Playing For Her Heart by Megan Erickson (Gamers #2)
Released: August 11, 2015
Contemporary Romance
Entangled
Reviewed by Mandi
Megan Erickson’s Gamers series is more on the nerdy side, and I like that. They are stand alone reads, although supporting characters show up throughout the series. Grant is an owner of Gamer magazine and in his spare time likes to participate in cosplay – where he dresses as a favorite video game character and goes to Comic-Con. When the book opens, he is dressed as a hero from a video game called Arc, and has nailed it.
Our heroine, Chloe, notices his immaculate costume, and can’t keep her eyes off of him. She happens to be dressed as the heroine from this game, and has one thing in mind – to get this sexy man into her hotel room. Chloe likes to pretend to be anyone but herself. When she is dressed in cosplay, she has confidence. So in character, they meet, they dine, and they get naked together. They have an amazing night, before Chloe quietly sneaks away.
Later, under a totally random circumstance, Chloe meets her brother, Edward, for dinner, and Edward happens to be coworkers with Grant. When Grant and Chloe see each other at dinner, they are stunned. Grant wants to pursue a relationship with her, but Chloe doesn’t have the self-esteem to be “Chloe” with Grant. She continues to pretend to be other people – and while role-playing is fun for Grant for a while, he eventually wants the real Chloe.
This is a very hot, and sexy book. Grant is a naughty beast in bed and Chloe loves every second of it. I did however struggle with the other aspects of the book. Chloe’s sister died in a car accident years ago, and Edward (her brother) was driving at the time. The family has never recovered from this. Edward has become a recluse and an extremely over-protective brother over Chloe. Chloe feels guilty that her sister died and wishes it was her instead. Their parents and Edward have a very strained relationship. All of this darkens Chloe and she feels like she can’t be herself around Grant. I feel like it’s a very heavy issue and something not easily resolved. I don’t think there was enough page time in this book to address it all. I feel like Chloe and Edward tried to be fixed in this book, and it was too much.
Also, there is a lot of emphasis on Chloe and Grant role-playing, but not a lot of time with the two of them just alone together. So by the end of the book it felt more like a “happy for now” than a solid, happy ever after.
I enjoy the fact that this series is centered more around nerd things – we need more of that in romance. I love the setting of Comic-Con and that these characters work in the computer/gaming industry. I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the first book
Grade: C+
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