Description
Sam Khoo has one goal in life: create cool indie games. She's willing to do anything to make her dream come true - even throw away a scholarship to university. All she needs is a super-rare ticket to a game design workshop and she can kickstart her career.
So when Jay Chua, aka Jerky McJerkface, sneakily grabs the last ticket, it's war. Knowing how their Australian - Malaysian community works, Sam issues him an ultimatum: put the ticket on the line in a 1v1 competition of classic video games, or she'll broadcast his duplicity to everyone. Thank you, Asian Gossip Network.
Meeting in neutral locations, away from the eyes and ears of nosy aunties and uncles, Sam and Jay connect despite themselves. It's a puzzle that Sam's not sure she wants to solve. But when her dream is under threat, will she discover that there is more than one way to win?
Review
A funny and unique take on the rivals-to-lovers story about indie games, defining your own success and dealing with a meddlesome gossip network of aunties and uncles, from debut Asian-Australian author Leanne Yong.
Sam Khoo has a dream – she wants to become a successful indie video game designer. She has poured her heart and soul into developing her game, and she has sacrificed so much to make it into something she can be proud of. Now that she’s finished school, she just needs to get her game in front of the right people to kick start her game development career to stratospheric levels of success – the only level of success that might somehow justify not taking up her uni scholarship...
Sam and her best friend, Aneeshka, have already landed spots at an invite-only showcase for new developers, but with Aneeshka off in Sydney to start uni, Sam is left alone to get her game ready. So when the chance comes to to attend an exclusive game workshop with the best in the business, Sam knows she will do whatever it takes to get her hands on a golden ticket – even it means lining up at the game store at 4am.
Her persistence pays off and the ticket is all but hers, only to be snatched from her grasp by Jaysen Chua, a fellow member of the close-knit Australian-Malaysian community. Sam knows she could ruin him by telling the Asian Gossip Network about his behaviour, but she decides to instead use this to her advantage – persuading him to put the ticket on the line in a one-on-one video game competition.
Jaysen (aka Jerky McJerkFace) is ultra-competitive, and determined to beat Sam in their competition – even if he has to resort to some questionable deodorant-bombing tactics to do so. But with Aneeshka gone, it’s not like Sam has anyone else to talk to about gaming, and Jaysen is really good. So good, he might even beat her…
Can Sam defeat Jaysen, win the ticket, and go on to achieve her game developer dream? Or is success just another puzzle that she’s going to have to solve?
This is a funny and authentic look at growing up, first love, the pressure to succeed, learning to fail, and working out what success even means anyway. The family and community relationships are a highlight - Sam’s supportive but protective parents and her slightly-more-wild sister, as well as Jaysen’s passionate gamer brother, all add a warmth and emotional depth to the story. An ode to puzzles, gaming, forging your own path, and to healthy competition, teen readers will love this.
Reviewed by Kate
