Who We Are in Real Life

January 15, 2024
Teen fans of tabletop role-playing games fall for each other while confronting homophobia in their school and community. Bisexual Darcy just moved from the city to the small town of Unity Creek with her two moms. One mom is the new doctor in town, and the family immediately faces pushback for being queer. At school, fierce Darcy befriends sweet, soft-spoken Art after they end up paired for an assignment and discover their mutual love of RPGs. Their friendship blossoms into a crush, but Darcy still has a boyfriend, one whose emotional manipulation is making it hard to break up with him. Darcy also bonds with the few other queer students at school and sets out to start a queer-straight alliance--only to learn that Art's father is their biggest opponent. With a narrative that switches between Darcy's and Art's perspectives, lovable characters (who are cued white), and fiction based on their Dungeons & Dragons campaign (which has parallels to their real-life dilemmas), this story will appeal to fans of contemporary queer slice-of-life stories. The homophobic harassment Darcy's family faces in their new rural community isn't sugarcoated, but the optimistic yet realistic ending with some unresolved conflicts will leave readers with hope. The game sections tie into the story nicely, but they sometimes disrupt the flow of the otherwise fast-paced, romance-forward tale. A charming story about standing up for what's right. (Fiction. 14-18)

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February 15, 2024
Grades 9-12 Darcy and her two moms move to the small town of Unity Creek in Canada when one of them gets a job running the local medical clinic. Darcy feels betrayed having to leave the city, her job at the local comic shop, her Dungeons & Dragons group, and her boyfriend, James. Luckily, the first person she meets in town is Art, another D&D gamer, and they're paired up for a project on alternative storytelling for English class. Koops' debut novel is uneven, with characters and plot points that are somewhat underdeveloped, but her prose shines in Art's write-ups of the D&D campaign. Most characters cue as white, with a few side characters of color and many LGBTQIA+ identities represented (lesbian, bisexual, two-spirit, gender-fluid, demisexual). Readers sensitive to depictions of homophobia and intimate-partner violence might wish to skip this one, but those looking for a quick D&D-adjacent romance could find some bardic inspiration for their own campaigns.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 4, 2024

Gr 8 Up-Darcy is struggling to adjust to her new school after moving from the city to small town Unity Creek, where one of her moms accepted a job as the town doctor. Leaving her friends and boyfriend is hard enough, but dealing with the homophobia in Unity Creek is difficult for Darcy, who is bisexual and whose moms face discrimination because of their sexuality. The one good thing about the move is Art, a sweet and shy boy in Darcy's English class, who shares her love of Dungeons & Dragons and invites her to join his friends' campaign. But when Darcy's goal of starting a Queer-Straight Alliance at school is sidelined by Art's conservative father, Art must prove he has the courage to support Darcy, especially when her long-distance boyfriend's erratic and abusive behavior threatens their budding relationship. Chapters alternate between Darcy and Art's perspectives and are intermixed with passages from their ongoing Dungeons & Dragons campaign. This endearing romance features Darcy learning to extricate herself from an unhealthy relationship and build queer community in her new town and shines when the protagonists begin to bring the strengths of their Dungeons & Dragons characters into real life. VERDICT Hand to teens who like reading about role-playing games with a side of romance.-Emily Yates

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