Conventionally Yours

Annabeth Albert's first book for Sourcebooks is a strong return to form. I loved her early Gaymers series ([b:Status Update 26162169 Status Update (#gaymers, #1) Annabeth Albert https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1444257447l/26162169.SY75.jpg 46121871], [b:Connection Error 28807263 Connection Error (#gaymers, #3) Annabeth Albert https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1465442518l/28807263.SY75.jpg 49020831], etc.) but I wasn't as enamored of her Navy SEAL Out of Uniform series and she lost me entirely with [b:Arctic Sun 42354665 Arctic Sun (Frozen Hearts, #1) Annabeth Albert https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1549648632l/42354665.SY75.jpg 66003456]. I'm relieved to find that Conventionally Yours takes her back to the New Adults MCs that made Gaymers so much fun, and she employs some of my favorite tropes (road trip, opposites attract, enemies-to-lovers) with great success.The plot is predictable, but like any good road trip the fun is in the journey, not the destination. As Conrad and Alden slowly make their way from New Jersey to Las Vegas for a national gaming convention, including a tournament they both desperately want to win, they slowly start to see each other as real people instead of annoying opponents, and they open up to each other about their respective challenges. Alden is serious, socially awkward and rule-bound but also extremely caring in his own way. His ability to relate to kids (he likes them because they're honest about their feelings and needs) made me melt. I also appreciated the Jewish rep and the fact that while Alden's moms keep trying to find a diagnosis that will accurately describe (and then “cure” him), he's basically some level of “neuro-diverse” and in the end the exact label doesn't matter; he is who he is.Conrad is the handsome happy-go-lucky party boy who is hiding tremendous pain and stress, and when the truth about why he needs to win comes out I wanted to punch the people who had hurt him. The MCs' relationship is slow to develop and the middle of the book lags a bit, but without the middle we wouldn't have the opportunity to experience the wonders of the trip along with the boys, including my hometown St. Louis' famous arch , a well-deserved diss against St. Louis' horrific square pizza, and a nod to Columbia MO's much more palatable Shakespeare's Pizza. I'm not a game player, but I assume that fictional Odyssey game that the MCs play is similar to the Magic card decks that my kids once had, and Albert describes the game play sufficiently that I could follow the gist of the action, if not the specifics. She cleverly lets the lessons and experiences from the trip inform their game strategy. And who would have thought that a climactic scene of two people playing cards would be so exciting and suspenseful?For those who have followed Albert here from her Carina books, I should warn you that the sex scenes are much less explicit and much more vanilla than the Out of Uniform series. That didn't bother me, but if you're here for lots of sexytimes you might be disappointed. Also there is quite a bit of space devoted to Alden and Conrad stuck in their own heads thinking and overthinking their reactions to each other, in a way that I suspect few 25 year old young men actually do, but that's pretty standard for this genre.Conventionally Yours is listed as the first book in the True Colors series. There are several secondary characters who could serve as MCs for future installments, although I can't say that any of them stood out as distinct enough to deserve their own stories. But I'd be willing to check them out and I'm happy to see more of the Annabeth Albert that made me become such a fan in the first place.ARC received from Net Galley in exchange for honest review.