Review: Well Played by Jen DeLuca

Well Played by Jen DeLuca

on September 2020
Genres: Adult Fiction, Romance
Pages: 336
Format: eBook
Source: Publisher
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Another laugh-out-loud romantic comedy featuring kilted musicians, Renaissance Faire tavern wenches, and an unlikely love story.

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.

I loved Well Met, the first in the series by Jen DeLuca so I jumped at the chance to get my hands on this one!

You don’t need to read the first book to enjoy this story but it does help with some of the characters and the setting.

Stacy has stayed in the small town because of her mom and because she loves the once a year Renaissance faire that she helps organize. But this year she feels left out and more importantly, left behind as one of her friends gets engaged and she feels like nothing has changed for her. Enter Dex, a hot fool around buddy. But when she starts to text him and he seems very different than he does in real life, Stacy starts falling for him hard. Little does she know…

I guess I shouldn’t give anything away, though I’m sure you can kinda tell from the synopsis what’s going on. I will say that I had high hopes for this book and I enjoyed it but not as much as I hoped.

Stacy was a little hard for me. She wasn’t unlikeable but because she was unstatisfied with her life, with little direction of her own, she was hard for me to like. It’s also kinda obvious what is happening very early on in the book, which isn’t a bad thing. But then the big reveal wasn’t really shocking, even though Stacy made it seem like it.

The other thing is “Dex” really doesn’t fight for Stacy. There’s a few times in the book that these misunderstandings happen and Stacy is all ready to talk about it and forgive, but “Dex” just lets her go. I’m sorry, what? Shouldn’t he fight harder for her? And shouldn’t she fight harder for herself?

The ending also was a little out of left field for me. It seemed right for the characters, but also rushed.

It’s a cute story and a solid sequel. I wasn’t in love with it the way I was with the first book but it held my interest and the setting is so charming it’s easy to slip back in with these characters.

Fans who liked the first book shouldn’t miss this sequel.