This was a really fun read! I loved revisiting this world and meeting all of the characters. This was a great time! I loved the writing and really flew through it.

Cute, if not quite as compelling as the first book. Revisiting the same world from Conventionally Yours again was very fun and the romance between Milo and Jasper is sweet as candy. The plot was alright, if not the most engaging. My favourite part was the way being out was portrayed and high emphasis on consent in the main relationship. If you are looking for a cute college-age mlm romance this is the one for you!

Out of Character is a fun, best friends to enemies to friends to lovers story. Phew, that’s a mouthful. This new adult novel is about second chances: one young man must learn to accept himself and become a better person, while the other needs to decide if he can once again trust his former best friend. Can they find their way back to each other? This is the second book in the True Colors series that revolves around a group of friends brought together by the fictional, collectors’ card game, Odyssey.

Jasper and Milo were nerdy, childhood best friends until Milo joined the soccer team in high school and turned his back on Jasper. The jocks were too cool for school, and definitely too cool to be friends with the likes of Jasper, so Milo followed suit and even stood by silently while his new cohorts bullied Jasper and his buddies. Closeted Milo especially couldn’t associate with Jasper when he joined the Rainbow Alliance at school.

Now, eight years later, the high school nerd is a popular college student who has found where he belongs. His social life is centered around gaming and playing Odyssey. The only thing he lacks is a loving partner to go through life with, and he wistfully watches his friends couple up. Milo, meanwhile, is stuck in a rut. He’s made some bad decisions that have had long-lasting consequences. He’s still associating with his bully friends, and hates himself for all of it. He’s still in the closet and just wishes he could be his true self.

Lo and behold, an act of stupidity leaves Milo in a predicament that only Jasper can help him with, so he must crawl back to Jasper and beg for help. Seeing his old friend as he is now, Milo yearns for him and regrets missing everything about him for years. Jasper is more than generous in accepting Milo’s apology and is open to friendship, but he’s hesitant to reestablish trust. He doesn’t know if he’s willing to risk heartbreak again on his long-ago crush.

Central to the story is Milo’s growth arc which is a very rewarding plotline. At the onset of the book, Milo is still closeted and afraid to be himself for fear of disappointing those closest to him. He wants to be a better man, not only for himself, but for Jasper who won’t accept him as he is. Jasper is proud of Milo for the progress he makes, and urges him to continue on the path of self-acceptance even if the men don’t work out as a couple.

I enjoyed catching up with Conrad and Alden, and Professors Tuttle and Herrera from Conventionally Yours. The full cast of secondary characters, including friends Jasmine and Kellan, Jasper’s sister April, and Milo’s brother Bruno, all add to the depth of the narrative. Even the obnoxious villain is a well-written character.

Jasper and Milo’s love story is a tender one, and I’m happy this book has slightly more heat than its predecessor. It’s easy to fall in love with these men as they work hard for their happy ending. If you enjoyed Conventionally Yours you will most certainly enjoy this book, which can also be read as a standalone. I recommend Out of Character to readers who enjoy books featuring college-aged heroes who are both adorable and sympathetic.

DNF'd. I'm not sure this was a "Series" that needed a sequel.

Thanks to NetGalley / Edelweiss and the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for a review.

As for many books I review it’s the first time I’m reading the information blurb Goodreads gives for this book and already I’m kind of confused. It compares it to Red, White and Royal Blue and I guess I see it… They’re both gay contemporary romances. I believe that’s where any resemblances truly end.

Secondly, I’m horrible at remember previous books and plots unless they truly stand out so it took me until the end of this book (actually the preview of book one) to realize that I’ve read about these characters before. I’m actually the worst, and I know it. I’m embracing it.

For me this book was just too long. I didn’t feel extremely connected with the main characters so everything seemed to drag and just take forever. I kept wondering where this book was going. The one thing it’s got going for it is that there’s no third act break-up and the characters handle stuff in a mature manner for the most part.

Milo is definitely the more interesting character of the two, with his complicated past and internalized homophobia he goes through a real journey in this book and it all comes to a beautiful conclusion. Jasper seems a bit flat to me in comparison.

I’m sad I didn’t connect more to the characters since it made it hard to root for anyone and want to see them succeed. I just wasn’t that invested in any of it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

Second in series (True colors), but can be read as a standalone. Dual POV. Former friend/bully to lovers. Slow burn. When Milo turns up asking for help in replacing some ultra rare gaming cards, Jasper immediately says no to the boy that was his best friend but ended up being a bully in high school. When they agree to a trade, some cosplay appearances by Milo in return for Jasper’s help, they end up spending more time together and Milo finds that he wants to be a better person when he’s around Jasper. While repairing their friendship, Milo finds some maturity and Jasper finds he doesn’t have to be a hero in order to find love and happiness. I was happy to see that Milo takes responsibility and doesn’t rely on Japer to rescue him. Also, there is no immediate forgiveness and redemption, which I appreciate so much as it made Jasper and Milo’s relationship growth seem more real. I thoroughly enjoyed the read, Jasper and Milo’s interactions and swoony moments, the secondary characters, and the ‘treasure hunt’ for the cards. 4.25 stars.

I didn't have time to download this book on NetGalley but I really wanted to read it, so I just bought it when it came out.
And it was a fun read! I didn't like it as much as the first book in the series though.. I think it's very unrealistic for a bully to turn 180 degrees in so little time.
Milo really went from 'hey sorry I might have been a bit shitty' to self hatred and humility in 100 pages.
Also I'm not the biggest fan of 'I was in love with my bully and now he's gay too'?

I did find the whole best friends - to bully - to lovers thing interesting. Certainly something I have never read before. It is not a very realistic book but I guess it's nice to have a positive and escapist story.

I like the idea of second chances and both mcs are really likeable and have great chemistry.
Both being so likeable kind of put me off the story though because one of them is supposed to have been a bully but we never see that. We never get to know what he actually did only that he was very mean and the person who is actually in the story is extremely kind and sweet and I had a hard time seeing him as the bully.

Also Jesper could be a bit annoying. Still enjoyable though.

I would definitely recommedn this book though! It has great tension and chemistry and especially if you're a little geeky yourself, check out both books in this series!

Rating: 4.5 stars

4.25/5⭐ to Out of Character by Annabeth Albert. Thank you to Sourcebooks for an egalley to review! This is the second book I've read from the True Colors series, and I am a big fan! Definitely will be due for a re-read (maybe on my vacation in December?) sooner than later. Are these the highest quality writing and totally unproblematic? No. But they capture the culture around gaming (specifically with trading cards, kind of like Pokemon?) and conventions and unapologetically celebrates queer love & joy. Now I'm not super familiar with the gaming world, so correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the author created a whole card trading battle game that this book features or at least created her own spin on an existing one. I like the alternating perspective with our two MCs (my fave with a romance), and these two boys were so cute! Messy, and I loved watching them learn, game, and fall in love. Also, the scenes at the children's hospital where Milo has to reluctantly volunteer and hang out with the kids but then grows to love them as much as Jasper. What also really sold me was their ex-best friends to lovers storyline with all the angst and feels that come with it!! If you're looking for a nerdy, romantic read I'd totally recommend this series!

I always like Annabeths books. This one was a little different from her other books, more into the new adult/ya category. It was good, she is usually good, but it you are a fan of her more adult books you will enjoy the romance, but miss the steam.

While I'm really not a fan of enemies-to-lovers I have to say that this was done very well because there was a history of friendship, adolescent betrayal, and hidden feelings underpinning all the would-be angst that could have broken them apart if the enemies part of the enemies-to-lovers was drawn out too long or exaggerated. This was instead a sweet story with redemption, earned trust, forgiveness, and discovery. Low on steam, high on feels, the story hit all the right notes to be something I truly enjoyed reading.

I'm really enjoying this series from Annabeth Albert! It's such a unique premise for a story and I always absolutely fall in love with this author's characters. I'm really hoping this isn't the last in this series!

Sweet and funny and so geeky, this book is an absolute fantastic romance.

There was so much to love in this book from the fact that it is a second chance romance that features the there's only one bed trope to the absence of a third act break-up to the fact that our two leads seemed to have a really healthy relationship where they may not have always seen eye to eye but they communicated well with one another. I also really appreciated the way that it discussed the complicated relationships that children can have with their parents and how that might impact them after that parent is no longer there.

This book was perhaps a little bit spicier than I was expecting but I am not adverse to a bit of smut so I definitely didn't mind it.

The gay rep in this book was nice as it showed two men that had realised that they were gay at different stages in their life and the way that they had both explored it. I also really enjoyed the older gay couple who were so irresistibly cute together.

I definitely recommend picking up this book as a very fluffy read.

Potential content warnings for serious ill children, car accidents, drink driving, grief, and homophobia.

This book just isn't for me. I love the author's backlist, but this one isn't a subject I enjoy, so I never got into the storyline or characters.

I have to say, I enjoyed Out of Character a bit more than Conventionally Yours mostly because I liked the character development a bit more in this one.

Best-friends to enemies to lovers has to be one of my favourites kinds of enemies to lovers because of the old baggage it brings to these kinds of relationships and because it feels more emotionally charged than your ordinary EtL.

Milo's character development and his willingness to work for Jasper's trust and forgiveness was very touching. Milo's struggles in his childhood with his father struck a chord with me and I sympathised with him a lot. I was happy to see him want to change and become a better person for himself and for Jasper.

Jasper on the other hand, didn't see much change in his character. I did like how forgiving and empathic he was towards Milo, but I wish there was more he could work on. It felt like only Milo had problems to work through.

I loved to see the scenes in the hospital and how they cosplayed to cheer up the kids in pediatric ward of the hospital.

Overall, It was a quick and lovely read, full of nerdy characters and cute romance.

Albert's first book, "Conventionally Yours" was really good and a relatively fast read. I was super excited when I heard that she was coming out with a second book in the series but was a little sad that we weren't still following Conrad and Alden. Still, the friends to enemies to friends to lovers story was still strong with this one. I loved the dynamic between Milo and Jasper.

These characters are fun and relatable with their gaming and cosplay! There just weren't a whole lot of books like this when I was a kid gaming and cosplaying so its nice to see more of these for the people today that have these kinds of interests. The only downside to this story is that I felt the characters were a bit too absorbed in their own problems and not willing to communicate more with each other. Of course this is a hurdle that gets jumped and eventually resolved so all's well that ends well I guess.

8.5/10 would recommend

I liked this book however I found the characters to be too deep in their own thoughts, and a lot of the plot could have resolved with a bit of communication. I am older than the age they are, so I don't hold it against the book, but can see how others would drop a score for finding it reads young.

Unfortunately I had to dnf this one. Something about the narrative voices was off for me and left me unable to engage with it. I think the premise is interesting, but I wasn't invested enough in the characters to care about what happened to them or if they got together (which is the main thread I hope for in a book like this.) I would recommend this for patrons who are fans of Albertalli and perhaps even Alice Oseman.

First and foremost let me say that I did not know this was the second part of a duology when I requested it, so that is absolutely on me. This was a super cute premise. I'm always a sucker for friends to lovers, and I try to read LGBTQ+ stories as often as I can, as I'm in the community myself. While I really liked this story, I can't say I loved it, which makes me a bit sad, but I would still recommend it to fans of YA contemporary. My biggest gripe was that I felt that it was hard to connect to the main characters, therefor making it hard to root for their romance. Maybe if I had read the first book in the series first I would've felt differently, but I guess I'll never know because I'm not really interested in reading the original. That, and I'm a little over the trope of friends falling out due to high school cliques. Maybe that's just me though.

This is such a cute story with complex characters who evolve as the story progresses. Milo learns to stand up for himself, and Jasper learns to forgive. I loved the way Jasper encouraged Milo's artistic talents and how hard Milo worked to earn Jasper's trust.