This book was very cute and heartwarming. It's about a small town, with a rich resident, who upon passing has the town compete in a game for a chance to win some of his inheritance. His grandson is also included in the competition, although he doesn't live there. The game involves all sorts of competitions, pitting members of the town against each other and forcing people who don't get along to work together to compete. The end is quite sweet, although a little predictable but worth the read!

I had high hopes for this book. I loved both of Lacie Waldon's previous books, and this book had a very cute premise. Unfortunately, this one just didn't come together for me.

The Only Game in Town is set in the small town of Redford, GA. When the town eccentric, wealthy man dies, he devises a game that pairs town residents with each other to compete for a 10 million dollar prize. This story mainly follows Jess, a local girl, and Carter, the grandson of the deceased, as they meet, compete, and fall in love. There are also tons of other story lines about the town residents.

This story was trying to do too much, and I never got invested in any of the characters. There were so many locals that they all kind of blurred together. Jess and Carter, the main characters, were both a total bore. I didn't feel like they had any chemistry, and the closed door scene definitely didn't help. I actually liked the story of Jess's nemesis and teammate, Nikki, much better, although even that story really had more potential than payoff in the end. The game part of the book brought some fun scenes that helped the pacing of this book out.

I'm sad this wasn't a hit for me. Judging by the other reviews, this is a "me not clicking with this particular book" issue. I will continue to read Lacie Waldon since all her previous books have been great for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the advanced e-book in exchange for my honest review.

While I have loved all of Lacie Waldon’s previous books, unfortunately, The Only Game in Town did not step up to the same bar for me. It is a cute small town romance that provides a lot of nostalgia to which some readers may relate, but I had a hard time connecting with this storyline. Walston’s still delivers a writing style that I enjoy with fun banter among the characters and unique plots. However, I typically prefer rom coms that are realistic and relatable and this one was a little too quirky and far-fetched. If you enjoy and over-the-too adventure in a small town, with a little romance thrown in, this one is for you! Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Warning: the romance in The Only Game in Town is very much secondary to the It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World-esque subplot featuring many small-town characters getting involved in a huge contest that will determine their future wealth and the health of their wacky small town. I enjoyed the quirky small-town feeling of it all, which is why I’m recommending it, but the romance is not a central fixture of the narrative.

Freelance editor Jessica Reid is forging her own pathway in her rural hometown of Redford, Georgia. She likes her job, the people who live there, and her gruff mechanic dad – but her orderly world is thrown into chaos out of the blue.

That would be because the town’s richest and most eccentric citizen, Jasper Wilhelm, has passed away and willed his fortune to the townspeople, if they’re willing to compete for it. Enter Jasper’s big city-living grandson, financial advisor Carter. The last thing he wants to do is dictate the game-playing and how it will go, but as Jasper’s next of kin, it falls to him to guide the situation. The inhabitants of Redford split up into teams and compete for the million plus dollar prize, and all the while, Jess and Carter begin to fall in love. But what will happen when the last contest is finished and it’s time for Carter to go home?

What makes The Only Game in Town work are its sense of character, humor and adventure. There are rivalries here – friendships, too - that are decades old and the background is the romance between Jess and Carter, both likable individuals whose slow road toward each other makes sense. I related deeply to Jess and her love of her rural home town and desire to (and convergent wish to never have to) leave it.

You’re bound to get involved emotionally here – in the challenges at hand and in the lives of the characters we meet. You’ll have a favorite team and root for them to come out on top, even when the odds feel like they’re at their most impossible.

While The Only Game in Town isn’t a genre romance novel, it definitely has some romance thrown in – and along the way you get to meet some awesome people and laugh yourself sore as they try to gain a lucrative foothold in the world. It’s a fine little novel, and quite easy to like.

Buy it at: Amazon, Audible or your local bookshop
Visit our Amazon Storefront

This was my third Lacie Waldron novel and I have loved every single one of them! This book is about a town who must engage in a competition for the fortune of the town's eccentric benefactor after he has passed away. His grandson, Carter, has come to town to check up on his grandfather's town and the reason for the money to be left to the town via a series of games. Carter competes with Jess and they find themselves growing closer.

This town is full of such colorful characters! The way Jasper has paired them up is hilarious and the way that Carter interacts with them (or they with him) makes for a great story. You can smell a romance brewing with Jess and the way the story comes together in the end is a masterpiece. It's a different plot than Waldron's other stories, but it just works.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for this ARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Not the biggest fan of this one unfortunately. I’ve loved everything Lacie Waldon has written in the past but this one wasn’t my fav.

This was a very adventure esque romance book where the romance almost felt like a sub-plot (which is great in some books but not this one:(). Essentially this book is about a man who dies and leaves his whole fortune to a town. So I’m order to win fortune (10 million baby), the townspeople play a series of games, until there is only one team left (with 2 people). And you guessed it, the winning team will win 10 mil. There’s some romance sprinkled in with lots of family dynamics and a whole lot of quirky small town.

I couldn’t connect with the story and found the third person POV’s hard to follow (we get like 3 different povs).

Overall, if you liked something wilder by Christina Lauren, you’ll like this. But if you’re like me and you didn’t, then probably skip this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Putnam for an ARC <3

My love for small towns that resemble Stars Hollow knows no bounds, and I do love myself a rom-com. This was both. I liked this book way more than I expected to. It's adorable and fun and I flew through it in only a couple of sittings. What really stood out were the characters- they had so much more depth than your typical rom-com and I felt myself really invested in their happiness.
In short, I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to others.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC!

I really adored this quirky rom com. This small town romance is full of eccentric characters, funny banter, a very endearing, slow burn romance and life lessons about family, home and the importance of putting down roots.

When the town of Redford loses their kind and wealthy community member, they are surprised to learn that Jasper Wilhelm has set up a competition with 10 million dollars as the prize. All the townspeople of Redford are invited to participate. Jasper’s handsome grandson Carter, who is in town for the funeral, is included in the competition. He also catches the eye of long time resident Jessica. Sparks fly, unlikely teammates are formed, and hilarious antics begin as the competition starts.

I love the crazy characters and love how this small town is more than just home to the people that live there…it is family. I also love the sweet romance between Jess and Carter. This story is full of heart and emotion.
I enjoyed my time in Redford, Georgia.

“Isn’t that strange? How can the smallest town I’ve ever been to give me the largest glimpse of the world I’ve ever seen?”

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

The only game in town by Lacie Waldon

In short, I really enjoyed The Only Game in Town by Lacie Waldon. It was hilarious and sucked me in right away. I read it in two weeks, which is really fast for me. Every time I put it down, I wanted to pick it right back up. The romance, comedy, and relationships kept me captivated.

The characters were relatable and had depth. My favorite character was Jess. The way she went down the mountain in the Barbie jeep was everything. I could see her flying in my head with a giant smile on her face and the wind in her hair. I really felt like I was there with them. It made me want to live my life with abandon like she does.

This is the story of a small town Georgian millionaire (Jasper) who dies and in his will he leaves a game for the town to compete in to see who will win his fortune. Everyone is eligible and the stakes are high. The catch - everyone is paired up with their enemy and must share the prize. This is Jasper’s way of bringing the town together.

Our main character, Jess is paired up with her nemesis, Nikki. Carter (who is the benefactor’s grandson, little does anyone know), is paired up with Bryce (who is super funny and a local bartender). Carter has come back to town to handle his grandfather’s death and is keeping it quiet.

Jess would do just about anything to win the money so she can help her family. Nikki feels the same, so they put aside their differences to team up and win the money. Not without some snark, of course. Which is hilarious, witty and endlessly entertaining. Nikki goes all out to win each round.

Bryce and Carter start helping Jess and Nikki and the four of them team up to knock out other players. It’s obvious they’re helping them due to Carter’s enormous crush on Jess, which is sweet. He wants her to win the money, but fears his grandpa set him up to win the money. Jasper has set him with a task for the town, but Carter is too sad to go through with it yet.

Jess and Carter’s relationship is cute and genuinely very sweet. They get to know each other well and in the end have to decide what they’ll sacrifice for love.

I love this author and enjoy her books a lot. They’re light and cozy romance reads. They always make me smile and laugh out loud. This one also made me tear up and feel the feels, which was wonderful. I throughly enjoyed the multi-POV. Highly recommend! 4/5 stars.

Romcom, small town love, quadruple POV, quirky, funny, fast paced

Note: I received this book as an advanced reader copy from netgalley. All opinions in this review are my own.

Big city boy (Carter), small town girl (Jess), 10 million dollars to win following the completion of some clever team challeneges and a Gilmore Girls/Hart of Dixie setting. Y'all, I don't think this could have been cuter if it tried.

When Carter first got to Redford, Georgia for his (estranged) grandfather Jasper's funeral, he saves Jess from one heck of a Lemon Breland type mean girls encounter, a la George Tucker if we're being honest. Jess proceeds to give him a tour of the town, the eccentric side characters that you wouldn't question finding in Stars Hollow 🤣. The two strike a fast friendship and romantic attraction that you can't help but root for from the get go.

It's shared at the funeral that Carter's grandfather had not only left his fortune to the town, but its residents have been paired up with their enemies to compete through a series of challenges to compete for said fortune.

I loved watching how Carter integrated with the town, and how Jess IS Redford. The silliness of the challenges culminating in a Luke Danes esque pulling the town together at the last minute to send off Rory get together.

This story included a 3rd person, quadruple POV, though most were from Jess and Carter's perspectives and I loved being able to see how their friendship continued to build and build into eventually something more. Also the epilogue!! 🥰🥲🥰

The Only Game In Town melds two of my absolute favorite comfort shows with the hug feeling of a hallmark movie and I cannot wait for a reread!


Thank you Netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for the ARC in exchange for my review!

This book claims to be a romance...that is definitely the back seat vibe. This book is more of a family-friendly adventure of sorts...and a little too long at that.

Jasper, town billionaire, has passed away. In his wake, he has created a game and paired up the citizens of this small, quaint town to compete for a chance at ten million dollars. The twist? The duos are all enemies of each other. Who can tolerate each other long enough to work together and win the series of challenges.

The main characters, Jess and Carter, are supposedly the romantic aspect of this story but they're relationship is more of an afterthought.

Don't get me wrong -- there was great character development. Nearly everyone in the town had a voice. But that was just it...there were far too many "cooks in the kitchen" for this story.

Personally, I needed more of the relationship and less....well, everything else.

Big thanks to Putnam Books for letting me snag this ARC! This book is out this March!

#putnambooks #netgalley #theonlygameintown

The Westing Game meets Sweet Home Alabama in The Only Game in Town, in which an eccentric millionaire’s fortune could change one woman’s life forever…if only she can win it!

Nothing ever changes in Redford, Georgia. It’s part of what freelance editor Jess Reid loves about her hometown—and part of what keeps her from ever leaving, no matter how much she might want to. That, and her relationship with her father, a car mechanic who raised her on his own after her mom left town. Jess is resigned to a safe, unremarkable existence...until Jasper Wilhelm, the town’s eccentric benefactor, dies suddenly and leaves behind the opportunity of a lifetime.

Carter Wilhelm has been too busy working long hours as a financial advisor to visit Redford, but he’s heard countless stories about the town and its zany residents from his grandfather. A small, insular town in Georgia is the last place Carter expects to be spending his summer—but it seems his grandfather had other plans…

Because Jasper had one final trick up his sleeve. At his funeral, it’s revealed that he’s left his entire fortune to the people of Redford—but they’ll have to compete for it. Jasper has devised a massive, high-stakes game consisting of several team challenges, with the winning duo taking home the prize. The catch? He’s already taken the liberty of pairing them up.

But as tensions—of both the competitive and romantic variety—rise between Jess and Carter, and the life-changing prize grows closer, the two must decide what they’re willing to risk for the chance at a fortune. A love story full of spirit and hijinks, The Only Game in Town is a funny, quirky homage to the people we get to call home.
I loved this book so much! I couldn't stop reading it.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own

Thank you for the arc! If you like quirky and silly, this will provide that for you! There’s a bit of bizarreness to this that makes it fun when you’re in the mood for “different” and not the same kind of humor you can find anywhere. So if you’re looking for a goofy humor and some fun, this could be your pick!

When Jasper dies, his grandson Carter comes to the small town of Redford for the funeral. At the funeral it’s announced that his fortune will go to the winning team of an elaborate game he has created with very ambiguous rules. Teams of two are competing, but he had the teams in mind and pairs up enemies.

Jess and Nikki are parked together despite the ongoing feud between them. The rest of the town is paired off in an equally unlikely way and the game begins.

The premise of this book is kind of absurd. A game that you have to compete in with someone you hate to win? Not the usual outcome of a funeral. It was a really fun read though! Jess and her dad have such a sweet relationship. Nikki is the worst, but kind of grows on you. Carter is a mystery and you unwrap him as you go. You find yourself cheering for the people of the town and even with the unlikely premise of the book you start to understand why Jasper would do this to them.

This was a fun read as Lacie Walden’s books always are. It was quick and light and a perfect beach/vacation read.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book roughly! It was a cute, entertaining read without the grunge of a lot of books these days. I 100% recommend it and can't wait to check out the other books by Lacie Waldon.

Multi pov, romcom, with plenty of action thrown in.

I appreciate the reference to Westing Game, and I'd also add Inheritance Games and Amazing Race to the mix. Maybe a little Knives Out, just for fun. Of course, I love reality TV game shows, so this was definitely perfect for me.

Honestly loved these two main characters from the first chapter! Such a fun story!

"She'd shown up this morning looking so ridiculous and beautiful, like starlight personified, and he'd felt it - that falling feeling he'd heard other people talk about. Like he'd wandered up to a roof intending to catch a pleasant view and found himself plummeting over the edge instead."

This story was a bit off-the-wall but fun! There were some deeper topics covered - sick loved ones, emotional abuse, bullies, body image ... but overall it was a light read, if that makes sense.

Readers need to go into this one open-minded about the central story: a town competes for an inheritance. It's out there, but enjoyable overall.

Nikki was actually an entertaining character for me; I imagined her a Busy Philipps (for anyone else that loves to imagine fictional characters played by well-known actors). I just wish that the two of the main characters, Jess and Carter, were a bit more ... lovable? Some of the "mean girl" dialogue at the beginning made me cringe. That's what kept me from 100% loving this one. But I'd still recommend it as it was unique and cute.

I liked this one, but definitely not as much as The Layover. Maybe it was supposed to be, but the competition events seemed so completely random. The prize was extremely large for what they were competing for. And I got the idea at the end, but the path wasn't very clean to get there. I will continue to read Waldon's books - she has a lot of creativity and I like the way she can twist a story.

I’ve read and enjoyed a few reads by this author previously, so I was excited to try her newest book. This one was a bit of a departure from what I was expecting, based on the blurb as well as her previous reads.

The book definitely delivers a healthy dose of small town quirkiness and characters and an interesting competition / adventure. There is a hint of romance as well, though it did not feature heavily and did not feel like a focus or primary driver of the book / plot.

I think those looking for a cute fiction read in a small town setting will definitely appreciate this read. While I enjoyed the competition aspect, the story didn’t completely come together or hold my attention.

I was expecting and looking for more of a romance between Jess and Carter. That aside, though it was fun to see the various characters I had trouble keeping track with the various POVs. I also didn’t feel I really got to ‘know’ any of the mains with any depth, which made it harder to connect with them.

It was an okay read, though not my particular book style of choice, but one I know others will appreciate.

Free e-ARC provided by NetGalley for reviewing purposes!
This was my first read from Lacie Waldon and I thought it was a really cute read- the description said Westing Game meets Sweet Home Alabama, but it was really giving me Gilmore Girls vibes. The plot is more small-town hijinks than mystery. It could even be a Hallmark movie if you made it Christmas themed and cranked up the cheesiness factor by about 50.
Our main characters, Jess (a lifelong Redford resident) and Carter (grandson of the town's benefactor and unofficial mayor, who had recently died) are drawn together as they compete to win the $10 million inheritance left behind by Carter's grandfather. The book is narrated in alternate POVs, including not only Jess and Carter, but also Jess's father and her high school nemesis, Nikki (who Jess is paired with in the inheritance competition). The author does a really good job fleshing out the characters, and the story has some unexpected depth to it that I don't usually get from this type of rom-com. Overall, a lighthearted feel-good rom-com. I would definitely read more from this author.