This is a spoiler-free review! You can read my review of Lick on my blog, now! Lick is now available to stream on Passionflix.
I had a mixed review of Lick, and while I truly enjoyed the film adaptation, my experience reading Play felt like I was reading a different series. As much as I love interconnected stand-alones, it read as if it was still David and Evelyn's story - they are present for a majority of the book, and a decent amount of events occur that are centered around them as a couple, with Mal and Anne suddenly taking a step to the side. Mal was the highlight of Lick for me, but in his own book, I found myself questioning how I considered him a favorite. His light-heartedness and comedic relief were present in the beginning of this book, but died off and he became a different person.
Anne... where do I even begin with this girl. I do not understand the way she thinks approximately 60% of the time. She gets mad at something one minute, then does not care the next, and considering the way people constantly treat her like a doormat, you would think she would learn to grow up and stand up for herself. I understand that she wants to give people the benefit of the doubt, but it often lands her with the short end of the stick, and she is always surprised with that outcome when it just happens over and over again. It would have been great to see her become more developed through this book - you could tell the author attempted to strengthen her character in the second half of the book, but the process felt abandoned and short-lived.
I wanted Anne to have more friends - instead, she had a boss that was jealous of Mal the entire book, reporters wanting to learn every detail about her relationship, and people in her life that just took advantage of her. Evelyn's friend group was at least more established and she had a lot of support, and while Anne did interact with a lot of the band members, it still felt like she was isolated from others in this story. Mal was pretty involved with Anne - you could tell that he enjoyed her company and actually liked her - but with him as the only constant, it made their agreement feel more contractual than real. While their feelings did mature and they were able to work through everything, their bedroom relationship was wild and definitely complicated what they had started.
The spicy scenes were definitely better than the ones in Lick, and they felt more intimate than David and Evelyn's scenes - not that they were poorly done, but I do think Anne and Mal had more tangible chemistry than Evelyn and David. I found the balance of actual plot and spicy scenes to be pretty well established, and the pacing of this book felt much smoother compared to the first installment. There were definitely some questionable actions throughout the book, but overall, I did enjoy the book and will continue on with this series. If you are looking for a fake relationship romance, this will certainly satisfy that craving.
You can add Play on Goodreads now, and follow the author to stay up to date on releases and publications.
No comments:
Post a Comment