Genre 📚: YA Contemporary, Romance
Tropes 💁♀️: Former friends to lovers, Rivals to lovers, Forced proximity
Rep ✔️: BIPOC side characters
CW ⚠️: Divorce, emotionally distant parent
Rating ⭐️: 4.5/5
Kristy Boyce could write twenty books about Dungeons & Dragons and I would never get tired of them. They’re just SO GOOD. They’re full of the most zany characters, the most heartwarming friendships, and of course, THE MOST swoonworthy romances. The first two books were instant favorites, and I think Rolls and Rivalry may be joining the ranks too.
The third installment of the series focuses on a high school marching band, specifically on the highly competitive color guard captain Hazel. She’s determined to lead her fellow guard members to success, and to rub it in the percussion section’s faces. The sections have been feuding for years, and now Hazel’s former friend/crush Max is part of percussion. That alone makes them enemies, along with the fact that Max is inexplicably hostile. But as their parents get reacquainted with D&D nights, the kids start their own D&D campaign and find that they enjoy flirting more than fighting… 😏
The initial rivalry between Hazel and Max was delightfully childish, with plenty of heated banter and dumb pranks. And there was still that longing for their past friendship, which added a nice tension. As always with these books, I loved seeing the characters come together in a game of D&D. In this case, it not only brought Hazel and Max closer, but the different band sections as well. They slowly started feeling more like a team, and that was more satisfying than any individual win. (Bonus: Some beloved characters made a cameo, and I probably squealed more than I should have. But eeeee, I luff them so much.)
**Much thanks to NetGalley and Delacorte Romance for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Rolls and Rivalry will be released on May 5, 2026.
Sara Bechtol 