It wouldn't make much sense to a non-MMO gamer, but for someone who has played a lot of MMORPGs, it was a delightful romance set partly in-game and partly "in real life". ( )

3/2020:
Still loved it, maybe even more so than the first time around. Once again feel like downloading DA:Origins.

8/2017:
I ended up enjoying this a lot more than I expected. I skimmed a one star review before starting in on the sample and kept waiting for this to be rubbish, but I really loved it. It's a sweet romance between two different types of nerds. It's about accepting both yourself as well as others, and it's about not putting so much stock in other peoples views and opinions, assumed or otherwise.

The book is half prose, half game chat, and I really like that. I don't know what it is about IM formatted books but I've really been feeling them recently.

I also think that I know a perfect amount about MMOs to enjoy this book. That is to say, I've played enough (and more so, know enough people who play) that I understood the lingo and easily kept up with that was happening in game, but I don't really play MMOs myself, so none of it felt fake either. (I can't say how this would have read to an actual gamer, but I sure enjoyed it.)

The side characters were quite a diverse bunch, and I'd really enjoy reading about them in their own right. I found the main characters relatable enough, Kit more so than Drew. I also very much enjoyed the commentary on online relationships, having spent a big part of my teens chatting with people on MSN messenger.

I also thought that the book was written pretty well. It read effortlessly, and I found it easy to buy the voice of the 19-year old male narrator. I'm glad the author hadn't attempted to make the prose unnecessarily pretty, because I don't feel like it would have fit the story.

For some inexplicable reason, this made me want to play Dragon Age: Origins again, so I might just go and get the download started. ( )

I honestly can’t remember the last time I read a story that was just so damn SWEET it had me smiling & giggling almost constantly, which didn’t also make me want to puke from cuteness overload, but somehow AH pulled it off!! ( )

Drew is a hardcore MMO raider - until he leaves his guild over a dispute about loot. He joins a new guild that is more about fun; they still raid but there's some banter and it's not the life or death situation that some raiders have. He's drawn to Solace, an in-game Elf healer, and the two of them start hanging out in-game, fishing and running alts. Drew is stunned when he realizes Solace is actually Kit, another guy though the possibility that whoever is behind a character on the Internet is not who you think. They arrange to meet and start up a relationship IRL too.
First of all, I love Alexis Hall's books but this one is special to me. I play MMOs so I appreciated all the gameplay (and there's a lot). The author uses chat windows, a form of Discord, and lots of gaming terms to tell the story (there's a glossary in the back for noobs) as well as regular old narrative writing. I was absorbed in the battles and dungeons; I wouldn't mind playing HOL.
But you don't need to be a gamer to enjoy the book. It's fairly easy to get through the gaming jargon, and there's a lot more to Drew and Kit's relationship. Drew has a crew of friends who are pretty geeky and also add a lot to the story. He is definitely more outgoing than Kit who's more of an introvert. I loved both Drew and Kit, but I probably identified more with Kit, a shy guy who's learned to be happy with being himself and his own interests, even if he's just playing computer games with online friends.
Not everything is easy for these two, and I appreciated how realistic their nerves show as they meet and date. Drew is trying to deal with his sexual identity, and Kit has a harder time with change, I think. The important thing is that they're both trying.
"As long as you cared about what you were doing and who you were doing it with, then it didn't matter if you were in a pub or your living room or on a virtual rock in an imaginary kingdom in a video game."
Alexis Hall writes in a lot of genres, and I've liked all his writing so far. I'm trying to catch up with the rest of his books but this one might be my favorite - so far. How can you not love a book where the author page says:
Alexis Hall is a level seventy-four Death Elf. He could totally solo this book on his main. ( )

Read if you're a gamer. Doesn't matter if you're into boys, the story is romantic, not sexy. Very well written, with realistic and compelling characters and dialogue.

So, if you've ever played WoW or another MMO you'll get the references and a bunch of warm fuzzies. If you haven't, you'll get the references and there's a glossary at the end! ( )