Jasper
Quigley is known for moonlighting on a popular gaming blog, but he's
eager to stop playing the sidekick. The last thing he wants is to help
out Milo and dredge up feelings he'd rather forget. But helping Milo
comes with some perks, including getting his help running a cosplay
event at the local children's hospital. All that forced proximity was
not supposed to come with kissing, and definitely not falling in love... (Pub Date: Jul 06 2021)
Having loved Conventionally Yours, I was dying to get my hands on the number two in the series, even though second books are rarely actually good. But this one was!
Milo and Jasper were childhood friends who drifted apart when Milo defected to the jock crowd, standing by the same people who bullied Jasper. Many years later, they meet again because Jasper might be the only person who can and is willing to help Milo find very rare cards he'd lost from his older brother's collection. The quest will do more than cure the wounds they bear.
As expected, this isn't on the same level as Conventionally Yours, but it comes close enough. You should also note it can be read as a standalone, even more than a lot of series of this type. If I didn't already know it was a series, even having read the first book, it would have taken me half a book to realize it. Also, no spoilers on the previous one—unless you count knowing whether the couple ends together, but then you've probably never read this genre—, if you just want to begin from Out of Character.
The setting is again curious. We have this card game that connects the whole series and I've personally never played any to compare but I'll risk saying it's like Yugioh seems to be to me, and the book is very good with informing us all we need to know without sounding didactic. In this game, there's a rare set, and that's what Milo is looking for. In exchange for Jasper's help, he'll have to cosplay as the good-looking one of the cards and play with the sick kids in the hospital, which isn't a bad deal except for having to wear a toga. Good for us, and I would have loved to see this book turned into a movie!
I love the chemistry between the couple. They're cute together! Jasper is always ready to help everyone, which explains why he ends up helping someone who wasn't good to him in the past. And Milo regrets everything he's become now he may have disappointed his brother one more time, on top of all else. If there's a flaw, I'll say I didn't get the actual conflict. Yes, I read Milo was friends with guys who weren't nice to Jasper, but I didn't feel enough of it in the story, not to the point Jasper's whole family hates Milo's guts. It would have been interesting to me as a reader to taste more of that adversity toward Milo. As it was, I got that he was bitter, but it always sounded more like he missed his old friend a lot than anything. Which works for the development of their relationship, but it should have been more.
Another problem was that the story dragged at times. It wasn't because of the game or anything like it, but we get some fluffy moments that take too long when we're not even halfway, and they made me wonder for also too long whether the book would just be that until we find the next crisis. Some cutting could have made the read more dynamic, in other words.
But as a whole, the book was cute and entertaining. I also liked the steps we took until the end, especially how complete the resolution came to be, and mostly in a realistic manner. I love how Annabeth Albert's stories go deep when it comes to emotions, families, inner conflicts, and this was no exception.
Recommended to any fan of romance.
Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher and to Book Tipsy for this opportunity.
Rating: 4 out of 5.
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