3.75⭐️
🎲🧚‍♀️

#RollforRomance #NetGalley #Quercus Books

A great fun read, with a great twist, a classic romance story - slow stakes and fun side character, this story centres around of bunch of first time D&D plays experience their first game. The character interactions and relationships were fun and easy going, and all the characters were really likeable.

The twist in this tale, is experiencing the D&D story being alongside the contemporary story! Added a dash of fantasy to the story, allowed for a more immersive experience of the overall story and a concept I haven’t seen played out before!

A fun summer read!

Thanks to NetGalley and Quercus Books for this arc.

Dungeons and Dragons with romance? Yes please! The “geeky” set-up of my dreams!

For the most part this worked really well as both a fun romance and a bit of a fantasy side quest as we get scenes from both the real world and the D&D world that the characters play. A great combination!

Sadie and Noah were couple goals and their romance was sweet with great communication and sensitivity. Liam was a great best friend side character and D&D Dungeon Master. I liked the rest of the D&D friendship group and would love to read more about them.

Great for gamers, non-gamers and newcomers to D&D (I’ve never played it) who like a bit of romance and fantasy!

Roll for initiative - this book casts Charm Person on page one and I never made it to a saving throw 🫠🎲

I adored this book’s nerdy heart. Lenora Woods somehow made me swoon twice over the same couple thanks to the brilliant story-within-a-story format - one part real-life slow burn, one part fantasy-flavored D&D campaign romance.

Watching Sadie and Noah fall for each other both as themselves and as their in-game characters (Jaylie the Cleric and Loren the Bard?? I mean, come on 😍) was deliciously meta and completely addictive.

Sadie is a relatable hot mess, navigating career burnout and heartbreak with equal parts sarcasm and stubbornness (we love a girlie who has no idea what she’s doing but is trying anyway). Noah is the classic cinnamon roll disguised as a golden retriever in elf cosplay - truly, a walking romance trope and I ate it up.

Immaculate vibes, geekery, and pure joyful reading experience made it a total win.

If you’ve ever wished your TTRPG campaign came with a side of swoon, Roll for Romance absolutely deserves a place in your party 💖

This story follows Sadie, who is introduced to the world of D&D through her childhood best friend Liam. She discovers a new ‘found family’ at a time when she is lost and burnt out from her previous marketing job.

It’s a story within a story, with a bit of a twist as the story is written by the characters in the book and the lines begin to blur between real life and D&D character.

I thought this was a really clever concept to have two storylines interwoven seamlessly, and I think I could have rated it higher/appreciated it more if I was interested in D&D. There is a level of assumed knowledge on how the game works and I found myself quite lost and uninterested in the fantasy storyline.

This would be perfect for someone who loves either the romance or fantasy genre and plays D&D.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quercus Books for the ARC!

Huge thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an advanced review copy (ARC) of this book ❤️

When I read the blurb for this book I immediately knew it would be a good fit for me. I really love D&D and its capacity to bring people together and I think this book really captures that as well as the rush of that first session that makes you want to keep playing. It even included some of the memes that many players will have shared with their own groups and I thought this was a really nice touch. I found the overarching story of burnout and recovering from that with help from a group of friends really compelling and relatable. It was fun to see the characters develop in and out of the game.

I thought it was an interesting choice to portray the D&D campaign in the way that the book did and I thought the contrast between this more fantastical sections describing the game and the realistic sections describing the lives of the players worked really well. I think I would have preferred it if the book was a bit longer so we could really get more depth to the relationships between the characters and I think that pacing would work better for me personally.

That said, overall this was a really enjoyable read and I'd definitely like to read more from this author in the future. I think this story would work really well as a series so we could learn more about the side characters and have another installment of their campaign!

This book was just so much fun start to finish. I absolutely loved the story going between their real lives and their characters in their D&D game. You came to care about both sets of characters!

I liked how Sadie and Noah both had their own journey going on & Sadie was working through some trauma and realising her own worth.

I thought the D&D story line was brilliant too, I was so invested as to where their characters were going! The twists and turns, and the trials they had to go through had me guessing how high they were rolling! :D

Loved it, a fun, quick read. Perfect for a pallet cleanser.

This book is super sweet and cozy, the found family element was great and the side characters were especially fun. Noah was such a sunshine character and it was really fun seeing him and Sadie connect.

If you enjoy playing dungeons and dragons you will take enjoy this because the side story is the groups actual D&D characters adventure. It was so interesting because it felt like a fantasy story within the romance.

Spice wise this was about a two out of three 🌶🌶 it was a bit of a slower burn but the spice was really sweet and loving.

Roll for Romance is delightful and charming, the interweaving of both the d&d and real life romances were well done and this was a fun read for a Dungeons and Dragons nerd!

This book is deeeeeelightful!
I think many of us will have worked too much and forgotten to live, have looked for escapism, to be someone else and have space to figure things out.
If any of this applies this book is for you. I wasn't expecting to get as caught up in the D&D campaign parts of this book but I really felt like I was there with the players being surprised by the twists and turns. A super sweet book and one I'd recommend!

Found family and cosy romance and dungeons and dragons. What’s not to love?!

For me, it was heavy on the d&d but that’s the point. I can see that if you are not used to campaigns and a little of the lore behind these types of games, it might not be the romance you are looking for.

But if you want to give it a go, you love a little fantasy mixed with your romance, and want a cosy read, you will not be disappointed.

Thank you for the arc :)

Finally a book that is like a love note to a wonderful game.

It should be completely obvious that this book is based on Dungeons & Dragons, it's literally the underlying tone of the story, through the 'quests' Liam sets Sadie to help bring structure and focus to her time off, to literal game play - if you're not into Dungeons & Dragons, maybe give this one a miss, or be curious, give it a try and learn something new, you never know, you may get swept up in the fantastical game and find yourself a love match :D - just go in with an open mind and avoid criticising this book for being what it is - a tribute to a game loved far and wide.

This book is also a tribute to finding friendship as adults, learning how to play in a world that frowns upon fun, and discovering a new part of your personality that you didn't realise you had. I absolutely loved the feelings this book left me with.

How many times do you get to read a book that has a romance story in it perfectly co existing with a fantasy story?! I loved this book so so much.

The story follows Sadie who leaves her marketing job in NYC due to burn out and stays with her BFF Liam in Texas to regroup.
Liam is so lovely and supportive and I hope he gets his own book! Please?! Liam sets up a DND group and talks Sadie into joining.

We not only get to see Sadie rebuilding herself and discovering a found family but we get to see her character Jaylie going on a quest to rescue a stolen bride from an evil witch

This story is so heartfelt and warming and an absolute delight to read

As someone currently going through work-related burnout, this book was the warm hug I so desperately needed. Roll For Romance is all about rediscovering yourself, finding joy in the small things, and learning that home doesn't always have to be a place - it can be the people you share your life with. It reminded me that, sometimes, healing means stepping back, questioning the roles we've been playing in life, and taking the time to reconnect with who we are underneath it all.

I loved the way the story was structured, alternating between Sadie's day to day life recovering from burnout in the care of her incredibly supportive and thoughtful bestie Liam (giving her little daily "quests" to ease her back into life, ughhh my heart), and snippets of their D&D campaign with a group of local newbies. The way the campaign stayed distinct yet mirrored and supported Sadie’s real-life journey was so perfectly done.

Her growing friendships with the other group members, and her heart-meltingly adorable relationship with Noah, were so sweet and full of genuine connection. Everything about their dynamic felt gentle, respectful, and deeply earned. Noah in particular was such an interesting character - funny, warm, and social on the surface, but with layers of vulnerability that added so much depth.

This book reminded me how powerful kindness can be, and how love - romantic, platonic, creative - can play such an important role in bringing us back to ourselves.

Dungeons and Dragons anyone? This book legitimately consists of 90% Dungeons and Dragons with 10% of very light and vanilla, low-tension romance.
2.25

Roll for Romance
By
Lenora Woods

Release date 15th July

Rating 5 stars rating 9.00 CAWPILE
Who has ever sat a dnd table and have been flirting with the bard when you are unsure if it is you flirting or the characters.

Well if this has happened roll for romance is for you. This was such a unique way of telling the story with the players falling the same time as the character. Sadie comes to Texas after being burnt out by the hustle of city life, I felt called out with this, as well yes. Her best friend invites her to dnd with new players and there she meets Noah, the complete opposite to her.

I loved this book so much it was full of so much love and care and I was loving the dnd campaign mixed into it. I am not going to lie I would love just a book about the campaign as well because I am invested. You should know that this was always going to be something I loved especially when there is dnd is involved I am there with the story and this book gave me everything and more and I cannot wait to read more from this because I feel this will be a book I will be thinking about for a while.

This was cozy but also about jumping into your unknown and knowing that sometimes that is something that maybe that is just what you need. I know it reminded me that it’s okay to get lost in the story and even the time when you sit and think about what will happen next let it because that maybe just what you need to escape your reality and that is what we need to do.

So fall into the story… and the rolls navigate you how you take it. Let’s jump in shall we.

Thank you for NetGalley and quercus for allowing me to review this and I cannot wait for this book to find its people and known that I will be one shouting it from the rooftops.

Review going up today

Roll for Romance is a delightful blend of nerdy charm and heartfelt romance. Sadie, a burnt-out marketing exec, finds herself immersed in a small-town D&D campaign, where she meets Noah, a professional wanderer with a bard's soul. Their in-game chemistry mirrors their real-life connection, making for a slow-burn friends-to-lovers tale that's both cozy and captivating.

Highlights:

🎲 D&D Integration: The dual narrative of real-life and in-game interactions adds depth and fun.

💕 Found Family: The gaming group provides a warm, supportive backdrop.

🎨 Artistic Flair: The author's inclusion of book art enhances the immersive experience.

Conclusion:

A must-read for fans of contemporary romance with a geeky twist. Perfect for those who appreciate character-driven stories with a touch of fantasy role-play.