Ollie Shifflet is the bi co-lead in M. K. England’s 2025 sapphic YA romance Roll for Love. A high school senior who loves gardening (and also chickens, and her rural town, and her huge family), Ollie is also secretly bi — information she keeps close to her chest for fear that people in her small town will treat her differently if they knew the truth. After all, Ollie wants to attend the local community college after high school, and sharing her sexuality could mean losing her place in the town she calls home. Coming out could upend her life and even jeopardize her mom’s business. No thanks. Ollie is content to stay in the closet.
What Ollie doesn’t count on is Harper Reid — her childhood crush — moving to town. Harper once spent her summers on her grandfather’s farm across the street from Ollie; now that Poppy has passed away, Harper and her mom are relocating to Virginia permanently. When Harper learns that Ollie’s friend group is launching a Dungeons & Dragons campaign, she’s all in — and just like that, Harper is a pillar in Ollie’s friend group. Suddenly everything feels complicated to Ollie, who might still have feelings for Harper, even after all this time.
What will happen as Harper and Ollie reconnect over shared interests? What about when they find out they both used to have crushes on each other, growing up — and maybe sort of kind of still like each other now?
Roll for Love asks exactly these questions, over two main settings: the real world, in which Harper and Ollie and friends are seniors, making decisions about what they want to do after high school; and in their D&D campaign, where Harper and Ollie’s characters are adventuring — and even begin dating?
Much of Ollie’s arc revolves around her fears about sharing who she is, particularly her bisexuality. From the start of the novel, Ollie acknowledges, privately, that she’s bi; she just isn’t sure if she can share this information. She spends much of the novel compartmentalizing herself in an attempt to remain acceptable in the eyes of her town. This becomes more and more difficult as Ollie spends time with Harper, who’s an out-and-proud lesbian (and does not care if the whole world knows). Their very different queer experiences create friction between the girls and allow the novel to examine the nuances of coming out, the importance of friendship, and the impacts of both external and internalized biphobia.