I liked this. But I am 100% the wrong demographic.

Would have liked more back story, like the school stuff to help understand the dynamic a bit more.

Thank you so much to Deanna Faison and Wattpad WEBTOON Book Group and W by Wattpad Books. Great romcom with a good amount of spice. Loved the tropes.

Brothers best friend, childhood friends, forbidden romance, Spring break.

I wanted to love this book. I wanted to devour it the way I have other college, sports romances. But i didn't. DNF after 40%. It felt very juvenile and was hard for me to get into. As someone who used to read WATTPAD's and loved them, i was hoping to feel the same way. But I can't yuck others yums. Cam and Maddie were good, but it was very HEAVY on the drama and High on the sex, which is ok, but didn't feel realistic to me.

This book was great. I could not put it down. The romance was so cute. And I loved the writing. I would recommend this book!

Thank you for allowing me to read this! I really enjoyed the characters and the storyline. There were parts of the story where I just could not put the book down!

The spice in this book was good.

The plot was interesting and the character development was better than I expected going in. I really enjoyed the progression of the relationship.

This book is a cutesy sports romance with a little bit spice. Had me laughing through out the book. I couldn’t put it down..

Thank you to NetGalley and WattPad for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Did this book feel like it was written by a college student? Yes. Did I still read it? Yes. I couldn’t out it down but at the same time the cringeworthy moments were every chapter it felt like. The repetition of how he is incapable of having a relationship became a bit annoying. I know it’s an ARC so formatting isn’t necessarily complete but there was no way to decipher the flashbacks from the present. Some of the line breaks were odd but it didn’t take away from the story.

Maddie and Cameron can’t keep their hands off each other after years of hiding their feelings for each other in this brother’s best friend, forbidden love, friends to lovers story. Cameron changed after his mom passed away from cancer. Maddie’s feelings for him have stayed through their years long silence. Will Cameron get over himself and confess his feelings to Maddie? Read and find out.

This book wasn’t 100% for me — it gave Ice Breaker vibes, for sure, but I think it was just a case of “not every book is for every person” (which I think is totally fine!) it certainly wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t my taste. I had a hard time liking Cameron, and felt frustrated by his personality and the way he treated women in general. But, it could definitely be a book others would enjoy, and I’m still glad I read it!

This is an ARC review! ⭐️⭐️

Unfortunately, this book was a miss for me. It’s hard to say if it’s due to me not being the right audience - but the juxtaposition of the plot feeling YA but there being so much sexual content that there is no plot… making it not YA?

The first 80% of the book is ⭐️. And that is due to, as I said, there being so much sexual content that there truly isn’t a plot or any character development.

That being said, the last 20% was ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. It felt like it was written by a completely different author. Bummer! Would have loved to read more of that type of writing and plot.

Also a note, the kindle formatting is super off so you can’t tell between time jumps as you could have you read it on NetGalley specifically (where it’s italicized).

Thank you to Deanna Faison, Netgalley, and Wattpad WEEBTOON for this ARC!

I thought the storyline was really cute, but the writing didn’t feel super well-developed for me. Some things that were written came across really juvenile but I was reading about characters that were like 19 and 21. Idk it was just alright!

Such an adorable book!!! I loved Maddie and Cameron, and their story! I really liked the dual POV. This book was definitely spicy and I liked the forbidden romance plot! Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced release copy of this book, I really enjoyed it!

Overall I enjoyed this story. Cam and Maddie were childhood friends who accidentally reunite on Spring Break. They quickly become friends with benefits and there’s a lot of spice throughout the book. Some things did feel a tad unrealistic, like her thinking she’d never find love after being heart broken in middle school. Cam took awhile to grow on me.I did enjoy getting to see some flashbacks to them and the brother in their younger years.

This was positively adorable! I read this pretty much in one day once I started I couldn’t stop. Was so so good!

I devoured this book! It was such a fun, binge-worthy read. Cam and Maddie’s chemistry is 🔥 🔥. I love a dual pov, and honestly prefer the MMC pov sometimes more, and Playmaker delivered! The flashback scenes were some of my favorite scenes, and made me root for Cam and Maddie to be end game. I also loved the dynamic between Maddie’s brother Ethan and her best friend Maya (book 2?!?).

If you love sports romance, brothers best friend, forbidden romance, and friends to lovers then this is the book for you! The spice was definitely spicing 🌶️🌶️🌶️.

Thank you Wattpad WEBTOON Book Group, NetGalley, and Deanna Faison for the opportunity to read this ARC 🫶

I REALLY wanted to love this one. I went into Playmaker hoping for a fun and steamy read. While I was entertained while reading, I found myself getting annoyed at the characters and just pushing through to say I finished the book.

While this fell flat for me. I do think people looking for a quick and steamy read would enjoy!

Book Review: The Playmaker by Deanna Faison

The Playmaker is an adult contemporary romance between two former best friends.

Maddie and Cameron were best friends growing up along Maddie’s brother Ethan. But when their relationship started to show a romantic side in middle school Cameron put on the brakes fearing that he’d hurt Maddie. But it broke her heart and she never dated seriously for the rest of her teenage or adult life. Cameron meanwhile has had a series of one-night stands and enjoys a one time hit-it-and quit-it policy. But the chemistry between the two of them never went it away and it boils over in their hometown during their college spring break.

This book was not great. The dialogue veered wildly between corny and horny and didn’t come off as authentic. The idea that this stunning girl would never find love or romance again because she had her heartbroken in 7th grade was ridiculous. The plot was a whole series of modern contemporary romance cliches with the good girl virgin who studies all the time (even during spring break) and the football god who doesn’t do relationships. The only tension is THIS IS MY BEST FRIEND’s SISTER and a bunch of nonsense about if this inexperienced virgin could please this worldly skirt chaser. There is also a throwaway line about how main male character shared a teenage girl’s nudes with the football team in high school (and no he didn’t seem repentant or remorseful) and I’m surprised the publisher left this in. The fact that this is included as part of his man-whore history is gross and made me completely disgusted with him the entire book.

There wasn’t enough humor, plot or characterization for me unfortunately. The characters felt like cliches and I didn’t really care what they did or said.

2 stars

Very cute book and a very fast read. I probably finished this book in 4 hours total. Great for reading at the beach or on vacation. The writer wasted no time in outlining the potential romance between Cameron and Maddie. I was hooked the whole way through and honestly would love to see a sequel about Maya and Ethan! Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced release copy of this book.

This was good. I did get a little annoyed at times with the way the MMC acted. But he grew on me. I did enjoyed this one. Would recommend if you are looking for a pallet cleanser..

Thanks so much for the eARC.

This is a tension-filled read, which carries a grabbing story the entire way through.

Maddie has had a crush on Cam forever, but when his father died, their long-year, childhood friendship hit a wall. Cam handled his grief by shutting down, and they drifted apart. Now, several years later, they find themselves face-to-face in a closet at a party, and sparks fly. Reunited, they want to try to see how far things go between them, which won't be as simple as it sounds.

This was a quick-paced novel with tons of tension and steamy moments to fit. The characters are very likeable, and the back-and-forth between them makes the scenes sit just right. The earlier friendship might have benefitted from a bit more depth, but the emotions come across clearly and set the stage for the later relationship when it shoots off. Even the attempts to handle the situations with the brother are understandable, and add a nice edge.