Thank you for the opportunity to read an e-arc of Dating and Dragons. I absolutely loved it! Kristy Boyce is officially an auto-buy author for me.

If this book had come out one day later, it would have been one of m, most anticipated reads of 2025. I really really loved the first book in this series and was so excited to reenter the world of hyper nerdy, cute, YA romance. In the way of teenagers, this book was appropriately dramatic. I loved how this book really leaned into the real D&D elements and was so fun and geeky. I especially loved the grandma. As always a lil 'we shouldn't date' is wonderful drama for a book.

I really enjoyed this and am thrilled to see some fun YA come out that I would have loved as a teen.

4.5/5

LOVED IT 🩷🥹
Made me want to learn how to play D&D myself!!
Also.. I really want to be like Barbara when I'm her age 😊

After loving dungeons and drama, I was overjoyed to see this hit my email. I adore this concept and I love the aspect of how D&D heavy this story was. The romance felt very sweet and there were so many moments that I thought were very precious between the two MC’s. This story felt very wholesome and I loved the strong emphasis on friendship throughout the whole group’s campaign.

This was everything I knew it would be and more. As someone who moved around a lot when I was a teen, I really loved the anxiety about moving and starting over while having to work through the emotions of leaving your old home behind.

Our main characters were so adorable with their mutual pining, actually their whole group was both fun and adorable with their interactions.

So if you enjoy:

Ya Romance
Friends to lovers
Dungeons and Dragons
Nerdy times
Mutual pining
“I’m going to pretend you don’t like my brother”
Pickle ball shenanigans
Fiesty elders

I highly recommend giving this a read and definitely check out the first book!

This is possibly one of the cutest YA romcoms I've ever read! I love a good forbidden romance, I love it even more when it's for a silly reason like not breaking up a d&d romance. This book is single POV and will have you rooting for these kids the whole time.

Posted to GR 1/6/25

What a entertaining way to spend a few hours-- sure, we have high school angst but it's mostly sweet yearning for what they can't have. I loved the Dungeons and Dragons integration within the book as well as the parts about her parents not caring as much as her brother with sports (as the artsy daughter, I understand her pain). A great second book in the series and can't wait for the next one.

Who knew I'd love high school romances so much!

Like the first of the series, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this teen romance. It's a swoony, innocent story about a new student finding a new group of friends in a D&D group. I definitely would recommend it to teen readers.

Read if you like:
•Friends to Lovers
•Forbidden Love

🧼🌶️- Innocent: Meaningful glances and perhaps a kiss, but no physical intimacy.

⭐ 3.5/5
This was a really cute "sequel" to Dungeons and Drama! As someone who has never really delved into the world of D&D, I think the author did an amazing job explaining the world of D&D and how it normally operates. Without giving away major plot points, I really liked the idea of a person joining a new group who livestreams their games. This made it so easy to fall into the actual game along with the main character.

My only gripe about this book is that the characters seemed to act and speak a lot older than 16. It almost makes me wish the entire group of characters were aged into college students.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Children’s | Delacorte Romance for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this so much! I went into blindly without reading the first stand-alone and will definitely go back and read it now. I also was able to pick up the Barnes and Noble exclusive copy.

Many thanks to Delacorte Press and NetGalley for the digital review of Dating and Dragons by Kristy Boyce, which came out on December 31st, 2024.

What a way to start my reading year, book friends! I absolutely adored Dating and Dragons! Quinn's narration has just the right amount of teenage snark, while still being surprisingly insightful at times. I loved seeing her regain her self-confidence after the challenges with her previous friend group.

The banter and chemistry between the two main characters is fantastic. But, more than that, I loved the friendships in this book. It's so great to see Quinn realize that not all so-called friends will treat her the way her last ones did, and to watch her learn to trust again all all kinds of relationships. Seeing a YA book value friendships alongside romance is so refreshing, a reminder that love comes in many forms even when you're in high school.

There are also realistic sibling dynamics that I really enjoyed, as someone who is also nothing like her younger brother. Quinn's brother Andrew actually reminded me of mine - younger, yet more popular by virtue of doing sports. Her older, nerdy sister vibe was very relatable, and I appreciated seeing them learn how they can still have a solid sibling relationship even if they're complete opposites.

Really, every character shines off the page, from Quinn's friend group to her grandma. I appreciated the realistic depiction of the challenges of aging, without making her into a stereotype. She's got all her personality, but she's also struggling to realize she can't do everything she used to. I also love how seamlessly Boyce handles one character's nonbinary identity. It's simply a stated fact, with correct pronouns used, no drama needed - as it should be.

The book's central conflict is handled well, with enough stakes to feel worthwhile but without that irritating "everything is caused by poor communication" trope. I felt invested in seeing where things were going and learning more about Quinn's past, but I never had to read through my fingers because the characters were being infuriatingly obtuse.

All in all, Dating and Dragons is a true delight of a YA read. It's got great pacing, solid voice, and a cast of memorable, lovable characters who pull you in from page one. It's a definite 5-star read for me, and I can't help but hope Boyce has plans to write another YA romance that takes place at the D&D table.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves D&D and romance, and even to folks who might not be as familiar with the game but who appreciate a well-written YA book.

As an almost 40 year old woman, it’s sometimes hard to relate to YA, but this romance was just too cute for words. Quinn & Logan make an adorable couple and I love the added D&D aspect.

Note: I expected this to have the same characters as Dungeons & Drama, but they are all new.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an ARC of this in exchange for my honest review.

I loved the first book of this series and was so excited to read the second book. I have to say the friendship dynamic of this group was more enjoyable than the first book. We also see so much more game play and interactions between the five friends that it really felt more like gamer book. I did have a little bit harder time feeling the romantic connection between Logan and Quinn, but Logan spent a majority of the book trying to avoid her. That was OK, though, because the friendship bonds and game play really held and carried this book along. Once Logan and Quinn both admit their feelings for each other, the romance aspect starts to get better. This ended up being just as cute of a read as the first.

After reading the first book in this series, I was looking forward to reading this novel. Dungeons and Drama (Rating: 3.5/5) was a book that I had a number of issues with, but ultimately was still a book that I enjoyed reading. It was also a book that I devored in one sitting because of how enraptured I was by the premise and the characters that Boyce created. There was just so much charm and love poured into every page that it was worth the read and was something that I couldn't put down. I just feel like this book doesn't have that same charm that made the first one so memorable. It also meant that this novel was a slog to get through.

Dating and Dragons follows Quinn as she transfer high schools half way through her junior year. Quinn, and her new group of friends who live stream Dungeons and Dragons online, take their D&D game very seriously and take their rules even more so. The group of friends, composed of six people, have one major rule: no dating other players. This, as the title might convey, is the main confict of the novel. While I do not mind the 'no dating' rule as it's a quirky and unique way to introduce a will they/won't they saga to a Young Adult Novel, the sheer amout of characters the main issue I have with the book. None of the characters in this six person friend group, or the side characters in family members/school mates are all that memorable. At least in the first book, all of the characters, be it side or main, were memorable. I could remember who was who as I was reading, and all of the characters with smaller roles were interesting and unique. With Dating and Drama, I found myself having to reread and remind myself who was who constantly. Even with Quinn, for being the main character, had very little character traits and all of her personality revolved around being quirky and "not like other girls". While this is a character archetype that can work, it suffers when you surround the characters with near carbon copies of the "not like other girls" character. Logan, the love interest, was honestly such a red flag too. After meeting on their first day of school, he feel instantly in love with her. Which, you know, isn't that big of a deal most of the time in romance books, but in this novel, Boyce made the choice to have him attempt to exclude Quinn from their friend group, act like a complete asshole, and just show no reasoning for why he was in love with Quinn.

Quinn's family was also just not it either. I read, especially YA romance, for light hearted fun not Quinn's parents being borderline abusive and neclectful to her so her brother can get special treatment. I think there could have been a way to handle this, especially in way that resolves how she's treated, but instead it just felt like an archetype that Boyce was trying to fill.

It's a shame that this novel left so much to be desired. I was really hoping for a fun little romance and not boring, uninspired "romance".

3.5 stars rounded up! This series just does not disappoint.

Quinn has just moved to a new school after a devastating friend breakup, and when her friendship fell apart, so did her Dungeons and Dragons group. The move wasn’t entirely unwelcome, though, as her family is closer to her aging grandmother, Barbara Clarice Norton—absolutely the star of the novel, and I will not be taking questions—who conveniently introduces Quinn to her new D&D group… and Logan.

Logan’s Dungeons and Dragons group has very simple rules: no distractions, no side conversations, no phones, and absolutely no dating other players. Which Quinn is absolutely fine with. Of course she is. No, she can’t seem to keep her eyes off the distractingly attractive Logan across the table from her, but it’s fine.

Except rules are hard to keep when it seems like they’re made to be broken.

Listen, I love nerdy romances, and book one in this series was SO GOOD, so I was super excited when I got the ARC for this story. However, it just didn’t hit quite the same as book one, and I think part of it was just that it didn’t read quite as authentically Young Adult to me. The characters, especially Logan, read as older than 16. That’s not to say that teens can’t have mature and meaningful relationships, but I do wish that the relationship was written through more of a realistic young adult view. I hate to say that Logan was too smooth, but c’mon, I don’t even trust that my husband didn’t get the line about pushing me up against a door and kissing me from a romcom lol

I do wish we’d seen more of the D&D scenes because all the characters took it so seriously and it seemed like such a pivotal point of growth for Quinn. Although the jewelry making did provide some Bechdel-test passing friendship with Quinn’s friends, it didn’t add much to the narrative for me. I think if, instead of focusing on those scenes, some of the D&D scenes had been expanded to support Quinn’s character arc and the development of her friendship with the group, the book would have been stronger. I also think that the manufactured drama of the no dating group members rule could have been replaced with further development of the D&D scenes to underscore Quinn’s experiences with her previous D&D group, and how this group was such a departure from it.

Overall, a super cute read that I really enjoyed! Read if you enjoy Dungeons & Dragons; wholesome, clean YA romance; mischievous characters; and strong friendships.

Thank you, Netgalley and Delcacourt Romance for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Opinions are my own!

If you’re looking for a fun, easy, cute read this is the book for you. As someone that doesn’t know much about the world of D&D there wasn’t a huge focus on the game just a small idea of what the game looks like, so if you’re thinking you need to have a strong understanding of D&D trust me you don’t.

As for the story, it was a fun read. Quinn is a solid FMC, from the beginning we understand that she’s been burned by her previous friends/ D&D group, so when she gets a chance to be apart of a D&D group from people at her new school she’s determined to follow all the rules and that includes no dating, but that rule becomes a problem when she might start having feelings for a member in the group, but are those feelings love or hate? Only time will tell….

The author does a great job of making a full cast of characters feel unique and alive. I love the interaction within the friend group and the support they give to Quinn when she needed it. The romance between Quinn and Logan was well done ( could have done with more communication, I feel like it could have fixed a lot of the problems, but I’m giving them a pass as they’re 16 year olds). With the no dating rule among the group the age appropriate tension between Quinn and Logan was well done, as the reader reading their bickering on and off the game you know it wasn’t IF they would ever get to express their feelings for one another but WHEN and when it finally happened it was so worth the wait.

Solid 4 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Children’s | Delacorte Romance for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first Kristy Boyce book and I know nothing about dungeons and dragons but this was so cute. I judged by the cute cover and it did not disappoint. There’s a little tension, a little YA forbidden romance, a funny mischievous grandma and an amazing friend group to replace our FMCs last shitty one.

Definitely a cute short read, definitely pick this one now that it’s out now 🥰

I absolutely love this book!
It’s as fun and as adorable as the previous book, Dungeons and Drama!
While it’s the 2nd book in the series, you can read this one without reading the 1st book since it features a different couple.

I have no idea how to play D&D at all and I think the author did a very good job in explaining how the game works in detail, including how to play the game, the process of creating characters, and the importance of good team chemistry to play well.
I’m also amazed by how Quinn and her friends skillfully and passionately play their roles in the campaign. It all sounds like so much fun!

The slow-burn, forbidden romance between Logan and Quinn is delightful to see!
Logan is a total sweetheart and very charming which made it so hard for Quinn to resist him.
He’s a very smooth-talker —I haven't found any teenager who could confess their feelings as well as Logan did.

Beyond the sweet romance, I adore Quinn’s family dynamic, especially her relationship with her grandma, which brings up sweet memories of my own too.
Quinn and her brother, Andrew’s sibling relationship isn’t perfect, making it more relatable, I really like seeing them slowly mend their relationship throughout the story.

Overall, this was such a fun and sweet YA romance that also brought up important themes such as friendship and adapting to big changes.
I can’t stop smiling and laughing while I was reading this book, Dating and Dragons is definitely going into my top favorite books in 2025!

⚠️ 𝐓𝐖: bullying, toxic friendship, car accident

Did I stay up all night finishing this book? Possibly. It was just too cute to put down. This was exactly what I needed right now. A sweet friends to lovers story with some clever movie references and an interesting D&D campaign.

I loved Quinn and Logan and the whole party. I laughed out loud multiple times during all their banter. I loved the aspect of live streaming the game and it made for a funny third act. I’m also a sucker for some cute protective boyfriends.
I got approved for this arc on netgalley but I had to stop and pick up the beautiful B&N special edition.

This was a cute YA book but honestly I wasn’t dying to come back to it. I loved the D&D aspect, the friend group, and Quinn’s relationship with her grandma. It’s very much teenage drama (obviously for YA) and the ending where they professed their love was a little much for two teens that weren’t even actually dating. But I get it, young love, very high school.

I would recommend this to younger readers for sure, I’m just not the target audience for this one!