I was pretty disappointed by this book. I read the first in the series and was looking forward to this next installment. The author spent too much time with the couple from the first book. There was no real development between the male and female protagonist in this story. I could have done with more of the two of them. There also wasn't much that was redeeming about the male protagonist. He lies to the girl and then doesn't fight for her. She has to do all of the heavy lifting in their love story and that fact put me off.

Well Played is the second story in Jen DeLuca's series of romances surrounding a yearly Renaissance Faire in small-town Maryland. Well Played revolves around Stacey, who readers met in the first story, Well Met. Basically, Stacey is watching the wedding plans of Emily and Simon unfold, and is overcome with the lonely single feels. After a little too much wine one night, Stacey sends a message to her Faire fling, Dex, letting him know how much she misses him and can't wait to see him again. A year of trading messages later, Stacey is in for a serious shock when she realizes that everything isn't as it seems.

I tend to have a hard time with the duplicity romance trope, because it's difficult for a romantic lead to come back from essentially lying for an extended period of time. Well Played does reasonably well utilizing this specific trope, but it's never especially enjoyable. Stacey's point of view is developed in enough detail, and I think it's Stacey's personality that saves the day here and makes this book enjoyable. While I didn't like it as much as Well Met and I wish there were more Faire scenes (although I particularly liked the Faire wedding and Stacey's involvement in the Gilded Lillies, the Faire singing group), it was still a fun read.

My thanks to NetGalley for making an eARC copy of this book available to me.

Enjoyable light fare (pun intended) and a quick read, nicely incorporates the main characters from the previous book in the series. At least one more book to come in this series that incorporates Renaissance Faires.

Alas, we are once again welcomed at the Ren Faire!

And let me tell you, I had a great time.

Last year I loved Well Met and was excited to know that we would get more from those characters. Like many romance books, this book covers a romance for two other characters than the couple from book one but they are still present. It just wouldn't be the WCRF without Simon, am I right? Haha.

Stacey hasn't had much change in her life for quite some time. At 27 she is seeing all her college friends get married and have kids. They are living their life while she seems to be alone, minus her cat. He is great company. Realizing that 30 is coming for her isn't easy.

I definitely resonate with the getting close to 30 thing. I may have married young and had a child all before 27 but as you get closer to 30 it just feels like life is slipping away. I totally get it. It's just a bit different.

She also talks a lot about her body and trying to be comfortable in the skin she is in when she is on the bigger side. I always enjoy seeing this in books. I definitely understand the feeling of dread when trying on clothes.

Stacey goes through a lot of growth in many areas of her life. Sometimes its hard to make changes especially when you are concerned about your loved ones. You always want to be there for them even if it is holding you back.

Now onto the romance.

When the alcohol hits a bit too much one night, she does something drastic and sends a message to the band account of someone who she has had a fling with.

I've enjoyed many books where the relationship has taken place over notes. emails, texts, etc. It makes the relationship more exciting and I can relate. I met my husband on Myspace and living states away, messages and phone calls are all we had. It just hits me with all the feels!

From the beginning, you can see where the relationship is going and guess who is behind the screen. Even though it was obvious, I didn't mind it. There were still a plot twist or two I didn't see coming.

I did like this one just a tad less than the first and I really think the only reason for that is because the first was basically enemies-to-lovers and that's my jam.

As for the side characters, I can never get enough of them! Simon and Emily are the cutest couple. There were definitely some vibes from April and Mitch and I happened to notice the next book will be about them. I am so curious and looking forward to that!

Overall, this gave me all the feelings I wanted. It was sweet and the ending was the cherry on the top. Now it's time to wait for the next book because I adore these characters and I can't wait to see what happens next!

I thought this was a perfectly charming follow-up to the delightful series opener, but I do wish this book had felt fresher and not so much a retread of Well Met. The story also felt like it had been significantly padded. I'll keep reading this series, and I'm glad it's continuing, but I'm hoping for a stronger third installment.

Stacy is happy to see her Renaissance Faire friends Simon and Emily engaged, but she can’t help but feel a little stuck in life. One of her longtime goals was to get out of her small town life, but after college she came back to help her mom. Being in such as small town hasn’t done much for her love life, as she still hasn’t had much luck with men. There is a member of a traveling Ren Faire group, Dex MacLean, that she has been booty calling every summer when he’s in town for the faire. After her friends engagement, she sees life passing her by too quickly, so she drunkenly sends him a message after the Willow Creek Renaissance Faire is over to see if he’d be into something more. To her surprise, he texts back, and they spend the next 10 months emailing each other back and forth. It’s another year to the next Ren Faire, after all, and Dex’s job has him traveling from Faire to Faire around the country. What will come of their relationship when it’s time again for the Willow Creek Renaissance Faire again?

I enjoyed this one about as much as I enjoyed the first book of this series. Stacy was the other Tavern Maid that helped Emily out in the first book, so here we get to see her love story. One of the later reveals in the book is super predictable from the beginning. However, I don’t think Ms. DeLuca was trying to fool anyone with it, so the tension that keeps you reading is how a character will react when they find out.

Stacy’s romance story isn’t really a cute romance story. It’s one that has you hoping each character will understand each other on where they are coming from, and the importance of being able to forgive others. I do think Stacy’s story has more chemistry to her love interest than Emily did in the first book of this series, though. It had me rooting for the couple more. I mostly read these books because they are fun romance books set around a Renaissance Faire, and I am a big fan of Renissance Faires. I do miss them immensely in this dire year of 2020, so I am thankful I get a dose of them in books.

I will definitely continue on with the rest of the books in this series. I recommend this series if you enjoy contemporary romances and also if you enjoy Ren Faires.

I had high hopes for this one since I absolutely loved DeLuca’s first, Well Met . While WELL PLAYED was enjoyable, I didn’t love it quite as much. 

It was missing some oomph in both story and chemistry. The catfishing/Cyrano angle while interesting, was also what I found most problematic. I just never felt truly invested in the couple. The conflict felt too forced and resolved way too easily.

Don't get me wrong- it was a cute, quick romance read. And I loved seeing Emily and Simon from Well Met make a return. But ultimately it was just ok.

3.5 stars- While I was ultimately a little let down by this book, I want to say off the bat that the character work, setting, and overall writing is as strong as it was in the first book. In particular, I thought that Stacey's motivations of feeling "stuck" and not sure where she wants to take her life next rang very true to what most of go through at some point in our 20s, and I really liked the overall network of character dynamics that help her process through this phase of her life. I also found her charming, as well as the other lead, Daniel, and I liked the epistolary section of book & seeing them write to each other.
That said... I think on some foundational level, the romance itself did not work for me in this one. While Daniel & Stacey were two lovely people, I just found it really hard to believe their connection when the catfishing went on as long as it did, and that feeling was exacerbated since as the reader, you're aware what's going on but one of the leads was not. I couldn't get swept up in them building their relationship because I was so aware that it was all going to get knocked down once she found out-- and this goes til about the 55% point of the book. That's a long time! I think maybe if she had found out earlier and then they managed to keep writing each other until he came back to town, that may have worked better for me.
In any case, I did have a nice time back in this world & will continue to read in the series. Excited for a Mitch/April book 3... :)

I got an early copy of Well Played from @netgalley. Well Played is out September 22, 2020!

Well Played is Stacey’s story of finding love at the Renaissance Faire. Stacey has a Faire fling with Dex of the Dueling Kilts, and she drunk emails him (or does she?) during the fall. He emails back, and they start a pen pal relationship. It seems too good to be true, and it is. Her pen pal? It’s not who she thinks he is.

Faire warning - get it? - this is slow burn... the characters don’t actually even see each other until later in the story. I liked escaping back into the Renaissance Faire world and catching up with the characters of Well Met. Stacey’s story is just as good as Emily’s!

I LOVED Well Met and with Well Played Jen DeLuca just planted herself firmly on my "will read anything by this author" list. She writes relationships and characters so well. Plus the Ren Faire setting just makes it all a bit more fun.

Stacey feels stuck in her humdrum life. She can't leave town since her mother's health problems from ten years ago may start back up again, she has a boring job, and everyone around her seems to have gotten a life while she was standing around waiting for one. The only thing she has to look forward to is the Willow Springs Renaissance Fair, and that's only for a month every summer. One drunken evening she decides to message her sometimes hookup Dex MacLean of the Dueling Kilts who plays at the Faire every summer and try to turn him into something more than just a few night stand. When she wakes up the next morning and the embarrassment settles in, she assumes she'll never hear from him. So when he messages back and then they never STOP messaging, she's elated and feels like she finally has a little bit of a life.

The countdown until next year's Faire is on and the anticipation to see each other in person builds. Stacey is shocked that the man of very few words but many bedroom moves has turned out to be a verbose, sweet man who pours his feelings out in every message. It's hard but exciting to reconcile the two...which makes sense since it turns out they aren't the same person. Could she still be falling in love with the real author of these heartfelt notes?

This story isn't a new one - mistaken identity is a common romance trope, but it's very well done in Well Played. Even through the lies, it's easy enough to find Daniel - the real write - to be a sympathetic character. And it's rewarding to see Stacey break away from the excuses and open up to the life that's been waiting for her. I look forward to Jen DeLuca's next book and high-key hope it's Mitch and April's story...

I enjoyed Well Met and immediately added Well Played to my TBR. After a few months, the wait was over and I was able to snatch an early copy of it. (Thank you Forever!!!).

For those who read Well Read, our heroine became good friends with Emily, the heroine of book 1. I liked her in Well Met. I thought she was straight forward and good support for Emily.

What I learned in this story is that Stacey never wanted to stay in a small town. She had dreams of leaving it and doing something else with her life. She stayed because her mother was sick. She was scared her mother will get sick again so it felt safer not to dream big.

The one thing Stacey looks forward to every year is when the Renaissance Faire comes to Willow Creek. She likes to wear her Faire costume, enjoys the men in kilts, the fake fights and the people, especially Dex Mac Lean, the singer of the Dueling Kilts.


After having a little too much to drink, she decides to comment on Dex's social media. Emily has decided she wants more than a yearly hookup. A Cyrano de Bergerac situation entails and another Mac Lean might end up stealing her heart.

I didn't love Well Played as much as I loved Well Met. I liked both main characters, Stacey and Daniel but I thought Daniel gave up too easily a couple of times instead of fighting for what he wanted.

One of my favorite parts of Well Played was to catch glimpses of Emily and Simon's love story and their wedding.

Will I read Well Matched when it comes out? ABSOLUTELY. I really can't wait for April and Mitch.

Cliffhanger: No

3.5/5 Fangs

I do enjoy epistolary novels, so the email and text aspects of this book were fun. However, I never really felt that there was ENOUGH going on in the rest of the book. D never explained what motivated him to lie quite to my satisfaction, but the disconnect between what we seen in the book and what Stacey says about her life was the bigger problem for me: she complains that people treat her as a ditz because of her blonde hair, but we don't see that. She talks about this urge to leave her town and travel and to utilize her fashion training, but she doesn't spend much time thinking about those supposedly major dissatisfactions with her current life or doing anything to feed those urges while staying in her town.

A playful, banter-filled romp with just enough renaissance faire flavor to delight nerdy readers. While the twists and tropes are pretty predictable, it’s a comforting familiarity and exactly what I was looking for when I picked up this series.

Readers of Well Met will squeal at Emily and Simon’s appearances in this installment, but Well Played can be read as a stand-alone. This one is a slow burn with lots of emotional buildup, perfect for fans of Red White and Royal Blue.

One notable detail is Stacey’s self esteem issues. Living in her tiny hometown and stalled in her career, Stacey craves positive feedback from social media and disparages her figure. It’s hard to tell if she is actually plus size or just has skewed body image, but either way DeLuca does a good job of writing the other characters to be supportive of Stacey exactly the way she is. Her body image and self esteem issues are literally all in her head, and it’s something she works past privately as she learns to love herself as much as her friends and love interest do.

Definitely recommended.

Just finished up my Advanced Readers Copy @netgalley Of Well Played a sequel to one of my favorite romance reads Well Met by Jen Deluca. The sequel follows Stacey, friends with Emily and Simon, who’s 27 and feels like her life isn’t going anywhere. She decides to tell her summer fling how she really feels about him and was shocked to hear that he feels the same. Will their connection through email and text remain the same in person this summer at the renaissance fair ?! I liked this one but it wasn’t as magical as the original. I didn’t think they had the same connection as Emily and Simon in the original 🤷🏼‍♀️it was a good romance but not fantastic ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫.

I loved the first book in the series, Well Met, so I was extremely excited to get my hands on the sequel! I was a little concerned about the premise, why would someone lie about who they are? But I loved Daniel's character and the reason why he lied about his identity actually made sense! I really felt for Stacey, although sometimes it annoyed me how she was so upset about things but wouldn't talk to Emily about them or anyone else. I loved her and April's relationship development too. I enjoyed the little snip bits of April and Mitch, I can't wait to read their story next!

A down to earth romance about a girl finding love, but also finding the right life for her. The really stand out thing about this one for me was how the H/h's relationship grew through texts and DMs, so they became more and more a part of each other's lives and really got to know each other before the physical or looks was ever part of the equation. For that reason, it reads a little like Jane Austen, with the modern epistolary style. I also really loved that he was a genuinely nice guy (okay, a little subterfuge never hurt anyone) instead of another swaggering alpha. Loved seeing them become friends first!

I recently read the first book in the series and loved it, so I was thrilled to get my hands on this and it lived up to my expectations. It has all the fun characters I got to know, and it’s a romance that somehow manages to avoid feeling formulaic, despite the fact that the twist wasn’t that shocking and you know everything will be okay in the end. I’m looking forward to the third book in the series.

5/5 Stars

Thank you to the publisher for the egalley!

I went in with high expectations, Well Met is definitely my favorite romance book I have ever read. Well Played definitely lived up to the expectation!

In Well Played we follow Stacey (aka Beatrice) as she finds love. Since she is best friends with Emily (aka Emma) we get to see where Emily's romance leads. We also get some faire time, although not quite as much which was a little unfortunate. The romance between Stacey and her new man has quite a few bumps but it's very believable and cute. And I am so happy with the ending of her book!

Highly recommend both of these books!

This was just as cute as the first in the series! I thoroughly enjoyed the characters, plot and read it in one sitting. I can't wait to read more from this series and author,

Just as charming as the first! Loved seeing all the characters again, and the plot moved well. Stacey is super relatable and I loved seeing her story. Excited for the third one!