Thank you Penguin Random House for an advance copy of Dating and Dragons in return for an honest review.
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It’s time to dive back into young love, drama and Dungeons and Dragons. In Kristy Boyce’s latest novel, Dating and Dragons, we are thrown back into a sweet love story full of nerdy side quests and fun. But does this one live up to the excitement of her first novel? Or does the action fall flat? These are our thoughts before the book hits shelves on December 31, 2024.
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Dating and Dragons Book Review
The Low Down
Dating and Dragons follows Quinn, a high school girl about to embark on one of the most terrifying journeys – starting fresh at a new school. But she has a plan that should help her make at least a few friends. And this plan is to join a D&D group.
Quinn’s plan starts to get even better when she is invited into a group that includes Logan Weber, a cute and charming guy she met on her first day of class. Except that is where things take a turn. This group has a ton of rules due to their games being live-streamed, including no dating other members.
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But that’s quite alright for Quinn because the charming Logan she met on her first day is a lie. He is insufferable, and their bickering and bantering continue to intensify. But is this a smokescreen for true feelings? Or is Logan finally showing her his true colors?
Slow and Sweet
Like most high school romances, Dating and Dragons is slow and sweet. The main focus is on the romance and how the events affect the overall outcome. Nothing is too over the top when you look at it from an adult’s perspective, but the eyes of a 16-year-old girl make it the center of her world.
The biggest obstacle to the romance is the idea that Quinn and Logan’s D&D game doesn’t allow them to date. As an adult, you almost want to scream that it doesn’t matter. But to them, these rules are everything. There are other reasons for Quinn’s reluctance to pursue a relationship that carries more weight, but we won’t spoil those.
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However, in the end, love wins out. Well, what love means to two high schoolers. Watching them overcome their obstacles and find each other on the otherside was enjoyable. Our only wish was that Dating and Dragons would be just a bit longer. Boyce has so much to work with within Quinn and Logan that even just a few more chapters would have been worth it.
Dating with A Side of Dragons
Boyce’s first book in this series, Dungeons and Drama, featured some D&D gameplay, but most of the story was told outside the table. Dating and Dragons switches that up, and we get to see more of the TTRPG aspects of the novel, including learning what is happening within the game.
What we loved is how Boyce shows the different ways people approach the game itself. Having played with multiple people over the years through Adventurer’s League, it’s clear that no two people enjoy the game the same way. We’ve found that in most cases, you are going to have multiple different players at your table at the same time. And we love that the story doesn’t make these different styles feel wrong or bad.
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Both sides of this story, romance and TTRPG, work well to help build each other up. They don’t feel like two different stories rolled into one. Instead, situations and personalities grow within both and flow right into the next story beat. And while both portions can succeed without the other, it wouldn’t feel as complete in the end.
Overall Feelings
When all is said and done, we loved Kristy Boyce’s Dating and Dragons. It’s sweet and wholesome and takes a deeper dive into D&D than Dungeons and Drama. Ultimately, we were happy with the blend of romance, a TTRPG-related story and the overall giddy feeling that comes with a happily ever after. We highly suggest everyone add this to their 2025 reading list.
Who I Am: A nerd by the strictest definition. I enjoy diving straight into my favorite fandoms without a care in the world. I live on video/board games, fantasy movies and TV, and all things geeky.
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