Rave Review: Glory by Lisette Blythe

This review is for those ages 18 and up and contains minor/vague spoilers.

When I attended the Bloomington Book Festival at the end of October last year, one of the vendors who caught my eye, risking and braving the misery drizzle, was Lisette Blythe. She was bubbly and delightful to talk to. Her pitch rang more like someone nerding out about their favorite TV show, the way she went on about the character and her dynamic.

It seemed like a perfect pick for February, especially leading up to the Superbowl – a romance between a quiet and insecure academic, Glory, and a college football star, Zulu. Glory doesn’t know her way about beauty or fashion, and she wants to rush a sorority in order to learn. When she’s rejected, Samoan football star Tala offers to get his sister to tutor her for the next round – as long as Glory tutors him in World Literature.

I had no idea what a treat I was in for. This story defies tropes and digs beneath the obvious messaging about superficiality to create a brilliant theme weave. The writing is clear-pane-of-glass style, not the flower language that I sometimes favor, but this works for it – it’s accessible.

Let’s dive in.

A Truly College Story

When I was in college, I didn’t understand why there were so few stories set on campuses. Most of what I knew about college came from Legally Blonde, and that was set in a grad school. I longed for more stories that could have prepared me for college life. There were many such stories about high school – why not colleges? The indie landscape has done helped fill in this gap.  

Now that I’m in my thirties, I understand the complications of these stories, but that full breakdown is a post for another day. In any case, this was the kind of story I was yearning for as a late teen. It breaks down how Greek life works, what a syllabus is, basic organizational skills, the thrall and thrill of newfound independence, some of the legal rights surrounding that independence, and more.

It explained for me – perhaps for the first time, if my memory serves – the unique challenges that college athletes face. I knew they sometimes struggled academically, but I’d never thought much about how their sporting prowess might cause their other skills and struggles to be overlooked. Tala’s high school teachers passed him without properly teaching him or even taking the time to realize he has a learning disability (minor spoiler; one of the things mentioned in Lysette’s booth pitch). I also never realized that when players resign for the draft after their junior year, they leave their schooling incomplete and forfeit their scholarship; sometimes they have to return and pay for their final year to get their degree. What a challenging risk to take.

The team’s Coach Kim is my favorite character – a whip-smart woman who was not allowed to follow through with her passion for football in the conventional ways – and she educates the team on the consent issues, including those surrounding drunk sex. In Tala and Glory’s relationship, they treat communication as something important, even if it’s clumsy at times. They mention the difference between theory and practice when it comes to risqué fantasies. The story even explains the meaning of Medusa tattoos.

Please note this story is spicy. It’s not graphic, but it contains a good three peppers’ worth of sex scenes. It is not age-appropriate for those under 18. That leaves a narrow window of a demographic – people who are over 18 but not yet in college – whom it might suit best as an educational resource.

Glory is Book One of The Sorority Reject Tales, so I’d be remiss not to mention its explanation of Greek life. It explains the process of rushing, the politics that can occur for potential pledges, and the expectations many sororities have. Glory longs for sisterhood, and this is not what she finds at ZULU. (Spoiler alert: Instead, she finds sisterhood elsewhere, and by the end of the novel, becoming a part of ZULU is such a low priority that the plot point entirely drops off. Her life is too full for it.)

If you’re going to write a book with a college setting, this is a great way to do it – with accessible writing, subtle moments of education, and realistic expectations. You know, besides dating a football star.

Brilliant and Creative Defiance of Convention

This book defies some of the typical conventions of romance novels in favor of realism, which sharpens an enriches the experience for readers like me. It also defies some publishing industry standards to a similar effect.

In many romance novels, the first time our heroes see each other, the romantic music swells with some form of love or enchantment at first sight. The first meetings and sightings between Glory and Tala are unremarkable. Neither of them are looking for romance. Even as they start to spend time with each other, their impressions are somewhat negative. She says he looks like a serial killer in an online photo, and he says she looks like she’s homeless. It’s only as they get to know each other that their attraction builds. Many people experience attraction this way, and it’s nice to see it reflected in a romance novel.

The plus-size girlie representation is next-level. I’ve known for a while that all kinds of people are attracted to all kinds of body types – my plus size self was never excluded. This story treats that type of attraction as an “of course.” Of course men are attracted to big girls.

This book accentuates how this isn’t just some kind of “kink,” but a cultural phenomenon. Glory has insecurities about being objectified and used by the men who are attracted to her. Meanwhile, those men – the decent ones – don’t question their attraction. If they discuss it at all, they talk about how normal it is where they come from – Mississippi, Samoa. It even mentions how many historical and ancient cultures considered curves more attractive.

The thematic weave isn’t something you typically see in publishing industry novels. The “Theme Stated” beat occurs later than Save the Cat recommends and it’s uniquely complex. During the rushing process, the characters answer what the ZULU principles of Knowledge, Grace, and Charity mean to them. The resulting conversations and inner monologue reflect the complexity of the book as a whole.

Every character has something they’re dealing with – something that might be considered a “hot-button issue – often more than one of them. This is realistic in my eyes. When I was in college, I got to know people from all kinds of backgrounds with all kinds of experiences. It was eye-, mind-, and heart-opening, and that’s how this book feels.

I could go on and on about this one, but this seems like a strong ending note. Please find this book on Amazon or Lisette Blythe's author store.