Roll for Romance

A Novel

By: Lenora Woods

Narrated by: Ellie Gossage

Two fledgling tabletop gamers find themselves falling for each other—both in and out of their weekly D&D sessions—in this cozy, fantasy-tinged romance.

“Sweet, charming, and wonderful!”—Sarah Beth Durst, author of The Spellshop

“The perfect entry point for readers with only a cursory knowledge of the iconic fantasy game, [with] parallel narratives that really make the novel sing.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

When Sadie Brooks unexpectedly loses her marketing job, she flees New York City to spend the summer with her best friend in small-town Texas, where joining his Dungeons & Dragons campaign is the perfect distraction while she plans her next steps.

In the game, she becomes Jaylie, a powerful human cleric blessed by the Goddess of Luck. But in real life, Sadie believes her luck has run out—until she meets Noah Walker, the outgoing bartender roped into joining their party as Loren, an adventurous and charismatic lute-strumming elf. Just as Jaylie finds herself succumbing to the bard’s charms over the course of their party’s travels, Sadie also begins to fall under Noah’s spell.

As their relationship progresses in both worlds, Sadie wonders if what they have might last beyond the game. But like his traveling bard character, Noah never stays in one place for long. When a new opportunity arises in New York, Sadie must face the truth about why she lost her job in the first place—and whether she and Noah have found something in Texas worth staying for. Torn between her career dreams in the city and the exciting uncertainty of a new adventure, she will have no choice but to roll the dice.

Engaging characters and story

Memorable characters anchor parallel storylines that progress steadily and ultimately converge in a satisfying way. Well written Lenora Woods!

Surprising good!

Things I liked: D&D gaming as a background storytelling setting, (I actually wished for more stats & character RPG mechanics). And I liked how the author woven-in the the narration from their D&D character's POV with IRL living and story. Very cute romance story.

Story

The story was amazing I wish it was dual pov cause that would’ve been better but there were a few plot twists I wasn’t expecting and I overall liked it a lot

More of a slice of life book

I was expecting a more deep dive into the DnD campaign storyline than just the female leads slice of life story. The storyline was pretty good but it does focus a lot on the internal conflict. Also am more of a spicy scene kind of woman and this doesn't really have that, except for the last few chapters and it happens once. In all 3 stars for me as I was expecting more of a even balance of both slice of life and DnD roll play but that didnt happen. However, if you personally are into a slice of life then this is for you.