When Harper moves from Portland to a backwater Virginia town for her senior year, she doesn't have high hopes. Not for making cool new friends, not for finding a D&D group, not for finding a girlfriend. The one bright side will be restoring her grandfather's old woodworking shop and getting back into an old passion. And then there's also her old friend, Ollie, the neighbor that she had a crush on so many years ago. When Ollie introduces Harper to her D&D group full of other queer people, things start looking up, and with the burning chemistry between Ollie and Harper's characters, maybe she'll even get that girlfriend she wants.
Absolutely adorable, teeth-rottingly sweet. I loved all the characters. I adored the interludes from the campaign and what that added to the story. This book had me teared up at the end with how sweet it was. Just read it. MK England has done it again.

I give it a 3.5 out of 5 but will round up.
I have enjoyed the current trend of D&D in romance stories. This book was fun, sweet, and queer which made it so much better to read. I will say, I feel like I was missing something. Conflicts outside of the friend group seemed to end suddenly (example, Harper's mom). And sometimes I felt like having more interactions with the friend group would have been nicer.
While saying that, I did like the characters. They were fun and relatable. I enjoyed it, but you definitely may leave wishing for more depth.

‘Roll for Love’ is the DnD queer romance of my dreams. It’s sweet and hopeful and gentle and has a cast of characters that are Trying. It’s learning to be queer when you’re terrified. It’s learning to leap when even hopping is intimidating. It’s second chances to people that wind up at your door.

And it’s taking that dice and rolling a nat 1 but having as much fun as if you rolled a nat 20 anyway.

This book is really so much fun, and what you expect from the synopsis and the cover. The only thing I struggled with is that if you’d told me this story was a middle grade, I probably wouldn’t have batted an eye. The characters feel much younger than they’re written (and look on the cover) which didn’t detract from my enjoyment at all but did distract me a few times during the story.

Definitely excited to read more from this author! More nerdy stories please :)

I've read and enjoyed a few dnd romances recently, this one is no exception! The romance was sweet and I loved that it was queer. I also found the perspective on college and future goals to be really refreshing. I liked that we got snippets of the dnd campaign, but it wasn't the most engaging for me personally. I would've loved more time with Ollie, Harper, and their friend group. Harper's issues with her mother also wrapped a bit abruptly and off-page, when I thought that was the most tense storyline of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Running Press for the e-arc!

There was a lot to love about this book, from the adventurous DnD interludes to the wonderful messaging about claiming space as a queer person. Unfortunately the actual love story at the heart of the book fell a little flat for me. I loved how Harper and Ollie helped each other envision a future neither thought would be possible, but lot of the romantic feelings/moments between the two were kind of summarized by the POV character reflecting upon off-page interactions, and I wish it had been a little more front and center.

Roll for Love is a sapphic second chance romance about our two main characters Harper and Ollie. Harper used to visit this city to see her grandmother every summer to not visiting for years. So she hasn't seen Ollie for years until she returns after her grandfather passes.

Dungeons and Dragons is a big part of both of our characters' lives and their friends' lives as well. I loved seeing them get together as a group for this quest they're on and that the author let us read some of their sessions throughout the book. I don't play D&D often, but I love seeing it incorporated in books. It was also used as a way for our characters to process things and learn things about themselves.

This book is also about love, figuring out what you want and who you love, coming out, life lessons, grief, and friendship. Both of our main characters are seniors in high school. Ollie knows what she wants and so does Harper, but Harper's mother is having a hard time accepting that. Speaking of acceptance, this book is also about seeing if you're ready to come out and feeling safe. I appreciated M.K. England added some of the things teenagers are dealing with in this political tone in the world and being queer in this world.

Besides our two main characters, I loved the cast of side characters. We got to meet them all and even though they were side characters, we still saw them grow. This group of friends was amazing. Roll for Love made me laugh and cry, and I hope this author gives us more books like this.

My review will also be posted on https://thebookdutchesses.com on April 12th.

I absolutely ADORED this small town second chance Sapphic romance between two queer D&D loving teens who reconnect when Harper and her mom return to Clintsville and Harper gets welcomed into Ollie's friend group. While Ollie struggles with anxiety over coming out as bi to her very Southern family, Harper struggles with getting her mom to accept that she doesn't want to go to a four year college after high school but instead wants to be a wood-worker.

I loved the fantastic queer friend group, the bi, lesbian, gay, ace and nonbinary rep and the D&D campaign cut scenes sprinkled throughout the story that has Harper and Ollie's characters falling in love while they try to find a way to be true to their feelings in real life. Great on audio and perfect for fans of books like Dragging Mason County or Let them stare. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!!

I unfortunately did not finish this book. I just could not. I was about 38% through. I had a lot of hopes for it. I wanted to read it because it was a Sapphic romance where they play DND and fall in love. I thought it was going to be lighthearted and cute. However, the writing very quickly (I'm talking first few pages) turned into annoyingly quirky millennial humor that just felt disingenuous to the characters the author was supposed to be writing. I could not imagine them as teenagers. They most often sounded like middle schoolers despite being rising seniors in high school. However, their dialogue felt like a millennial adult who hasn't given up tumblr. The dialogue from the teen characters might have been fine back in 2014, but not now. This book also felt inauthentic in how it portrayed a small southern town. The guidance counselor not being encouraging of the trades was weird when that was just as pushed in my small southern high school as college. The portrayal of queerness in a small southern town also felt inauthentic. As a queer person in a small southern town myself, we're incredibly subtle about our queerness because it's not safe to do otherwise. For some, this might be a case of suspension of belief, but I just can't do that knowing what it's really like in small southern towns for queer people. Aside from that, the two POV characters were difficult to distinguish. Their character voices sounded very similar and I found myself often forgetting who was narrating. I found myself dreading to read more because of these things, so I didn’t.

I appreciate being chosen to recieve and ARC for this book, but it was just not for me as much as I hoped it was going to be.

When I first sent in for this ARC I thought it would be a cute book about kids playing D&D with a sapphic love story thrown in for fun. Boy was I wrong. The last 80% of this book is an emotional rollercoaster that I would like to ride again when I reread this book. I loved everything about this book from meeting Frank and Jimmy who work the flower stand in the farmers market, the conversation Ollie had with her mom, to the Poppy shrine in the corner of the barn. A great story with a great ending.

Would definitely recommend for anyone interested in Dungeons and Dragons and LGBTQ+ communities.

I love a good DnD romance! I wish there had been more books like this when I was growing up. Finding comfort not only in a game but also a person makes for great story telling.

This was adorable!! I will definitely be recommending this to younger readers. I''m very happy books like this exist for future generations. My only critique is i found it a bit predictable/corny at times.

Thanks to Netgally and the publisher for sending me a copy of this book!!
This was a sapphic ya story that touched my heart in many ways. It talked about queerness in rural towns and the expectations that come with it, did i cry? yes
Tha characters felt real and their struggles were realistic. This was such a comforting read to me and I wanted to hug the characters so many times. It game me everything I needed from it. The dnd aspect was new too me and even though I enjoyed it it wasn’t the best part for me and sometimes I wanted to skip those bits to get to the other parts of the story.

4.5/5 Stars

The good:
- Harper's backstory and her struggles with wanting to stay in her town while also wanting to be herself I think is one that a lot of people can relate to and was done very well.
- Ollie's backstory with her mother and wanting to choose a path outside of college I found a refreshing conversation that should be more and more common now-a-days.
- Harper and Ollie coming together after years' apart was extremely cute and I like the progression of their relationship.
- The D&D group was absolutely fantastic and added an additional element to the story that I really enjoyed (please note I don't play D&D so I don't know how accurate the game play is, but it was really fun!)

The loss of a star:
- My only issue was with the D&D, since we don't see all the sessions, I felt like it was a big disjointed and I was confused at points, being pulled out of the story. HOWEVER, I still loved how infused D&D was, it was like a fun bonus story!

Overall, if you're looking for a cute D&D infused WLW YA Romance, this is definitely your next read (very niche, but very enjoyable).

I loved this book. It's a love letter to queer teens growing up in more rural settings and to the transformative power of DnD (and other table top games). I'm from a generation that was told there was no place for queer youth in small towns. It's heartening to see stories about queer kids claiming their space in their hometowns and not letting hateful people push them away.

I also appreciated the thoughtful plot line about going to college or choosing a trade school route instead. I also grew up with the narrative that college was the only option if you wanted to be successful and anything short of college would doom you. The reality is now a staggering debt load with an uncertain future. I think we need to make space for diverse education and career paths as well as making higher ed more accessible and affordable.

This book made my heart and soul happy. I love to see a bunch of queer teens living in a small area playing dnd together. I do recommend proofing this book again, because in the story there were out of place and/or missing words. It didn’t ruin the experience or flow of story, but I need to point it out.

This book was absolutely fantastic.
Ollie and Harper meet each other again after having not seen each other in 6 years, and immediatelly old feelings flare up. As they are trying to navigate their growing interest in each other, Harper joins Ollie's D&D group and their characters also have undeniable chemestry...

Roll for Love tells a story about being queer in the countryside. The characters are beatifully written and reminded me much of myself trying to figure things out in my teenage years. The queer joy is palpable and I love how this book stays optimisitc and upbeat without sounding utopic. The D&D part was also great, I loved that we got to read parts of their campaign form the PoV of their characters.

Overall definitely a must read for all queer nerds who wish they got to play more D&D!

I absolutely flew through reading Roll for Love! It had all the tropes to make this a hit, from the second chance romance, to DnD, and of course the small town vibes. A truly likeable cast of characters especially our leads Harper and Ollie. The DnD storyline surprised me with how well it was integrated, as I wasn’t sure how it would play out, but it was a pleasant surprised and added the fantasy elements to a cosy book.

Firstly, I would like to thank Running Press Kids and M.K. England for allowing me to read Roll for Love.
Roll for Love is a wonderful second chance queer romance and coming-of-age novel and I absolutely LOVED all the characters that were written in this novel.
For someone who doesn’t have or understands the knowledge of D&D this book was still easy to follow on what was happening at all times.
M.K. England made me fall in love with the characters. The characters (Harper & Ollie) showed what it’s like to be two teenagers in a rural town secretly in love with one another.
Lastly, I hope that this is not the last of Harper, Ollie, Ev, Brooks, and Colton because of the feeling of needing more of them is real.
Once again I am thankful for being chosen as an arc reader for this novel, my goodreads review is linked below and my review for my instagram will be posted on the 9/4/2025 and I will share it to Running Press Kids and M.K. England’s instagrams while also tagging them both in the post.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This book was very cute and I like the cover. I love all the D&D books coming out and I always have fun reading them. One of my only issues with this book was the use of the ace character being a token for the group. Since the whole group has to get together (which I hate) of course the person left has to be ace! Even though it wasn't mentioned before. Overall, this was a cute story.

I Love queer stories and DND so this was right up my alley! Such a great storyline following a very cute childhood friends to lovers plot. I loved how even though it was heartwarming it touched on some tough topics about being queer in a town where it's frowned upon and not knowing how to be yourself. I LOVED the ace rep at the end! Wish we learnt about it sooner and got to delve into a bit more but it was still lovely
The DnD in story game was written incredibly! It was cool to see the small breaks between reality and fiction when they discussed what to throw for and odd bits, definitely made it seem like a real DnD session!