I 100% downloaded Call of Booty by Anastasia Austin because of the title.  I am accepting exactly zero criticism and zero judgement.  And why would I, as you are also here reading an article about a book called, Call of Booty.

This book started out super strong with the introduction of the characters as well as a backstory.  Anastasia is clearly not a fan of word dumping, and I am here for that.  I like it when we can get in quick, understand what is happening, and move on with the story.

This story centers around Josh and Gwen who have been best friends for many years, and they have always been there to support each other.  So, when Gwen has a work function that she needs a fake date too to ward off her creepy co-worker, Josh is more than happy to volunteer.  While at this function, they share a steamy kiss, that ultimately takes them off the path of friendship. 

This was a sweet book, I am not going to lie, but I had quite a few problems with it as well.  Let’s start with Josh wanting to be a game developer.  I think this is great and honestly not something I see that often in books.  Having quite a few friends who love video games, (and even one who writes articles about them) I love to see it talked about like it is an actual profession, because it is!  However, I am not entirely sure the author knows what it is a game developer does.  Anytime she really wrote about his job, he was just playing and testing a game.  Not coding, not designing, not working with a team to make sure models work correctly in their environments, but literally sitting on a couch playing games. 

And then, we find out Josh is a virgin.  Why?  He wanted to wait for Gwen because has had a crush on her since he was eleven.  The author really dove in deep to the stigmatism around a boy being a virgin and I was a bit enraged. Especially with Gwen’s response.  I get she might not want to be the reason he waited, but come on man.  Why does it matter if he has had sex? 

After Gwen and Josh’s relationship start to take off, Josh decides he wants to quit his dream job.  Why you might be asking?  Because he realized he didn’t want the job, he just wanted Gwen.  Ever rolled your eyes so hard while reading a book that you lost your place?  It literally says in the amazon description, that all he had ever wanted was to sleep with Gwen and work at this video game company.  And suddenly, because he has deadlines and the job is hard, he doesn’t wanna do it anymore.  If you rolled your eyes too, let me know in the comments.

Overall – this was an ok book. I wont ruin the surprise of the proposal at the end, because it was really sweet and cool, but I personally don’t think it was enough to redeem some of the more outrageous things that happened.  This is a quick book to read and I think it took me maybe two hours.  So if you have some time to kill, it would not be the worst thing you could pick up to read.

Plot – 5/10

Characters – 5/10

Originality –  5/10

General Joy of Reading – 5/10

Overall Score – 20/40

Call of Booty: A steamy gamer romance – Anastasia Austin

Cost* – $.99 on Kindle or $7.99 for paperback.  This book is included on Kindle Unlimited.

*Cost is based upon what the book cost when book review is published