One Con Glory is nerd romance set over the course of a convention, encompassing the eternal themes of love, self-discovery, and plastic action figures.

The heroine, Julie, is a comics and general nerdery reporter, come to the con in a professional capacity to cover the events and interview the big players.  In an amateur capacity, she’s come to find a Glory Gilmore action figure.  Glory Gilmore is a minor heroine in a minor team, and so Julie has her work cut out for her.

It looks like she lucks out right in the beginning, getting her hands on one by slightly nefarious and very scandalous means.  The story is all about whether or not she has the sense and emotional maturity to hang on to it.  That could be a metaphor.  You never know.

The book is decidedly niche, but as a niche romance it has a lot of things going for it.  The main character is fully realized and occupies the book comfortably.  She does this because the author, Sarah Kuhn, has a spot-on sense of what cons are like, and what the people who attend them are like.

The book is about nerds.  Real nerds, not the nerds in most romantic comedies, who are nerds because of their frumpy hair or odd scarves, but in reality are the kind of calculatedly off-kilter nerdy that would make them extremely cool and popular in the the real world.  The characters are nerds because of their passions, and the way those passions shape them.  The nerds come in all shapes and sizes.  There are handsome nerds and cool nerds and interesting nerds and then there are also the socially-awkward nerds stereotypes.  The author also notes how most of the hostility comes from the second-tier nerds toward the pretty people; what right do they to have all the privilege of being popular and claim to be nerds?

It’s also clear the author knows her facts.  Real people and real characters and real internet arguments are name-checked throughout the book.  The nerdery isn’t just a gloss to give the book atmosphere.

If there is one way the book suffers it’s in the heroine’s Devil Wears Prada genre syndrome; the one in which the main character falls ass-backwards into some very good things and then complains like crazy instead of being thrilled by how well things turned out.  However, half the book is about whether or not her understanding of what she has gained will catch up with the actual circumstances, so there is an explanation for her complaining.

It’s a good, fast and in-joke-laden read, with an excellent first chapter that sucks you in.  Check it out, if you’re looking for a beach or plane book, or if you’re a fan of nerd romance in general.

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Posted in Conventions, reviews by Esther Inglis-Arkell |