Life is Not a Game

by Kara Verbeek

Charlotte leads a double life. Online, she is Mars: gamer, master strategist, and one of the boys. In real life, she’s too shy to utter a single word. On her team, she’s infallible. At school, she’s a freak. But a cross-country move gives her a chance to reinvent herself—until a fateful collision with her new friend’s gorgeous brother knocks her whole world off course. Will she have the courage to date football jock TJ? Or should she stick to her online love, Tony—even if he thinks she’s a boy?

Genres: Romance, Young Adult

ebook

Published October 30, 2024

Reviews

[Kelsey · Rating 1 out of 5]

FIRST: if you’re thinking of downloading Galatea to read this, based off an ad you saw where she accidentally unmutes herself in chat and her online bestie recognizes her voice, it is not in the book, and that ad was better written than any part of the rest of the story.

I’m fairly sure the author is an AI chat bot, but if not, probably a 14 year old homeschooled kid?

The good aspects of this book first, in case it is written by a kid: it was generally grammatically correct. There is something like a plot here. The premise was cute.

The bad aspects, which I will try to keep constructive, again, in case it was written by a kid:

The story undermines any tension it could have had at any point by over explaining every aspect to the reader like they do not have two brain cells to rub together. You have to trust your reader.

The writing is generally repetitive and overly permissive. There’s one part where she says - and I’m not joking what are basically back to back sentences - “thanks,” she said, shyly. “Um, thank you,” she said shyly. The writing here is less juicy than the Sahara desert.

ALSO, the use of “females” instead of “women” creeps me out. Why is it that even the girls in book refer to themselves like biological testing subjects???

Somehow every character is super super hot and has no other real discernible personality traits - except Mars who is SO shy and doesn’t understand any innuendo at all (except when she does?). I know she’s supposed to have social anxiety - It was handled better in the first few chapters than it ever was later in the book. Suddenly all that meant is that she couldn’t talk to people unless it was about games. Also her father was diagnosing her? Which Im not totally sure but I think is a pretty big ethical violation? I am pretty sure you can’t be diagnosed by immediate family members in most contexts, and it did not sound like he was a mental health professional.

The parents only functionally exist so that you don’t ask how a teenager can afford to do things. They have no personality traits except absent - though financially supportive.

Reflecting back on social anxiety and women’s representation in gaming. The story undermined any positive commentary it may have had about disability representation and women in gaming by only having the press address TJ, and then applauding them for being so inclusive. If the author wanted to make a point about representation for women and disabled people, they should have forced the interviewers to accommodate her disability by letting her pre record responses or send in written responses. While allies are needed, being “inclusive” by communicating exclusively through her white male able-bodied boyfriend is SO gross. I think it’s unrealistic for all narratives about social anxiety to end “and then I simply overcame it and now I can speak in public!” But going the exact opposite route and having a character not grow personally but also not impact the system that disadvantaged her feels like it’s actively doing more harm than good.

On that note, there is zero internal growth in any of the characters, except maybe TJ and Tracey who do not grow internally reflective of the active plot but his back story instead. This is all, again, way over explained.

Again, I think the premise was fun. I also think TJs narrative view point added nothing to the story, except emphasizing how incredibly hot and cute and innocent Charlotte is.

Every potential coincidence that could happen in this book does. Omg, my online bestie I’m crushing on is also the twin brother of my best friend who I was dating but broke up with me on hearsay???? Who decided he didn’t to be a player anymore just before I moved to town???? Whose mom works at the hospital where my dad works and is apparently a nurse on his team??? The tournament we want to go to that happens to be right by one of our team mates homes??? Parents that are conveniently never ever home???

Maybe high school has changed since I was in it, but it seems statistically unlikely to have every one of your classes with one person. Also, the introduction of the red carpet to the prom like it was normal was interesting - I had never heard of any school doing that before, but maybe that’s a regional thing.

I fear I read significantly better free fan fiction in my youth. I know the quality of everything is going down right now but asking people to pay for this was very silly.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

liked the concept but the writing was very immature. would have been a banging novel if it was written to a higher quality.

[Astrid Rudloff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the story and the characters and mostly the writing style. The theme hits home, I'm female and a gamer and know the feeling when you're not taken as serious competition because of your gender.
The thing I really disliked was Charlotte's so-called innocence. I don't believe anyone even with social anxiety can show this amount of naivety. This made her look really stupid and didn't fit her character. I know a lot of neurodivergent people can't always read the room, but this level was not believable.

[Anneke Rondonuwu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly? I got click-baited by an Instagram ad—and I’m saying this as someone who wanted to like it.

The first half worked. It was fluffy, vibey, low-stakes fun: a classic “you’re the one I’ve been falling for without knowing it” setup. The writing wasn’t tight, but that was fine—the story knew it was cotton candy. Swoony, light, meant to be enjoyed and forgotten.

Then the second half collapsed.

The tone shifts abruptly, almost as if it were written by a different person. Character consistency disappears, and what was previously brushed off as “loose structure” turns into outright sloppiness. Plot holes that were easy to ignore suddenly matter—especially the way the FMC’s social anxiety is handled. It becomes a convenient label rather than a lived condition, deployed only when the plot needs it and discarded when it doesn’t.

The breaking point for me was psychological credibility. A character with severe social anxiety, no romantic experience, and a hidden identity should not transition instantly into confident, flirty ease the moment she meets multiple men in person—especially under high-pressure circumstances. I mean, come on! These guys never knew she’s a girl and they have been talking dirty about girls. Finally Meeting them at the first time would peaked my anxiety if i were her.

By the end, the story no longer resembled the premise that sold it. What started as harmless fluff turned into something careless and incoherent.

Take it from someone who fell for the ad:
close the window and run.

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute Story, but buyer beware

If you found your way here due to seeing the same Facebook ad over and over again like I did, this is not the book that is in the ad. The character names are the same and it is based around playing video games, but that is it. We are talking coming of age, high school book with green bell pepper spice levels.

This was a cute book, just not what was advertised/what brought me here.

My biggest complaint is that this reads like you would an online fanfic, there is NO formatting. It's like they quickly decided to turn it into a Kindle book and published it. The text messages can be hard to tell at times due to the formatting set up, and there are no chapters.

I would have preferred this was on kindle unlimited or a bit cheaper. Formatting issues alone, it is not worth the price unfortunately

[Jen Rothmeyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super cute, wholesome, feel good story. Writing could use an editor; the book had a repetitive sentence structure and paragraph format. It also was very time bound. Some aspects could have been skipped over instead of the constant play by play. Overall, lovely story.

[Sammi · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this because of an instagram ad. 🫩

I’m actually surprised it’s here. It’s very poorly written. The characters are awful and not written to real life people at all. I love video games and I’m a female and that does mod make me shy and insecure. And just because you’re shy and insecure does not mean you like video games. But these make it one in the same.
I hate finished it.

[Camilla Mariette · Rating 3 out of 5]

2,5🤔

[Charlie Pelletier · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m grossed out by how disgustingly addictive that was. I don’t ever want to see/ hear about it again.

[Fovika · Rating 2 out of 5]

over 40 chapters, only available on galatea. Which means: you either wait the 6 hours between chapters or you pay for this book via subscription or by purchasing coins...
I didn't know going into this that it was about a virgin. And how much that has relevance to the plot. If i did I would never have picked this up, not because of her virginity, but because she is so ridiculously ignorant about sex/relationships for being on the internet for as long as she has with 'friends' that are as sexually active as hers are.. unbelievable. Was about to DNF this when they shortened their nicknames from Jupiter to Jup, Neptune to Nep, and the worst of them all; Pluto to Plu. wtf?. But the plot had enough going for it that I ignored all the red flags. I should have DNF'ed this. 2 stars is me being generous.

[Sarah Warren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was honestly so cute! It seems to be a novice writer, but I think that made the story so much better! As a girl who enjoys video games (and also understands the struggles of playing certain games as a girl), I loved this!

[Montgomarie Essex]

The overall plot was honestly like a sick concept and that is why i kept reading. And it was entertaining sue me

[Sandra Ringgaard Coyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like this one, want a great story ❤️
I would have loved some more expliced scenes, but the story made it up for it ❤️

[Katelyn Ruppel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The concept is great! The execution….it was giving 2011 Wattpad—& not in a good way. Also, I’m 99.99% sure the audiobook was AI.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the premise of the book the execution however wasn’t so great. A lot of telling which I could overlook but it’s less immersive.
What really took the most away from the story was the things like.. I didn’t tell my bff I’m a gamer because I’m a girl. Or the fact it’s a massive part of her life but she never talked about it to anyone? Laughing or giggling at things that were borderline amusing. Hearing her guy friends seggsy sounds but not knowing what hard meant or what moaning is? And the cherry on top was dating and even sleeping next to your bf for multiple years and not ever noticing morning evening or afternoon wood? 🤨 No.
Also she went from EXTREME social anxiety the entire book to jumping on her buddies and frolicking in the sand with guys she just met in person for the first time ever.

And okay this is the cherry on top. Two cherries. The I’m not like other girls trope while being exactly like other girls. 🫠

I paid a subscription to read this. 🫣

[Rachel Anne Normand · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise of the book is interesting. I would love to see this book get a few good rounds of editing to elevate it to its full potential.

[Kenna Penn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plot holes aside, this was a super cute, quick, and easy read. A perfect feel good palette cleanser.

[Hannah Smart]

Not the same story I read a teaser for, but too stubborn to dnf.

[Dani Dino · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ll start by saying this was a great concept and a cute and fun read. Overall I did enjoy it. That said, the writing is extremely weak and almost painful at times.
Additionally, I take issue with the way it is advertised because the scene included in the ad (where her gamer pal/crush realizes she’s a girl from her voice and shows up at her door) literally never even happens. The ad also implies a certain level of spice so fair warning to anyone reading this book looking for that - this book is not only not spicy, it is entirely PG. I am all for a cute PG romance, but don’t lie about it to draw in a different kind of audience than the actual target audience for this book.

[Alyssa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This has so much potential, but is lacking. It was a fun fluff piece to break up my larger reads, though.

[K.C. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Embarrassed at myself for reading this AI clickbait. If I had found this on AO3 I would have found this perfectly charming even if it were a mess, but given the monetization component and how likely I suspect generative AI was used in the creation, I am rating based on alerting prospective readers; please save whatever combination of your time, money, and/or data you would need to exchange to access.

Even if one buys into the conceit that they don’t know each other’s aliases, beyond that mystery, there is nothing of depth. The plot is sloppy and requires extreme levels of artifice and logical contortions to make work, like a character prompting the FMC at every turn to spill her feelings for her perceived love triangle, to induce an unnecessary feeling of building momentum. (I would say spoiler alert from here on out, but reading the précis, you know exactly what is happening.) The set-up is better than the follow-through, but that isn't saying much.

The repeated inside jokes in the text conversations felt ad nauseam. I might have interpreted this as more camp or “committing to the bit” had it not been for the shallow characterization of the love interests elsewhere in the text; rather, the banter reads like a conversation between two unimaginative humans who had only ever thought of one joke(singular) between them and milk it for more than it is worth.

Maybe Kara Verbeek is very effective at capturing a painful sort of earnestness with her characters, but this story is very surface-level and is too long to justify what could have been a very efficient, succinct short story. What might have been a silly allusion or implication ends up being a bludgeon the story hits you over the head with (e.g., remember FMC is innocent. Lest you forget, please sit through countless drawn-out conversations with her video game buddies over the headset, employing euphemisms and double entendres at her ignorant expense to remind you, the reader, with what the author must assume is the attention span of an amoeba.)

In this instance, using more words seems to actually disservice and, to a large extent, flatten the characters. In the beginning, what could have passed for shorthand for crippling shyness or anxiety ends up feeling like a reductive caricature at times. Then the second half of the story seems like a completely different FMC, and there is seemingly no explanation given. At the beach, she has unexplained bouts of extroversion, only for it not to be addressed, and for whatever reason she seems to be wearing provocative clothes a lot, to the extent that other characters comment on it, which is fine, but she clearly explains earlier in the story why she is more confortable in baggy clothes ...

[Lara Haidamous · Rating 3 out of 5]

First things first, I discovered this book through a Galatea ad, and since I genuinely love Galatea, I went in expecting something strong. The concept in the ad sounded perfect: a girl accidentally unmutes in-game, the guy hears her voice, and then- identity reveal. That never happened. And yeah, that threw me off. Don’t set up a moment that’s not in the book. It’s misleading.

Still, I kept reading. The story’s short, and the plot is engaging enough to get you to the end without losing interest. It’s not one of those draggy reads. The pacing moves, even if the writing sometimes feels rushed or a little too “first draft.”

Charlotte is actually a solid lead. Her social anxiety isn’t overdone, and it made sense in every decision she made. Her dynamic with TJ? Surprisingly natural. The build-up worked. What I appreciated most was the sweetness in how he tried to win her over. It was him wanting her from the start and trying to earn her. I just wish we got more of that part on the page.

The friendship with Tacy was a comfort. Their bond gave the story heart. I also liked the team scenes. The boys didn’t blur into one character, they each added something to her arc.

Now, here’s where it wobbles. Some school and home scenes felt off. Like, big house but no staff? Parents who barely react? It made parts of the world feel underwritten. It doesn’t ruin the book, but it left me raising an eyebrow a few times.

Overall, I liked it. It’s not super polished, but it has charm. The kind of charm that makes you want to root for the characters even if the writing needs more time in the oven. If you’re in the mood for a fast story with a shy but bold heroine, a soft boy who tries, and a few stumbles that don’t totally wreck the vibe, it’s worth a quick read.

[Etta Grace · Rating 1 out of 5]

The premise for this book is really fun, the actual book not so much. The writing started out ok and went downhill from there. Like Charlotte hangs around these super graphic playboys who talk about stuff all the time, then she doesn’t get basic innuendos???? Then when they find out she’s a girl no one’s mad that she lied to them for years??? Also TJ goes from thinking she’s a perfect angel to thinking she’s a manipulator bc she cries when she breaks up with him. And the only personality trait for the other guys is that they’re hot playboys, literally no physical descriptions for them other than that they’re hot tall guys. And they refer to women as females like they’re in a lab or something??? This would be a good book if someone rewrote the entire thing to fix the plot holes, rewrote the characters to be more realistic, and focused more on the actual game they’re competing for. Basically just take the premise for the book and rewrite the entire thing into something that’s at least slightly better than this. I’m sorry to the person who wrote this, the idea is cool, just maybe consider rewriting the entire thing?

[Felix The Pirate Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5 Sterne:
Hach. Man sollte nicht irgendetwas anfangen, was man so gar nicht wieder aus der Hand legen kann. So ging es mir als Gamer mit diesem Buch hier eindeutig. Ich hatte angefangen und konnte es bis zur letzten Seite nicht wieder aus der Hand legen. Leider macht sich dafür der Schlafmangel bemerkbar.

Die Geschichte Charlotte und TJ ist total süß und knuffig. Es ist ebenfalls eine typisch amerikanische Teenager-Liebesgeschichte, allerdings dieses Mal ohne den extremen Bezug zu Sex, Drogen und/oder extremem Missbrauch von Alkohol oder anderen krassen Thematiken. Eine wirklich süße Liebesgeschichte, die ich gern gelesen habe. Auch mochte ich Charlotte ihre Art und ihren Humor. Als Protagonistin war sie zwar nicht perfekt, aber man konnte sich wirklich gut in sie hineinversetzen. Im Übrigen hätte ich mich sehr gefreut, wenn es mehr Szenen aus Sicht der "Jungs" gegeben hätte, insbesondere aus TJs Sicht. Ich hätte gerne gewusst, wie es in ihm ausgesehen hat, als er "seinen besten Freund" erstmals live und in Farbe gesehen hat.

Eine wirklich sehr herzliche, liebevoll und schöne Gamer-Teenager-Liebesgeschichte. Und wer sagt, dass Gamer nicht gut aussehen können?? *gg*

[Jacqueline Tanguay · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a good YA novel

I found this book to be quite refreshing. I realize that a lot of the reviews are dissatisfied with the spice that this book is offering. Which is understandable when it's been advertised in a way that doesn't appropriately represent the actual contents of the book.
HOWEVER! Considering the main characters are SEVENTEEN I'm very content without the spicy scenes.
I enjoyed this book because there was no spice and the story line was very intriguing. The writing does need work though. For a book about gaming the majority of scenes that had to do with in-game fights the descriptions of said fights are HIGHLY lacking. That may be a me problem though. Going from Dungeon Crawler Carl and He Who Fights With Monsters; to this, I missed the fight scene description.

Having fight scene descriptions during the tournament would have been enough for me to give 5 stars. All around though.. GREAT book! Highly recommend as a YA novel.

[Jenna Hilbun · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the concept was cute and the build up was pretty decent.
Some characters were obviously there for easily filling in information (for example the parents really only providing financial and rarely emotional support)

It did feel very immature, though? I don’t mind the writing style— however, it was amusing that all of the main characters were “unnaturally hot”.

There are some details that didn’t track further on in the story (for example the level of “innocence” the main character has)

I also didn’t like the ending. It personally felt rushed after so much build up. I’m happy with the ending but the timing felt off.

[YonnoMaus · Rating 2 out of 5]

You know what? This was surprisingly not bad at all. It had some sweet and funny moments. There was also a lot of cliche and obvious stuff that took way too long for the characters to figure out. And Charlotte was sometimes too over the top naive. But overall not bad as a quick entertaining YA read. I fully recognize that objectively this wouldn’t be considered good, but I had fun reading it and the gaming aspect was intriguing and a fun thing to have in a book given how it’s new to me and not over utilized in the genre I think. 2.5 stars.

[Heids Van · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing read that showcases the struggles others go through which some of us take for granted. Do I think it was exaggerated a bit maybe in parts but it is needed and this clearly showcases why communication in person or via message is important. Let's face it I can totally see why she never told the guys she was a girl and those crude below the belt comments and her innocent responses made me laugh so hard.

[Maddison · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a very cute, guilty-pleasure read, and the two stars are purely for the premise and idea of the plot. I agree, however, that this was possibly an AI bot story or written by someone very young and innocent of understanding more complex social cues and interactions. This could be something five-star worthy but needs to be fleshed out further and needs development all around from plot inconsistencies, grammar and structure, to character development.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The beginning was so good and then it just _didn't know when to end_. Like it goes YEARS beyond where it should. The innocence of the main character also strained credulity. Seriously, she's never _once_ looked up the birds and bees on the internet? Also the ad that led me to read this had a completely different scene that was not included in the book. Now I have to go find some other "You've Got Mail" romance books as a palate cleanser.