This was a fun story and I really found myself rooting for Miri & Leo. It was fun that the characters from Bet on It made appearances. This book was too spicy for my taste but I was enjoying the story so much that I kept going. Sometimes I felt like things were added to make it more “spicy” & it just felt kind of vulgar instead of adding to the story.

The narrator was great and I enjoyed listening to her.

Thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for a copy of this audiobook.

I give this book a 3.5 stars. I enjoyed this delightful second chance romance with some sizzling love scenes. This story focuses on Miriam (Miri) who is struggling to get over her Lonnie’s and finding a happy medium in her hometown in South Carolina. Miri takes a chance and plays the lottery numbers after being encouraged to do so by a family friend. Little did Miri know that she would win the Big Mega millions jackpot that would change her life and all around her. Miri decides after her windfall to get advice from an investment banker and realizes that she will have to share her winnings with her estranged husband. Miri reaches out to Leo after 8 years of not speaking who also happens to be her high school sweetheart.
Leo comes back to their hometown Greenbelt to finally meet up with Miri after leaving each other. Leo and Miri have to work through the issues that caused the, not to speak for 8 years and all the emotions tied to that choice. This book focuses on second chance romance and how money can help salvage a love that was torn apart because of young people not being able to afford to pay their bills. Money allows for people to do things that are in their hearts.
I really enjoyed this second chance romance with not just the normal plot.
Thank you Netgalley, St. Martin Griffin and Macmillan audio for the opportunity to listen to this arc. I highly recommend for the lover of second chance romances with lots of sizzle.

I wanted to love this book more than I did. I felt like the love interest wasn't clear at first and I wasn't sure this was a romance. There were aspects I enjoyed but it's not one of my favorites.

I wanted to love this, but it just wasn’t for me!

⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
🌶️🌶️🌶️

After winning a life-changing amount in the lottery, Miri is stuck with contacting her estranged husband (for 8 years!), Leo.
She asks him to come back to their hometown, and he’s expecting for them to try again in their relationship - but Miri is asking for a divorce.
Leo agrees, with some conditions, that give him the time to try to win her back.

This second chance romance was sweet, and I liked how the female characters were so confident, especially with their sexuality.
I couldn’t relate to either character very much, which is why this book wasn’t really for me.

I tandem read ebook/audiobook, and would have preferred 2 narrators (male and female for the different POVs). Lacy Laurel did do a great job at capturing the vibe of the characters though!

What you’ll find in Play to Win:
⭐️ Second chance
⭐️ Curvy heroine
⭐️ Poverty to lottery winner
⭐️ BIPOC characters
⭐️ LGBTQ+ rep
⭐️ Dual POV/3rd person

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

I chose to use the audiobook avenue for this read, and the voice actress (Lacy Laurel) didn't impress me either. Her inflections seemed grander with a mix of a southern accent, and it just didn't do it for me. If my math is correct, the main characters in this story should have been in their 30s, and Laurel made them sound older.

The story was a "it's not you, it's me" thing. The book was okay, but not enough to make me want to shout it out to the public. I thought there would be more to the story. I thought there would be petty, but there wasn't. I would've been okay if I saw the guy ACTUALLY trying to win the girl back. All this man did was follow her around like a puppy.

I don't have an opinion about the story. It just wasn't my tea. Overall I rated this book 3-stars. It was meh. I appreciate the black rep of second chance romance, but that's about all that does for me.

This book was great! I really liked the character development and all of the groveling. I could feel the love and hurt between the characters instead of just being told them.

One thing that sets this book apart is definitely the fact that Mari struggled to decide what to do with the money. Normally books and shows don’t portray. I felt like that was a much more relatable reaction as a whole for the readers.

I took away a star because the ending was too abrupt. You’d expect a few more chapters but it seemed like the author wasn’t sure how to continue the story after they got back together. Mari went from hating him, to lusting for him, then bam they were together. I think we should’ve gotten more scenes on the conflicts they had after getting together because how they handled them before was a reason they split up.

The cover: overall the cover is great except for Mari. She doesn’t have much dimension in her face making her look flat.

Eight years is a seriously long time to not have contact with your spouse. If Miri hadn't won the lottery she probably wouldn't have contacted Leo at all. Money, or lack of it, was the very reason they split to begin with. So now that she has money, let's bring Leo back into her life and overhaul his personality to make him more likable/lovable. It didn't seem that Leo was all that far away from Miri so how did they not ever run into each other? He still had family in their town. Did he just not visit? I think what made the story enjoyable was the narration by Lacy Laurel. She brought personality to the characters, especially Leo who came off as a deadbeat when first introduced into the storyline. I did like Miri though. She tried so hard to keep her winning under wraps and didn't let her sudden wealth change her. It could have been the time they spent together that made Miri and Leo fall back in love, but for me it was almost a little to late to try and resurrect their relationship.

I received an advance copy of this book at my request and voluntarily left this review.

This is my second read from Jodie Slaughter. Last year I picked up Bet on It, which wasn’t my favourite (was about a mixed race couple who met at bingo). I grabbed this one hoping it would be a better fit for me, being a black couple with one having won the lottery…

Married couple romances (marriage in crisis or married couples reuniting) is a trope that I generally avoid. It’s not interesting and the couple had their chance, breaking up for good reasons (usually they’re toxic and should not be together, no matter how the author writes it - just like in reality). I picked this one up because of the lottery winner aspect and missed the second chance married couple reunion/marriage in crisis aspect of the plot…

While I did like this one better than Bet on It, I still found myself hoping for more - more “what” exactly, I’m not totally sure, but I found myself wanting it when the book finished. The couple got back together and forgave past transgressions far too quickly and easily. If they were estranged for 8 years, no woman in her right mind would cave the way she did in this storyline.

3-stars. For both the writing, plot and narration (any dual POV NEEDS a male and female narrator, not a mediocre female narrating the entire thing without any attempt to differentiate the characters). I wanted to like it so much more, but… alas.

I received an advance review and listen copy from NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio, and this is my honest opinion.

This book was not for me. The combination of how it was written and the character left much to be desired.

When Miriam Butler gets a tingling sensation while buying lottery tickets for her mother she takes it as a sign. So she buys herself a ticket, whats the harm? Later that evening, with the news playing in the background something catches her attention. Its her numbers. All of them. Being read aloud on TV. Suddenlly her entire life gets a bit more complicated. For most people this would be a blessing, and it is for Miriam. But it also means she will have to do the one thing she has been avoiding for the past 8 years. Talk to her husband.

This second chance romance was such a fun listen! Narrarator Lavy Laurel does an amazing job and is a delight to listen to.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy of this audiobook! All opinions are my own.

The author wrote a character who was a pathetic weasel and then spent the rest of the book trying to make him sexy and honorable, with the most farfetched and ridiculous tactics. Eight years of separation and he hasn't dated or been with anyone else, while his wife has been with almost everyone in town, in her own words. He has nothing but honorable intentions with a woman he walked out on when money was tight and wants back now that she's super rich, but it has nothing to do with money. Right. And she's angry with him, but still in love and wildly attracted to him? I don't understand how he love and attraction work when she went through what she did. It felt so very toxic and both of them needed hardcore therapy. Probably this was a silly fantasy book written with the intent of titillating the reader, but I was so caught up in what a loser he was, I couldn't help but feel nauseated when they were intimate. Hard pass, wished I knew more going in so I wouldn't have bothered.

I couldn’t really get into this book in print a few months ago, but I enjoyed the audio version much more. I’m in the mood for second chance romance these days, and Play to Win delivers on that front. I feel like plenty of the story could’ve been explored in more depth, but this was a good journey nonetheless.

4.5 ⭐️

I was so excited when I saw this pop up on NetGalley because I LOVED ‘Bet On It’, Slaughters prior romance book, and this one lived up to the anticipation! If you enjoyed Bet on it then I would especially recommend reading this new book!

Slaughters writing style is very distinctive; from the general voice in the writing to the way the love interests truly adore their women to the love and friendship portrayed between characters. One of my favourite things is how the love interests truly worship the ground these girls walk on, despite Leo being misguided often he truly loves everything about Miri and even though they weren’t talking he carried their marriage certificate around for 8 YEARS!!!!

Although I believe this is being marketed as a stand alone it is in the same ‘universe’ as bet on it so they could be read as interconnected standalones, I will say however that I think I enjoyed Bet on It a bit more

A nice, easy read that didn't completely click with me. I think I needed more of the backstory between the two main characters to understand them better. I also didn't really buy into the redemption and second chance of it all, so it was hard caring too much if they ended up together or not.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my review copy!

A cute spicy read! I really enjoyed the premise and the character development. The one thing I struggled with was the time gap of 8years!
Overall a very fun read though

This romance audiobook was sweet. A broken couple get back together again in a small Southern town. The small town setting was nicely developed and the characters were realistic and likeable. This is an LGBTQIA+ friendly story although that is pretty peripheral to the main storyline. I didn't love the narrator's voices of some of the characters, but overall it was a pleasant listen. I would recommend this to readers who like romance and the small town feel.

I really enjoyed this book! I loved the representation of black people in this book. I loved that everything was black owned, everybody helped everybody out, and everybody was family! Whether you were related or not and growing up in a black household it just reminded me of when I was young. I as well loved as the LGBTQ+ representation with Mari being bi & Leo’s best friend from high school was a gay man. It proved that even though this was a small town type of book, everybody was welcomed there no matter what. This was such an easy read because the plot was so good when it came to the lottery aspect. I mean what the heck do you do when you win the lottery?? This book had me seriously planning out what I’d do and it’s not even me😅 The only complaint I have is that Mari become irritating when it came to Leo. She didn’t know what she wanted and was always just running away instead of dealing with her feelings. Even with therapy she was still so hot and cold with Leo and I began to feel like she was stringing him along. But on the other hand I feel like we didn’t even see them rekindle anything? Leo was begging for a second chance but not doing anything? Like they weren’t romantic or even trying to be and it didn’t make sense to me because this was supposed to be a second chance romance. I think he did a lot of chasing and she did a lot of running but in between that time was just a mess or about the lottery. Again I loved the book and would highly recommend! But by 85% of the book is was ready for things to just wrap up and be done.

This was great! Second chance romance is always great but Jodie Slaughter's writing was wonderful and made it even better. The characters were real and funny and you could just feel the love and the friendship coming from the pages! I really enjoyed this story!

The description of this book sounded so good. A little spicy second chance romance um yes! Sign me up! I was lucky enough to receive an E-ARC and Audio ARC. I decided to listen to the audiobook and I must say the narration made me love this book even more. All the character voices the narrator used help bring this story to life. This was such a good read. It had several laugh out loud moments. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I recommend listening to this book when it releases.

Book Releases July 11, 2023

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the E-ARC and to Macmillan Audio for the Audiobook ARC.

All thoughts and opinions are honest and my own.

If Goodreads allowed halves I would rate this a 3 1/2. The reasons for this include: discussions of mental health, affirmation of bisexuality and queer identity, and subtle but important instances which highlight racial inequality.

I enjoyed Miriam's growth as a character throughout and the healthy communication she has with various characters. The relationships the characters have with one another are well developed and create an inviting and welcoming atmosphere for the reader. I kept wanting to listen to see what happened next and how the story ended.

I did struggle with some of the character choices as some, to me, felt unhealthy and maybe even a little toxic. There was at times a belief by the main characters that traditional gender roles should be upheld.

Overall I wouldn't necessarily seek out reading another of Slaughter's books but if I happen upon one again I would pick it up.