"Level Up" by Cathy Yardley Review

Book: Cathy Yardley

Author: Cathy Yardley

My Rating: ★★1/2

Synopsis: 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?

      I came into this book knowing literally nothing about it. I had read a review from a fellow blogger who really enjoyed the nerdiness of it, so I figured I would give this a chance for booktubeathon, especially since it was free on Amazon and I like the cover.

      This book was just not good to me, like at all. It was awkward and choppy and just so cookie cutter. Also, I didn't realize this was an adult book, so when I got to those cheesy and weird as fuck sex scenes, I was a bit surprised.

      It's been quite awhile since I've read such bad sex scenes or writing in general. The idea behind the book is actually quite good: female game designer and her coworker male roommate. That had potential. But it just did not pan out for me.For the most part there really was no plot and the very basic level of the writing didn't help. The focus was supposed to be on romance, but that was just not the case. They didn't have feelings for each other, they were horny and simply lived in the same house. As for the characters, they weren't really special, though I do give brownie points to the book for having the main character being a Hispanic female game designer.

     Overall, this did not come close to reaching the bar I had set.