Play Me (Entangled Ever After, #3)

by Diane Alberts

• ISBN10: 1622661923
• ISBN13: 9781622661923
• Publish Date: 29 July 2013
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Entangled: Brazen
• Format: eBook
• Language: English

Reviews

[Angie]

I knew I wasn't going to like Play Me before I even started it. Not just because I didn't enjoy the previous two books, but because of the accidental pregnancy plot. However, I don't skip series books, so here I am. I did try to like it, but there were other problems I found with it aside from the pregnancy story. This time we're following Garrett and Kiersten, who is Brianna's sister from Love Me. It's the day that Kiersten should have been getting married, except that her fiance left her for his secretary. Now, she's out for revenge, so what better way to get it than by sleeping with her best friend whom her ex-fiance hated? Good plan, right? WRONG! Kiersten and Garrett share a night of passion and he think it's because she's finally ready for a relationship, but she admits it was for revenge. He gets upset, they don't talk for a few months, but when they finally do it's because she has to announce her pregnancy. She tries to give him an out, but Garrett wants this baby (and Kiersten) so he steps up. What follows is a lot of drama, naturally.

Play Me is chock full of high school-ish drama, which is normally entertaining. But when the participants are nearly thirty (or in their thirties, I don't even know) it's quite ridiculous. Garrett moves in with Kiersten with the understanding that they are not a couple, nor will they be. He's there for the baby and to be a father figure to her teenage son. Well, that seems like an okay plan on the surface, but it's even more stupid than her revenge sex plan. Garrett can't get into another serious relationship, because he can't leave her and the kids, and he's not allowed to have women over. He's going to be alone forever. Then of course she has the audacity to get pissed at him for being polite to other women, who he has no intention of being with, just because she's jealous, even though he has repeatedly told her he wants to be with her! Then she seduces him because her teenage son thinks this whole set up is dumb and wants them together, and she tells Garrett this. Is he happy? Hell no, because she's stupid! Of course, they get their happily ever after in the end, after she pisses him off some more by being crazy.

I also confused as heck about Kiersten, her pregnancy, and her teenage son, Chris. From the very beginning it's clear that Garrett knows more about pregnancy than she does. In fact, she knows nothing, and yet she has a son already? There's also many mentions of her ex and how he was suppose to be a father figure, but he left, so I assume he's not Chris's father. But there was no mention of who his father may be. Then finally there's some vague mention of a woman named Sue, who died, leaving Chris motherless. Okay, I suppose Kiersten adopted him, or took him in. But that would have been useful to know earlier on, since I was flabbergasted that Kiersten would know nothing about pregnancy despite being pregnant before. Clearly she has never been pregnant before, but I still had to wonder how she ended up with Chris. We find out in the next book that Chris is actually her nephew, and Sue was a sister who died.

Play Me was just frustrating and annoying on several levels. The supposed adults act like teenagers, and the only character who makes any sense is the teenager. Pregnancy plots are not for me at all, so keep that in mind. Also pregnancy sex is gross. I do not want to read about it, so I had to skim that chapter. I was just expecting something really steamy from this series, but that is not what's being served.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[Cocktails and Books]

Diane Alberts always ropes me in with the couples she creates. There is just something about them that I adore from the minute I meet them. Garrett and Kiersten were no exception and were absolutely perfect.

Garrett has been in love with Kiersten forever. He stayed in the "friend zone" until he figured he'd work up the nerve to finally let her know how he felt. But Kiersten beats him to the punch and then pulls the rug out from under him and Garrett has a really hard time recovering. You feel bad for him immediately. One, because he had been in love with her for so long, but two because she breaks his heart and doesn't even realize it. But Kiersten is nursing her own wounds when it comes to love and wants to make sure that she does right now only by herself, but also for her son. But fate (or rather Diane Alberts) has a funny way of throwing two people together that can't seem to get their own act together to see what's right in front of their face.

For a short read, Diane Alberts manages to give us a hot, sexy read that packs an emotional punch. Both of these characters had you pulling for them from the moment they graced us with their presence. I look forward to reading more in this series from an author who's now on my "must buy" list.