I enjoyed this book! I thought the relationship between Rose and William was so cute. I loved how they went from hating each other to falling for each other. I also really enjoyed their friend group. The connection between the two at the end was super cute.

Every week, Rose looks forward to game night. For one night a week, she can forget about everything and just focus on her friends and the board game in front of them. It’s the one place her high competitive nature takes over, especially when she is playing against William. As her best friend’s half-brother, he’s always been her arch-nemesis. While he might be tall and handsome, she always get flustered around him and wants nothing more than to beat him at his game every time. When Rose has a chance to enter a board game contest to show off the game she invented years ago, she really knew there was only one person who could help her. Can she put her hatred aside and have William help her achieve her goal or will she risk it all and maybe even open herself up to risking it all.

This book put two things I love so perfectly together. I absolutely loved the board game tie in to this romance. Every character was perfect to the game and brought exactly what they needed to the plot. You can’t help but cheer Rose and William on to the finish. With how this one finished, I’d love to see a sequel to finish out their story.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the arc of this book. All opinions are my own.

I really loved this one! I am not the best at writing reviews sometimes, but sometimes books take you by surprise and this one did just that. I got invested a few chapters in and couldn't put it done. It was so good! I highly recommend this one.

I could not put this book down and loved every part of it. I loved William and Rose and their love for each other. They’re there for each other during hard times and worked hard to be together. I also loved the game nights with their best friends and love of board games. William’s support of Rose’s dreams was just so heart warming! Everything about their rivals to lovers story was perfect to me. Will absolutely be reading more by Shameez Patel in the future!

Ok, Playing Flirty was super cute! It’s the perfect nerdy romance about game nights, found family, and playing for keeps. Rose is on the outs with her long-time boyfriend, and she’s struggling at work, but game nights and the friends who share her passion are the bright spots in her week–even William, the broody brother of one of her best friends, who is also her fiercest competition. She has been working on a board game idea since she was a teen, and after she learns about a board game competition, she’s finally ready to share it with her friends and enter it into the contest. William, who is a video game developer, offers to help her polish her game before she submits it, and when they start to spend more time together, they quickly realize that maybe in this game called love, they can both be winners.

This has some great micro-tropes, including one of my favorites–caretaking. My nerdy little heart loved every page of this fun, flirty romance. Except for the parts with her ex. He was a jerk and he never deserved her. This is perfect for fans of Kristy Boyce (but who want an adult nerdy romance) and Jen DeLuca--and for anyone who's ever loved playing games.

Thank you to Forever for my ARC.

This one is for the nerds! Whether you love cosplay, D&D, board games, or game nights with friends, you’re going to love this new romance release! Playing Flirty follows a group of friends through their weekly game nights and when our main character enters a board game competition, she finds an unlikely ally!

I was blown away by how authentic, sweet, funny, and honest this story was. I was captured from start to finish and highly recommended adding it to your TBR ASAP! This was the easiest ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I’ve given out this year!

This book should have worked for me! It has so many of my favorite things - but it just fell a bit flat and felt a bit too young for me to properly enjoy.

It was a cute romcom in the midst of it all, but there's many things that didn't work for me. Rose was a boring character. William was very one dimensional. It was very slow and nothing happening it parts, it just felt underwhelming to me.

This was a cute romance. I bad to grit my teeth through the shitty boyfriend and the playful enemies to lovers tension at the beginning felt a touch immature compared to the age of the characters. Ultimately though I liked how the romance progressed and the way the main conflicts were handled, although I wouldn’t have been to see a certain best friend groveling a little more.

I really love a strong found family element and this friend group definitely has that. I would love to see more of Lincoln…but if this is where it ends, I think this is a fun read!

4.25 stars// If there's one thing Rose can rely on, it's her mapped-out life plan- when she'll get engaged, when she'll get promoted, etc. Yet, with her overworking boyfriend putting their love on the back burner and her boss being an absolute creep, Rose knows she can rely on one comfort each week: game night. One time a week she and her friends gather to play board games and leave all the bad stuff outside her best friend's apartment, not including her nemesis, William. Every time they are in a room together, shade is being thrown left and right and if William deigns to grace his presence on the game board it's game on between the two of them. At the request of William's brother, Rose and Will call a truce and begin to play nice instead before it starts turning into something more than nice. Rose begins to start a journey of listening to what she wants and that includes asking for Will's help on her own board game she desires to enter in a competition. As they grow closer, the stakes in their playing nice game get higher with the limit nowhere in sight.

I adored this book and was so happy to see a fellow WOC nerdy gamer. The romance between Rose and Will builds at such a slow and good pace that you can't help, but cheer for them at the climax (quite literally). The stakes of a forbidden romance with a best friend's brother were truly the perfect equation for this found family and getting to see their dynamics at all stages of Rose & Will's relationship. Shameez Patel is someone I will be keeping an eye out for future releases from and I would highly recommend this romance to those of you who love a tease and a slow burn!

Thank you to NetGalley, Forever (Grand Central Pub), and Shameez Patel for this ARC

I like the idea of the book, but I can only hope this is a debut and the author improves in the future. This book comes off as sophomoric - the main character falls flat, there isn’t believable chemistry, and there are way too many subplots. I love that the author included diverse perspectives but many of the lines felt cliche and not genuine. It honestly feels like this is all an idealized version of the perfect nerd world, with the perfect friends, the incredibly hot and adoring MMC, but it was written by someone who doesn’t have many lived experiences with these things. I might give this author a chance in the future, but I hope they improve their writing before then. 2.5⭐️, 2🌶

The two main characters in this romance book are brought together by their love of games. Rose and William are in a group that meets once a week to play board games and William is a video game designer in his day job. Rose long ago designed a board game and has now asked William, who is usually her nemesis, to help her with some of the finer points. The longer they work on the game the more Rose realizes she sees a lot more in William than she previously thought. Their relationship is engaging and well written. The secondary characters are a great component of the story. This is another fun romance book!

This book was cute! William and Rose had excellent chemistry and I loved watching them shift from frustrated (annoyed) to frustrated (aroused) with each other. I also liked getting to know Neema and Shaun and appreciate the complex relationships all the characters had with each other.

The pacing of Playing Flirty was fast. However, I was shocked at how much space certain story lines were given and as a result, how rushed other parts felt. Rose was with Patrick for years and spent the first ~25% of the book wanting to see that relationship through before breaking up with him and immediately jumping into a situationship with William. They really didn’t communicate about their romantic relationship for most of the book which made their getting together feel rushed.

Overall this was an enjoyable and sweet read that I’d particularly recommend to board and video gamers.

🩵 Her POV
🎮 Gaming Nemesis
🩵 Banter
🎮 Nemesis to Lovers
🩵 LOTR References💍
🎮 Diversity
🩵 Best Friend's Brother
🎮 Supportive Parents
🩵 Likable Side Characters
🎮 Closed Door Romance
🩵 Slow Burn

Rose and William always bickering with each other that Shaun told them to Play Nice during his proposal. They ended up continuing the game afterward.

It seems like they have this chemistry between them and fireworks when they share kisses. William gave Rose a nickname of calling her Hobbit. Rose is definitely short. However, she dressed up as Frodo a few times. It made sense with the nickname.

It was sweet that William helped Rose with her board game she created. William wanted to show his new game he was creating until it was ready. When she took care of him while he was sick, such a sweet moment.

This book had me gushing over William and Rose's love story! Especially the Comic Con memory about certain Gandalf and Hobbit. I was hoping that it was who I thought it was. It made me happy when it was revealed. It was a cute and quick read! I love this story so much!🫶

Playing Flirty by Shameez Patel is the perfect rom com for gamers and geeks!

The book follows Rose, a Lord of the Rings nerd who loves gaming and making life plans and created her own intricate fantasy board game as a teenager. She has a weekly game night with her friends, and a longstanding rivalry with William, her best friend’s brother.

William is a tall, dark and brooding video game developer. And although they’ve always competed, their rivalry starts to turn heated when they begin playing a new game, Playing Nice.

I loved the tension and banter between Rose and William! At first I didn’t know where the story was going to go, and was nervous it might stray into some tropes that I don’t enjoy. But the book really took off around the 30 percent mark and I was completely sold.

There’s great tension and conflict in the book, not just between our two leads but also in Rose’s professional life. I love her work plotline and where she ends up!

Playing Flirty is a fantastic story of growth, a really endearing friend group and a swoony romance!

I’m not always a romance reader, but when I do pick one up, Playing Flirty is exactly what I want. This book has the perfect blend of nerdy fun, tension, and chemistry that kept me hooked from start to finish. The romance is a slow burn, and the closed-door/fade to black spice kept the focus on the build-up of their relationship, which was exactly what I was looking for. The chemistry between the characters is palpable, with plenty of tension that kept me on the edge of my seat.

I absolutely loved the banter between the FMC and MMC. Their playful exchanges were the perfect balance of fun and flirtation, making the tension even more electric. And let’s talk about the nerdy vibes—this book is a geeky dream come true. From video games and cosplay to Lord of the Rings references, the shared love for all things nerdy made their connection feel so authentic and fun. William, the video game designer MMC, is definitely my new book boyfriend. There’s just something about a gamer love interest that checks all the boxes for me.

The FMC is curvy, smart, and maybe a little too organized, but I loved how relatable she was. She’s the perfect balance of strength and vulnerability, and watching her come into her own throughout the story was such a rewarding experience. I really enjoyed the side characters as well—they brought depth to the story and added some great moments.

I also appreciated the light South Asian representation in the book. As a fan of South Asian fiction, I found that element of the story particularly appealing, even if it was subtle. It was a nice touch that added a bit of richness to the characters and their backgrounds.

This book wasn’t just a romance—it had plenty of depth beyond the relationship, with characters and moments that made me want to keep reading. I ended up reading it in a single sitting because I couldn’t put it down. The “fated”/we meet again dynamic added a layer of magic to their connection that made it feel even more special.

If you’re into a slow-burn, opposites-attract romance with witty banter, nerdy references, and just the right amount of spice, Playing Flirty is a must-read. Thank you to the author, Forever Grand Publishing, and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own!

Rose Jones (27) loves her weekly game night with her best friend. Even if it means putting up with her BFF’s half brother William Ashdern. The friend group is great as is Rose’s family. Rose is stretched thin working a demanding job while trying to get her MBA. William is a game designer and Rose’s dream is to create her own board game. She created a game when she was 18 and asks for William’s help to develop it further so she can enter it into a contest. It gives them even more reason to spend time together.

This is a cute story with lots and lots of Lord of the Rings references. I love that the heroine is curvy, organized and smart. I wasn’t as connected to William and didn’t understand him till almost the end of the book. Spice level is kissing and fade to black. Overall it is enjoyable but not overly memorable. (3.5 Stars)

First, I'd like to say that I really enjoy Patel's writing in this and definitely would give another book by her a chance. I also think that this story was a wonderful idea, I just think it could have been executed better. I did end up DNF'ing the book at 40%, but I gave it two stars due to the writing, wonderful set up of the story, and the fact that it was a great story idea.

My hang up with the story, and the reason that I ended up deciding to DNF, was due to the fact that I started to really dislike Rose. And once you no longer like the narrator, it's difficult to continue reading.

The things I think could have been better:
1. Her relationship and ultimate fall out with Patrick. While I can appreciate that Patel wrote a very realistic relationship, where you just slowly fall out of love and drift apart, I do think for the purposes of this story, the relationship lasted too long, the conflict wasn't clear enough, and I didn't dislike Patrick enough to be okay with her immediately moving on to William only days after the years long relationship ended.
2. As stated above, I think Rose got together with William way too fast after the breakup, and in general, way too fast for the book. Having them already together by 40% didn't give me the slow burn that this book should have been.
3. From the premise of the book, it read like they were going to be working on her game together a lot, and that portion wasn't shown much in the book at all. He took a ton of notes, but we really only heard of two of them. And then it was a lot of "we spent hours working on the board game". And then the game was just... done... at 40% through the book. And there wasn't any sort of excitement around it. It was just, "And now Overpower was ready."

With those 3 things in mind, it wasn't worth continuing the book for me.

I do hope other people enjoy this book more than me, and I hope that Patel writes more stories for me to check out. (Please note, I will not be reviewing this publicly, since I DNF'd)

Much of this review is gonna be hidden behind a spoiler tag - because I don't know how to talk about the issues I had with this without specifically mentioning some spoiler-y details.

I do think this book had a lot of potential. I loved the embracement of nerdy culture - video games, board games, cosplay. And this had fantastic friendships - including one of the best male/female friendships I've read in ages. They were all so supportive and clearly loved each other deeply.

And while I thought the pacing of the romance was slightly off (it felt like it would suddenly jump to stronger feelings out of nowhere), I thought tension of their scenes was done really well.

However, I had major issues with the way 2 of the plot lines were handled - one with the heroine's work and one with the hero's father. If you don't want any spoilers I'll leave you with this: 1. the heroine's work situation was a completely unnecessary addition to the story. It wasn't well developed, discussed, nor did it add to the story/character arc/etc in any way. 2. The way the hero's trauma was so easily tied up in a bow felt almost offensive.

Now if you want specifics here we go

1. There is a sexual harassment plot line thrown in here between the heroine and her boss. He continuously comments on her clothes, body, and alludes to her "deserving" his unwanted advances because of how she acts and dresses. But I truly do not understand why this plot line even existed. What did this add to the story? It's not used in any way other than to add conflict and it only ever made me feel uncomfortable and gross. It felt like the book "lacked conflict" and this was added in. Because it impacted nothing and was never discussed or truly handled.

2. The hero's troubled relationship with his father was offensively wrapped up in my opinion. He spends the entire book alluding to his father being neglectful and emotionally abusive. He was sent to boarding school, insulted, and blamed for all of his father's mistakes from childhood. And it's magically fixed when his dad shows up at the wedding, apologizes, and they HUG IT OUT. WTF.

I'm getting mad all over again typing this.

To wrap up a plot of abuse with a single apology and group hug is not okay. I'm sorry but it felt so belittling and demeaning to a very real and deep trauma. And it quite honestly ruined the entire book for me.

I'm on the fence about whether or not this is an author I will try again. While I enjoyed parts of this book, the issues I had run deep and leave me with a pretty negative feeling about this as a whole.

3.25 ⭐️

Playing Flirt was a very calming and welcoming read for me, which I suppose is because of all the gaming references. I myself "nerded" out a bit because of the mc's love of video/board games and cosplays. The mmc is also a gaming developer, which... HOT!🥵

The overall plot of Rose creating her own board game was such an interesting and unique storyline. The way her friends were so supportive of her ideas and motivated her to do what's best for her was incredibly wholesome, especially with how William was so quick to want to help her.
There's immediate banter and tension between Rose and William, which created a lovely slow build-up to the perfect sizzling chemistry. William has always been waiting for Rose, and the way he listens and cares for her is so insanely sweet! He's definitely book boyfriend material🤭
It takes some time for the mc's to get together as Rose is already in a relationship, but the waiting all pays off in the end (no cheating).

As much as I adored the story and loved the mc's, I have to admit that there isn't a lot of depth to it. At moments, it was difficult for me to truly see their love for each other because they've hardly had alone time for emotional intimacy; they're always surrounded by people or sneaking off. The sneaking around also caused a lot of back and forth, which became a bit repetitive.
There was also some family drama that could've created more depth to William's character arc, but it was unfortunately swept over and wrapped up quickly and happily.

These aren't the worst things if you're just looking for something fun, lighthearted, and quick to get through, which is exactly what you'll get from Playing Flirty :)

I'm definitely keen to read more from the author!

Read if you like:
🎮 found family
🕹 gaming nemesis
🎮 geeky references
🕹 best friend’s older brother
🎮 cosplay
🕹 sneaking around
🎮 gaming (video and board)

*𝘢 𝘩𝘶𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘤 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸*