Playing The Player Review

  

Playing the Player

Lisa Brown Roberts 

Release Date: 08/18/15

Entangled Teen: Crush

 

Summary from Goodreads:

Trina Clemons needed the money. Why else would she—the most organized, prepared student in school—spend the summer as a nanny and partner with the biggest slacker ever? Now she's ready to tackle nannyhood with her big binder of research and schedules. Just don't ask her about the secret job of “fixing” the bad habits of a certain high school player...

Slade Edmunds prefers easy hook-ups, and Trina is definitely not his type. She's all structure and rules, while Slade wants to just have fun. Fortunately, Trina has no idea about the bet Slade made with his best friend that he can totally get her to unwind by the end of summer...

Then the weirdest thing happens. There's chemistry. A lot of it.
But nothing gets between a boy and a girl like a big, fat secret...

Going into this one, I wasn't so sure about whether or not I'd like it. I've never read anything from Entangled Crush before, but this book sounded up to my speed. I'm glad that I gave it a shot and I'll definitely read more from this publishing company and from the author! Playing The Player had plenty of things that have been used previously in Young Adult books before. However, I think it was well executed in a unique way with several fun characters. Recently, I've been picking up a lot of books and pretty much just skimming them, instead of really reading them like I should be. I didn't feel that way at all with this one so that alone says a lot for me personally! If you're looking for a feel good romance, look no further than this one. 

I really enjoyed both Slade and Trina. I felt like the author did a decent job going back and forth each chapter between their perspectives. Slade could be a total jerk towards Trina at times, but I still liked him, especially in the later parts of the book. Honestly, Trina annoyed me a little bit because of how controlling she was when it came to dealing with the kids. She just tried to be completely organized instead of just going with the flow, but I liked how the pair ended up balancing each other out. I've been babysitting since middle school so books that feature this will always catch my eye. The kids were so entertaining, oh man! The little girl that Trina watches has a thing against clothes and gets upset that she has to put them on at all. I just found it all to be very amusing, and I like how the author doesn't downplay how dramatic and unpredictable children can be. Let me just say that I sincerely wish that I had a guy like Slade around when I'm taking care of kids! 

While this could easily be taken as being a cliché type of YA romance, I felt like it was honestly a fairly realistic portrayal of a high school love. Well, that is if you started out falling in love with someone that you totally clashed with at first. My point is, I like how this book doesn't have an insta-love thing going on. It feels like a much more built up romance in general and that was one of the highlights of the book for me.

I was really pleased with the first novel that I've read from Lisa Brown Roberts. With Playing The Player, you've got a heartwarming and hilarious romance. It's light and feels extremely real to me. This is one that I personally was able to connect with and I hope you're able to do the same!