*Dating and Dragons* by Kristy Boyce is a charming, lighthearted read that blends romance with a dash of fantasy, making it a perfect choice for fans of both genres. The book follows the story of two unlikely characters—Lena, a nerdy girl who’s passionate about dragons, and a popular guy named Alex—who find themselves in a whirlwind romance after they get caught up in a game of Dungeons & Dragons. The dynamic between Lena and Alex is sweet, with plenty of banter and relatable moments.

Boyce does a great job of capturing the complexities of high school relationships, personal growth, and how our interests can bring people together in unexpected ways. The D&D elements are fun and add a unique twist, making this more than just your typical romance. The pacing is smooth, and the chemistry between the characters feels genuine, though some parts of the plot may feel a bit predictable.

The only downside is that some of the supporting characters could have been more fleshed out, but overall, the story delivers what it promises—a fun, quick read with heart and humor. I definitely recommend it for anyone looking for a feel-good romance with a geeky flair.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
No spice - this is YA!

“𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐧. 𝐈 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫. 𝐈 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝…” 𝐇𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐬𝐨 𝐈’𝐦 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐦. “𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐈’𝐦 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞.”

AHHH! I am screaming! I absolutely loved this one. I fell in love with Boyce's first book and could not wait to get my hands on the second. It lived up to the hype and I had so much fun reading it. 💗

If you haven't read the first one yet, you definitely don't need to as they are stand-alone, but I'd still read the first book before this one just so you get the vibes. While we're here for the romance, the D&D world still is very much alive in both of these books. I love the smaller world building we get as our characters also have their own little side characters they play as part of the game. Super fun to read about and it's so well done!

What you're getting into with this one:
💙role-playing games
💙bickering/witty banter
💙forbidden love
💙coming-of-age
💙family's growing together

Dating and Dragons by Kristy Boyce was such a cute book to read. It is perfect for the younger audience looking for a little romance.
There were times where I couldn’t figure out how old the characters were and just imagined them a bit older (probably because I’m not the target age anymore), but I still enjoyed the story. It’s light, fun, and full of sweet moments.

The book is about friendship, first crushes, and finding a group where you truly belong, a geeky group that loves crafts, streaming and playing D&D. I absolutely loved the diversity in the friend group, and their interactions, especially during their campaigns, If there had been more scenes just narrating the campaign, I definitely would have read them, I wanted to know more!

It also briefly touches on the protagonist’s family relationships, which I found interesting but wish there had been a bit more depth. One of my favorite parts were the scenes with the protagonist’s grandma. She was hilarious and sometimes awkward, I could practically feel the protagonist cringing through the pages. The epilogue with her left me smiling, but I really wish it had been set further in time, maybe a year later, just to see how things turned out for everyone.

Overall, even though I wanted a little more description and depth here and there, it’s a short book for younger readers, and it totally worked. If you’re in the mood for something quick, sweet, and fun, I’d definitely recommend it.

Thanks Netgalley and Penguin House Children's for the ARC. This was an honest review.

i wanted to love this one so freaking bad because the first one was adorable!!! But I promised myself if i wasn’t enjoying a book that I would dnf more this year and this one bored me 🥺

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity for the arc, maybe it just wasn’t the right time for me to read!!

This book was sooo cute!!! I love Quinn and Logan.. I have already bought this in both the hardcover and the Barnes and noble exclusive editions

The perfect nerdy teen Rom com. I loved this one even though I'm not the target audience. Because it broke down the stereotypes that girls can't play D&D. I loved Quin's nerdiness and spunk.

4 stars = Great! Might re-read.

This was so fun! The main couple is sweet with a lot of chemistry. The friend group is terrific and the families are supportive. And the D&D campaigns sounded so fun. Fans of the first book should definitely pick this up. The two books in this line (so far) are stand alones and can be read in any order.

I thought this was a delightfully fun romance, but seeing as this was a YA book, and I am 26 I can imagine I would've even enjoyed it more if I was younger when I read it.

Many Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Content warning: bullying

The second entry of the Dungeons & Drama series follows high school student Quinn as she starts over in a new town. She meets a group of kids who invite her to play D&D with them, but this comes with caveats. The teens livestream their games and have a strict no-dating policy. Her old D&D group led to her relocation, so she's reluctant to make waves in her new friend group.

Quinn struggles with her feelings for D&D mate Logan, who she had a crush on before joining the D&D group. Which will win -- her gratefulness to the group or her increasingly hard-to-ignore feelings for Logan?

Recommended for nerdy teens and adults.

Kristy Boyce jumped deeper into the D&D subculture with Dating and Dragons. This time the main character, Quinn, and love interest, Logan are gamers and the learning curve is gone. The D&D fans can enjoy several 'cut scenes' from their active campaign as well as their brainstorming session for a future campaign. I enjoyed this read as long as I kept in mind it's intended audience - YA rom-com lovers. The internal conflict with Quinn centers around her previous friend group, who are painted as LOSERS in the most obvious ways, so it's easy enough to root against them. Her new friend group is perfectly quirky. Logan is a perfect gentleman and these two have a lot of high attraction moments written for them. There's nothing past kissing, so no worries for librarians that are under the microscope for every purchase right now. The parents are all caring and kind and married. There's even inclusion of a fun grandma and her retirement home friends.
Thanks so much for the ARC. It was fun and had a relatable, simple storyline.

I absolutely loved this book. Everything by this author is amazing. I don’t read a lot of YA romances anymore, but she really does the yearning trope right between the characters and captures that sweet innocence of young adulthood.

i want to thank the publisher and netgalley for allowing me to read and review this arc.

this one just didn't speak to me. i loved dungeons and drama. i loved all of the characters and how everything unfolded. it was just magic. i was pretty bummed that this one didn't feature the same characters from the last book. these characters just didn't hit the same.

the romance also did not hit. don't get me wrong. i love a good slow burn, but good lord, the burn was slooowww. i waited forever for literally anything to happen. and then everything wrapped up so quickly after that.

not for me, and i'm so sad about it.

This was cute. I thought the livestreaming games was a fun angle to add to this book, and I thought the building romance was really sweet. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

THIS WAS SO CUTE!

I am not a romance reader in the slightest, but I really enjoyed this book. I picked it up because I like playing D&D, and I heard good things about the authors other book. It was cute, there was banter, the charm, all of it! The characters were adorable and I appreciate how low stakes it was. Kristy Boyce is going to join Ali Hazelwood as one of the few romance authors I read.

Thanks Delacorte Romance for the ARC!

I loved all the D&D scenes and how new friends were made. I didn’t enjoy the romance as much as I did in the first book, I think the enemies to lovers trope from Dungeons and Drama was more engaging. I still really enjoyed it and can’t wait to read more from this author!

I was so excited to receive the eARC of this book! Just like the first book it was 5 stars for me! Quinn and Logan are so cute and I loved every second of it. It’s so nice reading a nerdy little rom-com; I definitely wish this book had been around for me when I was teenager!

This book can be read as a stand alone for anyone wondering but why would you want to skip the first book? It’s so good. Both of these are great and honestly Kristy could continue to put these out and I would read every single one of them.

This was a fun, clean, YA romance. I enjoyed the D&D aspects, as well as the character interactions. I would definitely get a copy for my classroom library.

Quinn was a fun protagonist; a little manic-pixie, but believably adorkable and facing real challenges. Logan was a little too perfect; I would have liked more conflict before he started making comments about being interested, but overall solid characters for the genre. The secondary characters made the story pop; in particular, Quinn's feisty grandma was fun, and her new best-friendship was cute and engaging as well.

This one was a struggle for me. I liked the two characters and their journey but just thought the stakes weren't as compelling. Also thought Quinn's family felt kinda cold to me and didn't seem to care for her and her interests until she spelled it out for them. I also thought the situation with the grandma was a bit odd, and the mean ex-best friend situation also got resolved fairly quickly.

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!

This book was so FLIPPING CUTE!

I loved loved LOVED it from beginning to end! Quinn and Logan were so FREAKING cute! I just was soooooooo absorbed in the story and I loved the play by play of dnd.

I just want to play DND now and find a cute boy to play with me.

I loved this read and I NEED more from this author!

Dungeons and Drama was such a lovely surprise for me last year. I couldn't wait to read Dating and Dragons. I ended up having a fun time with this story. The romance was so sweet, and I fell for their little group. Don't even get me started on the grandma. She was the best!

I was nervous that the big chunks of the DND gameplay would be boring or hard to follow, but I loved those sections. They made me want to find people to play with and learn the game.

I will gladly read any nerdy vibe books that Kristy writes!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's | Delacorte Romance.