Roll Play

by Paisley Rose

All the world’s an RPG, and all the people merely players.

Malcolm has always played the role of the Fun Guy, always good for a laugh. People can count on him to lift their spirits and make dirty jokes; it’s what he does—even when his life is falling apart. Even when he loses his job and his apartment and desperately needs to find a place to work on the costumes for the next season of The Roll Players Show—an unscripted web-series he hosts with some friends, where they act out tabletop role-playing games in full cosplay. The best option he has now is to stay in Evan’s guest house.

But Evan is his ex-girlfriend—and he didn’t even know she had a guest house. There are a lot of things he didn’t know about her—like the fact that she has a preteen daughter, named Cori, that he’s never met. In the two years he’s known her—including the three months they dated—Evan kept a lot of secrets from him, but now she’s his only hope.

The arrangement seems to be working out great, though, and Cori is actually a pretty cool kid, who wants him to teach her how to sew her own costume designs. The only problem is that, as it turns out, Malcolm might be a tiny bit—scratch that; completely—still in love with Evan. But she’s made it very clear that he is not serious relationship material. After all, she’s seven years older than him and has a kid; they aren’t in the same place in their lives.

Is this Fun Guy willing to take on the role of Dad, or is that a game he isn’t ready to play?


Roll Play is a laugh-out-loud romantic comedy with a bit of spice and a lot of heart.

294 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 13, 2026

About the author

Paisley Rose is a Canadian author who loves to write about weirdos falling in love. When she’s not binge-reading or binge-writing romances, she’s probably being bad at video games, watching the same YouTube video for the seven-hundredth time, and/or feeling guilty for not making art very often. She lives in southern Ontario with her partner and their three sad houseplants.

Visit her website (linked above) for an accurate and up-to-date list of her books.

Reviews

[Tara S · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first time I’ve read a romance solely from a male pov and gosh, what a good one to start with.

Malcolm started off as rather sappy but the more the story progressed the more I didn’t want this to be a ‘nice guys finish last’ kinda story. Even though it felt that Evan was doing her best to find reasons to push him away he gave her the right amount of space, understanding and kindness. I particularly liked the relationship between Malcolm and Cori as it felt he was doing his best to help her understand the pitfalls of being an introvert tween. But when he became part of their family it just felt so right. There was one line that stood out that shows the quality of the writing when he finally has a family evening with them.
‘Like I’m the wildflower and not the weed.’

Loved the chapters starting with a daily gratitude to get a hint at what they’d be about and a timeline.

Even though she’s only mentioned briefly a few times, I really liked Malcolm’s sister, Rosalin. In the May 12th chapter her theory of how to stop kids eating certain foods made me laugh.

Even though it’s the second in the series, this is the first I’ve read but I’d eagerly love to read more.

[Linnea Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book! It's definitely a romance, and it works on that level, but what made this book stand out to me was the mother-daughter relationship between Evan and Cori, and the way Malcolm interacts with Cori and becomes a father figure, even when he and Evan are both nervous about him taking on that role. In other media where one of the main characters is a parent, I've sometimes been frustrated by the way the parent is made sympathetic at the expense of their child, like, "Look how patient this person is and how hard they're trying despite their maddeningly irrational and difficult offspring!" I was really glad that Roll Play steered entirely clear of that dynamic--Evan is trying her best as a mother, but she's got some hangups about what a Good Mom is and does that are damaging her connection with Cori, and Malcolm's position as an outsider enables him to spot these patterns and also lets him start fresh with Cori at a time when Cori really needs another trusted adult in her life. I was so glad that Cori got to be her own person with her own internal logic, not some stereotype of all the most annoying habits of preteens.

I will say that Roll Play hinges significantly less on geek culture than the first book in this series, Level Up, did. Evan and Malcolm know each other from the role-playing game show they're in, and a pretty significant scene in the book takes place at a fan convention, but unlike with Level Up, I don't think the plot would completely fall apart if the geek portion were removed or swapped out for something else.

My one complaint about the book is that there's so much focus on the Malcolm-Evan-Cori unit that the side characters got a lot less attention than they did in Level Up, and one of them in particular (Pal) felt inconsistent in their characterization.

That said, I loved how much depth there was to both Malcolm and Evan, and how that depth unfolded gradually over the course of the story. Malcolm's goofy personality conceals a deeply reliable core, and Evan's buttoned-up Mom-sona is in many ways an over-correction from her wild younger years, and both of them struggle with a self-image that's overly defined by the worst things other people have said about them. The effects this has on their relationship felt very believable, and I was rooting for them hard while also understanding why they couldn't just get together and ride off into the sunset already. If you like second-chance romance, give this a try!

[Erin Foster · Rating 5 out of 5]

ROLL PLAY is a smart, warm, and genuinely thoughtful follow-up to LEVEL UP, and a strong second installment in the On a Role series. ROLL PLAY's Malcom and Evan deliver grounded characters, sincere relationships that never for a second fail to feel real, and a deep affection for nerd culture without ever feeling gimmicky, overdone, or stereotypical.

The exploration of parenthood and how it can subsume identity was especially well done, even though it’s a theme I personally don’t vibe with. That said, the author handles it with empathy and care, never flattening the characters into archetypes or moral lessons, including Evan's daughter, Cori, who is a fully developed, round character of her own, not simply a set piece for the plot. The emotional beats feel earned and the conflicts are believable (even if Evan sometimes makes rash, definitely wrong, decisions for both Cori and Malcom without hearing their thoughts on the matter)!

I’ll be honest—these characters didn’t click with me quite as intensely as the ones in LEVEL UP, but that's much more a matter of personal taste than any shortcoming in the writing. Evan and Malcom are fully realized, nuanced people with inner lives that feel authentic and lived-in. I have no doubt that many readers will see themselves reflected here, even if they weren’t my particular flavor of nerd.

Overall, ROLL PLAY is a solid, heartfelt continuation of the series that expands its emotional range while still staying true to the core of the series. If you want to read a book entrenched in nerd culture, enjoy fashion, or like reading about themes of identity, relationships, and finding yourself at different stages of life (and meeting others where they are), this book is absolutely worth your time. Very fun read!

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really sweet story. The characters are lovable and also really seem to like each other, which is a treat. They have great chemistry. I also really loved that we got a love interest with a lot of qualities that we don't get to see in romances! She's not in her twenties, she's a single mom, she's fat...all super appealing, super relatable, NORMAL qualities, and she gets to be a fun, sexy love interest too? This is the kind of of love interest we deserve. And on top of that, none of these qualities were the Thing that Defines Her. She never felt two-dimensional; she felt like a real person. That combo of a recognizable person who is also very well-rounded is very rare in a sexy love interest, and I really loved it.

Malcolm and Cori’s dynamic was sweet and the way he really tried to figure out how to do what was right, even if it wasn’t easy, was great—even when he didn’t always get it right. I also really liked how hard he tried to respect and trust that Evan could take care of herself, even when we all doubted she was making the right choice. That respectfulness in a romantic relationship was so great to see.

Although there wasn’t a ton of role playing on the page, Malcolm’s costume design was definitely woven throughout the story in a way that felt organic.

I felt like the ending was a little too tidy: everyone ended up so happy and all loose ends were accounted for. I wanted them to have to work a little harder on the page for them to get to that place.

That being said, this was a really sweet, thoughtful, cozy book and I genuinely liked everyone in it!

[Kadri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Malcolm is down a girlfriend, a job, and now also a place to live. It is a good thing he’s fortunate in friends. But can he turn his luck around and build a life he’d love to live? And what might that even look like?

Evan has carefully curated a life where she’s certain she is the master of her own fate. But life has a way of complicating things, so can she find a way to accept a little help from her friends?

I adored how the book showed how much fun it is to be in a fandom and share the things you love with the people you love. And seeing someone make their first steps in finding their people? Ah ♥ dare to imagine, little ones! The world is brighter than you can even imagine.

I loved seeing Malcolm find his way to a happier place and I adored his banter with his friends. And Evan, I just want to hug her. Has anyone real world to book transporter?

Also, as a fan of pining, this book was like catnip to me.

Also also, it was nice to see Audrey and Damien again. :)

[Amanda Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn’t put this book down!

Roll Play is a cute second chance romance rom-com with a touch of spice. The characters all had such great and well-thought-out personalities and the sense of humour of both Malcolm and Cori literally had me laughing out loud more than once. I found myself relating to Evan as a mom and giggling at all the daily gratitude between each chapter. I couldn’t put the book down.
This was my first read by this author, and I love the way Paisley Rose writes. I went and read Level Up, the first book in the series, after I finished this one. 5 stars - I would definitely recommend.