Annabeth Albert is one of my auto-buy authors and Out Of Character did not disappoint! The writing is absolutely gorgeous, the characters are beyond loveable and the story was A+, 10/10 right up my alley. There is literally nothing to criticise about this book

I just finished Out of Character by Annabeth Albert. I was gifted this book in the summer from Netgalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca. It has clearly sat in the book library for some time and I came across it the other day and dug in. I should point out that this is the 2nd book in the True Colours Series.
This books is:
A 2nd chance romance (friends to enemies to friends to lovers)
LGBTQIA+
Gaming and Cosplay
Full of Nerd culture
Personal Growth
Full of consent
First relationships

Overview:
Jasper and Milo were friends up until middle school. But, when you come out and your friend is a part of the jock crowd who were bullies to Jasper and his friends things fall apart. These two are reunited after Milo begs Jasper for help finding extra rare novelty cards that he lost in a bet. Jasper is totally not ready to cut him slack or forgive him but he does offer to help if Milo cosplays as Prince Neptune at the local hospital with kids. This all leads to an adventure full of gaming, convention centres, finding oneself and full on nerd-culture

Let’s be honest, I am not a hard core gamer. I do enjoy a good board game but I am not the best at strategy games. This was all new for me and there was a lot of learning happening. I really did enjoy these characters. Jasper is super kind, nice, sees the goodness in people and sometimes I was caught wishing more for him with Milo. It is his ability to see goodness that helps mitigate the years of loss and pain from bullying that Jasper dealt with. The relationship continued to grow and became a wonderful pairing. The steam is low here which I think was done well and there was constant communication and consent during the sexual encourters in the story.

I was missing something with this and the relationship. I know it was a read that was worthwhile because I did learn a lot and it is always good to read stories with diversity in them, it just fell a little short for me when I think of other LGBTQIA+ romances.

If you are into nerd culture, cosplay and gaming I totally think you would enjoy this new romance. It was published July 6th, 2021.

I really enjoyed her first book, Conventionally Your so I was super excited to get the arc for Out of Character. While I didn't end up loving the two characters as much as the leads in the first book it was still a fun, cute read, and I would recommend it!

I loved this second change -best friend to lovers story about Jasper and Milo.

After going different ways in High School all of a sudden Jasper finds Milo back in front of him asking for help. Jasper is torn. Milo went from best friend to bully almost over night. When Jasper decides to live his life authentically knowing he was gay -Milo hid behind his soccer friends who seemed to find pleasure in picking on him. Milo never said a word in his defense.

What Jasper never knew was that Milo had some secrets that he just didn’t handle himself.

The two set off on a quest together and find out they have more in common than they thought and their friendship starts to heal and turns into more.

I really loved this book and this author. Can’t wait for more.

I enjoyed Out of Character! It was a fun rom-com look into the relationship between two very different young men who grew up together and then apart. I enjoyed the large presence of both their families as well as friends and mentors. Even though this book is technically second in a series, you do not need to have read the first one to enjoy this one. If you like nerd culture and queer romance, check it out.

5/5 stars

I absolutely loved this jock meets geek, male/male romance! After a falling out in high school, these two ex-best friends meet up again when Milo, a jock, comes to Jasper, a geek, for help on finding a rare gaming card for Milo's brother. They end up going on a gaming card, cosplay filled adventure while rediscovering their friendship and a new romance along the way. I couldn't get enough of Milo and Jasper together. This story has one of my favorite tropes, friends to enemies to lovers, and it was done so well. The chemistry between these two was intense yet sweet with flirty banter and the steamy scenes were slightly open door. I loved how Jasper, the geek, was the one who was confident in his sexuality and sure of himself while Milo, the jock, was still figuring things out. Milo grabbed my heart with his strong, silent type that made him an emotionally insecure teddy bear when it came to relationships. I really enjoyed seeing bits of Conrad and Alden, characters from the first book, and having them as side characters just added more to this geeky world. Overall, I really loved this romance, hope there's another book in the series and can't wait until I can re-read this sweet and geeky gem!

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Tw: homophobia, bullying, addiction, toxic friendship, death of a parent

Milo made a huge mistake: he lost his brother's rare Odyssey cards on a stupid bet and now he's on a mission to retrieve it. The only person who can help him is ex-best-friend now foe, Jasper Quigley. He will have to put aside his feelings and do right by his brother and maybe remember why Jasper was such an important person in his life and how he could still be.

I really liked the characterization of both Milo and Jasper, I am sucker for enemies to lovers so I was completely in love with them. I could really emphatize with them both and see their respective point of view. Milo was my favorite though, I really liked how he was so closed off at first but then he opened up and really found himself and believed in himself more.

I am not a gamer at all, but I enjoyed the gamer details and if you're into nerdy stuff, you will definitely enjoy this!

The book was fluid, well-written and fun from times to times and I think the author did a good job at capturing the souls of Milo and Jasper.

I recommend this to friends-to-enemies-to-lovers fans and those looking for a story about going back to your roots and finding yourself.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an early copy.

This book is so incredibly cute! I was smiling ear to ear the whole time. This MLM romance follows two friends-enemies-to lovers as they navigate adulthood and all things nerdy.

I wasn't really sure what I was getting into as this is my first Annabeth Albert novel, but I really enjoyed the fast-paced action and the incredibly tender moments between the two love interests. The chemistry between the two was tangible and had me flying through the book to see what happens next.

This is a great novel for anyone looking to get into the romance genre. Its approachable, accessible, and gives you a taste for the genre without throwing you right into the deep end.

It has 2SLGBTQIA+ representation, which we love to see, and does good job of showing a "nerd" lifestyle without feeling too pandering.

I am definitely going to be checking out more Annabeth Albert books in the future!

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the Advance Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I was definitely hook with this book. It's the characters chemistry with each other that got to me. They were truly enemies to lovers trope but yet they fall for each other. It's going to be messy because love is never easy. Expect high emotional.

Like CONVENTIONALLY YOURS, this filled my nerdy heart with joy. I love Annabeth's characters and delightfully geeky stories. Looking forward to more books by this author.

I honestly adored this. Milo's growth as a person adds such a nice depth to the enemies to lovers trope. The love story is sweet and entertaining, but the family and friendship threads make it all so much more endearing.

It basically was everything I like to see in a fun romantic comedy. It provides a fantastic bit of escapism that is fun enough to get lost in, with a great balance of hard topics and light heartedness.

So great! More in this world and more with the author exploring the nerdy side of life. I love when nerds feel good about being nerds!

Spoilers Ahead! While I enjoyed "Conventionally Yours", this outing was a little less for me. I'm not a gamer or a cosplayer, so I'm by far not the target audience for Albert's "True Colors" series but I do love a queer romance. Throughout, Jasper seemed really hard on Milo for certain behaviors (ie. feeling embarrassed in cosplay) and less hard on him for objectively worse behaviors (ie. his drunk driving accident). The romance didn't feel particularly earned to me--we were told, rather than shown, that their long-harbored feelings made them a perfect couple. This one just missed the mark for me.

I really wanted to like this one and loved the premise, but it just didn't hold up to my expectations.

Sadly, I felt with Out of Character about the same way I felt with Conventionally Yours. I had hoped to enjoy this one more because I'm a sucker for some of the tropes in this book. I love, love, love nerdy books. It's why I picked up the first book by this author and why I gave it a second chance with this one. I love the dressing up and I love the search for rare cards, I thought that was all so much fun and not something I've really seen before. I just, sadly, can't connect to the author's writing and therefore to the characters theirselves. They just don't feel real. The development of the relationship is inconsistent, too slow at times and too fast at other times and it just makes it hard to really full immerse myself in this story and root for the characters.

I do think if you enjoyed this authors first book, you'll probably also enjoy this one. I've just had to accept that this author's writing style isn't for me.

I enjoyed Conventionally Yours when it was released last year and was so excited that it will have a sequel! But I wasn't expecting it to have a different set of main characters from the main plot. So I took a dive and braved the waters with the hopes of loving this book as well!

I love a good old enemies to lovers trope and Annabeth Alberth really does wonders! I enjoyed this too and I hope to see more characters in the future! Thank you Netgalley and to the publisher for sending me an early copy of the book!

I want to start off my review by saying this book is in no way problematic, nor is it terrible, either. it just wasn't for me.

I read the first part of this series first, because I thought they were parts of each other.

to be honest, I really enjoyed the first part! I thought it was well-paced, and it was certainly a great case of slow burn very well done. the characters were great, the banter was great, the "opposites attract" trope was used very well.

unfortunately, I found this book to be very repetitive and structured in the exact same way as the previous one. which just made me feel déjà vu, over and over again.

I personally felt like these two books weren't much different. the same tropes and plot lines were used and, although the main concept was quite different, they felt too similar.

in a way, it felt like reading "Conventionally Yours," but worse, and with less chemistry.

I still think this author has a LOT of potential, and I loved the only other book I've read of hers, so I'll definitely keep an eye out for any of her upcoming books! :-)

I absolutely love nerdy books and this book was exactly that.
It was cute, it was fun, it was a great time!
It did start to drag on a lot but others might find it more gripping.

As a long-time fan of Annabeth Albert, from her Hot Zone series to the recent launch of her True Colors series with the title Conventionally Yours, I was delighted to see another book in the latter. Out of Character (love the play on cosplay) did not disappoint, bringing the exegesis of nerd culture home with a sure hand. From best friends to at best, frenemies, in high school, Jasper Quigley and Milo Lionetti have long left that phase of life, and each other, behind. But Milo's reckless loss of his brother's prized and virtually irreplaceably Odyssey game cards (think Magic the Gathering) leads him back to game-store employee/gamer Jasper with a plea to Jasper to help him replace the cards. Jasper reluctantly agrees, on certain conditions: full-tilt cosplay visits to the local children's hospital (Milo being, coincidentally, the perfect embodiment of the one cosplay character Jasper's cosplay group lacks), plus assistance in ensuring the success of the children's hospital charity ball. Heartwarming and humorous scenes ensue as Milo learns to navigate a whole new world, as well as the feelings he had long hidden from Jasper, while Jasper learns to let go of the past and see a new Milo. Along the way, in and out of cosplay, each learns to set aside the masks they wore and the games they played in high school and acknowledge their feelings for one another in this sweetly touching, knowingly crafted, wonderfully nerdy romance from Albert.

this book just wasn’t for me, i think?
i found myself skimming this whole book, it was in my opinion very boring and took me like a month to finish. i feel like this could’ve been a lot shorter - the romance was great, but it was just so dragged out and i feel like sometimes there was no plot. i also felt like the explicit scenes were a bit forced (as in the writing). i really loved the whole hospital visits thing - that was great. wish we got to see more of that. i couldn’t really feel anything for the characters. and also what does rofl mean & can i never read that in a book again please haha

thank you netgalley and sourcebooks casablanca for the earc!