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Ocean Bay #2

Waiting Game

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Daryl King

I lived my life by the three-never rules.
1. Never back down.
2. Never break down.
3. Never look back.

The past was behind us for a reason. As for my past? Well, most of it felt like a dream – more like a horrible nightmare – and for years, I allowed myself to believe just that. Denial was my friend because my memories couldn't be trusted.

But now the girl I've adored since Pre-K is back in my town, back in my high school, and I'm losing control. The foundations around my carefully constructed world are cracking. My whole damn world is fracturing and falling apart at the seams. Molly comes with a whole heap of scars and a tidal wave of cold home truths. She thinks I'm some sort of hero. I can only pray she never discovers the truth… *** Warning ***
Because of its explicit sexual content, mature themes, triggers, violence, and bad language, Waiting Game is suitable for mature readers of seventeen years and above.

155 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 26, 2020

311 people are currently reading
1673 people want to read

About the author

Chloe Walsh

61 books30.6k followers
Chloe Walsh is the NYT and USA Today bestselling author of The Boys of Tommen series, which exploded in popularity on TikTok, Goodreads, and Amazon. She has been writing and publishing New Adult and Adult contemporary romance for mature audiences for over a decade. Her Tommen series has been translated into multiple languages around the world, finding bestselling success in several countries. Chloe focuses heavily on the mental health dynamics of her characters, shining a light on important, real-life topics that are close to her heart. Heavily influenced by her own real life experiences, she pens tearjerking, and often harrowing narratives, giving another perspective to, often, unspoken everyday issues. Chloe hails from West Cork, Ireland, where she continues to reside with her family.

Represented by Caitlin Mahony of WME - for business queries contact: cma@wmeagency.com

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5 stars
590 (39%)
4 stars
491 (33%)
3 stars
309 (20%)
2 stars
75 (5%)
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21 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 96 reviews
Profile Image for Helen Power.
Author 10 books629 followers
February 27, 2022
This is the second book in the Ocean Bay series, and the first of two books featuring Molly and Daryl’s love story. Warning: It does end on a cliffhanger! Both are currently available on KU.
Molly and Daryl were best friends growing up, before a horrible accident leaves her disfigured and her father moves her away. When she comes back to town, she’s ecstatic to rekindle her best friendship. The only problem? He doesn’t remember her.
The book is set two years after she’s returned, when Daryl learns that the quiet girl in his school is actually his former best friend. He wants nothing more than to go back to the way things were–but they can’t. And this isn’t just because of the trauma of the fire that killed her family that night when they were ten. But it’s because he knows what really caused it…
I absolutely adore Chloe Walsh’s writing style. I loved this book, but it did feel like something was missing, and it might be because it’s so much shorter than the other books by her that I’ve read. At 155 pages, it’s significantly shorter than Binding 13, the first in what might be my favourite duet ever, which is over 600 pages (1200 pages in total!). Even the first in this series is almost 500 pages. However, the first instalment in the series, which featured Rourke and Mercy’s romance, introduced this tragic love story and set up the background, so this book didn’t suffer from the short length as much as it could have.
All in all, I loved this book, and I’ll be devouring the next one immediately!
Profile Image for Melanie (mells_view).
1,929 reviews394 followers
June 8, 2020
Waiting Game isn’t 100% what I was expecting, but i still enjoyed it. It starts as a sort of rehash of scenes from Endgame, but told from Molly and Daryl’s POV’s. It’s a good read. I thought it would be more emotional than it is, but it’s still good. I wanted their story and we’re getting it. It does end on a cliffhanger, but the second part is now available and the whole reason I finally opened this one up!


So I’m digging in to that one soon!
Profile Image for Sheridan Kersey.
68 reviews3 followers
August 15, 2023
155 pages and a cliff hanger is not cool!! 😫 but omg I love these two 🥺
Profile Image for Jessica 🔮.
333 reviews314 followers
Read
March 1, 2020
@ DNF 30 % (for now)


The author forgot to mention in the blurb that:
a) this is a duet
b) "Waiting Game" ends with a huge cliffhanger

CW wrote a note at the beginning of the book.. I didn't read it and it's my fault (I only find out through FB, in the author's private group) .
Still (in my modest opinion) the blurb needs to report these important informations.
I know many people don't care but I usually avoid incomplete Series because I HATE waiting.
Since the first 30% is (for the most part) a repetition of some Endgame: Ocean Bay #1 scenes, I decided to stop and wait the release of the next book in April (for more info join her FB group).

(PS: Waiting game= 165 pages)
Profile Image for Daisy Delfin.
1,480 reviews178 followers
March 7, 2020

Pages: 165
My rating: 3
Read other books by this author in the future: yes

This is the second book in the Ocean Bay series, and we meet the mc from the first book again, as they are friends of Molly and Daryl. Molly returned to Ocean Bay two year ago. She used to be best friends with Daryl but he seemed to have forgotten her and it takes him a while to find out she is back and until he starts talking to her. Molly is his everything.

So much said there here comes the warning: the book is quite short only 165 pages for the first part. It ends in a huge cliffhanger. The next book will be released 30th April 2020.
Profile Image for KC Leigh.
607 reviews45 followers
January 3, 2022
❤️❤️❤️

I really enjoyed this story with everything that is classic Chloe Walsh. She captures all the teenage emotions of humor, angst, love and heartache perfectly.

I didn’t quite fall in love with Molly and Daryl like I did with Rourke and Mercy in Endgame but their story still isn’t finished so I’m sure that will change with the next book.
Profile Image for Donna ~ The Romance Cover.
2,907 reviews323 followers
February 27, 2020
I did like this one but felt that Chloe Walsh only skimmed the surface rather than went deep with what should have been an intense story. I know it isn't complete but I just didn't feel anything, not until the end when the bullying started. Having been bullied myself I felt that was only because I knew what she was going through and how much it hurts. I hope this gets better in book two because I still want to see where this one goes.
Profile Image for VANESSA BARRITT.
828 reviews8 followers
October 23, 2021
Beautiful

Loved mercy and rourkes story in the first book of this series but I have to admit molly and daryls story has been the most powerful and emotional tale and yep I cried like a baby, can't wait for the 3rd book now
92 reviews
February 28, 2020
I loved Endgame (Ocean Bay 1)... read it 3 times actually. The second book was more of a novella (?). I wasn’t into Daryl and Molly’s story unfortunately. The most entertaining part was anything that had to do with Mercy and Rouke tbh. Oh well🤷‍♀️
Profile Image for sihem.
399 reviews1 follower
Read
August 20, 2025
How many times did she say' my "small" hands'? GAGGING FROM THE AMOUNT OF CRINGE
Profile Image for Linda Loves Romance .
13 reviews
March 19, 2020
Cliffhanger

Loved the characters and unique story line. This Would have been five stars if it didn’t contain a cliff hanger, hate those.
Profile Image for Amanda.
65 reviews
August 7, 2025
I’m so glad the next book is already out! This one’s only just scratched the surface of Daryl & Mollys story. It’s so short!
It’s probably a 3 star read on its own but I’m hooked on this series so gave it 4 😆
Profile Image for Tasha_loves_to_read .
724 reviews17 followers
June 15, 2025
Oh boy. My heart hurt for Molly. She's just the perfect person. What she went through and how sje gets up every day. Her friendship with Mercy makes me smile as she deserves the best.
Daryl is the dark horse - im intrigued as to what he is hiding. But saying that he is greenest of green flags. I enjoyed the flashbacks and seeing how their friendship was when they were kids. Im desperate for more so jumping into the next book!
4.5/5
Profile Image for Cassidy.
672 reviews
April 17, 2023
molly and daryl were childhood besties. molly moves away after her mom and brother die in a house fire (age9) however daryl doesn’t remember who molly when she comes back to ocean bay sophomore year until rourke flat out tells him. i think one of the best things about this couple is that molly helped daryl through his tough childhood with his stepdad. she was his crutch. god the scene where they are screaming at each other and daryl said that her scars are beautiful because it means that she survived. god king daryl is so soft for molly and i am here for it.


Quotes:

Gabe Owens had a habit of telling me and Rourke that life was a waiting game, and if we waited long enough, everything would work out the way god planned it to. I wasn’t sure if that was bullshit or not, but I knew that I had been waiting my whole life for this exact moment. For her to come back to me.

She was fucking ethereal to me, and always had been. Even when we were little, I tailed after that girl like she hung the sun, the moon, and the stars, and I had loved her with every inch of my black heart until that night.

"I loved you!" he roared, trembling now. "Jesus Christ, I loved you more than I have ever loved another person on this damn planet! You were my best friend, Molly. You were everything to me. Fucking everything!"

"Why is kissing me again a bad idea?" "Because I might catch feelings," I offered weakly, body shaking now.
"Well then..." His hand moved from my hip to my arm before tenderly cradling the side of my face. His eyes burned with heat when he said, "You better hurry your ass up and catch them," before crushing his mouth to mine.


Profile Image for Sarah Barnes.
716 reviews3 followers
June 24, 2021
Such a heartbreakingly beautiful love story

This book is about about Molly and Daryl. Daryl is the senior highschool quarterback at the school. Molly is Daryl's childhood best friend who was in a house fire when she was 10. The fire left Molly severely burned. She spent the next few years going through surgery after surgery. When she was 16, she begged her father to move back home. When she finally saw her best friend Daryl again he didn't recognize her. She spent the next two years at the same school as him, mourning the friendship he didn't remember. One random day, Daryl ends up finding out the girl with the pixie haircut is actually his long lost best friend...only she's been back for two years and he didn't notice.

This book was heartbreakingly beautiful. The story of Daryl and Molly as children was so sad. What happened to her as a child and what she went through to come back to her best friend...only for him not to remember her. I can't imagine what that must have felt like to walk around for 2 years as a ghost. The two of them were inseparable from the time they were babies in diapers. The author really knows how to tug on the readers heart strings. I went through so many emotions while reading this book. You can feel Daryl's guilt through the words in the book. Such a great story.

This book does end on a cliffhanger and continues in the next book. If you're a fan of romance with not as much smut then you'll enjoy this book. It wasn't graphic but there are some steamy scenes.
Profile Image for Pippa Simmons.
318 reviews1 follower
December 10, 2023
📚 Book Review 📚

Waiting Game by @authorchloewalsh

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

The 2nd book in the Ocean Bay series was more of a Novella size at 166 pages.

I absolutely loved it though and read it all yesterday.

I loved Daryl and Molly in the first book, even though we didn't know they were connected in some way until the end. They were awesome stand alone characters.

In this book we find out that Daryl saved Molly from the house fire that she was in when she was 10 years old ❤️ they were best friends until Molly's dad moved her away after the fire 🔥

Molly was also the one constant that Daryl had in his life while his step dad Wren made his life a living misery 😢

To see them getting their friendship back after 8 years is amazing 👏 and to find out they love each other is the best 👌

They spend a weekend together and they get intimate, Molly wakes up the following morning full of insecurities and sneaks out of her own house. Daryl wakes to find Molly's dad there and he's not happy. He warns Daryl to stay away to keep Molly from getting hurt from the truth about that dreadful night.

Onto book 3 I go as this one ended on a cliffhanger and I need to know what happened.

I'm loving this series so much ❤️











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Profile Image for Jorja Spahr .
34 reviews
June 4, 2025
This book was so short and took me about 2 hours to read, but it packed a punch. I was not expecting it to be so good. I read the first book in the series in April, but when I got the second one and realized how short it was and that it went into the third one, I decided to wait til I got the third one and then I ended up putting it off all month. I now regret putting it off because it was so good. The story line is amazing and so emotional, and I already love them way more than I did Mercy and Rourke. The trauma they both share is heartbreaking, and I’m really curious about the secret Daryl is carrying around and everything that happened in their past. I love Daryl so much, he was so genuine about everything and even though I was heartbroken for Molly because he forgot her, I loved his redemption to get her back, although there could’ve been more groveling… I can’t wait to jump into the next one tho and finally see them happy together (hopefully). I loved the childhood besties trope, and seeing their flashbacks to their friendship when they were younger was so cute. Even though this book was so small, Chloe Walsh always has a way of making me emotional and cry. I only took off .25 on my rating because of the miscommunication trope at the end, I wish Daryl would just be honest with her even tho Im scared for what he is hiding. Molly breaks my heart, and I pray in the next book she grows confident in herself and her body because she deserves everything good.
Profile Image for Melinda Hall.
279 reviews29 followers
September 24, 2021
Reviewing both book 2 & 3 in this series.

It was ok. I liked book 2 although it was very short but a good setup for book 3.

Book three was ok, I got a little bored but, I like the character development. Honestly the only reason I kept reading was because I felt like I already invested too much time in these books to not finish them. I also wanted to have the very obvious secret confirmed.

Beside the secret, the books themselves didn’t have the best storyline. It was just the two reconnecting and resisting for no real good reason. This is one of those books where you get frustrated with the characters for doing and saying stupid shit.

There were also so many inconsistencies within the story line. Lots of spelling and grammar mistakes. And even though I really liked book one in the series, after reading 3 books in a row of this author I began to see all the imperfections which started to grate on my nerves.

Also, what was with the ending? I don’t want to go into spoilers but I actually though that these books were more of the beginning to a story and then the story just cuts of at the interesting bit.

Spoiler:
I would have actually preferred to see how these two navigated their relationship and a baby while entering collage. This here is their story.

Overall these books fell flat for me, there was something missing that I just couldn’t put my finger on.

Profile Image for Adriana.
1,324 reviews147 followers
February 28, 2020
OMG when i finally saw that Ocean Bay book 2 was coming out i almost died i feel like ive been waiting years for Molly and Daryl's book to come out, relax it wasn't years but it just felt it because i wanted it so bad. I was so intrigued by there story in End Game i needed it bad. Let me say this , It was so worth the wait. This book was everything and more Molly's story needed to be told and you knew it was going to break some hearts and it did. This was an emotional one that's for sure. The deep history that Daryl and Molly share can never be denied or just tossed away when they were little they were each others everything, and then tragedy stiked and everyone's world would never be the same. It was one hell of an emotional ride but damm that ending i swear the wait better not be long as im dying here. Another amazing read by Chloe not that i expected any different love all her books. End Game needs to be read before this ( ive reread it so many times lost track) bring on the next one.
Profile Image for Sara.
20 reviews
August 24, 2024
This book was stunning and only Chloe could make me feel something in less than 170 pages. Daryl and Molly stories are so strong, sweet, caring and passionate. It ends on a cliffhanger BUT ITS SO GOOD THAT IT SWALLOW YOU ALL. A book about beauty than can be found info frailties and about two people who learn to become again the pieces of the same jigsaw.

The need of being loved and cared for. To be seen, listened and to feel safe into a comfortable environment is her dream and thanks to him she can have that even if it won’t be easy for her to push down those walls she built around her heart.

I loved the dynamics about friendships because she describes them so good that you can picture yourself with them, living your moments, laughing with them and let me tell you Rourke and Daryl has that something that i only found reading of Johnny and Gibsie.

I love the way her characters always speak to my heart, the way i feel melancholy, giggle and cry when i read every single quote. What can i say? She has a way with words and if she writes it, i read it as
Profile Image for Melissa Gloria - Meli’s Books and Coffee.
1,170 reviews28 followers
March 10, 2020
Waiting Game was so worth the wait!! I loved Molly's character in End Games and Chloe made me fall in love with her character even more in Waiting Game. Molly is strong and a survivor. She has on an armor so that nothing can hurt her. When Molly first moved back to her home all she wanted was to hug her best friend and to feel normal. She wasn't prepared to be forgotten. Daryl and Molly were inseparable when they were younger. The best of friends, until that horrible night and their lives changed forever. Daryl is distraught that Molly has been back at their home town for two years and he didn't even remember her. Feeling guilt and shame he is prepared to make it up to her, but what happens when the people who are supposed to be your friends makes fun of Molly. This book had my heart breaking. So many emotions and then I'm hit with that cliffhanger ending!! I need to know what happened?? Who did it?? I'm loving this series and it is a must read!!
Profile Image for happily_reader_after.
829 reviews3 followers
November 19, 2021
It was ok. I didn't realize it was going to end on a cliffhanger, but I didn't like it enough to want to read the next book so I guess I won't end up knowing what happens.
I didn't dislike the characters, but I thought it was weird and a very strange part of the story that Daryl didn't remember what she looked like so didn't know she'd been back to school for two years? Maybe that's something that will be resolved in the next book, but it would have made more sense to me if she had just come back to school, then that she'd been at school that long and he just....didn't notice. The concept of the story was interesting, but I was glad it was short because it just didn't hold my interest well.

Tropes: friends-to-lovers, high school, football star, tragedy
Profile Image for Nic_key_reads .
518 reviews13 followers
March 3, 2020
Home run

I have been waiting for Daryl and Molly's story since Endgame. And it did not disappoint! Chloe hit a home run with this one. I loved Daryl in Endgame and needed more of him. I loved that we were able to learn about his and Molly's history and back story. Daryl really does have a heart of gold and you feel so bad for him. Then theres Molly....my oh my that girl for everything she has gone and suffered through she is one strong girl. Parts of this story will have your jaw hit the floor. You won't see it coming. It ends on a cliffhanger and I cant wait to read the next part of their story!!
Profile Image for Yames Bond.
904 reviews14 followers
September 6, 2021
4🍭🍭🍭🍭
Spanish & English Opinion

🇲🇽 Duré mucho tiempo con este libro en mi shelf y apenas lo leí. Me gusta la forma en que armaron la historia de Dylan y Molly sin entorpecer lo que se había escrito de Rourke y Mercy.

Mucha emoción, mucha angustia y el cliffhanger del final 🙈

🇺🇸 I had this book in my shelf for what felt like forever, but finally read it and wasn’t disappointed! Actually, enjoyed it very much.

I was surprised at how well the author structured Molly and Dylan without disrupting what Mercy and Rourke previously settled.

High emotions, lots of angsty moments and the final cliffhanger get definitely are worth the recommendation.
Profile Image for EMMA  White.
32 reviews
February 29, 2020
Beautiful

I had been climbing the walls waiting for the release date for Waiting Game, and oh Lordy it did not disappoint!

I had really liked Daryl and Molly in End Game, so finding out they were getting their own book I was over the moon! I knew their story would be more of an emotional read, and I wasn’t wrong, this packed a punch right in the feels! And that cliffhanger.....oh I can’t cope!

Chloe I am begging you, please don’t leave us waiting too long for the 2nd part of these beautiful characters story! 🙏
Displaying 1 - 30 of 96 reviews

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