Book Review of Roll for Romance by Lenora Woods

4 stars out of 5

First of all, this cover is just absolutely adorable! If that doesn't catch your eye in a bookstore, I don't know what will!

This was a fun read! I was excited to receive an eARC of this book because the premise is so stinkin' cute and nerdy. I really related to the main female character, Sadie, who is at a crossroads in her life. and spending the summer with her best friend Liam to reset before she goes back to New York City. To throw a wrench in her plans, she meets the hunky, free-roaming bartender Noah when Liam introduces them to each other in a Dungeons & Dragons game he's put together for new players. The book follows their growing connection in-game at the D&D table and in-person over the course of a hot summer in Texas.

**I don't think this review includes any spoilers that aren't already alluded to in the blurb for the book.**

The format of this book is definitely unique. I've not read anything else where I've gotten both a contemporary romance and a LitRPG in one. Roll for Romance is basically two books in one, bouncing between the first-person POV of Sadie and then third-person sections that cover the D&D campaign. I admire that Woods really reached for the stars setting it up this way to give us both the budding romance between Sadie and Noah and how it translated to a budding romance between their characters Jaylie and Loren in the D&D game. Chicken or the egg? Was the in-person romance there first or did their characters' romantic involvement in the game influence the in-person one? We may never know....

Unfortunately, for me, I feel like this format did leave the Sadie/Noah romance a little lacking, and at times I felt more invested in the romance between their RPG characters Jaylie/Loren. I loved getting the story of what was happening during their D&D game, the story inside the story, but sometimes I wanted more of a break from the D&D story with a jump back into the in-person setting around the table with Sadie/Noah stealing glances across the table or Sadie getting butterflies when Noah's character expressed interest in her character, wondering if it would translate to Noah having interest in her. Or the anticipation of having to make a decision and rolling badly and not being able to make that decision, especially when it came to decisions relating to Jaylie/Loren. I was expecting more of them playing the game instead of being dropped into a fantasy story without any of the reasons for why things happened the way they did in the campaign. Again, I really appreciate the uniqueness and the effort put into doing something different here, but I just wanted more sparks from the Sadie/Noah side of things throughout, especially during the campaign itself, and getting so much of the campaign story took away from time for that.

Spice wise, there is an open-door sex scene in the book and some other flirty/foreplay-ish scenes, but it's not overly gratuitous. I think it was a good, natural progression and was well-placed. There was a good bit of will they/won't they, but the stakes never felt too high between Sadie/Noah. Sadie's personal conflicts felt more dire than their relationship conflict, and I think the in-game life/death conflict in the D&D part of the book maybe made the in-person relationship conflict feel pretty low stakes. This isn't necessarily a criticism, because I do love cozy vibes where books are enjoyable without putting characters through the ringer, but with technology as it is and Noah being a free-roamer, the prospect of getting into a relationship with someone knowing it may end up long distance didn't feel like enough to keep them apart.

It was a well-written book and I've never read anything like it, so I've given it 4 stars, but couldn't quite go for the 5, just because I found myself more invested in the D&D plot line than the in-person plot line. I just had to know what was going to happen next for Jaylie and Loren, when I feel like I should've been more invested in Sadie and Noah.

All this said, I did enjoy reading it. If you like D&D, it's worth the read and would recommend it for fans of fantasy and romance, or if you're just looking for something a little different than your regular contemporary romance.

I will also add, I think this format would lend itself amazingly well for a movie and I would absolutely LOVE to see this in movie format. It would get two thumbs up from me. I think a lot of my complaints from a reader standpoint are about things that would translate so well to screen. In this instance, I think I'd enjoy the movie version more than the book. But that's my two cents...

Thank you to Lenora Woods, NetGalley and Dell/Random House for this eARC in exchange for an honest book review.

This book releases July 15, 2025.

Link || Pre-order Roll for Romance

My next book review will be The Best Wrong Move by Lily Parker and will include a Q&A with the author!

For now,

Rosie