I could not put this book down! I finished it in 3 days and loved every minute!

Riley's life is flipped upside down when she's forced to work at her dad's gaming store as a punishment. Her life only revolves around musicals, drama, and becoming the assistant director to her school's spring musical. Her coworker Nathan is the complete opposite being interested in anything game related and being far away from school functions. While these two clash in both personality and style, eventually they find common ground while lying about their fake relationship.

This book is full of silly situations, fun friendships, and an enemies to lovers romance that felt way too long in the best possible way.

If you love dungeons & dragons, romance, and comedy this book is for you!

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Children's, Delacorte Press for allowing me to read an eArc in exchange for an honest review. All the views and opinions expressed in this review are purely my own and not affiliated with any brand.

Nerds unite! I LOVED this book so much! My only thing is I was hoping for even more D&D. I have not personally played and don't really understand how D&D works, so I was very intrigued by this story. After reading it, I really want to learn more about D&D. Kristy Boyce does an amazing job writing a compelling and interesting book that fans of musicals and fans of D&D would enjoy! You don't have to know anything about D&D to enjoy this book! I would absolutely recommend the book! Do yourself a favor and read it!

Small Business BookTok ARC Reviews: "Dungeons and Drama" by Kristy Boyce

Note: This ARC was given to me for free by the author and/or publisher and I am reviewing this book voluntarily.

Riley is a theater kid and musical lover with big dreams of one day directing a musical production. When Riley is sent to work at her dad's game shop for 8 weeks as punishment for borrowing her mom’s car without permission one night, she meets Nathan, an employee and D&D enthusiast. On top of everything else, Riley has to worry about saving her school’s musical and trying to get back at her ex-boyfriend. Both in relationship conflicts of their own, they make a deal; she’ll flirt with him to make his crush jealous and get her attention, and he’ll flirt with her to make her ex jealous and leave her alone. Can Riley keep up the charade, make her ex jealous, and find a way to save the school production while working at the game shop after school? They rolled the dice on a deal, but they didn’t know they rolled on Romance!

Musical lovers, theater enthusiasts, and Dungeons, and Dragons fans, this is 100% the book for you! This was such a fun YA Rom-Com to read! Growing up with theater camp and being a musical theater lover myself, I connected with not only the narrative, but also the nostalgic musical theater nods and references. Dungeons and Dragons is also mentioned a good deal throughout the narrative as well as some chapters either go into some details about campaign dynamics or they might give nods and references to certain D&D classes and species. The message of the narrative itself also acts as an important commentary on responsibility and how we should balance our priorities, or balance the things we want to do from the things we need to do in life. 

Riley and Nathan were also interesting characters to follow throughout the narrative. While their chemistry started a bit messy, we see how their relationship progressed for the better throughout the narrative and how both characters brought out the best in each other. While Riley and Nathan were complete opposites of each other, they were able to bond, understand, and learn from each other’s interests through a common passion built on creativity and community. D&D and Theatre, in some ways, have common grounds as both the game and the profession involve dedication via acting, understanding the world-building and characters of the narrative the participant is working with, improvisation, annunciation, (or projection of volume), direction, and teamwork. Some D&D campaigns have even gone on to become movies and television hits such as “Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” and “The Legend of Vox Machina”! If you’re looking for a fun, wholesome YA book with tons of Rom-Com hijinks with a dash of theater and gaming nostalgia, don’t miss out on this book when it hits online shelves on January 9th, 2024!

Rating: 5/5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

-Tropes to Expect: Fake Flirting, Co-Workers-to-Lovers, Theater Kid x D&D Gamer, Musical Narrative, D&D Campaign Narrative, Love Square, Homecoming Narrative, and Opposites Attract!

 -Trigger Warnings: Mentions of Divorce, Health Scare, Brief Hospitalization, and Relationship Anxiety.

I really really like this book and I think if I was the target audience, I would've absolutely loved it! This cover so many high school age struggles so well.

Thank you Random House and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Riley’s grounded for taking her love of musical theater too far. She’s put to work in her Dad’s gaming store after school and on weekends.

There, she runs into her ex-boyfriend and his new girl browsing the store and finds herself making up a new relationship of her own. One with her fellow employee and school peer, Nathan.

Nathan’s a quiet, reserved gamer. The opposite, personality wise, of the extroverted, brightly clothed Riley. But he has a long time crush on a gamer girl and fake dating Riley might just help (finally) move things along. So, he agrees with her request to fake it.

The more time Riley and Nathan spend together, of course, the more the line between faking it and really feeling it blurs. Riley also finds herself enjoying gaming and forming friendships with Nathan’s gamer friends.

When Riley’s grounding ends sooner than expected and she’s no longer required to work at the gaming store, she’s faced with a roller coaster of choices and emotions her pre-grounded self never would have seen coming.

This was a fast-paced and enjoyable read with a fun cast of characters a, great premise, and a nice splash of gaming and musical theater references. Highly recommend!

Thank you to @netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

A really enjoyable read! I thought the central romance was sweet and well-developed and I enjoyed the characters and how they interacted with each other. I did find bizarre that in a book where one romantic lead is into musical theatre, and the other is a fan of Weird Al that the Hamilton Polka did not come up once, but that's perfectly forgivable.

I loved this book! It was so adorable and had me rooting for the characters the whole way through. I especially loved the romantic tropes included and the friendship/found family aspects. Overall a great YA read!

When Riley makes the immature decision to 'borrow' her mother's car without permission (and with out a license) to see a touring performance of her favorite musical, she lands herself in some hot water. Her punishment, designed to help teach her about finding balance between her responsibilities and her passions, is to work at her father's tabletop and card game store. There, some teenage-level hi-jinks ensue including a fake-boyfriend scheme and enemies-to-crushes romance with fellow student employee Nathan. The book also touches on themes involving divorce and parental involvement, learning to prioritize and find balance in your life, and finding your tribe.

I found the teenage characters to be very realistic representations- they make some poor choices and some big realizations, and while they mature over the course of the story the plot always made you feel like these were age-appropriate scenarios. Sometimes YA romance is a little too spicy for younger teens, and the characters are a little too mature in their thoughts or actions to be relatable. This book would be appropriate for any teens, with the romance being of the heartwarming and cute variety (and realistic for the ages of the characters). Beyond some hand-holding and arm-brushing, there is a kiss that is more swoon worthy than spicy. The characters are relatable and likeable, and even though there is some 'drama' including the romantic scenario and the planning of a school musical, you always feel like things are going to work out for Riley, Nathan and the play. There is a health scare with a parent that may be triggering for some readers as a later part of the plot.

Thanks to the publisher for the gifted copy.

THIS WAS SO CUTE AND FUN!! the fake dating was done so well and the miscommunication added all the angst hehe !! i did feel that the story felt very fast paced, and i would’ve preferred if some of the scenes were developed a bit more so it didn’t feel like it was going bam-bam-bam! but overall the book was a fun read!! the characters were all so lovable and adorable, and the romance was very cute!

Holy moly this book was ridiculously cute I can’t even! Riley is a theater kid who just wants to theater and Nathan is a nerdy boy who finds her annoying. Enemies to lovers and fake dating at its finest! As someone who who is a huge nerd I play D&D, I game, and board games are everything but I’m also a theater kid! I was so giddy as I read this with every reference to beloved plays and game. If your nerdy or a theater kid you will love this cute sweet YA romance

I have only recently gotten into romcoms. And with a love for gaming, I couldn't pass this by without a chance to read it.

Our story follows Riley, a theatre nerd who is forced to work at her dad's game store as punishment. We follow her journey as she grows to love the games and the people far more than she ever expected.

This story had so many fun elements to it - pretend dating, gaming tropes, theatre tropes. Then you add in the complexity of a girl trying to navigate her parent's divorce, her relationship with her dad, high school, and boys.

I found this book to be delightful to read. The characters were very likable, and the relationships intriguing. I enjoyed the plot and the complexities with it and the characters. I found the themes of the book to be very reminiscent of all of the things I love in life.

Thank you, NetGalley, Random House Children's, and author Kristy Boyce for the opportunity to read this ARC!

Release Date: January 9th, 2024

Adorable! I was transported back to high school in this YA romcom full of fake dating fun and games. Cue all the innocent butterflies and swoon-y giggles. ☺️

This was such a sweet nerdy book. Perfect for younger YA readers. The light-hearted romance and teasing banter between characters was very well written. I also loved nods to both theater and gaming nerdoms.

Thanks to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for the ARC!

This book was a decent YA romcom. I liked the nerdy romance aspect. I liked the moments of humor and banter. Overall, it's an enjoyable read if you're looking for a lighthearted story, it is on the younger-YA end, since the characters were 15-16 and the writing at time felt more juvenile. Because of this I wouldn't recommend it to my friends but to like my younger niece whos in high school.

This is such a fun little fake, enemies to friends to lovers type romance for all those who were in drama or D&D or some other nerd pursuit. Riley is a total drama geek, so much so that she “borrows” her mother’s car to drive to see a Broadway play, despite the fact that she doesn’t have a driver’s license. For her punishment she must work at her father’s game shop, which she has absolutely no interest in.

It is all a little complicated, without a scorecard, but Riley has an ex who is pretending that he “cares” about her, and Nathan is in love with a cute girl who is playing with his heart. He works at the game store. So Riley comes up with a plan to make Nathan’s girl get jealous, and get her ex to stop checking up on her.

And mix that all up with D&D campaigns where Riley takes being a bard to heart by singing broadway hits.

I do like the idea that the two levels of nerdom can come together so well, and the author says she based it on her own life, of stumbling on D&D from the drama side of things, and ends up marrying one of the guys she met while doing so.

The emotions are all realistic, and the estranged father turning out to be not as estranged as Riley thought is a good bit as well. Don’t be turned off by the cover, as far as I know no lute playing happened in the story, but it does draw the eye in.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. This book is coming out the 9th of January 2024 from Random House.

I picked this book up because my school has a DnD club so I thought I’d give it a shot to recommend to them, but I actually ended up loving it. I mean the cover is so cute, I should have known. But then the characters were adorable and the romance was so sweet. I love finding books that show healthy relationships even in the teen years and this one was so fun.

A Delightful YA Read!
This is, by far, one of the cutest YA books I have read in a while! The fake dating, D&D, and drama were all so enjoyable. I had a lot of fun reading it, and the characters were a blast too! I’m very much looking forward to more from Kristy Boyce.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a free advanced copy of this of Dungeons and Drama in exchange for my honest review.

This was such a fun read! I’ve never played dungeons and dragons but my brothers have and especially after reading this I can see the appeal. This was a good read that was light and fun with good characters and growth. It felt very age appropriate for high school and was all around enjoyable

Dungeons and Drama by Kristy Boyce is a sweet and delightful YA romance you will not want to put down. The story draws on familiar tropes but the characters are so fun that their antics seem new and engaging. This is a perfect read for anyone who wants to relax and enjoy a good story.
Kristy Boyce sure knows how to write light hearted, feel good romance novels that always capture my heart, she writes the most realistic characters.
This is a very cute romantic comedy YA Contemporary with easy-to-root for characters and excellent character development.
A fun YA romcom full of fake dating hijinks that was an absolutely adorable read.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and Delacorte Press for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Oh man, this book was a DELIGHT. Dungeons and Drama was everything I didn’t know I needed. Fake flirting. Jealousy. MUSICALS! Gaming?! What a beautiful recipe for success.

As a theatre girl myself, I felt immediate kinship with Riley. She is such a bold, character and I adore just how unapologetically herself she is.

The chemistry between Riley and Nathan had me absolutely swooning. I was absolutely kicking my feet and giggling the entire time. This is one I will definitely be recommending to everyone I know.

What a cute book! The premise was very cute and I loved the parallels between LARPing and theater. Growing up I was very much on the Dungeons side of Dungeons and Drama but as I got older I appreciated the insight into the seriousness of theater.

For the teen audience I loved that it explored relationships between divorced parents and how kids can navigate that, but in a more lighthearted way. I was a divorced kid and my parents legit tried to get along, so to see that in novel form made me happy.

The romance/fake dating is cute and full of tension. Its also not blown out of proportion and feels realistic. They are good at communicating the rules and trying to help one another, at least until feelings get in the way later... but it still plays out nicely.

This is definitely recommended to the teens who are looking for romance and humor.