I thought this book was very unoriginal and super cliche. I didn't like how it's just like every single wattpad book that gets popular and involves this best friend who's now a player. I really did want to like this book because I'm a wattpad user myself but I didn't like this book's plot at all or the writing style.

"A part of me couldn't believe that three months already passed. I lived here for three months, and it only hit me now. The second part also acknowledged that Parker didn't stop trying to play me-whether his game was to annoy me, flirt with me, or befriend me. Each time, he failed. If anything his attempts became more frequent, yet I brushed them all off."......

Samantha Valentine and Parker Brady were once best friends. Life intervened and she moved away with her family. Now she’s returned, only to find Parker is not the same boy she left behind.

While Samantha was gone, Parker felt betrayed and alone. He took that out on as many girls as he could. Is his life about to change now that Sam is back? Can he get over his resentment at being left behind?

Is there a “happily ever after” for these two? They were childhood friends, but now they’re 18 and everything has changed. Or has it? A little predictable, but nothing too dramatic. Great ending with no cliff hanger.

This is first in the series of the “Valentine Sisters.” Sam has twin 14 year old sisters, so as they grow up, I can see a lot of possible story lines involving all three. This young adult story was a nice weekend read.

I found Samantha to be a little fickle but I guess that is a mandatory attitude for most teenagers. Considering that she and Parker had been so close and that she had grown up in Scottsdale before she moved, I didn't quite understand why or how she lost contact so much so that she couldn't recognize people. But then again I guess that is her fickle teenaged nature.

All in all this book is entertaining in that it is pretty typical of high school life, peer pressure and teenage angst that has been turned up x100.

Fabulously written hilarious novel. Fell in love with the wit of the character. It was a very nice simple read!

I was pulled in right of the bat, but pretty quickly did not enjoy the writing style.
First off what high school has a rivalry with a high school halfway across the country?
Second Parker seems so in partial like he never stopped being friends with her but was mad that she left and he did not know how to survive and he changed.
The book felt very choppy and the writing was not very great.
But I finished it to see the end results. :/

Not for me. I know how difficult it is to write a novel, but I regret to say I wasn't able to connect with the characters, and thought the plot was executed in a rather flimsy way. The next book, maybe?

'Player's Game' is a lovely YA romance with bits and pieces of wit and a lot of swooning. Samantha comes back to town where she used to live as a child and all her memories come back. Especially the ones connected with Parker her former best friend who completely shut her out when she moved to New York. Who are they now? Enemies or are they still friends? Samantha can't tell since everyone around tells her that the moment she left her hometown Parker has changed completely into a womanizer and self-absorbed jerk. Will they ever be friends again? Well, I guess you need to find out! I enjoyed the book a lot, the only moment I felt a bit disappointed was the ending. I mean, it was to sweet to be true!

Thank you for the chance in reviewing this title! Full review to come!

BLVNP Incorporated and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Player's Game. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

6 years in Manhattan have changed Samantha Valentine, but now she is being forced to move back to Scottsdale because of her mother's job. She is very different than when she left, but so are her old friends. Will Samantha regret leaving behind her friends and boyfriend, or will she find Scottsdale to be a fresh start in an old place? Will she be able to get back in step with Parker, the best friend that she left behind when she was 11?

Player's Game wrapped up too neatly to be realistic, with an epilogue that seemed to be hastily thrown together. The dialogue throughout the book was stiff and forced in places, as if the author was using it to further the plot and not to tell the characters' stories. In a nutshell, I was underwhelmed by the plot and the characters, so I would be hesitant to recommend Player's Game to other readers of YA romance.

I was provided an arc of this book by NetGalley and have provided my honest opinion.

I liked the sound of Player's Game, it looked like it would be a great fun, fast YA read. And it was, unfortunately there was just nothing else to it. Samantha is just so one dimensional and cliched that it was very difficult to connect with her, and I often found her annoying. The whole "prankster" storyline where she acts all hardcore was actually pretty lame, and I felt myself cringing a lot.

Her twin sisters are often complained about as annoying, bratty and treated like they are immature, but in actual fact, come across quite mature for their age and do nothing that suggests otherwise. I'm unsure why there is such a contradiction with them, but I found it a little irritating. I'm not sure what to think of this as apparently that's what the next book in the series is about, so hopefully they have a more distinct direction for them.

The other issue I had was Parker, don't get me wrong, I actually thought his character was best out of all of them, and I really wanted his "big issue" with Samantha and his reasons for cutting off contact with her to be a big one, to be really interesting. I waited and waited for it to drop, and when it did, it was totally non-existent. I was really really disappointed.

Overall, it was an entertaining read, it just fell too flat for me and had too many cliche and one dimensional storylines.

Note: I was provided an ARC from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Ok. To simply sum it up. I loved this book. I really. Fricking. Loved. It. It was such a sweet and almost simple book, but most importantly it had heart. Samantha was an interesting protagonist and I really enjoyed her and Parker's playful, banter-filled relationship.

If I did have one little comment, however, it would be that for me, I felt like the plot moved a little too quickly and I felt like Samantha and Parker's relationship moved extremely quickly. Of course I understand that they were best friends for a long time before, but still.

Overall, however, I really, genuinely enjoyed this book and I will be checking out Desirae Clark's other books, particularly ones in this series.
Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley!

This promised to be a fun young adult contemporary romance but for me it fell flat.
Samantha is written in such a way I struggled to feel any kind of connection with her or her story.
One minute she is moaning about her twin sisters calling them brats, and then when we see them interact with each other one is asking for advise and Samantha is being all grown up and mature and encouraging her sister to do whats right for her. There's nothing bratty about the twins. It feels to me like the author is adding these things in to give the story the edge that its lacking.
And the friendship with Parker??? Ok I understand that since I haven't finished the book there may be information I've not yet seen, but at 40% of the way through there should have been some idea as to what happened to make him not return Samantha's calls when she first moved away, and then when her family moved back and they meet for the first time we just skip right over that meeting and end up sat round the dinner table ignoring each other. What happened??? And then despite the fact that they aren't friends, that they barely tolerate each other, he's taking photos and sharing them with the world as though they are best friends.....
There is a lot of telling going on with this book. The characters have conversations and instead of showing us how those conversation made the character feel, we end the conversation and then we find out how it affected Samantha.

It is indeed a heartwarming story. I absolutely loved this YA romance. Samantha and Parker are both amazing characters and I loved the chemistry between them It is also very well written, I think writing is the main thing which made this story so interesting.
Samantha is a normal teenager with insecurities, fears, and the need to be accepted by her peers. Years ago when she had to move to Manhattan, with her mother and sisters, she wasn't happy at all. And now years later when she is going to move back to her old town, once again she isn't happy. Her life is going to change. She might loose contact with her current friends forever, what more she might not be able to make any new friends. With all this thoughts in her mind she moved back and was dreading starting school. But Parker made matters worse. He was her best friend before she moved away and now he was her worst tormentor. Some how she keeps finding herself in his company and she has no idea what kind of game he is playing.
Parker never forgave Sammy for moving away and leaving him behind. And now she is back and he cannot get her out of his head. But can they ever be friends again? Or maybe even more than friends?
This novel is packed with high school drama and teenage angst. I quite enjoyed dreading Samantha and Parker's story. I think it's a great read and ever YA romance fan will enjoy this bittersweet story.

Could not get past the first few pages.....incredibly annoying voice to the main character....

Samantha’s mother’s job forced her to move away from Scottsdale but after a few of years, they are moving back in. She regretted losing her best friend the most who didn’t even bother trying to keep in touch. Now they are forced to face each other once again. It’s up to them to decide if they want their friendship to give another chance or let go of each other forever.

I’m going to do the point review thingy, okay guys.

🔘 The plot was cliched, it is based on second chance plus best friend romance trope which I looove very much. This book had a lot of potentials if executed rightly but I personally didn’t feel the element of something new.

🔘 The biggest problem I had with the book was, I felt there was way more telling than showing. I mean there’s a balance but I didn’t find that in the book which made it difficult for me to actually care about the characters.

🔘 Now, onto Samantha and Parker. I somewhat liked Samantha but I hoped she would have stood up for herself when she got to know a very important detail about her personal life despite being famous as the notorious prankster as a kid when she was still in Scottsdale. And when that thing proceeded to become a bigger issue, well she did handle it a mature way but it wouldn’t have come to the point if she had clarified earlier about that certain thing.

🔘 And Parker, I don’t know what to say but one thing is, he was a pretty crappy one. He completely cut off Samantha when she moved away. I was curious to know the reason behind it. He gave a pretty lame ass excuse. I was actually enraged!! I mean how could he have a grudge against a Samantha when he clearly knew it was not her fault. Even after realising that, he still didn’t. I think Samantha was better off than being with a guy who called himself her best friend. He was too immature and stubborn.

🔘 Also, the plot focused on way too much thinking rather than interacting. There were rarely one or two conversations the main leads had before they realised they had feelings for each other. It was weird okay. Just weird. The plot had too many inconsistencies that made no sense at all. Also, I didn’t feel the chemistry and Parker was way too bossy sometimes.

Overall, I didn’t enjoy this book. I thought I was going to love this one but it turned out the complete opposite. It was a light read but too much telling even spoiled that. The pacing was sometimes too slow and sometimes too face it was hard to keep track. Anyways. I hope my next read does not let me down.

Recommend it?

No.

PLAYER'S GAME is a delightful bite-sized tale about friendship and true love. Simple yet genuine it will have you smiling despite yourself.
-pooled ink

This was a good enough YA story. It was very West Side Story at one point, but never really went anywhere with it.

Sam moved back to Scottsdale after her mother's promotion. She has to face all the friends she lost especially her best friend Parker. They trade very self-deprecating and sometimes taunts to each other which was entertaining.

Not sure I would fly off to London and leave my 17 yr old home alone for months at a time though which was really weird.

It kept me interested, engaged and wanting to keep reading so it was worth a read.

Teenager Samantha Valentine lives with her Mum and twin half-sisters, Dana and Alyssa. The family originally lived in Scottsdale but moved to Manhattan where Sam attended a private school. Now they’re moving back to their old home, which had be rented out during their absence. It had taken a lot of time for Sam to settle in their new home, particularly because her previous best friend, Parker, never responded to her messages or did anything to keep in touch. Now they’re going home again and one of the first people she meets again is Parker Brady! Both have changed significantly during their separation. Will their friendship resume or has the trauma of parting broken their relationship for ever?

This is written for a teen/ya audience which could explain why I kept questioning things and being somewhat disconcerted through a lot of it. Sam’s Mum works and leaves caring for the twins to Sam. Sam’s the one who makes the meals, helps them with their homework and all the daily life tasks, including grocery shopping. When Mum has to travel as part of her job she arranges for the twins to stay with other parents but leaves Sam home alone, not just for a few days but possibly for three months!

At home Sam is obviously a caring and trusted big sister but at school she seems to suffer a severe personality change, being somewhat aggressive, strident and often angry. Her relationship with many of her peers leaves much to be desired! I did like how her relationship with Parker developed and the explanations they shared. I was disappointed in Sam not keeping in better touch with her friends from her previous school, especially as she’d been so hurt by Parker not keeping in touch with her.

This story has great potential and is the start of a new series. I hope there will be more character and plot development in future stories but it is still an enjoyable light, easy read and at no stage did I consider not finishing it so I suggest giving it a go and see what you think, especially if you are a teen or young adult! I’d certainly be interested in future stories in the series to see how the author and story develops.

I requested and received a copy of this novel. This is my honest review after choosing to read it.

This book was good, but not great. It had that potential but I wanted more. I didn't like how it was such a fast romance.