This was a fun read! I loved the premise of it, being a gamer myself and thought that it was quite a cute story.

If you're looking for a quick, feel good romance then this is definitely the one for you!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

This is a cute gamer romance with a secret identity mixed in. I really enjoyed this and I will definitely be reading more of Charika in the future.

What a concept!

I really enjoyed this gamer-esque romance. It’s not so often that a book like would grab my attention, but I was intrigued by the premise and this did not disappoint! What a sweet romance.

I loved the premise of this story and it didn't disappoint!
Sam and Luke work in the same building trying to make their own businesses a success but they also have a secret life playing video games and don't know that they have both been drawn to play alongside each other in a video game tournament. I loved how clueless they both were and the romance aspect of the novel was a cute build up with a little bit of drama even though Sam made some questionable choices based off her avatar crush.
Overall a good book combining real life and video games to create a story full of romance and fun.

I really liked this book, it was a very sweet fluffy read. A lot of wit which I love so I highly recommend this for in the summer. Just to sit down and enjoy a book.

A beautifully written book. Really enjoyed reading this. Thanks to publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read

Luke likes Sam in the real world. Bravura likes Blaze in the virtual world. Neither knows they are the same people until one day they have to play in a competition together. Interesting concept of how people have different personas and a virtual life, and how it can cross over into the real world

Super cute, fluffy romance. Where both characters fall in love but with different versions of themselves they just don’t know it.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really, really enjoyed this book! It's a gaming take on the "you've got mail" trope, where the main characters talk online while getting to know one another face 2 face but have no idea that they already know each other. In Playing for Love, Luke and Sam are playing an online tournament of a VR game as pseudonyms Blaze and Bravura. Blaze is a pro and Bravura has admired him from watching his live streams for years.

The romance is very cute, and I liked the characters' interactions both face to face and online. The third act break up made sense, and I especially enjoyed that there was a breakthrough on both sides regarding understanding the others' feelings towards the conflict. I also loved Sam's backstory and the way she pursued her success while at the same time honoring her mother's memory. I highly recommend this book, especially if you like non-spicy romances!

I'm not super familiar with the gaming world, so this book did lose me a little with its references and the like. I also don't think there was a lot of great chemistry between the main characters, and didn't finish this book.

This was a sweet, easy read. Sam's character grated on me at the beginning and although I got used to it, I didn't really connect fully. It's not one of the most memorable books that I've ever read but the gaming aspect isn't something that I've seen much of before.
It felt repetitive at times, I kept noticing lines or things that people would say multiple times throughout the book that were either the same or very similar and it felt a bit like the author just couldn't find anything new to say.
There were some plot points that I just didn't get, like the way Sam talked about Blaze and how Luke explained things to Pete.
If you like gaming, slightly nerdy romance, and secret identities then this is definitely for you.

Thank you to HQ and NetGalley for the ARC.

another good book to read easy to get into and a nice light hearted story line with a little twist and exciting moments but in the end everything becomes clear and the characters find each other

Absolutely loved this one! Couldn’t let go of it & read it one go. Such a fun & interesting plot. I’ve never read anything like it.

Such a fun book! The gaming world isn't one I'm familiar with but the watching the relationship develop was sweet (:

Unfortunately I couldn't get into this one. It felt kinda slow at the beginning, which I now know isn't something I like in romance novels. So, I might finish it someday, but I did dnf it for now.

What a fun, light-hearted read! Loveable characters, charming story line, definitely more of a "sweet" romance novel, and would be a perfect summer read.

This book gives me major FaZe Blaze fan-fiction vibes and I can't help but giggle at it. If it was unintentional, I apologize that the only thing I can picture in my head is FaZe Clan. Every time he was mentioned in the book, I got so distracted by the similarities that I just caught myself being distracted. I read the whole thing, but I honestly couldn't even tell you what most of it was about because I spent the entire book comparing.

I personally loved this cute and quick read! Sam and Luke are so cute together!

My favourite bit of this was how they both had a secret online identity but neither knew about it.

I didnt particularly like how this story ended which is why I knocked off a star but overall it was a great story and i'd be keen to read more from this author.

This was a sweet, nerdy, interracial romance between two gamers who fall in love online and in real life without ever realizing it! Luke is a big gamer and is semi famous for his online persona, 'Blaze.' While Sam is trying to get her handbag company off the ground - a deeply personal business inspired by her dead mother. For fun she likes to game and is obsessed with Blaze.

When she connects with Luke for business, where he helps her improve her marketing plans, she also wins a contest to play with Blaze at some big convention, not realizing the two are the same man. Cue lots of miscommunication ala You've got mail. This was a cute rom com that I enjoyed on audio. Recommended for fans of Conventionally yours or The love con. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my advance review copy!

A quick and easy read, and a very sweet story. Sam’s mother died when she was a young girl, and she inherited her mother’s huge collection of beautiful handbags. Sam had been a successful project manager, but when the opportunity came to take voluntary redundancy, with a payment of around a year’s salary, she took it so that she could realise her dream and start a business of her own. She had designed a bag to fit into a handbag so that the things a woman needed to have with her were easily moved from one bag to another. She rented a tiny office in The Nest, a building full of start-up businesses. The samples she had produced, using her mother’s old sewing machine, were beautiful, but she hadn’t yet found a handbag company to take up her idea. She meets Luke there, he has an on-line events company, and offers to help her put her website in good order, computers being his expertise, as a paying-it-forward gesture, when her business is working well she can help someone else who is just starting up.

Luke has a secret, he is a successful professional gamer, his avatar is called Blaze. Blaze is everything that Luke isn’t - self-confident, eloquent, and with piercing green eyes. Sam has watched his videos throughout her teenage years, she isn’t interested in gaming herself, it was her brother’s hobby, but she is fascinated by Blaze. An opportunity arises to take part in a competition to play a brand new game, and Blaze is part of it, she might get the opportunity to meet him. Of course, she would have to play the game if she wins a place, but it cannot be that difficult can it? She invents an avatar for herself, a blue elf called Bravura 9. She wins a place … and is paired with Blaze! She has to start practising!

They both have many hurdles to jump and problems to overcome before they discover the truth about each before they can settle down into the romance that everyone who knows them can see is waiting for them. You learn about the harsh side of gaming, where people get trolled for various reasons, some of the emails are really unpleasant. But it is an enjoyable story, worth reading.