Audiobook Review: The Perfect Play by G.S Carr

Synopsis:

Simone Thompson wakes up in a Vegas hotel suite to discover three things:

Her headache might kill her.

The guy spooned behind her isn’t some random Vegas hookup—it’s James Sumner, the NFL’s bad-boy wide receiver and her twin brother’s teammate.

There’s a ring on her finger—you know, the finger.

As part of a football family, Simone knows all about the game, the good, the bad, and the ugly. That’s why she joined her brother’s trip to Vegas in the first place—to keep an eye on him, not to end up entangled with her crush. Her very out-of-her-league crush.

James has always had the hots for Simone and now that they’re married, he sees an opening to prove to her that he’s more than just a playboy and that they really do belong together. But if he’s going to win over his bookish princess, he’ll need to execute the perfect play…

Review:

I quite enjoy the “wake up married in Vegas” trope so The Perfect Play wasn’t completely terrible however it did lack substance and the characters were somewhat annoying. Firstly, they’re both quite shallow. The only things they said about each other in the beginning were about how attractive they find the other person. Only near the end did James comment on liking Simone for who she is as a person and not what her face and body looks like.

Hearing the phrase “one-eyed trouser snake” (never thought I’d be saying that in a review, or just ever in life) made me literally want to vomit. Why oh why would you call it that? I’ve never heard that before in my life so you better believe I was taken aback when Simone said it oh so casually. This was actually quite out of character for her and she seems more of the shy type.

Also, Simone really thinks she’s a “not like the other girls” type of girl just because she’d rather spend her weekends curled up with a book. You’re preaching to the choir honey. Pretty much everyone reading this story is actually like that. Get over yourself. That was a bit harsh, sorry. It did get old very quickly though.

The constant chip on her shoulder got old very quickly. You are an adult woman you can do things for yourself. You want to date a hot NFL player? Do it! If your brother isn’t able to take care of himself by his mid-twenties he’s a lost cause. Thankfully in the end she realises she doesn’t need to take care of him, but this was only after her brother said so.

I still don’t understand why it’s called The Perfect Play other than the fact that James is a football player. At no point did he execute some kind of plan to get Simone to like him. He was just constantly asking her if they could talk and then took her to a casino. Where she won $300,000, which she turned down because she got mad at James for some reason I can’t remember. $300,000! That is crazy.

The ending was very predictable but I expect nothing less from these types of romance books. The Perfect Play is only a short novella so the ending has to come around quickly. I actually don’t mind this sometimes as there’s nothing wrong with a predictably fluffy romance ending.