This book is a warm blanket; it’s the perfect read before bedtime. Pleasant, hopeful, fun.
Riley is a high school drama kid. In fact, until recently, she was dating the best actor in town. But that has ended. School is starting back up, and now her ex has a new girlfriend. And, to make things worse, Riley is in BIG TROUBLE with her parents. In what is probably the most innocent and cutest reason to get grounded ever, Riley borrowed her mom’s car without permission to drive her and a friend to a musical a few hours away.
As punishment, Riley has to work in her dad’s gaming store. DND, Azul, Catan, that kind of thing. That is…NOT Riley’s world. And she’s not exactly close to her dad. After her parents split, she has been living with her mom, and they bond over watching musicals. Working at the store is her own personal hell, and things get even worse when she finds out that the school’s annual music is cut because of budget concerns.
Things get even worse when she realizes that Nathan, a quiet kid from her school, works at the store and hangs out with her dad. She wants no part of the store or her dad, until she realizes that playing DND with Nathan and his friends is blessed by her dad and a way to get out of work. As she warms up to the acting part of DND, Riley realizes she might not be avoiding bad things in her old life so much as moving towards new good things. Maybe she’ll have to drag some of her old life with her.
As always with great books in the genre, this book is elevated by supporting relationships. Particularly, I appreciated the relationship triangle between Riley and each of her parents. The chasm between Riley and her father makes sense. Theyare two people who want to be more connected but aren’t sure how to reach one another. Even though Riley’s parents are civil for her sake, you can feel the tension between them. It’s hard for Riley not to feel like any decisions or comments she makes to her parents won’t pledge loyalty to one or the other. These kinds of moments in the book make the characters so much more real. Another character’s home life also feels equally real and influential, but I won’t reveal that.
Another note – this book is somewhat similar to Twelfth Knight, another book I adored and reviewed. While they both deal with an unlikely pair and gaming, they feel pretty different. This book is a sunnier, PG version of similar themes. Twelfth Knight is more complex and PG-13. They’re both great; they just tell similar stories in their own way. I recommend both.
4.5/5 rounded up 4 love.