Level Up by Cathy Yardley

This post contains affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale.

Title: Level Up
Author: Cathy Yardley
Series: Fandom Hearts #1
Published by: Audible Studios
Release Date: July 4, 2017
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Serena St. Clair, Dirk Slade
Length: 5 hours and 36 minutes
Genres: Romance, Contemporary
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2018 Beat the Backlist Challenge, Lenoreo's 2018 New Adult Challenge, Lenoreo's 2018 Platypire Diversity Challenge, Lenoreo's 2018 Reading Assignment Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ IndieBound ✩ iTunes
My rating:

Blurb:

Geeky introvert Tessa Rodriguez will do whatever it takes to get promoted to video game engineer– including create a fandom-based video game in just three weeks. The only problem is, she can't do it alone. Now, she needs to strong-arm, cajole, and otherwise socialize with her video game coworkers, especially her roommate, Adam, who’s always been strictly business with her. The more they work together, though, the closer they get…

Adam London has always thought of his roomie Tessa as “one of the guys” until he agreed to help her with this crazy project. Now, he’s thinking of her all the time… and certainly as something more than just a roommate! But his last girlfriend broke up with him to follow her ambitions, and he knows that Tessa is obsessed with getting ahead in the video game world.

Going from friends to something more is one hell of a challenge. Can Tessa and Adam level up their relationship to love?

My Review:

4.5 stars — I am in love with this book.  Heck, I’m in love with this whole series, but I read them out of order so I’m only just now finally getting back to the first book in the series!  I have a feeling I’m going to have a hard time elucidating what I loved about it, but I’mma give it a try!!

First, let’s talk about the narrators, since I listened to this one on audiobook!  I thought they were both solid, but that they both could have done better with their distinctive character voices.  I felt like sometimes the different voices weren’t consistent, and so it was a bit harder to figure out who was talking.  Now, I have a hard time faulting them, b/c there is a LARGE secondary cast in this book, so I can’t imagine how hard that would be.  I also wasn’t enamoured with Ms. St. Clair’s Adam voice…it sounded…muppet-ish.  I have no idea how to explain, so that’s what you get.  But other than the distinct voices, these narrators were da bomb.  The pacing was great, I could hear the different emotions, and they were both voices that were easy to listen to.

Now to the book!!  The level of fantastic nerdiness in these books is high.  As a female programmer, I felt Tessa’s plight at an intrinsic level.  I wasn’t her level of geeky, but I fully understand the challenges of being a female developer in a male-dominated industry.  I felt like that aspect of the story was very well done, and while I can’t completely verify all of the coding references made, because I’m only a little g geek, not a big G Geek, from context it felt accurate.

I also totally empathized with Tessa’s introverted nature.  Seriously, there were so many aspects of her that are ME.  Making friends, putting myself out there, joining in the antics at work…those were all things that I did not excel at, and that I had to work at.  So Tessa’s WHOLE STORY resonated with me, and I loved it.  I needed it.  I LOVED seeing her make those efforts to put herself out there, and I cheered when she fit in with the bookstore girls!  I loved all the talk of fandoms, and conventions, and all things that I’m not specifically into, but peripherally understand.  I LOVED the strong female characters in this series, they make me so happy, and Tessa was no exception.

Adam was total book boyfriend material for me.  I could just…see my husband in him.  He was snarky, yet sweet, had a hard time putting himself out there with girls, but was hella smart as a project lead.  I adored him.  It’s not that he didn’t have flaws, but I forgave his missteps along the way.  And I liked the way he challenged Tessa.

And Adam and Tessa had AWESOME chemistry.  Oh boy, did I love their kisses, and every step along the way of their bumpy journey to more.  I loved that you really felt their connection beyond the romance as well.  I loved the way they both started to see each other as more, especially the way Adam started to notice Tessa…swoony!!

I’ve mentioned the bookstore girls, but I also loved the group of guys at Mysterious Pickles.  I could easily picture them all, and none of them were over the top or too sexist or anything…they all had flaws, but they were *good* guys.

So yeah.  This was a total hit for me.  Not that I was surprised, I’ve loved all the books in this series!  I love that the characters aren’t stunning models, but rather characters I can relate to and still swoon over.  AWESOME.