When Milo makes a mistake losing his brother's gaming cards he goes to ask for help from the only person he can think of, his former best friend from high school that he hasn't spoken to in years. Jasper doesn't want to help him because of what happened in High School, but he needs someone to cosplay with his group and Milo fits the costume. After making a deal they embark in a mission to recover the cards before Milo's brother comes back from deployment and get him in trouble.

This is a friends to enemies to friends to lovers and it's so wholesome!!! Milo struggles with coming public with his sexuality and with his self worth, but Jasper is there every step of the way helping him have the courage to do it. This book has amazing representation, and all the conflicts in the book don't bcome from their relationship whoch made it very healthy. It's also a steamy book that doesn't fade into the dark like many mlm books would do and I appreciated it, besides there's always verbal consent which I feel should be normalized!

A great read during pride month, it truly was amazing.

I loved Conventionally Yours, and was so excited to step back into the world and explore other characters. This is a friends to enemies to friends to lovers story. Jasper (who we met in the first book) is finishing college and working at a local game store when his former best friend, Milo, walks back into his life asking for help.

For me, this book started off rather slowly but ended up getting more interesting throughout. There is a fair amount of angst and internalized homophobia in Milo that was difficult to hear but also felt pretty realistic in some sense. I did really appreciate both characters ability to pretty openly communicate with each other about really difficult topics. and I SO appreciated not having a scene with a huge miscommunication that the characters then needed to work out.

I listened to the audiobook and unfortunately just did not love the narrators and found it distracting sometimes.

Thanks to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for the free audiobook in exchange for a honest and unbiased review!

I enjoyed this book more that I originally thought I would from the first few chapters! It's a childhood-friends-to-enemies-to-lovers, jock/nerd NA romance. Milo and Jasper's story is adorable and if you're a fan of Red, White & Royal Blue, I think you'll enjoy Out of Character with the whole opposites attract/secret crush storyline.

Tw: homophobia, mentions of homophobic father, deceased parent, car accident.

Audiobook narration: I'm sorry to say this but I really did not enjoy listening to either one of the narrators for this one. That being said, I don't discourage the ebook/physical book at all!

3.75/5

4.5/5 Stars

I really enjoyed Conventionally Yours, so I was really excited when I heard about Out of Character and it really lived up to my expectations!

I like the plot. I found it really engaging. I liked the characters. I particularly enjoyed seeing the growth that both of them went through over the course of the book. The book was faced-paced. It was a great quick, fun read!

I listened to the audiobook. I thought the narrators were great. I will say, however, they were the same ones who did Conventionally Yours. It was a bit weird at first because I had associated the narrators voices with the leads from the first book. It just took me a bit to get used too.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced listeners copy in exchange for an honest review.

These days, there are so many different genre designations and many of them overlap - romance, YA, NA (new adult). This book is officially categorized as an Adult LGBTQIA Romance by the publisher. However, it read really young to me, even for a college-aged romance. The heroes are both college aged and the interiority and the stakes of both these characters felt young to me as well.

This is a nerd/jock, ex-best friend, bully romance that centers around the search for a rare and precious set of playing cards for a tabletop fantasy game. I thought the plot of the book was really tight and the romance was quite sweet and satisfying.

Sex scenes (which are almost fade to black but not really?) were written with a lot of purple prose which I found jarring and frustrating. It's totally okay to not include lots of detail in sex scenes, or to fade to black, but these scenes in particular felt really flowery and abstract in a way that didn't seem to fit both the tone and the characters.

Another thing that rubbed me a little bit the wrong way is the way that sick people, especially children, are used throughout the story. There's a subplot about one of the heroes' sisters who has an autoimmune disease so the whole friend group volunteers in the children's ward of the hospital in cosplay. A lot of this was very lovely, especially as it allowed the heroes to see each other at their best. However, at points this really tipped into inspiration porn for me and I really worry about the use of sick kids as an emotional plot device.

The dual narration of Kirt Graves and Joel Froomkin was really smooth and distinct and I thought they were both really strong performers. However, they both sounded much older than the characters, which just added another layer to my feelings that the whole book read really young to me.

I didn't read Conventionally Yours but I've heard so much buzz about it, and this seems to be the second in that series, so I really recommend it if that one hit you in the spot! It's a fun and nerdy book about queer young men falling in love! I definitely recommend this book if you like nerdy queer YA.

CW: misuse of alcohol, alcoholism, toxic parents, homophobia, sick children, car crash

Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ALC.

I received a copy of this audiobook free from NetGalley and Dreamscape Media in exchange for an honest review.

This is the second book in Annabeth Albert’s True Color series and it did not disappoint! It followed childhood best friends Jasper and Milo turned-highschool-enemies-to-eventual-lovers.

Milo was a jock who got stuck in the wrong crowd and ended up torturing Jasper for all of highschool so throughout the book the two learn how to forgive and trust eachother again. There is also, of course, the wonderful side characters who we got to know and love even more from Conventionally Yours.

At first listening to this audiobook felt a little confusing because the narrators were the same ones for Conrad and Alden so hearing them as Jasper and Milo took a little getting used to. Once I got past that, I was a little surprised at how similar some of the tropes Annabeth Albert used compared to Conventionally Yours, but honestly, I loved the tropes so I did not mind hearing a slightly different love story in the same universe.

Annabeth Albert’s writing style is very consistent and enthralling to read. This audiobook was exactly what I expected it to be and I am not disappointed in the slightest! If you enjoyed Conventionally Yours, then this is an absolute amazing sequel to it!

This was such an amazing read! I am new to Annabeth Albert but now I’m going to check out her other books, I loved the tension and back and forth between Milo and Jasper! I’m looking forward to hearing more about them in future novels!

Jasper and Milo are too adorable for words and I love the story that Albert created with them. It's about family, friendship, identity, and so many different things all rolled up into two kindred souls finally finding the courage and space to be together.
I honestly have nothing negative to say about this book. I enjoyed everything from the characters, to the situations they're in, to how the different challenges are handled, to the saccharine-sweet ending.
It's also a perfect second volume in that it fleshes out side characters from the previous book and gives glimpses of where the previous protagonists are while also being perfectly readable as a stand-alone book.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Kirt Graves and Joel Froomkin and major kudos to them for how well they brought Jasper and Milo to fun and flirty life.

Many extremely happy thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the early listen.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read Out of Character by Annabeth Albert in exchange for an honest review.
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​This is the 2nd book in the True Colours series and I was super excited to be approved for it, as I just read Conventionally Yours this month.
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​I did enjoy this book but I did find Miles hard to connect with, however, I did really like this inside look at Jasper.
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​The description of the cosplay scenes and outfits were some of favorite parts of this book.
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​My only bone of contention was the narrator throughout the sex scenes. I found them super awkward sounding...the moaning actually made me cringe a bit. I am glad it wasn't fade to black though, and it's only something I was aware of because I listened to the audiobook.
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​I will be continuing on with this series and can't wait to read the next installment!

Out of Character is an adorable second chance romance between ex-bestfriends. Jasper is the lovable sidekick who wants to be someone's hero and Milo is a former jock whose life is stalled. Milo needs Jasper's help but Jasper has good reasons for not trusting him.

I truly loved this book so much. The characters felt fully built with more than just their main characteristic. Jasper may have a wannabe hero complex but he is also supremely confident in juxtaposition of Milo, who stereotypically would be the confident one. Milo being an artist was the perfect way to round out his character. I could talk for ages about this book, but really the writing was phenomenal. The battle for the cards was awesome and now I wish my university had a secret scavenger hunt. (Or maybe I just wasn't cool enough to know about it)

If you like the nerd/jock trope but they aren't complete stereotypes, an abundance of heart eyes and pining, and maybe are a fan of cosplay, then run to get this book.

I listened to the audiobook and both narrators were so perfect. I cannot imagine these characters with any other voices now. The accents were awesome and I felt that they really made the Jasper and Milo seem real.

I received a copy of this audiobook free from NetGalley and Dreamscape Media in exchange for an honest review.

I had some mixed feelings about the first book in this series, but I still wanted to try the second one because I liked the concept of romance books about board game nerds.

Unfortunately, I ended up enjoying this even less than the first book. I don't have any big, serious reasons for that - I just really didn't click with the characters and didn't end up liking them as people, and it's kind of hard to enjoy a romance if you don't feel any sort of connection with the people involved.

I will start saying I still have no idea how card games work and it's totally okay. I cheered for them to win, I'm sad when they don't, but at the end of the day, I have no idea what's going on.
That being said, I loved the book. The dynamics between the two MCs felt real and raw and plenty emotional. We have a delicate situation going on, with Milo being someone who broke Jasper's heart back in school; they were best friends and Milo just threw that all aways to be "one of the guys" and play soccer. It's not exactly a bully and bullied thing but what Milo did wasn't okay and it hurt Jasper so much I felt his pain and why he hated Milo so much at the beginning. But then we get to know what went inside Milo's head and you could see how much was going on in there and how much anxiety, fear of losing what he had, of disappointing the ones he loved, and fear of being judged and mocked played a big part in many if not all the decisions in his life.

I loved their interactions and how Jasper decided to give Milo a second chance and seeing him for who he truly was; not actually forgetting the past, but growing and changing because of it. We aren't perfect, we let our fears and emotions rule us, but we aren't broken and unforgivable or underserving of a second or even a third chance. I loved that Jasper risked giving this boy with fear in his eyes time to let himself be seen and understood.

I really really related to Milo's anxiety. It felt so real, and the narrator used an intonation that took me down the anxiety rabbit hole together with Milo; I won't deny it was hard to listen to at times. There were just so many emotions. You know what I also liked? There wasn't unnecessary drama and, even if it took some time, there wasn't really miscommunication. So refreshing!

One thing that was unnecessary in my opinion, though, was how the book is advertised as having a "virgin hero". Like why was that necessary? For once, the character's virginity is not an issue or something like a big deal in the book so it really shouldn't be one of the bullet points in getting people interested in the book, and then why is it important for us to know he's a virgin? Unnecessary. I was glad it wasn't a big deal in the book as I was afraid it'd be after seeing it advertised that way.

Last but not least, I was so happy we got to see the characters from book 1, not much but still it was nice seeing them and what they're doing right now!

ARC review for netgalley. (Audiobook)

I absolutely adore the enemies to lovers trope and this did not disappoint. With fully realized and incredibly warm and relatable characters this story really checked all the boxes for me. I loved all the nerdy references and really felt at home in this book. My only complaint is that I really did not enjoy the narration. I found the voices too distracting at points, however, a minor complaint as the story is just so good.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.


I enjoyed this audiobook. Thank you for making each character have their own character voice it was nice to be able to tell who was who! If you love rom-coms this is the perfect book!

This was an average YA Contemporary. The relationship happened way too quickly in my opinion, but it wasn't terrible. I liked it better than the first book in this companion series.

The only problem I have with this book is that I didn't like the title. Other than that, this book is perfect.

Back when they were kids, Jasper and Milo were best friends. Then Milo fell in with a jock crowd and stopped being friends with Jasper when he came out as gay. Years later, Milo reunites with Jasper hoping that Jasper can help him find a rare game card he lost. During the hunt, both of them fight their feelings for each other because Jasper is still hurt by Milo's rejection and Milo because he's scared coming out of the closet.

My heart went out to Milo. He was so hard on himself that it was painful. He was so scared of rejection for being gay that he hid by pretending to be a straight dudebro. He knows that this is wrong and does his best to fix his running from mistakes. When he loses his brother's D&D-like card worth $10,000, he becomes too hard on himself. He was fleeced by a man that uses dirty tricks.

Fortunately, Jasper has a large, forgiving heart, and their relationship is one of the most healthy ones I've read. They have arguments, but they make up not long after the fight to better understand each other. Misunderstandings are talked through. Both of them want to help each other.

The readers were good. There was a nice contrast to their voices that helped the differences between Milo and Jasper.

Review based on an advanced reader copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this audiobook! The narrators were great, and I especially enjoyed the Bottom accent which is something I rarely hear in audiobooks. I enjoyed this story far more than I thought I would, and I think Annabeth Albert has done a fantastic job of creating a charismatic and enjoyable romance book that will be widely enjoyable.