Who we are in real life

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.

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) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Darcy pulls her messenger bag closer and fiddles with a keychain hooked to the strap loop. I do a double take, then I check my pockets. My keys are there, just like always. "Hey!" I point at her keychain. "Where did you get that?" "From Fantasyland--" "Fantasyland Comics! In the city, right?" ... "Yeah?" I pull out my keys and push them across the table to her. My d20 keychain looks like a long-lost twin beside hers, except that hers is colorful, swirls of pastel blues, pinks, and purples, and mine is solid black. She picks up mine. "Did you know that d20s are called icosahedrons?" Of course I knew that. "Did you know that a full Dungeons & Dragons dice set includes seven types of dice?" And that's how everything changes. Darcy looks up from our keychains. A small, bashful smile tugs at the corners of her mouth. She plays with my keychain. "So, are you a gamer?" Excerpted from Who We Are in Real Life by Victoria Koops All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.