Single Player (Slices of Pi Book 3)
Publication Date: September 26, 2016
Contemporary Romance, M/M
Pocket Star

Reviewed by Kini

Blurb

Geeky meets kinky in the third novel of the sexy Slices of Pi series by RITA-nominated author Elia Winters, where the employees of a gaming company in sultry Florida work hard—and play even harder.

Matthew Abrams finally has the life he’s always wanted—a promising career as a programmer at PI Games, a decent apartment in a nice neighborhood, and a thriving social life. And he’s perfectly content until he has a one-night stand with Silas Benson, a biomedical engineer with a charitable side to boot. Suddenly Matthew is doubting his life choices and worrying he might not be living up to his full potential.

Silas Benson doesn’t have time for much else outside of work, and that’s how he’s always liked it. As a biomedical engineer, he’s at the cutting edge of advances in the field, and he’s not going to waste his life partying when he could be doing actual good in the world. After a one-night stand at his friend’s twenty-fifth birthday party, though, Silas feels his focus shifting toward a certain tall, dark, and handsome almost-stranger.

When an emotional breakdown requires Silas to take a leave of absence from work, Matthew rushes to his aid and teaches him the merits of frivolity. Silas is an unwilling student at first, but Matthew soon has him in the groove, which makes for one steamy, wild ride. But is this a forever sort of affair, or will Silas abandon Matthew’s wanton ways in favor of a life of serious-minded solitude?

This is third part of a series, but can be read as a stand alone. There are some minor appearances of previous characters, but the author gave enough background to not make it awkward. This book stays in line with the previous ones and features gamers and some general nerdery, along with HOT, sexy times.

Matthew had some page time in previous books, particularly book one, but again you do not need to read that in order to enjoy this one. I am not sure if it was mentioned in previous books, but Matthew is black.I found this interesting only because of the M/M books I’ve read, I don’t recall any featuring an interracial relationship. I am a fan of seeing diverse characters, you know like life. Anyway, Matthew is a programmer/coder at a gaming company. He also works as a bartender every now and again because he likes the low maintenance-ness of it.

Silas is a bio-medical engineer and indicates that he is on the spectrum with Mild Asperger Syndrome. He is an overworked, emotional mess. He works hard because of perceived pressures from his parents and childhood. I imagine that his Asperger’s Syndrome factors in to it well.

Neither character come off as a caricature, but real people with real problems and struggles and trying to navigate a relationship in the best way they know how. Otherwise known as the type of stories I absolutely adore. As their relationship grows from a one-night stand to more, they end up working together to build a cat wheelchair for Matthew’s rescue kitty. That’s right, these boys build a wheelchair for a CAT. It was so cute.

Not to be left out, this author delivers on the hot sex. I’ve determined that she always includes at least one masturbation scene in her books, and this was no different. She writes very open and sex positive books. Almost all of the scenes in this book border on being too risque for Smexy unless in SmexSceneSunday. :)

I felt like the conflict and ensuing groveling/reconciliation was handled well. I felt like Matthew and Silas both faced their issues and fixed/worked to resolve them, not for the other man, but for themselves and the added benefit of being a better partner.
Quote that stuck with me- “With Matthew, though, he couldn’t seem to keep his guard up. This man had ways of breaking down his defense, especially physically, making him want and need and crave in unfamiliar ways.”

I really enjoyed this story. I love heroes that are emotionally challenged and seeing them come to terms with love is a wonderful journey.

Grade: B

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