A middling romance with two annoying protagonists

An LGBT romance about fandom and traveling to a convention? I immediately picked this up since it’s right up my usual romance alley but gosh I was so indifferent on this book it’s sad.

Conrad is a student that seems to have it all together, but he’s secretly falling apart at the seams. His (sorta?) enemy is Alden, another intelligent and driven near perfect guy that Conrad often plays games with at a local shop. The two butt heads constantly, but their love of the game unites them.

When they have to spend hours stuck together on a cross-country road trip to a giant convention to participate in a gaming tournament, their hatred for one another begins to fade as they get to know one another better. Although they are starting to get along, they still have to face one another head to head to win the prize both need to improve their lives.

Plot wise, this book has a great set up and premise, execution wise, it’s awfully boring. There’s just not enough in it to be interesting for me. You would expect a new adult romance to have some semblance of steam in it, but what’s included is nothing worth caring about. I usually love LGBT romance and although I’m not a fan of the enemies to lovers trope, I can go with it if the romance builds nicely. It definitely does not in this book. Neither Conrad or Alden are likable characters and they have virtually no chemistry together. I get that it’s supposed to be a slow burn but yeesh it’s slow. The characters are supposed to be students in their early twenties, but they behave and act like teenagers, and not mature YA style teenagers, just childish immature teenagers. There was pointless angst and the pacing was so slow it was impossible to continue being interested.

I loved the diversity of the characters and the emphasis on neuro-diversity, but the execution was lacking. I hope someone else writes a story with a similar plot at some point though because I was totally sold on that.

Title: Conventionally Yours
Author: Annabeth Albert
Format: Paperback
Pages: 320
ISBN: 9781728200293

Three Descriptors: Enemies to lovers, Fandom, Road tripping

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The Long Way Around by Quinn Anderson
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