This was such a fun unique romance! I will say you either need to really really enjoy video games to like this one or just be ok with 80% of the story taking place in a video game through text chats.
The story was super cute and I loved all the fun gaming references and how gaming can bring people from all over together.
This had great stuff on how just because you meet people online in a video game doesn't make them any less real friends then if you meet them in person, and how you can in fact be friends with people who are older than you and don't need to only be friends with people the same age.
I felt the third act conflict was a very real scenario and had a super cute resolution! A very fun quick read all round!

Looking for Group is a queer gamer romance, where the story and the game play are intertwined. I had a great time revisiting Alexis Hall’s book that features characters who are discovering themselves along with their budding relationship.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Drew is joining a new guild in Heroes of Legend, his favorite MMORPG. His old guild was only focused on results, but his new team actually works together and has fun doing it. He’s especially drawn to the guild’s healer, and he spends quality time with her in game. Only she turns out to be a he: Kit, another university student whose closest friends are his in game buddies. While Drew realizes he’s drawn to Kit no matter what, he has a tough time balancing Kit and their game play with real life.

I adore Kit and Drew. Neither one has any idea what to do in a relationship with someone they really like; after all, they are 19 year old university students.* Kit and Drew’s different relationship to the game and fellow guild members is the source of their connection, but also their conflict, and it feels realistic and natural. And, I don’t say this often, but this is a story where the third act breakup is absolutely necessary for their character development.

*Note: these are not Toby in For Real 19 year olds; this book is on the Boyfriend Material end of the Hall steam spectrum.

As with all Alexis Hall’s recent rereleases the footnotes are a treat; they are also a reminder that Hall knows TONS about gaming. I don’t know much about the gaming universe—to me, it’s like reading about a fantasy world—but Hall’s level of detail sucked me in, and I loved the way the game is woven into Drew and Kit’s romance.

Looking for Group is a queer gaming romance that’s utterly charming. It’s great to watch Drew and Kit’s relationship both in and out of the online game. This book captures a specific moment in gaming, and in these characters’ lives, and I enjoyed every minute.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A sweet romance with WAY too much MMORPG getting in the way of truly connecting with the story/characters.

Drew and Kit meet online while playing a MMORPG. They have completely different play styles and Kit introduces Drew to a new side of the game, one he’d been overlooking for years, focusing on raiding instead of enjoying what the game world had to offer. These two form a really sweet connection online, but hit a bit of a speed bump when Drew learns Kit is a man, unlike his game character. They work through it and luckily live near each other and take their relationship offline as well, which causes new issues of its own. I don’t feel like I really got to know either Drew or Kit and wanted some more depth and development from both of them.

There is a lot of gamer talk in this book. Maybe there wouldn’t be too much MMORPG talk for me if I was a gamer? But I’m not, so reading through the chat and voice exchanges while their guild was doing raids together was tedious. I didn’t think it added much to the story and could have been condensed while still giving us the same idea.

Then it just ended. Abruptly. I wanted more of an ending for them and their relationship. I read through so many pages of raid chatting…couldn’t I have at least gotten a bit more resolution in the relationship?!

I get so hit or miss on Alexis Hall books, that it's almost a roll of the die to see if I'll like them or not. This can't even be explained by the Alexis Hall Sequel Curse.

I guess I just wasn't expecting it to be told almost entirely in the world of the MMORPG. I'm not that type of gamer, so everything about it didn't appeal to me.

It wasn't for me, but it could be for someone else.

Spice Level: None

Starting Looking For Group I was obviously prepared for the story taking place within a game, which was definitely different but kind of refreshing at the same time. The writing was great for the most part, I just had a hard time with the acronyms and shortened words at times. Having to reference the "glossery" so often was a bit tedious.

The banter between Kit and Drew is great! Kit is such a sweet bean. Kit's social life resonates with me a lot, with having formed closer relationships with people online rather than in person and not wanting to feel like he needs to be fixed. The fight felt very real and relatable, but Drew's method of apology and making it up to Kit? Absolutely amazing!

Thanks so much to Sourcebooks Casablanca and Alexis Hall for providing this book for review via NetGalley!

*All opinions are my own*

As a disclaimer, although I am a nerd, I am not a gaming nerd. However, I am a huge fan of Alexis Hall’s writing and nerd-love in general, so I was very excited to read this New Adult nerdmance.

Looking for Group follows Drew, a 19 year old college student, who plays an MMO that may or may not resemble World of Warcraft. He joins a new guild and connects with another player named Kit. After spending a lot of time together in the game, they decide to meet up IRL and (awkwardly and adorably) start dating. One of the main conflicts of the book has to do with Kit’s commitment to gaming and pressure from Drew’s friends to spend more time hanging out in person.

The book is structured as part in-game chat transcripts and part Drew’s POV. As a certified noob, I had a harder time following the in-game portion of the book. There’s a glossary at the beginning of the book to explain key terms, but I feel like readers who have pre-existing video game knowledge would probably appreciate those sections a little more.

I really enjoyed the more traditional narrative sections and I thought that the discourse about the validity of online friendships was interesting as well. I personally don’t have much experience with exclusively online friendships, partially because I had limited internet access until college and also because I was using that limited access to print out fan fiction on the back of essay drafts before I got in trouble for tying up the phone line #dialupinternetproblems. However, my husband used to play WoW and has attended in-game weddings for friends that he will probably never meet in person, so I understand that other people have different perspectives about online friendships.

Drew and Kit’s relationship was very sweet and reading their story made me nostalgic for college (although I’m glad to be past that era!). In some ways, Drew reminded me of some of John Green’s male main characters who are nerdy and sometimes make mistakes, but are ultimately trying to be good humans, so I’d recommend Looking for Group to fans of books like Will Grayson, Will Grayson and Paper Towns.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for providing an ARC!

4 🌟
Spice: just kissing
Format: ARC

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

As a former WoW player this was so fun to read. The nostalgia it gave me was everything, almost has me downloading to play again. Please not that if you've never played an MMORPG this may be incredibly hard to follow. The gaming dynamics and verbiage are heavy throughout. This would have been a 5 star, but Drew really kinda irked me towards the end. His reaction to the situation was so ott. I'm glad he got his stuff together and the grand gesture was cute, but the way he talked to Kit was harsh.

Looking for Group is ideal for readers who enjoy emotionally layered love stories that explore the intersection of digital connection and real-world identity, blending gaming culture with tender, slow-burn romance.

Thanks so much to Sourcebooks and Netgalley for providing me with an eARC. All thoughts are my own.

I won’t lie, I wasn’t sure how I’d go with this once I realised how much of this book takes place inside the game and its chat rooms, but it didn’t take me long to adjust and become absorbed in the game.

I thought Kit and Drew were really sweet. The way they met and all the uncertainty that came with revealing your true self online, meeting up for the first time, managing expectations, plus Drew having never had feelings for a guy before, was really interesting to read.

This book just really made me wish I had a group of friends to game with lol.

I found the relationship drama a bit draining, especially because “being offended that someone left a social situation” came up so many times. My introverted arse couldn’t wrap my head around other people not understanding why, after 24 hrs with people he just met, Kit might wanna go home?

But in the end, Drew figuring out what his real issue was and recognising he was creating problems where there weren’t any was a satisfying conclusion, and the ending was very cute.

Love the concept of Looking for Group, but ultimately this was not for me. Not even the cute romance between Drew and Kit could hook me unfortunately.

I was in such a deep reading slump, but then this little gem came across my TBR and I DEVOURED it in a single day. I read the Kindle edition, but might need to buy the paperback version so I can read Alexis Hall's little annotations more easily! What a fun addition this release!

Part of the reason I adored this book is plain ol' nostalgia from my WoW playing days. Way back when I started dating my spouse, we would "hang out" online playing WoW (and now we've been married 17 years! The couple that raids together, stays together!) If you're NOT into MMORPG's, this book may be a little too heavy on the video game jargon and description for you.

I’v read books by Alexis Hall before and found them a good mix of drama and humor. This one, on the other hand, was a bit boring. I expected the book to have in-game action, and that part of the story would play out there, but I didn’t expect it to be such a big part. It’s page after page with group chats and detailed descriptions about their raidings in the game. I like playing video games but I think you really need to love these online role-playing games to get the most out of this book. It takes a while for the love story to go from sidestory to main story. I like that part about the book though. It’s really a nice portrait of these young men trying to figure out who they are and who they love. The dynamics between friends, both irl and online, are well written. The thoughts about who is a real friend and if you can fall in love with someone online. You don’t get to know the characters as much as I would have liked. Getting to know them through their actions in a game is not the same thing as getting to know them in real life situations. It doesn’t tell you about their past or if they are an empathic person. So I would have liked to meet these people more in other situations to better know them and not just their character. It’s the friendships and the carefully written love story that makes this a 3 star and not 2 that I was initially thinking of giving it.

This was adorable! It was really cute watching Drew and Kit fall for each other. I think this will be a big hit with gamers. I am not a big gamer so quite a bit of the gaming details went over my head but the romance was really sweet. I found the gay crisis element of the story to be very relatable. It was really sweet to see these two young people navigate their feelings for each other. The story is closed door but I never felt like I was missing any tension because the stakes felt so high for these young adults who are just beginning to explore how to act on their feelings. I did feel like the ending was a bit abrupt. I would have liked to spend a little more time with Drew and Kit before we had to say goodbye but overall I had a good time with this story. If you're looking for a very gay, very nerdy romance this is likely the perfect book for you.

This was cute and sweet and funny. I will say, not everyone will enjoy it, but I have a gamer hubby and got a lot of it. The writing style was unique and most of the romance was in game or game centered. I liked these two, except when one made some dumb choices, but of course that gets straightened out.

DNF @ 35%

I really wanted to like this book - the premise is fantastic and right up my alley. An LGBTQIA+ romance set around an MMORPG? Yes please. But unfortunately, this one just didn’t work for me.

The biggest issue was the language. The majority of the dialogue is written in shorthand, gamer-speak, or chat-style messages, which made it incredibly hard to follow. While the glossary at the start was helpful, I found myself flipping back to it constantly - like every two sentences - just to keep up with what was going on. It pulled me out of the story way too often, and eventually I just gave up as it was feeling like a chore to read.

Maybe I’m too old or not cool enough to “get it,” lol. But if you’re fluent in MMO slang and looking for something heavy on internet culture, this might be more your speed. For me, though, it was just too much effort for too little reward!

Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book hit me right in my nostalgia and had me hooked from the beginning. This might be the most niche book I've ever read. Filled to the brim with MMORPG, Video Game, Table top game, and card game references and humor as well as the most wholesome theme of self-discovery and acceptance. I was immediately transported back to my days of hanging out with my online friends (Who are definitely real friends!). The story was relatable in a sort of "Did this author spy on my entire life?" sort of way LOL. The chemistry between Drew and Kit was electric. I'm only hesitant to give a full 5 stars because some of the raid narrations had me skimming paragraphs in some places for being just a tad bit too long but otherwise I was inhaling this story!

This was a delightfully fun novel that left me wanting to try to play more video games. Alexis Hall brings Drew and Kit together as they both play a video game they love. In the quiet hours of the game the two build a slow steady connection that leaves them wanting to explore more, only Drew realizes Kit is not a cute girl he was anticipating but rather a cute guy. Drew has to decide if this changes how he feels and how they can move forward.

Drew decides to explore his connection with Kit and we get a beautiful exploration of how we define our friends, chosen family, and how that can look different for different people. I really enjoyed the exploration of friendships, both in person and online in this one.

If you want a cute, fun to read and experience novel that dips its toes into the online gaming world I would highly recommend this book. I loved the fantasy of the video games looped in with the real world experience in this one. Thank you to the publisher for providing an advanced readers copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Actual review 3.5 stars

Overall I enjoyed this book and its different from any other Alexis Hall book (or even from most other books) with the addition of the in game dialogue but it lacks some of the depth with which I have become accustomed. I was hoping for a bi-awakening but this never really gets off the ground and yeah I am all for not everyone needs a label but I feel like we needed some more on Drew thoughts about this.

I also thought that Drew and Kit's relationship needed more development and the conflict which led to the 3rd act break up was a little silly. That being said, this is still a ridiculously adorable book which I did enjoy and Drew's big gesture at the end to win back Kit was, well adorable. I do wish that there has been some smut as opposed to a close door scene but that's just me.

I would still recommend reading this because its different, though I wish I had a physical copy rather than an ebook because it would have been good to be able to go back and forth with the glossary so I could follow along with all the gaming terms.

Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the eARC and because its still been a strange week, I am leaving an honest review

I absolutely loved this! I loved the setting of this book. The way the in game play and messages were depicted. I haven’t read a romance like this before! Drew and Kit were so sweet! Drew was kinda getting on my nerves a bit here and there but he pulled through in the end.

They were just so cute. They were so nervous when they first meet and we get to see them slowly become more comfortable with each other.

This book is about finding somewhere you belong. About enjoying what you love and not letting others tell you it’s wrong. The things we experience and the relationships we build online are just as real and important as the ones we have in person.

“Falling for someone in a video game? Not his style. Until it is.” That line sums up the heart of Looking for Group—a warm, funny, and deeply honest coming-of-age story that tackles identity, connection, and the blurred lines between virtual and real-life love.

Drew is not your typical "gamer boy" stereotype. He plays football, goes to parties, and lives comfortably in the mainstream, keeping his online hobby, Heroes of Legend, in the background. But when he meets Kit, a clever and charismatic healer in-game, his world starts to tilt. What begins as friendly banter and battle strategy quickly turns into something deeper. When Kit reveals he’s a boy in real life, Drew is forced to confront feelings and assumptions he never thought he’d question.

What makes Looking for Group stand out isn’t just its charming dialogue or immersive digital world (though both are solid). It’s the vulnerability at its core. Drew’s journey from confusion to clarity feels authentic and unforced. His exploration of his sexuality is handled with nuance and care, without ever becoming overly didactic. The emotional beats hit hard, especially the moments where Drew grapples with fear, pride, and the desire to do right by someone he’s come to care for deeply.

Kit, meanwhile, is a standout in his own right. Witty, self-aware, and guarded for good reason, he balances Drew’s uncertainty with his quiet courage. The chemistry between them, built on shared battles and late-night conversations, is equal parts sweet and sincere.

Yes, Looking for Group is about online games—but it’s more about the ways people build real relationships in digital spaces, and how those connections can challenge us to grow in ways we never expect. It’s about friendship, first love, and stepping into a more honest version of yourself—even when it’s scary.