This book was addicting - I could not put it down.

The friendships in Taking Initiative were so beautiful and well crafted and had one of my favourite tropes of ‘found family’!

I loved the nerdy aspects of this book and as someone who played DnD with my sister? prior to moving overseas, it gave me feelings of nostalgia and had me missing home!

I would highly recommend this for anyone who enjoys gaming and found family tropes!

I was excited to read a book that involved both a librarian and D&D - I am very much into both of those things! However, the over-description of almost every character introduced felt clunky and took me out of the story every time. A bit more polishing in certain areas would help this fun and unique story shine more vibrantly!

A librarian and D&D romance? Count me in! I thoroughly enjoyed this fast-paced, nerdy love story. It's refreshing to encounter a romance where the conflict in the third act is reasonable and resolved maturely. Felix makes for a wonderful book boyfriend, and his chemistry with Jo was absolutely sparkling!

This was a spicy, nerdy, absolute delight of a book, and I loved it so much! Jo is a newcomer to a small town in Kansas, looking for a new start after a breakup. She shows up at the library’s first Monsters & Mythology game night hoping to find some friends who love the game as much as she does, but instead the only person there is the (seriously hot) librarian Felix, who’s way in over his head. He just wants to boost the library’s popularity in order to help save the library’s funding (and his job), so she agrees to help teach him about M&M… and sparks fly.

Tiny spoiler: I’m usually not a fan of third-act breakups, but this one was done really well. Overall I really enjoyed this book and I’ll happily read more from her!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC of 'Taking Initiative' by Elle M. Stewart.

I truly just didn't believe this romance. Felix is great, honestly I liked him. He needed a bit more to him but I did like him. But Jo? I don't know but she either bored me or she annoyed me and I just need a main character that I like sometimes.

This was a cute story and I enjoyed the different take on DnD. This story made me laugh, cry and fall in love with the characters. Thank you for allowing me to read and review this ARC

A sweet small town romance between a sexy grumpy librarian and an ex-people pleaser DnD playing nurse. Jo need to get away. From her ex. From her old life. From her need to say yes. So she ends up in Kansas by drunken luck. There she vows to learn more about herself after a 10 year relationship. Hoping to make some new friends so goes to the local library's first DnD night. However, no one else is there except the librarian, a gruff unimaginative guy named Felix. After the disastrous start, Felix asks Jo to help him learn about DnD and thus the late nights in the library begin.

Okay, hear me this is a good book, but the problems of the main characters are so realistic and they deal with them in mature ways that it was kinda...boring. I feel like this book was so close to a real life love story while most romance books are at least somewhat unrealistic and that's what makes it fun. So yes a good book but kinda too real for me.

Thanks Netgalley for providing me this ARC! This review is left voluntarily and purely my own thoughts.

Rating: 4/5
Spice: 2/5

A librarian x D&D romance?! Yes please! I really enjoyed this fast paced, nerdy romance. It’s refreshing to read a romance where the 3rd act conflict is reasonable and handled in a mature way. Felix is a wonderful book boyfriend and his chemistry with Jo was sparkling!

Review on my Instagram @thoughtsfromnowhere

I don't give too many five star reviews, but this book made me so happy.

I played a campaign of Dungeons and Dragons when I was 19. I didn't stick with it, but have fond memories of those weeks. We would laugh and my boyfriend at the time would come up with ridiculous (and creative) ideas that would work out due to a high die roll.

This book's version of Dungeons and Dragons, Monsters and Mythology, was nostalgic for me. I also love a hot librarian.

I adore a dual POV romance and it had a decent amount of spice. Can I also praise the author for writing vulva and mentioning tampons?!

The MMC also asks for consent with each first touch along the way of their first time together which is something a friend had confessed to me was important to them recently. This book was just a breath of fresh air.

The conflict was real and warranted. It advocated for healthy mental health and the journey in therapy.

I have so much to praise about this book. I can't recommend it enough!

4 Stars and my thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC!

We love an emotionally stable grown man! Though I just wish they would have reached the "I need therapy" stage way way earlier.

Jo recently moved to Ashville, Kansas from California (where in California? Doesn't matter, it's California!!!) and is trying to make new friends in her new town with a MnM group at the local library. Enter hot librarian Felix, who knows nothing about MnM but wants to bring more people into the library.

Listen. I liked this book well enough. The author knows her stuff when it comes to roleplaying games. She does not know her stuff when it comes to libraries. I'm not expecting an exact replica of how my library works, but I would have expected some research with a real librarian (none that I could see in the acknowledgements). I'm not going to knock off points of my review, but lord was it infuriating reading a whole ass librarian think they're going to lose their job if a single program doesn't get attendance. That's now how programming works and that's not how library budgets work.

What I did like, though! I really loved Felix. He loves with his whole heart and tried so hard to be professional. I feel like the story focused so much on Jo's history and past relationship, but I want to say I remember reading something about Felix getting out of something serious too. I wish there was more on that. The two of them getting together out of the rubble of past loves.

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC of this book, this is my objective review. Our FMC Jo is an elder care nurse who's new to Kansas and an avid fan of Monsters and Mythology (a fictional RPG based on Dungeons & Dragons). Our MMC Felix is a local librarian who's clueless about role-playing games but is in charge of the newly-minted RPG night at his library. Let me digress briefly by saying that I love books about librarians and/or set in libraries. Call me a book nerd (as I unabashedly am), but as a long-time lover of libraries I'm always going to have the warm fuzzies for a library setting in a book. Also, bookstores.

Anyway, I really liked this book! Great dynamic between Jo and Felix, realistic relationship and life issues (especially the bits about not letting past relationships impact a current one, and I'm happy this was a therapy-positive book), and I loved Felix's grandpa Tito. I'm not a gamer but the author is, and as a non-gamer the gaming elements were explained simply enough for me to understand, which I appreciated. *Very* open door romance with fairly quick attraction and a lot of steam, definitely not a slow burn. Great debut effort, I enjoyed the story and would definitely read this author again.

When I saw that this was a romance featuring role playing games, libraries, and characters in their 30’s, I knew I would love this book.

I enjoyed Felix’s character a lot and loved his relationship with Tito. I also liked Jo a lot for the most part, but she did have some scenes that were just frustrating. I really liked all the side characters though and would absolutely read a book about Leni or Trey and Aida.

I really enjoyed this book, it was totally different than what I usually read and it made me think about picking up dungeons and dragons as a hobby. Felix is an amazing book boyfriend, and you guys should totally go read their love story!

Jo meets Felix not long after she moves to Kansas. he is setting up a games night at the library and she gets roped in to help. Will he be the one for her, or is it history repeating? Fab read, some great characters.

⭐️ARC Review⭐️
There is so much to adore about this wonderful novel, a slow burn friends to lovers that addresses mental health, TTRPG, and creating space to be unabashedly yourself. As a D&D player of many years I was already hooked by the blurb and cover design, but the story just took it to another level. I was shedding tears wanting to cry my own "Huzzah!" along with these wonderful characters. Jo felt like a friend and ~mostly~ like myself, having moved to a new state and trying to establish her self while dealing with insecurities and worries that some people will never understand the impact TTRPG has had on her or well ~my~ life. Felix and Tito had such a beautiful relationship even in their grief, they were both so accepting and loving towards Jo that I wanted to reach through the pages and hug them because our girl deserved to know what actual love looked like. For sure a top read of 2024 for me!

4 1/2 ⭐️s. I enjoyed this book as I can relate to Felix. My husband loves DnD like Jo loves MnM. I am perfectly fine supporting him like Felix supports Jo.

Jo has gotten through a very difficult breakup and needs a change. That change just so happens to be moving to Asheville, Kansas in the middle of tornado season. She got the nursing job. Her next step is to meet people. When she finds a flyer about a Monsters and Mythology group at the public library, she decides to take the plunge. The only problem is only one person is there.

Felix is the librarian who was voluntold to start up a s Monsters and Mythology group to hopefully market more to the local college students. The problem is that he knows nothing about MnM. Just when he thinks no one is coming, in walks Jo.

Now, Felix and Jo are coming together to get an MnM group setup. Jo has the knowledge and Felix has the place. Will their new found friendship take a different turn when they go to Indi-Con? Walk through this story of sharing a very loved hobby with someone, meddling friends/grandfather, tornados, and much more.

3. 75
This is an interesting love story that evolves around a game Monsters & Mythology that units librarian Felix and game lover Jo. The story is about finding what was missing, a story about finding what true love really looks like.
I volunteered to review an ARC of this book for Netgalley

I found this a delightful romance with plenty of D&D-inspired fun and a lot of really healthy relationship dynamics. I enjoy the conflict being an internal struggle for both main characters and how they solve it with nothing but healthy communication and acceptance and respect for each other. It's the first time the conflict in a romance novel didn't annoy me. And the two mains were normal and relatable rather than completely stupid, which I appreciate sincerely.

Taking Initiative is a lovely book full of acceptance, found family, finding yourself and exploring the journey of finding yourself/enjoying your interests fully (with plenty of romance). The characters really jump off the page and are mostly very likeable. I found the small-ish town romance (where they know very few people as they’re both new to town) a nice switch up. The characters being their unapologetic selves was really uplifting and wholesome which I’m sure will resonate with many readers.

This is clearly a book focused around roleplay games and there is a lot of content around that. It’s fairly well explained if you don’t have any understanding of but doesn’t repeat so often that it’s boring for those who do. If you don’t have interest in the topic, it doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy this book but you can’t shy away from it.

The romance plot was sweet, although not my cup of tea. It started off fantastically but ramped up too quickly for my liking. I absolutely adored hearing about Tito’s marriage and words of wisdom though.

Overall, this is a heartwarming read that is accessible even if you haven’t got any prior knowledge to MnM-like games. If you’re a big fan of the topic, you’ll probably love it but if you’re not and want to learn something new, it’s certainly worth a try.

4.5 ⭐️

This was such a cute DnD romance! As someone who was proposed to during a DnD game, I really loved this story. It really reinvigorated my love for TTRPG and will also really make me miss our GM once we move cities. Jo(lene) is new to town and loves all things DnD. She arrives to the library game night to realize she's the only one there and the guy leading things (Felix) has no idea what a spell slot even is. Jo ends up teaching Felix all about the wonders of DnD (called MnM for Monsters & Mythology in this book) so he can keep his job at the library and bring a younger audience in to their small town. It was such a sweet premise for a romance and included so many fun DnD scenes that make you want to play a TTRPG as soon as you're done reading. The spice once the characters got together was also wonderful!

<blockquote>"He wanted to stick out his tongue and drink her down. To take all that she was inside of him and finally, finally quench his thirst. To drown in the flood of her magnificence."</blockquote>

I also appreciated the mental health representation in this book, however it irritates me a little bit when the characters don't go to therapy until the very end and it's kind of skipped over. I wish there was a bit more of the 'how to deal with it' part, ya know?

<blockquote>"love is about the choices we make, Felix. Not only the way we feel."</blockquote>