We first met Taylor Powell in the Boyfriend Project. She’s a personal trainer and aspiring health and fitness coach. She’s passionate about helping people attain their goals. Things aren’t perfect for Taylor as she is battling financial issues and trying to figure out next steps in with her business and educational goals. Jabar Dixon is a former NFL player who is trying to make his way back to professional sports. Taylor may be the one who can help him. The caveat is, he doesn’t want anyone to know that he is training. That’s where The Dating Playbook comes in. This story is very relatable. Taylor has money issues and trying to live up to her family’s expectations. Jabar is trying to keep a promise by getting back to the NFL.

The attraction is strong between these Taylor and Jabari, but they try to remain professional. The story includes rich dialogue and Ms. Rochon takes time to develop the characters and the story overall. Samiah and London are very supportive, and also hold each other accountable. This friendship started from a bad situation but has remained strong. The friends are hilarious and keep it real when Taylor needs to hear it. This is a great story and I recommend it.

Two people who have deep seated feeling that affect their choices and their relationships. Jamar has so much guilt over his friend's death and Taylor has always felt like the black sheep of the family that is a constant disappointment and will never measure up. How these two process those feelings together and for themselves is so moving because that is what everyone wants in a partner; a listener and biggest fan. Can't wait for London to find her match!!

I love everything Farrah Rochon writes. and I couldn't wait for this to arrive! It did NOT disappoint.

Taylor is fun, energetic, and head-strong. Jamar is determined. Put them together and the chemistry is entertaining and sexy AF. I enjoyed everything about this book - the writing, the characters... Just read it.

I love this series and can't wait to read even more!

Guess who just found out she loves sports romances? This girl! Farrah Rochon is such a great writer and I thoroughly enjoyed the previous book in this series, The Boyfriend Project. In this adventure, Taylor becomes very discouraged after losing out on a homeschooling physical ed teaching job and doubts her ability to maintain a solo career. When she decides to teach a pop-up fitness class in the park, she meets Jamar, a football player out with an injury but determined to make his way back to the NFL. Add in some fake dating, a lot of gym time, and some spicy grocery shopping trips and you have an excellent romance! The chemistry between them is electric and I love how hard Taylor worked to keep their relationship professional but these two are perfect for each other. Jamar respects Taylor so much and wants her to have a successful career and is willing to do whatever he can to help. I loved all the little snippets that took us behind the scenes of being a personal trainer and the work that goes into pursuing a learning disability diagnosis as an adult. It was all handled with such care and love that it’s obvious how much Rochon loves her characters.

Rochon gives us great dialogue, interesting characters, and complex family dynamics. And the friendship goals! Taylor, London, and Samiah have such a wonderful friendship and it’s lovely to read about women who are fiercely protective and supportive of each other.

Thank you to Netgalley and Forever for the opportunity to read and review this title. All opinions and mistakes are my own.

Funny, sexy, entertaining and full of chemistry. That's how I would describe this great book. I loved the story form beginning to end. This is definitely an auto buy author for me.

I loved The Boyfriend Project so when asked to read and provide an honest review for The Dating Playbook, I jumped at the offer. Thank you to Forever Reads for the copy in exchange of the honest review.

Again, Farrah Rochon did not disappoint with this romance. Lots of steam, laughs, love, and pain. I love how she is able to make you feel like you are part of the girl group with Taylor, London, and Samiah. They have such a rambunctious, diverse, sassy set of personalities that you just wish you were apart of.

Taylor and Jamar are very lovable characters and Rochon creates such authentic feeling chemistry between the two of them. She weaves in past conflict into their present working relationship to create some drama. She also allows for each character to grow a little on their own and ultimately together.

I love how this book became more than some steamy scenes and grew to be a character driven dynamic plot. Rochon uses the perfect amount of descriptors as well as the right amount of steam/spice to pull together one of the best romances of the year.

Farrah Rochon's The Boyfriend Project was one of my favourite books the year it came out, so in fairness to The Dating Playbook, my hopes and expectations coming in were sky-high. And The Dating Playbook is a good novel -- Rochon has a gift for sizzling chemistry, complex characters, and emotions that'll rip your heart apart before putting it back together again. But mostly... it was okay, and after The Boyfriend Project, that was a bit of a letdown.


Admittedly, part of it is that nerds just grab me more than athletes do, and sports romances aren't usually my thing. So the story of Taylor, a personal trainer who's hired to get Jamar back into NFL-ready shape after an injury, isn't usually a romance I'd pick up unless I loved the author. I did like how Taylor and Jamar pushed each other physically -- Rochon does a great job in the training scenes of ramping up the sparks as each main character notices new things they like about each other -- but all the stuff about proper nutrition and buying healthy groceries weren't all that interesting to me.

Beyond that, though, the romantic conflict fell a bit flat for me. I'm usually a huge fan of the fake dating trope, but in this case, the premise felt thin, and I found myself having to continuously suspend my disbelief about why they had to continue the illusion that it wasn't real. Part of it was that I found the initial premise more believable -- Taylor raises a valid concern that dating Jamar would hurt her professionally, because it would make any future endorsement from him suspect. That made a lot of sense to me; women are so often accused of using our sexuality to advance in our careers that I can see why Taylor would want to keep things strictly professional.

So when Taylor does a complete 180 and decides that pretending to date Jamar would actually help her career instead of harming it, I found it a hard sell. I recognize the value of social media publicity, but I found it hard to believe that the benefits of publicity would outweigh the compromising of Jamar's objectivity in endorsing her. It was especially frustrating because the novel included an easy out for the fake dating plot -- the journalist who 'broke the story' is presented as super ethical, and would have been amenable to a correction.

The fake dating plot felt artificial to me from the start, and as the story progressed, the insistence on keeping the relationship fake felt even more forced. One of the reasons I'd loved The Boyfriend Project so much is that the conflict felt inescapable -- both main characters' professional interests were directly at odds with each other, and the big secret between them was necessary for reasons beyond the characters themselves. In contrast, the way the conflict played out here barely had teeth, and was a disappointment.

That being said, Rochon delivered on showing us how much Taylor and Jamar care for each other. A scene involving oral sex is emotionally-charged and beautifully written, and I love how it ties in the love between the leads and the various emotions playing out in their lives beyond the romance.

I also loved the non-romantic conflicts that Rochon set up for both leads. Taylor's coming to terms with her learning disability is wonderfully done -- I love how she starts off masking her fear of school with the pretense of finding it useless, and I also love how she gradually comes to terms with the realization of how much a college degree will help her career. I've read other novels that treat this subject with less depth, often just accepting as given that a college degree is important. So I very much appreciate how Taylor begins with a genuine belief that a college degree isn't necessary, and how she actually does manage to garner some success without one, until circumstances show her how much more a college degree will help her achieve. I also appreciate how Rochon treats Taylor's goal as not centered on the college degree itself, but rather on her broader vision for Taylor'd Conditioning. And I love how the novel delves into Taylor's decision-making processes, and shows concrete examples of how going to college will help her achieve that vision.

Jamar's personal growth is even more emotionally-charged -- I love how his despair over a potentially career-ending injury and desire to get back into NFL-ready shape are tied both to his personal dreams, and to his deathbed promise to his best friend Silas. I love the history of friendly rivalry, mutual admiration, and yes, professional jealousy between the two men, and how that colours Jamar's determination in training. And I especially love how his growth arc plays out, how his decisions are based on a whole range of factors, including his pride, mercurial public perceptions, his love for Silas, and his continuing relationships with Silas' family and with Taylor. It's such a complex hodgepodge of elements that add nuance to his training, and Rochon handles it beautifully.

Overall, it's a good book, just not a great one, and after The Boyfriend Project, that was disappointing. Independent of the comparison, I found the first half slow, and may have DNF'd if it were another author, but I'm glad I kept reading, as the emotional payoff in the second half made up for it. The third book, London's story, which seems to be about her class reunion and the guy hired to organize it, will be out in Summer 2022.

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Thank you to Forever Romance for an e-galley of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Dating Playbook (the Boyfriend Project #2) by Farrah Rochon



Taylor Powell, a personal trainer, is broke, she needs constant cash flow as soon as possible. When former footballer, Jamar Dixon hires her as a trainer, he has only one rule… no one can know she’s training him. After a slip up, the two agree to fake date…



The Dating Playbook is a fun, steamy, witty rom com. I loved the characters; all the characters were dynamic, entertaining, solid, and so real; it was great to read about women supporting women! I enjoyed that this book dove deeper than most, she covered serious issues delicately, and beautifully. The situation between Taylor and Jamar was awesome, the banter, the steam was all on point for me! I didn’t read the first book; however, I definitely need to now.



Thank you Netgalley, Forever and Grand Central Publishing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review

I am so glad to revisit Samiah and London, but this story is all about Taylor Powell. She snags handsome Jamar Dixon as her client, who wants to make a come back in the NFL, as his personal trainer - but they have to keep all this under wraps. However, word gets out and now they have to pretend to be a couple.

Oh my goodness guys this book was amazing, and so much fun to read. I loved Taylor and Jamar, their back stories, and how Jamar had a crush on Taylor from the viral video. There were plenty of swoon worthy moments and it was incredible.

I loved the quick pacing, strong female friendships, and relatable characters with depth. I cannot wait to read more from the series!

Ex Texas football player and a female fitness trainer?! Sign me up!
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This book is perfect for fans of the fake dating trope 🙌🏼 I loved the humor & the friendships! I also really appreciated how real and relatable both Taylor and Jamar were 👏🏼⁣
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Pick this up if you want to get in the mood for the football season!⁣
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Sports rating: 🏈🏈🏈/🏈🏈🏈⁣
(focused on the fitness/nutrition aspect)

I love a sports romance as well as a fake dating romance and here they are both combined. This book is one of my top reads this year. Taylor and Jamar are a great couple even if it starts out as fake. Taylor needs to kick start her personal training business into high gear and training Jamar, who wants back into the NFL, is her chance. Unfortunately they are outed as a couple and decide to keep up the facade. Their journey from fake relationship to real is delightful. They have such an explosive chemistry that explodes off the page and seeing them try to resist one another is maddening. As usual all the characters are well written and the story flows beautifully. Their journey was emotional as well as sexy and I enjoyed every page of this book.

A fake-dating romance between a trainer and her client turns hot and emotional, leading to some very real feelings!

I'm a sucker for fake dating stories because we all know they are going to lead to the couple catching some very undeniably real feelings and this one does not disappoint. There was undeniable chemistry, great banter and fiery angst between Taylor and Jamar.

I was a fan of The Boyfriend Project and couldn't wait to see more of the friend trio we met in that book. Taylor is feisty, independent and driven. I loved how guarded she was and how Jamar broke through her walls. Plus, the female friendships are thriving and stronger than ever in this book, which was wonderful.

This book is all about believing in yourself, overcoming challenges and coming out stronger in the end. I love how Farrah Rochon writes strong, driven, intelligent female characters. In The Dating Playbook she tackles emotionally heavier topics with sensitivity such as learning disabilities, grief, guilt, anxiety & mental health.

I found this to be a great addition to The Boyfriend Project series. I'm already looking forward to London's story.

I'm glad I read this book. I believe it would work as a standalone, but having the background from reading The Boyfriend Project was helpful. My favorite part of this series will always be the friendship developing between Samiah, London, and Taylor. I love women supporting women and helping lift each other up!

While that may be my favorite part, this is still a romance. SO, this story focuses on Taylor as she meets and falls for Jamar, a former NFL player who wants to hire her as a personal trainer. This quickly turns into a fake dating trope, which of course, leads to catching real feelings. Then there is a forced proximity trope added into the mix when Taylor's apartment is uninhabitable and she moves into Jamar's pool house.

There were some funny moments, and decent character development. However, I felt like the timeline was unclear and the chemistry was not all there for me. The sexy scenes felt really rushed, which is unfortunate.
This was still an enjoyable read, but it wasn't quite as good as The Boyfriend Project. I am looking forward to London's story, though!

The Dating Playbook is the second book in a series that follows three women who become BFFs after going viral on Twitter for dating the same man.

Going viral has sent new clients to 28-year-old Taylor Powell's personal training business--including 26-year-old ex-football player Jamar Dixon. Jamar wants Taylor to get him back into shape so he can have a second chance at the League but for sports reasons (IDK, the sports draft thing really went over my head) he has to keep his training hidden from the public so...fake relationship it is!

Taylor and Jamar create a dating playbook to keep them from crossing the line but neither can ignore their chemistry as they accidentally become Instagram’s hottest new fitness couple.

I liked that our heroine Taylor was on the struggle bus. She’s flighty, impulsive, and struggling with a huge amount of debt. She’s also figuring her way around a learning disability. I feel like so often Black heroines in traditional publishing have to be all "Black Excellence" and it was refreshing to get a different take--especially since the other two heroines in this series are successful overachievers.

This book got me thinking about the fake dating trope--one of my favorite tropes. I’m starting to realize it doesn’t work for me when fake dating is for public consumption or social media. To me what makes fake dating fun tropes is all the shenanigans and improvisations that come along with trying to keep up a ruse.

The Dating Playbook is a fairly low-stakes romance so a lot of the tension comes from the side plots, neither of which held my attention. The romance plot was the strongest part of this book, it's charming and flirty with a simmering heat level for those looking for lower heat romance.

I loved The Dating Playbook by Farrah Rochon. I was a big fan of the first book in the series but I knew that I would love this one due to the premise. The “fake relationship” trope is soooo good because you get to see the chemistry between characters really come alive. Also, the main character has so much depth it’s hard not to love her. I enjoyed seeing the girlfriends and their relationship - I want black girlfriends like them!

Read if you like: fake dating trope.
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I really loved how different this book was from the first one. Taylor is trying to launch her fitness business, so when football star Jamal asks her to be his personal trainer, she jumps at the opportunity.
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Taylor and Jamal were super cute and I loved how their relationship developed. I also appreciated the depiction of a learning disability, and how it can sometimes be missed in school. There was also a conversation around injury and whether or not it is worth following your dreams when you could further injury.
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CW: sexual content, injury, learning disability, anxiety, sexism.

Ah, this book was so cute! Such a fun fake dating trope, but it also had such wonderful, deep, and emotional character development for both Taylor and Jamar.

[Spoilers ahead]

From a Romancelandia Criminal Justice Reform perspective, I was SO excited for Taylor’s book ever since the ending of ‘The Boyfriend Project’, when it is mentioned that Taylor had just been arrested. We learn what happened to Taylor early on in this book, and luckily luckily luckily, nothing too devastatingly horrible happened, as she only spent about three hours in jail and was able to close the matter out with some fines. Taylor experienced some distracted driving (with some good reason!) that caught the attention of a police cruiser, who ran her name and found her license plate tag was expired and she had unpaid parking tickets. So nothing too serious - however, this is a very adept way to introduce the reader to Taylor’s money issues, which are a major plot point for the rest of the book. This is also an extremely realistic depiction of the criminalization of poverty - in the US, people are arrested and often spend a lot more than 3 hours in jail for the inability to pay bureaucratic fines and fees all the time. Taylor’s money issues were so realistic and stressful! Her journey of self-discovery along the way of making money and career decisions was really a beautiful thing to read.

What I was not expecting was Jamar’s storyline to feature some criminal justice elements! Jamar is still dealing with the grief from his childhood best friend Silas’ passing. Much of his life decisions have been based on wanting to make Silas proud and to financially support the Silas’ family. I literally gasped when I learned that Silas’ mom was sentenced to life in prison, and I was actually crying when I learned Jamar still puts money on her books. I also really appreciated how Farrah Rochon did not shy away from describing Silas’ mother’s crime, or explaining it away. It’s clear she did something extremely serious - however, it’s made clear Silas still cared about her, and Jamar does in his stead. I was in literal tears during Jamar’s press conference when he announces his foundation to support the children of incarcerated parents!!! That’s my literal dream book boyfriend right there!

As a more upbeat sidenote - I also loved how much Taylor loved Disney, because I love all of Farrah Rochon’s SM posts about Disney!!!

I adored the first book in this series. I read this in the beginning of August and have been struggling to write a review for it. The more I think about it, the more I wanted to reduce my overall rating for it. I think what I loved the most was the friendship between Taylor, Samira, and London that came out of the crappy situation. However, I felt like the girls didn’t really see how much Taylor was struggling, and I didn’t love that. I wanted more from our girl gang.

I really enjoyed the way that Taylor was able to push Jamar and get him back into shape, and enjoyed that she as a female was able to do what other male NFL trainers couldn’t. But that fake relationship aspect of this one didn’t really work for me.

I’ve still enjoyed the series, and I’m excited to read London’s book, but I didn’t overwhelming love this one.

Thanks to @readforeverpub and @netgalley for my review copy.
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Just like in the first book, I also loved the continued female friendships in this one. This book focuses on Taylor who is a personal trainer who is struggling to make ends meet at the moment. Jamar is former football player hoping to go back into the NFL after a terrible injury. So what happens? Jamar hires Taylor to be his personal trainer BUT no one is allowed to know he’s training to try and go back into the NFL. Enter fake dating.
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I loved the interactions with Jamar and Taylor and actually really loved Jamar. Here are a few things that stood out to me..
-learning disability rep/ADHD
-Fun banter
-talks about grief
-great group of supportive women
-had some serious moments along with some fun moments
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This is the second book in The Boyfriend Project series and it did not disappoint! If haven’t read many sports romance books, this would be a perfect place to start.

What I Loved?
🏈 The forced proximity and fake dating trope.
🏈 The friendships between Taylor, Samiah, and London. I loved their friendship in book one and it continued to get better in this one!
🏈 The meet cute between Taylor and Jamar. They were at Taylor’s workout class and Jamar knew right away that he needed Taylor to be his personal trainer!
🏈 Taylor had a learning disability and I loved how this was talked about and not made out to be a bad thing!
🏈 This series is set in Austin and it just makes my heart happy. Only thing- Jamar played college football at the University of Texas in this book and I could have done without the burnt orange talk. 😉

Since Jamar is a former professional football player, let’s hear what NFL team you’ll be rooting for this season? I’ll be rooting for my LA Rams!