This is a great second book in a YA romance I would highly suggest!
The kids in the book own their likes and make solid friendships. Exactly the kind of relationships I would want my own daughter to read about! Which is why I am going to suggest this book and the first for her to read! Just so wholesome and funny! Great charecters and wrote so authentically to what life is like!
I would have loved for this to be more interconnected with book one but that is the only thing I can think to improve it!
Such a fun good read! Loved having an ARC copy!

This book was so adorable. I've fallen out of love with the YA genre for the most part because the DRAMA of the characters is just way too much to handle. But this one had a good mixture of teenage dialogue and drama without being too over the top. I loved the chemistry of the D&D group's members. And it just made me want to find a group of people to learn D&D with together.

I really enjoyed this book, it was was just as fun and cute as the first one. They are similar in theme and can be read as standalone since the characters of Dungeons and Drama are not in this one. It follows Quinn and her family as they move to a new area to be closer to her grandma and how she is trying to make new friends at school. She gets with a group that livestream's D&D games and they click instantly but they have a rule to no date members of the group. Which becomes a bit of a problem because she is very into one of the members, Logan.

What I really liked about this book is that even tough there is the romance aspect of Quinn and Logan trying to keep their feelings at bay to not mess up the group dynamic there are other relationships that make the story too. Her relationship with her grandma is very sweet and funny. How she feels accepted again by the D&D group and the friendship she forms with Kashvi too. How her relationship with her brother develops as they learn more about each other. It was very nice to see it was just not centered on the romance and also how the characters acted their age. Definitely wholesome, light YA that brings me back to my time in school and how I would have made this books my personality.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's for this ARC, all opinions are my own.

__ I was graciously given this arc on netgalley by the publishing house. __
Kristy Boyce does it again! As an adult I was hesitant at first about a teen romance. Book 1 stole my heart. This book is no exception, and equally as good. The character depth, found family, and romance plot flow effortlessly. If you’re looking for a wholesome romance for yourself or someone else this is a must read. It was bingeable and the nostalgia of youth it brought was a perfect way to end 2024. I am so happy to add this to my e-book tbr and share with my kids as they grow up. A timeless relatable tale.

4⭐️

I was kindly provided with the ARC of this book by NetGalley and Random House in exchange of an honest review, thank you!

Ahhhh, last ARC of the 2024 and it was one of the cutest books i ever read 🥹 when i saw the cover I wanted to read ASAP, and when I was dive in the story…. It was sooo sweet and made me want to wish I had my teenage romance 😭 I don’t usually read YA romance anymore because reading teenagers or young adults makes me feel too old for that 😂 but this book was too good to not read

Definitely gonna read the first one 🙂‍↔️

Dungeons & Drama has a special place in my heart since it was practically the only book I could pay attention to and that could make me smile after my grandma passed. To then see Quinn's relationship with her rebellious and boisterous grandma bloom into something special throughout Dating & Dragons was so heart-warming. One can only hope to stay that cool in their seventies!

This book was just as sweet, nerdy, and swoon-worthy as its predecessor. I blew through it in matter of days. I just couldn't put it down! The chemistry and tension between Quinn and Logan kept me laughing and on my toes the whole time. And their little friend group? So fun. I just love people who go all-in on things they enjoy.

But what really set this book apart was the healthy illustration of relationships, both platonic and romantic. It's something I love about Alice Oseman's Heartstopper too. Kristy Boyce manages to show teens what an affirming and supportive friend and what an attentive and respectful boyfriend look like while still keeping the vibe real and characters relatable through their vulnerability. It's an important depiction for anyone, but especially for kids.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of the eARC.

DATING AND DRAGONS by Kristy Boyce.

Quinn has relocated and is starting a new school. She had a huge falling out with her friends/D&D group at her old school so is nervous but looking forward to starting over. She meets Logan on the first day and thinks he’s very good looking and nice…. That is until she gets invited to join his D&D group and he does a 180!

This is a great YA romance with a lot of banter between the characters. The tension between the fmc, Quinn and the mmc, Logan is 🔥 while still remaining very pg.

I adore this book you guys have no idea. Like the second Logan appeared on the book, I was invested to see where his story went and the banter was top tier!! I had so much fun with this one that it is one of my favorites now :)

5!! This book was so good, I had to read the ARC twice! I absolutely loved it, just as much as Dungeons and Drama. This story follows Quinn Norton, who has recently moved to a new town and is eager to make friends. Luckily, she stumbles upon a group that plays Dungeons and Dragons and livestreams their games to the public. However, she quickly discovers that Logan Weber—the cute, charming boy she met on her first day of school—is part of the group, but he’s acting like a total jerk. While Quinn is bothered by his attitude, she chooses to ignore it to preserve her newfound friendships.

What I love so much about Boyce’s books is how well she captures the authentic high school experience. In some YA novels, the characters can come across as cringey, but I found these characters incredibly relatable, especially in the challenges they face. The drama of friend breakups felt very real and reminded me of things many of us could gone through in high school.

As for the romance, I was giggling and kicking my feet the whole time! From the moment their meet-cute happened, I knew this would be an exciting read. Although things were rocky at the beginning (Logan, I forgive you), the slow burn was absolutely worth it. Every scene where they spent time alone together had me holding my breath, wondering what would happen next. Their connection felt so much deeper than a typical young romance—it’s one of the rare YA love stories where I could genuinely imagine the characters having a future together.

I HIGHLY recommend everyone read this when it releases on January 31st!

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

A SIX star read!

This book was so insanely cute. As a tabletop gamer myself, I was completely invested in this book. Yes, there were some points when it was a tad predictable, but that didn't even matter to me. It was lighthearted, funny, the cast of characters was so lovable, and I now want my entire gaming group to read this book, even if it is a little young for them.

This was so stinking cute! I absolutely loved this book. The characters are super relatable and Kristy Boyce is able to convey that high school butterfly in the stomach feeling really well. I was transported back to my high school crush and how things made me feel. The writing was just so spot on. I loved Quinn and Logan the moment they were introduced. I was like Quinn in high school and saw so much of myself in her. Being the new girl is always tough but it's only as tough as you make it out to be. Her brother Andrew was easily lovable. I would love another book that follows him around as he explores his feelings. I don't want to give too much away.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Random House for an early copy in exchange for an honest review!

This was such a cute YA romance! Fellow DnD players will truly love this one. It had the perfect amount of game play, romance, and friendship building. This story depicted high school so realistically it’s insane. I felt like I went back in back and was reliving some of my high memories through these pages.

Social media review will be posted on release day.

Firstly; how cute is this cover? Secondly, how could I NOT read a book about D&D?

It was just really well done - loved the game elements and aspects and gave me even more of a desire to look into leagues close to me to join!

Also loved the YA cutesy romance - it was a slow burn, but it was so well done.

Thanks to NetGalley for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review

This was a cute and very quick read!! I loved the DnD premise, and it makes me want to read the first in this series! I’ve heard that this felt more juvenile than the first, which is always a risk you take with YA since it can encompass so much in terms of maturity. I found this one more juvenile than I typically read, but that wasn’t a bad thing!

I had never read Kristy Boyce before but I definitely will be reading her other books after this! This is exactly the type of book I would have loved to read when I was in middle school or high school. The friendships and relationships in this are great as they develop with Quinn being new to the group. It was very low stakes with the main obstacle being the "no dating" rule but so much fun with the D&D aspect.
The characters really took me back to high school, and the romance felt completely age appropriate for its target audience. Being nerdy is cool again and this book solidifies that!!

Kristy Boyce just gets me. As an almost 30 year old woman, I cannot help myself from loving these characters and relating to them. Sometimes reading YA books as an adult makes you feel old, and sometimes it brings you back in time and heals something your teenage self didn't even know was hurt. From what I remember about Dungeons & Drama, I think this book was much heavier in the D&D theme (which I loved) but didn't actually go into to much detail of the campaign storyline.

I loved seeing the FMC Quinn make new friends and I liked the conversations of how difficult it can be joining an existing tight knot group, I loved how her new friends made her feel valued and welcomed and stood up for her when needed. Our MMC Logan was a great character as well. He low key flirted a little too adult for his age, but I'll let it slide. I enjoyed the push & pull between Quinn & Logan, but I mostly loved the meddling from Quinn's grandma. Grandma is a sassy lady and might be my new hero.

Thank you NetGalley & Random House for the e=ARC. I absolutely plan on buying a copy for my shelf and fingers crossed for a 3rd book in this series.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC!

I really enjoyed Kristy Boyce’s previous novel, Dungeons and Drama, so I was super excited when I received the ARC. Both this book and the last one are D&D inspired, and even without ever having played it, I was easily able to follow along with the campaign.

I liked how well developed the side characters were. Everyone had a unique personality and relationship with the main character. There were so many different plot points, but it wasn’t hard for me to keep track of. I also liked the family dynamic a ton. The entire family felt like they were needed characters, which is not often done in a YA novel. The grandma and brother especially were prominent characters, even moving the plot forward at several points.

Romance wise, I really liked Quinn and Logan, but it felt a little instalovey to me, which is not a trope I enjoy to read about. I appreciate that they were often in a group setting because that made it a little more realistic and bearable for me (due to that trope).

One thing I didn’t like was the fact that Quinn’s feelings about being less special than her brother got overlooked. I was waiting for a conversation between her and her parents potentially as sort of the lesson learned in the novel, but it never really got a good resolution. Everything just ended happily as she slowly learned that her entire family watched the D&D livestreams, but I was still looking for more of an explicit ending to that subplot.

Overall, I really loved this book a lot!! It was a fun ya romance to read with really likeable characters! I’d definitely recommend both this one and Dungeons and Drama

dating and dragons | kristy boyce

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
💋 kissing only
_____

A new school, new friends, a new D&D group - and a "no dating" rule that is begging to be broken!

Kristy has given us another adorable YA romance novel that is appropriate for younger teens. Hooray! No aging up the characters or teetering on the new adult line. I'm excited to share this one with my 13 year old!

Overall this is a light and easy read that makes you smile, giggle, and brings on the butterflies.


THINGS TO LOVE:
+ dungeons and dragons
+ supportive friendships
+ "no dating" rules
+ live streams
+ dice jewelry
+ a meddling grandma

{a gigantic thank you to Kristy Boyce, Delacorte, and Netgalley for the advanced copy!! Out 12/31!}

I was so excited to read Dating and Dragons since I enjoyed the first novel in the series but it didn't meet the same fate; it was just fine. The high school romance between our MC is cute but very YA leaning so I was a bit bored with the plot. Kristen Boyce does a great job at painting fun adventures during D&D sessions which was the highlight of the story for me. 3/5.
Thank you to NetGalley & Random House Children's for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am completely serious when I say that this is my new standard for YA romance books. I have no idea how Kristy Boyce managed it but I swear I was transported back into my high school aged self with all the anxiety and uncertainty that our female main character, Quinn, goes through. While this book is a romance it is also about friendship and family, both found and biological.

For fans of Dungeons and Drama, this is not a continuation or the beginning of interconnected standalone books. While I was a bit disappointed to part with Riley and Nathan the new party that Quinn finds is easy to fall in love with as well. There is a bit more dungeons and dragons in this book but I would not worry if you have not participated in a campaign yourself as it is easy to follow. The release date for this book being right before the new year is not a coincidence and is the perfect book to start your 2025 reading challenges.

Thank you to Netgalley for a free ecopy of the book in exchange for an honest review!