Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Unfortunately, this book was a DNF for me. I got about a quarter of the way through, and while I really enjoyed the concept, I had a hard time connecting with it.

This is a charming and heartfelt romance that exceeded my expectations. While the beginning can feel slightly awkward, the tone quickly reveals itself to be one of genuine earnestness. The characters embrace their love of Dungeons & Dragons and other fandoms without reservation—anticipating campaign nights, commissioning fantasy artwork, and even weaving roleplay into their flirtations. What might have read as over-the-top instead feels warm, playful, and refreshingly sincere. Though the story includes only one intimate scene, it remains an engaging and uplifting read that leaves you genuinely invested in Sadie and Noah’s journey.

I thought I’d really like this book, I don’t play D&D but thought I knew enough to enjoy this book but it was a bit much sometimes. I think the romance was cute and the characters had great communication but the parallel stories pulled me out of the story sometimes.

While this was quite charming, it wasn't entirely to my personal taste. Nevertheless, I would certainly recommend it to others. I especially loved the cover! I absolutely enjoyed the excellent chemistry between the characters and the wonderful writing of the side characters. It also featured a great deal of witty banter. Overall, it was an enjoyable book, but not quite my thing.

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

I’ve long been curious about Dungeons & Dragons so this was a nice way to learn about it. The book does a great job of staying true to the game and keeping those elements within it, as a book within a book. Because of this, however, I found it hard to connect to either story, even though they were woven together well. The main characters were likeable enough but I struggled to connect with them as well. This has so much potential but gravitated too much between two worlds and didn’t come together as well as I would have liked.

When I heard this book was about DND I thought sign me up. But upon starting to read it I realized this wasn't the book that I thought it was going to be. I was chasing after the same high that I got from another DnD type romance book and this didnt give the same vibes as the other ones that I had enjoyed. It took too long to get to the plot of the book and the romance and the way the role playing was instatuted just made it really confusing and hard to follow along with this book.

I received a DIGITAL Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so much fun. I loved the parts where you got to be fully immersed in their D&D game (but I can definitely see how some people would dislike that). I also loved the slow progression of Sadie and Noah's relationship and how real it seemed.

I would 100% pick up another book from this author. Especially since it seems like another book featuring Liam was teased at the end of this.

4.5 stars rounded up

Really cute cover and sweet book. The story switches back and forth between the characters and the story going on in their DnD campaign when they start to play. It was a unique concept that I enjoyed, although sometimes I had a hard time getting through the campaign story chapters compared to the main storyline. Each story was great and I loved the interactions between Sadie and Noah and also enjoyed the fantasy storyline but the back and forth between chapters at times felt they interrupted the other storyline and pulled me out of each narrative. I still really enjoyed the book and would read more by this author.

Thank you to Random House | Ballantine for the ARC.

NO THIRD ACT BREAKUP!!

Just starting with that because I realized the book was finishing and everything was just so wonderful and there was no miscommunication and no third act breakup and this was nerdy and so nice to listen to.

I will say I have been struggling a little with books that have a story within a story, this one has a dungeon and dragons type role playing storyline happening within it and so it will go from the main characters POV to the role playing characters POV when they’re all together playing the game and that can get confusing sometimes on audio, but other than that, this was a delight.

Cover is beautiful. Overall a good time. Definitely recommend picking this up.

Thank you @netgalley and @dellromance for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

‼️I would like to thank Lenora Woods, Random House Publishing Group, and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this e-ARC‼️

Roll for Romance is a fluffy, slow burn romance comedy. If you need to take a break from dark romances or from your murder mysteries, this is the book to help you through that break.

Sadie is taking a break from the hustle and bustle of NYC in the small town of Heller, TX, where her best friend, Liam lives. Going through a low point in her life, she has to figure out what is the next step for her. Enter Noah: tall, muscular, and ginger with all the golden retriever loyalty a person can give. They instantly have chemistry, but Sadie has to decide whether she is staying in Heller or going back to NYC.

Sadie and Noah have an adorable relationship, but it is so sloooooooooowwwwwww. They clearly like each other, but because of Sadie's confidence issues throughout the book, she doesn't quite know if it is her imagination or not.

Liam is the best friend that every person deserves. Someone who will open their door for you and let you just catch your breath. Honestly, Liam goals for life.

I enjoyed all the nerdy aspects of the novel as well. I, myself, play roleplaying games similar to D&D, so I really can relate to the character's identity and separation. It really is fun! But I found the fanfic writing between Noah/Loran and Sadie/Jaylie cringey. That was something that wasn't needed to advance the romance or plot.

Overall, Roll for Romance was a good read. I wish it was a faster pace. I enjoyed Sadie and Noah's relationship, nonetheless.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Spice: 🌶️🌶️

I was already feeling kind of meh about this book. It was cute in the way it flipped between real life and the DND game, and the storytelling was cute, but the characters were kind of whatever. And then it's revealed that the big bad villain is Lady Shira Soros and that is an insanely Jewish-coded name for a villain, especially a fictional villain in a fantasy world??? So this is a hard DNF from me.

⭐️: 4.25/5

This was very cute, and for me, very readable. We join Sadie as she has flamed out in her big city job, as she retreats to her friend's house in small-town Texas, where she joins a D&D campaign to spend some time with other humans, instead of her bedroom and the cat. Through the campaign, she meets Noah, who is also newer to town, looking to make friends, and also new to D&D.

Now, as a personal moderately familiar with D&D, I wish this had EITHER:
1) gone more toward the basics, explaining more of the mechanisms of the game, OR
2) gone deeper into the drama and meta-feeling of a game, assuming the reader is more familiar.
For me, the way this story was like, 40% in the campaign, it both didn't explain enough for readers who aren't into D&D, and didn't deliver the feeling of playing in a campaign for those who are familiar with it. Because of this, I felt the shifts into and out of campaign mode were a little jarring and didn't hit for me.

That said, I did really like the relationship and personal development of Sadie and Noah. They were easy to individually connect with, and I felt like they flowed like a romance book should. This read very smoothly for me, transitions aside, and I found myself breezing through it fairly quickly. I did like the representation of getting to know people through games like these, which I've personally found to be very realistic to my experiences.

Notable Quotes:
"I wanted to see if you were game for happy hour after work today." "Where? Chili's?" he asks. It's embarrassing, but Liam and I are sluts for Chili's."
....girl, me, too.
"Just like slipping into Jaylie's skin, I know exactly how to shift back into Josephine."
I really felt this as a person who masks a lot!

Combine a heartwarming romantic comedy with cozy fantasy elements of Dungeons and Dragons, then get an absolute treat known as Roll for Romance!

I thoroughly enjoyed following along this new uncharted territory of self-discovery alongside our loveable FMC, Sadie. The sense of self and found family that are unearthed along the way are so heartwarming. I really loved all the side characters as well - I would loveeeee to go to the bookstore, The Alchemist, or the Ren Faire with all these people. It would be the best time.

I was completely invested in the dual storylines. As a new D&D player myself, it was so fun to watch our MCs discover this fantastical world. I WAS TOTALLY INVESTED IN THEIR CAMPAIGN – and I honestly wish it did not end so soon!

The romance shared between IRL Sadie/Noah and in-game Jaylie/Loren had me HOOKED.

Room for improvement:
I do think that the pacing felt very slow at times and it was difficult to keep my attention. I found myself more invested in the campaign storyline because there was more intrigue and fast-pacing.

“To exist within the same lifetime as someone, the same universe—to be more than fleeting glances across the road, or ships passing in the night…there is no greater fortune than for your stars to align with the one you love.”

Roll for Romance had me from the first page. A young woman falls on hard times. Sadie loses her job in New York and she loses herself a little bit. Luckily, she has a best friend who helps her believe in herself again by bringing her back to Texas with him for a break. Her best friend finally talks her into playing a D&D campaign where she meets new friends. Loren, a hot bartender who is new to the area as well, joins the D&D campaign. Sadie thinks they could be more but she is only there temporarily, until she finds her dream job back in New York. Does she leave it up to chance or will luck be on her side.

This was my first D&D Romance book I've ever read, so I was very excited to see how the D&D game would be portrayed.

This was so unique (maybe because I've never read a book with D&D in it) but I really enjoyed the game playing aspect. In this story, we follow Sadie who loses her marketing job and moved to Texas to stay with her friend as she figures out what to do next. As she stays in Texas, she finally joins her friend's D&D campaign and creates the character Jaylie. During the book we follow Sadie in real life, and then get thrown into their D&D campaign and get to follow Jaylie on their journey. Because we get thrown into the D&D campaign, it's as if we are just in that world as we follow their journey and choices. This means we don't see any dice rolls or decision making as a team. I was a little disappointed to see this because I would have loved to see what they rolled and see more of them playing the game, but I did enjoy just reading the campaign as if we were in that world. The campaign itself was SO exciting to read about. I thought that part was really well thought out and it kept me captivated throughout.

I was more interested in the campaign story than the real story of Sadie. The characters 'in real life' seemed to be lacking in depth and I didn't really care what happened with their romance or careers. I was excited any time it jumped back to the campaign. I did however, like the brewery that Noah worked at. Noah was probably my favorite character because of how unique he is - his van life helped as that's something I can somewhat relate to. There's some miscommunication as Sadie is nervous to express her concerns to Noah was she starts to fall for him and I think that all could have been easily avoided if she just had a conversation with him.

This book was slightly cringy when it came to the romance, which is maybe why I cared more for the campaign, but the cringe moments carried into the campaign occasionally (especially in the 'role playing story time).

But for my first D&D romance, overall I enjoyed it. I'm not sure if I'd recommend it to someone who has read other similar books and loved them, but I did enjoy it at the time! I'd try another Lenora Woods book since I did enjoy how easy it was to jump into her writing.

Thank you so much to @ballantinebooks for the eARC of ROLL FOR ROMANCE by Lenora Woods via @netgalley!

If you enjoy D&D or even just the ✨vibes & aesthetic around it ✨ then this might be the romance novel for you! I’ve only ever created characters for D&D & never actually played a campaign but I still throughly enjoyed it.

There’s more to this story than just D&D though. Our main character, Sadie, is going through burn out when it comes to her career & shes on a path of learning who she is and if the life she once had is what she truly wants. Very relatable for anyone who’s ever dealt with job burn out.

I enjoyed the romance & the male lead, Noah. Plus the friendship dynamic of all the characters is amazing. There’s also portions of the book that gives us a narrative story of the D&D campaign they are playing, which is a really fun added bonus. + it adds to the characters’ real life, especially Noah & Sadie’s.

ROLL FOR ROMANCE is a cute one & I enjoyed my time spent with these characters!

Okay this one is tough because I loved the premise and I thought it would be really cute, but it was really heavy on the D&D talk. And I really love that a book like this exists for people who love D&D, but I quickly learned that it wasn’t for me haha. The romance was cute though!

This book was simply adorable! It’s the first D&D romance I’ve read that actually dives into full role-playing chapters, so readers really get a sense of how a campaign unfolds—and I loved that element.

Sadie is a burnt-out girlie who realizes the life she thought she wanted might not be the one for her. When her best friend Liam invites her to stay with him in Texas, he pulls her into the world of D&D. There, she meets Noah—the restless world traveler who somehow manages to capture her attention.

Together, Sadie and Noah slip into the roles of Jaylie and Loren, with their role-playing adventures slowly bleeding into their real lives. As Sadie builds deeper friendships and starts to settle into this new version of herself, she’s faced with the choice: return to her old life in New York, or embrace the unknown future she’s beginning to love.

Their romance felt natural, the spice was just right, and the gaming aspect was such a fun, quirky component. A definite must-read for D&D fans and anyone who loves a sweet, contemporary romance with a nerdy twist!

DNF @ 20%

This is a super cute romance but I found I just wasn’t connecting to the characters. I'm sure lovers of DnD will really enjoy the focus on the campaign and appreciate the DnD elements of this romance.

Sadie Brooks is recovering in small town Texas with her best friend after the city life chewed her up and spit her out. While she’s trying to decide what to do next with her life her best friend ropes her into joining his d&d campaign. This gives her the chance to role play as a self assured cleric blessed by the goddess of luck whose life is nothing like her own.

It’s through this campaign that she meets the handsome nomadic outgoing bartender, Noah, whose charms she can’t help for as her character and as herself. But with her life up in the air and him never staying in one place long can there be a future for them or are they destined to be a side quest on their way to their own HEAs.

Sadie was such a relatable character, young and struggling with professional burn out and trying to figure out who she’s meant to be without her all consuming corporate job. She can either jump back into the fray or course correct to something new. I really enjoyed her tentative slow burn with Noah. The tension between them was palpable both in character and out of character.

I’ve never done a d & d campaign but I was engrossed with the way she immersed us into the storyline. I found myself looking forward to each meeting so we could get more of the story. The twists and turns in the campaign were epic and I while I don’t think I’d be any good at RPG myself, it was so fun and interesting to experience through Sadie’s eyes.

Overall this was a great read and I would love to read more of these types of romances so I’m hoping the author will be giving us more stories in this same vein.