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Hood Love Don't Play Fair
Spoiled, entitled and beautiful are just a few ways to describe Lourdes. She has the world wrapped around her finger, especially her high school sweetheart Horatio affectionally known as Heavy. He would give her the world if she asked him for it but all she wanted was time, love and loyalty.
Heavy had a plan, to go to a D1 school for basketball. When Lourdes comes into his life, she gives him more of a reason to reach his goals. Just when things seem to be going right, skeletons come tumbling out of everyone’s closet putting Heavy in a situation that may cost him his basketball career.
Fast forward and everyone’s life has gone in a different direction until divine intervention pulls them back together only for more secrets and drama to rise. Heavy and Lourdes must decide if their love is worth fighting for. Follow them on their journey to prove just why Hood Love Don’t Play Fair.
Heavy had a plan, to go to a D1 school for basketball. When Lourdes comes into his life, she gives him more of a reason to reach his goals. Just when things seem to be going right, skeletons come tumbling out of everyone’s closet putting Heavy in a situation that may cost him his basketball career.
Fast forward and everyone’s life has gone in a different direction until divine intervention pulls them back together only for more secrets and drama to rise. Heavy and Lourdes must decide if their love is worth fighting for. Follow them on their journey to prove just why Hood Love Don’t Play Fair.
479 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 21, 2025
About the author
Unique
80 books71 followersLibrarian note:
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There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name
This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 24, 2026
This book was going so well for me until the eight years later jump. It instantly dropped from a solid 5 stars to a 3.
The biggest issue after the time jump was accountability… or lack of it. Heavy never apologized for the things he said and did eight years ago. Not once. Nobody truly held him accountable except Perc, and even that changed nothing. He stayed defensive, unapologetic, and somehow found a way to blame LoLo for nearly everything.
There were moments where it honestly felt like he disliked her more than he loved her. His actions did not match the love he supposedly had for her, and I fully understood why someone in LoLo’s position would hide a child from him. Heavy did not even look for LoLo back then to apologize. Meanwhile, LoLo as a pregnant sixteen-year-old carried blame from everybody while Heavy, being older, barely got any accountability. That was wild to me.
LoLo did what she could with what she knew at that age. She got sent away while Heavy moved through life. Then years later, somehow everything was still LoLo’s fault. Her fallout with Kenley. The JD situation. Heavy blamed her for everything.
LoLo back then was one of the stronger parts of the story. She was headstrong, made her own choices, and stood on what her mother taught her. She did not let Kenley influence her. The only thing that bothered me was her unwillingness to give Katrice grace. Katrice was a great mom. She supported LoLo, protected her, and stood behind her every step of the way. So LoLo constantly calling her mother by her first name never made sense to me, especially because even LoLo could not explain why.
Kenley never worked for me. I did not like her from the beginning. She was jealous of LoLo early on, so the sudden switch where the story almost elevated Kenley while tearing LoLo down felt forced.
Her actions alone made her unlikeable. She slept with twin brothers, then later married Heavy’s uncle, who was older and connected to that same situation. And somehow all of that major development happened off page. That was way too big of a plot point to skip.
Her advice to LoLo also completely changed once she became friends with Heavy. Before, her advice felt neutral. Afterward, everything became biased, harsh, and based on incomplete information. Kenley never grew up seeing healthy love herself, so her suddenly becoming the voice of wisdom did not work for me. And Heavy becoming close friends with Kenley after everything with LoLo only added to why it felt like he held resentment toward LoLo.
The Destiny pregnancy added absolutely nothing. Heavy and LoLo were already drowning in problems. Heavy went eight years without having other kids, but suddenly after reconnecting with LoLo one time, now there is a pregnancy. It felt forced and unrealistic. If he was that reckless, realistically there would have been other kids long before then.
Payne stayed consistent. He went from a part-time dad to a full-time dad, and honestly that was one of the few storylines that remained enjoyable.
The first half was emotional, strong, and engaging. The second half completely lost me. The eight-year jump should have shown growth, healing, accountability, and maturity. Instead, it felt like people stayed stuck while LoLo somehow carried blame for everything. The beginning had so much potential, but the second half weakened what could have been a much stronger story.
The biggest issue after the time jump was accountability… or lack of it. Heavy never apologized for the things he said and did eight years ago. Not once. Nobody truly held him accountable except Perc, and even that changed nothing. He stayed defensive, unapologetic, and somehow found a way to blame LoLo for nearly everything.
There were moments where it honestly felt like he disliked her more than he loved her. His actions did not match the love he supposedly had for her, and I fully understood why someone in LoLo’s position would hide a child from him. Heavy did not even look for LoLo back then to apologize. Meanwhile, LoLo as a pregnant sixteen-year-old carried blame from everybody while Heavy, being older, barely got any accountability. That was wild to me.
LoLo did what she could with what she knew at that age. She got sent away while Heavy moved through life. Then years later, somehow everything was still LoLo’s fault. Her fallout with Kenley. The JD situation. Heavy blamed her for everything.
LoLo back then was one of the stronger parts of the story. She was headstrong, made her own choices, and stood on what her mother taught her. She did not let Kenley influence her. The only thing that bothered me was her unwillingness to give Katrice grace. Katrice was a great mom. She supported LoLo, protected her, and stood behind her every step of the way. So LoLo constantly calling her mother by her first name never made sense to me, especially because even LoLo could not explain why.
Kenley never worked for me. I did not like her from the beginning. She was jealous of LoLo early on, so the sudden switch where the story almost elevated Kenley while tearing LoLo down felt forced.
Her actions alone made her unlikeable. She slept with twin brothers, then later married Heavy’s uncle, who was older and connected to that same situation. And somehow all of that major development happened off page. That was way too big of a plot point to skip.
Her advice to LoLo also completely changed once she became friends with Heavy. Before, her advice felt neutral. Afterward, everything became biased, harsh, and based on incomplete information. Kenley never grew up seeing healthy love herself, so her suddenly becoming the voice of wisdom did not work for me. And Heavy becoming close friends with Kenley after everything with LoLo only added to why it felt like he held resentment toward LoLo.
The Destiny pregnancy added absolutely nothing. Heavy and LoLo were already drowning in problems. Heavy went eight years without having other kids, but suddenly after reconnecting with LoLo one time, now there is a pregnancy. It felt forced and unrealistic. If he was that reckless, realistically there would have been other kids long before then.
Payne stayed consistent. He went from a part-time dad to a full-time dad, and honestly that was one of the few storylines that remained enjoyable.
The first half was emotional, strong, and engaging. The second half completely lost me. The eight-year jump should have shown growth, healing, accountability, and maturity. Instead, it felt like people stayed stuck while LoLo somehow carried blame for everything. The beginning had so much potential, but the second half weakened what could have been a much stronger story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 26, 2025
Loved it but
This book was good. My only hang up was everybody wanted to hold Lolo accountable but not Heavy. He did worse stuff and was forgiven so easily but Lo mess up and she's "stuck up, spoiled, manipulative" I didn't really see her like that. Yes she should have told him about the baby but he said he forgave her. Idk I just think Lolo deserved some grace
This book was good. My only hang up was everybody wanted to hold Lolo accountable but not Heavy. He did worse stuff and was forgiven so easily but Lo mess up and she's "stuck up, spoiled, manipulative" I didn't really see her like that. Yes she should have told him about the baby but he said he forgave her. Idk I just think Lolo deserved some grace
February 22, 2026
Well this book was something. The majority of the book takes place when the characters are 16/17, it was cute at first, but I didn’t sign up to read a YA book (& I HATE sex scenes with underage characters, I skipped those scenes). I thought there’d at least be a time jump 40% into the book. When we finally get to see the characters as adults (60% into the book mind you), the plot falls apart for me tbh, the secret baby was so stupid. Lourdes was 100% wrong from keeping that baby from Horatio. I didn’t particularly like anyone in the book, everyone was either cheating, lying or just dumb beyond belief.
That being said, it was an interesting read.
That being said, it was an interesting read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 26, 2026
Love does play fair
This was my first read by Unique and it won’t be my last. Hood love don’t play fair is a story about friends from the hood who go through life together. With dreams of the NBA, Horatio Heavy Davis goes through a series of trials and tribulations before it’s all said and done. His biggest challenge yet was Lourdes Lolo Payne. I really enjoyed that this book focused solely on the POV’s of Heavy and Lolo, but we got the other storylines sprinkled throughout. I’m a sucker for a happy ending and that’s exactly what I got. Love wins, regardless.
This was my first read by Unique and it won’t be my last. Hood love don’t play fair is a story about friends from the hood who go through life together. With dreams of the NBA, Horatio Heavy Davis goes through a series of trials and tribulations before it’s all said and done. His biggest challenge yet was Lourdes Lolo Payne. I really enjoyed that this book focused solely on the POV’s of Heavy and Lolo, but we got the other storylines sprinkled throughout. I’m a sucker for a happy ending and that’s exactly what I got. Love wins, regardless.
May 26, 2026
Good Read
The book started out rocky but ended up being a good book. I would give it 4 and a half stars.
The book started out rocky but ended up being a good book. I would give it 4 and a half stars.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews