The Underachiever's Guide to Love and Saving the World
by Sloane BrooksPublished by: Atria Books on September 30, 2025
Genres: Adult, Romance, Fantasy, Humor
Pages: 384
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
Rating:
Courtney’s only goal in life is to have no goals. She’s content with her dead-end job and simple existence, and everything is perfect until her neighbor, Bryce, shatters her peace by inexplicably deciding Courtney is his arch-nemesis. To her annoyance, Courtney finds herself committing to a life goal after all: hating Bryce back.
Just after the pair decide to loathe each other for all eternity, they unwittingly step through a portal and hurtle into a fantasy world together, where they are met by a prophecy-obsessed mentor who claims one of them is the Chosen One, destined to defeat an unknown Evil One. But instead of saving the world, the two only unleash more chaos by accidentally freeing a dragon, summoning an undead army, and almost poisoning their mentor with peanut butter.
To return to their world, Bryce and Courtney need magic, which is unfortunately fueled by charisma—meaning the two incompetent, underachieving heroes somehow have to get people to like them. With time running out and the Evil One looming, the enemies must work together and become worthy heroes so they can charm the world (but hopefully not each other), harness magic, overthrow Evil, and get home. Otherwise, they’ll be stuck in a doomed universe without running water—and with each other—forever.
Content Tags:
Perfect for readers who want:
- Hilarious romantasy rom-com that pokes fun at common romance and fantasy tropes
- Adorable enemies-to-lovers romance with banter, sarcasm, forced proximity, and rivalry
- Utterly relatable antiheroes that are nowhere near qualified to be heroes
- A portal to a magical world that plays with traditional Chosen One tropes
- Plenty of humor and action
- Super fun (and punny!) chapter titles
Overall
I’ll be honest . . . the title itself grabbed my attention and made me need to read this book. An underachiever’s guide? Sounds perfect for me! I’m not entirely sold on love and saving the world, but I could be won over. I’m a huge fan of enemies-to-lovers romance, especially rom-coms, and Bryce and Courtney sounded just like the sort of dumpster fire I needed in my life right now. Besides, who hasn’t lamented missing their calling as the Chosen One as a child? I’m all about second chances!
The Underachiever’s Guide to Love and Saving the World is a romantasy rom-com with anti-heroes, filled with bickering, banter, romance cliches turned on their head, and making fun of all the expected Chosen One tropes.
This is a book that doesn’t take itself seriously, and neither should you. It was an absolute hoot to read! This was exactly the sort of funny, light read that I needed, and I breezed through it faster than I expected. Bryce and Courtney are absolutely terrible Chosen Ones, but at least they’re trying. Sort of. The plot itself is a little thin, and I knew the big reveals almost right away because they felt rather obvious. Despite that, this book was a ton of fun, and I enjoyed the characters and their banter.
I received a copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
My Thoughts
Bryce and Courtney are both neighbors and rivals. They live just to be the thorn in each other’s side. Neither is exactly “hero” material. But they’re soon about to be.
One might even call them antiheroes. To be fair, they are painfully average, regular people. Courtney is trying to salvage the remnants of her life and decide where to go from the rock bottom she’s found herself at. Bryce is afraid of literally everything, including life, and just wants his annoying new neighbor to go away so he can return to his peaceful, reclusive existence. The two are always snipping back and forth—bantering, one might even say—and trying to one-up the other.
Unfortunately for them, they find themselves transported to another world, where they’re told one of them is the Chosen One. It’s everything they’ve ever dreamed of . . . and dreaded. Because neither of them are qualified to save the world. At this point, they’re barely qualified to exist in it. But obviously, neither can let the other win. Competing against each other is easy. It’s all they’ve known since they first met many months ago. What they don’t count on is potentially having to work together . . . and that prospect is even scarier than having to saving the world.
Normally, phrases like it can be our secret were used for fun, harmless things. Like grandmothers sneaking you cookie dough. Not—oopsie daisy—accidentally releasing a fire-breathing spider.
Courtney is tired of pretending to be someone she isn’t, so she becomes an underachiever who shuns expectations. Oh, and she may or may not be the Chosen One.
It’s everything Courtney ever wanted! Or . . . she thought so. When she was a child. In actuality, though? It’s kind of hard. And having so many people expect things from you is a bit of a downer. Courtney certainly isn’t ready for that kind of responsibility or commitment, but she’s determined to show Bryce up. Because he certainly can’t be the Chosen One, and one of them has to be.
I found Courtney a little too relatable, with her fear of not living up to expectations and pretending so hard to be who everyone else wants you to be. Plus, who hasn’t dreamed of being a Chosen One?! She’s abrasive on the exterior, so afraid of letting people down that she beats them to the punch and chases them away before they can expect anything of her. I wouldn’t say she’s necessarily likable, depending on who you are, but I felt like I understood her . . . and, in another world, I could maybe even be her.
Bryce is a reclusive accountant who is literally afraid of everything. Except the new world he’s found himself in, because it’s obviously a dream, right? And he’s certainly no Chosen One, but he will be if it means Courtney isn’t.
Bryce is relatable in the nerdy, geeky way, which means he’s in his element in the new fantasy world. He’s read enough books to know how everything is going to go down and what it means to be the Chosen One. Too bad that sounds like doing all the things he hates, like interacting with other people, taking risks, and putting himself in dangerous situations. But if it means beating Courtney? It’s a risk worth taking in his eyes.
This is a super cute enemies-to-lovers rom com that plays with a lot of the traditional romance tropes by turning them on their side.
For example, there’s forced proximity . . . and the characters know that’s what’s happening and make fun of it. They’re basically in on the joke. Bryce and Courtney being a thing is only a surprise to Bryce and Courtney. Obviously, readers know ahead of time where this is headed . . . but even if we didn’t, no one snipes that hard at someone else without there being strong feelings between them.
Is this a healthy relationship? I’m not here to be the judge of that. All I’ll say is that it works. What I love about this pairing is that they’re both broken people, accepting each other because of their flaws, not despite them. Which isn’t easy.
If you’re looking for a warm-and-fuzzy, feel-good romance, this isn’t that. I mean, yes, they’re all cute and romantic . . . if you’re okay with slightly dysfunctional, potentially problematic relationships that just work for some reason. Also, I just want to say that banter and sarcasm are absolutely love languages. I couldn’t help but laugh at some of the exchanges between them. Are they childish? Sometimes. But I could absolutely see hubby and I saying some of these things to each other, just for the fun of it, and our marriage works . . . for us. It’s not for everyone. (And thank goodness. That would be a crowded marriage!)
“Hmm?” I let my head roll to face Bryce, the hard desk digging into my spine.
“You have to have shadows to have light. That’s you.”
“Gross,” I whispered, smiling. “Is this you trying to say I’m the light of your life again?”
“It’s me saying you’re the dark hellish abyss that makes the rest of my life look brighter in comparison.”
The non-romance plot itself is a little thin, but it involves another world, a Chosen One (or two?!), a mysterious Evil One, and lots of mistakes along the way.
Because I mentioned that neither of our protagonists are qualified to be heroes, right? Yeeeeah, that may have been an understatement. They are extraordinarily bad at it. Courtney as a Chosen One is like me as a Chosen One. The intentions were good, but . . . look, pretending to be a fully functional adult is difficult under the best circumstances, and nigh on impossible when the weight of a world whose rules and history you don’t understand is on your shoulders.
I absolutely love the way the Chosen One trope is handled, because it’s so painfully realistic. Even though Bryce and Courtney are doing their best, they’re a reclusive accountant and a barely competent retail worker. What do they know about swordfighting and magic? (Hint: On paper? Lots. In practicality? Less than nothing.)
I figured out a lot about the overall plot right away, and I was a little disappointed that the characters didn’t even question some things. To be fair, I suppose I have the benefit of knowing it’s a book, and the characters were busy arguing and trying not to admit how much they like each other. To say they were a little distracted is an understatement. Still, despite the fairly transparent plot/mystery, it remained a rather fun romp!
Favorite Quotes
“A feeble but steady light to help you navigate your way along the dark and dangerous road of life?”
“Made to be snapped in half.”
“If a volcano exploded right now and lava engulfed us, when archaeologists come to explore years and years from now and fill our magma body shells like they did in Pompeii, we’d create the cutest little plaster people.”
“Fucking hell. What goes on in your mind?”
About Sloane Brooks
Sloane Brooks has been writing stories since she was young and is honored and thrilled she now gets to share her daydreams with readers. Sloane lives in the Midwest with her husband, two cats, and too many houseplants. When she’s not writing, she works full time as an auto body technician, which complements writing romance; day or night, getting motors running is her specialty.
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