3 Stars - solid, but just not for me

Well, this was a bit of a frustrating read. I was really looking forward to this after seeing the cover and reading the blurb but it just fell kind of flat and did not make use of its potential.

This book felt like it was written for a very specific audience: queer (male) role-players in their twenties who are still looking for their place in life and also cannot stop thinking about sex.
Mostly with guys who are hairy.

And this is why I feel this was a missed opportunity. It would have been so easy to tell a story that every uncool dork who is kind of a misfit could relate to and this was admittedly just what I had been hoping for and did not find.
Also, I found the language to be a bit lacking in terms of a distinct voice or even melody.

Don't get me wrong, this was mostly perfectly fine. The characters are interesting enough, the role-playing elements are fun enough and it was not a slog. But this was not a page-turner either which made me realize that I could not really engage with this all that much.

So, this was just not the book for me, but not every book has to, I guess.

I was very excited for this book. A story about a LGBTQ+ DND group? COME ON! That's awesome! It had a nice set of interesting characters and it was a familiar setting. I too remember role playing in some nerd shop after hours. But what I got instead was a good idea that needed better execution.

The characters are really where this book was lacking. Mooneyham was just a jerk. Ben reminded me just a little too much of the painfully awkward nerd of my youth, but he also came across as too whiney. Valerie could have been a really cool character but she never gets fleshed out and her relationship with her girlfriend felt forced. I barely know Celeste, the Dungeon Master, and routinely forgot who she was. And finally there was Albert who was introduced to the story as a walking thirst trap for Ben, actually had more character development than any of the others.

But the fact of the matter is the characters were lacking and the plot seemed to be a secondary concern for Doug Henderson. There was a storyline between Valerie and some cosplaying vampires but it was pointless and didn't really have a conclusion. There was the relationship between Mooneyham and his fiance but that felt like it was tacked on just to have another love story. The only thing that actually felt like it got any sort of build up and resolution was Ben and Albert's relationship.

Also, the whole issue between the group and the pub where Huey (Mooneyham's Fiance) was bullied by some jerks felt like it got too much attention in the plot. Don't misunderstand, homophobia and being bullied is never okay. Ever. But a huge part of the story was dedicated to this when in real life, all it would take was just confronting the jerks instead of a big todo at the pub.

Overall this was a good idea. It had promise. But it was never executed well enough. This needs a rewrite where it gets fleshed out more because as it is, this is skippable.

I'd like to thank Net Galley and the University of Iowa press for allowing to read this in exchange for an honest review.

The blurb for this book snagged my attention and set up my expectations for a fun story with a mystery to be solved. Rival vampire role players “working secretly in the shadows” and making moves on the LGBTQ D & D club? Sign me up! Only problem was that the story didn’t match those expectations. I kept waiting for a big mystery to unveil itself, but it never did. It left me disappointed. I’m not sure if that was a failure on my part or the blurb’s. Did I misunderstand/misinterpret that last line? Looking back at it, I don’t think so.

I greatly enjoyed the first quarter of the book. The setup was fun. Learning about the characters and their quirks made me want to read more. Ben is a bit of a “loser” who lives in his parents’ basement, doesn’t have a job at 25, and lives for role playing games. He recently had a crush on a guy who treated him rather poorly, but when Albert arrives at the weekly D & D game, Ben falls for him. Come to find out, Albert has hooked up with the former object of Ben’s affection, Jeff. Other characters include Mooneyham, a (mostly) closeted, buff gay banker who’s dating Huey, Celeste the trans game mistress, and the lesbian couple of Valerie and Polly. I’m not sure why so much time was spent on the side characters. Aside from Mooneyham, I didn’t feel like the other characters’ stories were interesting or relevant enough to give them POVs. Their stories didn’t move the main plot forward, and I was puzzled as to the author’s choice to focus so much on them when they had so little influence.

As for the Ben-Jeff-Albert triangle, I’m sad to admit that I hated it. I hated Jeff for being such a jerk to Ben. I hated Ben for not standing up for himself. I hated Albert most of all for toying with Ben and being so flippant about their “relationship.” He strung Ben along while unapologetically dating Jeff and constantly throwing it in Ben’s face at the worst possible moments. Albert was portrayed like a catty fourteen-year-old girl who wants to have her cake and eat it too. A narcissist with no remorse, Albert rarely even recognized the damage he was doing as he toyed with Ben and happily went home to Jeff every night. Ben wasn’t much better, but at least he was somewhat sympathetic—emphasis on “pathetic.”

The plot could use some work too as the conflict was largely nonexistent. Based on the blurb, I was expecting a book about vampire RPGers going after the LGBTQ group, but that never really materialized. The moment I thought something exciting was about to happen, it fell apart with no resolution, no fight, no story questions. The plot just didn’t GO anywhere.

The ending left a lot to be desired as well. It was all tied up with a predictable bow, and everyone lived happily ever after, despite how badly certain people were treated the entire story. No apologies, just blind acceptance.

A final note: There were a couple scenes that made me cringe, the worst of which was when Ben and Albert went to the concert. The band and their theatrics were hilarious, but when Ben was dragged onstage and forced to don a costume, things went south. He CLEARLY didn’t want to be involved, and I felt consent lines were crossed. Even though he eventually went along with and even enjoyed it, the initial part when he nearly had a panic attack over being up there really sent my hackles up. There were a few other places where consent should’ve been granted and wasn’t. They were glossed over quickly as if they were no big deal. Maybe I made too much of these scenes, but I felt uncomfortable reading them. For the record, there was no forced sex (though, there was a kiss)—just situations where a character obviously didn’t want to be doing something/was embarrassed but was forced or coerced to do it. Those scenes left me feeling icky.

In the end, the book didn’t live up to the blurb’s promise for me. I’d hoped for a more cogent story with relevant conflicts to push it forward. Sadly, it didn’t deliver.

This was...a strange book. I chose to read this book because I love books that include representation and I’m also an avid dnd fan. I probably went into this book with too high expectations, I expected the parallels between the real world and the fantasy world to be neat and clever. Perhaps a touch of magic there. What I got was some okay Dnd storylines (although waaaay to sexed up for my liking), some quite unlikeable real characters and a plot that...honestly, there wasn’t really an overall plot. I suppose the main plot was between Ben and the new guy Albert? But I couldn’t find myself rooting for them. Then were a bunch of subplots, Moonyham and his coworkers, Valerie and Polly and the vampires. None of them got a proper resolution in my eyes, especially the vampires? What was the point of them?

Overall, this book was disappointing, which is a shame as I feel like the idea had a lot of potential.

I was so interest in everything that was given to me in the blurb. Nerdy role play. Potential romance. Sign me up!

Flat. So flat. I felt as if the author is actually a 15 year old imagining what his romantic life will be at 25. The main character, Ben is 25, unemployed with a college degree, selling stuff on the internet and living in his parents basement. Not a person I have much interest in as an escape in the pages of a book. He spends the entire book mooning over Albert, a charismatic guy in their new Dungeons and Dragons group who is employed at a local record shop, which also seems to be the place his previous crush also works. Oh and Albert is sleeping with that same crush. It's angtsy and in a way that doesn't draw me in enough to care.

We get a full rainbow flag of characters, trans, a closeted banker, 2 lesbians, and a flamboyant waiter who don't even really up the excitement enough to make you care. You almost don't understand why they even spend hours together one night a week.

There are strange transitions in how the dialog is written. We go back and forth between the humans actually in the room and the game play conversations happening in the D&D game. It feels weak. Again, like maybe a high schooler imagining what D&D action will feel and sound like when he's older.

Overall, I'd suggest most people pass on this one and hope for someone else to take a run with this idea. It's a good concept poorly executed.

First I want to thank NetGalley, Doug Henderson and University of Iowa Press for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions of the book are my own and are in no way influenced by the gifting of this book.

My knowledge of Dungeons and Dragons is basically nothing. I only real knowledge of the game is what I have seen on The Big Bang Theory. So like I said, nothing. However, the concept of the game has always been interesting to me.

The story follows the five players of the LGBTQ Sci-fi & fantasy role playing club. Celeste; The dungeon master, Valarie; who works are Readmore Comix and Games, Mooneyham; a banker who like to argue and Ben, sensitive, unemployed and living at home and still recovering from unrequited love. In the real world they go by their daily lives with varying success but in the fantasy world created in their game, they are heroes and wizards fighting to stop an evil cult from waking a sleeping god.

I loved the Dungeons and Dragons parts of this story. Whenever, we were playing the game and the story was told from the perspective of the D&G characters, it was completely immersive and so much fun to read. Almost makes me want to play. I have no idea as to accuracy of how the author writes the game play so I am taking it all at face value. Either way, I enjoyed the fantasy world writing and adventures. The majority of the characters were very basic because they just didn’t have enough of a character arc. There was a lot of wasted potential with all of them.

Saying that, I think that this book contains way too many subplots instead of one focused story. I honestly feel like I forgot most of Mooneyham & Huey’s main storyline was and I have basically forgotten what Celeste’s storyline was. I found that I was mostly interested in romantic plot between Ben and Albert. I believe that this could have been a much more intriguing book if it was just focused on the romance between the two because there just wasn’t enough detail and story building for me to really enjoy this book.

I hate to say it but the plot was very messy. There was just a lot going on and none of it was exploited to its full potential. Parts of the storyline really didn’t need to be in there, like the Kiss-in??? I am still beyond confused with that section of the story and why that was the best way to get the characters to where they needed to be. The whole idea of it was bizarre.
In terms of the authors writing style, it was very clean and concise, and easy to follow where the story was going. I feel like I could read more books by this author as they have a very comfortable way of telling the story.

The Cleveland Heights LGBTQ Sci-fi + Fantasy Role Playing Club is an interesting book. It has a large amount of potential but ultimately there were too many sub plots and not enough focus on the characters. However, the D&D parts were full of fantasy and adventure and are the most entertaining parts of the book.

This one was a miss for me, unfortunately. Though I was excited about the premise, and enjoyed the time spent with the game characters, the real-world characters seemed one-dimensional. Ben is sad, Mooneyham is mean, and we don’t learn much about the other characters at all. I would try another book by this author, but this one is not my favorite.

The members of The Cleveland Heights LGBTQ Sci-fi and Fantasy Role Playing Club offer readers a glimpse into what it's like in their meetings. The club is comprised of five core players: Ben, Celeste, Valerie, Mooneyham, and new member Albert. They each have sections of the story that follow them, which helps the reader get to know what each member contributes. Even if you're not a big fan of D&D, Henderson provides enough information to help you follow along when we do enter the world of their game. It would have helped the storytelling if there had been a bigger impact on the real world and game play scenes to help connect them. There were enough allusions to make you feel like there should be more of a connection at least, which is why I went with a four and not a five. Ultimately, Henderson does present a cohesive story and characters that you want to root for.

I wanted very much to like this book, it hit all my geeky checkboxes, but sadly, it was a miss for me.

The premise is solid, and the characters are full of possibility, but the plot and character development just didn't seem to get anywhere. I can see where it was trying to go, but the whiny protagonist, constant sex-references (it was basically an early 2000’s ebaums world video in here) and the subplots that dont go anywhere made it hard for this story to shine. I am usually a fan of “books about nothing” that prove to be a little bit about everything, but this one just didn't meet the mark. Granted I have written exactly zero books, so maybe I am missing something, but nonetheless I am putting this one in my “don't recommend” pile.

I loved the way the author did the RPG portions of the book. They blended this game into the story and wrote it as if we're actually happening instead of "they played D&D and fought about what to do next."

The main character was a bit dramatic, but in a believable way. The interactions between character felt genuine, but I did feel we could have explored more with Valerie and Celeste.

The LGBTQ aspects of the book seemed forced at first. The author seemed to be yelling "look we're gay!" It got more subtle as it went on and overall I liked the book.

I'd recommend this to all your RPG gamer friends and your nerdy gay friends, as well!

Fast paced and easy to read with lovable, interesting characters.

I was worried I would be lost reading this as I’ve never played D&D and I wouldn’t know where to start with how to play, but once I started reading, that didn’t matter. The story and their gameplay is easy to follow as most of the important stuff is explained. The unique transition between real-world and game-world storytelling was probably one of my favourite parts of the book.

My only negative is that it was a little too short. I feel like some of the situations could have been played out for longer with more detail — pretty much everything that happens in this book is fun and interesting but some parts felt rushed when I would have loved just a little bit more.

Overall, this was a fun, enjoyable read!

This was wonderfully written and incredibly descriptive! It had a story within a story and I didn't want either of them to end. Seeing characters who were so human and so relateable going through their everyday lives was so enjoyable. Its just a lovely, lighthearted read that really made me smile.

I hope that Doug Henderson writes more of these, because I will happily sit down to read more stories about Valerie, Celeste, Mooneyham, Huey, Ben and Alfred exploring the depths of Dungeons and Dragons, and seeing how they grow and mature as people.

Loved this book. Liked the characters and I also liked the storyline for each character. It was fast paced and an easy read. I feel like this book will do well with young people because of the different characters and LGBT + representation which we need so much more of it in books.

There was a lot I liked about this book. It was fun and fast paced. I really liked having both the real-world story line and the in-game one, especially when the players would invariably metagame, just like in a real campaign. I loved seeing D&D queered the way it was in Celeste’s game and the narration around the game play felt very realistic. The real-world topics that Mooneyham and Ben and Albert dealt with are relevant to the young adult queer community and it was great to see them in a work of fiction. Also, the ability of D&D to bring together people who otherwise might not be in the same social circles was well reflected here.

However, as a D&D player, I would have liked to see the mechanics of the book’s game better reflect the current D&D rule set. But the problem I felt, and the reason I had to knock off some stars, was the under-utilized vampires. I seemed like I was missing the last 1/3 of the book or something and not all the story lines got resolved.

Over all this book was enjoyable and definitely worth the read as a queer ttrpg-er.

As a lesbian D&D player. clearly this book was made for me in mind. However, I wasn't a fan. Every single character is either unlikable or boring. I thought Ben was whiney, Mooneyham was a dick, and Albert was just kind of there as a romantic interest. As this was written by a gay man, I understand the focus on other gay men but I feel like Valerie really fell to the wayside and the whole vampire subplot seemed pointless (I am honestly not even 100% sure I understood the explanation for it, if there even was one). This book is so sex-focused, it's a turn off. I do think we LGBTs should be able to talk about sex just like straight people, but all of the sex comments were too much. Even the D&D campaign was about an orgy ritual and sex magic. I didn't love the portions of the book that were the Dungeons and Dragons campaign narrated; I think that it worked better to have the characters describe what they were role playing rather and honestly the story of the campaign wasn't that exciting. There were also a few mistakes when discussing D&D. Bluff is not a check you make in D&D, it's deception. Points also don't go into linguistics, only ability scores, and languages are learned because of race and background. I would go so far as to say that I actively disliked this book, which I am really sad to admit because the concept seemed so perfect.

As someone who's never played a ttrpg before (but does love gaming) this book was a gamble and it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The feel of this book brought back memories of movies in the 80's centered around high school, growing up and slowly moving into your adult life. I liked the mix of characters and the slight nerdiness that surrounded them, they came across as realistic.
The writer handles different topics like coming out, first love, discrimination and treats the characters with respect while also leaving the reader with a satisfied feeling at the end. The balance between the characters felt a little off for me personally...it seemed like Ben and Mooneyham had a more fleshed out character with growth towards the end of the book, while Celeste remained very superficial and Valerie had a little more depth but it did feel like she hadn't gotten as much attention as the two boys.
Nevertheless, I recommend this book to anyone who likes reading about new adults and their adventures. In real life and game life.

*** An ARC was provided by Netgalley in exchange for a honest review. ***

I'll admit I'm a bit of a geek, I enjoy conventions, and role playing, and dungeons and dragons. So when I saw the title of this book I thought "heck yeah, this is my jam." And ya know what? It really was. Sometimes I read fandom books and it's just so obvious that the author is trying to jam every single nerdy thing they can in there and it's honestly annoying, but honestly this just felt like a Friday night with my friends. I especially love Valerie, she's so funny and kind of self-aware. Like some vampire dude yells at her and she's just like "bruh." She's wonderful and I love her. Mooneyham is great too, like his intro is just bursting into the room and calling everyone fudge nuggets and I could not stop laughing. Although Valerie is my favorite character, I liked Mooneyham's story the best out of all the characters. And Ben and Albert were cute as well, I thought they had good chemistry. This was a really cute book and if you like dungeons and dragons and other nerdy things you should definitely check this out!

A unique story about a group of friends and their struggles in love. I enjoyed the good characters and fun plots.

76/100, 4 stars
Every Thursday Ben, Celeste, Valerie, and Mooneyham meet up at Readmore to play D&D. A new player Albert joins the group. Ben is living in a basement and reselling collector's items online. He's sweet and dorky but not my fave. Valerie works at the store the game is hosted at, she plays a bard and starts a rivalry with the vampire roleplaying group. She's my favourite, I liked her personality and wished we had a little more of her.
I didn't think I would like Mooneyham at first, he seemed like the kind of asshole rules lawyer I hate in my own game but I grew to like him. All these characters are distinct and well written.
Celeste didn't make too much of an impression because she doesn't really have a conflict like the others, but I liked her and related to her as a DM :) Though honestly the way all the characters acted reminded me of my own games, superstitions about lucky dice, the unique frustration of trying to teach a new player who isn't all that interested and just wants to hang out with their bf, forgetting what's in your inventory and not realising you have really useful stuff on you, etc~ not exactly writing or plot-related stuff just small details and references made me happy.
This book reminds me of things like LARPs the series or The Guild (which is what I was hoping for when I saw the title and read the description), where you'd think the story is about the game but its actually about the players and their relationships and the game affecting and paralleling things that happen in real life. I love how the awkward out-of-character dialogue comes through in the in-game scenes it's one of my favourite things with these kind of books/shows.
I read it in a day which is unusual for me with anything other than an audiobook so I can say with confidence the book is well-paced and doesn't drag on at all.
I don't know how much someone who doesn't play any ttrpgs would enjoy this but the book is written in a way where you don't really have to understand the game as it's not the main focus. There are personal conflicts for the characters that all coincide into one story thanks to the game. I am a prude so some parts were...not for me-so that's the only negative I have and I know that's just a me-thing so take that with a grain of salt.
The ending made me unreasonably happy, I was so worried about how things were going to end when the ebook said 99% but it all came together nicely.