Roll For A Lovely Review

Roll for Love by M. K. England

#ContemporaryYA #WLW #RomCom #NerdsInLove

CW: (Pre-book) Death of a Grandparent, Grief, (Pre-book) Divorce, Abandonment, Internalized Queer-phobia, Religious Bigotry, Homophobia, Racism, Emotional Abuse, (On-page, but symptoms aren't focused on) Panic Attack, Cursing, Sexism, Bugs

4.5/5

Admittedly, I don't remember putting M. K. England's Roll for Love on my Libby T.B.R., but as I was scrolling through recently, I spotted it was available. I certainly get why I added it! I love reading about queer people falling in love while playing Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) or other table top role playing games (see The No Girlfriend Rule by Christen Randall). England did not let me down. They threw in country life, mental health, and carpentry as well. Bonus: Natalie Naudus is one of the narrators. We stan!

Roll for Love takes place during Harper's senior year of high school. After her grandfather died, he left his country property to Harper's mother. They used to spend summers there, but it had been 5 years. Returning, Harper is reunited with a community, a barn, and a girl she's dearly missed. This girl, Ollie, was her first crush. Little did she know that Ollie had felt the same way. As the year progresses, the two of them must figure out their futures. Harper is up against her mother's wishes and Ollie is up against her fear of coming out as bisexual in a small town. Their best escape from all the stress, which is their D&D game, starts having some "reality bleed". Their characters fall in love, but are they falling in love too?

I loved the structure of Roll for Love. Just as in The No-Girlfriend Rule, the D&D campaign's story matters. England took a different approach however. Throughout the book, there were sections of game narration. Not something like "Harper rolled a nat one", but as if it was its own book. Only occasionally slipping out of it to have the Dungeon Master talk to their players. These parts of the book also seemed to rotate between featured focus player characters. While I wouldn't recommend Roll for Love to people with no interest in D&D, I do think it's beginner friendly! It introduces a lot about the culture around D&D and why people love it. It does not get overly technical. Should you get just as into England's D&D writing, you'll be happy to know that they are one of the authors on the recently released anthology, This is How We Roll.

The queer rep in Roll for Love is bountiful! Harper is a lesbian from a big city who doesn't get what it's like to be queer in a small town. Except that doesn't stop her from trying to prove to Ollie that it will be okay for her to come out as bi. Their friend group has a gay guy and a non-binary person in it, but Harper also introduces Ollie to a queer cafe and an older gay couple that have a flower shop together. The only thing I took issue with was a character mentioning being ace when dismissing a question about potential awkwardness from being friends with 2 couples. This character may well have been ace, but as an ace person, I know it's an irrelevant statement. I've felt the loneliness when in that situation. Aromantic would have made more sense in the exchange. People need to remember that although these two identities are often held by the same people, they're not the same thing. Setting that aside, England did a beautiful job of bringing these country queers to life!

Roll for Love by M. K. England is perfect for those who want to mix country romance and nerdy romance. This book delivers cathartic moments, interesting tidbits about agriculture and carpentry, and pining… so much pining. If you're ready to see what Harper and Ollie are playing at, reading Roll for Love will be like rolling a nat 20.