The World Around the Corner by Rick Ellrod

A new novella coming August 22nd from Wild Rose Press.

From Rick's Website:
Flirting with the lively rogue Rosmara is the best part of Jeff Stanton’s favorite online role-playing game, even though he doesn’t know her in the flesh. She’s much better company than Dana Roland, the sharp-tongued mechanic who keeps his balky car running—just as Dana would rather banter with Badon the warrior online than with a man she sees as a stuffy professor.

When a young teammate from the game goes missing in real life, Jeff and Dana end up on a road trip together. In a real-life quest, they discover more about each other than either one expected—and new kinds of sparks begin to fly!

My Take:
This was a lot more fun than I anticipated. It's not my normal kind of thing, which might sound strange since I used to love video games. However, I agreed to read this because I have two friends who love online role play games and I was curious to see if this would give me a glimpse into what they liked about it.

I thought Rick Ellrod did a great job helping me see the camaraderie of this team of players and how they worked together. He also did a great job with the back and forth of the characters in their real-life interactions. It was fun to see them before and after they realized their double connection. I always love when pre-conceived notions are stripped away and people have to see each other for who they really are. The romance was sweet and realistic. The search for Evanesce was also interesting in its own right. And Pendragon? Let's just say it's good to have a sneaky match-making leader like that on your side.

This is a short and easy read. I never felt lost or confused with the game world, and the real world scenes were just that--real and believable.

I give The World Around the Corner a solid 4.5 and Clean rating. Check out Rick's website for links when the book is available.

1-5 scale and what it means:

1: I couldn’t even finish it / just plain bad

2: I hope I didn’t pay for this / disappointing

3: I didn’t hate it, but it was still missing something / forgettable but inoffensive

3.5: On the line between good and ok / like, not love

4: Solid mind candy / worth reading

4.5: So very close to perfection! / must read

5: I could not put it down and I’m still thinking about it! / a true treasure

Movie Ratings in relation to my review:

Clean--Hallmark movies, some kissing, no nudity, no sex on or off "screen"

PG--Some innuendo but nothing kids don't hear every day, sex is all closed door

PG-13--some language (swear words not related to sex), more talk about sex, heavy petting, removal of clothing on screen, but sex is closed door.

PG-14—somewhere between PG-13 and R. Not erotica, but at least a paragraph of on-screen sex

R--swearing (F-bomb, on “screen” sex, sometimes feels like the whole story is about the sex and not the relationship or some other plot, but not always