As I’ve mentioned on the blog before, I enjoy Dungeons and Dragons. I also really love seeing it incorporated in books. So when I saw that Roll for Love was up for request, I clicked that button very quickly. Roll for Love released on Tuesday, so I want to talk about this book and tell you what I thought! Keep on reading for more.
A big thank you to Netgalley and Running Press Kids for providing me with an eARC to read and review. This doesn’t affect my opinion in any way!
Ashley Poston meets Becky Albertalli in this Sapphic, second-chance romance about a teen returning to her grandfather’s farm and how joining her childhood best friend’s Dungeons & Dragons game gives her the confidence to follow her dreams and get a second-chance at love with her first crush.
Dungeons & Dragons loving Harper Reid’s summer is off to a rough start. First, she and her mom moved across the country to Clintville, Virginia (population: tiny) to live on her Poppy’s farm, which means saying goodbye to her friends and finding a new D&D group to play with. The only thing keeping her going is getting to polish her carpentry skills in the farm’s woodshop so she can get an apprenticeship after graduation. That is if she can tell her mom that she doesn’t want to go to college, which is kind of hard when mom keeps asking about applications and if she has picked out the perfect school yet. What Harper really needs is to channel the confidence and bravery of her awesome D&D character, and then maybe she could find a new D&D group and tell her mom that her passion is woodworking, not a four-year university. And, hey, maybe she could find a cool girlfriend, too.
The one encounter Harper wasn’t expecting was running into Ollie Shifflet: neighbor, childhood best friend, and, oh yeah, first crush. Unlike Harper, Ollie seems to have everything figured out. She plans on spending the summer digging around in her garden and hanging out with her best friends and trying D&D with them for the first time. Then after graduation it is community college, then opening a small nature-based daycare center and living her best bisexual life . . . well, as long as that last bit stays private. But when beautiful, bold, Harper Reid comes waltzing back into her life and joins her D&D group, suddenly Ollie’s plan seems to have a Harper-shaped hole in it.
So when feelings start to develop in their Dungeons & Dragons game between Harper’s brash Barbarian character and Ollie’s proud Paladin, Harper and Ollie begin wondering if they are falling for each in real life or if it is all just apart of the game. As the school year draws to a close and the final boss looms on the horizon, Harper and Ollie must decide if the relationship that they have been roleplaying in the game could be as real for them.
Review
Roll for Love is a sapphic second chance romance about our two main characters Harper and Ollie. Harper used to visit this city to see her grandmother every summer to not visiting for years. So she hasn’t seen Ollie for years until she returns after her grandfather passes.
Dungeons and Dragons is a big part of both of our characters’ lives and their friends’ lives as well. I loved seeing them get together as a group for this quest they’re on and that the author let us read some of their sessions throughout the book. I don’t play D&D often, but I love seeing it incorporated in books. It was also used as a way for our characters to process things and learn things about themselves.
This book is also about love, figuring out what you want and who you love, coming out, life lessons, grief, and friendship. Both of our main characters are seniors in high school. Ollie knows what she wants and so does Harper, but Harper’s mother is having a hard time accepting that. Speaking of acceptance, this book is also about seeing if you’re ready to come out and feeling safe. I appreciated M.K. England added some of the things teenagers are dealing with in this political tone in the world and being queer in this world.
Besides our two main characters, I loved the cast of side characters. We got to meet them all and even though they were side characters, we still saw them grow. This group of friends was amazing. Roll for Love made me laugh and cry, and I hope this author gives us more books like this.
If you love Dungeons and Dragons, romance, a great group of friends, and character development, I highly recommend reading Roll for Love. If you have any recommendations for more books like this, please leave them in the comments. I’d love to hear from you!
