The Love Con is full of swoon-worthy romance. Couple that with the fun and interesting backdrop of cosplay and you've got the recipe for a book that's good fun. My only hang-up would have to the be the anti-climatic ending of the competition, which is a big component of the book. By the time I got there, I was no longer anticipating how things would go. I'd lost majority of my excitement for it.

I adore the premise of this book, but for whatever reason, it just wasn’t grabbing my attention when I tried to read it recently. I wasn’t connecting with the characters or vibing with their chemistry or something. It almost felt like I was dropped into the middle of a book or a series, and not the beginning. I want to try revisiting this one though, because the synopsis is right up my alley, so I definitely plan to try again at some point to see if maybe it was my mood. But for now, this one is a miss for me.

Thank you so much berkley romance + berkley pub for my copy of this outrageously fun cutie!

Friends to lovers, fake dating, one bed…this rom com has ALL the tropes. I quickly fell in love with the endearing main characters and was fascinated learning more about their creative processes and the world of cosplay. It left me with a smile on my face and a craving to watch The Avengers.

Things I liked: body positivity/fat rep, interracial relationship, reality tv component

I craved a little more steam but overall enjoyed!!

I have to say that I am always surprising myself whenever I read a book that I least expect to fall in love with. It's always the books with the low expectations. Keep that in mind.I find cosplay very interesting as a hobby because there are so many details to pay attention to if you want to pull it off right. And Kenya has no problem doing so. That's why she is excelling in the competitive reality show. It may be a bit rough for her since she is the only one of color and plus-size. But that does not mean anything, she has the talent so I believe in her. And so does her best friend, Cameron. Cameron has no problem helping his best friend. It gives him the perfect opportunity to spend more time with her. He truly misses her since she has been away for the reality competition. And he definitely has no problem in playing the fake boyfriend. He has always been in love with her, and this fake dating gives him the perfect opportunity to make his play.

This ARC was offered in exchange of an honest and impartial review:
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3,5*
Pros: Childhood friends to lovers trope. Fierce Black female protagonist, and kind and supportive romantic lead. Focuses on the wonders of professional cosplaying, the challenges and the accomplishments entailed. Talks about parental pressure and high expectations. Although steamy, full of wholesome moments.
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Cons: Characters too cookie-cutter perfect. Lacking more emotional depth.

A fun and cute romcom that has a nice twist to it. The adventure of cosplay does not get written about enough in my opinion and it is really fun (I suggest you try it sometime). I loved the characters, the plot, the representation, but I do wish it wasn’t a common best friend from high school to true love type of thing. Overall, still a fun read.

In this peak friends-to-lovers fake dating confection, Kenya is forced to corral her best friend, Cam into pretending to be her boyfriend to help win a televised cosplay costume contest. These two have always been attracted to each other, but kept their feelings hidden for the sake of the friendship. Will the televised farce finally bring them closer together?

This book is cute, has plus-size rep, and showcases the interesting and creative cosplay community. Both main characters are sickeningly perfect, and The Big Hurdle(TM) has nothing to really do with the relationship between the two leads. It's really outside influences, such as trolls, television producers, and Kenya's parents that drive these two apart before our HEA.

I thoroughly enjoyed this read, but can't say it tops my list of favorite romances for 2021. I think those into cosplaying or looking for plus-size rep will love this one more than average. It barely a door cracked open, and imo, would have been better full open door given the overall tone of the book, but may appeal more to those who like things less steamy.

Thanks to Berkley for my eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

4 stars - 8/10

What could have been better?

I wish there was a little more development and explanation at the end with the father/mother plot for Kenya.

I also wish there was more of the minor characters!

What I enjoyed?

UMMMM?! So much!

I’m not usually a fan of the friends to lovers plot, BUT this one had the twist of fake dating! So, it was a much faster burn, which I ABSOLUTELY LOVED!

This book alternates between Kenya and Cam’s POV, and they compliment each other so well… all their interactions made me smile or laugh.

There was great commentary on how the media and reality tv shows edit Black women to be aggressive, and how, even off Tv, Black women are always portrayed as aggressive and labeled as such.

I loved the setting of the cosplay world and getting to learn about it and the struggles BIPOC people face.

Kenya, our female MC, was full of grace, but never backed down and always stood up for herself.

Cam, was such a supportive male protagonist…hot and funny too! 😍

There was fat rep!

Oh, and the steam was ON POINT.

This book was everything I didn’t know I needed. From the setting to the characters to the reality tv aspect? This was definitely a winner.

📄Favorite Quote📄

“Neither Dora Nora the Sora Milaje apologize for who they are or what they do. They simply are, and people accept that and move, or they will be moved.”

My first Seressia Glass book and not my last.

This book has all the fun setups, a friends to lovers trope, a reality show competition for cosplayers, and this underlying of message of staying true to your dreams no matter the obstacles… even when those obstacles come from people who say they love you.

Meet Kenya, cosplayer and sassy, lovable woman who is in the finals for a reality competition based on what she loves. Of course, she’s dealing with judges and microaggressions out the wazoo and when they back her into a corner about her love life, she announces to the world she’s got a man… her best friend, Cameron.

Cameron is all down for this plan. He’s been trying to push their relationship from friends to lovers’ territory for years. With Kenya setting him for the opportunity to do just that, with cameras rolling it’s fake-it-until-you-fall-into-it. Of course, nothing is easy when reality television is involved. Cue the forced drama from ex-girlfriends and short deadlines, evil tv producers, and ‘becky-esque’ judges who can’t let the talent shine.

There are no holds barred by Glass, including Kenya’s parents who are in her corner and yet not. I wanted to strangle a lot of people on behalf of Kenya and was blown away as she fought and fought against all the forces trying to hold her back. Cameron is swoon worthy as a knight who uplifts and allows Kenya to shine. He isn’t saving her but encouraging her to save herself.

I won’t like the only thing keeping this from a five for me is the quick wrap up at the end. Also, I wanted some people in the story to get some sort of punishment for their awful behavior. I mean, that doesn’t happen in real life, but I love when it happens in romances.

Overall, if you’re nerdy, love friends to lovers, and enjoy some romance that goes from a little slow burn to smokin’ hot this book is for you.

~ Landra

This was a big-hearted friends to lovers, fake dating reality tv show, cos-play loving romance that I thoroughly enjoyed. New to me author Seressia Glass has written a love story perfect for fans of Out of Character or Spoiler Alert. I loved the relationship between Cam and Kenya and how supportive Cam is encouraging Kenya to pursue her costume designing dreams despite the pressure she's under from her parents to do something with her engineering degree. Great on audio narrated by Zenzi Williams (a new to me narrator). I also enjoyed that this was a dual perspective romance and we got to see inside both Cam and Kenya's heads and just how much they truly loved one another. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my advance review copy. I can't wait to read more books by this author!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for an a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review!


3/5 ⭐️s

A fat heroine who loves cosplay? Yes, please! I really loved Kenya’s character. She was confident and knew what she wanted, and she stood up for that.

Her and Cam’s fake dating turned real dating relationship was cute, but I didn’t buy it like I bought into their friendship. Maybe it had to do with us being pushed into the middle of their story with Cam already sold on being in love with her and deciding to act on it. There was no stressing or fretting over their feelings. Kenya went from “he’s hot but my best friend” to “he’s hot and I will have him” with very little fanfare. It make the relationship feel stiff.

Kenya’s experience with the producer and judge on the reality show was too much more me. Not because it wasn’t true to reality…but because it is more than likely exactly true to reality. I can only relate to the fat phobic part of her experience, and it was too much for me. Her being a POC and facing a show that wants to label her as the “angry black woman” is heart wrenching.

Overall, I thought this was a good book. I wish we’d focused more on the couple and less on everything else.

Tropes:
•Friends to lovers
•Fake Dating
•Roommates
•Sharing a bed

Spice Level: 1.5/5 🌶s

This is a delightful fake relationship with friends to lovers romantic comedy with heart. Kenya is a creative type who is from a stem family and has always felt a little out of it with her family. She finally had a chance to show her talents cosplay competition show called cosplay or no way. Unfortunately the final challenge calls for you to work with your significant other, Kenya asks herbest friend Cameron Reed to pretend to be a significant other and help her win the competition.

Kenya and Cameron start to realize that they have feelings from one another. It’s fun to see how the relationship comes about during the competition. It also adds to the plot that Kenya has to deal with both her parents judgment as well as a judge who always one seems to be against her.

This is a sweet book with lovable hero and heroine. They both have to deal with judgments from others and find their way to a happily ever after. The romance is well done and how they find their way to one another is delightful. This is a fun romantic comedy with heart that would make anybody entertained after reading.

If you liked Spoiler Alert, I think you will like The Love Con (but I think this is actually better). If you love the friends to lovers trope, this might be your jam. Super cute!

Kenya and Cameron are friends, roommates, and business partners. Their lives are really entangled so when the need to fake date in order to make in the final of round of a reality costume design show Kenya inadvertently sets the make Kenya fall in love with me plan in motion for Cameron. These two have a really interesting relationship. It's comfortable and supportive. They both take each other's needs into consideration and really makes the friends to lovers trope feel appropriate. They've dated other people but those relationships could not hold a candle to what they have, which sucks for their exes but we are rooting for Kenya and Cameron.

CW: parent death, alcoholic father, child neglect, fatphobia, microagressions, parent meddling (family expectations, not approving of career path, giving ultimatums)

I *L*O*V*E* this book! As a plus-size cosplayer myself, I loved seeing Kenya be a total baddy. Seressia Glass does just a fantastic job of building this world and these people in it that I completely forgot I was reading a book and just lived in the experience. Kenya and Cam are such realistic, complex characters that they really felt REAL to me, and I totally want to be their friend please! One of the hallmarks for a favorite book for me is wanting to live in that world and be friends with the characters, and The Love Con was totally that for me.

It was also enlightening to watch Kenya practice Ahimsa (do no harm but take no... er, nonsense) while she deals with micro-aggressions and sometimes downright straight-out aggression directed at her. This is an excellent example of how romance can be escapist and sweet and hot while also dealing with very real issues and pain in a space where the reader feels safe to do so because we know the characters will get their happy ever after in the end. And Kenya, as a queen size Black woman, has plenty of people ready to tear her down or try to make her feel small or act in ways she doesn't want to. At times this book was really hard to read as Kenya deals with repeated tiny cuts to her ego and her personhood, and those times were hardest when it was her family cutting her down.

There's a moment where someone (I'll try not to post spoilers!) tells her she doesn't have to be the Angry Black Woman, but she doesn't have to be the Strong Black Woman either, and I just sobbed. I want to hug them both, but especially Kenya for having to keep it together, try so hard, and be so strong all the time. I'm so glad she has folks that she can fall apart and really feel her feelings with. (And there I go forgetting again these are characters in a book and not real people - Seressia Glass is just that good!)

This is my first book by Seressia Glass, but I was looking at some of her other books and was so pleased to see she has a series called Sons of Anubis... which is TV series mentioned in The Love Con. I love these sorts of easter eggs! Now obviously I need to read the Sons of Anubis series.

I ADORED this book, and can't recommend it enough! It may get a bit technical on the cosplaying aspects, so if you're not a cosplayer or someone who loves reading about the mechanics behind things, that may be a detractor for you. As someone who has attempted to make armor out of EVA foam and knows exactly how much of a pain it is doing those beveled edges, I really appreciated the incredibly accurate detail, haha!

Kenya is competing in a reality TV show, Cosplay or No Way, and she’s made it to the finals. But for the next challenge she has to complete an iconic duo costume. When she’s put on the spot she announces to the judges (and the viewers) that her best friend is her ‘partner’ and going to be helping her with the final challenge. She doesn’t have time to give Cam a heads-up, but luckily he’s cool with both helping out and pretending to be her boyfriend for the cameras, their family, and friends.

The two of them have been friends for years, and have been through thick and thin together. Cam tried to suggest they become more than friends back in college, but Kenya shot him down. Since then he hasn’t brought it up again and doesn’t want to ruin their friendship, but his crush has never gone away.

The two of them start sharing a room and a bed to throw the camera crew off the scent of their fake dating, but that forced proximity, nightly spooning, and ahem…morning wood, has Kenya thinking all sorts of inappropriate things. When they start kissing for the cameras they start getting into dangerous territory, and honesty it’s only a matter of time before their fake dating turns into real feelings (of the heart and further-south variety 😉).

To complicate things further, Kenya’s parents don’t approve of her trying to make a career in cosplay instead of using her degree. Plus, Cam’s ex-girlfriend is suddenly back on the scene. And one of the judges on the show has it out for Kenya.

I really loved the main characters and found them relatable and sweet. I did find the book a little repetitive in parts, and their reason for sharing a bed a little flimsy, but overall it was an enjoyable read. I loved how the two main characters were together, and getting to see each of their POVs let you see just how much they cared about each other. I’d definitely read more from Seressia Glass.

The Love Con is a childhood best friends-to-lovers romance that has fake dating, cosplaying, and love of Marvel.

The cosplaying aspect of this book is what drew me in. I appreciated Kenya and Cam's friendship and the utter support they had for each other. Cam was a cinnamon roll that was gone for Kenya and I loved getting the dual POVs. I loved so much of this book. From the unapologetically and confident fat rep with Kenya to the chemistry and sexual tension between Cam and Kenya to the Marvel references. I struggled with the second half a little, parts felt repetitive and I wished that there was more steam.

Overall, this was a fun read that made my Marvel-loving heart happy!

I adored this. The main character, Kenya, reminded me of one of my best friends. She's a fierce black nerd competing on a cosplay design TV show, but has to pretend to date her best friend for the show. It's a nerdy heaven, with plenty of clever references woven into the story as well as some depth.

My journey with this book was quite an interesting one. I had seen it around on NetGalley, but wasn’t inclined to pick it up for whatever reason, until I saw a booktuber rank The Love Con as one of their top 5 best review copy reads of 2021. That certainly got my interest! I figured that the romance must be top notch, and so I hurried to request it! Thankfully, I received a copy and now you’ll get to hear what my thoughts were!

Firstly, a synopsis! This book follows Kenya as she makes it to the finals of a cosplay competition. However, the final challenge is to make a couples cosplay, so she blurts out on live TV that her partner will be her best friend Cam, insinuating that the two of them are in fact a couple. After being in love with Kenya for several years, Cam is more than happy to play along, but his end goal is to make Kenya see how well they work as a couple, to turn their fake dating into true love!

There were many things that I loved about this book. Seeing Kenya and Cam’s friendship and how well they communicated warmed my heart! I also really loved how these two would do anything for one another. They really had the background for such a healthy and solid relationship, that I think we don’t see enough of! However, as much as I loved these two as friends, I never really felt the chemistry between them. I think part of this had to do with how their romantic scenes were written, mixed with a bit of personal preference. I never felt the butterflies that these two kept mentioning they had for one another. I was still rooting for them throughout the story, just in a more detached way.

Another element that I thought was handled well was the competition itself. It was great getting a more behind the scenes view of the filming process. We got to see how the judges interacted with Kenya, particularly one judge who had it out for Kenya and kept making microaggressive comments about her weight, race, and anything else she could find to remark on. There also was an infuriating producer that only wanted to sell drama, and did not have Kenya’s best interests at heart who boiled my blood as well. Seeing how much Kenya enjoyed cosplay and how hard she worked to use this opportunity to make her career flourish tempered by the sometimes horrible experiences she had to go through to get there had me so invested in the experience. I felt Kenya’s hurt, her excitement, and her exhaustion and I just loved how complex her relationship with the show was.

Kenya’s parents frustrated me at times. They didn’t truly support Kenya’s dreams and I was angered by how they dismissed her talent and her passion in favor of her getting a “real engineering job”. I also found that the resolution related to her parents was a bit too simple, and wanted something more from it. In general, I felt that the end of the book tied up a bit too nicely. I would have preferred for the resolution to have happened a little bit earlier. The entire book has Kenya fighting for what she loves and who she loves, that it would have been nice to get more pay off, or some scenes with Kenya and Cam in a stress free, loving environment, instead of these scenes that had a mix of conflict and romance. Once again, that’s a personal preference, but as I went into this book for the romance, I would have loved to see a scene or two where the romance was a bigger feature than the plot surrounding the cosplay competition.

In the end, I gave this book 3.5 stars. There were many things that I think this book did fabulously, but some other aspects missed the mark for me. I’d still recommend it, but I think that you should go in knowing how plot and conflict heavy this book is so that you have the right expectations!

This is the second fake romance while competing on a reality TV show that I've read. I grabbed it because of the diversity, and because I have only watched about a minute and a half of a reality show before I turned it off. What is it that others enjoy that just seems like super noisy fakeness to me?

Well, the book answered the question (a sense of competition, obvs!)in giving us a couple of cos-playing best friends who design and make costumes. That I find tres cool. The twist (not a spoiler as you learn it early on) is they have to pretend to be lovers for purposes of the show, when they've been tight friends. So: friends to lovers, which can be a tougher sell than enemies to lovers.

Glass makes it work by surrounding Kenya and Cameron with terrific characters (especially Kenya's family) and by throwing a ton of plot at the reader around the romance, so to speak. We get covert racism, trolls, the naked ambition that really does exist in Hollywood, where you do find people who actively relish stepping on someone else to get to the top (which is one of the main reasons I got out of that world, much as I adored the creativity). This aspect of the story is really absorbing, almost overwhelming the romance.

I had to stop and think about why, when Glass gives us plenty of description of how hot they find one another. I began to believe in the evolution of their romance once I hit the back end of the story, when Glass lets us in on flashbacks. In that first half, the narrative voice keeps telling us about their relationship, which creates a distance romance-wise, while steadily building the plot tension around the TV show. I could wish those flashbacks had been up front, but really, the payoff makes it all worth it.

I loved the couple, I loved reading about their designs and how they went about accomplishing them. I adored the end. The voice is also fun--salty, for those who watch for language, with exuberant appreciation for each other's hotness. Altogether a fun read--I intend to watch out for this author.

Fake-dating? Yes!
Cosplay? Yes!
Characters realising they have feelings for each other? HECK YES!
Seressia Glass is the absolute best for writing a book with characters that the reader can actually relate to. Subplots such as family relations were super important to this story so you can understand both protagonists' backgrounds.
Cam and Kenya are amazing characters and deserve all the hype! As does the author!