A chance meeting in the online game Destruction of Elysium changes the lives of a healer and a tank forever.
The digital worlds of MMORPGs are Alex’ only safe space. Online, she’s the great AlexTheDestroyer, leader of one of the biggest raiding guilds in Destruction of Elysium, a max level tank who kicks monster ass and she knows her way around every dungeon. In real life, she’s just Alex, a clumsy girl who’s hyper and too impulsive. Until she meets a healer who seems to be able to heal more than just her online character. Only, Alex can’t fall for her. The guild desperately needs a new healer, or they’ll lose their top rank. Can she risk the fate of the guild just to confess to the one girl who really seems to get her?
Fleur is a girly-girl who loves flowers, dresses and being a healer in her favourite MMORPG. But in this online world, like in real life, she feels like she’s only playing a role, never truly herself. That is until she meets a tank who seems to match her play style perfectly. She’s curious but also a little wary. Can she really trust someone she met in a videogame?
When Alex and Fleur meet offline at the yearly guild meeting, everything they ever knew starts to shift...
Emmy Engberts has been writing for years, she writes Young Adult fiction with diverse characters who won’t apologise for being different and who celebrate their differences.
She is Dutch and has lived in the Netherlands for almost all her life apart from when she studied English and Creative Writing at the University of Chichester in England. This really inspired her to make writing her career and has been working towards that goal ever since.
Emmy currently lives in Groningen with her partner and two cats, and if she’s not writing, you can find her playing videogames or working on one of her many creative projects.
"I came up here excited to meet the funniest guy I’d ever met and now I’m leaving having spent the evening with the sweetest and prettiest girl I’ve ever seen. Talk about life changes…"
This was such a adorable romance, made me smile a lot. Alex and Fleur falling for each other felt so authentic. They were too cute to handle. All very G rated of course.
‘Her Elysium’ is a f/f teen contemporary romance centered around Alex and Fleur, two video gamers. They meet through the online game and quickly become friends. This was a really quick, fun read! I literally know nothing about video games. Nothing. So I was a little worried going into this book that I wouldn’t understand what was going on or I wouldn’t be able to connect with the story but I was wrong. At the beginning of each chapter there are definitions of different video game terms and it really helped me understand everything! The game itself, Destruction Of Elysium, was so cool! It was based off of Greek Mythology which I thought was awesome because I’m obsessed with Greek Mythology! This is a dual point of view book, going between Alex and Fleur, the two main characters. I don’t think I’ve ever read a contemporary book with dual POV so it was really interesting. I loved Fleur, I felt like I really related to her! The writing style was really easy to read, so I was able to finish so fast. Overall it was really fun!
This was sweet, but the pacing was a bit off. At some point in the middle to about the 75% mark things move much slower than the first half of the book.
I loved the idea of a romance centered around a mmorpg and the young girls finding themselves through their connection. Great book to read to learn a little about Dutch culture.
I have a friend who is a summa cum laude graduate from high school. They are both genderqueer and neurodiverse as well as a fanatical video gamer. I'm dedicating this review to them.
The author, Emmy Engberts, sets this story in the Netherlands but with a bit of a British/American hybrid flavor. BelleFleur and AlexTheDestroyer are the game names of two young people who meet up in a MMPORPG called Destruction of Elysium or DofE for short.
It was a novelty for me to try to immerse myself in this environment as I've never played a single online role playing game in my life. Hat's off to the author that I was sucked right into the flow of the game.
BelleFleur is a girl with rather snobbish and protective parents. She's in her sophomore year of secondary education. Her parents have "assigned" her two friends they deem appropriate, Hannah and Sydney. Fleur also has a good friend from school she can talk to. But none of them understand her fascination with videogaming.
Fleur happens to meet AlexTheDestroyer online and is asked to fill in as a Healer in one of their games. Not only are they extremely compatible but they actually like each other. They exchange numbers and begin a texting and gaming friendship. However, for both of them, it soon becomes much more.
Alex and the game friends, called a guild, are arranging a meet. A time to get together in real life, eat, have fun and take care of business. Alex invites Fleur, whose parents completely flip out. Concerns about her not knowing any of the people, the location, all of the typical parental fears come up. In the end, Fleur is allowed to go, if her Mum can take her.
Now, the plot thickens. As Fleur approaches the party with her Mum, Alex's friend, Troy, recognizes her and waves her over. At that moment, Fleur realizes that Alex is not a boy. Alex is a very cute, blushing girl.
I'm not going to spoil anymore of the book. I will say that Emmy Engberts deals with the issues of sexual identity, neurodiversity, bigotry, growing up differently and more with such beautiful language and humor. If I were a parent of a child in this situation, I would make sure they read this book and we would talk.
In these days of book banning and laws being enacted that cause so much harm, it is refreshing to read a book like Her Elysium, with it's happily ever after ending.
This was a fun, cute read that kept me up for a while because I had to finish it. I loved the characters and how deep they were, as well as all their different dynamics; the characters and everything related to them were written really, really well, which I absolutely love in a book.
The conflict was written really well, too, especially considering there were so many sources of it. The romance and all its uncertainty, the guild, the parents, the school and unknown future, all of it. There was plenty, but not so much as to seem unrealistic; if anything, I could relate to most of it.
And finally, the gaming aspect. I'm a huge nerd and really appreciated this whole universe. A f/f relationship AND video games? Yeah, I didn't even need to think about that.
This is a very cute coming of age story set in the Netherlands. The writing could have used some more editing, but I enjoyed the gaming aspects of the plot.
I don’t know a lot about gaming so I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to understand a big part of the story, but the book was actually really easy to follow. The game, Destruction of Elysium, was really cool to read about! It contained many different layers and a good base for the story.
The writing style was very simple and allowed me to read the story pretty fast.
The relationship between Alex and Fleur is so cute and realistic. I was smiling during at least half of the book. The build-up was done really well and nothing felt rushed, but once they got together I just kind of lost interest so the last quarter of the book was a bit boring to me.
The friendship between Alex and Troy was adorable. I loved him as a side character, but I really wish we learned more about every person in the story. Especially the side characters were just kind of there, with no background or real purpose.
I did really like the storyline and message that this book brings. It realistically shows the struggles of figuring out who you are, internalized homophobia etc etc.
Overall this was just a very cute, feel-good queer romance story that I really enjoyed.
I liked the history but there was a part that I thought it happened way to fast, either way the author gave us some important( but not digging to deep) the way some parents react with a "coming-out" and others aspects related to that. For me it's a good teenager book, well written.
All Alex was looking for was a healer. Someone to keep the guild safe and then BelleFleur came on the scene and could move with the Tank and heal everyone. Synchronicity. Now what happens when they meet IRL?
Fleur had been playing “Destruction of Elysium” for awhile now but had not joined any guilds. She plays a healer and has been concentrating on raising her levels. Fleur will be the first to confess that she can be a little obsessive over her online gaming. She loves it. She still goes to school and holds a job on the weekend. Fleur just prefers gaming to everything else.
Then Fleur meets Alex in a dungeon game. Alex is a tank. A tank takes all of the hits and distracts the bad guy for the rest of the team. They seem to move in sync. Alex is really funny and makes her smile and the time just fly. They spend many a night playing Elysium and chatting. Then Alex invites her out in IRL to a guild event.
Fleur cannot wait as she has developed quite a crush on Alex and she thinks he likes her too. He has been flirting with her.
They finally meet in IRL: Alex is a girl and the feelings are still there.
If you like online gaming or video games in general, you will really like this book. Emmy Engberts is in full game mode in Her Elysium (B07CX5VVVV, 2018) the first book in the “Flowers and Keyboards” series. The first four chapters mainly take place in the “Destruction of Elysium”. Engberts explains all of the terms, but still you spend the first four chapters in a video game (laugh).
Luckily for both main characters, they have best friends who humanize them. For Alex, it is Troy another gamer who understands and accepts that Alex is a lesbian who loves to quickly. Fleur has Jade, who is a little older and wiser and is excited to go on this journey with Fleur.
The story explores insecurities, labels, perceptions, acceptance of oneself and by parental units, and life with ADHD. The story is great. I have to admit after reading all about gaming, I no longer have a desire to try online video gaming (laugh). Fleur and Alex work as a couple and the supporting cast is excellent.
I keep feeling that I need to say something else, but I guess that is it (laugh). Get lost in Elysium and maybe you too will get the gaming bug.✶✶✶✶
I received an ARC of this book and I am writing a review without prejudice and voluntarily.
Her Elysium is a romance novel by Emmy Engberts about two girls who find each other by playing an MMORPG. Fleur thinks that the tank of the guild is a cute guy named Alex, and she starts to fall for him before even getting the chance to meet him. To her surprise, Alex is a pretty girl who has been crushing on the talented healer who recently joined the guild. Fleur has never had a girlfriend before, but she can’t seem to stop thinking about Alex. She fell for Alex the person; does it matter if Alex is a boy or a girl? Alex knows that she and Fleur could work well together, but she wants to make sure that Fleur is ready for a relationship first.
I randomly stumbled upon this book, and I am so glad that I did! Not only is a LitRPG book where the author actually knows a lot about games, it is a really sweet YA romance novel! When I heard that Fleur was going to be a healer, I was bracing for the typical “gamer girl” stereotypes to come out. The healer can’t do anything, and so girls choose to be healers so they can rely on the guys in the game to do everything. Some girls might do this, but I personally don’t know any who have. Instead, Fleur is a really talented healer! Good healers have to make sure that they stay out of harm’s way while keeping the whole team alive. Fleur had to know the battles by heart in order to learn the boss’ patterns and be a better healer for the team. This is what real healers and people who play these sorts of games would do, and I was happy to see this represented in this book!
Back to the romance. I like that the author didn’t make this an ultra-sexual romance novel simply because the two characters were both female. In fact, she went on to discuss in the novel how people unfortunately believe that LGBT+ couples are more sexual than straight couples. Alex and Fleur were just two normal high school aged girls who liked each other and were happy going out with one another. They became close friends first because of the game, and then they continued to play as they fell for each other.
Overall, this has been one of the best F/F YA romance novels that I have ever read. I would definitely recommend it, and I am definitely going to read more books by Mrs. Engberts!
I am so sad to be putting this one down. Any time I cannot finish a book, it makes me so disappointed, but especially when it starts good. I have no interest in video games, so having that as the focus wasn't the most interesting thing to me, but it was a good way for them to meet. My problems started early, though, which led quickly to my DNF.
First, the back and forth. Oh, I like him, but oh no, he's a her. Oh, I like her, but can I?? She's a girl! Oh, I like her, but she thought I was a boy. Oh well, let's go on a date anyway! You like girls? I think I do, too, or at least I like you. Let's see where it goes! Oh, wait, I'm scared, never mind. But it hurts so much...maybe it's worth the risk? No, let's just stay friends. Can we even do that? But oh, the feelings!
Don't get me wrong, there's nothing bad about indecision or having an internal conflict. But there was more conflict than anything else, and I don't want to read a whole book about indecision and angst. I'm trying to picture the two of them together, and I can't even see it, because in place of chemistry, there is just angst. I'm a little surprised at the number of 4-5 star reviews, honestly. There's something for everyone out there, but I just don't see anything worthwhile in this one.
I got just over halfway. Until I started to get a lot of sentences like, 'My tears start all over again, tears, sobs, cries.' Um...is that even an actual sentence?? There are words and punctuation, but I don't think that makes sense. And about two pages later, I got, 'It's breaking me up inside, breaking me into pieces, millions of painful pieces, shards poking at my heart, at my insides, hurting.' ....Again. What is that?? That could have been a whole paragraph of Alex's feelings, and instead I got that mishmash.
Also, they've met in person twice and been talking for just a few weeks, and apparently, Troy is convinced that Alex is in love with Fleur. How she got there, I don't know. But apparently, you can't hurt over someone you have feelings for unless it is love. No one told me....
Her Elysium really is a beautiful tale, of meeting someone, falling in love, and learning more about both them and yourself. Sure, the circumstances might be a little different, given that Fleur and Alex meet in a video game, but given the way that the world is now, that is no longer an uncommon occurrence, and all it does is make the story more relatable. That they live so close just makes it a lot easier for them to connect.
The relationship, and it's growth, is cute and adorable. Especially seeing Fleur discover more about herself. The journey isn't without its up and downs, difficulties born from both insecurities and experiences, and from those close to them that don't understand or have a queerphobic. But this is a HEA story, and finding someone that you mesh so well with is just something special.
The story is well written, an easy, engaging and enjoyable to read, and you can't help but want the best for the characters. Seeing one of the characters from the second book is also a bonus. Easily recommended.
A fantastic, geeky, heartwarming story about a young couple finding each other through their mutual passion for video games. There's so much to love about this story, from the realistic, fully developed cast of characters; to the way the friends of the main characters support them, though not always perfectly, adding to the realism; to the gaming scenes themselves, which are well done to say the least. And then there's the ever so sweet relationship between the leading ladies! Highly recommended!
Got this as a free read from Amazon and really glad I did. Two Videogamers meet online and fall in love, a simple enough story but really well told. Not spoiled by sex scenes - they are only 16 and 17. The whole thing just works, it is cute and believable and you just gotta love the main characters. The supporting cast were a little bit hazy but Alex and Fleur carried the story. If you are gonna read one cute romance this year you could do worse than this one.
This is a very good young adult book. It’s about girls who are gamers and meet online playing a game. The author started each chapter with a different reference to a gaming term and it would set up how that story relates to it. All gender identities were discussed and done well. I think this is a wonderful story for all ages. Alex and Fleur are a very cute couple and that have some issues with they health and family. Everything was handled very gently and honestly. I really enjoyed this book.
Queer romance (not erotica) where two high school girls meet on an MMORPG similar to World of Warcraft. Part 1 of a 3 part book series. Each book features a different queer couple from overlapping friend groups.
It's a cute story that brought up all kinds of feelings I myself had in high school. I found it relatable to my past in that way.
It's also handy how the author starts each chapter with a relevant definition that the reader may or may not be familiar with (such as MMORPG).
This was a super cute, fun story. A little young for me with the MCs being teenagers who lived at home with their parents. I loved the gaming environment, it was a bit nostalgic for me. Having the main characters be neurodivergent along with the other diverse cast members also made it more interesting. There were only small conflicts with grand gestures. It was a syrupy sweet happy ending. It is a nice feel-good coming-of-age story set in the Netherlands.
Edited to add: I enjoy the gaming terminology definitions at the beginning of each chapter. I didn't need them but I liked how it helped to keep me immersed in the story and also emphasize the importance of the gaming world to their daily lives.
ABSOLUTELY 5 STARS NO DOUBT ive literally gone through so many emotions while reading this. i blushed, i giggled and i cried when they confessed to eachother bc theyre just the perfect couple. all of this to the point i couldnt sit stil. i think it was bc of the dubble pov, i saw that they both were absolutely obsessed with eachother. if you want a light, easy and wlw book, read this.
I really loved this book. I absolutely loved how a lot of the ideas and differences in the book were portrayed and the characters felt like real people with real motivations behind them. I did find a typo but I'll forgive it because it was just fun to read.
Cute. Bit cringy but delivered on what it was meant to be. Definitely ya 15-16 yo. And just I’m sorry but who doesn’t read smut already at that age. Anyway couldn’t relate to a lot but it was cute.
I really liked this book. It kept you interested in what is going to happen next. I liked when Alex and Fluer met and she was shocked that Alex was a girl but it didn't stop them from falling in love.
The premise and the characters were really good. I liked the relationship between the 2 main characters however, I get really frustrated with the “miscommunication trope.” I loved using an MMO as the driving factor for the story. Very cute and quirky.
Young love and lots of MMORPGing; for the uninitiated each chapter begins with a detailed definition of a term from the online gaming world. A little nerdy and a good read.