About the Book:

Title: Dungeons and Drama

Author: Kristy Boyce

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Release Date: January 9, 2024

Pages: 304

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance 

Synopsis:

When it comes to romance, sometimes it doesn’t hurt to play games. A fun YA romcom full of fake dating hijinks!

Musical lover Riley has big aspirations to become a director on Broadway. Crucial to this plan is to bring back her high school’s spring musical, but when Riley takes her mom’s car without permission, she’s grounded and stuck with the worst punishment: spending her after-school hours working at her dad’s game shop.

Riley can’t waste her time working when she has a musical to save, so she convinces Nathan—a nerdy teen employee—to cover her shifts and, in exchange, she’ll flirt with him to make his gamer-girl crush jealous.

But Riley didn’t realize that meant joining Nathan’s Dungeons & Dragons game…or that role playing would be so fun. Soon, Riley starts to think that flirting with Nathan doesn’t require as much acting as she would’ve thought…

Review:

*I received an e-arc via Netgalley for review. Thank you to Delacorte for the opportunity. All thoughts are my own*

Kristy Boyce has become one of my auto-buy authors. This was so cute and such a fun read. Fake dating is one of my favorite tropes and I loved learning more about DND! 

Riley has dreams about becoming a director on Broadway. That’s why she needs to bring back the school’s spring musical. When she gets caught driving her mom’s car without permission, she dreads her punishment. She must work at her dad’s game shop during her after-school hours. Her parents are divorced, and she and her dad aren’t really close.

Riley kind of panics, because she can’t spend her time working at the shop when she needs to save the musical. She convinces Nathan, a nerdy employee at the shop, to cover her shifts. She agrees to make the gamer-girl he has a crush on jealous in exchange. 

Riley didn’t realize she’d have to join Nathan’s Dungeons and Dragons game that’s held at the shop. She actually begins to find the role-playing fun.  She also starts to realize that flirting with Nathan doesn’t require a lot of her acting skills. She begins to understand her father more, the more time she spends at the shop.

I really enjoyed this one and I definitely recommend! I loved seeing Riley’s growth and character development. If you enjoy contemporary romance pick this one up! 

About the Author:

Kristy Boyce lives in Columbus, OH and teaches psychology as a senior lecturer at The Ohio State University.

When she’s not spending time with her husband and son, she’s usually writing, reading, putting together fairy gardens, or watching happy reality TV (The Great British Bake-Off and So You Think You Can Dance are perennial favorites).

Kristy is the social media coordinator for Central and Southern Ohio SCB.