Strength Check

Dungeons and Dating, Book 1

De: Katherine McIntyre

Narrado por: Amy Kennedy

Duración: 9 h y 11 m

Resumen del Editor

Roller derby, board games, and love collide in this roommates-to-lovers romance.

Roxie Esposito just opened a board game café in San Francisco and should be basking in success. Instead, she's picking out shards from her last relationship and handling her perpetually drunk mother, both of which strain her finances and fuel the need for a roommate.

Melody Roberts finally got the promotion she'd been aiming for - across the country in San Francisco. The perfect escape from her stagnant life and the toxic relationship with her now ex-boyfriend.

The moment Mel answers Roxie's ad for a roommate, the connection between them is explosive, warm, and real - everything they've both been longing for. Between horror movie marathons, board game nights, and deep talks, Mel and Roxie are falling for each other hard. Except the only problem with romance is they both seem to fail every single time, and when the grenades of exes, family drama, and their own insecurities drop, neither will escape unscathed.

Roll the dice on romance at Tabletop Tavern...

©2021 Katherine McIntyre (P)2022 Katherine McIntyre

Ok

In general I found this audiobook to be ok. The narration by Amy Kennedy was good, though it was difficult sometimes to figure out who was talking.

This is a super slow burn book full of inner monologues, miscommunication, misconceptions, and matchmaking. The pop culture and gamer geek background is a lot of fun and so are all the side characters. It has really good bones with two MCs that have emotional scars that need to be healed and both are dealing with difficult issues in their lives with family and work. This makes for a decent book with hurt/comfort and found family vibes. It’s actually a nice relationship when they finally realize their feelings towards the end of the book. It just takes a long time to get there and there are so many words and repeated ideas that the parts between “events” is hard to work through.

I received a copy of this audiobook and this is my honest opinion.

Finding Your Forever One

Strength Check is book one in Katherine McIntyre’s Dungeons and Dating series (which is now complete with book 6’s recent release).

This slow burn ff romance provides the canvas for fans of D&D gaming, as Roxie and her two best friends open their ‘Tabletop Cafe’ where customers become family and found relationships blossom.

Amy Kennedy voices both Roxie and her romantic interest, Melody, and does a good job narrated each character’s personality and anxiety. Both have been hurt and are looking for their special someone.

McIntyre has a bright voice in her writing that screams honesty and understanding and allows her characters to grow and flourish, even when they feel like the are struggling.

Strength Check is genuine and a hard earned Happy Ever After!

So cute together

okay so when this book came out I had read it and I absolutely love this book. now I am going to admit that when I saw it came out on audio I was so super excited to get it. I'm going to say though it took me a little bit to get into it. the reason being I don't know for me the voice the narrator had for like the first chapter or two it just sounded very metallic I'm not sure how to word it I just I didn't like the voice but I knew I loved the book so I kept listening. and I'm so super glad I did because I ended up falling in love with the audiobook as well it just took me a little while to get used to the sound of the voice I don't know why for me it just sounded off it didn't sound like somebody reading me a story it sounded like a robot or a computer or something I'm not sure how to word it but anyway I absolutely fell in love with the audio and I absolutely love the buck so I do recommend this audio. Just give it a few to get I to it.

3.5 ⭐️

- friends to lovers
- roomies
- found family
- mutual pining

Roxie and Mel's story was cute, but the burn was a bit too slow for my liking. Things definitely do get steamy once these two ladies get together though (after 80%), which was fantastic, but I would have honestly preferred seeing more of their established relationship then this long pining.

Overall consensus: cute, but too slow.

It's okay. Love the community in the story though!

3.5 stars

Overall, this isn't completely bad. It just wasn't quite my vibe. I was there for the first 50%, but then it felt like the story was dragging, which is dangerous territory for a slow burn. Individually, I liked both Roxie and Mel. I really empathize with both of their struggles. I had a hard time being patient with them to just finally talk it out. I do like a slow burn, but this wasn't the one for me. The characters are great, and I especially love the little found family we have going on here. I always have a soft spot for that. The side characters are great, and I will say, once the spice finally hit, it was SPICY. Also, it's nerdy and queer, so I absolutely love that. All in all it's not terrible, bu it's not great for me. It was enjoyable enough, and I am definitely curious about the rest of the series.

I did listen to the audio for this, which was mid. It kept me interested, but the narrator felt a little monotone at times, so it was hard to feel the strong emotions during those high feeling moments. But again, as with the story, it's not bad, just not my favorite.

I received an advance review copy of the audiobook from GRR for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Every city needs games & noms

Slooooow burn. Lack of communication and assumptions galore. I wanted to sit Roxie & Mel down and teach them how to communicate. They both need to earn how to advocate for themselves.
I was really bothered by Mel’s continual tolerance of bad behavior. Will’s, her coworkers, her former friends. Her being sad that all her old friends “left her behind.” SHE is the one that moved away and discovered they weren’t true friends anyway. Why the shock?
Roxie seemed to find a backbone as the story went on. I did really enjoy the camaraderie of the game tavern and look forward to reading stories of the other characters.
I listened to the audio of this book. The narrator was not working for me. Sometimes I felt like I was being read to like I was in first grade. So many words were mispronounced too. I started keeping a list too late. But some examples are brooding, azure and citrine. Overall that diminished my enjoyment of the story too.

I love this series

I absolutely love this whole series. Roxie and Mel are great characters and all the folks at Tabletop Tavern are like found family. This hits all my geeky fan buttons and was a great story to boot. My only problem was with the narrator. I liked her voice but her inflections and pauses were all off like she was reading without regard for punctuation or anything.