The No-Girlfriend Rule
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Julie Murphy meets Heartstopper with a D&D twist in this “magical, heartwarming” (Rachael Lippincott, #1 New York Times bestselling author of She Gets the Girl) queer romance about a teen girl whose foray into fantasy tabletop roleplaying brings her new confidence, true friends, and a shot at real, swoon-worthy love.
Hollis Beckwith isn’t trying to get a girl—she’s just trying to get by. For a fat, broke girl with anxiety, the start of senior year brings enough to worry about. And besides, she already has a boyfriend: Chris. Their relationship isn’t particularly exciting, but it’s comfortable and familiar, and Hollis wants it to survive beyond senior year. To prove she’s a girlfriend worth keeping, Hollis decides to learn Chris’s favorite tabletop roleplaying game, Secrets & Sorcery—but his unfortunate “No Girlfriends at the Table” rule means she’ll need to find her own group if she wants in.
Enter: Gloria Castañeda and her all-girls game of S&S! Crowded at the table in Gloria’s cozy Ohio apartment, the six girls battle twisted magic in-game and become fast friends outside it. With her character as armor, Hollis starts to believe that maybe she can be more than just fat, anxious, and a little lost.
But then an in-game crush develops between Hollis’s character and the bard played by charismatic Aini Amin-Shaw, whose wide, cocky grin makes Hollis’s stomach flutter. As their gentle flirting sparks into something deeper, Hollis is no longer sure what she wants…or if she’s content to just play pretend.
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That high pitched squeal you may be able to hear over the computer is me absolutely in love The No-Girlfriend Rule. Upon finishing my friend made the mistake of asking me what I thought and I literally just yelled “cute cute cuuuuuuute” at her. So, there you have it. This review is going to full of gushing and you have been warned in advance.
First off, as a person who adores all things gaming, I can 100% tell you that the gaming space in general is not always a very welcoming or inclusive space. It absolutely can be, and I feel like things are slowly getting better. But I felt Hollis' disappointment in my soul when she went to her first S&S game and was completely turned off by the way people acted. In fact, that's what drew me to this book in the first place. Hollis' boyfriend Chris and his “boy's only” club of gamers is something I am intimately familiar with. As is wanting to somehow find a way to “fit in” to gain entry.
Randall handles all of that beautifully. What follows is a story about Hollis not only finding a new group of amazing friends to play with, but also a story about her finding herself in the process. She realizes that she's been shrinking herself down, into smaller and smaller spaces, in order to fit in. Hollis is able to see what being with right group of people who support you, cheer you on, and of course make you feel good can really do for a person. Watching her grow, watching her emerge from the shell that had been holding her back, man it felt good. I may have even shed a few tears.
I also just really felt like the story did such justice to discussions of mental health, the stigma around taking medication regularly, the perils of being “odd” in high school, and so so so much more. Everything about this story felt inclusive, and not in a fake or trying too hard way. Hollis' band of friends were just a happy little found family navigating their different but still similar lives, partially in a fantasy world. And see, as a gamer that's what I love about role playing games. They can be made as a safe space to explore the parts of you that you aren't sure about tackling in the real world. They're a place to grow also, especially when you've got the right group surrounding you.
Argh, okay enough gushing because otherwise I'll go on for ages. I adored this book. I took but a single star off, only because I expected this to be a bit more romance than it was. If I did half stars though this would get a solid 4.5 from me. It's cute, it's funny, and it's filled with the types of healthy friendships that I really wish I had when I was Hollis' age. You might want to kick her obnoxious boyfriend and co. at the beginning, but trust me it gets better. Happy reading!
