This book is absolutely raw with emotions, the type of book I absolutely love and this one wasn’t any sort of exception. I zoomed through the story and was invested in every plot point big and small. I found the book so realistic and necessary for teenagers to read. I feel that most every teenager who reads this book would find them self seen in someway or another.
I loved the characters and how they interacted, the plot points big and small, literally everything made my heart flutter with love for this book. I saw little parts of myself in every character in this book and having that sort of connection just made my experience that much better.
Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins Publishing for an eARC copy of this book.

I am having *feelings*. Like may or may not have sobbed at the end. I wish this book and others like it were around when I was in high school and that I had formed those chronically online friendships....but, I digress. I like a fat MC because it's relatable to me. A fat, queer, nerdy MC is perfection. Also, the fact that she is masking her real self and interests for people in her real life is relatable and painful....so TW, I guess?

I loved the online community, body positivity, queer teenager. I also really liked all the quirky traditions, snarky interactions, and growth throughout the book. I didn't love all the lying and poor communication--thats a constant book pet peeves for me. I understand it as a way to drive the plot but I was FRUSTRATED with out girl throughout like 85% of the book.

Her mom is the WORST and that relationship never made sense to me, but cool dad is the BEST! The relationship between dad and daughter sounded like it would be complex and then just....wasn't? And it turned out to be sort of a theme, I think there was something there that would have make this book INCREDIBLE, but everything felt just a little flat. I also LOVEEEEE Rowen and Tate. I wish we would have seen more of the other girls in the server, but maybe we will get a series? (I would definitely read that!)

Random note: it's super weird how casual the teen drinking is with their parents. Full disclosure: i skipped most of the role play scenes. i really love the concept, but didn't love the actual role play, but that did not detract from my reading experience. Another random note: I'm immodestly going to the store to buy stuff to make totdish.

Overall, I'm glad this book exists and I enjoyed reading it. I am forever grateful to see a variety of queer fat women represented in literature, I never thought Id see that day. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

Thank you Quill Tree Books and NetGalley for granting me access to an eARC of Jenna Miller’s wonderful book, Out of Character. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Summary

Cass has a secret life: she’s a roleplayer in the Tide Wars fandom. Some of her best friends are fellow teens in her roleplaying group. And she hasn’t told anyone in real life about this. It’s her safe haven away from her parents’ arguments. Everything’s fine until her mom moves cross-country out of nowhere to go live with her online boyfriend, Cass’s crush asks her out, and her grades start slipping because her coping mechanism is staying up late to roleplay which causes her to sleep late and miss homework assignments. Meanwhile, one of her roleplaying friends starts to enter Cass’s real life and that causes her girlfriend and everyone else to have questions about how they know each other. Can Cass keep her two worlds separate or will she drown in the lies?

Thoughts

I think this was a realistic way to discuss online friendships and fandoms while also acknowledging the importance of being honest with the people in your in person life. There are a lot of moments when Cass’s lies just make everything worse. But, Cass is worried that her addictive tendencies will make her dad ban her from roleplaying, so it makes sense that she goes to such great lengths to keep it a secret. She doesn’t even tell her best friend and next door neighbor because she knows he would probably tell her dad because the two families are close. It’s hard to read about Cass hiding from the people who love her and want good things for her, but I think this is a wonderful book that can serve as a reminder to teens that reaching out to the people you love about something that’s getting a little out of control might make things better in the end. And I like that it acknowledges how hard it is to trust people–even the people you love–with something precious to you.

I like that this is one of those books where the response when things become a mess is not to vilify the characters completely, but rather discuss how they are human and humans make mistakes. This doesn’t justify their actions or discount the very real pain they cause others, but people are human and nobody is going to do well at handling everything all the time. It’s clear that a lot of Cass’s troubles are caused by Cass herself, but Miller writes it in a way that makes readers feel for Cass and still root for her to succeed even as we’re reading about her not great coping mechanisms.

Lastly, one of the elements of this book that was a lot of fun was the pieces of Cass’s roleplays. They often served as omens for what would come next in the story and give readers a preview of Cass’s mindset prior to reading the next chapter. It was fun to get to see both parts of Cass’s world: the roleplays and the texts with her roleplaying friends as well as her real life friends and family.

4 out of 5 stars

Out of Character is a Young Adult, contemporary, LQBTQIA+, romance. I enjoyed this body-positive, LGBTQIA+ love story that explores the complexities of online/offline relationships and the hesitating involved in sharing an authentic and geeky version of yourself.

A thoughtful and well-written YA romance about finding people who accept you and finding hobbies that make you happy

This was a super cute LGBTQ+ novel, with great representation. I loved the main character in all of her flaws. The storyline was relatable, as were the characters. Definitely recommend this!

I will admit this title has me waffling on a star rating. Part of me feels like 3 stars would be accurate based on how I never felt fully gripped and wanting to keep reading (hence why I started another title in the middle and finished it before this one) BUT I have a really weird sense of comradery with this book and I think a lot of people in the elder-to-mid-range-millennials group will too. Finding a sense of community online that supports your fandoms and allows you room to grow and love something in such an unashamed manner is so special and can feel both world expanding and isolating at the same time. It is hard to explain those relationships and that space to the world around you when you are afraid of being judged or feeling the need to explain yourself - especially when our main character Cass has already been through that situation in her life by coming out as queer! It was kind of difficult to feel attached to the "Tide Wars" fandom in the book, and get a grasp on what makes it so great, when you're trying to connect with the insertion of the roleplay scenes our character's are writing....but your brain also easily substitutes it for your favorite author and book series (hello, I was thinking about SJM and her book fandom everything). Then while it was hard to connect I found myself rooting for Cass's roleplaying friendships and waiting them to be a comfortable addition to her real life - enter Rowan Davies the high school fandom nerd of our dreams. It was clear that Cass and Rowan were initial points of creation for this story on the part of our author Jenna Miller because they are so fully fleshed out that they could walk out of my kindle at any moment. I loved them and their friendship and every interaction. The plotlines weren't perfect....but neither is high school and navigating life & relationships at that age. This would be perfect for fans of Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (oh boy....do I have a type here haha). This was honest and lovely and I'm so thankful for the chance to read and review this title. I'm looking forward to more from Jenna Miller.

An absolute love story to the power of online friendships, and honestly just friendships in general.
A beautifully proud queer fat MC, hiding her online role play life from the people around her, I truly loved every minute of this one and struggled to put it down to do anything else. Definitely recommend for all the queer fantasy lovers, and really just anyone who feels like they have to hide parts of themselves for one reason or another.

oh my goodness, i love this book so much! i had my doubts because i'm normally not a fan of the friends to lovers trope, but this was perfect!! i loved the queer & body positive representation!! the found family was just the cherry on top!! 💕🥰 i cannot wait to read more by jenna miller in the future...

Cass has proudly embraced being a fat lesbian, but the online role-playing game she plays based on her favorite fantasy novels? That she keeps in the closet. But when her real-life girlfriend and her online best friend collide, which one truly understands the real Cass?

Full of teen angst and self-exploration, this is a heartfelt book about loving all aspects of yourself and bringing your full self to every part of your life. Cass feels like a very real teenager, and I hope a lot of readers find her journey meaningful.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Jenna Miller, and publisher HarperCollins Children's-- Quill Tree Books for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

This was a fun read to get me back into YA! I rounded this up to 4 stars because this is simply everything that I would have been obsessed about as a teenager. A queer, plus-sized nerdy girl that gets lost in fanfiction role-playing with great friends that help her to manage her anxiety? Sign me up! There is a LOT that happens in this book, and for the most part, it is handled great. I loved all the side characters just as much as Cass, and I truly cared about her as a protagonist. There are witty and funny lines, and her friendship with both Tate and Rowan reminded me a lot of friendships that I have. I liked that Miller wasn't afraid to delve into some deeper topics, like Cass's anxiety, instead of just keeping it a fun YA book because I think it was handled really well and gave the book depth. The romance portion of the book was also great! I loved seeing how everything played out, and I found myself rooting for Cass's happiness the entire time. The biggest thing that I couldn't get past was the entire plot line of her mom leaving. The whole situation just felt SO abrupt, rushed, and unrealistic. I loved seeing Cass's relationship develop with her (cool) dad, but I wish better care would have been given to her mom leaving, since it played a big role in the other struggles she faced. I also thought the writing was a bit immature at parts, but I am also above the target age range of readers, so that didn't affect my takeaway. Overall, this is a cute book that I think will resonate with lots of teenagers who aren't afraid to be themselves, even if it's a little nerdy! Petition for Miller to write a new adult book following Cass and Rowan at college now because I NEED it!!

- thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an arc to review!

- unfortunately, this was a dnf. the character of Cass was relatable for a bit, as she had anxiety, and as a reviewer with an anxiety disorder, i related to her almost instantly. however, her habits became self destructive, and as i kept reading on, i felt like we weren’t seeing a change. it could have changed later on in the novel, but i couldn’t handle the tension of her throwing away all of her relationships and things to do in order to stay online with Rowan. it may just be a personal thing, but she needed people in her life to trust and open up to, not to hide away and turn them away from her struggles.

- I’m sad this didn’t work for me, but i know it will work for someone else. :)

This was a cool concept and I liked the characters and story. However, the discord messages didn't read like actual discord messages. All of them had perfect capitalization, spelling, and punctuation. In reality that's not how discord messages look and it was really distracting. Some of the vocabulary relating to discord also felt a bit dated. (Specifically referring to dms as "private servers.")

Out of Character is the perfect name for this book about a girl living a double life!

I didn’t know much about role-playing before this novel and kind of thought it was all D&D. Miller helped me see a more accessible side to role-playing while also showing the way one might escape into another life to avoid hard truths.

The characters show the complexities of relationships and that not everything is black and white as we discover that Cass’s double lives aren’t as easily separated as she thought.

This book is for all the gamers out there that practically never see themselves in books. Those of us who game to escape reality for a while, when real life gets a little too real. This book practically has it all gammer rep, fat rep, LGBTQ rep and a little bit of extra in between.

“You’re still you’re own damn hero”

I absolutely adored this story. We follow our main character Cass through some really trying situations during her senior year, all while juggling her secret online roleplay world she’s built. I felt like I could relate to Cass in a number of ways personally and really loved how this book kind of healed me in certain ways! As a child of divorce, this story was so similar and so different than my own experiences, but in a way it felt really healing watching how her Dad steps up after things go south.

I loved the relationships in this book, both romantic, found family, all of the above! It was nice to see the friendships and varying types of people in said friendships - I feel like too often we see your stereotypical friendships, where nerds and jocks aren’t the go to friendships but I ABSOLUTELY fell in love with Tate and Cass’s friendship! Also, Tate is just the greatest best friend one could ever ask for I’m certain of it. As we’re all her online friends - UGH I loved this book too much! You should definitely read it if you’re looking for a cute, queer, nerdy read with humor and healing and experiencing new things 🤍

“Until my last sunset”

Cassidy Williams is going through it. When her family crumbles she turns to role playing with her internet besties for an escape.

The only issue is, no one is her real life knows about her online life.

When the two worlds start moving closer together she has to figure out how to share this secret life.

Lots of teens angst, big feelings, and new beginnings.

first off, i’ll start with a common gripe i have with a lot of sapphic books with lesbian leads; this book absolutely refused to use the word lesbian. it had no problem accurately labelling the pansexual, bisexual and gay side characters but didn’t call either of the lesbians, well, lesbians!
aside from that, this spread pretty decent body positive messages, those of self love, and how to learn to love and forgive people in your life who have hurt you.
the love triangle was well done and i liked the love interest the protagonist chose. parts of this book were cringeworthy but ultimately it was worth the read.

Did it take me much too long of a time to put together that the title was ooc, aka fandom slang? Yes, and I'm embarrassed by it. This was an important coming-of-age story that had several important themes and messages that I think people need to hear at this age-range. I loved the fat rep and how it was there but it didn't play into the relationship at all, which is important. As an Iowan, I love Midwestern rep (shout-out to Culvers and TaterTots).

I do have a tiny issue with the queer representation, namely in that Cass is described as a lesbian in the summary, but never uses the word lesbian in the book. I hope that was fixed in final printing. Besides that, I loved Cass's relationships. Her issues with her mom were well organized and age-appropriate reactions, and I liked her Dad. Tate and Greg were amazing storylines. The sapphic romances were interesting, and I think served their purpose and I liked the open-ending plus I'm glad they made the decision they did, because that was going to be a bad idea.

TLDR; sapphic coming-of-age that deals extensively with online friendships, found family, family issues, and queerness. 4.25/5

Thank you netgalley, for the advanced copy of this book!

I really enjoyed out of character. It's the kind of book I wish I had as an awkward queer kid. Cass' friend group from online to in-person were heartwarming and perfect. The representation of different body types and those struggles was also really great to see.