Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy. Archie and Veronica. Althena and Noth.…Graham and Roxy?
Graham met his best friend, Roxy, when he moved into her neighborhood eight years ago and she asked him which Hogwarts house he’d be sorted into. Graham has been in love with her ever since.
But now they’re sixteen, still neighbors, still best friends. And Graham and Roxy share more than ever—moving on from their Harry Potter obsession to a serious love of comic books.
When Graham learns that the creator of their favorite comic, The Chronicles of Althena, is making a rare appearance at this year’s New York Comic Con, he knows he must score tickets. And the event inspires Graham to come up with the perfect plan to tell Roxy how he really feels about her. He’s got three days to woo his best friend at the coolest, kookiest con full of superheroes and supervillains. But no one at a comic book convention is who they appear to be…even Roxy. And Graham is starting to realize fictional love stories are way less complicated than real-life ones.
Flo's Review
You guys. I think I am finding a new genre niche that I'm obsessed with, and that is YA contemporary romances that take place at cons. I know it's weirdly specific, but I've read three in the past few months (I'll link them below) and I LOVED all three. So when I was at the library the other day and I spotted The Geek's Guide to Unrequited Love, I picked it up on a whim. That was Friday. Now it's Sunday morning, and I'm done with it. I flew through this!
The Geek's Guide to Unrequited Love takes place at New York Comic Con, which is an awesome setting, because I've been to NYCC and to the Javits Center many times. So it was easy to put myself in the story and see everything as it unfolded around Graham. I could easily relate to all the geeky fun, like the lines, screenings, awesome panels, and even the conversations that the characters had about their favorite fandoms.
The story started right away with us knowing that Graham was in love with Roxy and wanted to tell her about it. That was nice. I appreciated coming into the story at that point, instead of coming in earlier as he is realizing it. Starting here meant we were able to jump right into the heart of the story, which was fantastic. Good plot decision, Sarvenaz and editors!
I loved all of these characters. They all had their flaws and quirks and were so real, but so honest and lovable. Graham is classically adorkable -- appealing, yet he doesn't know it. And I loved hearing all the thoughts in his head about Devin. He had me literally LOL with some of them. I wanted to continuously give Casey hugs because I definitely have friends like him, and they are the best. I also appreciated how Samira was involved, not as an annoying little sibling, but a welcome part of the group. She offered some good insight into Graham as a person, based on how he reacted to her, and also she was astute and mature. I think a lot of kids are, and this is just not considered.
As I said before, I flew through this in no time at all. It's a fast read that takes place over a few days. And it was a lot of fun. If you are a nerd like me, I'd recommend you give this one a read!
As promised here a few of my other favorite Geek Love at a Con stories:
Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde: http://www.booknerdsacrossamerica.com/2017/02/book-review-queens-of-geek-by-jen-wilde.html
Geekerella by Ashley Poston: http://www.booknerdsacrossamerica.com/2017/02/geekerella-by-ashley-poston.html
All the Feels by Danika Stone: http://www.booknerdsacrossamerica.com/2016/06/all-feels-by-danika-stone.html
Are there any others you can think of? Please let me know, so I can check them out!
*I have one thing I want to say that's a bit of a spoiler so I am going to put it after the page break. Don't click in if you haven't read this book.*
A final note on the ending
The ending of this book was one of my favorite parts, so I have to comment on it. I always love the Happily Ever After ending, so I love how this book had that -- though not in the expected way. I fully thought Roxy was going to be like, "Sorry, Graham, I was just shocked, but I'm in love with you, too," and they would ride off in the geeky sunset. But that didn't happen at all. Yet, I still closed the book feeling like it a HEA. First, because I think Amelia is adorable. I love how she honestly lays out her feelings for Graham and how he has no idea about his attractiveness and her interests. And his answer was very honest. I can see him reaching out to her over the next few days and those two building up a good relationship. The transition from BFFs to BF & GF carries a lot with it, and it can certainly be done and done well, but I appreciate that Roxy was like, "I love you and want you in my life," but there was that admittance that she wanted to experience other relationships -- maybe with Devin, maybe with others. But their friendship is solid enough that it was continue to be the very important thing that it is to both of them.
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