It's How You Play the Game

The Game #2

by Willa Okati

In this follow up to The Name of the Game, Seth and Clay's friend Anthony decides to cater his happy friends' wedding. Problem is, he can't cook, so he signs on to take lessons, willing to do whatever it takes to help out. Anthony bumps into the most amazing man at cooking school, a guy named Roan, who seems more edible than anything on the menu during class. Roan thinks Anthony is quite a dish, too, and sets out to demolish Anthony's defenses, captivating and seducing. Happy to play around, Anthony allows himself to be seduced, but Roan starts to push for something more. Unsure that he wants to make such a commitment, Anthony backs away, but Roan has a reason to live life like there's no tomorrow, and he doesn't want to take no for an answer. Like a game of fire and ice, Anthony and Roan come together and split apart, trying to find a middle ground. Can they find a way to be as happy as Seth and Clay?

Genres: M M Romance, Romance, Contemporary, Erotica, Gay, Ebooks, Fiction

244 pages, paperback

First published November 28, 2007

About the author

Will Okati is made of many things: imagination, coffee, stray cat hairs, daydreams, more coffee, kitchen experimentation, a passion for winter weather, a little more coffee, a whole lot of flowering plants and a lifelong love of storytelling.

Reviews

[Tam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the follow-up to the previous book. Seth and Clay are getting “married” and while Anthony thinks it’s the dumbest idea ever he agrees to cater their affair, oh, but he can’t cook. So he signs up for a cooking class at the community center and meets Roan who comes on so strong it’s not funny. He rubs Anthony off in the class and declares him to be his and that’s it, he basically tells him he’ll stalk him until he agrees. Creepy but because Anthony is in a perpetual state of arousal he doesn’t tell the guy to take a hike, they begin to basically have public sex wherever possible with Anthony having no way to control himself whatsoever. I found Roan EXTREMELY pushy and they explain why later but really, justifying being a jerk is hard to do. So on the whole I really liked Anthony but I didn’t buy the story as the whole relationship seemed to be based around the base need to fuck as often as possible. I can’t believe anyone has that little control over their basic drives. So it was so-so for me.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was disappointed in this book. Although it was entertaining and well written, the character of Anthony was not portrayed at all as I thought he would be after reading the first book, The Name of the Game.

[Elena · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is Anthonys story, who first appeared in The Name of the Game. I was a bit disappointed. Anthony didn't turn out the way I expected him to be after reading The Name of the Game and his love interest put me off. Uber-dominant characters like him are a hard sell to me.

[MyzanM · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easily forgotten...

[Charly · Rating 3 out of 5]

The sex is better in this volume, but I didn’t like the characters as much

Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.

Rating: 5/10

PROS:
- Continued snatches of Clay and Seth’s story, which was told in The Name of the Game. There are some unexpected developments in their relationship, given where their story left off, but I still find the characters cute.
- Some of the sex scenes in this book are torturously slow and as a result, very hot. (Some are a little too exhibitionist for me, but hey, different strokes…)

CONS:
- The characters are realistic in that they’re complex, but neither one is terribly likeable…not all the time, anyway. Roan is pushy and inconsiderate and seems to thrive on others’ discomfort much of the time, and Anthony is so emotionally closed off (a quality that’s never fully explained, by the way) that I admit to having skimmed a few of the scenes in which he ponders the harmfulness of long-term relationships.
- Roan falls for Anthony very quickly. Like, they meet and rub off together a couple of times, and Roan’s already talking about the possibility of a commitment ceremony.
- The book toys with the idea of being borderline light BDSM (“The harder stuff is fun…”; “…padded handcuffs, silk blindfolds, and drippy candles would feel right at home”; “I know how much you want someone to take control…”; etc.), but in the end nothing ever comes of those hints/discussions. I’m not particularly into BDSM; I just felt that I was being set up for something that never happened.
- The writing is more jumpy in this than in The Name of the Game or Café Noctem, the only other stories I’ve read by Okati. There are comments throughout this book that seem to come from absolute left field.
- No condoms. And no “are you clean?” conversation either. I know books aren’t reality, but the characters’ decision to have unprotected sex without so much as a thought toward safety dropped my level of respect for them several notches.

Overall comments: I didn’t hate this, but I didn’t particularly like it either. I had to force my way through to the end and found myself wishing I could set it aside and start on another book, but I’m the sort of person who always wants to finish a book I start. There’s a lot more sex in this volume than in the first one, so if you’re looking for well-written erotica, you might like this.

[Elisa Rolle]

Second after The Name of the Game, it is the story of Anthony, Clay's friend. Anthony is the gayest man ever. He is all you can think would be a gay man, fashion man, light heart and good friend. So good that, when Clay and Seth decide to make a public commitment, Anthony offers to think to the cathering. But Anthony is not capable neither to heat up water for pasta, so it's better if he takes some cooking lessons. And to the night course he attends he meets Roan.

Roan is a tornado. Short but strong, full of live and very overwhelming. Anthony would be not contrary to the idea of some hot sex between cooking lessons, but Roan is till the beginning very clear: he wants all and forever. Forever is something that Anthony has always avoid, but Roan is like a magnete, impossible to resist.

The book is a blurr like Roan himself. You would be run over by the words like Anthony is run over by Roan: impossible to resist but also impossible to stop. Both Roan and the book!

The story is all about Anthony, you will read his side of the story and so you will be overwhelmed by Roan like Anthony; cause Roan act and don't talk. And you don't know why he is so, you only know that he makes Anthony feel good and so he can't be a bad guy (or maybe he is "bad" enough!). I like Roan, but seeing him with Anthony's eyes, how I can't like him? He is not only the better sex of Anthony's life, he is also maybe the first person who wants to see past the happy-to-go image of Anthony and gets to know the "real" man and not the gay guy image he projects.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1603702075/?...

[CB · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 2nd book in a series of 2. I would suggest reading the 1st book "The Name of the Game" first as the main MC is introduced there.

I found both books entertaining and the characters fun to get to know.

[Lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute followup to The Name of the Game. Roan comes off a bit too strong (maybe even a tad creepy) at the beginning but other than that it was a nice story with a sweet ending.

[Indigo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anthony's story. Quite colorful and touching. Very enjoyable.

[Antisocial Recluse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked Roan a lot, Anthony was a dick.

[Queen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't get to me, as it seems to happens with most insta-love stories.