![Liar, Liar, MaxOnFire by [Stone, Blythe]](https://images-fe.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51-co4quBDL._SY346_.jpg)
Ali is a fanfic writer with one very popular fic. She ships "Max/Christine" from a fictional show (a femslash ship, what could be better?) and hangs out a lot on a fandom site called Echo. Alyssa (aka MaxOnFire) is anti-Christine and very very popular on Echo, more popular than Ali. The two have never spoken to each other or interacted, but Alyssa has vagueblogged Ali, and Ali is wary of her.
Then one day the two meet irl. Ali figures out Alyssa is MaxOnFire after just a brief flirtationship in a coffeeshop. They should dislike each other, but instead sparks fly.
And then things get...complicated.
This novel reminds me of fanfic, and it's not just the subject matter. There's a pervasive feeling of delight, gleefulness, throughout, like the author is just having fun. The focus on the ship is constant, and the style reminds me that the narrator herself is a fic writer, with the overdramatization and angst. She might be fictionalizing her own story a little bit.
The fandom drama feels real. A character causing fandom schism where one side says she's basically perfect and the other side says she's the devil? Happens every day. Every. Single. Day. I also felt the beginning of the novel really captured the feeling of having an online persona that feels as real and as important as who you are irl.
Also, I love the roller coaster of Ali's emotions. One minute she's like, "I CAN'T TRUST ALYSSA, SHE'S A SHADY ANTI" and the next she's like "it's like we were made for each other. our bodies. our souls. perfect. meant to be united. meant to be one." GIRL. The way that she and Alyssa go from zero to "we have to share everything with each other and have sex and be in love right now" might not be realistic but it was intriguing, and I think it showed how relationships can get tangled when two people both want a lot out of each other, when things are rushed.
On the other hand, though, I did have some issues. The plot is kind of just...random elements piling up. After the initial meeting, Ali and Alyssa's fandom dynamic becomes mostly background as more and more issues from their past accumulate. A total of three traumatic backstories involving exes (for two people, even), and fight after fight over basically nothing. Ali's a ball of insecurities. By the end, I'm still not sure if I'm supposed to believe they've been resolved. She's constantly accusatory of Alyssa. Which adds to the conflict and drama of everything, but I wish she'd have a little more patience. And then there's the prose, which could probably use a technical edit.
It's decent. An enjoyable book in some ways, but frustrating in others.
Product Description
When two young women casually meet in a cafe on a snowy day and take a shine to one another, they have no idea that they are actually huge contributors to the same online fandom, and they're not exactly best friends. Can romance quell that unsavory association? Or will fundamental differences keep the two away from each other's lonely beds?
This New Adult Lesbian Romance tracks the IRL adventures of two avid fanfiction writers, both college students, who secretly share the same fandom with very different views and thoughts on that drama. Psychological in a way that's endearing, the two meet and begin to realize that they may not be alike but they sure are attracted to one another.
This New Adult Lesbian Romance tracks the IRL adventures of two avid fanfiction writers, both college students, who secretly share the same fandom with very different views and thoughts on that drama. Psychological in a way that's endearing, the two meet and begin to realize that they may not be alike but they sure are attracted to one another.
