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A review by rainbowsandbookshelves
Playmaker by Deanna Faison
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Playmaker is a brother's best friend, second chance romance between two childhood friends who find their way back to each other during spring break.
I liked the idea of this storyline but unfortunately a few things bothered me whilst reading.
My biggest problem whilst reading was the characters ages. They were quite immature so their 19 and 21 made sense, however I didn't like that their previous encounter/where everything went wrong was when they were 13 and 15. To me, it seemed too young for them to have this epic heartbreak, especially with a near-kiss. It felt like the kind of thing that may have happened between a 16 and 18 year old, and the way they described everything, with them being in love, his screwing around after and them never letting go just didn't fit for me with a 13 and 15 year old. So I struggled with their main 'love story' because of this - I'd have liked them to have been a bit older when they had their big fallout.
As this jarred me quite early on, I then struggled to connect with Cam and Maddie, as individual characters and together. Quite a few of Cam's choices, especially around his routine and food, just seemed a bit contradictory, especially as he was supposedly an amazing future nfl player. This was discussed towards the end but I just didn't see him as an NFL player in terms of his behaviour, even with it being Spring Break.
I'm not a fan of third act breakups and this one seemed so pointless/lasted so little time that it just seemed there so that something could happen at the end.
Unfortunately, this was just not the book for me, although it has a lot of tropes I enjoy!
I liked the idea of this storyline but unfortunately a few things bothered me whilst reading.
My biggest problem whilst reading was the characters ages. They were quite immature so their 19 and 21 made sense, however I didn't like that their previous encounter/where everything went wrong was when they were 13 and 15. To me, it seemed too young for them to have this epic heartbreak, especially with a near-kiss. It felt like the kind of thing that may have happened between a 16 and 18 year old, and the way they described everything, with them being in love, his screwing around after and them never letting go just didn't fit for me with a 13 and 15 year old. So I struggled with their main 'love story' because of this - I'd have liked them to have been a bit older when they had their big fallout.
As this jarred me quite early on, I then struggled to connect with Cam and Maddie, as individual characters and together. Quite a few of Cam's choices, especially around his routine and food, just seemed a bit contradictory, especially as he was supposedly an amazing future nfl player. This was discussed towards the end but I just didn't see him as an NFL player in terms of his behaviour, even with it being Spring Break.
Unfortunately, this was just not the book for me, although it has a lot of tropes I enjoy!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content