Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)

Hi all! Happy Wednesday. It is the first day back at school for many of the children here on Cape Cod, so if you are looking for a time to come visit, now is a great time as things start to slow down a little. But the beaches are still perfect for grabbing your favorite beach chair, a book, and spending your day on the beach with a great read.

The book I am sharing with you all today is Level Up for Love by Lenora Woods. As always, I want to give a huge thanks to our friends at Ballantine Dell and NetGalley for the advance copy. Of course, these opinions are my own after finishing the novel.

So, we start out with Reagan Riley and Wesley Locke, who were constantly at each other’s throats in college while competing to be the best in their video game design program. That is, until Wesley shows up to Reagan’s party on the last night of college. After getting a little friendly, Wesley ghosted her! Now it’s six years later, and he is the Dungeon Master for her newest D&D game! He is also competing against her in a real-world game design competition. So, will Reagan be able to get over the arguments and ghosting from six years ago, or will she pick right back up where she left off?

If you know me, and if you have been here for a while, you probably know this by now: I am a sucker for books set in places I have been. So, I absolutely loved the New England setting for this installment from Lenora Woods. This story is set in Connecticut a place I have been to many times and is a perfect read for fall. I love the mention of certain towns, the changing leaves that are a trademark of New England in the fall, and also that Thanksgiving makes an appearance. It makes this the perfect fall read.

I loved that Dungeons and Dragons took up a major part of this book by showing us the characters, storyline, and gameplay Raegan and her party were experiencing. D&D is more than just something the characters do that gets mentioned once and then disappears from the story. It’s essential to the story. Especially as someone who plays D&D weekly, I loved seeing it play such an important part in the book.

I also thoroughly enjoyed the tension between Reagan and Wesley. You can tell that she was hurt by him ghosting her, but she was not about to just let that go without getting an answer about what happened and why.

As someone who loves audiobooks, I think this is a book that would thrive with narration. Being able to listen to the gameplay and characters would give it a much more dynamic presence. I have already preordered the audio because I need to experience this book in audio as well!

If you are a fan of DND, romance novels, and are looking for an experience that combines the two, you need to read this book. Be warned: there are some spicy scenes in this novel, so it is definitely for mature readers. This is a rivals-to-lovers, forced-proximity, second-chance romance that you will not want to miss.

Preorder now from your favorite retailer. This one releases on September 8th.

As always, friends, I hope you have a great rest of the week and that you find your own 5-star read!