Conventionally Yours

By: Annabeth Albert

Narrated by: Kirt Graves, Joel Froomkin

Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's Summary

Charming, charismatic, and effortlessly popular, Conrad Stewart seems to have it all...but in reality, he's scrambling to keep his life from tumbling out of control. 

Brilliant, guarded, and endlessly driven, Alden Roth may as well be the poster boy for perfection...but even he can't help but feel a little broken inside. 

When these mortal enemies are stuck together on a cross-country road trip to the biggest fan convention of their lives, their infamous rivalry takes a backseat as an unexpected connection is forged. Yet each has a reason why they have to win the upcoming Odyssey gaming tournament, and neither is willing to let emotion get in the way - even if it means giving up their one chance at something truly magical.

©2020 Annabeth Albert (P)2020 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Narrator was awful

The first narrator wasn't so bad. The second was god awful. I've tried several times to listen to this but it's so bad.

Delightful!

I’ve been searching for a book with substance for weeks now and Conventionally Yours was everything and more!

Alden's Annoying Accent

OMG the "accent" for Alden is so bad. It's half Nathan Lane half Cawfee Tawk. It's simultaneously offensive and repulsive. Really hard to listen to. Is it supposed to be Brooklyn? Boston? WTF.

It’s cute but ...

Liked the overall story - but I was left feeling “meh”... maybe I would have liked the story more if I read the book. The voice work was not great- it actually made me not want to listen to this story because you have one character sounding like Eeyore and the other sounding like a middle aged man when they are both in their early 20’s. The voice work really hindered the story and listening experience for me unfortunately.

loved it!

I wasn't sure about it at first because I am not much for table top games like this, but the story was presented in such a way that I could not only understand, but also enjoy those parts. Great story, highly recommend.

A Sweet, Low Heat Road Trip with a YA Feel

Honestly, it took me several chapters to get into "Conventionally Yours." I'm not a gamer and a lot of the relative "shop talk" didn't really hold my interest (and lost me completely a few times later on), plus I was chomping at the bit for the road trip to get underway - despite the obvious need for some story setup. Once it was wheels up, though, the story kicked into gear for me and it was a fun ride.

What a delightful journey watching Alden and Conrad's relationship evolve from rival gaming frenemies to tolerant travel companions to tentative friends to, ultimately, lovingly committed partners. The low heat approach worked well, too, with lots of kissing but largely off-page sexy times. It was as though we readers were granted full access to Alden and Conrad's inner thoughts, fears and emotions, but their most intimate moments were reserved for just the two of them, which seemed fitting for the story.

Narrators Kirt Graves and Joel Froomkin are such highly capable narrators, and both gave solid performances here. Each has a rather distinct voice, certainly distinctive from one another, and so I think this audio book may have benefited more from a duet narration (still pretty rare, it seems) rather than dual. Still, this was a very enjoyable listen overall.

magic the gathering by another name

I personally love the book because I have a lot of similar life experiences like the two leads and I could fall asleep see myself in Bow shoes on several points and the relationship feels real just if you're any kind of nerd if you're gay and you feel like you're alone this is the feel-good book of the Year

Hated it

Struggled to finish it. Didn't like the narrators, the story was OK though. Not what I was expecting at all.

Offensively bad narration.

If you thought a gay, Jewish, possibly autistic protagonist from New Jersey would treated with any modicum of subtly by the voice actor-you’d be wrong.
It’s a cute story. The terrible accent and voice inflections for the character of Alden are offensive and make it unbearable to listen to. I had to stop and read the rest on my kindle.

All the light and fluffy cuteness you need

If you're looking for something cute and adorable to pick up this summer, look no further than Conventionally Yours. I enjoyed this book so much!!

I will say, the game play did play a large part in the book, and it mostly all went over my head, but also, I really liked that they actually played the thing they played on the page. So many times I read a "sports" romance, where there's actually no sport on the page. So, like, when do you do the thing you're supposed to be doing all the time? While I understood nothing about the game, I loved that it was included and such a big part of the book.

I am a sucker for a road trip romance and the "only one bed" trope and this one certainly delivers that. In adorable ways. I will say, if you're the kind of person that minds fade-to-black, this is fade to black- so walk in with that knowledge.

I loved watching both Alden and Conrad open up and really start to think about what their future looks like. I loved watching them talk through their struggles and coming to into their own and coming to terms with themselves.

Also, even though they didn't spend a ton of time in Jersey, I do love that their journey begins in a college in New Jersey.

Erm, I’m not sure...

I’m part way into this and I’m not sure I can finish. I purchased off the back of the narrator being Kirt Graves. He is a 5 * narrator in my book, and his part is really good. Hadn’t realised it was a dual narration. Joel Froomkin as Auden is just awful. Auden is 23 in the story I think but he sounds like my old Nana. Just all wrong. Not for me I’m afraid.

I’m going to switch to reading it to the end.

A decent read...

A good read, nothing new, has the usual tropes that a typical young m/m romance features, mixed with the complications and friction that a contest brings to the situation. But that's not a criticism. I enjoyed it. Just don't expect anything really different.
The two readers did a good job narrating the story.
I was happy that the story wasn't packed with smut to pad the book too. Too many gay romance stories seem to contain several, long sex scenes, which I find distracting from the actual story. This story had little of it. So extra credit for that.
The game play/contest is always in the background of the story too. Although, as a non-gamer of any kind, I didn't find that distracting either.