{"id":69295,"date":"2023-03-20T10:41:12","date_gmt":"2023-03-20T14:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=69295"},"modified":"2023-03-20T10:41:12","modified_gmt":"2023-03-20T14:41:12","slug":"review-play-fake-plays-penalties-1-by-maggie-rawdon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=69295","title":{"rendered":"Review: Play Fake (Plays & Penalties, 1) by Maggie Rawdon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Buy:\u00a0\u00a0Amazon\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Paperback<\/a><\/b><\/h4>\n
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\r\n <\/div><\/div><\/b><\/h4>\n
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Review<\/b><\/h4>\n

2.5 stars<\/b><\/p>\n

The first book in the Plays & Penalties<\/i> series, this is an enemies-to-lovers, college sports romance that is a well-written debut, but that frustrated me no end with the characters\u2019 inability to communicate.<\/p>\n

I started this series by reading book #4, Reverse Pass<\/a> (not knowing it was part of a series at the time). I loved that book, and was so looking forward to going back and reading the earlier books in the series, but I did struggle with this one.<\/p>\n

Firstly, you can read about Mackenzie and Waylon\u2019s first meeting in the freebie prequel novella, Pregame<\/i><\/a>, available on the author\u2019s website<\/a>. This book starts with Mackenzie already fully hating on the popular football player, but with her best friend also being best friends with one of his<\/i> best friends, their lives are intertwined. And Waylon also has a bit of a crush on Mackenzie, so he\u2019s making an effort to be around her as much as he can.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s like a war in my mind. Want her. Hate her. Want her. My dick and my brain can\u2019t agree. I don\u2019t hate her, not really. I just hate the fact that she looks at me like I\u2019m a creature from the deep that somehow washed up at her feet. <\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When Mac is invited to an event where her cheating ex-boyfriend will be, she gets talked into taking Waylon along as her fake boyfriend. He\u2019s all for the idea, wanting to prove that he\u2019s more than just a playboy. He does just that, and the two of them actually share a conversation, and it turns out that Waylon is a good guy with a big heart, and is more than Mac thought he was. They become friends, and that attraction between them continues to sizzle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so fucking serious, Mac. I know I\u2019m a joke to you. I know you can\u2019t stand me, and it\u2019s real fucking inconvenient for you that your body disagrees with you on that one \u2026 But I like you, Mac. I\u2019ve wanted you since the day I saw you, but then I don\u2019t know. It changed over time from just wanting to fuck you. Getting to be friends, pretending to be together\u2026you\u2019re in my fucking head all the time.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But from here, it\u2019s just a confusing back and forth between friendship, fighting, flirting, sexy time, fighting some more, and then around and around again. They had no idea what they were doing, and frankly, neither did I. They were back and forth with each other so much, never actually talking about their feelings for each other, while Mac is still hanging out with her ex, and Waylon is letting football groupies hang all over him. I honestly had no idea what was going on between them, and though they clearly have chemistry, they just couldn\u2019t get on the same page.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou and Mackenzie both have the same problem. Instead of just telling each other the truth, how you feel, you keep trying to push the person toward what you think will make them happy. It\u2019s painful to watch.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Right on!<\/p>\n

There were moments of a really great story \u2013 the playful banter between Mac and Waylon is lots of fun, and the rare times when they do open up to each other are sweet – but sadly it was mostly overshadowed by the constant back-and-forth of the characters, and their inability to talk to each other and just be honest. There was just too much drama that could have been so easily avoided, and I disconnected from the story.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat was your wish, Waylon?\u201d
\n\u201cTo hear you say you need me. Not just want, need. That you hate the idea of me with anyone else, the same way I do.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But having said that, the story does end well, and I was pleased to see these two get their happy ending.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou fit in my world, Mac. Anywhere you don\u2019t or don\u2019t feel like you fit, I\u2019ll make room.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There are stories set up for their friends, and having loved the fourth book in the series, I will continue on with the others. This one was just a bit of a miss for me.<\/p>\n

2.5 stars.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Plays & Penalties<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"\" \u00a0\"\" \u00a0\"\" \u00a0\"\" \u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

Pregame (#0.5 – prequel novella)<\/strong> (Waylon & Mackenzie)
\nReview<\/a>
\nAvailable:\u00a0 Free on Author’s Website<\/a><\/p>\n

Play Fake (#1)<\/strong> (Waylon & Mackenzie)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a><\/p>\n

Delay of Game (#2)<\/strong> (Liam & Liv)
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a><\/p>\n

Personal Foul (#3)<\/strong> (Easton & Wren)
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a><\/p>\n

Reverse Pass (#4)<\/strong> (Ben & Violet)
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

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About the Author<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Maggie loves books, travel and wandering through museums. She lives in the Midwest where you can find her writing on her laptop with her two pups at her side, in between binge watching epic historical and fantasy dramas and cheering for her favorite American (and European) football teams on the weekends. She loves writing dirty athletes and smart women and has a soft spot for writing characters who banter instead of flirt.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Connect with Maggie Rawdon<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Buy:\u00a0\u00a0Amazon\u00a0\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Paperback Review 2.5 stars The first book in the Plays & Penalties series, this is an enemies-to-lovers, college sports romance that is a well-written debut, but that frustrated me no end with the characters\u2019 inability […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69019,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","yasr_overall_rating":2.5,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[86,1132,13,9,58,29],"tags":[1460,1461,48],"class_list":["post-69295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-enemies-to-lovers","category-fake-relationship","category-new-adult","category-romance","category-sports-star","category-steamy","tag-maggie-rawdon","tag-plays-penalties","tag-review"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Play-Fake.jpg?fit=200%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-i1F","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=69295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/69019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=69295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=69295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=69295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}