Dating and Dragons by Kristy Boyce

The Cover of Dating and Dragons by Kristy Boyce

Thank you to NetGalley, Delacorte Romance, and Kristy Boyce for the Advance Reader Copy (ARC) of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Publication Date: December 31st, 2024

Dates: November 29th - January 6th

Rating: 1.5/5

2025: 3/100

After reading the first book in this series, I was looking forward to reading this novel. Dungeons and Drama (Rating: 3.5/5) was a book that I had a number of issues with, but ultimately was still a book that I enjoyed reading. It was also a book that I devored in one sitting because of how enraptured I was by the premise and the characters that Boyce created. There was just so much charm and love poured into every page that it was worth the read and was something that I couldn't put down. I just feel like this book doesn't have that same charm that made the first one so memorable. It also meant that this novel was a slogg to get through.

Dating and Dragons follows Quinn as she transfer high schools half way through her junior year. Quinn, and her new group of friends who live stream Dungeons and Dragons online, take their D&D game very seriously and take their rules even more so. The group of friends, composed of six people, have one major rule: no dating other players. This, as the title might convey, is the main confict of the novel. While I do not mind the 'no dating' rule as it's a quirky and unique way to introduce a will they/won't they saga to a Young Adult Novel, the sheer amout of characters the main issue I have with the book. None of the characters in this six person friend group, or the side characters in family members/school mates are all that memorable. At least in the first book, all of the characters, be it side or main, were memorable. I could remember who was who as I was reading, and all of the characters with smaller roles were interesting and unique. With Dating and Drama, I found myself having to reread and remind myself who was who constantly. Even with Quinn, for being the main character, had very little character traits and all of her personality revolved around being quirky and "not like other girls". While this is a character archetype that can work, it suffers when you surround the characters with near carbon copies of the "not like other girls" character. Logan, the love interest, was honestly such a red flag too. After meeting on their first day of school, he feel instantly in love with her. Which, you know, isn't that big of a deal most of the time in romance books, but in this novel, Boyce made the choice to have him attempt to exclude Quinn from their friend group, act like a complete asshole, and just show no reasoning for why he was in love with Quinn.

Quinn's family was also just not it either. I read, especially YA romance, for light hearted fun not Quinn's parents being borderline abusive and neclectful to her so her brother can get special treatment. I think there could have been a way to handle this, especially in way that resolves how she's treated, but instead it just felt like an archetype that Boyce was trying to fill.

It's a shame that this novel left so much to be desired. I was really hoping for a fun little romance and not boring, uninspired "romance".

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