Who We Are in Real Life - by Victoria Koops (Paperback)

About the Book

"IRL, Darcy has just moved to the small prairie town of Unity Creek with her two moms. It feels like she left everything good behind in the city. She misses her tabletop gaming friends and her boyfriend -- and is horrified by the homophobia her family faces in their new home. Then she meets kind, quiet Art, who invites her to join his Dungeons & Dragons game. Art is mostly happy fading into the background at school and only really coming alive during his friends' weekly D&D game -- until meeting Darcy pulls his life off-course in wonderful and alarming ways. Suddenly he has something worth fighting for. But what if that something puts him in conflict with his father, an influential and conservative figure in their town? Can Art stand up against his father's efforts to prevent Darcy and her friends from starting a queer-straight alliance at school? Meanwhile, in game, Darcy's and Art's D&D characters join forces to fight corruption as they grow closer in the homebrew world of Durgeon's Keep -- as fantasy and reality collide."--

Book Synopsis

Fans of Rainbow Rowell and Casey McQuiston will fall for this story of tabletop gaming, romance and epic campaigns -- both in game and IRL.

IRL, Darcy has just moved to the small prairie town of Unity Creek with her two moms. It feels like she left everything good behind in the city. She misses her tabletop gaming friends and her boyfriend -- and is horrified by the homophobia her family faces in their new home. Then she meets kind, quiet Art, who invites her to join his Dungeons & Dragons game.

Art is mostly happy fading into the background at school and only really coming alive during his friends' weekly D&D game -- until meeting Darcy pulls his life off-course in wonderful and alarming ways. Suddenly he has something worth fighting for. But what if that something puts him in conflict with his father, an influential and conservative figure in their town? Can Art stand up against his father's efforts to prevent Darcy and her friends from starting a queer-straight alliance at school?

Meanwhile, in game, Darcy's and Art's D&D characters join forces to fight corruption as they grow closer in the homebrew world of Durgeon's Keep -- as fantasy and reality collide.

Key Text Features

chapters

dialogue

Review Quotes

This endearing romance ... shines when the protagonists begin to bring the strengths of their Dungeons & Dragons characters into real life.

-- "School Library Journal"

Victoria Koops takes full advantage of the D&D subculture of her setting to create a fun and original narrative.

-- "Canadian Children's Book News"

A charming story about standing up for what's right.

-- "Kirkus Reviews"

Tabletop gamers, especially fans of Dungeons & Dragons, will appreciate Who We Are in Real Life.

-- "Winnipeg Free Press"

A great contemporary depiction of young adults' lives in high school, with the extra bonus of having diverse characters and representation from the 2SLGBTQI+ community.

-- "CM: Canadian Review of Materials"