Real life doesn’t come with quest markers.

Audrey has been streaming cozy video games—cutesy, fluffy games without combat or peril—on her Play’N channel for years. But when she decides to do a speedrun of her favourite game for the past decade—the combat-filled and peril-ridden fantasy role-playing game, The Stones of Ayor 3—it soon becomes clear to her that she should have stayed in her lane.

Her favourite streamer, @SconesOfAyor, recently did his own speedrun of the game, and in beating his time (barely), Audrey has inadvertently called down an onslaught of gamer bros tearing her to shreds for daring to play an RPG when she’s nothing but a Cozy Gamer—and a girl. The horror.

And while all of that she can handle, what she can’t stand is that Scones says nothing in her defense when his A-hole subscribers start bashing her on his streams. Another A-hole, then.

But when Audrey (literally) bumps into him on the street, she finds herself rethinking things as she gets to know him better. Maybe he’s not an A-hole, after all. Maybe he’s kinda sweet and kinda funny and kinda…hot?

That can’t be right.

While Audrey doesn’t know exactly where she falls on the asexuality spectrum, she’s never found anyone hot before. And Scones—or Damien, as he’s known in the real world—certainly can’t feel that way about her…can he?

With the new release of The Stones of Ayor 4 and a blossoming crush on her favourite streamer, Audrey finds that all the words she uses to describe herself aren’t quite fitting right anymore. How can she be true to herself—and stand up for herself—when she doesn’t even know who she is?

And how could Damien want her when she doesn’t even know what she wants?

Level Up is a cute and nerdy romantic comedy with a little spice and a lot of laughs. (Please be aware that this is an “open door” novel, and includes sex on the page even though the MC is ace-spec—because it’s a broad spectrum.)

Gamer disclaimer: There are a lot of references to video games—both real and made-up for the story—as well as gameplay in this book, but you don’t need to be a gamer to enjoy reading. They are just for a bit of flavour but not the main point of the story.

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