This was a really sweet romance about learning to reconnect with family, try new things, and be dedicated to your passions. I wish this was a story available in my youth to support my nerdy self as both a theater kid and a gamer!

Oh goodness! This book was so fun. I haven’t read many fake dating in YA, especially with Dungeons and Dragons involved. SO fun! I adored Riley and Nathan and everything about this book. Huge thanks to the publisher for the Netgalley approval.

This was a fun book. I enjoyed the characters and the drama. I also loved seeing D&D in a book. I also enjoyed the sub plot of the rehearsals for trying to get the musical back in session. Riley is a confident female lead and I enjoyed the story.

Dungeons and Drama is nothing but cuteness! This is a charming YA romcom of fake dating, Broadway meets Dungeons & Dragons in this nerdy love story.
Riley is a character that took me a while to warm up to. There was something about her that rubbed me the wrong way but as the story went on the more I started rooting for her. Riley is a character that has a lot of growth. Nathan is a cinnamon roll, sweet. He works at Riley's fathers, game shop. Right away you can tell these two will play well off each other. It develops nicely, you get to see their feeling grow.
I do have to say this is a story of teens who have passions. Riley her school spring musical and Nathan's Dungeons & Dragons. It's nice to see.
I wasn't sure how the relationship between Riley and her father was going to go. But I felt that it was done well. It starts rocky and then you see the more she spends time in her father's world the more she understands him.
Overall, I did have fun reading this but I had a hard time connecting with Riley, and seeing the world from her made it hard for me to be drawn in as much as I was hoping for.
This was my first time reading anything by Kristy Boyce and I felt that she does a good job at writing characters relationship development. That was the part I liked best was seeing the character's relationship grow. It was a fine read. I will try another book by her.
If you like nerdy fake dating with family drama and a dash of enemies to lovers; then you may like this read.

Thanks to Netgalley and Delacorte Press for the ARC of this!

Omg! This was SO adorable. I felt a rollercoaster of emotion. I loved the fake dating, banter, and fun supporting cast.

We see a lot of books about girls who hope to make it big as the star of the show. I love that Riley doesn’t want center stage. Her love is behind the scenes.

However, her love for the stage gets her in trouble, and her punishment is, basically, constant parental supervision. Which means afternoons at her dad’s game store. She’s not a fan of the store or, really, her dad, since he split from her mother. She doesn’t think he’s very interested in her life.

There are some of the usual tropes: hate to love, fake dating. We pretty much know what to expect. But the tropes are executed well.

The teenagers act like typical cliquey teens. Riley looks down her nose at the RPG crowd, and Nathan doesn’t seem to have much use for her dramatic flair. One of the things I really loved about this story is how the groups learned to work together. Once Riley realized RPGing was really just acting, she embraced it—and brought in a friend. Both groups are enriched by their ultimate mingling.

Riley finds a whole new support group from the regulars at her dad’s gaming store. And she learns a lot more about her dad. They develop a closeness that had been lacking from their relationship.

Another think I really appreciated is the storyline of kids advocating to keep a program they love in their school—especially an arts-based program. So many programs are cut, and Riley works really hard to remind school administrators of the value of the drama program she loves. But she can’t do it alone—friends from both of her groups come through to help her make it happen.

The adults in this book are not painted as clueless or oppressive, just typical parents and teachers. Another plus!

Possible objectionable material:
Dungeons and Dragons like RPG and LARPing. Same gender couple. Teenage hijinks—including sneaking behind parents’ backs. Parent/child drama. Divorce. Parental health scare. There might have been some minor cursing, but I didn’t make note of anything in particular.

Who might like this book:
D&D fans, drama lovers, romance fans, coming-of-age fans. I think either gender can appreciate the story. The lexile level is lower than the suggested grade range, and that's okay--sadly, many teams are not where they should be.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book is also reviewed at https://biblioquacious.blogspot.com/2024/01/speaking-of-colliding-worlds.html

This book!!! It gave such feel good vibes! The found family was the cutest and the opposites attract/ fake dating romance though very YA felt so high stakes! It was a kicking your feet giggling type of book even though the romance was so innocent. I could not have loved this book more. It is enjoyable for all ages not just a YA audience. Thank you to NetGalley for sending me the ARC copy!

This was such a delightful read. I honestly had so much fun reading this book, and I just absolutely flew through it. I'm just a sucker for a fake dating romance, and this book just executed that really well. I really liked seeing Riley and Nathan reluctantly become friends and then just fall hard for each other. I really loved the way it was developed throughout the book, but I'm not going to lie there were some moments in there that hurt my heart. But hey, those moments are quite typical of fake dating romances, so I'm just doing this to myself at this point.
Another aspect I really loved in this book is the friendships. I really loved seeing Nathan and Riley's friend groups merge, and I really liked how that was done, and it felt really natural. The scenes with all of them together were just so incredibly wholesome and fun to read. I especially loved the D&D sessions. It really brought all of these character's different interests together into one hobby, and it just made for some realy delightful moments.
I did think this book was going to be a bit more focussed on Riley's relationship with her dad. I mean, there definitely was some developement there, and that storyline did make me cry, but I just expected it to be a bigger part of the story than it was. Riley's character developement was also great though, it kind went hand in hand with the developement of her relationship with her dad. She did get on my nerves at a certain point because she kept hard pushing people away, and then blaming the other person for them not being closer. It was just really annoying to read. She also started off the book as incredibly selfish and self-centered. It was hard for her to see anything that did not fit perfectly into her own interests/world, and that made it a bit annoying to read from her POV in the begging. However, like said before she does go through quite a bit of character developement in the book, and I truly like how that was done. So I did end up quite liking her towards the end. So yeah, this book was a lot of fun, and I definitely recommend it.

Man, I love a good cutesy, nerdy YA novel. This was my first Boyce book, and now I can’t wait to read more. D&D and theater was such a fun combination, and I loved Nathan and Riley. It is also very clean, so this is a book that you can recommend to most younger audiences. Give me all the fluff!!

4.5⭐️

OH!! I loved this book so much! I am not a theater nerd or a D&D player but I was a nerd in school and I absolutely loved this book. It was so cute and sweet. I've already recommended it so many times!

Loved seeing Riley and Nathan and their friends come together, even though they thought that they had absolutely nothing in common initially and realizing how much they actually do.

This was a very well written book by Kristy Boyce! I never read anything by her before, but I will definitely read her books again. (Was this her first book? If so I TIP MY HAT TO YOU!! Well done!) I know this book is a Teen/YA book but I don't care. A good book is a good book.

As a mom of 4, I... didn't like Riley so much, at first. I know kids can have this complex thinking they are invincible (I was a crazy teen once too) but Riley taking the car, driving so far, without a license is a HUGE thing. She didn't seem to understand that. Also, I didn't understand banning her from a school activity considering it's what she wanted to pursue as a career. The rest I loved. The mom's connection with her kid, the dad trying to make amends, good kids just trying to be good kids, ugh. I loved it.

I will continue to recommend this book for it's feel good coziness.

Dungeons and Drama was such a fun ride! Fake Dating is one of my favorite tropes, and while it made for a predictable plot at times, it was a great comfort read. As a life long lover of theater, and a fledgling Dungeons and Dragons player, I loved seeing the two merge in this story. D&D has a reputation for being only for the most dedicated of nerds, but it's truly a game for everyone if you take the time to try it! The pop culture references kept me laughing, and I loved the behind the scenes of working in a game shop. Gamers really are some of the kindest people out there! Overall I rate this book 4/5 and would call it a great cozy comfort read when you need something low stakes!

I am an avid D&D player so finding out there was a romance book with D&D as a big part of the story sucked me in. I loved this book. The characters were cute, I enjoyed reading about them and going from friends to more. I also enjoyed all the D&D story points. I'll definitely read more from this author.

this was cute but also somewhat of a miss for me? the fmc was kind of… annoying to me. like she was SO upset at her parents about getting punished but like… you stole your moms car without your license? and drove like a pretty far distance? you SHOULD be as punished as you are? and i just didn’t really feel their chemistry at all, honestly. but i did LOVE the game store environment because my boyfriend and i both go to our local game store so the vibes of it were spot on and i loved that!

This book genuinely made me want to learn how to play Dungeons and Dragons, which is saying something since I've spent years dodging people's attempts to convince me to learn how to play Dungeons and Dragons.

The blurb promised hijinks and the book delivered! I love a good fake dating plot, and this was one of the best I've read in a while. (They actually got involved in each other's lives! So refreshing!) I'm also a sucker for complicated parent/child relationships in YA, so Riley's relationship with her dad had me all *heart eyes emoji*. Would recommend for fans of Emma Lord, TTRPG lovers, or anyone who's ever been called "a bit much."

Super cute and super fun. I really enjoyed all of the quirky characters and I really enjoyed the storyline.. thankfully my husband is a table top gamer, so I understood some of the stuff but I think even if I hadn’t it would’ve been OK.

*I received this book as an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) through NetGalley. I received this copy free in exchange for my honest review.*

This book is a love letter to anyone who loved their high school theatre program and boarder gamers everywhere. Dungeons and Drama was so sweet, it just made my little theatre heart happy. I honestly, have nothing bad to say and just want anyone who feels slightly out of place in highschool or found their love in the arts to read this.

Okay, I stayed up way too late reading this book, so if this review sounds a bit wacky, can we agree to blame Kristy Boyce for writing such a great book? Ha. Honestly, though, I had such a great time reading this book.

At the very beginning, I wasn’t sold. Riley has just gotten in trouble for taking her mom’s car without permission (and without having a driver’s license) and driving hours away to see a touring company perform a musical. Her parents are shocked, and she’s in big trouble, but Riley doesn’t seem to get why it’s that big a problem. I worried that she was going to be a shallow character that would be hard for me to connect with.

Instead, as I turned pages from one chapter to the next, I couldn’t help connecting with Riley. I laughed along with her as she jumped into the Dungeons and Dragons campaign. I loved her passion for bringing back her high school musical program. Even in her fake relationship with Nathan, Riley couldn’t help thinking about how her behavior would affect Nathan and his goal to get the other girl’s attention.

If you’re a fan of the fake dating trope, I definitely think you’d enjoy this book. It’s got plenty of silliness, loads of theater moments, and so many sweet, swoony exchanges as Riley’s feelings for Nathan start to change.

As a D&D girl myself, I love seeing the game on the page, and I loved the way that players with different approaches to the game made an appearance in the book. Seriously, this book was such a fun read. Fans of Serena Kaylor or Eric Smith will enjoy this one.

This is really cute! It speaks to interests that mean a lot to both Teen Me and Adult Me--the transformative and inspirational power of RPGs and community/school theater--and the fake-dating-turn-real-dating (not a spoiler, really, as the outcome is obvious) between Riley and Nathan is both fun and sweet as their relationship develops. I actually wanted more details about the side characters, as I found them charming and unique.

This book was so adorable!

I loved that this story was such a celebration of nerd culture of all forms, and I especially loved that it specifically involved two areas of nerdom that I am personally involved in - musical theatre and board games!

This book felt so authentically young adult. I swear, the voice of this main character WAS me as a teenager! I loved how high stakes the conflicts felt - it made it feel like so perfectly teenaged. I also loved the way these characters found their way to each other. It was such a great use of the fake dating trope!

Overall this wasn't the best romance I've ever read, but it was PURE FUN! I truly enjoyed every second of my reading experience and would recommend this to romance readers of all ages.

Fantastic fake dating YA romance!!! Loved Riley, LOVED Nathan, loved the nerd culture. Truly a great book that made me giddy & kick my lil feetsies!