What a great read! This is the first time I've read a best friends to enemies to friends to lovers story and I loved it! Jasper and Milo are two characters who I instantly liked and rooted for. Jasper is a compassionate, generous, and kind soul who is almost too pure for this world. He maintains an upbeat and sparkly demeanor despite the hurt he experienced when he was in high school and the deep betrayal that ended his close friendship with Milo. While Jasper is an easy character to like, I related the most - in some ways - to Milo. He didn't grow up in a supportive household and let the expectations of his parents and peers shape him, even when it cost him the best person in his life, Jasper. Milo's been through a lot since his high school days but he's trying to start over and make better choices. Jasper and Milo have a lot of time to make up for and their reunion is understandably rocky. It's a long road to forgiveness and one that requires openness, honesty, and sincere change.

I loved the pacing, the character growth, and the sweet love story. There's a nice balance between angst, tenderness, romance, and fun times. And of course there's all the great gamer content of Conventionally Yours with a visit to a convention, Gamer Grandpa episodes, and returning characters. Cosplay and fanart take center stage in Out of Character and the story is more focused on the younger gamer community rather than competitive/professional gamers. It was a pleasure to read about such a vibrant and welcoming community and watch the way Milo finds a place in this special world with Jasper and his friends.

Out of Character is a wonderfully geeky feel good read with a beautiful love story at its heart.

TW: death of a parent, alcoholic parent, homophobic parent, brother in the military, homophobic comments, bullying, anxiety

Rep: Two gay MCs, gay and trans SCs, learning disability, physical disability

Best childhood friends to enemies to lovers? This was written for me personally, my two favourite tropes combined. 😂
Also jock x nerd? I was so here for this.
I already loved Conventionally yours a lot, so I was super excited for this one.
And it did not disappoint.

Milo and Jesper were best friends when they were children, but when Jesper began playing soccer and made new friends they had a huge fight and stopped talking.
Of course these friends were typical jocks, making fun of the “nerds”. But there’s more to this story than Jesper knows.
When a few years later Milo made a stupid mistake and needs Jespers help, they make a bargain, because Jesper needs Milos help too.

I already loved the whole plot surrounding the card game in book 1. It’s nothing I’ve read before, but I know people who actually play huge card games in real life and it’s so interesting!
I’m glad we got to see the Gaming Granpa group and the game shop again. But this time there was also cosplay (and fanart) involved, which made this book even nerdier and I loved it!

I loved Jesper and I also loved Milo. They were so cute together. I love a good redemption arc and I think Milos character development in this book was everything and the main focus of this story (in my opinion).
He wasn’t a horrible person to begin with. Yes, he had and has horrible friends and didn’t stand up for Jesper in the past. But he was only a kid and he had his reasons to maintain a low profile.
He knows he didn’t to the right think back then and the more he started to trust Jesper again, the more he opened up to him and it became more clear why he acted like he did in the past.
He does everything he can to change his life, become a better person, and live the life he truly wants to in the future.
He made mistakes and owns them and tries to do better.

I’m absolutely in love with Annaberg Albert’s style of writing. It’s fun and gripping.
But mostly I love how diverse this series is and how consent and talking about and during sex is handled.
Milo has a learning disability, but he is also physically disabled since an accident in the past. He has a lot of problematic family history and hasn’t been able to live openly as a gay man until now. There was a lot of baggage, but I loved how everything was handled.
This book was very emotional in many aspects, there’s a lot of anxiety and angst, but it was also so beautiful and heartwarming at the same time.

That being said, I loved to read about how the two MCs start to trust each other and got to know each other again slowly. How they overcame their shared past and took a chance again. It was realistic and there wasn’t a lot of unnecessary drama, only understandable trust issues and fear.
Jesper trying to push Milo in the right direction (sometimes a little too much), fearing that he isn’t really changing - while Milo tries everything he can, fearing he isn’t changing quickly enough.
I loved how everything was solved in the end, how the characters realised their mistakes, talked, tried to to better.
I might have even liked this a little more than the first book. I hope there will be a third?

I haven't read the first book of this series yet, so it was nice that it could be read as a standalone. I never felt like missing something.
Out of characters was a perfectly entertaining, nerdy, geeky, adorable romcom I didn't know I needed but enjoyed so much! It is perfect for readers looking for an easy read full of pop culture tropes and lovable characters. And Milo and Jasper were really lovable. I still can't decide who I loved more.

I’ve been hooked on Annabeth Albert’s work since 2015 and this book is a prime example of why. Gaming and cosplay are not a part of my everyday world and yet I’m front and center for the gaming in Out of Character and the previous book, Conventionally Yours. These stories are fun! The characters are real! The gaming is exciting! And, the loving relationships within these pages bring all the feels!

I took the time to read this story slowly to get to know the characters and get invested in their lives and future. And to be honest, a new book by a favorite author is better than a fine wine or imported chocolate—it deserves to be savored.

I was only two chapters into the story when I realized I was already totally sympathetic to Milo, who was a bully to Jasper in high school. Normally, I’d be all righteous indignation on behalf of Jasper, but not this time. Great character development goes a long way toward forgiveness.

College dropout Milo, former soccer star, and now broken in more ways than one, loses his brother’s collectors’ cards to a gaming shark and seeks help from the only gamer he can trust—Jasper Quigley, the guy he bullied all through high school. Milo’s brother is deployed overseas, and he’ll be coming back to town in a few weeks. Jasper, always willing to help an underdog, grudgingly agrees to help Milo if Milo helps him by portraying the Neptune King when Jasper and his friends visit the children’s ward at the local hospital to cosplay and game with the kids. This small step is the first in what becomes a complex healing process that leads to so much more for both characters.

In fact, in the first half of the story, Milo grows more emotionally mature, admits his mistakes, owns his sexuality, finds support for his artwork, apologizes to Jasper, and starts to admit he’s falling in love. One of my favorite lines occurred when Milo was feeling down: “…the light in Jasper’s eyes and his voice made me want to dream again.”

And Jasper’s view on today’s Milo as opposed to high-school-bully Milo was another segment I had to highlight to share: “…I wanted Milo to have a reason to stay changed. Because I’d seen a glimmer of who he could be—the artist, the wannabe cook, the sensitive person who kissed me like his life depended on it—and I wanted that person to stick around.”

Milo’s and Jasper’s story is so much more than I’d hoped for even with quite high expectations going into this story. I very highly recommend this to all who enjoy gaming, cosplay, new adult MM romance, and a chance at redemption.

Thank you so much, NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca, for the chance to read and review this book!

Milo Lionetti isn't a gamer, but thanks to a stupid bet and a drunken mistake he lost his brother's prized cards and he's determined to do anything to get them back before he notices them gone. Including asking his ex best friend, who now hates him, for help.
Jasper Quingley is moonlighting on a popular gaming blog, even though he's eager to stop being and playing the sidekick. Helping Milo isn't exactly in his plans, bad feelings and everything in their past he'd rather forget, but it's a chance to be the hero. They make a deal: Jasper will help Milo find the precious card and Milo will help him in a cosplay event at the children hospital. Even though sharing kisses and falling in love weren't in their plans...

I absolutely loved reading Out of characters! The second book of the True colors saga, started with Conventionally Yours, the story is unbelievably cute and sweet, a wonderful enemies to friends to lovers, mixing gaming, cosplay, friendships, past mistakes and growth and so much love.
Told by Milo's and Jasper's POVs, Out of character follows them in their quest for prized cards, with cosplays at the local children hospital, fights and admitting mistakes, growing up and changing. Milo and Jasper are complex and skillfully written characters.

Jasper wants to be a hero, he wants to solve and fix things, to be the hero his sick sister needs, Milo needs and to finally find his place in the world, not as anyone's sidekick, but as himself, to be able to forgive and move o. Meeting again Milo, who broke his heart years ago, who hurt him and ended their friendship when he needed him the most, wasn't planned. But slowly he realizes how much Milo is changed, what exactly happened years ago and finally be able to meet and accept the new and changing Milo.
Milo is complex, weighed down by past mistakes, present expectations, regrets and fears and his slowly changing relationship with Jasper changes everything in his life, pushing him to be better, to be true to himself, to want and desire and grow up.

It was really moving and beautiful reading how their relationship evolves in the story, how they slowly learn to admit their mistakes (Milo) and forgive (Jasper), questioning themselves, their pasts and presents and how they re-learn to be with each other, helping, supporting and in the end, loving one other, in a tentative and scary (at the beginning) way. Reading how much they trust and love one other was really incredible, how much they change, they see each other for what they are is truly amazing.

In Out of character the reader reads again about Conrad and Alden, about professor Tuttle and professor Herrera and about Odyssey. It was so brilliant meeting them again and seeing how far they came and how much they love one other.

In a book filled with love, jokes, friendships and growing up, Out of character deals with sensitive themes too, like Milo's anxiety, his fear to confront his family with his sexuality and be true to himself, toxic friendships, his father's past abuse and his own mistakes and fears, that prevents him for being a true friend to Jasper when they were fourteen years old. It deals with sickness and the fear of losing someone, sick children and the ability of organizations to bring a smile to their faces in the hospital, through games and jokes, it deals with the fear of growing up and facing the adult world after graduation, the importance of support, friends and family.

I loved this book so much. Not only it was such a pleasure seeing Jasper and Milo move on from their painful past, forgive oneself and building a strong and loving relationship, but I loved the complex and beautiful friends that surround and support them. It's a book filled with so much love and hope it warmed my heart every step of the way!

This book was enjoyable enough for a lazy Saturday afternoon. I tried reading the first book in this series last fall but could never get into it. I enjoyed this one more, but it still was only good and not great. Where the description refers to it as a friends to enemies to friends to lovers book I was expecting that but that’s not what this was. It was a friends to not friends / bully to friends to lovers book. There’s a big difference between a bully romance and an enemies or rivals romance. (For anyone concerned, this is bully-lite where Milo had stood by while his friends picked on Jasper and not a full on bully romance often found in New Adult romances.) Enemies implies animosity on both sides and an extra layer of tension that this book was completely lacking.

I did like both Jasper and Milo. They were a pretty good opposites attract couple. I enjoyed all the nerdiness in the book. The plot revolves around tracking down rare cards for a game similar to Magic the Gathering and even involves some cosplay. While I’m not a gamer (beyond the odd game of Dungeons and Dragons), I do love cosplay. Overall this book was good and I have no regrets spending my afternoon in the world of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Annabeth Albert's second book in the True Colors series is a fun romance and a quick read. For this adventure, we turn our gaze to Jasper, a side character in the first book in the series. We didn't really spend too much time with him in that going, so this book does work as a standalone (although fans will enjoy visits from some familiar faces). Jasper is still working away at his local gaming shop and gets visited by his childhood friend/teen years tormentor Miles. Thanks to a series of bad moves, Miles needs serious help that only Jasper can provide before his brother comes home (lesson learned kids: don't put ultra-rare gaming cards in a standard deck). Despite knowing better, Jasper agrees and they go on a quest for nerd glory.

While it's not clear why Jasper initially agrees to their terms, the logistics give way to the fun of the hunt and both characters find opportunities to level up in their own ways. There are so many nerd puns and jokes to absorb and giggle over. Even a non-gamer can follow the action, since at its heart, Out of Character is a romance and coming of age story.

EX FRIENDS TO LOVERS! Somehow this is even better than friends to lovers and also the fact that they were childhood friends, had their falling out, then reconnected as adults is one of my favorite tropes.

I really loved this book and that mostly falls into me loving redemption arcs and allowing characters to be human and make mistakes.

Milo and Jasper were once best friends, but then Milo started falling into the sports crown and Jasper didnt. Jasper was the opposite of a jock. He was gay and nerdy and into gaming. The very stereotypical target for the jock bullies, and that exactly what happened. Milo sat back and allowed his jock friends to bully and traumatize Jasper for years and now as adults, Jasper wants nothing to do with Milo when he comes to him for help.

Milo fucked up again, and the only person who can help him fix it is his ex-best friend who he has loved for year, unbeknownst to Jasper. Jasper agrees to help Milo on a few conditions that involve Milo doing cosplay with him for the local children's hospital.

Their quest to fix Milo's mistake takes them weeks and lots of cosplay and connection.

Milo made a lot of mistakes as a teenager and no one is disputing that. He had his reasons and his own trauma that influenced his decisions but none of that is an excuse for his behavior. He was a dick. plain and simple, but we have to let people learn to be better and apologize for their mistakes. That being said, Jasper didn't have to accept Milo's apology at all. Forgiveness is not owed to anyone no matter the reasons for someone's bad behavior.

I realize that the bully and the bullied ending up together isn't a plot that will be for everyone and it has the potential to be triggering for some. Please be aware of that before reading this one.

Personally, I identified a lot with Milo. I was the kid in school who didn't speak up for others. I had my reasons and trauma, but just like Milo, there are no excuses to allowing others to bully. Silence is violence and bystanders are just as bad as the bullies themselves. I'm forever grateful that I got out of my terrible hometown and had someone slap some sense and humanity into me during college. I think it's a disservice to not allow people to grow and change and while forgiveness isn't a guarantee, second chances have to be given. I loved Milo's characters and his redemption arc. He still struggled with a lot and had to finally decide if living as himself was more important than the opinions of others. His anxiety got in the way a lot and had him making some poor choices, but he actively learned from his mistakes and owns up to them in the end.

Was it fair for Jasper to have to do some of the emotional work for Milo? no. Did it somehow fit their characters? yes. Jasper needed to help even if it hurt him at times. While this isn't a narrative for every bully/bullied situation, it did fit the circumstances and characters in my opinion.

Let's talk quickly about the "virgin hero" nonsense that was used to promote this book. Using virginity as a plot point is super problematic and especially framing it as "virgin hero saves the day and loses their virginity in the process because of course no one could be a hero while being a virgin" is extra bad. I don't really understand this marketing tool for this book in particular because not only was Milo not the hero of this book, he also "lost his virginity" very casually and without any of the typical stereotypical virgin plot points. Milo was a virgin because he was scared and had a lot of internalized homophobia, not because he didn't want to have sex. Jasper and Milo having sex the first time wasn't framed as this big to-do in the way that so many first times for virgins normally is. It just worked for them. In that way I was extra disappointed to see virginity used as a selling point for this one. VIRGINITY IS A SOCIAL CONSTRUCT. stop using it to sell books. stop using it as a character flaw. stop trying to fix someone's virginity. people don't need to have partnered sex or solo sex to be human or normal. That narrative is problematic and dangerous and super queerphobic.

okay that's all, I did love this book but was sad to see the way it was marketed.

rep: gay MCs, anxiety
CW: homophobic comments, bullying, anxiety, panic

Jasper e Milo eram melhores amigos até que no ensino médio eles se separaram. Agora, anos depois, Milo precisa da ajuda de Jasper para encontrar cartas raras do jogo Odyssey, que ele perdeu em uma aposta. Com essa nova convivência, Jasper e Milo vão descobrir que há muito entre eles do que uma simples amizade.

Out of Character é o segundo da série e pode ser lido separadamente. Como sempre eu descobrindo essas informações depois de começar a ler, mas digo com toda certeza que não me atrapalhou em nada.

Jasper é engraçado, divertido, leal e muito generoso. Milo também possui um grande coração, é sincero, um tanto introvertido, mas bastante leal também. Diferente de Jasper, Milo ainda é bastante recluso se tratando da sua sexualidade, mas ao se ver apaixonado pelo seu ex-melhor amigo, ele fará de tudo para mostrar que merece novamente sua confiança. Já Jasper até tenta não criar expectativas para o que quer que possa vir a acontecer entre ele e Milo, mas também está decidido a dar um voto de confiança a ele.

Eu adorei acompanhar Milo e Jasper. Os dois se completam de uma forma bastante fofa e com certeza Jasper era o que Milo precisava para realmente analisar o que estava fazendo da sua vida. Entre os dois, Milo teve um maior desenvolvimento, mas nem por isso Jasper fica ofuscado. Os dois são maravilhosos juntos e suas interações são bem divertidas.

Os personagens secundários possuem seu destaque. Eu adorei os amigos de Jasper, sua turma de nerds viciados em Odyssey. Da parte de Milo, bem... o coitado não teve o dedo muito bom pra amizade depois que se separou de Jasper, mas pelo menos abriu os olhos no momento certo. E é na presença dos amigos de Jasper que Milo encontra também a amizade que necessitava.

Out of Character é um new adult, assim como Vermelho, Branco e Sangue Azul (esse detalhe aqui são bem poucas as pessoas que sabem). Porém, diferente do outro livro, esse aqui os capítulos são curtos, narrados em primeira pessoa e alternando entre Milo e Jasper. Também temos algumas cenas bem mais calientes entre os dois, mas nada muito explícito; são descrições suficientes para saber o que está rolando entre os personagens (ou seja: sexo).

I keep getting sucked into these romances that promise some version of enemies to lovers but then slam you with all this past trama. While it's not a bad read, I was lead to believe I was getting a fun trope book and end up with way more sadness and feelings to work through. I did really like the characters in this book and their chemistry was great, it just took me awhile to get into the book because both of them had some heavy back stories to deal with. I had not read the first book but I liked this enough that I want to go check it out. Also I don't really know a lot about the card games they were talking about, but it wasn't too overwhelming in the story.

out of character is a story about jasper and milo, two boys who were best friends in high school until milo started straying away from jasper and hanging out with the jocks instead - the very same people who made Jasper’s life miserable.

years have passed and milo has remained a sore subject for jasper. but when milo makes a drunken mistake, he approaches jasper for help, and they go on a journey of cosplay, conventions, and Feelings.

i love a good enemies-to-lovers, but friends-to-enemies-to-friends-to-lovers? and all the *clenches fist* yearning that comes along with it? every single molecule in my body is vibrating at the speed of light.

this is very much a story of second chances, acknowledging mistakes, and growth. of learning to standing up for yourself and those you love despite the fears and relentless what-ifs. of both earning trust and learning to trust again, with the softness and tenderness that comes along with it. of finding the courage that lies within you.

this is a book that i will come back to again when the world feels bleak. it was surprising how low-angst this book was, but i enjoyed the comfort it brought. it also made me dorky smile a lot which was very much appreciated.

two main critiques: first was that the dialogue started getting rather repetitive as the mcs continuously wait for the other shoe to drop. but I could also understand how doing so created a sense of omnipresent tension about fears of messing up, so I can kind of look past it.

the other is that this book might be considered as walking a fine line on bully romance. i haven’t quite untangled all my feelings about this yet, but i think it was handled with a decent amount of care and without overly romanticizing things. still it’s something to consider and be careful about when reading this!

thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley for a copy of the arc in exchange for an honest review.

CW: homophobia, mentions of bullying, death of parent, autoimmune disease, past parental alcoholism

I was really excited for Out of Character after reading Conventionally Yours. I was really surprised how much I enjoyed that book since card games like Odyssey are not my thing. But I found the boys and their friends charming and endearing and I actually loved the card aspect. With that said, I didn’t find that same love in Out of Character. For some reason I wasn’t endeared to this story and these boys. I mean Jasper and Milo were fine and their journey was solid but it didn’t have the same draw as book one. It was good, but not something I would remember and go for again. I liked it, but didn’t love it.

Out of Character is the second book in Annabeth Albert’s True Colors series. I loved the first book, Conventionally Yours, a enemies-to-lovers forced proximity gay romance. Out of Character follows Jasper, another member of the popular gaming vlog and student by day, cosplayer by night, and Milo, Jasper’s former best friend and ex-soccer player due to an extreme injury. This book was a fun read but similar to Conventionally Yours, it covers deeper topics, including homophobia, poverty, and abusive parents. This book stands out especially for the character development in Milo, who starts out very timid and unsure of himself but really grows into himself by the end of the book! This book is perfect for fans of Annabeth Albert’s many books :)

Out of Character by Annabeth Albert is the second book in the True Colors series and is scheduled for release on July 6 2021. You do not have to have read the previous book in order to enjoy this one, but knowing the characters and some history does make it even more enjoyable.

Milo Lionetti is not a gamer. Not even close. But when a stupid bet costs him his brother's prized cards, he'll do anything to replace them before anyone notices they're gone. To do that, he'll need a little help from the best gamer he knows, who also happens to hate him. Jasper Quigley is known for moonlighting on a popular gaming blog, but he's eager to stop playing the sidekick. The last thing he wants is to help out Milo and dredge up feelings he'd rather forget. But helping Milo comes with some perks, including getting his help running a cosplay event at the local children's hospital. All that forced proximity was not supposed to come with kissing, and definitely not falling in love.

Out of Character is an enemies to lovers romance that hit just the right notes for me. I like that both Milo and Jasper grew in the story- it was not all Milo's changing after not being the greatest guy in the past. They both had to come to terms with their past, their present, and what they wanted from the future. Sometimes in these enemy to lovers stories only one of the characters needs to change for things to work, and I simply loved that growth was seen on all sides. I also adore the depth the author gives to secondary characters- everyone is well fleshed out even if they do not seem to have a big role to play in this story. It makes me want to know even more about them and hope that some might have a role to play in future book in this series- or maybe in one of the author's other series (which I badly need to catch up on).

Out of Character is exactly what I wanted from this read. It is a must read for fans of the author and series, and a good read for just about everyone else.

4.5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌠
I really enjoyed the second book in the True Colours series, we get to know Jasper much better in this book. Jasper's sister is sick and I loved how much he loved her and how he would do anything for her, I was glad to see she was doing well after he had to rush off from the road trip in book one because she was back in the hospital. Jasper is a really sweet guy into his gaming and role-playing, I loved that he and his friends dressed up as the gaming characters to cheer up the kids in the hospital.

Milo, once Jasper's best friend, reappears asking him for help. Milo became a sportsman in college and threw his friendship with Jasper out the window when he stood by and let his teammates bully and belittle Jasper for being gay and for being a nerd.

I thought Jasper was a bigger person than I might have been, but I liked how he got Milo to help him out in return for giving him his help. Milo certainly grew a lot during the course of this book, and I loved seeing the changes in him as he grew as a person and grew to like and accept himself for who he was. The relationship that grew and blossomed between Jasper and Milo was sweet and I liked that Jasper already knew who he was and wasn't going to pretend any differently.

I loved catching up with the rest of the Odyssey crew and seeing how Conrad and Alden were doing as well as getting to know the professors better.

A really sweet, enjoyable read that still broached some heavy topics

I unfortunately had a few issues with this one. One of the big ones is that I feel like the summary is a little bit of false advertising. This is described as "friends-to-enemies-to-friends-to-lovers" but it's more like a former-bully-to-lovers story. And sure, Milo wasn't an active participant in Jasper's bullying but the dynamic drastically changes in this lens. And it's just not one I'm really into. I think the "bullies take out their self-hatred on other people because they're closeted and hate themselves" narrative is really problematic and shouldn't be continued in any capacity.

That being said, I can see other people liking this book. It definitely gets angsty before it gets better and it deals with a lot of personal emotions that cis dudes socialized in a patriarchal homophobic society probably have felt, which is something I can't relate to. It might be someone's perfect book, just not mine.

**I received an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher!

*Book Received in Exchange for Honest Opinion/Review*

This book was one of my most anticipated reads of 2021, and I have to say, it totally lived up to my expectations! I fell head-over-heels in love with Conventionally Yours last year and as soon as I heard their would be a sequel and it would feature Jasper, well excited was an understatement for what I was feeling. I found myself wanting to read it slowly to savor every world while simultaneously wanting to binge read it because I couldn't get enough of these words.

Lets start this review with the complicated relationship between Jasper and Milo, best-friends to enemies to friends to so much more; what can I say; I love a good redemption arc. Jasper is a ray of sunshine, his personality and passion for life can't help but make you smile. The man has to have a huge heart if he can find it in himself to forgive Milo. Milo regrets his past treatment of Jasper and finds that he missed having Jasper in his life.

Cue Milo's redemption, and while he did have his moments, I found that he really matured and became self-aware over the course of the story. I don't think may people realize how drastically someone can change from high school to college until everything is laid bare before them. Milo's reflection and evolution had me endlessly swooning. The man he is at the end of the book was truly one I was proud of. 

Now lets get to what brings these two together, gaming and cosplaying. The cosplaying story had my heart soaring, how selfless and adorable can Jasper and his friends be. Then there is the hunt and challenges for rare cards, which were playful and fun. It was just an excellent balance of gaining forgiveness and forging something new. Nothing felt rushed but the heavy hitting moments were masterfully balanced with some light-hearted banter. 

Ultimately though, this story is filled with quirky characters, nerdy charisma, and an endless amount of depth and heart. I loved seeing appearances from all my favorite secondary characters and as I finished reading the last page, I was sad that it's over but so happy that these characters all got the HEAs they deserved...(except George, he's still awful).

This was a fun rom com perfect for nerds! The relationship between the two guys develops over time and it involves matters of trust and mental health, both handled well.

This was such an amazing read! I am new to Annabeth Albert but now I’m going to check out her other books, I loved the tension and back and forth between Milo and Jasper! I’m looking forward to hearing more about them in future novels!

Out of Character is the second stand alone in the True Colors series by Annabeth Albert. A series that gives geeky gaming loving sweethearts the happily ever afters they deserve.

Jasper and Milo were the best of friends growing up until high school where it wasn't cool for jock Milo to be seen with nerdy Jasper. Milo and his bully friends made Jasper's high school experience a living hell. Now 8 years later Milo needs Jasper's help, and his automatic response is "No" but when he finds a way to benefit from the situation he decides to help. They go on a hunt for some extremely rare gaming cards that Milo lost while making poor decisions. Jasper realizes maybe Milo didn't have it as easy as he thought and that he's trying to change for the better. Milo is making big changes to his life, and he needs Jasper's help to achieve it. Will the friendship turned relationship that Milo and Jasper form hold up under the stress of Milo's changes and Jasper's hesitance to trust those changes.

I loved so much about Out of Character. My geeky heart loved all the cosplay and gaming in the book. Jasper , in my opinion, was the star of the book. His optimistic personality, his care for his sister, his supportive nature and even his yearning to be a hero for someone. The only reason I'm not giving this a 5 star is because it took me a moment to warm up to Milo because his apologizes really weren't cutting it for me. It wasn't until he proved his regret through his actions that he captured me. His struggles from fear of ruining his relationship with his brother to his struggles with self-confidence and wanting to come out but afraid to do so. Milo and Jasper deal with a handful of heavy topics while Milo sorts through them, but their journey has plenty of bright spots. Jasper and Milo go on treasure hunts and dress up as their cosplay characters on multiple occasions. There's game nights with Jasper's friends and an outing to a gaming tournament.

I can't write this review and not mention the steam that exists between Milo and Jesper. The first book in the series had a really slow burn romance that results in a few small intimate scenes , this one has the virgin hero trope, so I assumed I was in for another slow burn journey. Boy was I wrong ! There is more than a few quality intimate scenes in this one. While they never went crass wording wise, they were definitely more than a bit steamy. Once Milo embraces his feelings for Jesper, he finds every excuse to kiss him, and when they are alone they have trouble keeping their hands off each other. Not to make it seem like their relationship was purely physical because it wasn't. They really let their walls down with each other and there are plenty moments of sweetness between them.

Out of Character is an ex-best-friends New Adult romance with a satisfying redemption arc that will not disappoint. I am loving this series, and I'm hoping there will be more books released in it.

4/5⭐