Di-Curious by Erin Branch pits a real world romance against a D&D (Dungeons & Dragons) world where one player has sworn to kill the other.
Life just won’t cut Nova a break. Their best friend in high school, and first big (secret) crush has returned to town after running off with a man for years and dumping all her old friends, including Nova. Worse, the woman dissed their debut novel on her popular D&D based social media and killed a promising writing career in its infancy. They don’t even want to speak to her, much less hang out, but they get an invitation to play in big, live streamed campaign. Their character vows to kill her character, and a paladin never breaks their oath.
Awe Danamark the Sparkling is June’s one remaining, and best, friend after a disastrous relationship with a man all her friends warned her to avoid. Her social media fans love Awe, too, and June hopes the new live streaming campaign will give her the financial boost to get her out of her parents’ basement. What she discovers is a growing and surprising interest in Nova, who flirts outrageously with Awe, and by extension June.
Hidden vows, unexpected love and a sometimes murderous game fighting an evil wizard creates an atmosphere where anything can happen.
Writing
The setup for the story is really good, with the D&D portion providing a good framework for the real world romance, and some good fantasy actions scenes. A reader may feel lost a few times when the technical aspects of gaming gets a little deep, but I don’t feel it detracts from the story as a whole. The game can feel pretty overwhelming as a new player, but after only a little while – or a few chapters – it becomes a lot of fun. I’ve been fortunate not to run into a “murderhobo” like the one in June’s gaming group, though I have leaned in that direction once or twice myself.
The game is also used as a mood setter, with every chapter having the image of a d20 (twenty sided dice) showing either a 1 (critical failure) or a 20 (critical success). I found myself checking the number on the image before reading each chapter so I would have a hint of what to expect. There is a lot of heavy give and take with emotions in the book, so this hint felt good. If you are a gamer, there are inside jokes, like June’s corporate sponsor being NerdyPodCasts, or NPC, which is gamer speak for Non Player Character.
Pros And My Favourite Parts
I did come to appreciate the d20 image at the top of every chapter, because the highs and lows of emotions portrayed in the book could get pretty extreme and I found it soothing to have an idea what was coming at me. June and Nova have a lot going on in their lives that need to be addressed, over and above the growing romance between them. They’re both responsible adults trying to get going on their adult lives and learning to navigate the sometimes harsh realities of professional needs versus emotional.
Overall, the story is very sweet because all of the characters are great, except June’s ex who brings toxic masculinity into the mix more than a couple of times. June and Nova are good people who are easy to root for, especially as the author makes their journey a hopeful one. They both hope for a bright future romantically and professionally and aren’t afraid to work toward both. I appreciated June learning how to stop being an excessive people pleaser. I feel like that is a lesson a lot of women could use.
Heads Up
June’s ex is the epitome of toxic masculinity.
The Conclusion
Nova loved June in high school, though they never told her. They were fine with being a good friend until June started dating a man who made her dump all her old friends. Years later, June inadvertently kills the success of Nova’s first book. Now they feel like the world is against them and are not happy to see June has moved back to town and has no idea how much she hurt them. When June invites Nova to participate in a live streamed D&D campaign, they accept, vowing to kill June’s character Awe, and a paladin never goes back on a vow. But they can’t help flirting with June and is shocked when June starts flirting back.
This is a very hopeful book about two people learning to navigate adulthood and discovering surprising things about themselves. Nova is on the autism spectrum, which makes being in public and having an understanding relationship problematic. June has no idea she can be attracted to someone like Nova, and the story does a good job of depicting a woman discovering her full sexuality.
Excerpt from Di-Curious by Erin Branch
Nova gives me a crooked smile. “Mm. You’re just good at getting past my defenses. It’s not fair, really. Your real-life charisma modifier is higher.” They hold up two fingers to the bartender, who is wiping down a glass. “Mya, could I get two rainbow nerds, please.”
The bartender looks about a decade older than us, with black hair and tattoos on her neck peeking out from her shirt. She nods at Nova. “Sure. Nice job. First time I’ve heard you sing anything.”
Of course, Nova knows her. This is my hometown, too, yet I feel like such an outsider after being away for so many years. I don’t know most of the people here anymore, even in specific interests like this.
“Heh. Thanks.”
“Rainbow nerds?” I ask, leaning an elbow on the bar as Mya goes to fix the drinks. I look at our hands, still joined.
Nova drops my hand in a hurry, face flushing. Damn, I shouldn’t have brought attention to it. They scratch the back of their neck. “It’s one of their stronger house drinks. You said you needed one. Nerds, like the candy, you know? And the bar’s theme. Mya stacks different colored layers of alcohol and flavors and lines the edge of the glass with the crushed candy like a margarita.”
“Sounds way too colorful for you.”
“I like colorful.” She’s looking at my hair when she says it. Her eyes trail down to the top of my light purple dress. Good—I want her to look. It’s why I wore this dress, even though it’s impractical. That realization smacks me over the head like someone whacked me with the plastic guitar controller. Oh, God. How did I not realize earlier?
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Bits and Bobs
ASIN number: B0CZBTSN4L
Publisher: Sunset Wave Press
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