{"id":16358,"date":"2018-04-03T05:00:39","date_gmt":"2018-04-03T12:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailywaffle.com\/stage1\/?p=16358"},"modified":"2018-04-02T17:52:54","modified_gmt":"2018-04-03T00:52:54","slug":"play-for-keeps-maggie-wells-book-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailywaffle.com\/stage1\/play-for-keeps-maggie-wells-book-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Play for Keeps (Love Games #2) by Maggie Wells | 4 star review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h2>\n

Play for Keeps is Sassy, Smart and So Much Fun.<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n

<\/h3>\n

ARC provided by Sourcebooks Casablanca via NetGalley<\/em><\/h3>\n

I probably should have\u00a0reviewed Maggie Wells’ Love Game<\/a> and Play for Keeps<\/a> together, but I couldn’t wait. Both reads in the Love Games series are incredibly satisfying in different ways. Set in and around Wolcott University, they feature heroines over the age of 40 who have put career first and are totally happy with that decision. Their first tries at marriage didn’t work out, but they’re not looking to net new husbands.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Play for Keeps<\/a>, Millie Jensen is the publicist and spokesperson for Wolcott University Athletics. Like many PR people (I speak from experience), she likes to anticipate every possible outcome and control the variables as much as possible. She\u2019s logical, practical, and certainly not a romantic. It\u2019s what\u2019s helped her build a successful career. <\/span><\/p>\n

Wolcott men\u2019s basketball coach Ty Ransom just handed her another potential media debacle to manage. His wife just left him for one of the NBA-bound players on his team and she’s spreading it all over social media. Millie goes to Ty\u2019s place to intervene before he can talk to any reporters while he drowns his sorrows in a bottle. And that\u2019s when something scotch-fueled sparks between them. Ty’s separation is so new even in these early pages I was yelling, \u201cGirl, don\u2019t be the rebound!\u201d Either way, Millie certainly isn\u2019t going to get involved with someone who\u2019s still married, even if it\u2019s a technicality.<\/span><\/p>\n

While you recognize the men in her stories, Wells excels at developing fully realized women. Divorced herself, Millie is a no-nonsense, call-the-shots kind of gal. She [says she] doesn\u2019t do romance and she certainly doesn\u2019t believe in the happily ever after. It\u2019s such delicious foreshadowing that it\u2019s extra fun to watch these two dance around and eventually come together. Ty is a man who loves to love (it\u2019s the one strike I have against him), and he’s all too ready to fall into something new. You might even see it as insta-love. Millie keeps him at arms length, even after they\u2019ve gotten involved.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Love Game, the first book in the series, Kate\u2019s first priority was her career. Love life was secondary. Play for Keeps<\/a>\u00a0is more traditional, but layered with role reversals. Millie is six years older than Ty.\u00a0 She’s<\/em> the one who doesn\u2019t want an official relationship. She’s totally fine with just sex. Conveniently, it\u2019s an easy way to keep Ty from getting too close.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The usual progression in romance is the two main characters meet, hook up, fall in love, get married and have (or adopt) kids. While Play for Keeps hits on some of these elements, the how<\/em> it gets there is part of what makes it so fun.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is a joy to read a truly adult heroine with an established career, who isn\u2019t afraid to be herself and says so. Millie isn\u2019t afraid to articulate what she wants. She’s surrounded by a couple of like-minded friends who call her on her BS. It actually feels refreshing to read a heroine who’s lived a little, who’s taken what life threw at her, and come out on the other side wiser for it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Play for Keeps is sassy, smart and so much fun. While part of me will always be my 16- and 26-year-old selves, the rest of me says, thank you, Maggie Wells for writing romance heroines over 40, especially ones who don’t have children. We aren’t ingenues, but we aren\u2019t dead yet.<\/span><\/p>\n

Play for Keeps is out now.\u00a0 Get it on Amazon<\/a> | iBooks<\/a> | The Ripped Bodice<\/a><\/p>

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Play for Keeps is Sassy, Smart and So Much Fun. ARC provided by Sourcebooks Casablanca via NetGalley I probably should have\u00a0reviewed Maggie Wells’ Love Game and Play for Keeps together, but I couldn’t wait. Both reads in the Love Games series are incredibly satisfying in different ways. Set in and around Wolcott University, they feature…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[149],"tags":[1986,1981,1171,1985,1984,1975,1983,1133,1265,1898,1559,1982,1980],"class_list":["post-16358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-reviews","tag-1986","tag-basketball-coach","tag-book-review","tag-love-games","tag-love-games-series","tag-maggie-wells","tag-millie-jensen","tag-romance","tag-romcom","tag-sourcebooks-casablanca","tag-sports-romance","tag-ty-ransom","tag-wolcott-university"],"yoast_head":"\nPlay for Keeps (Love Games #2) by Maggie Wells | 4 star review - DailyWaffle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In Play for Keeps, college basketball coach Ty Ransom's wife just left him for one of his players. 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