Today’s review is about ROLL FOR LOVE by M.K. England. This is a Young Adult contemporary romance that features two queer main characters, both of whom love Dungeons & Dragons.
Author: M.K. England
Series: None
Age Category: Young Adult
Publisher: Running Press Kids
Publish Date: April 08, 2025
Print Length: 272
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Roll For Love Synopsis
Synopsis
A second-chance queer romance about two teens whose in-world D&D characters fall in love, but in IRL . . . things are more complicated, perfect for lovers of Ashley Poston and Becky Albertalli.
Harper Reid’s summer is not off to a great start. After the death of her grandpa, she moves across the country, leaving her friends and Dungeons & Dragons group behind. She wasn’t exactly planning to start her senior year on the farm where she spent her childhood summers, but running into Ollie Shifflet–former best friend and first crush–makes things much better. When Harper discovers Ollie and her friends are starting a new D&D campaign, she quickly joins the group. As Harper and Ollie reconnect in the real world, romantic tension begins to build between Harper’s brash barbarian and Ollie’s proud paladin, but it’s all just part of the game . . . right?
Ollie’s future depends on keeping her bisexuality private while Harper’s dreams include an out-and-proud life in their rural town, but as their feelings continue to grow with each gaming session, their relationship begins threatening everything they’ve worked so hard to build. As the school year comes to a close and the campaign’s final boss looms on the horizon, Harper and Ollie must decide: are their feelings more than just a fantasy? Because if they want a second chance at love, they’ll have to fight for it, both in-game and in real life.
Roll For Love Review
ROLL FOR LOVE is a small town coming-of-age and coming-out story for Harper and Ollie. After her grandfather’s passing, Harper and her mom move from Portland, Oregon to a small Virginia town for her senior year. Upset at leaving her life behind on the west coast, Harper hopes she can at least find a Dungeons & Dragons group at her new school. When Ollie drops by, Harper is reunited with her childhood best friend and invited to her D&D group. So at least Harper has that going for her last year of high school.
In ROLL FOR LOVE, Harper is confidently queer and a self-proclaimed lesbian. Moving to a small town she has no idea if she’ll find love, but at least she has a D&D group. Ollie, however, prefers to keep her bisexuality private for reasons a number of folks can probably relate to. Because of the small town setting, Ollie worries about discrimination and hate from random passersby as well as people who’ve known her her whole life. She’s afraid that publicly proclaiming her bisexuality will negate everything good people know about her. Harper helps Ollie work through those feelings in various ways. There is, of course, a third act conflict between Harper and Ollie as the tension grows between them.
I loved the D&D group, all of whom are queer and super supportive of each other. About half of them, including Ollie, are still figuring out who they are or whether they want to be public about it. One of them also contends with religious parents. While that’s not a huge part of the story, it comes to a head later in the book. Furthermore, there is no bi-erasure here. Ollie dated a boy in the past, but Harper has always been her first love.
Another thing I really liked about ROLL FOR LOVE is the emphasis that college isn’t for everyone. Harper is a great student, but has no interest in college. She fell in love with woodworking during summers spent with her grandfather and she wants to pursue that as a career. However, she faces pushback from her mother, which causes a lot of frustration and angst between them. This story normalizes choosing a trade over pursuing a traditional four-year college. I think this is important because of the cultural pressure in the U.S. to continue white-collar schooling. Trade school for blue collar professions can also result in a stable and respectable income.
Finally, ROLL FOR LOVE incorporates actual D&D campaigning. Each person creates their own character and the author includes on-page adventuring. This is the only part that fell a little flat for me. For whatever reason I just wasn’t interested in the quest. The D&D friend group jokes about the chemistry between Harper’s and Ollie’s characters, as well as two others’ characters, but I just didn’t feel it. However, I am a grown adult and perhaps a young adult, for whom this book is for, might feel differently.
All in all, this is another great addition to this recent trend of D&D-related contemporary romances. There are a lot of coming-of-age themes in this book that I think many teens can relate to.
Rating: 4
Content warnings: homophobia, death of a family member (historical), divorce (historical)
Reading format: Library hardback
If you liked this book, you may also enjoy DUNGEONS AND DRAMA and DATING AND DRAGONS by Kristy Boyce.
I like how well rounded this seems, with lots of interesting elements. I’d probably be lost with all the D&D content, since I never played, but I’m sure there’s an audience for it😁
It was cute! Honestly, probably still a little young for me even though the MCs are 17. But I liked the messages in it that I think are great ones for teens.
I am very excited to read this one! I love D&D so much and I am loving all the books popping up with characters that also play.
This is definitely another great edition to all the other D&D-related books that have popped up recently. 🙂