Review: Dewey Belong Together by Ann Whynot

Dewey Belong Together by Ann Whynot
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC in exchange for an honest review.  This book releases on February 16th, and is part of the Smartypants Romance Universe.  This particular book is part of the Green Valley Library series.

This is book 7 of the Green Valley Library series, however they area all standalones.  You do not need to read the previous books in the series to read this one.  It will introduce you to some of the characters mentioned in the book, but their stories aren't relevant to the plot.  I highly recommend them because they are great reads!  I'm a huge fan of them all!

This was really fun and I really liked the premise.  The author did a great job with both of the characters by giving them both complex backstories.  They each have struggles and baggage to deal with and they've both found solace in the gaming community.  Maxine, aka Max,  is the quiet librarian who works in the basement and wears frumpy clothing and doesn't really talk to anyone during the day.  At night she is a a well known and well respected gamer, but no one knows her true identity.  She goes by the gamer tag Maximus_Damage and her arch nemesis is a character named Wrath.  She and Wrath have known each other through the gaming community for 10 years, and she hates him.  Wrath's real name is Jonathan, who had kind of been a jerk to Max over the years, but he feels very different about Maximus.  Max invites a bunch of players from their game to Green Valley for a team building weekend, but Wrath is the only one who shows.  Neither of them are who the other expected and they have to work through their preconceived notions, past actions, and feelings to make the best of the weekend.  As they let down their guard, they realize that they could actually be friends and might even like each other if they are able to get past some of the things that have happened in their past.

After a fun weekend together, real life takes back over and Max and Jonathan have to go their separate ways.  Max has decided that she isn't going to hide from her past and from life anymore.  As she begins to come out of her shell and start living again, she isn't spending as much time in the game, and therefore isn't spending as much time with Jonathan.  Not having put labels on their relationship and living several states apart, Jonathan is having a hard time managing his own life as a gamer, business owner, and dealing with his own family and mental health issues.  

If you aren't a gamer or interested in gaming, the book does not heavily focus on gaming.  In fact much of the gaming that happens is off page.  I would have liked to see a little of the gaming on the page, as much of the interaction between Max and Wrath is discussed prior to them meeting in person and I would have like to see that dynamic in action both before and after they meet in person.  

I believe you could classify this as an #ownvoices novel.  Based on the author's note at the end, the author talks about her own mental health journey and how she wrote it into the pages of this book.  I think we need to see more books with characters, especially written by authors with genuine experience, that struggle with mental health issues like anxiety and bipolar disorder.  Everyone's experience with these types of mental health issues is different but when it is written by someone who lives with it, it helps demystify and normalize it for readers.  

Overall I thought this was really fun and I enjoyed watching these two characters figure out how to navigate each other and the world around them.  

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