Playing Games by Max Monroe

Publication Date - 7 February 2025

Publisher - Max Monroe LLC

Genre - College

Spice level - Medium - there are several sex scenes but overall they were not, in my opinion, over-worked.

Happy ending? - Yes, although as a college romance possibly a Happy For Now rather than a Happy Ever After.

Pacing - overall a quick and enjoyable read, but a bit draggy during scenes with characters who aren't driving the plot forward.

The plot:

This is the second book in the Dickson University series written by the profilic writing duo that is Max Monroe. I hadn't read the first novel, but that didn't affect my enjoyment of Playing Games.

Twenty five year old Lexi Winslow is in the final stages of completing her stellar PhD thesis at Dickson University.

Blake Boden, Dickson's star quarterback and four years Lexi's junior is captivated by the aloof genius. Girls flock to Blake but in his eyes Lexi shines above them all.

However, there's a problem, Lexi is neurodiverse and has always struggled with making sense of her emotions, seeing logic and analysis as her refuge.

Blake works hard to break through Lexi's tough outer shell and, in small steps, they enter a relationship.

However, as Blake realises that he is falling hard for Lexi, she is unable to see a future for them both. Despite the intense physical chemistry they enjoy, she cannot see a way to open her heart fully and engage with that troublesome emotion called love.

With Lexi unwilling to be open about their relationship in public, Blake increasingly feels bruised and helpless in the relationship. They start to drift apart, and Lexi must confront her huge internal challenge - whether, for the first time, to let her unpracticed heart rule her brilliant, analytical head.

The story:

For me, the story is really about whether Lexi can see past her neurodivergence to accept that she is both worthy of accepting love from another and capable of giving love in return.

I found that the thread that held the novel together throughout. This novel is really about Lexi, first and foremost, and so her ability to accept Blake's love by the end makes for a satisfying conclusion.

Overall

I think it is a strong novel and I really enjoyed it. The main character Lexi jumps off the page as an academically brilliant woman who is struggling to make sense of love and whether she is able to offer that to a man, even one who adores her and appears, by the metrics of an AI programme that she develops, perfect for her.

Blake is more two dimensional, but that is fine. A superb athlete and generally nice and likeable person, who completely adores Lexi and wants her to love him in return.

Because they are so different, this makes for great banter between them, with Lexi's dry humour and very specific communication style, coupled with Blake's gridiron grammar and tendency to bawdy and suggestive language to describe their sex life.

The authors have done a great job in writing two very different characters and bring them together into an intense, romantic relationship in which they each have a distinct and compelling voice.

Max Monroe carries 'the will she, won't she' tension right to the end of the book in terms of keeping you guessing about whether Lexi will ever feel comfortable enough to enter into a full-blown, in the public spotlight, girlfriend-boyfriend relationship with Blake.

In the final third, I was genuinely concerned that the book might not lead to a happy finale, and was therefore pleasantly surprised when it did. This made the denouement both satisfying and also hard to predict, right up to the final pages. I didn't see the ending coming and it offered a very sweet surprise.

I loved the book overall and would recommend it. There were just a couple of things for me that make it a four rather than a five star read.

I found there was too much extraneous action and a multitude of other characters who dip in and out throughout, without adding to the plot or the story. I recognize that some characters have appeared in previous novels and will appear in future novels, but there were simply too many people and too many passages of text that weren't value adding to the plot. This often dragged me out of the story and I found myself skipping during sections that I didn't think added much.

Related to this, while the zoomed in passages with Lexi and Blake are often touching and, I found their relationship development focused too heavily on their sexual relationship. I don't think the sex scenes were overdone in any way; overall they were carefully handled. I would have preferred more time zoomed in on them both and their moments of emotional connection, instead of the large number of scenes with other characters who weren't driving the plot forward.

Rating

Four stars