Love and Cosplay | The Love Con by Seressia Glass

The Love Con by Seressia Glass is a book I really enjoyed reading that touched my nerdy romantic heart. It has Marvel references, the pure joy behind cosplaying, and elicited so much giddiness as two friends could be something more.

The Love Con follows Kenya Davenport, a bonafide nerd and cosplayer, who is a contestant on a reality competition show called “Cosplay or No Way.” She makes it to the final round where she is presented with one last challenge: create a cosplay of an iconic duo. The judges prefer she complete this with her significant other. So, although Kenya is single, her best friend, Cameron Lassiter, is happy to pretend to be her boyfriend. The two of them have been friends since they were teenagers, but being a fake couple may just finally bring them to admit how they really feel about each other.

I loved reading Kenya and Cam’s relationship go from the friend zone to the end zone. Friends to lovers is my favorite trope, especially when it has dual POV. It was funny and even steamy at times reading how much they pined for each other. I was glued to every page waiting for them to say how they felt. Designing cosplay is seriously hard work (and I know from personal experience), let alone if there’s a time limit. So, I really liked those moments when they were so thoughtful and considerate of each other’s well being and were so supportive on and off camera. 

Throughout the book, Kenya is confronted with so much passive and microaggression clearly based on her race and how she looked. It was infuriating how people outside her inner circle immediately judged her for having a boyfriend like Cam. Even more so when the producers tried to push her into a certain narrative that was not her. I really felt for her on so many levels of empathy and frustration, especially how she had to hold back her emotions because she didn’t want to be seen as a stereotype. There was also the added pressure she received from her parents, who had been dismissive about her interests and kept insisting she focus on a more serious career related to her engineering degree. I kept rooting for her through it all that I teared up towards the end because of how proud I was of her after everything she faced. I liked how Seressia Glass explored these issues, while balancing it so well with Kenya and Cam’s romance and Kenya's own journey.

This was a great fun read with humor and heart that’s perfect for anyone who loves romance and appreciates some good pop culture references too.

⚠️ Content Warning: microaggression, passive aggression, fatphobia, racism, body shaming