Amanda's Reviews > Strength Check

[I received a digital arc for an honest review]

Strength Check is the first book in the Dungeons and Dating series by Katherine McIntyre. This follows gamer café owner Roxie and her new roommate Melody. Roxie takes the former Philadelphia resident under her wing. They form a strong friendship, being there for each other emotionally while dealing with family drama and not so pleasant exes. Their crushes on each other remain a secret until one of them decides to take a risk.

I struggled a bit with this one. While I really enjoyed the gamer café, Roxy and her close friend circle, I had trouble connecting with Melody. I believed in the friendship that Roxy and Mel formed, but I had trouble buying the romance aspect. I just didn't feel the sexual chemistry between them. Their romance was some how was the slowest burn ever without be actually feeling the burn and angst. There isn't any intimate scenes between them till 80 percent, and then we get three before the book ends. The scenes themselves were steamy and well written, but by that point I wasn't invested in their romance at all.

I feel that the Dungeons and Dating series has a lot of potential and I'm looking forward to the next book in the series because their friend Cal deserves to be treasured.