Bethany (Beautifully Bookish Bethany)'s Reviews > The Love Con

2.5 stars rounded up

This is a case of a book having specific things that bother ME as a romance reader, while also doing a lot of things very well. If you're looking for a geeky friends to lovers romance with cosplay and reality TV that also addresses microagressions, you might give The Love Con a try! This follows a Black woman competing on cosplay TV show who ends up getting her best friend to help her and pretend to be her boyfriend for the final round. Of course he takes it as an opportunity to make a move like he's been wanting to for years.

There was a lot I liked about this- the focus on the technical side of cosplay, exploring fandom as a place for legitimate careers, dealing with the microagressions that Black women and fat Black women face in these spaces.... That was all great. The romance was a bit more of a mixed bag for me.

I think this book helped me realize that I'm picky about enjoying a friends to lovers plot. I have a hard time with something like this where they've been friends since they were children and he's had a thing for her for a lot of that time. It just feels deceptive to spend literal years acting like you aren't more than friends. In this case it works out because she ends up having feelings for him, but there are cases where that doesn't happen and things become toxic. I think I prefer a more recent friends-to-lovers story rather than from childhood, unless they've been separated for years and are reconnecting. It also doesn't help that they end up lying about being in a relationship to the most important people in their lives. I mean yes, I get that it's to try to not slip up on the show, but I'm not a fan of lying to your parents and best friend like this. Speaking of which, her parents are pretty awful and it's just glossed over at the end.

While there were scenes and moments where I was rooting for them, in general I was kind of uncomfortable with this setup and that made it hard for me to totally get into it. One other thing that isn't my favorite is this trope of thinking someone won't want to be with you because you're fat and assuming straight size people to be more attractive, even when you have evidence this person is into you. I get that is a real experience people have, but I don't like reading it in my escapist romances and it's not my preferred version of fat representation in the genre.

I was told this book is similar to Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade (which I loved!) and in many ways that's true: geeky theme, fat heroine, friends to lovers plus fake dating tropes, dealing with public spectacle and fatphobia.... The thing for me is the details made me enjoy this less:

Childhood friends to lovers instead of adult friends. Explicitly lying to close friends and family. A heroine who has more insecurities about her body and spends time doubting whether the hero could actually be into her. The couple not being honest with each other about their feelings until very late in the game.

This isn't going to bother every reader because we all have different things we do and don't like, which is the beauty of the romance genre! But I wanted to give people a heads up in case you need it. That said, if you aren't bothered by any of that I would definitely recommend giving this book a shot. It does a really good job with the subject matter of cosplay and microagressions.