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Play for Me
Samantha Stevens finds her life spinning out of control due to the downturn of the economy. One minute she's a young, hot shot Vice President in Chicago and now finds herself on the unemployment line. But not for long. In matter of days, she lands a job in Los Angeles working for aging rock star, Jett Robinson who wants her to help get his career back on track. Samantha quickly learns how to deal with wealth, sensitive egos and crazed fans.
Ian Andrews, a semi retired Navy Seal and architect, has been hired to do the work on Jett's house in Maui. Ian meets Samantha and is immediately intrigued by Samantha's smoking hot looks, as well as her humor, honesty and outlook on life. At first, Samantha is put off by Ian's model good looks, but soon finds Ian to be an amazing person.
Just as things between Ian and Samantha heat up, conflicts between Samantha's overprotective brother, her very opinionated mother and Ian's Seal connections become too much. Both Samantha and Ian want their relationship to work, but can true love really conquer all?
Ian Andrews, a semi retired Navy Seal and architect, has been hired to do the work on Jett's house in Maui. Ian meets Samantha and is immediately intrigued by Samantha's smoking hot looks, as well as her humor, honesty and outlook on life. At first, Samantha is put off by Ian's model good looks, but soon finds Ian to be an amazing person.
Just as things between Ian and Samantha heat up, conflicts between Samantha's overprotective brother, her very opinionated mother and Ian's Seal connections become too much. Both Samantha and Ian want their relationship to work, but can true love really conquer all?
172 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 12, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
April 7, 2013
I did finish it. :)However, the story lacked detail, descriptions, it was quick to jump from one thing to the next and felt very rushed. I wanted to find out the ending so that's why I pressed on but... honestly - the writing was blah.
I feel like the author would do well to focus on increasing her ability to describe not just what is happening on the surface but trying to convey her characters emotions and thoughts behind the actual scene.
I feel like the author would do well to focus on increasing her ability to describe not just what is happening on the surface but trying to convey her characters emotions and thoughts behind the actual scene.
March 26, 2019
If you thought the above summary was repetitive (it was!), that’s an example of what you’re gonna get if you decide to read this book. While the writing isn’t excruciating or super silly, it gets repetitive and boring and predictable super quick. Also, that first paragraph about Samantha literally gives you every relevant action from the first 25% of the novel. You can skip straight to 26% and it seriously won’t make a difference, because it’s all spelled out for you. As a bonus, you get to skip a bunch of seriously convenient plot points and ridiculous conversation between the two main romantic leads (the author is trying very hard to show us the sexual attraction/tension between Samantha and Ian, not successfully might I add).
Anyway, I made it 30% into the story before I got tired of it. This is not a romance about a young woman that conveniently lands a new cool gig through her brother. This is a romance novel about a Special Snowflake Girl. Seriously, if I had to hear one more fucking time about how Samantha/Sam “isn’t like other women/girls” I was going to throw my Kindle against the wall. I get that romance authors and readers want stories about women and men with unique connections and all that shit, but does it need to be like that all the time?
For 30% of the book we meet only four female characters: Samantha, her mother Bunny, a restaurant hostess/aspiring actress named Nikki, and Samantha’s friend Deb. Her mother is a stay-at-home mother that is super overprotective and painted as crazy and overbearing by her children. She’s a typical woman. Nikki is one of a million pretty girls in LA, hoping to make it big as an actress. She’s a typical woman, dressed up in skanky clothes, wearing a full face of makeup and willing to have sex with strangers to get what she wants - when Ian approaches her to ask for Samantha’s information in exchange of giving Nikki’s information to his rockstar Jett friend, she literally offers to “have some hot sex” with him to thank him. Like, what the fuck? She’s painted as a typical LA fame whore. Deb is a friend that Samantha calls to talk about her new gig, but I can’t even remember if that was the first time she was mentioned or not.
No female character gets established before Sam, who somehow possesses every quality that a Special Snowflake woman has: she’s crazy pretty/hot, but doesn’t flaunt it; she’s innocent, but she can tease/banter with Ian; she doesn’t care about shopping, but she dresses nicely; she hates typical female attire in favor of something more conservative that, amazingly, works only on her perfect body that she feels is fat but that Ian finds perfect (with a bonus jab at skinny/model-looking women).
The girl hate and the girl-on-girl hate in the first 30% of this novel drove me crazy. It’s so annoying. And the way they kept re-affirming that Sam is not like other girls/women all the time. She’s so cool, she’s intelligent, she can have conversations, she’s hot, she’s this and that and no other girl is this way and she didn’t jump into bed with Ian but let him kiss her goodnight in an innocent but sexy way.
GIVE ME A BREAK.
I want romance novels that don’t shit on every female character that isn’t the lead woman. I want romance novels that don’t rely on stupid stereotypes and tired tropes to engage me.
Anyway, I made it 30% into the story before I got tired of it. This is not a romance about a young woman that conveniently lands a new cool gig through her brother. This is a romance novel about a Special Snowflake Girl. Seriously, if I had to hear one more fucking time about how Samantha/Sam “isn’t like other women/girls” I was going to throw my Kindle against the wall. I get that romance authors and readers want stories about women and men with unique connections and all that shit, but does it need to be like that all the time?
For 30% of the book we meet only four female characters: Samantha, her mother Bunny, a restaurant hostess/aspiring actress named Nikki, and Samantha’s friend Deb. Her mother is a stay-at-home mother that is super overprotective and painted as crazy and overbearing by her children. She’s a typical woman. Nikki is one of a million pretty girls in LA, hoping to make it big as an actress. She’s a typical woman, dressed up in skanky clothes, wearing a full face of makeup and willing to have sex with strangers to get what she wants - when Ian approaches her to ask for Samantha’s information in exchange of giving Nikki’s information to his rockstar Jett friend, she literally offers to “have some hot sex” with him to thank him. Like, what the fuck? She’s painted as a typical LA fame whore. Deb is a friend that Samantha calls to talk about her new gig, but I can’t even remember if that was the first time she was mentioned or not.
No female character gets established before Sam, who somehow possesses every quality that a Special Snowflake woman has: she’s crazy pretty/hot, but doesn’t flaunt it; she’s innocent, but she can tease/banter with Ian; she doesn’t care about shopping, but she dresses nicely; she hates typical female attire in favor of something more conservative that, amazingly, works only on her perfect body that she feels is fat but that Ian finds perfect (with a bonus jab at skinny/model-looking women).
The girl hate and the girl-on-girl hate in the first 30% of this novel drove me crazy. It’s so annoying. And the way they kept re-affirming that Sam is not like other girls/women all the time. She’s so cool, she’s intelligent, she can have conversations, she’s hot, she’s this and that and no other girl is this way and she didn’t jump into bed with Ian but let him kiss her goodnight in an innocent but sexy way.
GIVE ME A BREAK.
I want romance novels that don’t shit on every female character that isn’t the lead woman. I want romance novels that don’t rely on stupid stereotypes and tired tropes to engage me.
April 11, 2013
I DNF it coz it sucked... I actually liked the book up until to the point I stopped--but the story is starting to drag for me and the couple is together so I don't really see the point of reading further. And I agree with the other reviewers; the pace of this story is really FAST. There's not much breathing room when I was reading the book. I appreciate that the author is fully engaged in telling the story and thought about every nook and cranny of it but she needs to learn to edit and trim down the fat so to speak. So many descriptive paragraphs and it seems like every single action is recorded in the book. That's my beef with the book. But I liked the characters (and loved Cracker!) and if she release this again in an edited, trimmed down version, I'll give it another shot.
February 1, 2018
Good plot
But the writing needed some smoothing out. There were no obvious editing errors, but a lot of things felt stilted and some of the explanations were repeated so often I could probably recite them word for word. The characters were mostly believable, though immature at times for their supposed ages and life experiences. There was a twist about one halfway through that completely threw me for a loop. There needed to be some foreshadowing to make it more believable. At least it played into the action near the end or it would have been completely pointless. As it was, the amount of events that happened in the last third of the book were mind boggling. The first half was paced very leisurely, but the last bit practically flew by. What I'm trying to say is that the pacing needed work. Overall it came across as a great idea written by an author who still needs some more experience and polishing. FYI, haven't read anything else from this author and have no idea how much experience she actually has.
But the writing needed some smoothing out. There were no obvious editing errors, but a lot of things felt stilted and some of the explanations were repeated so often I could probably recite them word for word. The characters were mostly believable, though immature at times for their supposed ages and life experiences. There was a twist about one halfway through that completely threw me for a loop. There needed to be some foreshadowing to make it more believable. At least it played into the action near the end or it would have been completely pointless. As it was, the amount of events that happened in the last third of the book were mind boggling. The first half was paced very leisurely, but the last bit practically flew by. What I'm trying to say is that the pacing needed work. Overall it came across as a great idea written by an author who still needs some more experience and polishing. FYI, haven't read anything else from this author and have no idea how much experience she actually has.
March 30, 2013
I love this book. First of all I am a fan of metal rock, rock and roll from the 80's (Yes the glam and all) and this book has that plus Navy Seal Action and a very cute Siberian Husky named Cracker. I think Samantha Stevens is very funny. Bunny, Samantha's mom is overbearing and can be very dramatic as her daughter is trying to cut the family ties. To give an idea of what Bunny is like, for all the readers out there who have read the Stephanie Plum series, think a little bit of Stephanie's mom (the why-can't-you-get-married-and-find-a-job-here) part mixed with the outbursts of Grandma Mazur. This book will tickle your funny bones and tug at the romantic side of you.
April 4, 2013
I really wanted to like this book. Wish I could have given it more stars, but...
This could have been a really entertaining story, but there were too many distractions for me.
There were many spelling/grammar/editing errors.
The author's writing style was a bit choppy & somewhat dry.
I think overall it was a creative story, but I almost deleted it without finishing multiple times.
This could have been a really entertaining story, but there were too many distractions for me.
There were many spelling/grammar/editing errors.
The author's writing style was a bit choppy & somewhat dry.
I think overall it was a creative story, but I almost deleted it without finishing multiple times.
February 24, 2013
Book 2 Lois Kasznia, February 24, 2013
This review is from: Play for Me (Kindle Edition)
A great romance novel with good characters as well as interesting and entertaining twists and turns.
A book that will capture your attention from the first page.
Comment | Permalink
This review is from: Play for Me (Kindle Edition)
A great romance novel with good characters as well as interesting and entertaining twists and turns.
A book that will capture your attention from the first page.
Comment | Permalink
April 5, 2013
Eh. I think this could have been a very very good story but it was soooooooo quick. There was too much the author was trying to get done. There would be action, then it'd be over within the next paragraph. For what there was. It was good. But soooooo random. Eh. I'm glad it was free.
April 10, 2013
This was a great story that included bad boy rock stars and an over-protective mother. I wish the ending wasn't so rushed along (felt like it took awhile to get there and then it was all over). The character development was great and you do get sucked into the story line pretty easily.
August 31, 2013
Somewhat interesting plot but definitely an amateur attempt. There was too much story crammed into too short of a book so everything seemed underdeveloped. Also impossible to believe Sam was 30--she acted more like 20. Never a clear answer on who was behind all the attacks either!
September 14, 2013
Likable characters but the story was either dragging along or skipping off without me. Lots of action and a diversified cast of characters. I liked the main character of Sam but started to dislike Ian as her romantic interest. Great to see a strong female character.
April 6, 2013
Good story but I think the ending needed more ...
April 10, 2013
Did enjoy this, a little rushed through in parts but overall a worthy read, purchased as a freebie and wasn't disappointed
April 8, 2013
Really enjoyed the story...great read.
April 18, 2013
I enjoyed reading this story. the characters were very interesting.
June 23, 2013
LOL. Mary Sue heroine. Unrealistic hero. Silly plot. Author writing about stuff she doesn't know about--like karate and architecture--and making quite a hash of it.
April 29, 2013
A very light, easy to read, entertaining book. It had some grammatical errors, which I just read through.
August 6, 2013
Seemed too long for what the content was. Probably could have been a lot shorter. Some of it dragged.
March 28, 2014
loved this book....
Want to Read
April 3, 2013Amazon freebie 4/2/13
Want to Read
April 3, 2013free on amazon
April 27, 2013
:) loved it!
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews