First the name of the book it's so long but I understand that, but the thing I don't like the most it's the plot, I know that they are a group of friends struggling with love but some of the things that happened they didn't handled it preety good and sometimes that made me a little akward and uncomfortable

I would like to extend my gratitude to the author, publisher and NetGalley for sending me this advanced reader’s copy in return for a fair, frank, and honest review.

I really wanted to like this book being a story of LGBTQ, as a gay woman there are not many out there so this appealed to me. Sadly, I just could not get into the story at all. Additionally, I found there was too much sex in it, and graphic sex at that. I did not feel anything towards the characters in the book. I think the premise sounded fantastic, but it just did not work for me at all.

ARC provided by NetGalley for an honest review

This was a book I was really, really excited about when I saw it. Unfortunately, the further into it I got, the less excited I was. I should have known it wasn't going to be a great ride when the author deadnamed a trans character for seemingly no reason. This may be a queer-centric book, but it did not feel like a queer-friendly book. This was written for a very specific (read: white male) queer audience.

The concept is so incredible, but the book itself failed to deliver much of anything. The main character is hardly a relatable "gateway" character to get you into the world, it felt like the author had a checklist of 'Things Millenials Relate To' and shoved them all into this one flat character. None of the other characters really stuck out to me, I can't even remember any of their names, and again it felt like the author was going down a checklist of identities and quirks and specific things to include then throwing them into random vessels and calling them a character. A lot of parts felt over-sexualized, and not in an embracing sexuality/sex-positive way, but more like the stereotypical sexualization of queer characters. On top of that, the pacing was slow and the stories were hard to follow, it was honestly just hard to get through.

I'm sad this book didn't come close to meeting my expectations.

Welcome to Thursday night role playing club. Celeste is the dungeon master; Valerie, who works at the store, was roped in by default; Mooneyham, the banker, likes to argue; and Ben, sensitive, unemployed, and living at home, is still recovering from an unrequited love. This book follows their ups and downs both in real life and in game. As life gets messy, they may decide the group just doesn’t work anymore. Growing up is the worst.

I 100% picked this one for the title and its cover. It looked like it’d be fun, and it didn’t let me down.

The story follows the only queer DnD group in Cleveland heights, their ups and downs as friends. Some relationships end and some begin, and the members may decide they’ve just outgrown each other. And all the while, they meet on Thursdays and jump into a fantasy world where they can be heroes.

If you’re a DnD fan or just want to read more queer stories about friendships as well as romantic relationships, def check this one out.

It’s an excellent balance of fantastical adventure plots and real life drama. I liked how the story jumped back and forth and we got to know the characters’ alter egos as much as we followed them. It’s like reading a DnD novel light. The perfect addition to your Pride month reading list.

Did not finish.

I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did. As a queer Ohioan who likes RPGs, the title obviously stood out to me. I read 35% of the book, but I just couldn't get myself to fully engage with the story. I liked the concept of having sections of the story being the character's D&D game and an all LGBTQ D&D game is realistic and my personal ideal. However, I did not find the overall story very engaging or the characters very likeable.

I wanted to like this, but found it hard to get into and the characters unlikeable. I want to see more stories of DnD and different people coming together over a shared love of something; this one just missed for me.

Where to start with this mess of a book. I’m trying to read a diverse amount of books and this what not what I was looking. I thought it would because I love reading about fellow nerds. I know deep down, there was a good story in there. I kept reading thinking it was going to get better but it didn’t.
A book about role playing gay nerds, has everything I would want in a book. I just wish I liked it more.

I'm queer, I have social anxiety, I wish to play D&D with queer people (the last time I played, it was with a group full of cisgender heterosexuals, and it did not end well), I need friends. So yeah, I really liked this book. I don't really read many NA books, as I'm still a young adult, which makes the books of this genre way more relatable, but it's nice to read a NA once in a while, especially when it isn't R18 rated, like most of the adult books I come across. This is a very good pick-up-reading if you're a queer person who needs friends, loves the found family trope, and plays (or would like to play) D&D.

The Cleveland Heights LGBTQ Sci-Fi and Fantasy Role Playing Club is a slice of life narrative about a group of tabletop gamers and their interrelationships written by Doug Henderson. Released 21st April 2021 by the University of Iowa Press, it's 252 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats.

I am a lifelong gamer (and proud geek). This book ticked a lot of boxes for me. The setting is clearly one which is familiar to the author and there's a lot of potential here. He's an adept storyteller and there are glimmers of good ideas which never quite gel. The book reads like a young adult/NA offering but is in no way appropriate for younger readers. There are adult themes which wouldn't be appropriate for younger readers (threatened/actual homophobic violence, sexual situations, rough language, etc). I also admittedly had trouble engaging with any of the primary characters. They were all too caricature-ish or unpleasant.

The problems with the narrative and plotting all feel surmountable with some ruthless rewrites and careful trimming (the entire vampire subplot was fairly superfluous). The author is undoubtedly a creative soul and has an interesting and valid voice. Although this particular book fell flat for me personally (way too many cheap sexual "jokes" and innuendos), I am interested to see how his storytelling develops in future.

Three stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

1.5 stars. Oh boy. So two things about me: I'm really gay and I really love D&D. (Well, I've never played it myself but I'm obsessed with Critical Role, which counts, do not @ me.) So a book about a bunch of queer nerds in a role-playing club? I wanted to love this. And I really think I could have, because somewhere in the middle of this mess is a really cute, campy, silly, but heartfelt story. But this needed some serious doctoring.

First, this wasn't the book's fault, but the copy I received was really badly formatted in terms of the line and paragraph spacing, which made it really difficult to read. Secondly, the plotting was all over the place. There were several threads of the story that just came in at awkward times, plots that got too much or too little screen time, a few points that were just nonsensical/unneeded, even in a light-hearted romp of a story. The whole vampire thing was unnecessary, and didn't ever work into the story in a coherent way. The characters all had arcs, but some were given more precedence than others, and none of them felt particularly fulfilling. The little bits of character development weren't very satisfying, and even though some things changed for some characters, it just didn't feel that way, beyond the obvious. There are a few romances, but none of them, not even the main one, made me feel anything in particular. The story spread wide enough, I guess, but it felt really thin and shallow.

The subplot within their D&D campaign was fun? But again, disjointed and a bit all over the place. The silliness got to be a bit too much for me at times. I did like how the scenes played out, and how their real life discussions/arguments bled into the game sometimes, but reading it as a whole... it just wasn't cohesive. I didn't mind that not all the rules and terms were what I'm used to (they could have been using another edition or homebrew rules) but I just wanted there to be more structure.

There's also a super clumsy moment in the vein of, 'hmmm, how do I let readers know this character is trans EASY I'll deadname her almost immediately.'

I liked this story's potential more than I liked anything about the way in which it was executed. The bones of something good are here! I love D&D, I love silly, I love campy, I don't mind a lot of innuendo and comedy, but none of these really got pulled together in a way that made for a satisfying story, which is a pity.

DNFed. There were some major problems that I just couldn’t get past including: use of a slur for Romani people and dead naming a trans character.

Thank you for providing me with a copy for review.

For now, I’m unfortunately going to be DNFing this book. I may try to read it again in the future (reading the final copy instead of the ARC) but for now I’m putting it down. This might just be a case of it’s not the book, it’s me because I saw lots of people enjoying this. I wasn’t really connecting to the characters the way I wanted, but I did appreciate the dungeons and dragons aspect so maybe I will try to pick it up again in the future for the dnd aspect!

I would like to see more books with characters who play dungeons and dragons, so hopefully there will be more books like that in the future!

I wanted to love this one, but it fell a bit short of my expectations. Goodreads is asking me to add more characters so I'll say I also expected more out of the characters and the game itself.

As a DnD player and a member of the LGBTQ+ community I felt like there would be a lot that would appeal to me however I found the book hard to get into and while the premise was interesting it just wasn't for me /

I received an eARC copy from University Of Iowa Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Actual rating 2.5 stars

The Cleveland Heights LGBTQ Sci-Fi and Fantasy Role Playing Club is a book in which I saw great potential. I enjoyed the overall positiveness the book and its story emanate. However, I think I expected more, and this book somehow didn't take me there.

The story introduces many diverse characters, shares insight into their jobs, financial background, emotional aspect, hardships, sexual orientation, etc.). In all their differences, they found each other enjoying D&D. Through playing the game of D&D, we get an insight into everyone's current life issues, bringing together the D&D storyline and the actual real-life events. I enjoyed the story-within-the-story concept, which made me curious to know more about some characters' lives.

I felt the book is very relatable. The story is very LGBTQ+ focused, but the core story presents a full rainbow flag of situations and feelings across the board. We have Ben, a character who makes mistakes, is unemployed and still lives with his parents. Then, we have Mooneyham, who is a well-situated banker, still closeted and demonstrating his fears by being loud and aggressive to some extend. The whole array of behaviours, both in private and in public, is located between the pages of this book. I loved the dynamic of the characters and their friendship.

However, there is always a reason behind the low rating.

Some of the characters felt unnecessary in the plot. Their appearance was, in my opinion, nothing more than a mere distraction from the main characters; they did not add any value nor weight to the story itself. The development of their importance and overall point of them being present did not come through. Was that an introduction to a sequel? I don't know.

Speaking of unnecessary characters, the whole vampire substory felt absolutely out of place. What was the point of the vampires here; how are they related to the Club? I must have missed the explanation, but I am fairly sure I did not read one. Was that yet another introduction to a sequel? I again don't know.

Another thing that boggled my mind overall was just the plot itself; why was it so messy? Why were there so many subplots? There were so many things mentioned, so many ideas, just so many thoughts, all put together, and none of them (or maybe only a few) reached their full potential. I understand the "that's life, unexpected, weird, messy, complicated, take it or leave it" point of view, but this plot's development here was a bit too much to follow from time to time.

Praise for the title TITLE and the cover; I am in love with the design!

Trigger Warning: Homophobia, Violence, Sexual Content, Racial Slur

This is a great book that introduces an idea for a great book. There are some positives--I liked the story within the story and a few of the characters interested me enough to want to know more about them.
I wanted to love this book, but I didn't. It seemed a bit scattered, rushed at the end, and didn't develop any of the characters within the club enough to make it a story about the club as the title suggests. The romance(s) was awkward and seemed dumped at the end to attempt to have a point for the story arc involving those characters.
Overall, I see potential but was left feeling lacking and disappointed.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for the dARC of this work in exchange for my honest review.

*I received a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review*
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EDIT: Unfortunately, time hasn’t been kind to how I feel about this book. I think the issue is that I wanted to like it a lot more than I did, but I just can’t get over the deadnaming of our trans character & the really unnecessary over sexualisation of, like, everything in this book despite this being a negative stereotype. The characters, now that it’s been a while, are pretty forgettable. It probably doesn’t help that this was one of the first books that I reviewed and so didn’t know how I would rate books going forwards.

Dropping my rating to 2 stars to reflect this.

—

Overall, as both a member of the LGBTQ community and an avid D&D player, I found this book to be a pretty enjoyable experience. The cast were diverse and appealing and naturally, as I fit pretty nicely into similar boxes to the cast myself, I found some things they did pretty relatable - especially Ben giving his character a big, long, convoluted backstory!

That being said I would like to know what edition of Dungeons and Dragons the author plays and how much WoTC and their copyrights affected how the gameplay was written, because while it was a lot of fun, the written gameplay sections didn’t read like any D&D game I’ve ever played - for example, while I know that it needed to happen for plot progression, a single nat20 probably wouldn’t realistically lead to the action that spurs the player’s quest in 5e, which is the only edition I’ve ever played. Perhaps I’m too into D&D personally and this is therefore more of a personal problem for me, but I found it a little jarring and it took me out of the story a little.

I’m also a little concerned about the use of Celeste’s deadname early on in the novel - to me, it was clear that Celeste is a trans woman the moment it was established that Ben has known her since “before her transition”, and it wasn’t necessary (and could be considered pretty harmful) to then bring up her deadname. It concerns me that this could alienate a potential trans audience, especially as Celeste is treated in a positive and respectful light in every other instance in the novel.

I’d also like the mention that, even though no actual, on page sex occurs, there are a lot of sexual scenarios and jokes etc. both in the D&D games and in other out-of-game scenes (say, the concert). I have mixed feelings about this, because as fun as some of it was, a lot of people overly sexualise both queer people and queer spaces, so it would have been nice to show the club as a place where queer people can gather in an entirely nonsexual scenario.

That being said? The Cod & Piece is the best name for a tavern/gay bar I have ever heard and I’m still laughing about it now.

3.5/5 Stars

First, thank you to NetGalley and University of Iowa Press for an e-galley of The Cleveland Heights LGBTQ Sci-Fi and Fantasy Role Playing Club.

This book is perfect for lovers of RPG and D&D! I loved the descriptions of the game play and how the players' personas during the game were fully fleshed out. The characters' real life personalities were descriptive and vibrant as well. I enjoyed watching the relationships progress throughout the book.

Overall, this book was a quick charming read with just the right amount of quirkiness.

Since I have only received, read and reviewed a very few ARC's yet, this definitely won't sound as impressive as I wish it would, but I still have to say that this has been, by far, the best ARC I have had the chance to read.
I enjoyed how there were scenes from the fantasy world of the roleplay inserted between the "regular" scenes. I loved how every character was unique, different and interesting, and I loved how they all had their own story. Yes, it was still obvious and easy to tell that Ben was the main character, but the other characters weren't pushed into the background and into the shadow just so Ben could shine. Thing is, Ben didn't shine, actually. He is a very flawed character, who makes mistakes, bad decisions, and has his fair share of a messy life - but that's exactly what makes him so likeable. He is a nerd, he's unemployed, has no real relationship experience, live with his parents... And honestly, I don't think I've ever related to a character as much as I did to him.
I loved the characters' friendship dynamic. I loved that they're the type of friend group where they don't hang out all the time, where they don't know every tiniest detail about each other, but they still know they can count on each other and would stand up for each other.
The story was slow, but that suited this book well, and what I especially liked is that even the "bad" characters had good sides too, they weren't just there so readers could hate on someone. You could actually understand what they do and why they do it.
My only problem with this book was that it was too short, and it ended right at the best part. Please, please, please, someone let the author know that I would absolutely adore a sequel. Or several sequels. A whole series. Seven books like Harry Potter. Pretty please just give me more of these adorkable geeks. Thank you!

DNF at 46%

I really wanted to like this one. I am queer and I play D&D so I was super excited about it!

Unfortunately it fell really short for me. One of the first signs that this book and I weren't going to get along was when the narration dead named the trans character, but I see that a lot with Cis authors so I was like if that's the only time/the worst thing, then I can deal...

But unfortunately there were just a lot of things with this book that didn't work for me.

For one thing, none of the characters felt like they had any real depth. Part of this might have been because there were so many, but even Ben, who I feel like we spent the most time with in the half of the book I made it through, didn't feel really all that developed. They all felt like archetypes rather than fully created characters. Also they all just really annoyed me.

Another thing that frustrated me was a lot of the dialogue felt unnatural. There's some great writing in this book, some really good descriptions when setting the scene that truly bring things to life, but the dialogue was often awkward and didn't feel like how people really talk. Also some of the writing in other sections felt like a completely different style to those scene setting bits and it was very jarring.

The last thing that frustrated me was the D&D itself. Speaking only as someone who plays, not as someone who has ever been a DM, I felt like Celeste wasn't really the best about DMing. I also found it weird when they let Huey join them in the middle of a battle?? Like that is a lot of information to throw at a first time player and I feel like "why don't you watch for a bit and if you're still interested we can work on a character/how to introduce them next session?" makes way more sense.

I don't know. This book just didn't feel fully formed to me. It was a lot of ideas thrown together and none of them really felt like they got the proper attention.