This was such a cute read!!! I loved every minute of it and the chemistry between the two main characters. Highly recommend!

High 4 stars! ✨

This is the way I imagined Better Than the Movies should have been like: a near-perfect young adult romance, with just the right touch of pop culture references. I adored this book. It's a nice short read but perfectly paced, there's the perfect amount of things going on + side character storylines. I really loved Riley and Nathan. I really enjoyed the overall vibe of the book, from the nerdy game side to the theater geeks, the sweet, spice-free romance, and how it even touched on divorce and parent relationships. I can't wait to let my own kids read this book someday!

I LOVED this book, I found myself hooked reading from beginning to end and seeing Nathan go from "I'm annoyed by you" to "ACTUALLY I really wanted to kiss you since the day of the dice" had me swooning and honestly, this guy did SUCH a good job playing fake boyfriend, I am HERE for it. We need more cute books like this honestly, with uniquer concepts like people falling in love via Dungeons and Dragons (such a good idea honestly!)

A nerdy and light-hearted younger-YA contemporary novel! I understood most of the Dungeons & Dragons and Theater references. Be honest -- who wouldn't leap at the chance to work in a game-themed bookstore and play TTRPGs after shifts? Especially if you could play a Bard who really had to sing! This fun book had me seriously debating asking my Game Master if I can play a bard in our next campaign.

I was also really thrilled that even though the fake-dating-jealousy scheme is the A-plot, there was minimal-to-no romance content. Which makes this novel perfectly appropriate for the younger end of the YA readership bracket.

Content warnings: parental illness, heart disease, brief discussions of dieting, brief hospital scenes

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Children's for the eARC. I read this book via an audiobook from my library.

I received a digital arc from the Publisher via Netgalley though all thoughts are my own.

This was such a sweet book and I loved how many friendships were formed over rounds of D&D. While I do not know a lot about theater nor D&D, I found myself able to follow along easily with the gist of both and how they are important to celebrated along with other games and artistic paths that people decide to pursue.

Riley and Nathan appear to come from very different interests and yet it is soon revealed that they aren't so different after all.

Riley finds herself working at her Dad's game shop after she is grounded for going to see a Theater production with her best friend as she wasn't supposed to drive there nor be out after curfew. Then she finds out that they may be halting theater until the Spring which is not something Riley wants to have happen because she wants to some day become a director on Broadway.

Nathan works at Riley's Dad's shop, is part of a D&D campaign and is crushing on a fellow game player.

Riley hatches a plan of fake dating after her ex-boyfriend insinuates she's not over him and she hopes to help Nathan win the affections of the gal he's interested in. Cue the adventure, laughs, some miscommunication and so much sweetness.

Riley soon finds herself enjoying working at her Dad's game shop especially getting into character for D&D while also trying her best to get her school to not cancel theatre. She may be just a bit in over her head but she's determined to somehow find a balance of the two.

The fake dating trope was adorable and I love how they were having fun along the way and were supporting each other through difficult times. When someone close to Riley ends up in the hospital on an important day, she makes a choice that could affect her chances of making it to Broadway.

Luckily she has friends, many in areas she didn't realize who may very well come along and be the help she so very much needed which I absolutely loved!

I highly recommend this book whether you're a theater person, D&D or are just here for the fake dating.

Trigger warnings: health scare, hospital stay

Thank you to @netgalley for this advanced copy in exchange for a honest review!Riley, a theater enthusiast, dreams of becoming a Broadway director and hopes that her high school’s stage productions will help her get there. But when Riley gets grounded for taking her mom’s car without asking, she is made to work at her dad’s gaming store as punishment. There, she meets Nathan (D&D geek) who she doesn’t get along with. That is until she runs into her ex. She decides to make him jealous by telling him she’s dating Nathan, while also planning to help the girl Nathan has a crush on notice him too. But of course, real feelings soon get in the way, and Riley realizes that maybe role playing isn’t so bad, when you’re with the right person.This was a super cute young adult story! Riley and Nathan are pretty well written characters, with relatable high school struggles. I quite liked how their relationship progressed. I also liked Riley’s interactions with her parents and friends.I’m begging on my hands and knees for you guys to read this swoony book. You won’t be disappointed!

This was so cute! I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it.

I received a free copy of this book thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children's; all opinions expressed are exclusively my own.

Ooof, this is a tough one for me. On one hand, I'm a big fan of Dungeons & Dragons, gaming of all sorts, and musicals; this theoretically should be right up my alley. However, the depictions of the culture of the "geeky" kids felt... dated. It felt very familiar to me in terms of a young adult in the late 90's - early 00's, but didn't ring true to how I hear the geeky/nerdy/gamer kids talking today in terms of what is most popular or accessible to them (Monty Python is not nearly the cultural icon it used to be from what I see on a regular basis from teens and young adults.) Also, the game shop is populated almost entirely by men and boys, except for the "rival" female character (who is portrayed in an incredibly negative way, but more on that later) which while that might have been the vibe back in the day, doesn't ring nearly as true now.
Not only was that element somewhat jarring, but some depictions of the Dungeons & Dragons experience really rubbed me the wrong way. The main character and her best friend joined the campaign currently being played by the love interest, his friends, and the "rival", and they lament how the rival doesn't consider what's "best for the group" in her playstyle, while the main character almost exclusively acts as a support to the love interest. This is FRUSTRATING. Reading the afterword, it seems likely that this is based on some real life experience, which makes sense if that's how the author played herself, but relegating the "good" female characters to support roles and making the "bad" rival the more active really does feel unpleasant to read. Not all women RPers HAVE to be front and center any more than every female character in fiction must be depicted as a "badass", but this combination is a little too harsh to me considering how the main character views the actions of the rival within the game.
Specifically for those who are curious: at that point in the game, the rival character [playing a rogue] was pushing the group to pursue some ruins described by the Game Master instead of the trail the GM obviously wanted them to follow. This is not unusual player behavior, nor is it wildly selfish in and of itself. The only issue I could see was that one of the male characters said he wanted to go to town instead, and the GM didn't intend for them to investigate the ruins. As a GM myself who runs a lot of games for a variety of people in a lot of contexts, if you expect your players to only follow the exact paths you have set in your mind, you're setting yourself up for a world of disappointment, and if you're going to dangle something as juicy as abandoned ruins in front of your party, you really shouldn't be surprised if they take you up on it.
All of that said, the story is on the whole cute and sweet, and I think it satisfies the requirements for a solid YA romance. There's a lot of real warmth and tenderness involved in how the characters are expressed and how they relate to each other, and especially in their depiction by the author. It essentially reads to me like someone making a story out of real events that happened 20-30 years ago, and while I caught those nuances as someone alive and engaged in "geek" culture at the time, I'd be curious to see how it hits with a younger audience. Definitely not a bad read, but it was really hard for me to enjoy in the beginning because of some of the characterizations and stereotypes. I might recommend this one to one of my own Dungeons & Dragons teen players to see if it hits them differently; if so, I'll post that here as well and potentially change my rating.
For sensitive readers, this is a pretty mild read with romantic contact limited to things like hugging, hand holding, and kissing. There are some difficult family relationships (but things are discussed and resolved) and some toxic romantic relationships. There is no violence or gore outside of some vague descriptions of fantasy combat.

I wanted to love this one because it sounded like it was perfect for my nerdy little heart. And if this had come out when I was a teen it would have been. But I did enjoy it. But I loved the hero Nathan more than Riley, Nathan was the type of guy that I would have fallen for in high school and college. However, Riley the heroine got on my nerves for most of the book who I didn't think deserved Nathan. And while I don't play Dungeons and Dragons or other role playing games myself I'm familiar enough with it because my dad plays and has played for a big chunk of his life.

I have to say this one would be perfect for teenage bookworms, drama club members and other nerdy girls. It's also perfect for those nerdy girls who want a walk down memory lane.

Dungeons and Drama by Kristy Boyce, 304 pages. Delacorte Press (Random House), 2024. $12. Lgbtqia, the show must go on
Language: PG (13 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
After getting caught driving home from seeing Waitress with her best friend—without a license—Riley’s punishment is to work at her father’s game store for several weeks. Now on top of homework and her unwanted job, the new choir teacher announces that the school musical has been canceled. And Riley can’t let that happen.
Riley is the definition of “if there’s a will, there’s a way,” which gets her into a myriad of scrapes. I loved that Boyce doesn’t focus on any one aspect of Riley’s life, but, instead, shows how this trial in her life affects her hobbies and her friends and her family—because that’s how this messy life works. Throughout the book, Riley learns how to reconcile herself to the changes in each of these areas of her life, and her story feels both relatable and adorable.
Riley and Nathan are depicted as White on the cover, Hoshiko is Japanese, Anthony is Latino, Jordan is Black, and Sanhi is Asian. A couple of guys in the DND friend-group are gay. The mature content rating is for mentions of alcohol (including underage drinking), illegal activity, kissing, and innuendo. The violence rating is for a joke about running into oncoming traffic.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

Ohhhh how fun and lighthearted and cheesy and nerdy!! What a sweet read!

At first I didn’t love the mc, Riley. I’m not really a fan of the over the top theatre kids (in books and real life, lol), but she started growing on me when she started playing D&D. I liked her a lot more once she started having more of a open mind and stopped being so whiney and snooty.

Once Riley got better, I flew through the rest. I LOVED the game store - what a fun setting!! My husband loves that type of place.

And I’m always down for fake dating. ;)

I loved this book!!! It was such a cute read + I devoured the whole thing in 24 hours. I loved Riley and Nathan so much, they were so cute💕 I went into this book blind so I had so much fun with all the little turns it took to get to the HEA. I found Riley to be super relatable, at least to my younger self lol. But I loved her determination and her overwhelming amount of love she had for everyone and thing she was involved in. I loved the little fake dating moments between Riley and Nathan, and loved how Riley became such good friends with the D&D boys. I was not expecting the part with her dad at the end, so it had me near tears. But seeing al her friends pull together, it really showed how loved and appreciated Riley was to everyone around her. I am completely obsessed with this one and loved the writing as much as the characters. It's a good light, fun and easy read for anyone that enjoys a good YA book!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was a very fun and adorable YA romance. I am always a fan for a good rom-com and this one was great. I liked the opposite attracts trope between the nerdy D&D player and the preppy drama student. Whether you have ever played D&D or not, I think you will enjoy this book.

Dungeons and Drama caught my attention, because of the Dungeons and Dragons element, but also because it features fake dating. That is one of my favorite tropes. Both of these elements were a lot of fun in this story. The author did a great job referencing things that people familiar with the game understand, but not too much that someone who doesn't know Dungeons and Dragons would become lost.

Riley was a great main character. She was very passionate about musical theater (so much so she got herself grounded by doing something she wasn't supposed to to see a show). I love her talking about it and that she just seems to be herself. While grounded she had to work at her father's store and that created a family story line I really enjoyed. The relationship with her father wasn't the best before this and I think it brought them closer together and made her realize he cares more than she thought.

The Dungeons and Dragons game with Nathan and his friends didn't take over the story either, but actually helped her theater loving heart a few times as well. I loved them talking about their characters and Riley really enjoying herself. When the fake dating came in, it was a lot fun. Nathan was genuinely a sweet guy and it was great seeing them slowly actually start falling for each other.

Dungeons and Drama was the perfect mix of teenage drama, romance, family, and having fun. I'll definitely be reading more by this author.

This was the cutest book I've read in a while!! The characters were super cute and the romance was so wholesome and innocent. I would definitely give this to the teenagers in my life that not only love cute stories but that also love Dungeons and Dragons.

5 stars 🌟

Thank you to Random House Children's and Delacorte Press for the arc through netgalley, and Get Underlined for the finished copy in exchange for an honest review!

I absolutely fell head over heels for this book, with such high hopes going in I hoped so desperately that I would love it, and luckily it lived up to all expectations! In the reading world, I feel as if I've seen a few more stories around that are being written about roleplaying games or Dungeons & Dragons and it has made my DND player heart so happy. I was even more thrilled when I read the author's page at the end of the book, because it stated she found DND in high school as well and ended up marrying her Dungeon Master (DM) and my boyfriend is our DM. I thought that was so fun, and made me even more appreciative of her writing this romance.

From reading this story, it's so very obvious that Kristy Boyce knows her stuff with DND even if I hadn't read the author's note at the back. There are a fair amount of terms in this book that are presented to the reader, and as a player, I recognized all of them, but if you were not a player it would not be overwhelming at all. Boyce doesn't go into a ton of the actual complexities of the game, this story is more about the benefit of the game in making connections and memories with friends which is such a heartwarming theme. I've made my best friends playing the game since my boyfriend introduced it to me, and I'm forever grateful to have my favorite people play with me.

Beyond that, the moment that Riley stepped into her dad's game store I wanted to be there so badly with her, it sounded so cozy and welcoming. The game store was in the front, with a gaming room towards the back where people gathered to play games and obviously Dungeons & Dragons. The community aspect and support from the people who were regulars at the store were just as heartwarming as the time Riley spent playing the game. It was basically a real-life version of found family and one of my favorite aspects of the book.

Riley was such a fun main character, there were a few times she sort of drove me bonkers or I was confused about her decisions (aka the very first decision we're introduced to from her character) and yet it was very hard NOT to root for her. Especially as she spent more time at the game store and came to understand how important it was to other people, just as theater was important to her. She is also one of the most motivated and successful main characters I've read in a young adult book in a long time. When she puts her mind to something, she actually really accomplishes it.

Nathan was the perfect romantic interest and no one can tell me otherwise, even if he wasn't exactly the person I was envisioning prior to starting this book. He really is sweet and cares a lot about his friends and the game, something that can be seen through so many of his actions. But he's also a bit of a grump at times, something Riley uses to her advantage to mess with him. Just trust me that there are so many cute scenes between them and that I was in love with him so fast.

The romance was done SO well in this book, fake-dating/forced proximity and enemies-to-lovers are my favorite tropes and to see this intermixed with DND as well was so much fun. Riley and Nathen begin fake dating so that they can make Riley's ex-boyfriend leave her alone, and a girl Nathen likes jealous. Quickly, at least to me, it becomes apparent that they share a lot of the same values and really hit it off, and they fall for each other as they play in-game as well. I wish there had been a little more flirting in character as that would've been fun to see, and something I am definitely prone to as my boyfriend is the DM, but it was still so lovely. I think they ended in a good spot as well, and the classic "third-act breakup" actually seemed realistic in this instance. It still wasn't my favorite as I kind of hate that there always is one, but it didn't bother me as much because it felt realistic. <spoiler> The moment that absolutely sold their romance for me was when he bought her dice to play with and she painted her nails the color and design of the dice, SWOON. </spoiler>

Everything about this story was exactly what I hoped for, and it makes me really hopeful that more people write about Dungeons & Dragons, as it was so heartwarming to read about it as a player. I definitely recommend this cute little romance and I hope it gets all the love it deserves.

[TW: parental divorce mentioned/divorced parents, absent parents, cheating mentioned, health scare and hospital visit]

This book was bound to be a viral hit from the moment it was published, and sure enough. I have seen this adorable adventure story everywhere I turn, except my library! That's because this book has been so popular among young adult patrons. Whether you like romance, or TTRPGs, you will love this story.

Purchased for my high school library. My students love this author. I won’t see this book once it is in and processed. It will pass from hand to hand never making it into my return box, only to the checkout counter to switch people responsible for the copy.

such a sweet and swoon worthy romance. also so much angst! both of the characters were so loveable. i love seeing things like d&d and just ttrpgs in literature

I really enjoyed this book! It is a quick, light-hearted read that is a lot of fun. I loved the musical theater references and the Dungeons and Dragons as well. Riley's growth in her relationship with her dad is a good look at growing up and maturing.