💫4/5 |🌶️ 2/5 | Friends to Lovers | Slow Burn | Cinnamon Roll | GenX MCs | Online Gamers | LGBTQIA Rep | Diversity Rep

This ARC was provided through NetGalley. Thank you Cathy Yardley and team for offering me this ARC.

Ahhhh! This was such a pleasant surprise 😊 I love a Friends to Lovers and Cinnamon Roll Trope! I wasn’t sure what to expect because our MCs are single GenXers, nerdy online gamers, and introverts; very unique and non-typical but I loved it! I devoured this book. It flowed so well that I couldn’t put it down - no lie, I stayed up til 3am reading this!

Loved Maggie! She’s our half Asian empty nester divorcee who is strong, sassy, snarky, has an IDGAF attitude and one hell of a gamer. And Aiden the perfect cinnamon roll built like a linebacker who is demisexual, overprotective, a great listener, leader of a guild and let me say it - deserves every bit of HEA. Both are homebodies and have awkward tendencies when it comes to social interactions. They both meet through an online gaming guild and have developed a friendship overtime - there’s a story to this and I absolutely do not want to spoil it because it’s hilarious! The interactions Maggie had with her fellow gamers who were mostly college students were amazing!!!

I love Maggie’s relationship with her son Kit. It’s very sweet and heartwarming. The openness they have with each other was so funny and cute. I appreciated how Maggie pushed herself out of her comfort zone and socialize even if every fiber of her being hated it, just so Kit would do the same.

This book was very refreshing, unapologetic, honest, and relatable when it came to the realities of dating in your late 40s. The chemistry between Aiden and Maggie was translated so well and the progression of their relationship was fantastic. The character developments were great; I love how Maggie valued Aiden as a person and a friend. I related to her a lot in terms of her overprotectiveness of the people she cares about – what she did at the wedding was so good and unexpected! Aiden’s journey was my favorite part of the book - how he learned about his sexual fluidity / sexuality and how he started to stand up for himself. What he had to go through in his life - the confusion, the rejection, and isolation. He’s a total cinnamon roll and deserved everything!!!

The one thing I wish we got in the epilogue was more of Davy (and the rest of the fam, I guess) and what had happened with their relationship with Aiden. Other than that – this book was well written, engaging, and funny! Highly recommended!

Yardley's lastest work was a sweet journey for characters on the mature side of romance.

Greatly appreciated the realistic portrayal of mid life with all its complexities and obligations.

Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake for providing an eARC for a honest review.

Gaming. It's the one place that Maggie and Aidan feel comfortable and they build a relationship there. And then they meet. Maggie's had a difficult life and being BOGWITCH on line is her refuge. Aidan has his own issues, including his mom. I'm not a gamer and thus likely missed things those who are will enjoy but I did like this for the unusual setting and for the mature characters, Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A very good read.

Talk about adorable, and complete with laugh out loud moments!

I think I say this after every Cathy Yardley book I read, but her writing has such a natural flow to it, I get completely lost in her words.

I loved these characters. Oh Aiden, my sweet Aiden, I just adored him. And Maggie, I want to be her in *mumbles* years. Together, they just complement each other so well, and the way they communicate with honesty is lovely.

This book is full of humor, acceptance, and love. I left the last page with a huge smile on my face.

This book was fabulous! It has so many amazing things in it that we don't get nearly enough of in the romance genre, and I was here for all of it!

Maggie is an introverted, unapologetic Gen Xer whose only son has recently left the nest to attend college. When he seems to be following in her hermit-like footsteps, she offers to be more social if he will. Her super small town doesn't have a lot of opportunities that interest her, but she does manage to find a local online gaming guild. It might be full of 20 somethings while she is 48, but she enjoys it a lot more than the local book club with women of her own age.

Aiden is our 50 year old hero who is just as introverted and leads the gaming guild. He is out of his element lately, back in the town he grew up in taking care of his aging mother who fights him at every turn. He hasn't had the best luck with relationships (his ex fiance is now his sister-in-law), but he and Maggie strike up a friendship in the guild.

This was a wonderful reverse grumpy/sunshine romance that I was totally here for. As a fellow 48 year old introverted hermit, I loved reading a romance about characters more like myself. I thought the conversations between Maggie and Aiden were gold, and I really appreciated the other issues that were touched upon in the book as well. Dealing with an aging parent who isn't very receptive of help was a particularly stab in the heart of my current life that I loved reading about. As well, I really thought that the searching for answers about sexuality at the middle aged stage of life was done with tremendous care.

Highly recommend this one for so many reasons, but the story between these two friends is just amazing! Definitely don't pass this one by.

Thank you to Montlake for providing me with an ARC of this book.

please note that the trigger warnings and topes/themes may contain spoilers
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
FMC: Maggie-a divorced single mother of a son who is off to college. She would rather spend her days cooped up inside playing video games than interacting with anyone IRL, but a pact with her son sets events in motion for this introvert to finally meet her match.
MMC: Aiden- a retired single guy who has a twisted home life and escapes through online video games. After started a local online gaming league, he meets a new character, Bogwitch, who turns his life upside down… he can’t figure out if she’s 50 or 90 but their online friendship blossoms and turns into more.
POV: 3rd person, dual POV
HEA: yes
spice: a slow-burn with a few open-door spicy scenes
TWs: divorce, isolation, homophobia, biphobia, forced outing, being outed, racism, death of a parent from car accident (recounted), death of parent by cancer (recounted), narcissistic parenting, manipulation
standalone: yes
final thoughts: while there were some touch-and-go TW/CWs for homophobia the bisexual and asexual community got some beautiful> representation!!!! Maggie listened, informed, and supported her friend while they were navigating their sexuality and how to put it into words and it was so well done. I loved this later-in-life romance of 2 introverts battling the world together.

read this book if you love

💞 friends-to-lovers
🧑‍🤝‍🧑 great side characters
🤐 miscommunication
💓 slowburn
🏡 small town
💏 fake dating
🌈 LGBT+ representation
🤩 curvy FMC
🫡 big MMC
😠 grumpy/sunshine
🍪 cinnamon roll MMC

What drew me in? The cover. What made me stay? The characters, plot, and swooniness. This book is good and I need to read more from this author, like right now.

This was such a unique and fun read. I was a little nervous it wouldn’t be for me as I’m not a gamer but I had no problem understanding and enjoying the plot. I also really liked how we had an older MC. Highly recommend

This romance follows Maggie and Aiden. Forty eight year old Maggie just had her son leave for college and as part of an agreement to not be a complete hermit, she joins an online gaming guild. She assumes she is the oldest in the group so when one of the members is under the weather, she offers to bring over some soup. But instead of a college student, she ends up at 50-year old Aiden's house. The two are both shocked at the IRL reveal of their online gaming friend, and strike up a somewhat unlikely friendship. As time goes on, the two grow closer and while both had written off relationships for their own reasons, they both start thinking that maybe this is too good to give up. But while their relationship is going well, there is more friction going on in their lives. When I initially saw the premise of this, I was instantly interested and I think the book stayed true to the premise and what I was expecting. I loved Maggie and Aiden as their own characters and we get a really good sense of who each character is on their own. One of my favorite things about these 40+ romances is that the characters have a good sense of who they are and what they are looking for in relationships. I do feel like the romance was put on the back-burner for a bit in the last 1/4 of the book to deal with some of the family friction that has been brewing for the majority of the book. I thought it was really powerful to have those conversations on-page, but it did take away from the romance aspect and it took Maggie and Aiden most of the book to actually get together so I was looking forward to seeing them together.

I really enjoyed this book overall. It took me a little bit to get into it because Maggie's internal dialog at the beginning felt simultaneously immature and too old and grouchy like a Maxine cartoon. Getting through the grocery store was rough, but got a lot better after that.

We're introduce to Aiden and his insanely grouchy and judgemental mother who just reeks of small town conservative christian views. He's a hospice nurse who had moved home to take care of his dying father and then stuck around to make sure his aging mom was okay too. From her constant shitty attitude towards Aiden, it's obvious there's some history we as readers aren't privey to yet.

Our main characters are introduced digitally through and online game; a MMORPG similar to World of Warcraft. They're both 50 year old nerds, but due to how they were given each other's contact info, they're convinced she's 80 and he's 20. They bond over the game and talk and form a friendship. When Aiden fractures his foot, Maggie, or BogWitch as he knows her, offers to pick up some groceries and bring lunch for him. Once they have their first face to face meeting, they realize their age assumptions were WAY off and start spending a lot more time talking, texting, and just hanging out.

The main meat of the story is Aiden making a deal with his mother to find a date for a family wedding she's forcing him to go to so "people stop talking." But in attendance with be his ex whom he had a very bad break up who then married his younger brother instead. Makes for a very awkward situation. Meanwhile Maggie is struggling to come to terms with being attracted to a man after being divorced from a shitty husband and being an empty nester now that her son has gone off to college.

The 2 work through some of their mental baggage together, and just become unwavering support for one another. That development was great to read because each of them became a lot more confident and stood up for themselves.

Definitely reccomend!!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this avances copy.

Besides a bit of a slow start, I loved this story. This is probably the first contemporary romance I have read where they were over 40. It was kind of refreshing. I wanted to protect both of them and cheered the ending.

4.5/5

Grumpy female, male cinnamon role, gen x, introverts, gamers, unexpected queer rep, slow burn.

I loved this book. It was off to a slow start, but I think for me when the MCs started texting back and forth and finally met I could not put this down. Like stayed up way too late.

Thanks to NetGalley, Montlake and Cathy Yardley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

It was so great to see older MCs and this was such a fun premise to have them become friends through gaming.

I've struggles for months to find words for this review. I still don't know what words to use - so it's likely going to go on forever or be super short.

I've been a fan of Cathy Yardley's since her Harlequin days. I love her Fandom Hearts series. So when I read the synopsis for Role Playing and then saw the cover? I needed this book now.

Role Playing is a hidden/mistaken identity with an epistolary element, and not quite grumpy-sunshine. Maggie aka Bogwitch is definitely grumpy. I'm still trying to figure out the correct term for Aiden. He's more path of least resistance and letting all his hurt and anger build up, so on the passive-aggressive side. As a bonus, there's a convenient plus one/fake date situation.

They both play an online RPG game. Maggie is told that Aiden is a community college student, so she believes him to be in his early 20s. Aiden is given Maggie's name by a connection of his mom's, so he believes her to be about 80.

I love Maggie so much. Aiden's cool and all, but give me the grumpy, cranky FMC any day of the week. She's really had to grow a protective shell around her between being raised by her paternal grandparents that tried to hide she was half-Vietnamese, to being forced to move to a rural area of Washington after her marriage (and staying there after the divorce 10 years ago).

Maybe Aiden's a little lost puppy dog? That's still not a great descriptor for him, but for the past few years, he's put his life on hold. First to help take care of his ailing father, but now he remains to care for his elderly mom. Who doesn't like him. Or at least favors her second son over him. So that relationship is contentious at best. But he still shows up to care for her.

I know. I gave you a book report rather than a review. Just trust me and pick this book up. It's a story of that second chance at finding love for older protagonists, which we don't often see portrayed. It's also about finding yourself, finding your voice, and discovering who you are, and what you want. That not everyone knows who they are when they are younger, some people don't find themselves until they are older, because they didn't know the options were available.

This was a very cute and enjoyable way to kick off Pride month! I loved the bisexual and demisexual representation of Aiden, and lord knows we need more romance featuring folks in their 40s and 50s! I struggled a bit to follow all the gaming specific conversation and references in the first third of the book, but once Maggie and Aiden meet IRL, things got a lot more enjoyable. I loved how fiercely Maggie defended Aiden and the tenderness he showed in every interaction with her.

Content warnings include a scene where Aiden is outed to his family without his consent.

I voluntarily read an early copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

This was a cute romance with middle aged main characters!

The book is told from two point-of-views and they come from Maggie aka Bogwitch and Aiden aka Otter. They are very similar when it comes to being introverted and interested in videogames. I could relate to them on both fronts. Socializing is not something I enjoy and much prefer to make friends online. 😂 I am also into videogames and can see why both characters would use it as an outlet not only for fun to relieve stress. Nothing like kicking butt and taking names! They do have different personalities and Maggie definitely rubs off on Aiden as he learns to stick up for himself.

Their relationship starts off online when she is invited to join his guild without ever meeting him in person, and because of this they don’t realize the other person’s age. It’s as many say, you don’t know who you are talking to online. At least for them it ends with a funny situation! I thought that they were very sweet together and because they start off as friends they have a lot time before they become official.

I think my biggest gripe with the book is that it tries to cover a lot of topics and in turn it takes away from them all. I thought there would be a lot more about videogames and as the book progressed it fizzled out with only a remark here or there about it. I do get that they finally meet in person but my husband and I continually played throughout our dating stage and still do while we are married. I wanted to get to know their gaming friends too! I liked the little chats we did get from them.

Overall, this was a good book. I did like the romance and thought they were really sweet together. A lot of the game talk was very accurate and did make me laugh.

A story of two middle-aged gamers who grow their online connection into an IRL love story. Beautifully written, compelling and thought provoking, I was drawn by the cover and blurb, not one I would normally read but I’m glad I did.

I love Cathy Yardley’s work and Role Playing is no exception! Maggie is a fierce single mom who wants to motivate her son to form connections at college. They both agree to step outside their comfort zones. Aiden is struggling with helping his mom accept the limitations that come with aging. Maggie and Aiden find each other online through video games and become good friends. When they meet in person, they realize they have more in common than they thought. But meeting in person has real-world consequences…

Maggie was incredible and one of my favorite heroines! I loved how Maggie accepts no rudeness or fake behavior, she is so sure of who she is and what she will not accept. While this can lead to her pushing people away at times, Aiden and her son help her see that it’s ok to accept help. She’s also caring and fiercely protective of those she loves. Overall, I enjoyed Aiden’s journey as he explored his identity and came to the realization that he is bi and demisexual. There is a significant amount of trauma regarding the lack of acceptance from his family, so read with care. Maggie was so inclusive and such a fantastic support to Aiden during this time.

I really appreciated that Yardley emphasizes that online friends are just as important and real as in-person friends. She highlights how connections can be found when you are true to yourself and honest about what makes you happy. I would recommend this to romance readers looking for a reverse grump sunshine, older MC romance, and lots of nerdy gamer joy!

Thank you to Cathy Yardley, Montlake, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For publisher: My review will be posted on Instagram, Goodreads, Amazon, Storygraph, and Barnes & Noble etc

When Maggie’s son leaves for college, she makes a deal with him that they both need to finally get out and be social. The problem is, she’s already an introvert but is still licking her wounds after a pretty terrible divorce, so being social just seems like far too much work. When she’s invited to play with an on-line gaming group, she says yes and makes the reasonable assumption that she’s playing with a bunch of college guys. Aiden, the leader of the group, thinks he is being generous in welcoming what he can only assume to be a grandmother in her 80s into his guild. On-line gaming is a welcome respite for Aiden, who has been in town since his father’s illness and death a few years ago, and is still there helping his very toxic and ungrateful mother. Add to that his estrangement from his brother’s wife—who also happens to be his ex-girlfriend, and the dude needs some happy in his life.

This was my first foray into the world of 40-something/Gen X romance and all I have to say is GIVE ME MORE! Don’t get me wrong, I love watching the young and beautiful fall in love, but these people have seen some things and lived their lives. I could totally become Maggie under the right (or wrong, as it were) circumstances, so I understood her reluctance to rejoin the world. Aiden’s tension with his family, related to his bisexuality, was painful but he admirably weathered the storm, and the discovery of the fact that he was also demisexual and nothing was wrong with him was quite lovely. Maggie and Aiden finding their way to each other and being strong enough to say to the rest of the world, “take me or leave me” was quite wonderful and will make me continue to read each and everything Cathy Yardley writes. Available 7/1/23.

I love Maggie and Aiden so much. Maggie is a so much fun, she is unapologetically herself and is willing to call anyone out of their crap. Aiden is knew part of who he is but watching him grow and learn more about himself as him and Maggie grew closer was amazing. I also love how they met and how video games played a role in their relationship. This book was so cute and I loved the interactions between the characters.