Review: Dungeons & Dragons Dating by Virginia McClain
Blurb:
WHAT KIND OF DRAGON SENDS A BLIND DATE TO A CURSED FOREST?!
Quiet café owner Lyra Stranglevine knows that she’s too broken for romance. So, she never expected to wind up killing zombified bugbears with her Great Gram’s favorite sewing machine on a first date. And especially not with an adventure-hardened battle mage. Even if she is distractingly gorgeous…
Fire mage Kiara Mefysta DOES NOT date—no one deserves to have a partner who risks her life on a regular basis—and no “love dragon” matchmaking service is going to change that. But the curvy café owner who keeps descending from cursed vines like a sylvan goddess is seriously testing Kiara’s resolve...
One thing Kiara and Lyra both agree on, though, is having words with the tiny purple and green dragon who trapped them in this cursed forest to begin with. If they survive, that is.
This sapphic, cozy, fantasy romance is perfect for fans of Travis Baldree and T. Kingfisher.
Review:
Aerialists, dragon blind dates, LGBTQIA+ rep, oh my! I think I tried a similar opening in a different book review and it was also a bit…mixed. You know what isn’t mixed? Dungeons & Dragons Dating by Virginia McClain. This little book was pure cute!
We have our two MCs, Lyra and Kiara, who both come with their own baggage on why they don’t date. Not to be confused with Kyle who doesn’t date because he is ‘clearly very content without any romantic partners and who will live a wonderful, fulfilling life without ever having a single romantic entanglement if everyone would just leave him in peace.’ But like Estvalyn, I am also not talking about Kyle. I am also not talking about the 900-lb ethereal panther named Gwen that ended up part of the party. She lives in a necklace, don’t worry about it.
So, Lyra is in the throes of grief after losing her last related family member, the very woman that raised her. Kiara is dealing with the lingering words of her ex, who made her question whether it’s right to have a partner that risks her life as a Battle Mage. You might think that two women that clearly have things to work through should probably sort them out before trying a matchmaking service coordinated by a tiny dragon that shouts the fine print at you while going through a portal like some kind of US medication advert. Some of those side effects were wild in those adverts!
Turns out for our MCs, the best way to work through their baggage is to be thrown into a magic dungeon by the tiny matchmaking dragon, Auryl. There is a part of me that wondered when you took away the zombie bugbears, pocket dimensions and magic spiders, would the attraction still be there? It’s like a much more intense version of the rope bridge attraction study some psychologists did. Anyway, the cursed forest did provide a chance for Kiara to unapologetically bust out her fire-magic, Battle Mage skills, which were very cool and to lust over Lyra as she navigated the cursed forest’s vines with the grace only an aerialist can - by which I mean in a hipkey/hiplock.
Admittedly, when I see a book that has an aerialist and aerial skills as a fairly key plot point, my hackles are immediately raised. And despite being disappointed Virginia didn’t have Lyra in a footlock at any point, what I got was a character where the aerialist skills work in the world, make sense to the story and are accurate. Because good things happen when circus people write circus books! So circus lovers can dive in without reservation on that note. If you’re not a circus or aerial arts lover, look Lyra drops a 200-lb sewing machine on a zombie bugbear when she runs out of ideas and slaps a woman with a frying pan. Kiara’s stilettos don’t sink into the ground because MAGIC! Virginia thought of everything! What more can you possibly ask for?!
What a lot these ramblings should allude to is that this is a book that spreads the spectrum of emotions. There is loss, there is self-doubt, there are questions about what we deserve in our lives and it’s all mixed in with moments of humour, resilience, loyalty and a lot of spiraling neurotic anxiety wondering if the other person actually likes them. That last bit has reminded me that I am so glad I am done with dating. I am also disappointed that no tiny dragons are coordinating dates in the real world. Truly we have the worst reality.
So why not instead Ignore our terrible reality, particularly with this fun, cosy fantasy! Seriously, if you need a refreshing read to reset things, dive into the broom cupboard and let Auryl find your perfect match. But remember: safetyandsurvivalnotguaranteedtrueloveonlyexperiecnedifbothpartiesfindeachotheracceptable
Dungeons & Dragons Dating is out 3 February 2025
