Title: Well Played by Jen DeLuca
Well Met Series Book Two
Publisher: Berkley
Imprint Jove
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Length: 332 pages
Book Rating: B
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley
Summary:
A laugh-out-loud romantic comedy featuring kilted musicians, Renaissance Faire tavern wenches, and an unlikely love story.
LibraryReads Pick
Stacey is jolted when her friends Simon and Emily get engaged. She knew she was putting her life on hold when she stayed in Willow Creek to care for her sick mother, but it’s been years now, and even though Stacey loves spending her summers pouring drinks and flirting with patrons at the local Renaissance Faire, she wants more out of life. Stacey vows to have her life figured out by the time her friends get hitched at Faire next summer. Maybe she’ll even find The One.
When Stacey imagined “The One,” it never occurred to her that her summertime Faire fling, Dex MacLean, might fit the bill. While Dex is easy on the eyes onstage with his band The Dueling Kilts, Stacey has never felt an emotional connection with him. So when she receives a tender email from the typically monosyllabic hunk, she’s not sure what to make of it.
Faire returns to Willow Creek, and Stacey comes face-to-face with the man with whom she’s exchanged hundreds of online messages over the past nine months. To Stacey’s shock, it isn’t Dex—she’s been falling in love with a man she barely knows.
Review:
Well Played by Jen DeLuca is a charming contemporary romance. Although this newest release is the second romance in the Well Met series, it can be read as a standalone.
Twenty-seven year old Stacey Lindholm always feels a bit of a letdown when the yearly Renaissance Faire comes to a conclusion. The end of this year’s Faire coincides with the engagement of her friends. Although she is happy for them, Stacey’s vague sense of dissatisfaction with her own life worsens. After drowning her sorrows one evening, she messages her summer fling, Dex MacLean and to her shock, he responds. They spend the next eleven months emailing and texting each other and she is excited to see him at the fast approaching ren fair. However, Stacey is stunned when she discovers Dex has not been the man she has been getting to know for all these months. She is furious and hurt, but will she allow him to explain why he has deceived her?
Stacey’s life took a major detour just as she was about to embark on her career. Although she does not regret the reason she returned to Willow Creek, she feels stuck in a life she never wanted. Through her daily text and email exchanges, Stacey gets to know herself a little better while at the same time delighting in her discoveries about Dex. While she does not know where a relationship between them would go, Stacey is eager to see how things go between them in person.
Well Played is an entertaining romance with an intriguing premise. Stacey is a likable lead protagonist who has to decide between family expectations and following her heart and dreams. Her love interest is very sweet and caring but can she forgive him for not being completely honest with her? With a late in the story conflict, Jen DeLuca brings this heartwarming romance to a sigh-worthy conclusion. Old and new readers of the Well Met series will enjoy this latest installment.
