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4.14 AVERAGE
4.14 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
6 ⭐ for me!!!
emotional
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
The cringe in this book is the icky, but I liked the characters and the storyline. Brothers best friend always gets me haha
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
ohohohohohoooohhhh
a hockey romance is always in the cards for me
a hockey romance is always in the cards for me
I don't know if I should say that I love this book or if I was left disappointed. I said a similar thing with [b:Consider Me|199913907|Consider Me (Playing for Keeps, #1)|Becka Mack|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1698776082l/199913907._SY75_.jpg|94659424] but I'm just unsure.
Don't get me wrong. I think this story is good, and I actually did like it slightly more than [b:Consider Me|199913907|Consider Me (Playing for Keeps, #1)|Becka Mack|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1698776082l/199913907._SY75_.jpg|94659424]. However, after seeing all the praise it received on social media, I was expecting to absolutely love it, and it just wasn't an instant love or a must reread book for me. I'm going to say that I love the characters, friendships, and relationships that [a:Becka Mack|21074695|Becka Mack|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1638745164p2/21074695.jpg] created in the Playing for Keeps series. I understand that these core characters are obviously going to play important parts in each book, and their personalities will shift slightly depending on the circumstances around them and the PoV of the character that is narrating the story. However, with that said, some characters that I loved previously may not receive the same response from me.
Let's begin. We have Garrett Anderson, the teammate of Carter Beckett (our MMC in book #1). In [b:Consider Me|199913907|Consider Me (Playing for Keeps, #1)|Becka Mack|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1698776082l/199913907._SY75_.jpg|94659424], Garrett was laidback, chill, and a bit of a group clown, always playing off Carter for attention or making bets against his friends to rile them up. That is part of his personality but in [b:Play With Me|199913902|Play With Me (Playing for Keeps, #2)|Becka Mack|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1698776114l/199913902._SY75_.jpg|97818694] we also get to see that tender side of him, the older brother that is caring. He is also seeing his friends in relationships and he is considering letting his playboy ways stay behind and possibly think about a serious relationship. We also have Jennie, Carter's little sister. When we originally met her, she was a no-nonsense girl that didn't put up with shit from anyone and came off as a "grab life by the balls sort of person". As I read through their journey, that opinion of her changed.
Obviously Garrett and Jennie have known each other for years through Carter and were good acquaintances, maybe even friends. However, they had little opportunity or reason to spend time alone together so their interactions were left as physical at best and very brief and innocent. All of that changes when Jennie moves into a condo just a few flights away from Garrett, and they start hanging out, flirting, and basically turning each other on. Garrett has always found Jennie attractive and considered maybe trying something with her if she wasn't the little sister of his teammate and close friend. However, when Jennie moves into the same building as Garrett and they start hanging out together more, they decide to start a secret FwB situation. The love story is good, spicy, and exciting to read. However, Jennie's insecurities start to monopolize her mentality and it gets a bit exhausting to continually see how Garrett has to reassure her. I understand that Jennie has past "relationship" traumas and also feels that she lives in the shadow of her famous big brother. I understand that she finds it difficult to find friends or trust that people want to genuinely get to know her rather than just be close to a Beckett. However, the friendship group that she has with Olivia, Cara, and the guys shouldn't be questioned constantly. After the amount of time that she has known them, those trust issues should start to disappear. I think Jennie does a lot of self-sabotage.
I enjoy Becka Mack's story, but I noticed a pattern in the first two books of this series: Many things are overexplained. The book could be shorter if everything wasn't repeated multiple times in different ways. The characters have an epiphany and over-explain the same realization in their head over and over again, to then have the same epiphany again a few chapters later and repeat it once more. The constant conversations that the characters repeat with each other to reassure each other of their thoughts and feelings are overkill. On top of that, I am consuming this series in audiobook format. If I was reading the book, I would probably skim over these long parts that just feel as if they are dragging out, but since I am listening to the book, I don't know where to skip or skim over.
Here is my segue way into my opinion on the audiobook. I didn't mention too much in my review of [b:Consider Me|60040033|Consider Me (Playing For Keeps, #1)|Becka Mack|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1641407730l/60040033._SY75_.jpg|94659424] because I have noticed that it takes me a while to get accustomed to the style of storytelling from some narrators. While I did make a comment, I feel I can give a bit more of an opinion now. I am so torn on whether I like the audio version or not. Kasha Kensington is our female PoV narrator and Alex Kydd is our male narrator. I think both are really good at voice acting for multiple characters, excelling at changing their voices to play different personalities and adding emotion to their voices to fit the text (although, many times, I would probably read the scene with a different emotion than they are). In general, I do enjoy the work they have done on this series but I can't say that I absolutely love them and want to listen to all their work.
What I don't enjoy is the way they narrate the internal monologues. Oh my gosh. Sometimes, they just drag it out so slowly that I need to speed up the velocity to 1.2 or 1.3x. If the entire book needed to be played at that speed, I wouldn't mind because I could set it at the beginning and just continue it until the end but no, I need to constantly be modifying it depending on the chapter (if it is a Kasha chapter or an Alex chapter) and what is going on in the scene as some can be read at 1.0x and others can go up to a 1.3x. The speech, whether it is an internal monologue or an external conversation, is sometimes dragged out as if the character were longing for something. Please, no one actually talks like that. I understand you are trying to portray some pent-up desire or trying to make it sound sexy, but it's just annoying. As it is, the monologue already lasts a good 2-3 minutes but then it is read so slow and so drawn out that an extra minute or two is added on just by the way it is interpreted.
I have book 3, [b:Unravel Me|199913897|Unravel Me (Playing for Keeps, #3)|Becka Mack|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1698776142l/199913897._SY75_.jpg|120559525], in the audio version, so I will continue with that. However, as I am waiting for book 4, [b:Fall With Me|208457093|Fall With Me (Playing for Keeps, #4)|Becka Mack|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1707845168l/208457093._SY75_.jpg|217139841], to be released in a few weeks, I am truly considering reading this book to put my own spin on it. I may eventually circle back to the first books in the series and read them because I think they are losing between 0.5 and 1-star ratings from me based on the final performance.
Don't get me wrong. I think this story is good, and I actually did like it slightly more than [b:Consider Me|199913907|Consider Me (Playing for Keeps, #1)|Becka Mack|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1698776082l/199913907._SY75_.jpg|94659424]. However, after seeing all the praise it received on social media, I was expecting to absolutely love it, and it just wasn't an instant love or a must reread book for me. I'm going to say that I love the characters, friendships, and relationships that [a:Becka Mack|21074695|Becka Mack|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1638745164p2/21074695.jpg] created in the Playing for Keeps series. I understand that these core characters are obviously going to play important parts in each book, and their personalities will shift slightly depending on the circumstances around them and the PoV of the character that is narrating the story. However, with that said, some characters that I loved previously may not receive the same response from me.
Let's begin. We have Garrett Anderson, the teammate of Carter Beckett (our MMC in book #1). In [b:Consider Me|199913907|Consider Me (Playing for Keeps, #1)|Becka Mack|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1698776082l/199913907._SY75_.jpg|94659424], Garrett was laidback, chill, and a bit of a group clown, always playing off Carter for attention or making bets against his friends to rile them up. That is part of his personality but in [b:Play With Me|199913902|Play With Me (Playing for Keeps, #2)|Becka Mack|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1698776114l/199913902._SY75_.jpg|97818694] we also get to see that tender side of him, the older brother that is caring. He is also seeing his friends in relationships and he is considering letting his playboy ways stay behind and possibly think about a serious relationship. We also have Jennie, Carter's little sister. When we originally met her, she was a no-nonsense girl that didn't put up with shit from anyone and came off as a "grab life by the balls sort of person". As I read through their journey, that opinion of her changed.
Obviously Garrett and Jennie have known each other for years through Carter and were good acquaintances, maybe even friends. However, they had little opportunity or reason to spend time alone together so their interactions were left as physical at best and very brief and innocent. All of that changes when Jennie moves into a condo just a few flights away from Garrett, and they start hanging out, flirting, and basically turning each other on. Garrett has always found Jennie attractive and considered maybe trying something with her if she wasn't the little sister of his teammate and close friend. However, when Jennie moves into the same building as Garrett and they start hanging out together more, they decide to start a secret FwB situation. The love story is good, spicy, and exciting to read. However, Jennie's insecurities start to monopolize her mentality and it gets a bit exhausting to continually see how Garrett has to reassure her. I understand that Jennie has past "relationship" traumas and also feels that she lives in the shadow of her famous big brother. I understand that she finds it difficult to find friends or trust that people want to genuinely get to know her rather than just be close to a Beckett. However, the friendship group that she has with Olivia, Cara, and the guys shouldn't be questioned constantly. After the amount of time that she has known them, those trust issues should start to disappear. I think Jennie does a lot of self-sabotage.
I enjoy Becka Mack's story, but I noticed a pattern in the first two books of this series: Many things are overexplained. The book could be shorter if everything wasn't repeated multiple times in different ways. The characters have an epiphany and over-explain the same realization in their head over and over again, to then have the same epiphany again a few chapters later and repeat it once more. The constant conversations that the characters repeat with each other to reassure each other of their thoughts and feelings are overkill. On top of that, I am consuming this series in audiobook format. If I was reading the book, I would probably skim over these long parts that just feel as if they are dragging out, but since I am listening to the book, I don't know where to skip or skim over.
Here is my segue way into my opinion on the audiobook. I didn't mention too much in my review of [b:Consider Me|60040033|Consider Me (Playing For Keeps, #1)|Becka Mack|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1641407730l/60040033._SY75_.jpg|94659424] because I have noticed that it takes me a while to get accustomed to the style of storytelling from some narrators. While I did make a comment, I feel I can give a bit more of an opinion now. I am so torn on whether I like the audio version or not. Kasha Kensington is our female PoV narrator and Alex Kydd is our male narrator. I think both are really good at voice acting for multiple characters, excelling at changing their voices to play different personalities and adding emotion to their voices to fit the text (although, many times, I would probably read the scene with a different emotion than they are). In general, I do enjoy the work they have done on this series but I can't say that I absolutely love them and want to listen to all their work.
What I don't enjoy is the way they narrate the internal monologues. Oh my gosh. Sometimes, they just drag it out so slowly that I need to speed up the velocity to 1.2 or 1.3x. If the entire book needed to be played at that speed, I wouldn't mind because I could set it at the beginning and just continue it until the end but no, I need to constantly be modifying it depending on the chapter (if it is a Kasha chapter or an Alex chapter) and what is going on in the scene as some can be read at 1.0x and others can go up to a 1.3x. The speech, whether it is an internal monologue or an external conversation, is sometimes dragged out as if the character were longing for something. Please, no one actually talks like that. I understand you are trying to portray some pent-up desire or trying to make it sound sexy, but it's just annoying. As it is, the monologue already lasts a good 2-3 minutes but then it is read so slow and so drawn out that an extra minute or two is added on just by the way it is interpreted.
I have book 3, [b:Unravel Me|199913897|Unravel Me (Playing for Keeps, #3)|Becka Mack|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1698776142l/199913897._SY75_.jpg|120559525], in the audio version, so I will continue with that. However, as I am waiting for book 4, [b:Fall With Me|208457093|Fall With Me (Playing for Keeps, #4)|Becka Mack|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1707845168l/208457093._SY75_.jpg|217139841], to be released in a few weeks, I am truly considering reading this book to put my own spin on it. I may eventually circle back to the first books in the series and read them because I think they are losing between 0.5 and 1-star ratings from me based on the final performance.
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Sehr nette Story mit einigen ups und downs. Sehr wenig Charakter Entwicklung und nur Plot zur Beziehung. Leider für meinen Geschmack zu spicy.
This was leaps and bounds better than consider me. Don’t even waste ur time with the first book. This one was a bit long too but not so hard to get thru compared to the first book.
I devoured this audiobook in less than two days. My only wish was that it was duet narration instead of duel narration.
Also, the audiobook is 19 hours long, which was why it sat on my TBR for the longest time but I am so thrilled that I finally listened to it.
First, you need to start with the first book, Consider Me. Almost equally as long. Both stories are rich with fantastic character development. The reason you should read this first book is that the MCs in Play with Me play a big role in this book so you need to understand their story.
Play with Me is similar to Consider Me with the phenomenal character development. The MCs have a fantastic journey where you feel like you’re there in the scenes. This book is so much spicier than Consider Me. (Like a million times more.) The lack of spice and the length in Consider Me were the only cons of the book.
Even though the book is extremely long, I think it’s worth it. Sure the author could’ve cut it short after a couple of scenes but it would have lost the impact (which is a HEA) at the end.
Also, the audiobook is 19 hours long, which was why it sat on my TBR for the longest time but I am so thrilled that I finally listened to it.
First, you need to start with the first book, Consider Me. Almost equally as long. Both stories are rich with fantastic character development. The reason you should read this first book is that the MCs in Play with Me play a big role in this book so you need to understand their story.
Play with Me is similar to Consider Me with the phenomenal character development. The MCs have a fantastic journey where you feel like you’re there in the scenes. This book is so much spicier than Consider Me. (Like a million times more.) The lack of spice and the length in Consider Me were the only cons of the book.
Even though the book is extremely long, I think it’s worth it. Sure the author could’ve cut it short after a couple of scenes but it would have lost the impact (which is a HEA) at the end.