Conventionally Yours

“Conventionally Yours” by Annabeth Albert (Book 1 of the “True Colors” series) is a new adult gay romance about two tabletop card game gaymers who go from enemies/rivals to lovers over the course of a cross-country road-trip & gaming convention. Straight-laced, serious, neurodiverse Alden & popular, easy-going, hard-working Conrad start as rivals who play the tabletop Odyssey card game together along with a few others at a local game store. They win a trip to a giant Odyssey game convention in Las Vegas & end up traveling alone together by car & slowly realize that they have more in common than they believe. Walls fall down & romance sets in. This was a very cute, sweet romance between two geeky wounded college boys. While I initially found both main characters annoying, this is mostly because the POV switches between the two chapter by chapter & their animosity toward one another was what actually annoyed me. They clearly were just miscommunications & assuming a lot about one another, which of course is realistic. Once they started opening up to one another, I fell for them as they fell for each other. Not a perfect book, but it was cute & sweet & hopeful about love & friendship. Def recommend for anyone who likes gay or queer romances, nerdy soft boys, gaming, &/or road trips. Also made me nostalgic for college. If you liked “Red, White, & Royal Blue,” “Heartstopper,” or “Check, Please!” you’d probably enjoy this. Though it is new adult, more suggestive scenes left enough to the imagination without ever being explicit. I look forward to reading the 2nd book in the series, which features a side character from this book, Jasper. The book also includes very cute comic style art by Lauren Dombrowski & some extra character sketches & info at the end.