Very spicy romance! Did not give it as many stars though because the ending seemed to just be chucked on without any reason, and it was way too misogynistic for me.

This is not what I was expecting from a Lora Leigh book.

But… the chemistry between Poppy and Jack was top tier. Their history and backstory made you want to root for them. Jack came from a terrible childhood to become a navy seal.

The audiobook, I really appreciated the dual narrations. They did a fantastic job bringing the characters to life.

First, the narrator is perfect for this book. A great voice to listen to.
Second, this book is wow! Such a unique storyline that hasn't been used before, super modern and very interesting. I wish the two MC's had a little more time to go from frenemies to lovers instead of just jumping in but that's a small detail here. I enjoyed all the characters and the back story was really well thought out.
Definitely one people need to read!

GoodReads describes this book as Fifty Shades of Grey meets friends to lovers trope which is extremely accurate. Jack is an ex-Navy Seal who is the jaw dropping bad boy and arrives back in his hometown, if you can call it that. Poppy is the beautiful 'girl nextdoor' who helped save Jack when they were young teens and she's been in love with him ever since. They have a history but nothing physical, until this most recent hometown return. Jack is experienced where Poppy is a novice, and it really works for them.

Jack and Poppy's steamy love life is intermingled with his professional life. Jack is back searching for who killed an AI creator; the AI creation is extremely dangerous and is uncontrolable. The whole AI side was 'meh' for me but that's a personal preferance. All in all, the ending does have me wondering what might come next. Play Dirty is the first of a new series so I will keep an eye out for a continuation of this Triton SEALs series.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for the advanced readers copy via audiobook to review this book in exchange for an honest review.

Honestly the first part of this book was intriguing. The story was impactful, I couldn't wait to see what Jack was like as an adult. Fast forward to the second half of the book. Jack returns after prison and is immediately territorial, sexually possessive and all together just too much for my liking. Huge turn off unfortunately. The story was twisted and ending with fighting AI robots. Not my taste.

Thank you Netgalley for my ARC in exchange for my honest oppinion.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audiobook version. I am in no way affilated with or compensted in any way for my review. Everything I write is my own thoughts, feelings, and opinions.
I like a good romance book. This book caught me by surprise with the AI element to it. I did like how Poppy and Jack have history and the books highlights the history of them. It is a second chance type of love.
Overall this was a good dark romance meets coming of age book. The book ends in a cliffhanger as this is the first in a series.

I listened to an ALC of this book thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio. This story starts off with our two main characters as children, ages 7 (Poppy) and 14 (Jack) and this is when the bond between them initially forms. Poppy finds Jack beaten and freezing outside and brings him into her house where her parents feed and clothe him. We then meet them again 11 years later where something big happens to/between them (vague to avoid spoilers), and then 8 more years after that when Jack comes home from the military after years as a Navy SEAL.

The romance between the two characters is always there, though nothing happens between them until they are both adults and Jack is home. Between their teenage years and the time the story takes place, Jack avoids Poppy every time he comes home, doesn’t talk to her, doesn’t interact with or pursue her, so when he comes home this time and is suddenly very alphahole “you’re mine”, it was kind of jarring-even though he had a reason for this (again, vague to avoid spoilers). He goes from nothing to 1,000% percent, angry when she covers the bite marks he leaves on her neck, pissy when anyone else even looks at her. Thankfully Poppy, while mild mannered, stands up for herself and tells him to quit that nonsense-I can’t stand a wilting flower fmc.
There is an underlying “secret mission, find the incredibly advanced AI weapon” story that seemed promising but ended up feeling very vague, dragged out and then a sudden clunky ending without a clear resolution. I know this is meant to be a sort of cliffhanger, for a continued series, but it still left me with a lot of questions but not enough desire to be eagerly awaiting the next in the series.

The narration was…fine. Not bad, but nothing to get too excited about. The narrator’s voice was pleasant and portrayed emotion well, and I think she did well with the writing she had to work with. I didn’t like that, due to the writing, the POV we were in kept switching without warning so I was having to always try to figure out who’s mind we were in at any given moment. Usually in books like this the pov switches at chapters, or have some sort of heading to alert the reader/listener to the switch.

I think that while this book had great promise and an interesting storyline, overall it just felt underdeveloped throughout and rushed at the end and overall fell flat. The next book in the series would be something I may pick up when I am looking to fill a gap in my reading list but won’t be something I would search out to read as soon as it is released.

Touch her and die vibes..

But when I say I don’t remember the plot I can’t remember one thing other than he was ex military and that it was steamy steamy steamy 🥵

The plot was weird. I couldn’t keep track of what was going on and who was doing what and then all of a sudden there were AI’s?!? Weird.

Spice was ok plot was meh..

Not my favorite. This could have easily been a did not finish book for me, but I wanted to commit to finishing it. It was a bit all over the place and hard to follow.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook.

I was really wanting to like this book. It seemed right up my alley. However, the characters were lacking chemistry. The spice came out of nowhere. They don't talk for 8 years and then all of the sudden they are romantically involved.

I found the story hard to keep up with. There were too many twists in the story and at times I didn't know what was happening or how something happened.

This author has good reviews so I may try another of her books. This one just wasn't for me.

I am honestly so sad about how much I disliked this book. I dnf’d about a quarter of the way through because of the plot, which was going in every direction, the lack of knowledge about what the military does, and the lack of chemistry between the characters. I was so excited for this book because it is the first ARC I’ve received that is more of a dark romance but sadly, it just not the right fit for me. I can normally look past minor things in a dark romance but there was just way too many inconsistencies for me to enjoy reading. I also did not love the country accent that the narrator was doing, I am from KY and it just fell flat for me.
Thank you NetGalley and MacMillian Audio for this ARC.

Jack is a broody ex-Navy SEAL. Poppy is your typical good girl/girl next door. She protected him when they were younger, so he vows to keep her safe from everyone as they grow up. Jack not a good guy, but will do anything to protect Poppy. Poppy and Jack have been “friends” from afar, but now that she is grown, Jack no longer wants to keep his distance.

I was quite disappointed with Play Dirty. This is the first book in a new series, but I’ve read many a books by Lora Leigh. I did not quite buy the romance/chemistry between Jack and Poppy. It just felt really forced, and Jack came off kind of creepy to me. I also found the AI plot line a little strange especially what was said in the epilogue.

I got an ARC copy of the digital book and the audiobook. I’m not picky about narrators. However, I could have done without her changing her voice for the male characters. Also the “southern” accent was cheesy as hell. 😬🫣

Thank you to Netgalley and Publishers for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I admittedly really liked most of this book but the AI piece just didn’t feel right. The end of the book really threw me off and felt clunky. I realize it’s supposed to be a cliffhanger but it just left me super confused. Which is actually sad considering the romance piece between the two main characters is steamy and adorable.

🌀Synopsis
Poppy and Jack have a tangled past. When he was starving as a kid, she saved his life. He had a rough home life, to say the least and she welcomed him into her family. They cared for him and got him a place to stay until he joined the military.
Then, when there was a killer in town she got drunk and got herself in trouble. It was his turn to save her.
He stayed away but always kept tabs on her and came home from time to time. Now, there’s an issue in his hometown and he must return again. This time, he’s going to see her. She’s unknowingly involved in something and he’s going to get to the bottom of it to get her out. He can’t stay away from her now though and it doesn’t take long for their true feelings to come to the surface.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for this arc. I really wanted to like this book. Lora Leigh is one of favorite authors, however I hated this story and narrator. I'm from the south and fake are extremely annoying.

The dog tags on the cover are what drew me to this book. I’m a sucker for military romances but this one was just all over the place. I usually like age gaps between the characters but something about this one just had me cringing. He mentions that she was his from the moment she saved him when he was 14… but she was 7 at the time so yeah 😅 that kind of gave me the icks the whole book through.

I wasn’t a fan of the accents the narrator used. A lot of the terms were cheesy or cringe worthy, especially during the spicy scenes. Sugar girl was the weirdest term of endearment I’d ever heard.

The AI plot started off as interesting but that ending ruined it. I can see why the author added it, to get readers ready for a sequel but it honestly felt unnecessary and way too confusing.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.

Echoing other reviews, Play Dirty by Lora Leigh fell flat for me. Too many genres blended into one, plot going in multiple directions, no real connection to the characters and they were lacking in chemistry. The only thing that intrigued me was this AI, I'm unsure if I'd want to read the sequel to find out more. I wasn't much a fan of the narrator either - perhaps if they had a male narrator for Jack's POV or perhaps if I'd read the physical copy I'd have connected more? I am not sure.
Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for this ALC

Nothing super unique about this story. Good girl falls for the bad boy. Bad boy gets possessive. I didn't finish the audiobook about 75% through. I struggled with the narrator's fake southern accent. I was born near where this book is set, and the accent was no where close. There is no denying that there are steamy scenes, but they lacked chemistry. I wanted to love this book, but I stopped listening part way through and can't make myself go back and finish. It isn't bothering me to leave it unfinished, I wished I loved it more.

I was really happy to get this advanced audiobook, it just kind of fell a bit flat for me. I had a hard time paying attention

I listed this book as “will not be giving feedback” as it included sexual assault content that was not clearly stated prior to downloading. Unfortunately this is affecting my feedback ratio even though the Netgalley terms list that it will not, so I am leaving a review to fulfill my obligation to Netgalley and will not be cross posting any reviews as I did not finish this book.

Play Dirty follows Poppy and Jack over many years. Poppy saved Jack when she was seven and then Jack always tried to keep Poppy safe. This book was a jack of all trades, master of none for me. Was this a romance book? Was this a thriller? Was this a science fiction book? It’s a little bit of everything but did not fully excel in one aspect.

Jack is supposed to be the hero in this story but while reading it I just kept asking myself, are we supposed to like Jack? Jack is not likable. He is not a good person and I do not feel he was good to Poppy. He gave off creepy stalker vibes more than the hero next door vibes that I was expecting.

This was my first book by Lora Leigh and this is the first book in a new series. I don’t know which way I am leaning if I would want to continue the series but I do want to check out something else by this author. There were moments in this book that were great and I would love to try again with Lora Leigh.