This is such a great book when it comes to romance and portraying an accurate game zero through the end of a campaign in D&D. Characters are all unique and provide something detrimental to plot growth. My only suggestion is to have the switching back and forth between real life and in the campaign to be transitioned better whether it be italicized or a transitional sentence. Would I read this again? Absolutely. Do I want a sequel? Heck yes. Still a solid 10/10 for me regarding plot, accuracy to D&D, and character development.

“𝓛𝓾𝓬𝓴 𝓲𝓼 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓼𝓮𝓮𝓴𝓮𝓻𝓼, 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓪𝓭𝓿𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓮𝓻𝓼, 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓼 & 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓭𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓶𝓮𝓻𝓼.”

ℝ𝕠𝕝𝕝 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕣𝕠𝕞𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕒𝕣𝕔 𝕣𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨 ✨

𝓐𝓾𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓻: Lenora Woods
𝓖𝓮𝓷𝓻𝓮: Romance/Some Fantasy
𝓣𝓻𝓸𝓹𝓮𝓼: D&D Campaign, Found Family, Pining/lots of Flirting, Burnout, Golden Retriever MMC, Small Town

🗡️𝓡𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰: 4/5 ✨

🗡️𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓜𝓪𝓰𝓲𝓬: Lenora definitely rolled with advantage on this one, such a lovely adventure filled with romance & magic. I was so shocked & honored to see this arc pop up in my email, I hadn’t even heard of it yet but was immediately so excited to start it! This book is so cute! I absolutely loved having both sides of this story since you got to go through the characters’ D&D Campaign as well as the regular story. Having a mix of reality & fantasy was so fun & kept me so invested & excited to see their campaign through while watching their character development. The subject of burnout is big in this, it was so relatable & really honored the struggle of finding yourself & your joy again. The characters were fun & easy to love, Noah is a big softy but boy does that man have game!!! Sadie is super relatable & it was wonderful to watch her find herself & her confidence again. Overall this was such an easy & enjoyable read that I always found myself excited to pick up.

🗡️𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓜𝓾𝓷𝓭𝓪𝓷𝓮: Ok I won’t lie the only thing about this book I didn’t love was Noah using a bike as his main mode of transport - fine & dandy for yourself, little weird for dates & valiantly “driving” drunk ladies home. I don’t believe for a moment she would have made it home standing on the back pegs the whole ride after drinking a lot without ending up on the pavement. 😂😂 But if that’s the only issue I have with a book I will take it.

oh my heart. my whole entire heart. this book!!!! sadie, i would love to be your best friend. noah, i would love to be more than friends. i felt like lenora woods stole my therapist’s computer and wrote this novel for me, about me? sadie getting fired because of overwhelming burnout? check. being forced to slow down and reconsider her “life plan”? check. being really into nerdy things and falling for the big, charming, loud, handsome guy? check and check. i felt so seen by this book, and it was so easy to get lost in the story. i haven’t thought about much else over the past few days. i loved how sadie had space to figure out what she actually wanted on her own, and how noah knew how to help ground her when she was thinking overtime. i also am so enamored with how we got to see sadie’s story unfold, while also being part of her d&d campaign!! the campaign blended in seamlessly with the main story, and i found myself anticipating both points of view. i highly recommend this book if you like d&d, if you think you might like d&d, or just want to try something a little new!!! all of my thanks to ballantine books and random house for consistently providing me with ARCS that are absolute gems. read this book when it comes out in july!!!

This book was such a fun read! I’ll admit that it took me a chapter or two to figure out who is who, but that is mostly because I have no idea at all about how D&D works. Once I caught on to which character was which player, the story just flew by. I love the romance, how easily all of the characters just meshed, the genuinely healthy and loving friend group. I mean, can we have more of that? Art was interwoven throughout the story so masterfully that you would think the author was an artist herself. This book was just pure romantic fun. It’s a must read for gamers, for nerds, for romantics, for anti-romantics, and for literally everyone in between.

This book was a solid three out of five for me, I enjoyed the setting and the inner conflict of the main character. I was initially skeptical about how a D&D romance would work but it added a lot of aspects of like self confidence and community through playing the characters.

I do have a few things I didn't enjoy as much, first of all being that I didn't think they were flirting up until the first half of the book I thought they were just being friendly. I knew they would end up together but I wasn't seeing the romance aspect until 48% of the way through.

I personally, while I enjoyed it at times, think the D&D gameplay scenes could use some work, it was hard to differentiate the characters from their game characters and get immersed into the world because it felt like there weren't enough like emphasis about the fantasy aspects? But that's a bit nitpicky because it's a game so idk.

I personally thought the writing style was strange at times and it pulled me out of the narrative. It felt like while the book was an adult romance, it was trying to hit the marks that make a romcom while under a YA lense. I felt like a lot of the scenes if you told me that was a teenager I would believe it because I didn't feel like they acted like regular adults (not taking about a lack of spicy scenes just in the mannerisms and conversations) not in the sense of playing the game but just in the way they talked and stuff? I just feel like until 48% of the way through the didn't hit any of the more common beats you see in adult romances and it made it hard to get invested.

I think the side characters could use some development. I liked them but I feel like I don't know them enough to be like yes this fictional character could be real.

Again, it was definitely cute but it just took me awhile to get there for the reasons mentioned above. Glad I tried something new, it was a fun palette cleanser and they were cute when they got together!

I have never played D&D and I have never wanted to more than after reading Roll For Romance!

Sadie felt like a friend so quickly in this book and as someone who has dealt with the burnout from an awful job, I just wanted her to flourish.

And Noah?! What a wonderful mmc!

Their relationship was so fun to watch develop. And I really hope we get to revisit this crew.

Thank you to Netgalley & Dell for this advance copy.

This was so incredibly cute! As a new-ish DND player I was super excited to see how DND played a part in the book and how it was executed and if a newbie like me could easily understand the references and it’s safe to say I wasn’t confused at all, I love how the DND story was interwoven with the actual plot of the book!

Sometimes we all need a cute and cheesy romance to give us a pick up and this sated that need for me. I love a good found family trope, and Noah is an absolute gem!

Really really cute read! I liked the way the D&D campaign was strung into the book as a story within a story. You got invested in both sets of characters that way and it was a nice blend of the reality and the fantasy. Was a really nice quick read!

This one is a Did Not Finish for me - but I wanted to say why. I really didn't like the writing style - it seemed SO YOUNG. I liked the subject matter very much and wanted to read more about people and Dungeons and Dragons but it really didn't do it for me. It seemed forced, stilted, and just poorly written. I was so sorry to be disappointed! I love D&D and would love more fiction set around it - but this was NOT it.

What a fun and unique story! I love the idea of our main character going from NY to Texas-this sort of thing also intrigues me in stories. I love the idea of two stories rolled into one and as a person who loves DND, I was excited to see it talked about and played throughout the book. I really enjoyed the romance itself. My critique would be pacing, it was a bit slow in the beginning but great concept!

I actually really liked this. I didn't know the format going in was going to have interspersed parta od the DND campaign/role play and it was perfect. I loved the level of pining, both characters were endearing, and I can't say enough how much i liked the lack of a third act breakup. Noah was emotionally intelligent and I appreciate the tension in the book being less about their relationship and more of coming to terms with the life Sadie thought she wanted, but maybe isn't what she needs.

This was a real cutie of a story, I swear. You might mistake the first bit as being heavily on the slow side but once you make it the story just absolutely blossoms. I enjoyed the main characters and how the stories just collided the entire time. The Dnd references and how easily it can cause someone to finally feel like they belong! All in all very cutesy romance and adorable storytelling.

Am I biased to liking this so much because it's about one of my favorite hobbies (DND)? Maybe. But I absolutely loved this and how it's basically two cute romance stories for the price of one. The story jumps between the IRL characters in classic romcom structure, and the story they are playing out in DND told in the tone of a fantasy novel. It's so fun and seamless and unique, I loved seeing where the DND story was headed and how when the players changed and grew IRL, so did their characters in game.

It also explored two of my personal fantasies: 1. DMing a game all the players are super invested (cries a single tear) and 2. Developing a Romance in-game that then transfers to IRL feelings (swoon).

Our FMC Sadie has moved in with her bff after getting extremely burnt out and leaving her job at a big marketing firm in NYC. Spending the summer in a smaller town without the pressures she's put on herself all her life, she hopes to discover her next steps. Her bff/now-roommate convinces her to join a new DND group, and through her character she learns to find the bravery and confidence she's been lacking to pursue her passions. She also begins flirting with another player in-game, and that chemistry leads them together.

Highly recommend for lovers of nerdy love!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

After being let go from her marketing job in NYC, Sadie Brooks moves in with her best friend Liam for the summer in Texas. Liam, an avid D&D player decides to set up a game for after few of the local first time players. Enter Noah Walker. Noah is a sweet burly man with a man bun and a penchant for adventure. Sparks are flying between the two from the very beginning, and Sadie has to navigate figuring out what to do once the summer ends.

I felt like I could relate to Sadie’s indecisiveness and anxiety surrounding big decisions and the feelings of always needing to know the next steps. I think her inner dialogues were helpful in understanding her character and the way in which her mind works. Noah was an absolute breath of fresh air. He’s sweet and thoughtful, and just when I thought I couldn’t love him any more than I already did, he went a step further and made me fall even harder.

As someone who loves reading fanfiction, I was gushing over their little moments, and I will say bother further on the matter because you’ll just have to read it to find out for yourself. (READ IT). It truly feels like we, the reads, got a two books for the price of one between the actual book and the way the D&D game was narrated to us. The D&D game itself was riveting and intriguing. As someone who’s never played a game of Dungeons & Dragons, I found it easy to navigate and understand the way the game was presented and found the adventure itself to be captivating!

Was a bit cheesy at times? Yes, but I’ve always believed that a little bit of cheese can be a great addition to a good dish. The found family had my heart feeling so full it could burst. There were a few formatting issues when it came to the text messages and online forums, but other than that, the book was amazing.

Thank you to Netgalley for sending me an ebook copy of this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was my first time reading a DnD novel and it was really good! The storytelling was great and I enjoyed both the book's story and the DnD campaign's story.
For a romance, it was low on spice, I'd give 🌶️🌶️ for a couple mild open door scenes. VERY slow burn.
I really liked how the DnD campaign helped open the MC's up and learn more about themselves! To me that's such a neat advantage of the game and it was nice to see it played out so perfectly!
If you've never played DnD before, this book is very approachable! I'd say as long as you have half an idea of what the game is, you'll be able to follow along just fine. :)
This book would be PERFECT for a book club! Check out the last few pages for reader notes, group questions, and some fun food and drink suggestions! 😍

I absolutely adored "Roll for Romance" by Lenora Woods. I'm a fan of D&D and was curious how that would work with this story and I honestly think my favorite parts of the book were reading through the campaign! I loved how the campaign story was intertwined in a way that you felt like you were playing D&D with the main characters. I loved all the characters too, felt like people I would be friends with in real life. I appreciated the romance as well, and enjoyed that it wasn't all about the romance and spice.

3.75!
I enjoyed the writing style of this story! Nerdy romances are my favorite and the camping scene was 🔥 I don't play dungeons and dragons myself, but my brother is an avid player and I love the storytelling aspect of the game. This was very well done!!
thank you dell for the earc!

Roll for Romance by Lenora Woods
3.75 ✨
4/5🌶️

𝘛𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘴
🔥 slow burn
🎲 small town
☺️ found family
🥹 friends to lovers
💜 cinnamon roll hero

This is my third time reading a DND-style story and I love them. I have to say it's incredibly different in its category. I honestly have never met anything like it. It seamlessly creates two distinct worlds which is super cool!

Sadie is completely burned out from corporate work and at a crossroads in life, but her luck soon changes when she moves from NYC to a small town in Texas and joins her best friend's D&D campaign. Sadie is unsure of many things, but as her relationship with Noah unfolds, she slowly realizes she has to choose between a gloomy familiarity or exciting uncharted territory.

Sadie and Noah's tension was amazing and I love the DND characters. The DND portion was phenomenal. If you go into this and are not doing a lot about D&D, I think that's fine. Just know that the immersive part of the world-building is amazing. I believe that learned about how the game works and everything. On top of that, it might want you to deep dive into how DND works but it feels like a mini, romantic fantasy story inside a story itself.

I have to say the book was going amazing until maybe the last 100 pages for me. It was a little too heavy on the spice but that's just my personal preference.

Thank you, Netgalley and Random House Publishing—Ballantine, for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

For someone who knew nothing about dungeons and dragons, this was a fun way to learn! Full of romance, healthy relationships, and fun, Roll for Romance is perfect for nerdy romance lovers of all kinds!

I cannot over exaggerate how much I enjoyed this book! It had me kicking my feet at the romance and biting my nails during the game play. As a self proclaimed nerd who attends ren faires and loves all things fantasy this book was *chefs kiss*. Lenora, you blew this out of the water. Please please please write more books for nerds like myself!