Hidden Identity
Sometimes love is blind. Sometimes it's stupid. Mostly it's both
This trope is very hit or miss for me; I either LOVE it (see the books below) or find it extremely frustrating in unfun ways. If it goes on too long on-page, but we have dramatic irony on our side and know the game, we’re losing valuable time where the two characters could be dealing with their actual situation, rather than the fake one that one party is establishing through hiding their identity. It’s like split chronology in that way- it’s an impediment to what I really want- two characters wrestling with everything TOGETHER with forward momentum (even if that momentum seems to be veering them off a cliff).
That being said, I’m such a sucker for epistolary storytelling so of course two of the picks below are about online friends who communicate entirely by instant messenger where one and sometimes both have no idea who the other is. These are exceptional standouts of a trope that sometimes is too much, all contemporary because I’ll probably do a historical roundup at some point. Anyways. Onwards!
Hold Me by Courtney Milan. This book rewired my expectations for dealing with problematic (if sympathetic due to backstory and POV) heroes. The second book in Courtney Milan’s only (as far as I can tell) contemporary series follows book 1’s roommate and friend, Maria Lopez, as she navigates the end of her undergrad degree, an anonymous apocalypse blog she writes, a misogynistic professor/brother’s best friend in real life, and an increasingly intriguing anonymous fan/physicist who she occasionally collaborates and chats with online relating to the previously mentioned blog.
Naturally, though it takes a solid third or more of the book to get it out in the open, they’re the same person, because of course they are. Jay na Thalang is a young professor (not hers) at her college, good friend of her older brother, and absolute jerk to her. It begins as a misunderstanding when she’s early for dinner plans and her brother, the social glue, is late, but morphs into all-out psychological warfare when Jay refuses to apologize for his rudeness. In his head, the sparkly, all-done-up Maria is a social leech, with more makeup than sense, and he has no interest in making nice. So Maria, who’s spent her whole life with people not interested in making nice, responds in kind.
When Jay realizes that his favorite blogger and crush (who he’s never seen/who’s never seen him) is Maria, his reaction is, frankly, perfect. He leaves her alone for a solid like four days going over all his behavior in his head and realizing that there is no way he can move forward without admitting he’s the bad guy here. He has to accept responsibility for his misogyny (buried as it may be) and his judgmentalism and until then he has no chance, and no right, to attempt to make things right with Maria, a woman he didn’t realize he was already in love with, if he only let his guard down and stopped being such a raging asshole in the face of her femininity (he’s got a backstory that explains this a bit, but Courtney Milan doesn’t let him wallow there long, because it is no excuse!).
Femininity that, for the record, was hard-won and that she refuses to be judged for. Maria is trans, and though she has a loving brother and grandmother (the latter of whom took her in after her parents kicked her out), she’s always braced for negative reactions in one way or the other, and Jay, unfortunately, plays right into that. Can he get his shit together fast enough for her to forgive him, and can Maria, after a lifetime of taking one big risk and no others, be vulnerable enough with Jay and her own dreams to claim everything she actually wants instead of the tiny life she was prepared to accept out of fear? YOU KNOW IT!
This book is a master class in dismantling problematic thought-patterns and stereotypes within yourself, it’s so fucking romantic I want to scream, GOD. This book. I have more complicated feelings about book 1 in this series (and I await the next book, though it seems unlikely to materialize, with bated breath), but this one can be read without the first one in ways I don’t ordinarily recommend. Just. Run, don’t walk.
After rereading this review that’s longer than most I write, I worry Jay comes across bad. He is and he isn’t a bad guy, truly. Enough of this book is in his perspective and though it doesn’t excuse his behavior (which is never at any point transphobic, promise, because he doesn’t even know she’s trans until way into the narrative), it helps ease you into the mind of a guy who’s troubled and needs a swift kick in the pants only Maria can provide to get back on the right path he was destined for.
Rating: 4.5/5
How hot? 🔥🔥🔥🔥
The Billionaire's Wake-Up-Call Girl by Annika Martin. This book made me cackle and laugh so hard my stomach hurt by the end. It’s Annika Martin, so it’s completely ridiculous, but sometimes you need that. Sometimes you need a book so wild and stupid and yet somehow still sweet (especially after the emotional ringer Courtney Milan puts you through) and this is that book. The premise is simple enough- Lizzie Cooper, failed baker (because of a toxic ex who stole her dreams and her bakery) and current employee of a pharmaceutical company to make a dent in her debt, is assigned a seemingly impossible task: find a new wake-up-call service for the billionaire CEO of said company.
When it turns out that of COURSE he’s alienated every service in current existence, she makes a joke to her roommate that gets too real when she actually calls him and does the wake up call herself, with the memorable line “WAKE UP, MOTHERFUCKER!” He’s so surprised someone deigns say the wild shit she says to him (oh, yes, there’s MORE), he can’t help it. He needs her to call back.
He being Theo Drummond, famous grump genius. He’s managed to run off nearly everyone else in his life, but Lizzie refuses to be scared away, even after she loses her job because of a jealous coworker. This book really draws out her refusal to tell him her identity, then adds another layer of confusion with the coworker, and Theo’s own inability to do anything normal about emotions he may or may not admit to having.
This book, despite it’s silly premise and wild set ups, is incredibly romantic, very sexy, and genuinely very funny. I recommended book 1 in this roundup for enemies to lovers 3, FYI! You don’t need to read the first one to understand/appreciate the second, though.
Rating: 5/5
How hot? 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade. We got another anonymous online buddies book! But in this case, similar to The Billionaire's Wake-Up-Call Girl, one of the parties knows from the beginning. It’s like a perfect mix! Except completely different.
April Whittier is a fan-fiction author, fan-fiction beta-reader, and cosplayer in the Gods of the Gates community (a TV show completely not even trying to pretend it isn’t Game of Thrones), but in secret. She fears judgment from her “real life” world, where she’s a geologist and seemingly normal person. But when she decides to post her cosplay for her favorite character online and goes viral in all the best and worst ways going viral goes, her life changes in an instant. Some people love her and her curves’ take on the character, and of course, many are cruel about it. And then a surprising person comes to her rescue from the haters… Marcus Caster-Rupp, the actor who plays the love interest on the real show of the character she’s cosplaying.
At first, it’s a publicity stunt to protect her a bit with his name when he asks her on a date. But after their date, Marcus realizes two things about April: one, he’s obsessed with her, and two, she’s actually been his friend for years, because they both write fanfiction for his show anonymously and often meta-read each others’ work and chat otherwise. Fearing he’ll scare her off and lose both the friendship he craves from their online interactions and the new wonderful chemistry he’s discovered from their in-person interactions, he keeps his revelation to himself.
Which goes totally great and normal. It takes a while to get fully revealed, during which time they grow closer in person and he tries to walk a fine line online, April goes head to head with fatphobic fans and friends, and Marcus navigates his complicated relationship with his character (and therefore his job). It’s a messy, spicy, fandom-filled farce that isn’t my favorite of this series (that honor goes to book two) but is an EXCELLENT read if this sounds like your sort of thing.
Rating: 4.25/5
How hot? 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Next week, I’ll be recommending a full roundup of hockey romances, in honor of my mom, a fervent Colorado Avalanche fan and romance reader who did not realize how big the hockey romance subgenre was and is now very excited.
What should I be reading next? Let me know in the comments!
I love Spoiler Alert-- the characters are so sweet!
All the Feels is my favorite in the Olivia Dade series too! I think she's even said it's hers too.