Great for fans of theater and dungeons and dragons. The references to new and old musicals are fun Easter eggs for any musical fan. Sweet story about romance, friendship, and family.

This was a fun YA book involving D&D and acting. While I really didn't care for the main female character, Riley, I appreciate that I am not the target audience for this book. I think I would've loved it a bit more as an actual YA as I definitely had friends similar to both the drama folks and dungeons folks when I was in high school. I appreciated the rallying both subsets did and the support of one another. Overall a really solid message to send to YA and I hope they appreciate it! Thank you to the publisher for a copy of the books in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to #NetGalley for the ARC Ebook.
Wow! This was a fantastic read. The cover is brilliant as well. A fun read filled with the correct amount of awkward and hilarious moments. Well developed and diverse characters who are well developed. I highly recommend this novel to those who enjoy a fun and lighthearted read.

This was SO cute! Of course, theatre kids would love Dungeons and Dragons, so a romance between a girl who loves musicals and a nerdy tabletop gamer was in order. Kristy Boyce delivers on the romance. There are slight enemies to lovers, but the real treat is fake dating, a trope I can only really buy into with YA books. Our main character, Riley, is a typical high school drama kid, vibrant and bold, and a little annoying, but I rooted for her the whole time. The love interest, Nate, is pretty much perfect, and a nice break from some of the jock types we see in YA romances. Their dynamic was really fun, and it was sweet to see them grow to appreciate each other's interests.

Where this falters a little is in the non-romance elements. Riley is trying to save the school musical and repair her relationship with her father. She's also got her first-ever job at her father's store, and is grounded. It's a lot to juggle, and the musical stuff as well as the father-daughter relationship, are heartwarming to read about but don't get enough page time. I think this could work as just as well if it even was just a sweet little book about friendship, gaming, and first love

Still, I liked this. I connected with this musical and nerdy elements, loved the romance, and thought the writing style was fun and accessible. It's a great one for teens.

Fake relationship
When Riley gets in trouble and has to work at her dad's comic store she gets involved with a fake relationship with Nathan.

*3.5

Well this is CUTEEEEE! It’s got fake dating, gamers, theatre, and a slow burner first love- You’ll laugh and squeal!
It’s a YA high school romance, and I will say that the characters fit the mold. At the age I am now, I found many unrelated things in the story- However, it was such a cute easy read and helped me get out of my reading slump. Read this if you want a book that will make you smile and remind you what it feels like to have butterflies.

Thank you to Delacorte Press and Netgalley for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review!

With a bright, adorable cover and a fun title, I couldn’t wait to dive into this. While I don’t know a lot about Dungeons & Dragons, I was eager to find out while I read. There were parts of this that were really fun and I had a good time, but overall this was the definition of a fun time, but not a long time.

The fun time rested in Dungeons and Drama being that cute palette cleanser. It’s a story that you can smile at and enjoy without thinking to much about. It’s that kinda of refreshing reads where you can enjoy it and know that it’s all about fun.

Riley and Nathan were an excellent pairing for the faking dating trope. They have these personalities that mesh well, but they bicker just enough that really keeps their moments together entertaining as they are trying to pretend that they like one another.

Now, due to the amount of scenes revolving around musicals or D&D, there was this feeling of missing out on some development outside of those moments. We do get to see Riley really create a bond with all the D&D players and it’s sweet to see how eager they are to have someone else join. Those were important bonds too, but seeing Riley and her dad’s relationship seem to form mainly off page makes it feel imbalanced. Joel was such a fascinating character and good father, that focusing on that relationship a touch more could have been great, especially for a YA story.

As I mentioned at the beginning, I thought this was a fun story. While it’s one that is going to stay with me as a fun time and not for a long time, it is one that I can see a lot of people enjoying. There is a lightheartedness to it that feels like it encompasses the joy of finding new interest, growing friendships and falling in love. If any of that sounds like a good time, pick this book up. I imagine you’ll have a good time.

I absolutely adored this book! It fulfilled all my high expectations with its heartwarming portrayal of Dungeons & Dragons and the bonds it creates. Kristy Boyce's deep understanding of DND shines through, yet she keeps it accessible to all readers. The cozy game store setting and the found family dynamic were highlights for me.

Riley, our main character, is both relatable and inspiring in her journey. And Nathan? He's the perfect romantic interest, adding layers of sweetness and depth to the story. The romance, featuring fake-dating and enemies-to-lovers, was beautifully executed, though I would've loved more in-game flirting.

Overall, a delightful read with realistic twists that kept me hooked.

{{Book provided by NetGalley in return for a honest review]]

This cute fast paced YA rom-com is the perfect mix of fake dating and nerdy-ness. If you like D&D and Theater this is the book for you. This was a great book to mix in between some of the heavier stuff I have been reading as a reset button before diving in to the next thing.

This book was so cute! I often hesitate when reading YA because I know it is not written for me. However, I found this book to be everything a YA romance reader would love! It was funny, light-hearted while also mentioning deeper topics, as well as self-aware. Overall, I can picture my younger self jumping for joy over this one!

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Riley's world revolves around musical theater. Just before the beginning of Dungeons and Drama, Riley is so desperate to see a musical that she takes her mom's car without permission or a driver's license to drive her and her best friend to see the show. Her punishment is to spend eight weeks working at her father's game shop and she is not happy about it. Not only will this take time away from convincing her school's administration to allow the students to put on a spring musical, but Riley has a strained relationship with her father, who she feels chose his game shop over her and her mother. To make matters worse, she immediately gets off on the wrong foot with her new coworker, Nathan. The last thing she expects is to enter a fake dating arrangement with Nathan but that's just what they do in order to help Nathan make his crush notice him and to get Riley's obnoxious ex-boyfriend off her back. Riley ends up joining Nathan's Dungeon & Dragons group and making new friends and she's surprised to learn that she doesn't actually dislike spending time at the game shop--or with Nathan.

This book was absolutely delightful! It was fun, sweet, and light-hearted while still tackling complex familial relationships. Fake dating is one of my all-time favorite tropes and this was one of my favorite executions in a YA romance. I was rooting for Riley and Nathan so hard. Another thing I adored about this novel was the D&D aspect. It was so fun to hear about the group's characters and campaign, and I kind of want to find a D&D group of my own now.

I highly recommend this to all fans of YA romance, but especially those who like theater or gaming!

As someone who plays DnD several times a month, there can be a learning curve. I have to use an app to remember my character's stats and spells for a battle. Only then does the power of imagination take over. Add in a love of musicals and a need to make an ex jealous, and you have quite a story.

Riley is in trouble. She borrowed her mother's car without asking to see Waitress with her bestie-- while still not having a license. As punishment, she has to work at her father's gaming store. Riley is bitter about this because her dad chose the store over his wife and daughter in the divorce. Not helping matters is her ex visits, and she lies that the coworker who hates her guts is her new boyfriend. Nathan and she enter a deal, where she will make his crush jealous if they put on the ruse of dating. The plan may work, along with Riley's scheme to save the school musical.

I had no idea that theater could pair well with DnD. It does in this case, however, as Riley is allowed to belt showtunes to save her party, and starts understanding her dad more. You can't blame her for doing anything to see Sara Bareilles in Waitress, but as her mother puts it, driving that far without a license was dangerous. Plus, she knows the logistics of running a show and which licenses to get. Riley is going to be a stage manager one day.

A really fun romp, and a great escape from real life.

This was a cute, fun read! When I first heard about the premise I was like "why would the drama kids and the TTRPG/LARP kids be enemies, they are natural allies???" but um pretty quickly the characters figure that out too soo...good for them.

The cover is absolutely adorable, but I should have known this wasn't going to be up my alley. I'm just not the right audience.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Children's, and Delacorte Press for the opportunity to read an advanced reader's copy of this book for an honest review.

“Dungeons and Drama” by Kristy Boyce was one of the best YA rom-coms I’ve read this year! The fun and whimsical cover is enough to sell this book, but the characters were adorable, and the story was really well written, so it easily got 5 stars from me.

I’ve never played Dungeons and Dragons, so I was a little hesitant to read a book featuring the game, but the main character Riley had never played before either, so getting to learn the game through her perspective made it easy to understand – and laugh-out-loud funny! D&D wasn’t the main focus of the book, so I appreciated that the author focused more on the developing relationships between Riley & Nathan and Riley & her dad.

I would highly recommend this book to teens and young adults who are interested in theater, drama, musicals, and/or Dungeons & Dragons with a good fake dating twist.

I loved this book so much! Fake dating is one of my favorite tropes, and I feel this book did it very well. It had the perfect balance of D&D, musical theater, romance, and friendship.

**4.5-stars**

Dungeons and Drama is truly adorable. It made my nerd heart so happy and left me wanting more from this author!

This YA Romantic Comedy features a fake dating trope and lots of cute, fun and witty character moments. In this story we follow Riley, a theater girl, who gets busted taking her Mom's car without permission to go see a show in the city. With her best friend in tow, the girls take the risk, and sadly, don't get away with it. Riley gets grounded. She's allowed no extracurriculars and as extra punishment, she has to start working at her Dad's game store after school.

She's barely ever set foot in the store and has no interest in games. All Riley cares about right now is getting the High School Spring Musical, currently canceled due to budgetary considerations, back on. Her life is a mess without the possibility of the Musical. She can hardly think of anything else. Well, there's a few other things she thinks about: her uncomfortable relationship with her Dad, her ex-boyfriend succeeding in all things theater and the fact that he's driving her nuts.

A new co-worker at the store, cute and shy boy, Nathan, could be exactly what Riley needs. She convinces him to pretend they're into one another. Her ex now thinks she's moved on and the girl that Nathan likes is suddenly more interested in him, eaten up with jealousy because of Riley. All is going to plan, until Riley realizes that flirting with Nathan is no longer much of an act. Have her plans gone too far? Is she falling for the D&D boy at the game store?

This book was so lovey. I read it in a day and got completely swept up in the story. I loved both Riley and Nathan. They were both incredibly earnest and naive, but in a way that felt natural to the story and works for the YA-genre.

I also enjoyed exploring Riley's relationship with her Dad. As a child of divorce, who lives with her Mom, Riley has felt sort of abandoned by her Dad. He's not a bad person, you can tell how me he loves her, but their communication at the start isn't great. I loved watching the time they spent together at the store have such an impact on the way they communicated with one another. I felt like that development was just as satisfying as the romantic portions of this story.

But yeah, the romance was pretty sweet. It was just so cute, I can't think of another way to describe. I was crushing right along with Riley. Nathan is a pretty special guy. I loved how he got Riley to join his D&D group; which was one of my favorite parts of this story. She ended up really enjoying it and was even able to channel some of her musical talents in her role as a bard.

I think as far as YA Rom-Com stories go, this has to be one of my faves. I feel like it was just really well executed. The character work was fantastic and I loved the messages and themes explored throughout. I would definitely recommend this to any YA Contemporary Reader, particularly if you are a fan of RPGs, or the theater. This was a perfect blend of those things for me!

Thank you so much to the publisher, Delacorte Press, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I'm really looking forward to reading more from Kristy Boyce.

I dnf'd this book a few months back, then decided to pick it back up again and it was a super cute read. Sometimes we just aren't in the right headspace for certain books.

I'm not a dungeons and dragons player, but have friends who play. I could definitely see my 16/17 year old self enjoying this read. It brought me a lot of joy and positive emotions. Will be adding this to my high school class's library!

A super cute YA novel about a broadway musical obsessed girl that after getting in trouble for driving without a license to another city with her friend to see a musical, gets grounded and is forced to work at her fathers game shop. After an awkward with her ex in the store she lies and says that she’s seeing someone and blurts out the first name she can think of. Except he doesn’t like her and she can’t stand him. After coming to a fake dating agreement that mutual benefits them both, they enter into a fake relationship. After spending time together for they slowly discover that the faking maybe isn’t fake.

🔹fake dating
🔹 He falls first
🔹D&D
🔹 High school drama

This was absolutely adorable!! What a pleasant surprise. You know it’s a good YA book when you can’t stop smiling and feel giddy the whole time. This has the perfect balance of teen angst, fake dating, and jealousy. Riley and Nathan are a great example of opposites attract. I loved the crossover with D&D gamer boys and musical theater girls. It is one of those books you will finish in one sitting.