I adore this book! I have never played D&D before so I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was so fun to go on this journey with characters who were also experiencing the game for the first time. You'll get two stories for the price of one - in "real life" you follow Sadie navigating the loss of her job and her confusion and uncertainty about what is the "right" move for her future. She spends the summer with her best friend, Liam, and a ragtag group from his small Texas town where Liam is hosting a D&D campaign for beginners. Her friendships with these once strangers grow as the summer goes on, and she forms a special connection with Liam's friend, Noah. Woods also treats us to a second story woven throughout the first - their D&D campaign! It was so fun to hop back and forth between "real life" and the fantasy story Liam created for them, and to watch Sadie and Noah's relationship blossom in both stories. I definitely want to find people to play with in real life - it seems like it would be a lot of fun!

I heavily related to Sadie and her uncertainness about what she wanted her future to look like. It is so easy to keep going down the route you thought was right, or that was expected from you. Deviating from those expectations and choosing to follow a path less traveled can be a scary decision, but can lead to a better future than you could have ever hoped for.

Thank you NetGalley and Dell for sending this book (eARC) in exchange for an honest review!

Lenora Woods’ Roll for Romance is a delightful, geeky love story that blends tabletop gaming with real-life romance. When Sadie Brooks loses her job, she retreats to small-town Texas and joins a Dungeons & Dragons campaign, only to find unexpected chemistry with Noah Walker, a charismatic bartender turned bard. As their in-game adventures mirror their growing real-world attraction, Sadie must decide if she’s ready to take a chance on love and a new path in life.

With charming characters, playful banter, and plenty of heart, this novel is perfect for fans of The Love Hypothesis and The Ex Hex. A must-read for romantics and RPG lovers alike!

Roll for Romance was an extremely FUN read! It was full of found family, friends to lovers, magic adventures, and deciding what you really want out of life… and maybe seeing that sometimes not having a plan is a-okay. I loved how the main characters join for a D&D campaign and we get to hear that story, too. It was a beautiful blend of a contemporary romance and a fantasy book, and you should DEFINITELY read it. There is nothing I didn’t like about this book.

Aaaaaaah!! Okay- this is a 4.5 to me rounded to 5 and I literally cannot wait to own this one. Thank you for making D&D romances!!

I was kinda worried it was going to be ‘too tropey’ but honestly the book delivers! It’s cute and realistic in a way. Like how many of us find themselves at a crossroads in our life and perhaps would enjoy some escapism? Haha

As a D&D player this is just something I’ve yearned for so long!

D&D romance book?! Yes, please. A swoony and nerdy romance that was so cute! I really enjoyed the switching back and forth between the real life plot and the game plot and how Sadie was able to apply some of the lessons she learned to her own life. Thank you Net Galley and Ballantine Books!

Thank you to Random House publishing/Dell Romance & NetGalley for the e-ARC copy of Roll for Romance by Lenora Woods!

Rating: A solid 3.5 stars, but I always round up on Goodreads since I can't properly mark the half.

Roll for Romance is the story of a sweet small-town romance between two newbie DnD players. After hitting a snag in her professional life, Sadie (real name: Josephine) needs a temporary change of scenery and moves into her best friend, Liam's, house in a small Texas town for the summer. (A Northerner choosing to spend the SUMMER in Texas? ...Brave tbh. Sincerely, a born-and-raised Texan). While there, Liam convinces Sadie to start a Dungeons & Dragons campaign with him and some of his local friends. Enter: Liam's handsome and charming friend, Noah, playing an even more handsome and charming bard. Sparks fly between Sadie and Noah's DnD characters and IRL but their romance is on a countdown, because Sadie is only staying for the summer and Noah doesn't tend to put down roots in one place.

I thought Roll for Romance was extremely cute and extremely fun with low-stakes drama. I would recommend if you are a fan of dungeons and dragons and rom-com novels. I only had two small things that I took issue with. First, I personally felt like it was really stressed that Sadie was her middle name/not her first name and it seemed like there was emphasis that her first name was JOSEPHINE. And there's a whole inner monologue/explanation that she just doesn't feel professional using Sadie in a work setting and "Josephine" is her Big Girl Name (TM). Maybe I just read too much into it/took it too personally because I'm someone who doesn't go by my full given name (Abigail vs Abbey) but I don't feel like any less of an adult because I go by Abbey...I don't know, it just rubbed me the wrong way a little bit. The second thing is that I have read DnD romances before and I had always wished there was a little more DnD involved, but I felt like this book had too much. There was so much focus on the DnD setting and plot that I feel like I didn't get to connect with the characters really at all. I didn't particularly care about the IRL romance because of this. It still ended up being cute but I kind of felt like I was dragging along at some points, especially in the first half. I also feel like you didn't get to see a lot of the relationship building between the characters (both in the romance between Liam/Sadie and in the platonic relationships between Sadie and everyone else). You definitely got a few good snippets, but I felt like it was lacking a little in this regard. That being said, I think this would have made a FANTASTIC cozy fantasy-romance book if the DnD part of the plot had just been used as a baseline for that type of book instead. The writing of both plot lines was really good, but I felt like they just detracted from each other a bit in that they took up page space and left less room for development of the other side of the story.

Overall, it was still a cute rom-com and I'm extremely thankful I got the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy. If someone was looking for an RPG-based romance I think this one wouldn't be a bad recommendation. I will definitely be on the look out for books Lenora puts out in the future (maybe a Morgan book?? She seemed cool and I wish we'd had more of her featured in this one)

Roll for Romance was such a charming read! The mix of real-life romance and DnD made for an immersive experience. I loved how the characters’ relationship developed both in the campaign and in real life. The DnD aspects felt authentic and added depth to the sweet romance. A perfect blend of fun and heart!

2.75 stars
As a DnD girly myself I really wanted to love this book.
It's a unique story that follows Josephine - Sadie - on her way back from burnout trying to orientate her new life as unemployed and living in a small town in Texas instead of New York where she's spent the last couple of years. Partly to get Sadie out of her shell, her best friend and roommate starts to host weekly DnD nights.

The book goes back and forth from being in Sadies pov to her DnD character Jaylie. The main story was fun and cute and in the beginning I enjoyed reading Jaylies parts as well but somewhere it started yo drag a bit. The mmc Noah is interesting and his dnd character the same but I feel like a lot of things where left out of the plot that I really would have liked to know.
I feel like this book would probably have been great if it had been worked on a bit more and slightly more balanced between the dnd parts and the irl parts.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for providing me with this ARC.

I absolutely loved everything about this book. D&D, a touch of spice, and a healthy serving of adult romance.

It was a little slow to start but once it finally picked up, it was wonderful. I loved seeing the slow burn between Sadie and Noah and how they navigated around each other as PCs in their campaign and as humans. While I would've enjoyed seeing Noah's POV, I did like seeing all of the growth as Sadie worked to find her confidence and finally decide what her path forward was.

I know that for some people the campaign portions can be off-putting but for me they fit perfectly into the book as Sadie took lessons from Jaylee's character progression and worked some of that through into her life. It felt like having two books in one. (Well, three if you count the off-campaign RP sessions between Sadie and Noah)

This catered to all of my interests and it really does help introduce some people to the world of D&D in a way that didn't feel overwhelming. As a player myself, I didn't get bored at hearing Sadie learn how to play.

Thank you to Dell and Random House for the eArc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Sadie is rolling with disadvantage on her own life - she left her job after a mental and emotional breakdown, she escaped her tiny New York City apartment and fled to a small town in Texas where her best friend offered her a summer-long respite from reality. She just has to play with a few of his friends at a weekly Dungeons & Dragons campaign he's running...so let the games begin.
A cozy rom-com about finding love while also discovering what you really want in life, this novel plays out between artistic Sadie and jack-of-all-trades Noah, who find romance in the chapter interludes of their cleric and bard characters, and then friendship and more when they return to reality. For fans of Jen DeLuca and Travis Baldtree, this is a page-turner worth taking a chance on!

ARC review: Roll for Romance by Lenora Woods

I had a good, uncomplicated time with this book! It follows two storylines: in one, Sadie is struggling to recover from professional burnout and joins her first DnD campaign as she tries to figure out what to do with her life, and the other is the narrative of the DnD campaign as the party works to confront an evil sorcerer and save a stolen bride. Along the way, both Sadie and her cleric find themselves falling for another player at the table and his bard.

I really related to Sadie navigating her mental health and what to do with her future, and thought the real-world storyline was handled well. The in-game storyline was less compelling to me. I’m a big fantasy reader and DnD fan, and the fantasy world felt necessarily surface-level and generic because it had to blend with the contemporary pieces and tell a lot of story in limited pages.

The romance itself won’t stick with me as much as Sadie’s journey to find her path, but it was sweet and summery and perfect to turn my brain off and just have a good time.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the early copy!

Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the ARC.

This is a cute and fun novel. I really liked the characters and seeing Sadie figure out what she wanted in life. Watching her and Nick falling in love was cute and sweet. I also loved the supporting characters. The DnD storyline was also a lot of fun. I really enjoyed this one.

I got an ARC of this, thanks to @penguinrandomhouse and @netgalley. It was cute. The setup of the book is interesting. There is a real world story with Sadie and Noah, and then we also have their D&D game chapters. If you like D&D with romance, then this is the book for you.

This is such a cute romcom! I was looking for a bit of a pallet cleaner after reading some heavier books and this was the perfect choice.

Our MMC (Noah) is the definition of “golden retriever”. While Saddie is kind and I really loved seeing her find her confidence again after losing her job.

I really loved the way that Lenora Woods worked in the D&D game they were playing into the story, it was like getting 2 books for 1! She also does a really great job of explaining D&D for readers who might not be familiar with the game.

The only things keeping me from giving this book 5 starts are 1st – there are sometimes when the author is overly descriptive about things that are not important. I don’t need to know exactly what a character is wearing every time they change their close, or exactly what the shop looked like if it’s not relevant to the story.

2nd - All the characters were similar personality wise happy fun quirky, & nerdy. Even their D&D characters were all very similar. Even though they were described as different personality wise, their actions and the dialog were all pretty similar.

"Roll for Romance" by Lenora Woods is a delightful novel that intertwines the excitement of tabletop gaming with the complexities of modern romance. The story follows two novice Dungeons & Dragons players who, through their weekly gaming sessions, begin to develop feelings for each other both within the game and in real life.I am not a tabletop gamer, but this book, part D&D Campaign story and part real life story, makes me want to become one.

The characters are well developed, and give great examples of what it's like to strive to be who you want to be vs. who you're "supposed" to be.

This has definitely been on my favorite reads this year, and I will happily read everything Lenora Woods writes.

What a unique concept! This book revolves around people playing D&D and the game is a second storyline which creates two very unique stories.

This book is about Sadie, a woman who had recently lost her job and is visiting her best friend Liam while she decides what to do next. Noah is a free spirit, traveling in his van and temporarily in town to help set up a brewery. They meet at a D&D game and the second storyline is that of Jaylie and Loren, their characters in the game.

This is a unique concept and I was so interested to see how it turned out. It felt like the book was really set up half in the game and half out of it which means that the book felt like a combination of contemporary romance and fantasy which was so fun.

Noah and Sadie were such a great couple. I feel like they both gave each other the space needed to make decisions without pushing and it was really refreshing to see. You could really feel how the game was used as a way for the two of them to express their emotions.

I do think the beginning was a bit slow and it picked up about half way through. Also, I’ve never played D&D so I think if it was a game you love then this book would be much more appealing.

Thank you to Random House for the eARC.

Read if you like:
- D&D
- Found family
- Golden Retriever MMC
- Cozy rom-com

This book was precious and such a cozy time. Not a lot of MMCs make me swoon, and yet our bard did, and the way DND was described as a story within a story and not a back and forth with dice rolls made this book very engaging. I will absolutely recommend this to all my nerdy friends! Also, please write a cozy fantasy, Lenora. Your writing fits the genre so well.

That being said, I think this book gets tripped up in classic first novel stumbles. We see characters at the beginning of their relationship and see them madly in love, but how did our MMC decide to change his ways entirely in favor of being with the FMC? There's also lots of telling and not a lot of showing, and honestly way too much explaining of dnd for a book where I don't think you'd pick it up if you didn't understand RPG basics. None of those things made me dislike the story, but it did make me question how intelligent the author thinks I am. I truly hope we get more time in this cozy town and with these lovable characters in the future!

I loved this book so much! The writing and story was so unique and kept me hooked from the beginning.

I loved how the storyline would switch between the real world characters and the D&D characters. This was such a cool concept that felt like I was reading both a modern day and a fantasy romance at the same time! It was so great to see the growth of all the characters involved. I really enjoyed both main characters and how they came together in the end. Sadie was super relatable and I feel like all of us experience burn out at some point. Noah was so fun and brought such a positive energy to the story.

The only thing I wasn’t a huge fan of was the pacing. While I was invested the whole book, it felt super slow for the first like 50-60%. It took me a few days to get through that part of the book and the last 40% I breezed through in a day. I do think that I would love to see more books with these characters in the future!

Roll for Romance rolled a Critical Hit for me!

My favorite aspect of this book was you got to read them playing the DnD game as well as what was happening in real time. Among other things, this book was nerdy, funny and lighthearted.

Sadie and Liam reminded me so much of my best friend and me. It brought back a lot of great memories from when we were roommates. I really liked how they supported and cheered each other on.

I received an ARC of this book and thought the premise sounded promising. Hope authors really do like honest reviews…

All in all I just think this wasn’t for me. The romance was fun but a little meh and I actually ended up hating the going back and forth between in the d&d game and real life. I couldn’t get behind it. I also felt like there were so many details that just didn’t matter and the stakes just weren’t there. Wanderlust?

I wanted to love it, and I think some people might, but I really didn’t. The cover is gorgeous though!