Head Games

by Mary B. Morrison

New York Times  bestselling author Mary B. Morrison delivers a sizzling, twist-filled tale of four competitive friends, a dangerous bet—and high-stakes consequences no one can afford to win . . .
 
From childhood games to career challenges, Trymm, Dallas, Kohl, and Blitz have stayed the best of friends—and each others’ toughest competition. These bachelors live to party up, sex it down, and get it all. And now they’re betting on which of them can “date-and-dump” the most women in a month—and post the proof on social media. Winner takes a cool million dollars. But this game is about to get all-too-real . . .
 
Trymm has no problem bedding married women looking for quick-and-dirty satisfaction . . . until he falls hard for one he can’t have. A cynical ex-soldier battling PTSD, Dallas woos a hopeful bride to exhaust her savings for picket-fence promises—just to humor his boys. Kohl enjoys his best one-night stand with a mysterious beauty—but his recklessness backfires big time after he exposes her. And Blitz thinks he’s giving a powerful Fortune 500 executive the business—until he gets played . . .
 
Now everything they care about most—money, family, and friendship—is on the line. All the right moves won’t keep them safe—especially from each other. And the only way out of the game is to concede or risk everything on a dangerous gamble they can only lose . . .

320 pages, Hardcover

First published August 28, 2018

About the author

Mary B. Morrison, New York Times best-selling author is the up and coming artist with a multiple book-to-film deal. Mary has seventeen published novels including her newest release, If I Can’t Have You.

She writes for Kensington Publishing Corporation as Mary B. Morrison and Grand Central Publishing as HoneyB. In her novels Mary addresses social and sexual issues while empowering her female characters.

“Women Rule,” that’s the way I see it. “Beside every great man there is a powerful woman. The same does not hold true for every successful woman. A lot of us are single because men want to wear the pants, even if they didn’t buy them.”

Jeff Clanagan, CEO of Codeblack Entertainment and filmmaker, Leslie Small, optioned the film rights to Mary B. Morrison’s popular Soulmates Dissipate series (which includes seven novels). Her first book, Soulmates Dissipate, is being developed for feature film in 2013.

Mary is an Executive Producer on her film deal and she was Executive Producer and playwright for her stage play Single Husbands (based on her novel under her pen name HoneyB).

On June 3, 2000, Mary withdrew her retirement to self-publish her debut novel, Soulmates Dissipate. Mary has also sponsored an anthology publishing 33 students entitled Diverse Stories: From the Imaginations of Sixth Graders.

Lift Every Voice and Write is Mary’s non-profit. The organization is established to help increase literacy and support students interested in pursuing writing as a career.

Born in Aurora, Illinois, and reared in New Orleans, Louisiana, Mary is the middle child of seven. She’s a graduate of McDonogh #35 High School in New Orleans and Berkeley Community College in Berkeley, California.

Her wonderful son, Jesse Byrd, Jr. is a 2010 graduate of U.C. Santa Barbara and producer on Mary’s film deal. Jesse has recently completed his first novel and owns a clothing business, OiseauChateau.com.

Mary currently resides in Oakland, California.

Reviews

[Linda Howard · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beautiful By Design Book Club’s genre this time was Black Love. We voted and decided to read Head Games. We rated this book 2 stars because the book was kind of hard to digest. There were a myriad of irrelevant characters in the book which we tried to remember thinking they would show up elsewhere in the book but didn’t; the storyline felt rushed in the end; and the characters that we thought were relevant, Mary B. never completed the development of those characters. We felt she could have gone into a little more detail about the outcomes of the main characters lives and situations. A big issue we found was the constant repetition of one specific conversation/event from each character’s perspective. It was annoying and unnecessary to the plot or conclusion. The story should have stayed in each person’s perspective because as it was written, it was not consistent. In our opinion, it did not provide any value added benefits.

There were a lot of parts in the story that were unexplained or left to the reader to infer. Example: what happened with Francine and her girlfriend? Or what was the point of her character at all. How did Francine get back from the country she was detained in? How did Dallas and Debbie repair their relationship? Clarification is needed on his entire family tree from Dallas, Hawk, Leroy, Lalita, and Noelle. Why did his mother claim Hawk as the father? Why didn’t she want Leroy? Who set Kohl’s club and car on fire? Did he find his birth parents or if his foster parents ever reach out to him?

Unless this is going to be another one of her series books diving further into each of these individual characters, we are left with questions. And as friends, what are the odds of something this tragic happening to each of them to those degrees.

On a positive note, we did like how she tried to touch on issues plaguing America like PTSD, FEMA and its victims, VA issues for vets, female empowerment, to name a few. While the book managed to keep our interest, it was by far not one of her best books. It could have been written much differently. Oh, by the way, she never really revealed the number of women each guy slept with except Trymm and was that not what the book was based on?

[Tip Mack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok well I finished this book within a 24 hour time frame. I wanted to love this book but I couldn't get there with this one. I liked it because it had all the drama but certain things should've went different ways and certain characters should've done a lot more or more details about their dealings. I rated this book a three because I know that Mary B. Morrison is an excellent writer and I have never not like any of her books. But hey don't go by my review you have to read it to get a feel for yourself.

[Shaunda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read & the title is perfect. Head Games.

In this day and age, who has time for games, well these 4 boys do. I call them boys because real men ain't, yes I said ain't got time for that.

But these boys, Trymm, Kohl, Dallas & Blitz thinks it would be a good idea to date and dump women in 30 days for 1 million dollars.

Now for a million dollars, I certainly could find something better than that. Really!!

But what's that saying, oh yeah!!! Revenge is best served COLD!! & I know you feel me on this one.

These boys take dating to a whole other level. This is some dawg shit going on here, & notice the spelling, that because its foul.

Once you get into the novel, you understand why I said what I said.

I thought it was a good plot, with a great lesson.

Oh you gone reap, what you sow eventually. We women got that on lock. You best believe.

But, I had to laugh at the end. They All was shit out of luck & loss.

Ok, enough of that. Thanks Mary B Morrison!!

Head Games was on point. As for me, I don't get down like that.

But to each, it's own.

That's my review, now on to another adventure. What next??? Hmmmmmm!!!

In The Galway Silence by Ken Bruen, sound interesting. You know your gurl will definitely let you know.

That's my time, until my next review. You already know, Happy Reading!!!

Ciao 💋

[pernita shealer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointed

This book was all over the place and very hard to follow. The ending.......did not end well. I'm like "is that it".

[Fatima · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

The storyline didn't captivate me as the author previous works have in the past. There were a lot of things going on in the story and in the end you still didn't know who won or what happened.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book

[Celeste Thompson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don’t do it to yourself

I normally don’t like to write reviews for books I haven’t fully read, but I can’t not leave a review for this. It was a struggle to make it past chapter 1, but then by the time I pushed through to chapter 7 I had had ENOUGH. This book is terrible. The “men” treat the women like hot garbage - they have a bet on who can bag the most women, film the sex acts to prove validity (without consent), and then post them to social media!!! There is so much wrong with this, and to write about it so nonchalantly has me baffled. I didn’t have any interest in reading further.

[Kandise Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall I really liked the storyline but I absolutely HATED the way it ended. I still have so many unanswered questions lingering 🤦🏾‍♀️!!

[Joey B · Rating 3 out of 5]

First time reading this author. It was good, left a lot of unanswered questions. Some parts I laughed out load. The sex was crazy. A quick read. I did enjoy it because it was very smutty, which I love.

[Book Bug · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Bad.....

What can I say? This book was very shallow and it put a negative angle on African American women. It made them look desperate, EASY, and with no moral values.

Trymm, Dallas, Blitz, and Kohl.....otherwise known as the crewe are childish, horny man-boys who have too much time and money on their hands. They make a bet to bed as many women they can in 30 days and the winner takes a cool one million dollars. Who does this in 2018?

The character development was weak. You felt nothing for the characters because there was really no background. Even when Blitz got his just desserts from Elizabeth Dawson. I was like “meh”. Who was she really, why her, who was this techno wizard best friend? They pulled off the most unbelievable money heist and they seem just random chickish.

The women were so disappointing. Francine was desperate, Atlantis was stupid, Kandy was crazy, Debbie was naive, Lema was a gangster, and Elizabeth was a freak. The only one that came up was Ramona, but she was a reformed big girl prostitute that met the right rich man and after plastic surgery....presto change-o....respect.

The Good.....

The book was entertaining from a quick read point of view.

If you are from the New Orleans area you will get a treat from the places mentioned and the lingo.

Many said that the book repeats itself... well yeah.....4 guys and the same 30 days from 4 different points of view...entertainment.

I thought the Drago’s restaurant replay was kicks.... they all saw the stun gun lady the same way.

I did laugh out loud when Francine was sent home on her honeymoon from Dubai....

I gave the book 3 stars because it had a lot of potential but it just didn’t get there.

[Latasha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Avoid this repetition!

I can see where she was going with this but I didn't like the fact I had to read the same thing over and over again from different members of the crew. It was word for word the same and too repetitive. The ending was horrible with two paragraphs from each member, basically you were left hanging and I feel like she just had to make up a quick way to end the book! Better editor needed!

[Michael Bell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stupid concept for a book. If people post sexual encounters with no regard for the consequences, then shame on everyone involved. I would have been happy to have been approaching 30 with $250,000.00 to waste on a bet. These guys put peoples lives at risk. Fornicating in a church and recording it led to disastrous consequences. I expected better of Mary Morrison. She took a page out of Eric Jerome Dickey's book with weak sex club references.

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was good until it got to the ending. Seemed like the author just got tired of writing and ended the story. I was also a bit confused on some parts because I thought the author made a mistake by repeating pages. I didn't know that it was supposed to be like that, just told from the different characters point of views. I gave it three stars because I am a fan of Ms. Morrison but this book just didn't make the cut.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

These guys...............SMH. This was good but scandalous. I'm still laughing at some of the stuff these guys pulled on women. They were doing the most.

[Kailah Lathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a read. I hated the mmcs! These females deserved better! In the end some females came up but a lot of them suffered along the way. I didn’t like that one bit.
I could go into details on each character and list their flaws and why I want them to choke on their own spit but it would be very repetitive. They were truly awful!
Honestly, I was tempted to dnf early on but reveals along the way pulled me in and captured my attention to follow through with the whole novel. But then at the end, it fell
dead for me. I needed more from it but it is what it is.
I used to sneak and read my mom’s Mary B novels growing up so I put the book on my list for nostalgia. The writing didn’t really do it for me and maybe because it was based on my hometown. I don’t know. It definitely gave urban fiction novel vibes. And the smut was sorta kind possibly good and then eventually it stopped and went all the way behind closed doors! If I gotta read about misogynistic men making a bet on how many women they can have sex with in a month, I want to read every scene of it! I don’t want gloss overs!!
It was an okay read. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone though.

[Tanesha Abernathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave this book 4 out of five stars…the plot seemed good and messy which interested me in the read. Maybe I wasn’t paying much attention in chapter one but I sort of got confused and couldn’t keep up with the traits of each individual…which happened to be fine. First I debated whether I should go ahead and re-read it or press forward. I pressed forward…

So, where chapter one involved everyone as I kept reading each character had their own story and chapters. I loved that because it allowed you to pass judgment (yes we did judge some of these characters). As I stated each character had a flaw that seemingly escalated to extremes.

I loved that whatever the situation it seemed to be a happy ending. What I didn’t really care for was the constant repeating of scenes although I understand why it was written that way. On one of the stories I feel the author forgot what was previously said because I was like huh? Wait, this is a little jumbled.

Just when you thought you knew everyone’s outcome…SURPRISE…you’re wrong!

[Vnunez-Ms_luv2read · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this to be an ok read. 4 male friends, about to turn 30, make a silly bed on who can bed the most women in 30 days Of course there are sitpulations which only add to the silliness. The men came across as egotistical and out to prove themselves to each other for bragging rights. Very immature, some more than others. Throw in a few ex girlfriends whom they mistreated and have to come to some self realizations about their treatment of these women. Sometimes, we don't realize a good thing until it is gone. This book left me with questions, and if there is a sequel, I would read it to see the path these men chose to take. I am a fan of Ms. Morrison's, but for me this book left a tad to be desired.Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC of this book. Although I received the book in this manner, it did not affect my opinion of this book nor my review.

[ShayBooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Head Games is about Four Friends who decide to make a 30 day wager ,winner will win a million dollars. The things these four decide to do to win this money is outrageous Some parts were just to much for me.

Head Games started off really interesting and held my attention then it lost me and I struggled to read it. Once I made my way to the last character it picked back up and had my attention to the end. Men really do under estimate woman yes some may be an easy lay but most women do not take kindly to public humiliation. Yes these women played a part in this but these men got almost everything they deserved. I did not like the way the book ended I was very disappointed. I am a big Mary B Fan but this one was not good to me.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars, rounded up to 3.

The premise was interesting enough to keep me reading and I finished this book in less than 24 hours. That said, most/all of the characters were infuriating, and a lot of loose ends never got wrapped up.

I fully agree with other reviewers the ending was too abrupt and didn’t necessarily make sense.

I don’t particularly mind an ambiguous ending, but many may not find it satisfying (and I see from other reviews that people don’t— I understand).

Did I dislike this book? No. Would I recommend this book? Honestly, I can’t think of to whom I would.

It’s not a bad book, just wasn’t for me. I’d still give this author another chance though.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was pretty entertaining! The reviews were pretty negative, but it really wasn’t as bad as some made it out to be. I’d actually give it 3.5 stars if possible, it’s a good read. Each of the main characters were awful, selfish and manipulative but the story was interesting. At times it was uncomfortable with some of the violent acts and the overall theme, it was very repetitive at times and the abundance of incomplete sentences were extremely annoying to me. But overall, it had an interesting plot. I’d definitely read more books by this author.

[Jasmine · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was interesting and took me on a wild ride until the ending.

I enjoyed the interesting backstories of the main characters. The main characters were all, (men and women), TERRIBLE, but the backstories explained why and kept me engaged.

I also liked the transitioning perspectives of the main and supporting characters because it kept me engaged in the story.

What I didn’t like was is the rushed ending. I sometimes enjoy a story that leaves a few unanswered questions to let the mind wonder. But the ending was very thrown-together to say so much happened.

[Nicole Walls · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was one of the worst books every. I think Mary needs to take a break so many of her books seemed rushed with no ending. The start of the book was so confusing with the acne with Walter and how aggressive he was. Trymm whole story line with his brother practically beating him up to mary Francine was the worst. The ending she gave us like a wrap up with no idea how they stories got to that point. Blitz story was incomplete she shows us him setting everyone up, but not what happened after. This was the most wasted time in my life

[Nioka Nioka]

the ending was not finished..it had too many questions that had to be answered. .. none of the men got their comeuppance! I was really disappointed in the ending after I spent 8 hours listening to this book. She really made the women appear weak , money hungry and naive. the one woman with money was as scandalous as the men. The message I got, was that money IS the root of all evil.
cause when they had no money they were humble and thought about all the bad things they were doing and wanted to repent. I gave this book a 2 out of 5.

[Sharisse · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am usually a fan of Mary B. Morrison novels. I first fell in love with the Soulmates Dissipate series many years ago, so I was very excited to venture back into her storytelling. This book was not what I recall from her. The story improved eventually, but the dialogue and attitudes of the main characters were a struggle to look past. Not to mention, the ending was very rushed and left a lot to be desired. Wrapping up each character's story in one paragraph made the ending feel very incomplete. I bought it, I read it, I will not read it again.

[Shannan Harper · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story about 4 african american males from Louisiana, nearing 30, and coming up with a challenge that whoever has proof of bedding the most women would win 1 million dollars. Even though I enjoy this author's work, this particular st0ry was a little of a struggle. It took me longer than normally, and the ending was very confusing. Even though this book wasn't for me I will still continue to support this author. Thank you to Net Galley for the read.

[Shae · Rating 2 out of 5]

Head Games is a story about four friends wagering a bet on how many women can they sex. The bet is worth $1MM which they have to publicly humiliate these women with "Dick, Date, Dump, and Video." Each friend faces some obstacles, deceit, and hurt during this contest. How far you willing to go to impress your friends and family? Karma can be cruel; do the fellas deserve what happens to them? The Head Games were more than sex and one friend knew which buttons to push.

I was disappointed at how the Black women were portrayed. They fit the typical stereotypes being sexual creatures with self-esteem issues. Even the sister who was making moves in her company was viewed as controlling independent b*tch and whore. I struggle to read this book because I recently had a friend die of domestic violence and one of the characters hid behind his mental issues. There were moments in the story where the rape could have occurred. Physical and mental abuse was throughout this book. I do not judge a book by the ratings or reviews that are given. This time, it was spot on.

[Buffie · Rating 4 out of 5]

overall it was a good read (listen). As always I listened on audible. The storyline was a bit far fetched for me but IMO thats what I read books for...to get out of reality and into someone else's. I absolutely love NOLA so I also was able to get some restaurant referrals out of it as well (Deanie's is one of my favorite spot there). Now onto the book... outside of the exact repeating of things that happened with different characters I enjoyed the story of the guys.

[Elle · Rating 1 out of 5]

The repetitive sections reminded me of the 2008 movie, VANTAGE POINT. I was as annoyed now as then, but I continued because I know Ms. Morrison is going to take the reader on a wild ride with twists and turns. Although I was aghast by the male characters contempt for women, men cannot do what they do without our consent, given the scenarios in this narrative. The last chapter felt rushed, but there are still unresolved issues with the storyline. Hence, why I rated this book a one.

[Ayanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a good read, but the people pissed me off so bad that I wanted to rate it lower. I hope and pray that there aren't women this damn dumb out there because ladies we have to do better. And the men, and I use that term loosely, were straight up assholes. How could anybody with a mother, sister, or female relatives treat women like that is beyond me. I listened to this book on audio and it was a production. Each character was read by a different person. That part I loved.

[Melodie Reeves · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a tough read, but since I paid for it, I pushed through and finished it—though it took me much longer than usual. The storyline felt unrealistic, and the details were scattered and inconsistent. For instance, one moment the character might be in the shower (just an example), and the next, he's doing something completely unrelated, leaving me wondering if I missed a page. The ending was especially disappointing, with little clarity on what happens to the characters.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Being a big fan of Mary B I was not impressed at all with this book. Overall the book was good and kept my interest. But I did not like the way the book was written. There were 2 scenes in the book that was told 4 different times by each of the characters, each time the scene was told the exact same way with no new information added to the story.