Won't Calm Down | Single Player: A Novel

Single Player: A Novel

Tara Tai

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Two video game creators go head-to-head in this delightful, queer enemies-to-lovers workplace romance debut, perfect for fans of TJ Alexander and Helen Hoang.

Cat Li cares about two things: video games and swoony romances. The former means there hasn't been much of the latter in her (real) life, but when she lands her dream job writing the love storylines for Compass Hollow—the next big thing in games—she knows it’s all been worth it. Then she meets her boss: the infamous Andi Zhang, who’s not only an arrogant hater of happily-ever-afters determined to keep Cat from doing her job but also impossibly, annoyingly hot.

As Compass Hollow’s narrative director, Andi couldn’t care less about love—in-game or out. After getting doxxed by internet trolls three years ago, Andi’s been trying to prove to the gaming world that they’re a serious gamedev. Their plan includes writing the best game possible, with zero lovey-dovey stuff. That is, until the man funding the game’s development insists Andi add romance in order to make the story “more appealing to female gamers.”

Forced to give Cat a chance, Andi begrudgingly realizes there’s more to Cat than romantic idealism and, okay, a cute smile. But admitting that would mean giving up the single-player life that has kept their heart safe for years.

And when Cat uncovers a behind-the-scenes plot to destroy Andi’s career, the two will have to put their differences aside and find a way to work together before it’s game over.

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Posts about this title from Won't Calm Down

Won't Calm Down\ \ Maya Gabrielle\ \ • Jan 15

So:\ \ The goal was 120. I read 99. And honestly? I'm so happy with that.\ \ This year was my best reading year by FAR in terms of how much I enjoyed everything I read. I had major changes in my life (quit my miserable job YAYYYY) which impacted my total tally (less boring office hours being choked down with 1.6 speed audiobooks in order to cope) but those are life changes I'm grateful for, and I've been able to enjoy reading physically so much more again, as well as diving back into content!\ \ Now... I am brutal with choosing favorites. These are my babies. And like, some months were almost all 5 star reads how do you choose a favorite? Anyway, here was my effort at choosing TWO top books from every month of 2025. Sometimes I succeeded. Either way- a bunch of great books and my overexcited little thoughts :)\ \ January:\ \ Gideon the Ninth\ \ I mean... c'mon. This book blew me away. Yes, it can be a slow push in like people warned, but I found it much different than other sci-fi/fantasy books where the language and world building is so confusing. It's more so that the world building is so grounded and immersive yet different from our reality that it's exercising the muscle of shifting mentally from New York in 2025 to my little space cult world, without resistance. Once you're in, you're in. I had a bit of trouble keeping track of all the necromancers and their cavaliers for a second, but every character feels so vibrant and individual. I felt like I was having personal conversations with each of them, those are my besties now. Which makes the plot HURT. The stakes had my heart beating, I was just as lost as Gideon (if only I knew how lost I'd be with Harrow...) and just as desperate to figure out the answer even when I didn't know WHY I cared. Bonus points- this is some of the funniest shit I've ever read, and I am consistently surprised by HOW funny it is while being profound a half second later. Tamsyn Muir is an evil genius. Alecto 2026 I beg. \ \ Deep End\ \ I love Ali Hazelwood, but this is probably my favorite romance from her yet. I love a sports romance (if you're new here- you'll get that quick) and I hadn't read anything with swimming or diving before, but felt like the sport aspect was really well integrated and not just an aside, which is always a priority for me. As for the rest... it was just FUN. I was giggling, I was blushing, Lukas is a gentle giant and a fierce protector all in one. I actually adored how power play and kink was involved in this book despite criticism. It wasn't dark, by any means, because for many people kink isn't leather and whips and threats. It's allowing someone to consensually take control, and often times involves people in highly self-controlled environments who relish in releasing their power. Ali got that. Aces from me, babe.\ \ February:\ \ Say A Little Prayer\ \ Jenna, Jenna, Jenna. You really spoke to the little girl in me who used to yell at people that Jesus was born in March and Santa wasn't real. Pushing against religious boundaries is HOT, especially when you allow for there to still be space to find connection to your faith and religion in a way that is authentic to you. Disclaimer: I grew up in a more conservative organized religion but not in the Church. Trying to disprove every vice by indulging in it in a way that benefits others or creates positive change- oh my god I ate it up with both hands. AND a cheeky romance with the pastor's daughter? Ugh. Yeah. Yes. Recommended to so many people who I knew would have read this under the covers in high school in order to heal. \ \ Love at First Set\ \ I put off this book for so long because I had heard mixed reviews, but I love Jennifer Dugan. And I love sports romance. And I love the gym (bookish weight lifting girlies unite). I get where some of the criticism comes from, this doesn't have some of the adrenaline you get from typical sports romance, but I knew this was the gym not a soccer pitch so my expectations were more reasonable. This was fun and flirty and at it's core was about two women pushing to better themselves- one professionally by taking steps to reach the leadership she knew she deserved, and the other both physically in the gym and emotionally in regards to romance and family.\ \ March:\ \ Single Player\ \ Y'all are NOT talking about this enough so I have to assume the people don't know? Video game developers. Choose your own adventure romance plots. Rivals to lovers. D&D campaigns. Miscommunication in a non-irritating way. EAT IT! There was a subplot that was so "I'm nonbinary but I don't have time for that because I'm at work" vibes and then of course girlfriend came in like "GET THEIR PRONOUNS RIGHT". I loved the way being nonbinary in a workplace was handled here. The tension in the rivalry really pushed through the book rather than giving up as soon as the romance was bubbling, which is how I like it. I was invested in the game they were developing, I was invested in the D&D campaign they were accidentally in together, and I was so invested in Andi finally figuring out that Cat was in fact NOT taken- shoot your shot. Being anyone other a cis het man in gaming is hard, and falling in love takes bravery. Tara Tai packed a whole lot into this, without it feeling clunky or preachy.\ \ It's a Love/Skate Relationship\ \ Hear me out- Icebreaker but it's YA, it's sapphic, and it somehow feels more competitive. I don't know if I'm allowed to call a YA book hot, but it was. This was another one where even when they were starting to gel on the ice, the undercurrent of rivalry still felt alive in a really fun way (I would argue this is what people love so much in Heated Rivalry as well). The main characters still had such earnest care for each other while having realistic reactions and insecurities for their age that complicates their actions. I enjoyed this so much and would 100% buddy read this with a young teen who wanted to feel included in the recent hype.\ \ Bonus- While We're Young\ \ My favorite YA summertime book is The Summer of Broken Rules by KL Walther, and while I've adored everything else she's written, nothing hit the same. Until this. Inspired by Ferris Bueller, and taking place in Philly (where I went to college) this was a wild runaway day off of school that had me feeling 17 again. The Philly aspects had me yearning to go back, they were so real and silly- and there's a Mets fan who needs to mention it constantly because F the Phillies? Yeah that was me for 4 years. I actually got so lost in the adventure I forgot about it's Ferris Bueller roots until a SUPER fun cameo that made me cackle. This is just pure undiluted fun.\ \ April:\ \ Gay The Pray Away\ \ I can't think about this book without getting emotional. A few chapters in, Val (a young girl in a fundamentalist Christian community) discovers One Last Stop at her local library, and with it, bisexuality. Literally- she didn't know bisexuality existed. The librarian who sees her sneak it out (obviously her mother can't see it on their library card log) gives her more recommendations and this small plot alone has me sobbing because THIS IS WHY I SCREAM ABOUT QUEER BOOKS. I'm tearing up typing this. Libraries are important. Stories and representation are IMPORTANT. Okay, enough- the books and revelations in hand, she meets a new member of the community with her own ideas, and this all together begins to help Valerie deconstruct her inherited ideology and hope for something more for herself. I think this sat with me so heavily because it's real. I have friends who deconstructed and left these communities for a shot at being themselves. I've heard their stories and sat with them while they continued to challenge ideology and learn what they were "protected" from. This book isn't loud, but the way it makes you feel is.\ \ All's Fair in Love and Field Hockey\ \ Oh? Another sapphic sports romance? Pretend to be surprised. Just know that I was messaging Kit Rosewater, crying giggling and stressing, while reading this (much to her enjoyment). I bought into this book so hard, I genuinely feared there may not be a HEA. This is all caps RIVALS who start training secretly together since they're the only two who can truly block out each other's strengths. So like, they're a perfect match. HOLLANOV COME GET YOUR KIDS. The secret relationship aspect, mixed with the folly of young adults feeling the pressure of a big scary future and big scary choices pressing up against them, makes this an incredibly engaging book that is so well written. I was blown away, and continue to be blown away. The ending felt like curling up with your partner and your best friends and knowing it was all worth it.\ \ May:\ *this was my highest ranked month of reading... also I had MONO\ \ When I Picture You\ \ Favorite book of the year. I could leave it there, but I won't. My favorite CaitVi fic (stay with me here) involves Cait being a TSwift type pop star and Vi being the scrappy newer alt queer musician. I love the "pop star facing her queerness in a female industry that still centers male audiences" plot. This is the book for the Gaylors. This is the book for anyone who's fantasized about falling for a celebrity and having a sweeping beautiful secret romance, complete with love songs written in code about how much they want you. I also had unreasonable RAGE responses toward a certain closet-keeping character BUT ITS ALL HAPPY ENDINGS HERE. If the Miss Americana doc was way gayer and filmed by said secret gay lover... this would be it.\ \ If We Were a Movie\ \ Cute? Yes. Swoony? Absolutely. Rivals to lovers where it turns out one of the rivals liked the other the entire time? Sign me up. More importantly, I loved the ensemble of supporting characters, and the backdrop of classic Black cinema. The supporting characters were all so fun, vibrant, the groupchat cracked me up consistently, and it genuinely felt like the semi-shitty Summer job coworker group that you secretly love, complete with a "butterflies in your stomach" crush who makes every shift worth it.\ \ Bonus- Rewind It Back\ \ I cried. Was not expecting to, but I cried IN THE GYM while finishing this. If you haven't read any of the Windy City series, I absolutely recommend it for an incredibly fun (straight) sports romance that nails the found family. This series includes one of the ONLY single parent trope books that I actually enjoy (I grew up with a single parent and hated her dating so no that is not cute to me usually). The whole plot for Rio, a character we saw pretty consistently up til his book, was so unexpected and wholesome. At the end, he takes a moment and appreciates the family he's built with his friends, how he got to watch them all fall in love and achieve dreams and create careers and lives, and I lose it every time. Liz Tomforde truly crafted a special moment, and a special goodbye to characters that I felt so at home with.\ \ Double Bonus- My Best Friend's Honeymoon\ \ Meryl Wilsner's horniest shit yet. I was a puddle but like... in both the emotional and the other way. I got a chance to speak to them a bit at a release event for this book and mentioned how much I adored the way that both the gender identity of the main character, and their body type, were spoken about. I feel so strongly about casually plus size or fat (they told me to say fat.) characters that are not loved despite or because of their size, and who don't center the character growth around any kind of acceptance or insecurity. Also, iconically, they say something adjacent to "my gender is loving women in a gay way" and I have used this consistently ever since. Back to the smut and romance... I choked. Casey McQuiston said they choked. Never have I heard someone refer to "wearing someone like a puppet" (think about it) over breakfast. Also butt stuff. Meryl gave us butt stuff.\ \ June:\ \ Crash Test\ \ MORE secret celebrity relationship but put it in my hyperfixation sport?! An F1 driver and an F2 driver secretly fall in love, carry out a lovely affair, and then one gets into a life threatening crash. I love how it starts with the crash, and we get to see their love story in flashbacks as they both recover, mentally and physically, from the fallout. I've seen people complain about how they aren't together- even in the same location- for much of the book, but I really have such a warm place for the fact that we see the work they both have to do in order to return to each other. The representation of how therapy works, real conversations and revelations that could happen, made me SO EXCITED- like please more healthy and normal therapy rep. Even the initial resistance to opening up on the couch was well done. If anyone thinks hockey is the bro-iest sport, you're wrong. Formula One, my love, is made for rich, cis het, conservative douche twats. Politely. While Pole Position (another gay F1 romance) is a bit sillier, this felt heavier and more grounded in what being queer and closeted in the sport may actually be like.\ \ Summer Girls\ \ This is the sweetness of young queer Summer love that I wish I'd had when I was younger. It had that "rich girl poor girl" dynamic but didn't feel played out- and also somehow made a "I was paid to be your friend" plot feel not evil? Jennifer Dugan, I kiss your pen. Also... what I wouldn't give to kiss a hot lifeguard at the top of the tower while we stare out at the ocean.\ \ Bonus- Mistakes Were Made\ \ This is my formal apology to everyone who yelled at me for refusing to read this. The idea icked me out for years. I am not a MILF- lover but I was wrong, like so so so wrong. Cassie and Erin y'all are CUTEEEEE. Yes it was steamy and fun but the way they fall for each other is so entertaining and had me rooting for them so hard???? Messy, yes, but endearing and organic, also yes. I relisten to the audiobook all the time now it's a problem.\ \ July:\ \ If Not for My Baby\ \ HOZIER LOVE STORY!!! Another musician celebrity love story, but I'm buying in HEAVY. I have friends who are in the tour business and I grew up heavily around live music so I really loved how the portrayal of tour life was pretty accurate. I got so wrapped up in the fantasy of this love, of the quiet moments and seeing the person behind the persona. I want a sequel immediately even though I have no idea what it could be about. This is also precisely how I would imagine Hozier would be as a boyfriend, sorry not sorry.\ \ Backhanded Compliments\ \ Okay so you remember those old tiktoks where people made an AU that your soulmate's name appears on your skin? Yeah that's like... the plot of this book. Except you're a famous tennis player and your soulmate's name is... your opponent's name. More secret relationships! I fear I'm noticing trends. Also more loving your rival and trying to fight it but also while sleeping with them! Navigating an overbearing dad-ager (momager but a dad?), a public rivalry/ pitting against each other for marketing, and interpersonal issues... invested. Also this poised the question I've thought of before- what happens if you're hiding a secret queer relationship but you get selected for testing? Athletes in season often have to report places they guarantee that they'll be in the case they get selected for random drug testing... what happens if you're NOT there or if your rival/lover is there WITH YOU? (I read a Hollanov fic that had this happen last week lol)\ \ August\ \ Love is a War Song\ \ Danica. MF. Nava. Who gets to claim their native heritage? What happens when you're a POC who grew up estranged from the community? How do you reconnect with that part of yourself in an authentic way, and when the very people you're trying to connect with won't stop calling you an imposter? This book handled really nuanced and poignant topics with such a well-balanced hand, mixing in a swoony soft romance, and diverse characters to show the range of ways to be Native. As Avery connects to her heritage, the reader gets to learn more about Muscogee culture, as well as the more bureaucratic elements of modern day Native identity.\ \ The Winning Formula\ \ Do I remember much of this audiobook? No. But I know I had a raging good time, felt like it was one of the most accurate Formula One books I'd read yet, gave us a female engineer who was badass and well-portrayed (look at you Brad Pitt), and it had FULL IMMERSIVE AUDIO. This means every neoom and zoom of the fast cars was heard. Radio messages SOUNDED like radio messages. It was so cool.\ \ September:\ \ Time After Time\ \ Why is no one talking about this? I'm being so serious. One girl buys a rundown house with her college fund because she feels called to it, another needs a place to stay and is great at fixing and building things. Cute. Homey. Happy. FLASHBACKS TO THE LAST TIME THEY LIVED IN THAT HOUSE TOGETHER?!?!?! Torrid doomed lesbian affair that is slowly coming back to them?!?! Finding pieces of that previous life in the house? Realizing they bound their souls together and it's finally legal for them to love each other out loud? You get the tear-inducing tragedy and the tooth-rotting happy ending all in one book. Do yourself a favor and read this YA masterpiece. \ \ Sounds Like Love\ \ The whole mind-link premise of this was so sick, even if it did take me a minute. I was bugging out but so were the main characters, which leads me to believe I reacted as Ashley Poston hoped. I love the music aspects and the audio version took it new heights- HI PATTI MURIN. The shared burden of having this song they both HAD to create gave this undercurrent of purpose to the love story and connection without creating incredible stress or threat. I feel like it made this book so cozy but also gripping at the same time.\ \ Bonus- People Watching\ \ I don't know if this was the first story I read regarding Alzheimer's and caretaker fatigue, but it is definitely the main one I will think of from this point forward. I think a lot of people, especially women, can relate to this idea that you have to build a life that allows you to care of others but winds up pinning your wings in place. Both families had such entertaining and gut wrenching dynamics. I think the heart of this book is that it felt so grounded and quiet in the love. This could easily be happening, right now, in some small town. It's everyday love, romantically, familially, and for your community, that is actually extraordinary when it's the right people.\ \ October:\ \ Nimona\ \ Me? Loving anything Nate Stevenson creates? With my Catradora tattoo? Yes. I read this after buying the anniversary edition to get signed at NYCC. I loved the movie (like- shove it down everyone's throat type love) but knew the graphic novel would be a bit different. Doesn't matter. Still cried. Read it in one sitting. I love trans and queer allegories involving monsters and shape shifters.\ \ The Rise of Kyoshi\ \ FINALLY. I love Kyoshi. This book incredibly weaves into the canon world of Avatar, while giving you a character so unexpected based on the information we know of her. Quiet, awkward, unsure, not even the Avatar when the book starts... I literally went "who tf is this she's not Kyoshi". This book lit a fire in me. This book reminds you how to fight even when you don't know how, and how to stay true to what you value and believe to be right, even when it makes no sense to anyone else. Also I have to openly admit that I am not Kyoshi, I am her pissy little firebender bodyguard/girlfriend/nuisance.\ \ November:\ \ Like a Power Play\ \ Y'all have probably heard me talk about both these books too much but I don't careeeeee. This is my fav sapphic hockey now. Yes, yay, the sports element is amazing- let me mention something else. I'm in intense pain right now. As I type this. I have a chronic illness and every joint and muscle in my hand is screaming, and I'm yearning for compression gloves. You know who wears compression gloves? Darcy, the main character who had to quit her sport due to her Rheumatoid Arthritis diagnosis. She also has Raynauds- something I was navigating myself while reading this. The inclusion of chronic pain, the way it can sideline your entire life and stop you from doing the things that you not only love but feel DEFINES you- it made me want to never stop reading this story. Peyton meets her with curiosity and care, even through the thick of their "hatred", as I hope all partners and friends of chronics do. Darcy and Peyton had me captivated, phone on DND, rooting for every fight and kiss and deeply meaningful but small gesture.\ \ Tip In\ \ Paige Bueckers DUUUPE. Bookish girl who falls for the star athlete. Insanely talented descriptions of not only how women's college ball functions and feeds into the draft, but how following it FEELS. The adrenaline, the social media narratives and plot lines, the on and off court interactions. I may have been totally seduced by Theo, so that's two Mayas in her book. Small confession- social media fics are some of my favorites and have been since I was, like, twelve. So the media crafting around their fake relationship was making me so giggly. I love fake dating and I love when social media is involved so WHEEEEE (idk man these two books felt like something was injected in me intravenously)\ \ December\ \ Make Room for Love\ \ I started this over the Summer and was having trouble getting into it even though I was so excited for the plot. Like... butch AND trans femme rep? Plus POC Jewish girl? I should have been eating it up- but I think this proves that sometimes it's right book wrong time. First of all, read this to learn about how to organize your own union vote today! I was so invested in the unionizing plot, seriously. The characters are so complex in their personal arcs, as well as their relationship together. I found it really refreshing in its quiet complexity. There was no big blowout, no insane intensity, just humans being flawed and hurt and reaching for each other anyway.\ \ Yours for the Season\ \ This was the sequel to Wake Up Nat & Darcy, a women's hockey/Winter Olympics book I love. This one had even less sport, though, since JT was home for the Holidays. This second chance romance was way more Hallmark vibes, and a perfect little snowy day read. It circulates around a small town couples competition involving silly winter and holiday themed challenges? Sign me up. Literally, like I wanted to compete. I was so entertained, I was kicking my feet, I wanted to punch one (1) ex husband- 10/10 experience.\ \ Bonus- Heated Rivalry (re-read from 3 years ago)\ \ I ain't saying shit. You know. Plus I made a reading vlog.

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Rebel Ever After\ \ Ella Dawson\ \ • May 19

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\ \ Not every amazing book gets blessed by the TikTok algorithm. These hidden gems by Rebel Ever After guests deserve more love. After reading, make sure to listen to their authors on the podcast! \ \ Single Player by Tara Tai. I read over a hundred romance novels in 2025 and Single Player stood out as a groundbreaking on-ramp to the genre for folks who never saw themselves in its pages. Yes, there's queer and nonbinary Asian-American representation, which is worth celebrating on its own. But I recommend this book all the time to nerds: gamers, cosplayers, tabletop RPG (role-playing game) devotees, and anime fans. There is much more overlap between romance fans and lifelong gamers than publishers and game developers realize, mostly because of antiquated ideas about gender and genre. Many gamers live for romancing NPCs (non-playable characters) and making their Sims whoo-hoo. Single Player delves into what it's like to write romantic storylines for video games by featuring a workplace romance about characters who do exactly that. \ \ Friends With Benefits by Marisa Kanter. The day I stop screaming about this book is the day I am dead. Two childhood best friends get married for health insurance and housing!!! How did this book not exist until 2025!!! Oh my god!!!!!!! It's hard to find a well-executed marriage-of-convenience romance in the contemporary sub-genre, and Kanter found the perfect premise to explore the inherently political underpinnings of marriage as an institution. Plus abandonment issues, what commitment really means, and a sexy, sweet central relationship. If you have ever considered marrying your best friend because you are disabled and they have union insurance, and married couples somehow qualify for more apartments, here you go!\ \ No Ordinary Love by Myah Ariel. I am not a big celebrity romance reader, but Ariel brings the sub-genre down to earth with compelling characters and workplace issues. Pop star Ella Simone is determined to take back her career in the wake of her shitty ex-husband's coercive control. The last thing she needs is a splashy relationship in the tabloids with Miles Westbrook, a playboy baseball player who is down bad for her. No Ordinary Love is a swoony angsty sexy read worthy of its title inspired by Sade. It's also a thoughtful, layered depiction of litigation abuse and falling in love after intimate partner violence. Ariel's prose is gorgeous like a soulful R&B track on vinyl.](https://rebeleverafter.binderybooks.com/item/1PHAl3RNwjHGgnqg6Pp9/)