Reviewed by dragononabook on
The main plot of the story revolves around a road trip from the East Coast to Vegas, the worst nightmare of card playing rivals Alden and Conrad. They've been at odds for a long time, and now they're having to travel to a convention together, where they'll be competing in a tournament that they both need to win, but only one can take the trophy. The plot itself was a little predictable and a little cheesy, but in the best way. To be honest, in a contemporary romance like this you're not really looking for realism, so the way this wraps up nicely is enjoyable.
Alden and Conrad were both very well fleshed out characters, with a good balance between the two; I really liked both of them, which is not something that happens often with dual POV books. What I particularly liked about them was how developed both of their backstories were, and therefore how developed their motivations were. Alden was a character I loved a lot because of his neurodiversity, because how he experiences this is something I recognise in myself. He was also such a sweet character and I really enjoyed seeing how good he was at helping people learn the game he loves. Conrad was also a really likeable character, with a lot of depth and a lot of inner strength that made it easy to root for him. He was very much his own character and that added so much to the book.
Relationships that start out with hatred are something that I'm normally wary of, but this was done it a very thoughtful way. Their hatred was never bone deep, and it was actually really easy to see why they clashed, and then why they started warming up to each other. The played off each other very well, and their relationship was very much a two way street that was so easy to ship. The chemistry between Alden and Conrad was very present, even considering their rocky start, and the way it grew was so enjoyable to read.
My main issue with the characters and the way they were written was that I often had trouble remembering which character's POV I was reading because they both had a very similar voice, and this often took me out of the story due to having to figure out what I was reading. This was not a major detraction to my reading experience, but it was still inconvenient at times.
Conventionally Yours revolves very heavily around a card game similar to Magic: The Gathering, called Odyssey. I've played Magic before, so it wasn't hard for me to recognise how the game functioned, but I feel like Annabeth Albert was able to introduce it in a way that didn't lose the non-geeks while still delving into the depths that a card gamer would know and appreciate. She also did a really good job of showing the expansive culture that develops around a game like Odyssey, the different people who play and the way we all come together. The way that all of this was built directly into the story made everything so much better and so much more realistic.
Built on tropes ranging from rivals-to-lover to "there was only one bed", with a heavy dash of character development and a slathering of geek, Conventionally Yours is a riot of a book. The layers and progression of the story make it such an enjoyable read to curl up with and disappear into, and will leave you wanting just one more chapter so you don't have to give it up yet.
Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for an honest review!
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 29 May, 2020: Finished reading
- 29 May, 2020: Reviewed