I couldn’t put this book down! My favorite tropes in one super cute story! I absolutely loved Cameron and Maddie. I especially liked the flashbacks to their younger years. The spice was perfect and not too much and I just completely fell in love with Deanna’s writing. I can’t wait to read more from her!

If I was lucky enough to have a brother, I would want his best friend to be Cameron so I could crush on him just like my girl Maddie! This is the type of book I crave and will never stop loving! Cameron and Maddie are the perfect mix of sweet and spice! Deanna Faison hooks you from the very beginning with the forbidden brother's best friend trope and keeps you engaged with the heart of the story.

Maddie and Cameron have known each other since they were kids. When they were teens, Maddie thought he too shared feelings for her but when he shut that down, their friendship came to a halt. That made things awkward over the years since he is her brother's best friend. Flash forward to spring break a few years later and the chemistry is back at the forefront. Can these two with a tortured past stick to their friends-with-benefits affair or will they admit their true feelings?

I loved getting the dual POVs from the present and past. I got to see Cameron and Maddie through the years and I enjoyed getting to see their friendship before and after tragedy struck Cameron and his family. I loved how sweet and caring Cameron is with Maddie. Yes, he is a star athlete and playboy, but he is willing to try for her. And my girl Maddie is the best. I feel like a best friend cheering for her to get her man!

It's a great romance to read during this time of year!

Playmaker by Deanna Faison

This was such a fun, quick, steamy, sports romcom! This had it all, and more and I gobbled it up in 2 days. Not only was it cute, but it was spicy with a side of heartfelt (a really great combo!) The Audiobook just came out too so double bonus! I have been deep in Fantasy and Dark Romance books and when I picked this up, it was such a breath of fresh air.

If you love:

🏈Sports Romance
👯‍♂️Brothers Best Friend
💞Second Chance
🎀Virgin FMC
💋Good Girl vs Playboy Athlete
😈Possessive MMC
💧Troubled Past
☀️Spring Break Romance
📚College Romance

I highly recommend you give this one a read!

#playmaker #netgalley #netgalleyreads #bookreview #deannafaison #sportsromancebooks #brothersbestfriend #secondchance #booklover #bookaddict #honestreview #bookrecommendations #kindle #ebook #audiobooksofinstagram

If you like brother's best friend, football player MMC, main characters in college and lots of spice, Playmaker is the book for you! Cam may start out as such a player, but I enjoyed watching him fall for Maddie and becoming a one woman man!

I really wanted to enjoy this one as the cover is super cute and I like sports romances. However with that said I feel the book needed more substance, and the characters needed more development.

Thank you NetGalley, the author, and Wattpad Webtoon Book Group for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I gave this a 2.5 stars

This was an entertaining, dual POV, forbidden, older brother's best friend college sports romance that takes place over spring break and has lots of spice but an equal amount of emotional depth. Cameron is grieving the death of his mother and trying to pursue the NFL dreams she had for him, while also resisting his attraction to his best friend's little sister, Maddie. Things heat up over spring break and the two give in to the long time desire they've had. Good on audio and perfect for fans of authors like Grace Reilly or Rebecca Jenshak. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was so good! It was like someone took The Summer I Turned Pretty and spiced it up, which is a very high compliment from me!

What I liked:
1. I go feral for brothers best friend, childhood friends to lovers, enemies to lovers and this had all 3!

2. The introduction to the characters was very well done. We start the scene at a party held at Maddie’s parents house while her and her brother are on spring break (she of course is not partying, but studying). We get to see her interact with Cameron, her brother’s bff and we get a great feel for their relationship. We also get enough background details in the first couple chapters to really understand the dynamics between everyone, her brother and her best friend included. It’s not an info dump but we definitely get all the key info soon and smoothly.

3. All the childhood flashbacks to when they were just kids running around town on their bikes, almost first kisses, and just being friends are so great! I love seeing the “dorky” side of Cameron through these and how the two developed feelings for each other when their lives were much simpler.

4. Oh good lord, the spice in this thing was so good!!! The intimate scenes were varied and frequent enough to keep this smut slut happy 😊

5. The vibe was just perfect. The timing of their relationship, their backstory, their baggage, their falling in love, it was all so great. The pace was probably what drove this because it didn’t lag at any point, nor did I feel it was rushing too fast.

Overall, this was such a great, spicy read and I can’t wait for Ethan and Maya’s book next!

Thank you to Wattpad Books and Deanna Faison for the opportunity to read this book. The thoughts and opinions expressed above are honest and my own.

The highlights: brother’s best friend, childhood friends, dual POV, college aged, spicy.

The tension at the beginning of the book was sooo good, as was the spice. Then Cam dropped his flirty player vibe as soon as they hooked up. Tension, gone.

Deanna can write spice scenes though. Like, damnnnn. If you like Elle Kennedy and Tessa Bailey, this is like a mix them.

The first half was easily five stars. After the 60% mark it kind of dropped off for me. Maddie became insecure and whiny.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for my advanced digital copy!

4.5/5 stars
This book follows a young woman who’s focused on her studies and is in love with her brother’s best friend but after he broke her heart, she stayed away from him. I love a cute romance novel and this was just that. The story was well written and I was instantly hooked in the beginning. The pacing was great and there were different conflicts along with some very cute scenes to keep you entertained. This book is told from dual povs of both Maddie and Cameron.

Maddie’s focuses on her studies more and perfers not to go out. She has had a crush on Cameron for a while but he missed everything up. I really liked her character and seeing her commited to her goals. Then we have Cameron who is the football player and knows he broke Maddie’s heart which he wants to fix but also doesn’t want to lose his friend. I would say that he focuses more on himself then others but he also has dealt with his mother’s death and his father is rarely in this picture which made his character develop later. There are many other characters in this book and I wish we got a book 2 for Maddie’s brother and best friend. The romance is friends with benefits, brother’s best friend, and childhood friends to lovers with a some steamy scenes.

The ending was well done and this was a greatly written book. I really enjoyed the story. There will also be a book 2 so I’m excited to see who that book will be about. I do have to say that I went into this book thinking it was a sports romance but sports in not involved in this book as much so I would label it as contemporary romance. I recommend checking this one out!

*this book was sent to me by the publisher to give an honest review in return*

The book has a lighthearted, romantic, and enjoyable spring break feel throughout. Maddie and Cameron grew up together. These two clicked right away, and as I read on, I too thought it was great to watch these two develop together. As the story went on, their views on relationships and one another changed. Because of the dual point of view, the reader can completely immerse themselves in the characters' current emotions. The romance was nice and hot, and I thought the story was entertaining.

Thank you to Deanna Faison, NetGalley, and Wattpad WEBTOON for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Such a fun book that I can see being a tiktok smash! I really enjoyed this!

Thank you to Deanna Faison, NetGalley, and Wattpad WEBTOON for this advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book is the perfect palette cleanser for anyone craving something a little nice but spicy. Brothers best friend 🥵 i absolutely love a book with dual POV because you get the emotions and thoughts of both characters and it was done nicely. You could feel all their emotions tangled together in every interaction until they finally let the tension loose. Beautiful written and the spice was on point!

This did not stand out to me. However, if you like enemies to lovers and new adult romances you would love this. If you enjoy Hannah Grace, you will love this!!

I am obsessed!! I couldn’t put this down and when I had to I couldn’t stop thinking about being able to read it!

Have you ever started reading a book and within the first page you knew that you loved the authors writing and that this was going to be good? Playmaker was that for me.

I loved this book! Maddie and Cam have the best chemistry.

And these tropes:
Sports Romance
Friends with Benefits
Secret Relationship
Brother's Best Friend
Dual POV

Where do I sign? This is the perfect beach read, and was a great balance between spice and plot, which was so great.

Check this one out!

This book was absolutely adorable!! I loved the relationship between Cam and Maddie…growing up together, falling out and reconnecting…him realizing he had feelings for her…her growth…him teaching her and giving her confidence….the brothers best friend…just for the summer….loved all of this so much. This book was fun, flirty and spicy and just an absolutely delightful read 💕

I just know a sports romance x brother's best friend x childhood friend book HATES to see me comin'.

So... I did like this and enjoy it. I was drawn to it based on the cover and description of the books. It sounds like something right up my alley. But. BUT. :( In my opinion, it was a little imbalanced when it came to the plot/smut. I thought it was fun, it has great tropes and was a quick one. But I was not entirely crazy about the characters and found myself skimming some parts (mostly the spice) because of it.

Synopsis:

Cameron's a hot NFL prospect, and a total player but his moves don't seem to work on Maddie. While she once crushed on him hard, that crush has since faded. She’s got big plans of her own and they don’t include him. Spring Break turns their plans, and their feelings, upside down. They start a steamy affair, sneaking around behind their families’ backs. But there's one big problem: Maddie’s WAY overprotective brother–who happens to be Cameron’s BFF. Will Cam be able to admit he's got real feelings? Will Maddie ever be able to stand up to her brother and make her own decisions?

Review:

This was a steamy friends to lovers/brothers best friend read. I enjoyed seeing the character growth for all the main characters throughout the book. The book goes between Maddie & Cameron's POV so you got to know both characters quite well that way. They both had some deeper stuff they had to work through to be able to be together. I liked that Maddie was a curvy girl because we don't get enough rep! I'm fairly new to the sports romance world but I enjoyed this - my first football romance! I've been reading mostly hockey so far.

Thank you to Wattpad Books for my finished copy.

I am absolutely getting a physical copy of this book. I love every second of it.
The tension, the chemistry, absolutely done right.

This is a good light read with so much substance to it that keeps the reader engaged. Spice aside, Deanna Falson did well in keeping the story and the plot alive without letting sex be the center of it all. This book could have easily become a messy plot with juvenile adults, but the characters were well developed and the story line was true to what it should be.

This book was so good! Full of sweetness and tons of spice! It was dual POV and was written well in both points of view. It had some of my favorite tropes- brothers best friend, sports romance, childhood crush, and friends to lovers! I think this author has a ton of potential and will be going places as she grows as an author!

Thank you NetGalley and Deanna Faison for this ARC!

𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: ★★★☆☆
𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐞: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: Deanna Faison
𝐏𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 400
𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞: October 22, 2024

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭
🏈 𝚂𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚜 𝚛𝚘𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎
🏈 𝚂𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚜 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝, 𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚜 𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚎𝚛
🏈 𝙱𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛’𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍
🏈 𝚂𝚎𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚝 𝚛𝚘𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎
🏈 𝚁𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚊𝚍-𝚋𝚘𝚢
🏈 𝙳𝚞𝚊𝚕 𝙿𝙾𝚅

𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬
𝚌𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚛, 𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚊 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚗𝚎, 𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚊𝚋𝚞𝚜𝚎, 𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚋𝚞𝚕𝚕𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐

This book was a fun, easy read and the tropes in this book are always a good go-to. There is a lot of witty banter between Maddie and Cameron, and the spice was hot enough to burn However, there were some heavier concepts mixed into the plot that felt overshadowed by the amount of spice, and that took away from some of the impact I think this story could have had. I would recommend this book if you need a good palette cleanser!