Book Review: Defying Convention

Book: Defying Convention by Cecil Wilde

Source: Borrowed from Publisher/NetGalley for an honest review

Publication: January 28, 2015

Description:

Danny and AJ have been online friends for years, and secretly in love with each other. When the opportunity to attend a comics convention comes up, they decide to go and share a room. But friendship online does not always translate to friendship offline, and both are anxious about how the meeting will go, and the friendship change, when faced with challenges easily avoided behind the safety of computer screens…



Rating: 3 stars

Review:

The writing for this was slightly awkward at first because although AJ is female prefers not to be identified by gender so whenever AJ or Danny would describe AJ all the plural pronoun forms would be used such as "them", "they", "we", and "their", etc., which can be a little confusing. Because by constantly referring to "they" or "their" makes it seem as if more than one person was being talked about. It would have been better if the author had just used the character's name at those points because the writing then seemed a little choppy and took away from the flow of the story. But it does make you wonder how difficult it may be for someone who does identify by non-gender how they might refer to themselves.

As for the story, it follows two best friends Danny and AJ who have known each other for five years but have only interacted online. They have decided to meet in person to go to a Comic Con, the two are hoping that the easy friendship they have online will be the same in real life.

There was a little uneasiness at first but as they spent more time together their friendship was as good as ever. And although they never voiced it to each other they were both interested romantically in each other.

Where AJ identifies as being non-gendered, Danny who is a transgender man had undergone surgery to complete the process. A little drama was caused when Danny saw someone at the con who knew him before his change. It had Danny trying to figure out how best to handle the situation.

All this aside I was a little disappointed with the story because the focus of the story had AJ and Danny spending more time hanging out in the hotel room or out getting something to eat instead of focusing more time with them wandering around the con and talking about all the things that they saw. Because like with everything, not all cons are the same and it would have been interesting to see what the author could have wrote about this one. 

And once the romance part of the story took over it was less about the Comic Con and more about their relationship which can seem a little instant but verged on being rather sweet and sappy. Okay, I'm a total geek because the characters attending the con was the reason I wanted to read this book. Don't get me wrong there is some mention of what's going on at the con with more near the end of the story but I guess I was expecting a little more. Yeah, I know, I'm a geek and I certainly don't deny it. But it's just that I haven't found too many books that feature cons and I've been to a few and thought it would be cool to read about someone else's experience.

I know this is a short story but I don't think there was enough character development for both characters. The author does provide some details about the characters but perhaps not enough and especially not enough about AJ. And even though the character doesn't see themselves as a certain gender however as I read the story AJ was definitely shown as being more female than gender neutral. It would have been nice if the author showed a little more neutrality.

Overall, this was a good story but the romance can seem a little overwhelmingly instant even though they have been friends for five years. But I guess the story is mostly about taking a risk on love and being okay with who you are. So, not a bad read.