Hey, a romance that's most like the ones I have in real life: woods-dwelling prickly hermit gamer nerd single parent (whaaaat? if it were Super Mario Sunshine, this would be me in 2008?) meets cinnamon roll gamer nerd (all my longest-term relationships), and nothing earth-shaking happens. Maybe a little drama.

I mean, but these characters are 48 and 50, close to the age I am now, so...again, perfect book for me.

There's a bit of a slow start, mostly in how often we're told who people are (yes, I get it, Davy's the brother), but the book settles in by 30ish% and by then it's easy to be invested by the characters' adorable online misunderstanding. (He thinks she's pushing 80; she thinks he's 20, 21.) While the supporting cast aren't the deepest characters, I think this works for a book that portrays two relatively isolated, lonely adults who are surprised to find connection with one another.

Yeah, this was very much a book for me.

This book was kind of frustrating. The characters don’t actually meet until 50% into the story! By then I was bored and lost interest in their relationship

hooked and hooked some more. Loved all of this and couldn't put it down. I was like oh my. I need to know more. Read it.

Role Playing by Cathy Yardley

What a surprise and delight this slow burn romance was! Truly original characters and story.

Maggie is a homebody and introvert, and enjoys online gaming under the name "Bogwitch." She's 48 and divorced, and while she is perfectly satisfied with her quiet life, she puts herself out there to set a good example for her introverted college aged son. She joins a gaming group and begins to chat regularly with another player online. Due to a misunderstanding, she assumes he is a college aged boy and he believes she's in her 70s or 80s. They are actually 48 and 50! 😅The misunderstanding lasts a long while, but it creates a really fun slow burn friends to lovers story.

I have never been a gamer, but I nevertheless found the gaming culture in this story really interesting and entertaining! The writing style sucked me in and I flew through this story.

If the curmudgeonly bogwitch character in the book doesn't publicly defend the heroes honor, I don't want it. However, I don't usually like it when characters actually punch/hit/use violence to defend the other's honor... and that *didn't* happen in this book, but it almost did. (Clearly, I'm not cut out for mafia romance 😅 and that's why I don't read it!) I still loved how fiercely she stood up for him.

Bi and demisexual rep with really lovely conversations about sexuality. I've never read a romance with an Ace or demisexual character and I really appreciated this diversity and what I learned! The steamy scenes were not very descriptive, but they were still super hot and sweet and fit these characters so well.

Aiden's story is a slow reveal. I loved him from the start, but it's hard to read characters walk all over him. His family story is ROUGH, so if queerphobic and toxic parent characters are hard for you, check in before reading this!

Read this if you love: 
• Someone needs a fake date to a wedding!
• She's grumpy, he's sunshine
• I don't like anyone but you
• Let's be introverts together
• Caretaking trope
• Characters in their 40s and 50s

The only things that didn't work for me were that I thought the book got a tiny bit long. I'm not sure what could have been tightened up-- perhaps the drama with her ex-husband was unnecessary. And occasionally, the main character's mannerisms and slang seemed a little bit younger than their ages to me--but it also sort of fit with her personality anyway.

All opinions are my own! Thanks for the opportunity to read such an original romance.

hmmm

i liked this but also i didn't 🤨😔 they were old (48(h) and 50(H)) and yet they weren't acting like that... everybody was treating both mc's like shit H's family and h's ex husband were worst people on the world

and i know this was a slow burn but they met irl so late like it was %38 or something and i didn't feel the chemistry 😭

hero and heroine were cute but that's all. i already forgot about half of the book and it took me months to read😔

To be completely honest, I took a chance on this book almost solely because of the absolutely stunning cover, because it looks so cosy and it made me love the characters immediately. It turns out the cover matches the book really well though, and I really enjoyed this book.

In the romances I read, the characters are usually in their 20s, or sometimes in their 30s. I loved reading about these people finding love a little later in life, and it always gives some much-needed perspective that not even people in their 40s or 50s have everything figured out. I loved how they found each other over a hobby (gaming) that people usually expect younger people to have, because it's important to play and find joy at any age.

I also just really liked both of the main characters. They felt well fleshed out and interesting, and seemed like people I would really like in real life.

I also didn't expect this book to have queer rep! The male MC is bi/pan and figures out he's demisexual in the course of the story, which was lovely to see. I do want to warn people that there is a lot of queerphobia towards him, especially from his mother and his ex. This was all handled well imo, but it was a lot, so it's good to be aware of it up front.

“I think you look beautiful,” he said, with a little half smile. “Then again—I always thought you were beautiful.”

Maggie and Aiden. She’s a grumpy, forty-eight-year-old hermit who’s been divorced for five years. He’s a single, fifty-year-old cinnamon roll that’s been taking care of his aging mother. They both love video games and instantly developed a virtual friendship through an online gaming guild, but don’t know each other’s real identity. She thinks he’s a college student, and he thinks she’s a grandma. As their friendship progress from online to IRL, they agreed that love and dating is something that they’re both not interested in until they’ve learn more about each other.

🎮READ IF YOU LIKE🎮:
- dual POV
- she’s grumpy, he’s a cinnamon roll
- slow burn
- online friends to lovers
- middle-aged gamers: 48 & 50
- healthy communication
- witty banter
- You’ve Got Mail
- classic movies and anime
- small town
- LGBTQ+ rep: bisexual, demisexual

cw: divorce, death of loved one, family drama, toxic family, social anxiety, cheating (past), biphobia, manipulation

Thank you to @cathyyardley for the gifted copy! Role Playing is available on April 25, 2023!

I was drawn to this book mainly by the premise. I started a relationship due to online roleplaying and interactions, so I thought it would be fun to see this in the context of a romance novel. I previously had felt very middle-of-the-road about Cathy Yardley's prior book, Love, Comment, Subscribe. I thought giving her a second chance was good, mainly because of how good the premise was.

I do think that this book will work very well for a lot of audiences. The cover will draw people in– it's absolutely phenomenal– and the silly antics of the two main characters are really enjoyable. I have discovered that Cathy Yardley's writing style is not for me, nor her characterization. All of the characters feel as though they talk similarly, and no character really impresses itself upon me.

Given this, I will not be posting my feelings on Goodreads, mainly because I do believe some people will really like this, and want to keep the reviews mostly positive. I probably will not pick up Cathy Yardley again, but I am hopeful it will find its audience.

I got through this only be gritting and grinding my teeth and soldering on; and as I have a dentist appointment tomorrow morning (no joke) I'm sure I'll hear all about it. Spoiler alert, it won't be worth it. Also, this rating might be generous.

Sadly, this is a story that worked for me in concept, which is why I requested it, but completely let me down in execution. Not that I had high hopes per se but I'm always keen to read romance featuring older characters. Except.. no one actually treated them according to their age. Not children, or parents, or siblings. So why make them fifty? I can only assume it was for the clicks.

Listen, I'm all for a bit of healthy drama in my fiction but this was drowning in toxicity and thus did I, too, drown. I was so frustrated and uncomfortable and infuriated and yes, you're supposed to be, but it did not make for an enjoyable reading experience. I liked Maggie, she was a spitfire, and I liked Aiden, he was a cinnamon roll. I liked the queer rep. And that's literally it. Every single side character (actually, sorry, Rosita, Maggie's friend, had a tiny starring role via phone call and she was a darling), not to mention most of the event and their associated conflicts, it all gets chucked in the bin.

Most of said horribleness was directed at Aiden by his family, and it was truly horrible (I'm not exaggerating), but Maggie's relationship with her son was also.. strange. I don't know. I'm not middle aged with a grown kid so maybe that's an accurate representation of a modern relationship but.. it was weird. And, again, maybe it was because these characters didn't read like fifty that every other dynamic was made strange by it?

All this being said, even though I read this quite early, I'm definitely in the minority. So maybe this is all just a me thing. I hope so. Because, again, there is a dearth of mid-forties to fifties romances, especially ones where the characters are introverted, socially awkward, and very online, so this definitely will find its audience. I just wish, as someone who checks most of those boxes, it worked for me.

I was completely sucked in while reading this. It started a bit slow for me, mostly because I had low expectations (I've been having bad luck with cartoon covers). But DAMN. Cathy Yardley is my new hero. She wrote a sexy as hell story about normal people with normal bodies and I am DELIGHTED. It was everything I've been craving, but not getting from standard romance. So much good demi and bi rep too. Wow. Just wow.

This was very sweet and adorable romance. These main characters were pure entertaining and their story was AHHmazing.

I liked Role Playing so much! The main characters are only a few years younger than I am, and more of this, please! I am very sad to say that this isn’t out until July 1. You should put it on your Summer TBR, because it is excellent.

Maggie and Aiden’s relationship is inadvertently driven by two mother/son relationships. Maggie makes an effort to be more social as part of a pact with her son, who is a freshman in college. She is worried that he isn’t trying to make friends, so she promises to go do things if he promises to go do things on campus.

Aiden is trying to get his mother to take his concerns about her driving and health seriously, but she refuses to discuss the issues with him unless he brings a woman as a date to a family wedding. This is not a case of an adorable, meddling mom trying to help her son find happiness, this is an angry, bitter woman who wants her son to conform to her ideas of who he should be. Role Playing is very anti-meddling. I approve.

Aiden and Maggie initially become friendly anonymously. when Maggie joins his gaming guild, but he thinks she’s in her 80’s and she thinks he’s a college student. The transition to an analog friendship is a bit rocky. Both have had difficult relationships in the past. Maggie’s experience being married to her ex husband has left her feeling anti-romance, and Aiden’s ex fiancee dumped him and married his brother. Neither has never been truly accepted for who they are.

I have yet to experience an age when I wasn’t questioning and rethinking who I am and what kind of person I want to be. It’s different though at 50 than it is at 30 or 15, and Yardley does a great job of reflecting that. Maggie and Aiden are comfortable with some fundamental parts of themselves, but they still face choices about how to live their lives. Should Maggie lean in to being an anti-social hermit? Should Aiden constantly cut off pieces of his soul to make his family happy?

I thought this was delightful and I’m always in favor of a characters getting the love and acceptance they deserve without conforming to social expectations.

CW: parent deaths off page, queerphobia (challenged), toxic family relationships, hostile public outing, injury.

I received this as an advance reader copy from Montlake and NetGalley. My opinions are my own, freely and honestly given.

I am going to be SO annoying about this book, I love it too damn much.

We follow Maggie and Aiden, who live in the same small town but meet when Maggie joins his online gaming guild. The book starts with a slight misunderstanding between the two of them as Maggie assumes that Aiden must be a college student in his early twenties, like her own son, and Aiden deduces that Maggie must be a cool but grumpy older lady since she continues to insist that she could be the mother of all the guild members. I loved the scene where they figure out that they are only two years apart in age and their misunderstandings were honestly understandable, though very funny as the reader.

This is a sloow burn. Our main characters don’t meet in person until about a third into the book, and while Maggie initially does not want a relationship, Aiden needs to come to a couple of realizations before they can really kick off a romance. For me, this pace really worked, considering their backstories and that their ages (48 & 50).

Even if the relationship takes its time to develop we still can clearly see that these two belong with each other. There is something incredibly gentle and reassuring about them, something that allows both of them to be themselves around the other.

There is a point where Aiden realizes something about himself (or more like Maggie gently guides him to it by giving him the right vocabulary and not judgment whatsoever) that hit all the right points. The affirming compassion on Maggie’s part, Aiden feeling immediate relief … I adore this scene.

Other highlights: the women gamer aspect; Maggie nearly jumping over the table in defence of Aiden; the mother-son relationship between Maggie and her son.

I absolutely love Cathy Yardley but this book now has me obsessed! This story is more than a romance! It’s two people finding their place in the world after years of heartache and set backs!

I love that both characters were older. Both had faced heartache not just from the people they loved but their families, their friends and trusting the world around them was hard. As these two became friends and started to heal their foundation and love became inevitable!

I loved seeing Aiden defend himself and stand up for who he is and Maggie gah she is one fierce woman! Maggie definitely for me stole the show! The way she defends her kiddo and doesn’t back down from what she deserves was just absolutely beautiful!

This was a very fun and enjoyable read! Loved every word!

Amazing! 10/10⭐️!
I have loved every book I have read so far by Cathy Yardley - but Role Playing was my absolute favorite! I was drawn in from the beginning and connected with Bogwitch (Maggie) immediately. The character development, video game references and plot were all so cohesive and refreshing. Incorporating a perfect level of reality to the story with still being an escape - this was one of the best romances I’ve read in a long time. 🎮


Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

There was nothing particularly wrong with this book, I just couldn’t get into it sadly. The cover is gorgeous and that’s what drew me to the book initially, I didn’t expect the MCs to be older based on the cover & vibe, not that I mind that but the writing style just wasn’t for me

Thanks to NetGalley and Montlake for the ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book.
Great story! How refreshing to have adult MCs who know how to have a meaningful conversation. Parts of this were really funny too, especially when they meet for the first time and realize how wrong they were about each other. (no spoilers) The way Aiden's awareness of his sexuality was revealed was lovely, and the way Maggie has his back was awesome. Finally, a book without a "third act breakup." And my favorite line of all: "If you can't handle me in sweatpants, you don't deserve me in stilettos." Highly recommend.

After becoming an empty nester, extreme introvert Maggie works from home, dreads the grocery store where she could run into anyone she knows, and just in general avoids any social situation like the plague. Her son Kit has inherited her antisocial gene and is having trouble fitting in at college. They make a deal to become more social, so Maggie joins a local online gaming group. She and the group leader click and begin a friendship through texting and online conversation. When Otter (Aiden) breaks his foot, she offers to help him out by bringing soup and helping him shop. But when she finally meets him IRL she's shocked to discover he's her own age and not a 20-year-old college student. He's equally as shocked that she's not his mother's age. The more time they spend together, the closer friends they become, but they've both had bad relationships and are determined not to take it further. But when Maggie realizes her true feelings for Aiden, she's afraid of running their friendship.
I loved this slow-burn friends to lovers romance. Aiden is such a big cuddly teddy bear with a wonderful sunny personality, and feisty Asian Maggie isn't afraid to speak her mind or fight for a friend. These two were so obviously perfect together and I'm glad a little of her feistiness rubbed of on him so he could stand up to his horrible family! The gaming part was fun and unique, especially with this later in life couple.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I have just adored this book so much that I have read this book like 4 times and written this review just as many times because I just don’t know what to say. I loved the characters. I loved the storyline. Yeah I should’ve rewritten this review but JUST READ THIS BOOK. It’s pure joy in every page.

I am in love with not only the cover of this fantastic love story, but as you can tell, hahaha, I love the story, the characters, EVERYTHING! Thanks, NetGalley and Montlake for the opportunity to read Role Playing. I went blind thinking both characters were in their 20s, but I was wrong, they're gen x. This is amazing! I don't get to read characters like these. The story is sweet, and there's of course slow-burn BUT I didn't care at all, Both MCs are well-developed; Maggie has gone through so much, but she still comes out as the strong, resilient woman she is. While Aiden and his look for finding who he is. The story is marvelous., thank you!