This was...a strange book. I chose to read this book because I love books that include representation and I’m also an avid dnd fan. I probably went into this book with too high expectations, I expected the parallels between the real world and the fantasy world to be neat and clever. Perhaps a touch of magic there. What I got was some okay Dnd storylines (although waaaay to sexed up for my liking), some quite unlikeable real characters and a plot that...honestly, there wasn’t really an overall plot. I suppose the main plot was between Ben and the new guy Albert? But I couldn’t find myself rooting for them. Then were a bunch of subplots, Moonyham and his coworkers, Valerie and Polly and the vampires. None of them got a proper resolution in my eyes, especially the vampires? What was the point of them?

Overall, this book was disappointing, which is a shame as I feel like the idea had a lot of potential.

This one was a miss for me, unfortunately. Though I was excited about the premise, and enjoyed the time spent with the game characters, the real-world characters seemed one-dimensional. Ben is sad, Mooneyham is mean, and we don’t learn much about the other characters at all. I would try another book by this author, but this one is not my favorite.

The members of The Cleveland Heights LGBTQ Sci-fi and Fantasy Role Playing Club offer readers a glimpse into what it's like in their meetings. The club is comprised of five core players: Ben, Celeste, Valerie, Mooneyham, and new member Albert. They each have sections of the story that follow them, which helps the reader get to know what each member contributes. Even if you're not a big fan of D&D, Henderson provides enough information to help you follow along when we do enter the world of their game. It would have helped the storytelling if there had been a bigger impact on the real world and game play scenes to help connect them. There were enough allusions to make you feel like there should be more of a connection at least, which is why I went with a four and not a five. Ultimately, Henderson does present a cohesive story and characters that you want to root for.

I wanted very much to like this book, it hit all my geeky checkboxes, but sadly, it was a miss for me.

The premise is solid, and the characters are full of possibility, but the plot and character development just didn't seem to get anywhere. I can see where it was trying to go, but the whiny protagonist, constant sex-references (it was basically an early 2000’s ebaums world video in here) and the subplots that dont go anywhere made it hard for this story to shine. I am usually a fan of “books about nothing” that prove to be a little bit about everything, but this one just didn't meet the mark. Granted I have written exactly zero books, so maybe I am missing something, but nonetheless I am putting this one in my “don't recommend” pile.

I loved the way the author did the RPG portions of the book. They blended this game into the story and wrote it as if we're actually happening instead of "they played D&D and fought about what to do next."

The main character was a bit dramatic, but in a believable way. The interactions between character felt genuine, but I did feel we could have explored more with Valerie and Celeste.

The LGBTQ aspects of the book seemed forced at first. The author seemed to be yelling "look we're gay!" It got more subtle as it went on and overall I liked the book.

I'd recommend this to all your RPG gamer friends and your nerdy gay friends, as well!

This was wonderfully written and incredibly descriptive! It had a story within a story and I didn't want either of them to end. Seeing characters who were so human and so relateable going through their everyday lives was so enjoyable. Its just a lovely, lighthearted read that really made me smile.

I hope that Doug Henderson writes more of these, because I will happily sit down to read more stories about Valerie, Celeste, Mooneyham, Huey, Ben and Alfred exploring the depths of Dungeons and Dragons, and seeing how they grow and mature as people.

Loved this book. Liked the characters and I also liked the storyline for each character. It was fast paced and an easy read. I feel like this book will do well with young people because of the different characters and LGBT + representation which we need so much more of it in books.

There was a lot I liked about this book. It was fun and fast paced. I really liked having both the real-world story line and the in-game one, especially when the players would invariably metagame, just like in a real campaign. I loved seeing D&D queered the way it was in Celeste’s game and the narration around the game play felt very realistic. The real-world topics that Mooneyham and Ben and Albert dealt with are relevant to the young adult queer community and it was great to see them in a work of fiction. Also, the ability of D&D to bring together people who otherwise might not be in the same social circles was well reflected here.

However, as a D&D player, I would have liked to see the mechanics of the book’s game better reflect the current D&D rule set. But the problem I felt, and the reason I had to knock off some stars, was the under-utilized vampires. I seemed like I was missing the last 1/3 of the book or something and not all the story lines got resolved.

Over all this book was enjoyable and definitely worth the read as a queer ttrpg-er.

As a lesbian D&D player. clearly this book was made for me in mind. However, I wasn't a fan. Every single character is either unlikable or boring. I thought Ben was whiney, Mooneyham was a dick, and Albert was just kind of there as a romantic interest. As this was written by a gay man, I understand the focus on other gay men but I feel like Valerie really fell to the wayside and the whole vampire subplot seemed pointless (I am honestly not even 100% sure I understood the explanation for it, if there even was one). This book is so sex-focused, it's a turn off. I do think we LGBTs should be able to talk about sex just like straight people, but all of the sex comments were too much. Even the D&D campaign was about an orgy ritual and sex magic. I didn't love the portions of the book that were the Dungeons and Dragons campaign narrated; I think that it worked better to have the characters describe what they were role playing rather and honestly the story of the campaign wasn't that exciting. There were also a few mistakes when discussing D&D. Bluff is not a check you make in D&D, it's deception. Points also don't go into linguistics, only ability scores, and languages are learned because of race and background. I would go so far as to say that I actively disliked this book, which I am really sad to admit because the concept seemed so perfect.

As someone who's never played a ttrpg before (but does love gaming) this book was a gamble and it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The feel of this book brought back memories of movies in the 80's centered around high school, growing up and slowly moving into your adult life. I liked the mix of characters and the slight nerdiness that surrounded them, they came across as realistic.
The writer handles different topics like coming out, first love, discrimination and treats the characters with respect while also leaving the reader with a satisfied feeling at the end. The balance between the characters felt a little off for me personally...it seemed like Ben and Mooneyham had a more fleshed out character with growth towards the end of the book, while Celeste remained very superficial and Valerie had a little more depth but it did feel like she hadn't gotten as much attention as the two boys.
Nevertheless, I recommend this book to anyone who likes reading about new adults and their adventures. In real life and game life.

*** An ARC was provided by Netgalley in exchange for a honest review. ***

I'll admit I'm a bit of a geek, I enjoy conventions, and role playing, and dungeons and dragons. So when I saw the title of this book I thought "heck yeah, this is my jam." And ya know what? It really was. Sometimes I read fandom books and it's just so obvious that the author is trying to jam every single nerdy thing they can in there and it's honestly annoying, but honestly this just felt like a Friday night with my friends. I especially love Valerie, she's so funny and kind of self-aware. Like some vampire dude yells at her and she's just like "bruh." She's wonderful and I love her. Mooneyham is great too, like his intro is just bursting into the room and calling everyone fudge nuggets and I could not stop laughing. Although Valerie is my favorite character, I liked Mooneyham's story the best out of all the characters. And Ben and Albert were cute as well, I thought they had good chemistry. This was a really cute book and if you like dungeons and dragons and other nerdy things you should definitely check this out!

A unique story about a group of friends and their struggles in love. I enjoyed the good characters and fun plots.

76/100, 4 stars
Every Thursday Ben, Celeste, Valerie, and Mooneyham meet up at Readmore to play D&D. A new player Albert joins the group. Ben is living in a basement and reselling collector's items online. He's sweet and dorky but not my fave. Valerie works at the store the game is hosted at, she plays a bard and starts a rivalry with the vampire roleplaying group. She's my favourite, I liked her personality and wished we had a little more of her.
I didn't think I would like Mooneyham at first, he seemed like the kind of asshole rules lawyer I hate in my own game but I grew to like him. All these characters are distinct and well written.
Celeste didn't make too much of an impression because she doesn't really have a conflict like the others, but I liked her and related to her as a DM :) Though honestly the way all the characters acted reminded me of my own games, superstitions about lucky dice, the unique frustration of trying to teach a new player who isn't all that interested and just wants to hang out with their bf, forgetting what's in your inventory and not realising you have really useful stuff on you, etc~ not exactly writing or plot-related stuff just small details and references made me happy.
This book reminds me of things like LARPs the series or The Guild (which is what I was hoping for when I saw the title and read the description), where you'd think the story is about the game but its actually about the players and their relationships and the game affecting and paralleling things that happen in real life. I love how the awkward out-of-character dialogue comes through in the in-game scenes it's one of my favourite things with these kind of books/shows.
I read it in a day which is unusual for me with anything other than an audiobook so I can say with confidence the book is well-paced and doesn't drag on at all.
I don't know how much someone who doesn't play any ttrpgs would enjoy this but the book is written in a way where you don't really have to understand the game as it's not the main focus. There are personal conflicts for the characters that all coincide into one story thanks to the game. I am a prude so some parts were...not for me-so that's the only negative I have and I know that's just a me-thing so take that with a grain of salt.
The ending made me unreasonably happy, I was so worried about how things were going to end when the ebook said 99% but it all came together nicely.