Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for providing me with an ALC in exchange for my honest thoughts! 

I started and finished Single Player in one day. Between the hate to love tension between Cat and Andi and Natalie Naudus' narration, it was impossible for me to put it down! The tension between these two was off the charts from their disastrous meet cute to their first kiss. I actually got why they didn't like each other, and overcoming that dislike fit their separate character development. This is super slow burn!!! But the wait was so worth it for me. I just enjoyed these two together so much. Also, and it might be the bare minimum, I loved that Cat was constantly going to bat for Andi when they didn't like each other. Cat didn't take any of the transphobic, sexist, rhetoric from the higher ups. 

I was really wrapped up in the gaming culture setting of this book. I've always been a casual gamer, but this made me want to play so many more games. I loved all the commentary on the gaming industry: how it doesn't prioritize diverse voices and how much the limited representation affects what different communities buy and play. I wish the game they were writing for was real so I could romance all the different characters. The game is obviously a huge part of the plot, but it never felt like it bogged down the romance (I would argue it moved it along because of their arguments). 

Over all, Single Player is a stunning debut from Tara Tai (she/they)! I will definitely pick up anything they write from here on out. Pick this up if you like hate to love, work place romance, queer and trans representation (lesbian x enby), fat representation, navigating friends and family in your twenties, and video games of course!!!

This is me begging for a group of queer friends who will teach me how to play dnd!!!