It's crazy to me that Dungeons and Dragons is making such a resurgence, but I can definitely see this book being popular at my library! I would definitely recommend it to my patrons for sure.

Thank you to Random House Children's Delacorte Press and NetGalley for the ARC of this novel. This was a book for me as it combines several of my nerdy interests including board games and musicals. Enemies to lovers is such a cute trope to me and I did enjoy Riley and Nate's relationship evolution. Snappy read with a lot of nerd content that I really enjoyed. 4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was a light read that doesn't take itself too seriously. The story's pacing was solid, but I felt like the fake dating aspect got really messy and confusing. While that is arguably a part of the trope, it seemed even more convoluted in this particular story because the love interest was into another girl and trying to get her attention at the same time. The reason behind why these characters decided to fake-date felt contrived as usual; even though the main character's reason to have a fake boyfriend seemed somewhat reasonable, the love interest agreeing solely to make his crush jealous felt way too convenient. Overall, while this story was not very memorable to me, learning how to play Dungeons & Dragons was, and I'm glad I finally understand that game!

A cute enemies-to-lovers, fake dating romance! Riley is being forced to work at her dad's gaming store as a punishment, and she is not happy about it or her new coworker Nathan. After an embarrassing run-in with her ex-boyfriend, Riley pretends her and Nathan are an item, and offers to flirt with him to make his crush jealous if he keeps up the ruse. Soon she has joined his Dungeons and Dragons game, and to her surprise, she likes it. As her and Nathan grow closer, she starts to wonder how much they are faking and how much is real.

This is a cute little rom-com, perfect for gamers and musical theater lovers!

Dungeons and Drama was a delight to tandem read/listen to!

Riley has big dreams in the world of musical theater. While those dreams have been semi-dashed working in her dad's gaming store, she won't let the setback stop her. She's destined to save the school musical with a little help from Dungeons and Dragons player Nathan.

Dungeons and Drama is my favorite Kristy Boyce to date! I enjoyed the relationship growth between Riley and her father as the story progressed and the musical theater references. Nathan's character arc was pretty relatable along with Kristy's descriptions of Ohio roads. Every time I read a book with Dungeons and Dragons, I gain a little more respect for the game and intrigue. While some of the miscommunication was irritating in the last half, I ended the book with a smile on my face. Eva Kaminsky's narration was spot on and made the reading experience enjoyable!

Thank you PRH Audio and Random House Children's for my alc and earc in exchange for my honest review.

This was so freakin adorable! If I could give this a millions stars, I would in a heartbeat.

Everything about this book was perfect. The characters were incredible. The romance was so freakin sweet it melted my heart. I cannot and will not stop gushing over this book.

If you’re looking for a sweet nerdy romance to start off the New Year then I highly recommend picking this one up on January 9th!

Thank you so much to Delacorte Press and Netgalley for the e-arc!

This was such a fun read. I liked that it included a lot of different "nerdy" elements they are fully enjoyed. The MC is able to challenge her perspectives and the fake dating hijinks are a lot of fun. I think this was an excellent read! It was charming and heart-warming all around.

An adorable and engaging YA romance about 2 seemingly opposite teenagers. I really enjoyed this one! The pacing was perfect, the characters were nice, and I just loved Nathan. The development of Riley and Nathan's relationship was perfect, and I'm so impressed overall with this. I highly recommend!

This book was absolutely the perfect little YA romance. I would have loved to have had this book available to me when I was a teenager. The characters are wonderful and very related due to being well written. The crossover between nerd boys and theatre girls is fantastic and warmed my heart. It has so many things in it that just made it a wonderful read. I had never read anything from this author but I am not extremely interested in checking out her other works!

Thank you to NetGalley + Delacourte for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!

I was hesitant to request this book because I know as a 30=year-old woman, I'm not exactly the target audience for a YA book, but damn if this book didn't have me grinning from ear to ear practically the whole time!

Riley is your typical theatre gal and Nathan is your typical gamer boy, which makes this fake dating, opposites attract story so sweet. As a theatre girl who is dating a gamer boy, I can say with confidence it's a recipe for love — and that's exactly what unfolds between Riley and Nathan.

The pace of the story was so good — I read basically the entire book in one sitting because I couldn't put it down. I thought the author did a good job of juggling the different relationships and tying up any loose ends before the story was over. It's also majorly clear that the author has a great deal of knowledge about musicals and games, and I loved recognizing things as I was reading! But my favorite part had to be the care with which Riley and Nathan treated each other, learning to support one another's passions and genuinely being excited for each other. Truthfully, it made me want to take an even bigger interest my boyfriend's hobbies, so maybe I will give Dungeons and Dragons a go next year!

This book felt as sweet as some of my adult contemporary romance novels, and I felt it was written well overall. I definitely plan to recommend this book, especially to anyone who is part of the younger crowd because I think it's a lovely stepping stone if you're looking to get into romance but you've never read any adult romance before.

This book felt as sweet as some of my adult contemporary romance novels, and I felt it was written well overall. I definitely plan to recommend this book, especially to anyone who is part of the younger crowd because I think it's a lovely stepping stone if you're looking to get into romance but you've never read any adult romance before.

High School, Fake Dating Romance Opposites Attract
I read as an ARC

I don't usually read YA books but this just looked to be super adorable and I was not disappointed. It was packed with witty banter, fun friendships, teenage angst, the healing of broken family bonds, and lots of miscommunication.
I truly felt that the premise of this story was extremely fitting for a high school romance. The authoe kept the kids, as kids! There were not any unrealistic, super adult, moments that make you think the kids are not in fact kids. It was super age appropriate.

I liked Riley's passion for her arts.
I liked Nathan's level of responsibility even though he had every reaaon to act out

Excellent Read.

Fake dating is always a winning trope for me, and this was no exception! Riley and Nathan’s chemistry was so palpable and everyone in their lives except them knowing how into each other they were was adorable. I loved that they introduced each other to their hobbies and wanted to share those parts of themselves with the other. Truly a wonderful, lighthearted YA romcom!

As punishment for taking her mother's car without asking, Riley is now forced to work at her father's game store so he can keep an eye on her. While Riley is mostly frustrated because it limits her time with her friends and her hobbies, she is also she blames her father and his store for her parent's divorce. However, as Riley spends more time at the store and with her father she begins to realize she may have misjudged a lot of things - including fellow classmate and shop employee Nathan.

Overall, this is a fun book that will appeal to folks interested in musical theater, romance, gaming, or some mix of the three. The geeky elements are slow to build, with Riley having an open disdain for them at the start. This is a book about discovery and learning to appreciate something new to you. It has a fun, diverse supporting cast that provide laughs and insight at key points in the story.

This is a book that crosses a few genres. While at its core Dungeons & Drama is a romantic comedy for teens, it is also about family, reconnecting with a parent, and going after your dreams. One of the major plot points that runs through the book is the distance and near animosity between Riley and her father. Through this plot point the story touches on a tough topic that I don't see brought up often in YA novels that aren't 'issue' titles. Overall it does a good job of addressing the distance between Riley and her father, though the resolution and realizations are not as fully fleshed out as they could be.

Perfect for teens that like a little bit of seriousness with their run romance.

Dungeons and Dragons is perfect for anyone who’s a fan of tabletop boardgames and romance! I absolutely loved this book.

Thanks to Netgalley for this ARC! spoiler free—- this is was such a fun light read. The best part aside from the romance is definitely the friend group dynamic

This read was so cute and charming! The premise is Drama Club meets DnD with a slice of fake dating, and a sprinkle of family drama. The characters were fun and believable (which is a big deal- it's so hard to find teenagers in lit that actually act like teenagers), and the story was engaging. The best part was the setting of the game store - it was very well fleshed out, and provided a unique backdrop for some familiar tropes. I can see any theater kid who picks up this book getting very interested in DnD, and this book introduces the basics in an appealing and fun way. The only weak points were around the illness plot line, it felt a bit tonally inconsistent. All in all, a lovely quick read!

Thank you to NetGalley, Delacorte Press, and Random House Children's for this advanced copy! You can pick up Dungeons and Drama on January 9, 2024.

This book deserves ALL THE STARS. It was no thoughts just vibes, and I was here for it. I loved the dynamic between several characters, whether romantic, platonic, or familial. The banter and tension between Riley and Nathan had me literally giggling and kicking my feet. They're just too cute, and I loved seeing them slowly melt the icy barrier between them.

Was this book slightly cheesy and predictable? Of course. But it was executed so well, in a way that had me laughing with the characters rather than at them. That might not be everyone's favorite flavor of rom-com book, but if you love the antics of fake dating and grumpy sunshine dynamic, you'll love this one. Riley and Nathan reminded me a bit of the couple from the Disney Channel Original Movie "Geek Charming" -- if she was a theater kid and he was a D&D gamer.

But if you're in the mood for a hilarious and adorable YA rom-com, PICK UP THIS BOOK! It's 210 pages of delightful, heart-warming shenanigans.

This book is the perfect adorkable romance I needed in my life.

I appreciate how well developed all the characters and subplots were. Everything flowed together with a natural pace and worked despite how much was actually happening in the story. The fake dating trope was a riot, and I love how the relationship between Riley and Nathan progressed. The tension between them was perfectly balanced and the banter was so fun. The awkward cringe at times was so relatable.

The side characters, D&D campaign details, and musical references were spot on as well. You can tell the author has experience playing D&D and being involved in stage productions so it didn’t feel forced or like she was trying to be trendy with her characters’ hobbies. The concept of a drama girl getting involved with D&D and enjoying it because of roleplaying is hilariously perfect. I absolutely love it.

Dungeons and Drama is such a fun, cute YA contemporary romance for fans of Geekerella and Foolish Hearts. It has renewed my hope in YA contemporary books.

I seriously loved Dungeons and Drama so much. Everything about this was just so cute and I absolutely LOVE the cover.

This book is so adorable. I love the title, the cover, the concept, everything. What really stands out to me after reading another new YA romance is that the story is so well-developed, and there are subplots that keep it interesting. I don't like when books are <i>all</i> about the romance without anything else going on, and I love that the main character and first-person narrator, Riley, has other thoughts besides the conflict with her ex-boyfriend Paul (whom I LOATHE) and the guy she's pretending to date to make Paul jealous, Nathan. There's a whole conflict with her school shutting down the musicals they do every spring because of budget cuts, and as Riley is a theater geek, it's important to her to keep the musicals going. There's also a conflict with her parents as Riley lied to them and stole her mom's car and drove without a license, and her punishment is to work at her dad's game store, which is torture for her as she doesn't care about board games, Dungeons and Dragons, or any of it. Her parents are divorced, and she's super close to her mom but not to her dad, and this creates other issues in the novel.
All in all, this book is so cute, funny, and well-developed. I really enjoyed reading it and getting to know the characters. I didn't want it to end! The banter is there, and the human stories that I love. There are some cheesy parts, and I don't like when YA authors make their characters swoon over every little touch, but other than that, this book is so good, and I'm glad I got the chance to read it.
I recommend this book to fans of YA romance with other things going on besides the love story and to people who love Dungeons and Dragons and other such games. I love Boyce's back story--that she and her friend joined a D&D game even though they knew nothing about it and ended up <i>both</i> marrying guys they met in the game! So cute, and I love when authors use their own experiences as a starting point for stories. It makes everything feel more authentic.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.