Play Me is part of Diane Alberts’ Take a Chance series. This novella tells the story of Kiersten Worth and Garrett Kelly, a single mom and a teacher/basketball coach. Kiersten and Garrett have been friends for years, and Garrett is also her brother, Mike’s, best friend.
Kiersten and Garrett are close, but she insists they keep it a secret, should people start to gossip about them and think that he favours her nephew, Chris, in the classroom and on the basketball court. He goes along with it, but he’s not particularly happy about it, especially since he’s had a crush on her since high school and would love to be more than just friends with her. She’s been hurt badly in the past, however, and keeps men firmly at arm’s length as she finds it impossible to trust.
When an unexpected night of passion ends up with Kiersten being pregnant with Garrett’s baby, though, they’re forced to come up with a solution. Garrett, fully aware of Kiersten’s commitment issues, offers to move in and help bring up the baby, with the two of them being platonic. She agrees readily, as she’s incredibly fond of him and treasures his friendship and support. Naturally, things aren’t simple between them and she quickly comes to realise that she has to make a decision about the man that’s loved her for years. Men aren’t all bad, are they?
Play Me was a very good read. Alberts is excellent at the whole friends-to-lovers thing as well as being a very skilled writer. I liked the characters, found them interesting and believable, and loved the complications and secondary characters. It made the whole book feel real, like something that could really happen, and I found myself rooting for a happy ever after for Kiersten and Garrett. I’d definitely recommend this to romance fans. It’s not full-on erotic romance, but the sex scenes are very hot.
Available from:
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Barnes & Noble
If Play Me became a film…
Try Me is an erotic romance novella by Diane Alberts. It tells the story of Jeremy Addison, a Marine who’s on leave. He goes to Vegas and ends up getting in a fight, then the next morning he wakes up in the desert, bruised, battered and dehydrated. As he’s walking to try and get himself back to civilisation, he flags down the next car he sees. And, by some huge coincidence, he happens to know the driver. She’s his ex-best friend’s sister, and also the girl he’s been in love with since his childhood.
Jasmine Baruch is a jinn—a supernatural being who fights demons with fire. While that’s difficult enough, she’s got bigger problems. She’s a virgin, and in the jinn culture, that is sheer blasphemy. Jinn are supposed to be passionate, promiscuous creatures—everything she isn’t. Due to marry the next day, she takes matters into her own hands by using 1Night Stand. But, like the rest of her life, nothing is easy. The man chosen for her, though incredibly gorgeous, is a demi-sanguine; a half-human, half-demon–her enemy.