Game Over

by Adele Parks

I'm as hard as nails on the outside. Scratch the surface and I'm as hard as nails on the inside. Impenetrable. Well, emotionally impenetrable, not the other. Not frigid. Technically, I guess, for want of a more user-friendly term, I'm a slapper. Cas Perry's self-portrait is astute. Since her father deserted the family home when she was only seven, Cas has led a life "awash with cynicism, constraint and calculation". As she points out, the psychology isn't difficult to figure--to protect herself from being betrayed again, she "dumps before she's damaged." And there are plenty of men queuing up to be dumped--what with her glamorous job and "sexy, cool, flawless" looks, Cas normally has charge of the relationship reins, until she meets Darren. A breathtakingly beautiful tree-surgeon, with long gypsy hair and a set of teeth the Osmonds would be proud of, Darren looks as if he has just what it takes to smash through her tough-gal stance. Game Over is a saucy twist on the twentysomething girl-meets-boy fiction that has bombarded our bookshops recently. Cas is an exhilaratingly unconventional female protagonist and it's refreshing to read a city-girl novel about a woman who is trying her hardest not to find Mr Right. That said, there's also a comforting predictability about her--just like the hero (yes male) in a Mills and Boon romance, it's inevitable that Cas will "submit" to love. The question is will Darren be interested when she does. Like Adele Parks' debut novel Playing Away , Game Over looks set to be another winner.-- Jane Honey

Genres: Romance, Chick Lit, Fiction, Contemporary, Ebooks, Contemporary Romance, Love

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Adele Parks MBE is one of the most-loved and biggest-selling women's fiction writers in the UK. She has sold over 4 million books and her work has been translated into 30 different languages.

She has published 21 novels, all of which have been London Times bestsellers.

Adele has written 19 contemporary novels and 2 historical ones, Spare Brides and If You Go Away, which are set during and after WW1. Her latest novels, Both of You, Just My Luck, Lies Lies Lies, I Invited Her In, The Image of You and The Stranger in My Home are twisty, domestic noirs. Adele likes to scrutinize our concepts of family, our theories on love, parenting and fidelity.

During her career Adele has lived in Italy, Botswana and London. Now she lives happily in Surrey, UK with her husband, son and cat.

If you want to stay in touch you can find Adele on Twitter @AdeleParks, Instagram @Adele_Parks or Facebook @OfficialAdeleParks. You can sign up to her newsletter at eepurl.com/cI0l and there’s lots more info about Adele and her books on www.adeleparks.com.

Reviews

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite authors and never disappoints and this book is no exception. Loved it.

Five stars.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book hit a little too close to home for my tastes, and yet I find the ending completely unbelievable. Normally I'm not a fan of epilogues, but in this case, I think one was needed. Love doesn't make the world go round, and I kind of resent the implication it does. What happened with Josh a few months or years down the road, did she patch things up fully with Issie, what about a job, if the show continues being a hit or if the people of Britain start boycotting it because of the despicable topic.

It wasn't a bad book, per se. I didn't really like Cas and her friends, and that could entirely be I don't agree with their lifestyles. Especially Cas's. Her complaining men cheat and then helping them cheat continuously doesn't make her right. They might never have cheated if she hadn't thrown herself at them.

I don't know if I'll read other books by Adele Parks. I'll check the summary first, but if all them involve plots similar to this, I'll pass. I'm already too cynical towards love to read about high divorce rates and adultery.

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was totally on board with how unlikable the main character was. I even didn't mind her avowedly immoral behavior. It was nice to have a main character with brains and work ethic. Sure, her behavior was reprehensible, but following the Hallmark nature of this plot, I figure it would predictably wrap up with some gush about true love overcoming bad morals. I even didn't mind that it took over a 100 pages for the main dude to show up. He seemed dreamy enough...
Until he decided to sleep with her. Then this book took a sharp dive towards STUPID.
Our brainy girl goes gaga. Her cocky, self-aware attitude disappears. Now her entire character change centers on one, stupid man. And it did not get any better as it wrapped up.
I didn't expect much from this book but I liked the writing. I liked the British chick flick without the TMI.
Okay, it was sort of TMI.
First half was good...second half was terrible. So terrible it ruined the good part. Which is a bummer.

And also, just because it needs to be repeated, you can't marry a man you just met.

[Samantha · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found the main character (Cas) vile to be honest, and at no point did she redeem herself although im sure that was the intention.....
Her behaviour was horrid, selfish, shallow and frustrating from start to finish therefore when her world started unraveling i felt nothing, other than the hope that this book would be over soon.

[Katherine Nally · Rating 3 out of 5]

It takes a bit to get going, and our protag isn’t likeable. Our male love interest is literally perfect and much too good for the protag, I literally don’t understand. Cute ending, though hella unreasonable

[Jay Thomson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twist made this book jump from 3 to 4 stars, didn’t see that coming!

[Juliana Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like Adele Parks and find her novels gripping, fairly light hearted but often with a serious edge. This book was strange in that the main character was completely horrible but this did not make the book any less enjoyable. I think the reality TV show that Cas produced seemed just like the sort of thing we would see on our screens and Cas's friends were also quite convincingly portrayed. At the risk of sounding a bit prudish, sometimes Adele Parks' sex scenes are a bit OTT (just something about the way they're written is a bit "cringey") and I was also mildly irritated that the main character ended up with the lovely, kind hearted leading man. I'm hoping this wouldn't happen in real life, because she was truly vile and didn't deserve him - despite all the 'reasons' given through the book about why she behaved as she did. Looking forward to my next book by Adele!

[Mark Farley]

This was the first and my favourite of Adele's books that I came across, before my days as a bookseller. Like Ben Elton's Dead Famous, Game Over; is very much a satire about reality TV and the Big Brother generation, but this book pre-dates Endemol's meteoric rice in the format. It's about a TV producer who is desperate to get this hot guy on her intrusive, dating show whilst trying not to fall for him. It's inially about the desperate grasp for ratings but it becomes so much more. It's incredibly witty and is a page turner right to its exciting fast-paced climax.

[Myriam · Rating 1 out of 5]

I started this book not knowing it was Chick Lit.
I liked the media setting but I soon realized this wasn't going to be my cup of tea.

[Mikayla Gray · Rating 1 out of 5]

Game Over is pretty harmless chick lit fare for the most part. It’s cliché and predictable, but that’s par for the course in this genre. However where this book completely and utterly lost me was with it’s protagonist.

Jocasta is a thoroughly nasty piece of work. She’s cold, cruel and utterly deluded. Newsflash, parents get divorced. That’s no excuse for breaking up relationships, sleeping with married men and pimping out other people’s suffering for your own financial gain. The fact that the author tries time and again to justify her main character’s behaviour because her father walked out on her mother suggests that she knows the defence is flimsy, but proceeds with it anyway.

The story itself devolves into a protracted will-they won’t-they (in which they obviously will). Quite why Darren falls head over heals in love with Jocasta when she represents everything he hates and treats him like utter filth (including, but not limited to, accepting a proposal from her best friend to try and get the message that she’s not interested into his thick skull) is anyone’s guess. Of course, this all works out, despite Jocasta crapping all over the only two friends she (somehow) has in the process. But then the author tries to somehow play this off as the happy ending the protagonist deserves, when she’s been nothing but a selfish, mean-spirited bitch throughout. Jocasta makes a career off other people’s misfortune, so why should the reader feel any sympathy when she gets a taste of her own medicine. She even has the brass balls to try and take the heat of herself with her best friend by referring to her fiancé (you know, the man whose proposal she dishonestly accepted to save her own skin before ditching him in spectacularly humiliating fashion) and his “misdeeds”, despite the fact all he did was reveal her cheating and lies.

If the author was going for a nice guys finish last message and doubled down on her ruthless main character treating people like dirt and still walking away with her self-belief, along with riches and success it afforded her, this book would have been downright brilliant. However she chickens out about half way through and tries to turn it around into a redemption story (of a quite frankly irredeemable character) which basically says that all career women who insist they don’t want marriage are delusional liars and all a woman’s mental and emotional problems can be solved by a man. I'm usually a fan of Adele Parks' books, but I'd advise even fans to give this one a miss.

[Annabelle Adegbola · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is an absolute waste of time. Just because we all have the ability to write it does not mean we should all become writers. From the beginning, the book is extremely rushed with too much unecessary detail about Cas’ career in TV. She then finds a man she falls in love with, despite her raging daddy issues, ignores him for a few months all while getting engaged to her best friend of almost 30 years??? When she realises she doesn’t actually love josh, the best friend, she cheats on him with Darren, the man she fell in love with, which is then revealed in a reality tv show she created- further making her the most hated woman in Britain. When josh realises she’s in love with Darren, they bid an emotional farewell and state they can never see each other again???? Josh is never spoken of again and 30 years of friendship is down the drain just like that? Ok. Darren and cas find their way back to each other and have a go at their relationship once cas decides to not be afraid of love and rather celebrate the fact she can find it, despite her issues surrounding her father cheating on her mother when she was younger.

There is WAY too much going on in this book and it is greatly lacking direction. To add, cas is an extremely unlikeable and surface level character who thinks men are only useful for sex and sees them for nothing else. I feel bad for her other best friend issie who seems to be a hopeless romantic at heart but sadly has poor luck with men.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adele Parks (2012) GAME OVER (AUDIOBOOK)
BorrowBox - HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4 out of 5 stars

The sleeve reads, "Is it time to take a chance on the game of true love? From the Sunday Times best-selling author of Just My Luck and Both of You, this is a brilliantly perceptive novel of the game of love and not looking for Mr Right.... Steely hearted TV producer Cas ruthlessly plays people on a daily basis. She messes with contestants' love lives on the hot new reality show Sex with an Ex, making for explosive viewing. And she shamelessly manipulates hot men into bed - making for an explosive sex life. In work and in pleasure, Cas always gets what she wants. Until she meets Darren. His unbelievable good looks would make him a sensation on the show. But his moral integrity and belief in true love mean Cas will have to work a little bit harder to persuade him to give the show - and her - a shot. After a lifetime of playing games, might her winning streak be at an end?"
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Hang in there with this one. I has hating this one until I was liking it until I was loving it. Sad to have finished it.
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#AdeleParks #GameOver #Books #Read #Reads #Reading #Review #Reviews #BookReview #BookReviews #GoodReads #Audiobook #Audiobooks #BorrowBox

[Sujata Durga · Rating 1 out of 5]

I logged into my account just to write a review about how incredibly bad this book is.
The protagonist is ambitious and hard working which is great and apparently has a heart of steel because of childhood trauma which i get but she is a total bitch and selfish with absolutely no regard for others feelings. She is with the main guy( who took 100 pages to appear) then ditches him then goes along with her guy best friend of 26 years and agrees to marry him then when the main guy is back and asks her to marry him she says yes and she is engaged to two people? Like does this make sense, girl what are you even doing. The ending was not what i wanted , my main guy deserves better but I like the author's way of writing even though the plot was shit i finished the whole book just because her writing is good.
Read this only if you want to know how to engage a reader with an extremely substandard plot that's it.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jocasta Perry best friends Izzie & Josh
Cas works in TV has to come up with an idea for a new show. Sex with an ex.
The friends don’t commit to anyone. The programme trials partners must before their marriage to see if they would be tempted by an ex.
The only ex who says no is Darren who Cas falls in love with but as she has issues with commitment she sort of dumps him.
Josh asks her to marry him she says yes even though it doesn’t feel right.the week before her wedding she has sex with Darren it’s all put on the tv show which Darren thinks is a set up. Josh is heartbroken, she is a laughing stock.
She tracks Darren down & begs for another chance.......

[Andrew Brassington · Rating 1 out of 5]

Probs going to donate this to a charity shop I don't like - I hear the salvation army are short on books.

God, this was tedious and it's awful reading a book written in the first person when the main character is so repugnant and unlikable. How are we meant to root for Cas when she is so callous? The plot was very predictable (and yes, even I, the patron saint of not guessing plot-twists, called the plot twist) and there were weird touches just littering the book that were uncomfortable. From the belief that all northerners are fat to a very bizarre transition from "loose morals" to "loose bowels," Game Over very much lived up to it's title.

[Amanda Carver · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is over 20 years old now, scary! And if I had read it 20 years ago I could probably relate to it more, I was OK with Cas's morales, but agreeing to marry her best friend was a big NO for me she really didn't care about anyone and I don't think she deserves Darren, I loved reading about Whitby as we go there a lot so could really visualise it. I didn't see her being featured on Sex with an Ex which surprised me as I can usually spot things like that but did feel sorry for her being featured but I guess it was a taste of her own medicine and hopefully she has learned a lesson or 2 from it! Will pass onto my 19 year old daughter more her generation now 😂

[Patricia Alonso Pérez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muy entretenido.
Mi forma de resumirlo es que es una comedia romántica de sobremesa pero en novela.
La forma en que está escrita me parece maravillosa, con frases lapidarias y unos personajes súper bien construidos.
El tono de la protagonista es muy arrogante sin que llegue a parecerme poco creíble ya que, como mucho de lo escrito son pensamientos, me parece plausible.
No es para todo el mundo pero para mí ha sido una de las mejores lecturas del año. Me he reído, me he emocionado, he flipado con algún giro de guion y me ha entretenido durante todas sus páginas.
Muy contenta de haber encontrado este libro.

[Nere · Rating 3 out of 5]

Al principio cuesta un poco engancharse a la historia, dan demasiadas vueltas y detalles sobre el trabajo de Cas y su visión del sexo y del amor. Lo pillo, no hace falta que me lo repitas en cada capítulo.
En el último cuarto del libro, todo pasa demasiado rápido y se vuelve caótico. Es entretenido ver como todo pierde sentido, pero a la vez es demasiado.

Entiendo que el personaje de Cas está hecho para que no caiga bien y cuestiones sus decisiones, pero no he logrado conectar con ella en todo el libro, ni siquiera en el final.

[Ciara Cunningham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whilst I did enjoy this book, I feel like I only enjoyed the last 70%. The start dragged a lot. I only started getting into the book towards the end. I did at one point consider it to be predictable/farfetched however I did enjoy the twists and turns towards the end. I didn’t like how quickly the characters personality seemed to changed the second she met someone, her meeting the main male lead seemed rushed despite being halfway through the book! Overall I did enjoy Adele’s style of writing (and the last few chapters) so I would read more of her work!

[aqmir alhamdi · Rating 3 out of 5]

It all makes sense why most of the reader dislike the characteristics of cas perry. She is so dumb but at the moment she's full of selfishness and the fact that she knew deep down she has fallen in love but still deny it.

Then blame it all of those things to other people who doesn't attach with her problems.

The last chapter and the conclusion or should I elaborate her ending was completely unsatisfied for me.

Yes, this book is restricted for young reader. Definitely for new adult yeah.

[Smriti Brar · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book held my interest from the beginning and seemed to offer something a bit different from the usual love stories. But the end was a bit abrupt. I feel there was a need to explain about what happens Cas's relationship with the other central characters including Josh, Issie and her mother. I'm actually a bit disappointed.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed that the main character was female and career focused. I also enjoyed the concept of the novel, I’ve not read a book based on creating a tv show before and found it refreshing. Yes, the main character does have questionable morales but for me I found that interesting rather than reading about a typical girl next door in a chick lit.

[Um mar de fogueirinhas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had just read Just my luck, her book with the lottery winners, and had high expectations here. They were not really met. It is an honest chick lit, with Jocasta as the tv producer who's pretty, ready to fall in love, with glamorous life and heart of stone and the lovely down to earth Darren. But it got tiresome quite fast.

[Suzannah Squires · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't get into this book as quickly as her other

I enjoyed this, but I found it hard to get absorbed in the beginning. I found the chapters too long, I love reading but always read before bed, so I am tired and it felt like a hard slog. When I was about 3/4 of the way through I wanted to keep reading. Ultimatly I enjoyed the book but not one of my favourites.

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Game Over explores themes of trust, betrayal, and the consequences of our choices. If only this kind of thing happened to all the nasty people on the world!

The book did drag on in the first 2/3s, the last 1/3 was more exhilarating however the last chapter seemed very rushed and unfinished.. like there should be a sequel.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to stop reading this a few times. I really didn't like the female MC- her coldness, selfishness etc. But I kept on...because of Darren. And felt ripped off at the conclusion happening in just one page. 😧

[Yassmine Azeez · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautifully overwhelming, the british are still capable of creating exquisite novels. very very exciting and heart touching reading.

[Lou · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 - predictable as all chicklit is, but I liked it.

[Rachel Shepley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy book to read with a bit of a twist.

[rachel driver · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started off good.Found my mind wandering after about a quarter of the way through