Synopsis:
Dungeons and Drama is a fun YA romcom full of fake dating hijinks! When it comes to romance, sometimes it doesn’t hurt to play games.
No one loves musicals more than Riley Morris—her dream is to be a Broadway director. But when the spring show is canceled, Riley has to figure out a way to bring it back. Easier said than done—she’s stuck working at her dad’s game store. The place that means more to him than his family does.
Riley can’t waste time at a dead-end job when her entire future is resting on making a name for herself. So she convinces her co-worker Nathan Wheeler—the floppy-haired, glasses-wearing guy she barely knows from school—to help her. In exchange, she’ll help him make his gamer-girl crush jealous. Plus it won’t hurt to show her egotistical ex, Paul, just what he’s missing without her.
Soon Riley and Nathan are “a couple,” and people seem to believe it. But selling the ruse means joining Nathan’s role-playing game. To Riley’s surprise, the game is almost fun. And even more surprising, flirting with Nathan doesn’t require as much acting as she thought it would…
Review:
I had an absolute blast reading Dungeons and Drama. I loved (almost) every single page of this book. As a theatre kid and a gamer, this book feels like it was made for me. I do have a few slight negatives to talk about but these haven’t impacted my rating in any way.
The little chapter header picture is really cute but it does irk me a little that it isn’t an accurate d20. Technically the little heart would be the 20. Also what would have been really cute was if the d20 was used for the chapter numbers and then you could have used two when it got over 20. This isn’t a critique of the book, just a little observation from someone that has way too many polyhedral dice.
Choosing a bard as your class is completely valid but being a human bard is just diabolical to someone that has never once played a human character. You can choose to be any race you want and you go for the one you are in real life. Boring. Also, inviting someone to the party to be a second bard? Heinous. No one wants two bards in their party. At least bards can do some healing though and they don’t have a cleric so they desperately need someone to heal them.
Also, sorry I’m being so bit picky about the D&D mechanics but players don’t say “I’m rolling a stealth check” the DM would ask you to do that. At least in every game I’ve ever played or watched. Plus a critical hit doesn’t instantly mean your character is down. They could still roll low for damage.
I was going to complain that there actually isn’t as much D&D in this as I’d hoped but considering I have so much to say about the mechanics of it in Dungeons and Drama, it’s probably for the best.
One part I really enjoyed about Dungeons and Drama is that the fake dating stayed fake pretty much the entire book. Riley does catch feelings for Nathan fairly early on but as far as she’s aware, he’s completely indifferent to her. I adored their bickering and flirtatious banter. It’s one of the reasons why fake dating is my favourite trope.
The progression of Riley and Nathan’s friendship felt very natural and it was all very cutesy. It was easy to see why Riley fell for Nathan, he’s the exact type of guy I would have liked at that age. He was surprisingly emotionally mature and honestly not at all the awkward nerd you’d expect. He had some serious charisma.
Riley was definitely a little over dramatic at times but what would you expect from a theatre kid? Also, she’s a teenager that acts without thinking and often says some pretty cringe worthy stuff. Plus all romance books have cringe worthy dialogue, it comes with the genre.
I did like seeing her relationship develop with her dad throughout the book. She starts out thinking his game store is stupid and that he doesn’t care about her passions. But over time finds out this isn’t the case at all. The development of this relationship goes alongside Riley’s general maturity.
I had such a good time reading Dungeons and Drama that it would be a crime to rate it anything but five stars. I know this won’t be everyone’s cup of tea but it had so many elements that I really love.
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