Game For Trouble (Game For It, #2) by Karen Erickson
Romantic Contemporary
E book, 250 pages
October 28, 2013
Entangled Publishing-Brazen

Reviewed by Tori

Willow Cavanaugh and Nick Hamilton had a brief affair when they were younger and circumstances forced Nick to walk away from Willow, leaving her heartbroken. Now, years later, Nick is back and wants another chance with Willow, but Willow wants nothing to do with Nick.

Unfortunately Nick owns the building that Willow wants to rent for her rapidly growing business. Nick agrees to the rental but only if Willow will go on a series of dates with him. Willow agrees but is adamant that the dates are nothing more than a means to an end. As Nick slowly begins to work his way back into Willow’s bed, he’s finding that her heart is a much harder place to reach.

Game For Trouble, second in the Game For It series, is a lightweight romance contemporary whose focus is second chance love. Our couple met when Willow was nineteen and Nick was twenty one and just starting his football career in the NFL. Willow’s father, a well connected  sports agent, threatened Nick’s career if he didn’t leave Willow alone. Nick made the only choice he could at the time and left and Willow has hated Nick from that day forward. As Nick attempts to charm and woo Willow, he finds his charm isn’t working this time around. Willow believes he only wants back into her pants and refuses to allow him an inch.

This particular trope is not a favorite of mine though some authors can make it work. I don’t quite understand the reasoning behind carrying a grudge for years over a breakup. I can understand wanting closure but that much hate and anger isn’t healthy and frankly shows the character in a bad light. Which it does here. Willow spends the majority of the book being catty and nasty to Nick. She blows hot and cold, though she has no problems sleeping with him. In her defense, Nick choice to blackmail her into the dates, using her business against her, does leave a bad taste in her mouth. Nick’s choice to also play with Willow, rather than be serious and tell her how he really feels made me think at times that he wasn’t serious. As we are given Nick’s point of view, we know this to not be true, but he doesn’t show Willow that. They both act childish and annoying through a majority of the book.

The story rushes in some areas and drags along in others. Some humorous dialogue makes for easier reading but overall the story feels forced and unfinished. Erickson does well in revealing the drive behind our protagonists, which in turn explains in some ways the way they are acting now. Nick’s PR is that he is the fun loving good time guy on his team. The women flock to him and he take nothing seriously. Willow is a poor little rich girl who is struggling to get out from under her well meaning father’s thumb. The growth aspect isn’t readily apparent and I see both of them acting as they did 6-7 years ago though Nick seems to show more maturity towards the end. The romance is bare bones. Not much chemistry or sexual tension. It felt like old hookups reconnecting. We never really learn what their attraction to each other besides outstanding sex. The lack of history we are given doesn’t give us the base on which to build our beliefs.

When the main conflict is finally blown open, Willow’s arguments made me want to rip my hair out. It became all about her. She manages to turn everything Nick says around and suddenly he has far reaching motives for wanting back into her life. One particular argument she makes about how she couldn’t believe his career was more important than her really made me look at her in an unflattering light. And the fact that she realises she’s being unfair but still forces him to come to her in apology just cinched it for me. For all her posturing and adult notions, she was still a child emotionally.

Though fans of this series will probably enjoy, I fear this one was just didn’t quite make the grade for me.

Rating: C-

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Fiction Vixen– B-
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