Looking For Group

Starred review from July 4, 2016
In this utterly charming romance between two 19-year-old university students, Hall’s (For Real) convincing worldbuilding invites the reader into an immersive gaming experience (glossary included for the uninitiated). Drew and Kit’s avatars, Orcarella and Solace, meet in a multiplayer online game, Heroes of Legend. In virtual conversations, which allow simultaneous group chat and private asides, Hall captures the sparks, miscommunications, and wide-ranging emotions between the two as they develop a genuine mutual attraction in a simulated realm. For example, when Drew realizes that the feminine Solace’s creator is male: “ whispers: Um, are you okay?.../ To : not really no/ whispers: um... you thought I was a girl, didn’t you?..../ To : don’t want to talk about this.” Accepting that he likes a boy comes easier to Drew than facing the challenges of negotiating their relationship in parallel worlds. Complicated questions include whether they spend time together in person or online, and who they spend time with: Drew’s fellow university students or Kit’s guildmates, whom he knows only through online interactions but considers his closest friends. Hall’s intriguing combination of philosophical contemplation, gaming, and awkward-sweet seduction produces a compelling love story with numerous laugh-out-loud moments and a final act that will thrill any connoisseur of romantic heroes’ groveling apologies. Agent: Courtney Miller-Callihan, Handspun Literary.