huge issue but it is enough to pull me out of the book!⁣