Book Review: Level Up for Love by Lenora Woods
Official Synposis: In college, Reagan Riley and Wesley Locke were constantly at each other’s throats, competing to be the best in their video game design program—until Wesley ghosts her after their unexpected hookup, severing their ties for good.
Six years later, Reagan has set aside her game design dreams, opting instead to stay close to her family in Connecticut and channel her creative energy into D&D. When her longstanding group falls apart, she and her sister join their local game store's new advanced campaign—only to find the demanding Dungeon Master at the helm is none other than Wesley. In the game, he is Vadrien, a merciless, power-hungry vampire lord, and Reagan is Sindra, the sword-wielding lady knight who will stop at nothing to cut him down.
When a game design opportunity opens up in the real world, Reagan and Wesley find themselves doubly pitted against each other. But as their buried spark reignites and Reagan starts to question why Wesley left all those years ago, can they find a way to play nice—and are they playing for more than just to win?
Reagan has spent a lot of her adult life looking after her younger sister, and even know spends most of her time making sure Mona is comfortable and safe. When Mona wants to join a new Dungeons and Dragons campaign after their last one...blew up, Reagan isn't sure she is ready, especially to join as a player. But Reagan does it, wanting the challenge that is offered and hopefully to find a new group of friends to play with. What she doesn't expect is for their new Dungeon Master to be her nemesis from college, Wesley. Wesley and Reagan have been competing since they met, working against each other through all of college and hoping for the same jobs in game design. But the last time Reagan saw Wesley they had just made out in her room during their last college party, then he disappeared. Seeing Wesley again brings Raegan back to an older version of herself, one that is defensive and worried, but also one that is ready for the push of having Wesley around.
Wesley has recently lost his job at a game development company, he is working through figuring out what is next and moves to New Haven in hopes of finally seeing his DnD group in real life. He doesn't expect Reagan to walk through the door and start to immediately push his buttons again. He also doesn't expect that she is going to enter the same game design competition that he is, but he knows her games are good, and he wants to see how close he can get to her now that a few years have passed. Wesley can't help but continue to fall for the girl he left all those years ago, even this tougher version of her that pushes back against everything he says or does.
When they decide to start working on their projects together, with their different abilities, they start to grow closer, figuring out what has happened between the last times they saw each other and what else has gone into making them who they are now. Each time they are alone they steal a kiss, only to awkwardly walk away from each other again. When Wesley finally is over the back and forth, he starts to push Reagan for more. But Reagan has trouble trusting, especially in relationships, but she finds that she wants to trust Wesley now...
I really like how both of Lenora Woods' books interweave the DnD campaign with the real life events of the characters. We get to see how both stories weave together and how the decisions from outside the campaign start to impact the campaign. I also really like the nerdy side of romance, with characters in STEM and stubborn female main characters, and this book definitely has that. This story was really cute in the ways that Reagan and Wesley start to show each other how they care in small ways. The only part that really bothered me was how much they went back and forth about 'this is a bad idea' to 'let's keep kissing'. I feel like it happened a few too many times for me, but I get why it did. If you are looking for a cute nerdy romance this book is definitely for you!
I rated this book 4 out of 5 stars!
Level Up for Love is out September 8, 2026!
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