Title: PLAY
Author: Piper Lawson
Publication date: August 15th 2016
Genres: Adult, Comedy, Romance
BLURB
I’m Payton Blake. A successful, balanced twenty-something living the dream.
OK. So it’s a big, shiny-ass lie.I could be all of those things. If I had friends outside of work. And if I didn’t mainline watermelon slushies like they were a food group. It wouldn’t hurt if I’d had sex in the last year, either. (My best friend insists Jorge the Nightstand Boyfriend doesn’t count.)
But when you know where you’re headed, who needs to enjoy the ride? Even if part of me longed for a little between-the-sheets adventure, Max Donovan would be the last guy I’d call.Sure, he made the indie video game that broke the internet. His eyebrow piercing’s sexy, in an ‘are-you-in-a-band?’ kind of way, and fighting with him gets me off faster than Jorge on bezerker mode. But he’s arrogant. Presumptuous. Colder than a cactus and twice as prickly. And I’m not talking about his face, because the guy’s barely old enough to shave.None of it changes the fact that I crave Max Donovan like a watermelon slushy on a hot summer day.
I should ignore him. But I can’t, because he just became my biggest client. And whether he’ll admit it or not, he needs me even more than I need him.
So what happens when the girl who lives to work goes head-to-head with the guy who was born to PLAY?
Game on, Max Donovan.
PLAY is a sassy standalone romantic comedy about life, love, and video games. For 18+ due to language and Kindle-incinerating steamy scenes.
REVIEW
Payton and Max are two characters perfectly suited for a love story like Play. Max is complicated, guarded and with trust issues. On first glance, it appears that he has a tough exterior which cannot be penetrated, but as the reader quickly progresses through the novel we understand that his heart is intentionally hidden behind his passion for gaming and Titan – until he turns to Alliance Financial for a loan and Payton sweeps into his life.
Payton is professional and work-focused, only recently promoted to “the youngest associate on the floor and the only one in stilettos”. With this new position brings an office with a window, which admittedly looks into a men’s bathroom, and new challenges like competing for business with her arsehole colleague, Avery, and difficult clients like Max Donovan.
There is a certain sense of inevitability in Play, but in which romance story do we not expect and hope for the protagonists to fall in love? Yet, Piper Lawson has taken a unique approach here, drawing on the trends of modern society and our love for gaming. This means that the story is more interesting because Piper Lawson is able to break away from the usual tropes which exist within the genre.
One of the major attractions of Play is the heat level. This book is H-O-T, without being erotica, and I love the fact that the sizzling sexual chemistry between Max and Payton is so tangible, even before they become physically intimate.
This is not an easy journey for Max and Payton and Piper Lawson gives us a stronger sense of who Max and Payton are and how they have been affected by their different life events. Play briefly touches upon mental health issues in men and because of this we have a deeper empathy for Max, despite his reputation as the ice king.
Play also has a real elements of fun and much of thie comes from the story’s secondary characters, Charlie, Riley and Payton’s mum! Although Play is a stand-alone novel I would love Piper Lawson to follow-up with Charlie’s story – particularly if her match is a certain man whose name begins with ‘A’.
Play is a warm novel with angst, lust, intensity and laugh out loud moments. Piper Lawson’s writing flows smoothly, making it an easy but captivating read. All I can say is ‘WOW’!
Rating:
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I love reading and writing about sassy, sexy, smart women and the guys who fall hard for them. Schooled is the introduction to my Travesty series about ambitious girls who chases their dreams of a fashion label from California to New York and back again.
My main household expenditures include books, coffee and chocolate, not necessarily in that order. Coffee = life (and I’ll defend it accordingly). I have two business degrees, neither of which I’ve leveraged into a fashion label.
Home is Canada plus occasional sunny winter escapes. Come find me on the tennis court, at the beach, on the web or on twitter.
Links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads
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