Thank you to Bold Strokes Publishing who gave me an advance copy of this book in exchange for a thoughtful review.
StreamLine is realistic fiction and the story is overall more character-driven, focusing on Lune’s interactions and conflicts with popular gaming streamer Nocht, her gaming friends, and her mom, and her personal growth over time. Nevertheless, the descriptions of gameplay added some action and adventure elements, which I wasn’t expecting based on the synopsis, but I still enjoyed reading them. I found this book to be a realistic portrayal of a high-masking autistic person and their experience, and it was satisfying to see Lune gradually expand her comfort zone and work out her relationships with others throughout the book.
I liked how many characters in the book were more complex than it seems at first glance, not just Lune. A major theme focuses on how people get pigeonholed and reduced to the assumptions other people place on them. Furthermore, people have the capacity to grow and change their attitude and behavior, although not everyone ultimately does. As an autistic person, Lune suffers from other people’s assumptions of who she is and who she should be, especially in the beginning of the book. At the same time, Lune’s perceptions of other characters are filtered through her assumptions, which are proven wrong multiple times in the novel. Several other characters evolve over time alongside Lune’s character arc.
The main issue that I had with this book is that sometimes, the pace felt too slow, and it felt like the story was dragging. This doesn’t apply to the whole book, and there were multiple parts where I couldn’t wait to see what happened next. However, it was noticeable enough in certain parts to me to take off 1 star.
If you like fiction with autistic or neurodivergent characters, character-driven stories, and/or coming-of-age stories, I’d recommend StreamLine.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bold Stroke Books for a copy of this ARC. All thoughts are my own.

17 year old Diana has finished school, and has built a life around her routine - wake up in the evening, get ready, and play Garlandia. There, she streams as Lune, where she can be who she wants in this fantasy world. When she meets the legendary gamer Nocht, everything she has built starts to change both online and IRL.

With an autistic main character, I found this story extremely relatable. The descriptions of sensory overwhelm and joy took me deep into Diana's world. It was also very reminiscent of a time when I built friendships and community through online gaming. Throughout the book I felt anxiety and stress and hope.

I truly loved the experience of reading this novel. Lauren Melissa Ellzey has made a wonderful story that I definitely recommend.

Also, it has left me with an extremely strong compulsion to find an RPG to play.

This book is set within the world of game streamers. But covers so many more current issues for teens, YA and adults. Diana, or as she prefers, Lune, is high functioning (in some things) autistic. Ignored or ridiculed in school in real life; she is able to be someone different on line. As she presents her streams we see her struggle with her mum, friendships, anxiety, trolling, relationships, feelings for others and her questions about who she is. LBGTIQA themes run through the story as she becomes friends with Nocht on line and in real life. Because gaming on a computer behind an avatar is much easier than showing who you are face to face. Thank you to Bold Stroke Books, Inc and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

This book did a great job capturing the realities of life as a gamer. The struggle to make parents understand the love of the game, and the rise and fall of online friendships and relationships is captured very well here. I also appreciated the detail and depth put into Lune's struggles with autism and Nocht's issues with her family. Overall, this is an intriguing realistic read that touches on struggles faced by many up and coming gamers and streamers in the modern day. 4.3/5 stars.

4.25 stars

Diana (a.k.a. Lune) is a gaming streamer, and she's pretty good at it. Autistic, queer, and Black, she constantly feels like she's not enough for her offline life, but, online, that's where she shines. When she gets the chance to collaborate with Nocht, one of the best players in the game, Lune could get a bump in viewers and subscribers, but also a real relationship.

This book is an ode to autistic, queer gamers, and I love that as a queer, autistic gamer myself. I love the way Lune is able to repair her relationship with her mother, how she recognizes that she's not as alone as she initially feels, and that she can expand her worldview while spending time online. A third of the way through, I felt like I was being catfished. Sexuality is complex, of course, but it felt very much like the story was leaning into "lesbians just have to find the right guy," and that made me really uncomfortable. That said, I completely understand why Nocht wasn't willing to come out at first, and once she did, I felt a lot better about things.

If you love gaming novels and neurodivergent queer characters, give this one a go. I'd read another by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the opportunity to read and review.

Thank you to Bold Strokes Books and Netgalley for the ARC.

This isn't going to be in my usual format. I'm going to start with the things I liked about the book. First, the MC is a half Black, autistic lesbian. And we know that from the beginning because it is explicitly stated, nothing is implied. I also felt like the autistic representation was fairly authentic. It didn't feel fake or forced. Getting to watch Diana/Lune begin to repair her relationship with her mother was great, and pretty emotional. Loved it.

Things I did not like about the book. From the moment we meet Nocht until Nocht comes out to Diana/Lune, so for over a third of the book, was extremely uncomfortable for me to read. Multiple times up until this point the MC has stated explicitly that she is a lesbian. But then we are teased with her suddenly developing feelings for a boy. It made no sense and like I said, made me uncomfortable. Despite her stating this to Nocht multiple times, Nocht still kisses Lune. She consents, but it doesn't make sense for her to, and Nocht is technically violating her boundaries by initiating anything at this point. There is a meme/mythos online about lesbians being able to subconsciously detect trans girls, sometimes before their egg even hatches. This book leans heavily into that, and I didn't like it. Especially not coming from Diana/Lune who openly struggles with reading "ordinary" social interactions. She is not going to be the lesbian who detects the subtle hints that Nocht is in fact a girl. So her growing attraction to him felt unnatural and left me feeling apprehensive and a little gross until Nocht finally comes out. I wanted to DNF this book around the one third mark, but I had to see for myself how badly this was going to derail the story. As a trans lesbian, I'm not sure that Nocht being trans all along is that much better than the idea that Diana had just finally met "the right man." Which was equally as likely from the reader's perspective.