This was so cute. In no way do I know a thing about the game Dungeons and Dragons. I went into this knowing this book had this as a good bit of the plot. I do love a good tale, and this was it. I didn’t need to know the game to enjoy this book. I’m sure there are folks who will read this and find some hidden gems they may have gone over my head, but I feel like I didn’t miss anything. The characters in this were all so lovable and the storytelling was perfect.

Thanks all for the fun read!

Have I ever played Dungeons & Dragons? No
Would I now? If I could have my own Loren/Noah absoutely!

Roll for Romance by Lenora Woods is a her debut novel about Sadie, a marketing professional who joins a Dungeons & Dragons game while spending the summer in a small Texas town. There, she meets Noah, a charming bartender and fellow player. As their in-game characters grow close, so do they in real life—but Sadie must choose between a new love and a career opportunity back in New York.

I thought Lenora did an amazing job of telling two stories at once and connecting it to the characters real lives. Since I don't know anything about D&D I was nervous I was going to be so lost but she does a great job of keeping the reader intreguied to both story lines! I fely myself getting mad with the players at a cliffhanger.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing, for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review! :)

This was a cute book! I enjoyed the combination of D&D, ren fair, art, and brewing— very cozy, nerd-chic.

Sadie, an advertising exec in New York City, loses her job and absconds to Texas to recover at her best friends’ house. There, she joins a D&D campaign, makes new friends, and finds a new side to herself. Meanwhile, Noah, a cheerful drifter who’s working at a brewery for the time being, also joins the campaign and makes an impression on Sadie with his open kindness and broad shoulders.

I found the characters likable and relatable, and I enjoyed following their story. This is a cute rom com for those who like RPGs and those who need a little hope when life feels hard.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

When Sadie Brooks loses her dream job at a fancy NYC marketing firm, she heads to the one place she knows she can lick her wounds: her best friend, Liam’s, house in Heller, Texas. Eager to get her out of her funk, he invites her to join his rag tag group of D&D players. Sadie reluctantly agrees and it’s there she meets Noah, the charming bartender/bard, Loren. As her character Jaylie and Loren fall in love in the game, so do Sadie and Noah. But both are in Heller for a limited time only. What happens when their feelings for each other grow stronger?

This was such a cute and creative novel. I love how Ms. Woods wove the story within the D&D game into the central story. Sadie and Noah’s characters’ relationship in the game mirror their own. There’s an instant attraction that quickly grows into something more. Both characters are likable, but I felt that Noah lacked the depth that Sadie had. She was a bit more fleshed out. The side characters were great and added humor into the story.

This was a fun, low angst novel, and you don’t need to be well-versed in D&D to appreciate the game.

Listen if there’s an RPG romance, I gotta read it!!

Roll for Romance follows Sadie, recently laid off from her high profile marketing job in NY and horribly burned out, as she spends the summer in Texas with her best friend Liam. Liam finally ropes her into her first D&D campaign and she meets a whole cast of local characters that make the game so much more fun than she expects, especially Noah. As she spends the summer with her new friends, exploring her love of art again, and spending time with Noah, she begins to wondering if New York is still home to her.

This was such a fun read!! It’s done alternating between Sadie’s reality and the story in their D&D campaign. It was so interesting to watch parts of their campaign information their character arc in the story. Sadie was extremely relatable, and I enjoyed watching her and Noah’s relationship come to life.

Would recommend, especially for fans of RPGs! Out in July!

Thanks so much to Dell Romance and NetGalley for my copy!!

The cutest lil nerdy rom-com!! Just absolutely loved the writing and the dialogue. I loved how the author wove together Sadie & Noah’s real life romance with their own D&D love story. The D&D chapters were so unique and I can honestly say I’ve never read anything like it before. Some parts of the book felt slower than others, and I think the pacing can be worked on but overall I really enjoyed this rom-com.

This one is for the cool kids aka the nerds. I think the author did a phenomenal job at writing out the plot and story. It’s really obvious when reading the D&D campaign versus reading what is happening in Sadie’s real life. The pacing is a bit slow in the beginning but it’s such a beautiful story it’s worth it. The found family aspects that are created within a campaign was highlighted in a wonderful manner and makes me want to go listen to a Dungeons and Daddies podcast immediately. Sadie’s anxiety was sometimes a little too much for me but hey! isn’t that just a fact of life. There were so many moments were I was like “Oh okay poppppp off”. Please enjoy the camping trip! I know I did.

Pub Date July 15 2025

ARC provided by Random House Publishing Group— Ballantine, Dell Romance and NetGalley. Thank you.

review posted to NetGalley & Goodreads

4🌟

I enjoyed this book so greatly! As a D&D and Romance nerd, this book was everything I could have asked for.

The way this book was written was so incredibly unique. Instead of the characters roleplaying as their D&D characters, we get thrown into these fantasy chapters where we get the POV of the FMC's D&D character! I loved this concept so much, while I feel it could be a turn-off for some readers, it was a pleasant surprise for me. This book is going to be a must-read for Summer time, it reminds me of being a teenager and romanticizing a summer fling/vacation.

All of the characters were so likable, Sadie and Noah's romance was believable and well-done for a shorter period of time. I got giddy anytime they touched, and wish I could read more about them.
Honorable mention for the spice, Chapter 27 - we love you! Honorable mention part 2 for Sadie's "tent" joke. You are hilarious girl! By the end of this book, I was screaming for Sadie to just stay and genuinely couldn't tell where the story was going to end off (thank god it ended the way it did lol). I fear I may need a physical copy when this book is published to this world.

Thank you Lenora Woods, Dell, and NetGalley for this e-arc! It was magical! ✨💜🍃

Roll.... for cuteness!!

Adorable and nerdy in the best possible way!! This was such a cozy and comfort read for me.

Dungeons and Dragons for the win. Noah an MMC with red hair loved this!! The best combination of found family with playing flirty into real life romance. Their D&D characters holy love!!

Jaylie and Loren =perfection

I loved how Noah and Sadie both grew from their characters in D&D into their blooming sweet relationship.

Also.... how refreshing it was to have a couple that communicates!! I can't stand the miscommunication trope and Woods does it beautifully!

I was addicted to Lenora Wood's writing and was shocked this was her debut!

Can't wait to see more from her!!

4.5/5 stars

Also... HUGE thank you to the author for having me as part of her traveling arc team. So much fun!!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for gifting me a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own. Roll for Romance by Lenora Woods will come out on 7/15/2025 from Random House.

Noah is a professional wanderer who plays a bard. Sadie is a burnt-out marketing exec on sabbatical who plays a cleric. Sparks fly in this nerdy romance with a D&D twist.

Told as a story within a story, this book takes turns between Sadie’s life in the real world (told in first person) and the D&D campaign where she plays Jaylie (told in third person limited). This book encapsulates the immersive feel of a good role-playing game.

This book is a breath of fresh air for the romance world. Sadie is relatable and you feel yourself rooting for her from the very beginning because of her heart and integrity. She left her corporate job in NYC where she was a marketing executive, to stay with her childhood friend for the summer in Heller, TX with the unspoken condition that she play D&D with him. She’ll look for another job in New York when the summer ends.

Noah is a modern-day vagabond working at a brewery in Heller, TX. It’s just a stop in the journey that is life for him. Looking for community, he jumps at the invitation to play D&D with a patron for the summer. He never stays in one place too long, and he’ll probably move along at the end of the summer.

No spoilers, but this book delivers on the slow-burn, found family, and friends-to-lovers tropes. I absolutely loved this book!

A nat 20! 5/5 Stars!

A Nat 20 of a book!
Dungeons and Dragons X Romance is such an underrated combo and this book does it so well. I love how it was written and how the plot came together so seamlessly. The conflict in the book felt so real and didn’t feel forced at all and I love how it switched from the real world to the fictional D&D world. It gave it a breath of fresh air when comparing it to others in the genre that just have the game in the background and the romance be what it is all about. This was a great blend and would recommend this book to many of my D&D friends.

Loved every second of this as a huge nerd myself. This was so cute and fun. I was also like two stories in one with a D&D subplot, I could not get enough of either story. I've been recommending this one to all my friends.

I LOVED so much. I loved the changing perspectives from in game storytelling to real life. I loved her interview process and going “roll for charisma.” As I was reading this I was thinking “why haven’t they made a show like this yet????”
I told all my dnd friends to pick this up. Truly had an absolute blast!

In a stunning debut, Lenora Woods crafts a story between two characters and their respective D&D characters. Sadie's struggle with burnout is mirrored in her role playing game character, Jaylie, who is a human cleric serving the goddess of luck. In real life, Sadie feels as though she has no luck at all, in the game she feels as though luck guides her, and in both she is actually fortunate enough to run into Noah, a boisterous and delightful bartender in real life and a charming elf, Loren, in the game. Both the narrative in the story and in the game point of view reads beautifully, and this romance was something special, like nothing I've ever read before. Lenora Woods is an author to watch!

Thank you to the publisher, the author, and NetGalley for this arc in exchange for my review.

Thank you NetGalley and Dell for the ARC! Sadie's life has taken a bit of a turn. After losing her job in NYC, she's decided to stay with her best friend at his home in Texas. As the weeks go by, Sadie realizes she needs to begin to work toward getting back out there. When her friend invites her to join his new "newbie" Dungeons and Dragons game, Sadie hesitates, but decides to give it a try. There, she meets Noah, a nomad whose helping his friend build up his business. As the two grow closer (in game and out), Sadie questions her dream life in NYC and starts to find her true passion. A sweet romance with fun and delightfully nerdy undertones with a self discovery message, perfect for those who know what you think your dream life is, is not always what will make you happy.

I wasn't entirely sure what I was expecting going into Roll For Romance. Part of me thought that it was going to be like Dungeons and Drama and the other part was like please let this be cute as all heck.
I absolutely loved everything about this book. Roll For Romance is the adult version of Dungeons and Drama and I definitely need a copy when it get published. I loved Noah and Sadie's relationship. I loved how he supported her not only in her art but in other aspects of her life. Sadie really made me want to whip out my art supplies and start drawing again.
Not only did you get to see Sadie and Noah's relationship bloom but you also got to see their D&D characters interact and develop feelings for eachother. I really enjoyed the campaign play but also how the story line easily switched between the real world and D&D.

This was such a cute book! As someone who enjoys D&D this book did justice! I really liked the relationship between Sadie and Noah, especially Noah being a cinnamon roll type guy was so sweet! Also very relatable characters with myself being like Sadie and my husband like Noah I loved their dynamics! The D&D side was very immersive and their group was fun with the “found family aspect” I felt like I was a part of their party too! I’m definitely going to get his book when it releases and I hope the author writes more D&D inspired books!

This was so quirky and fun. The premise is great, the back and forth between real world and DnD was a great idea. I think the author could work on pacing and making the main characters more engaging.

I felt like it would be really good for about 20 pages and then be boring for a long time. I didn’t really care for any of the characters. I wasn’t rooting for anyone,

The idea is there just the execution doesn’t work for me.

Story Overview:
Two fledgling tabletop gamers find themselves falling for each other—both in and out of their weekly D&D sessions—in this charming, fantasy-tinged romance.

Review:
You'll love this if you love:
• Dungeons and Dragons
• Sweet romances
• Tandem stories (you get to read parts of the D&D campaign in this as well!)
• Hallmark movie vibes (leaving the big city for a small town)
• Found family

As a D&D player and avid romance reader, I absolutely loved this sweet story. I've already ordered my own copy of this book and have been recommending it to all of my friends!

Thank you to Penguin Random House for an arc of this story!

The premise of this is so adorable, but unfortunately i just didnt enjoy it. It started a bit slow, and the writing left me a little confused when we were going back and forth between real world and their DND session.

I love RPG's and wanted to love this story too but i think it just wasnt for me. I think its still a book worth checking out however if it sounds good to you!